Chapter 2: List Duty Day, 1

Once every month, I close down the library without fail. Not that I'm lazy, of course, but because I'm a hardworking employee of the Efflorescence Library. Yup.

Today is list duty day.

Early morning, I cook breakfast for two. A hot steaming dish of fried vegetables and two cups of the finest coffee should do the trick. I make a point to never miss breakfast. Never. Like what my mom once said, a healthy breakfast won't make you the breakfast.

The next step is the hardest: waking Ela up. It's like trying to wake up a rock. We're total opposites. I'm good at mornings and bad at afternoons, while she's bad at mornings and extremely great at afternoons. But it's a cute trait, so big brother here's gonna accept it.

But not today. It's list duty day.

"Ey, Ela, wake up."

"Mafuuuu~"

What does that snore even mean?

"Wake up, it's list duty day. No lazing around now."

"Noooo.... dun wanna..."

"You're pushing me, aren't you, squirt? I'm going to use my greatest spell if you keep this up!"

"Mafuuuu~"

Brave little sunshine. I make a silly pose, and begin chanting.

"Spirits of the Early Morn, heed my prayer! Grant me the Divine Justice, and bring forth calamity to the wretched! Magic Strike!"

My finger flies high to the sky, and strikes her sides! Tickle tickle! Tickle tickle!

"Hahaha! Ha! Hahaha! I'm awake! I'm awake!"

"No, punishment for the wretched!"

And just like that, I waste an unreasonable amount of time in a tickle fight with my little sunshine. We drink our coffees cold today. Well, we drink our coffees cold every list duty day. I hate this day.

"Who's on list duty today?"

"... Me?"

"Yep, it's you, squirt."

Ela gives a heavy sigh. None of us likes this day. But it's our job, so it can't be helped.

"My sister is weird."

"Yep, completely agree on that."

"Why do we have to write every single book title and author on a list and hide it?"

"She's paranoid like that."

"Stupid sister!"

"Yeah, stupid Erika!"

We continue mocking her existence like that for hours, until we get bored and begin the day. This was list duty day — a day especially reserved to make a list of all the books in this library and hide it somewhere only we know. I know these are all her books, but what the hell was she thinking making us do this every month? At least make it every year.

But that might be asking too much, given that we would have to do this every day if my poor little sunshine hadn't begged her to tears.

So while Ela does the listing and hiding, I do the shopping and general errands outside. We alternate jobs every month so it's fair.

"I'm going, Ela."

"Take care, Key. Ah, can you bring me something?"

"... Fine. But nothing sweet."

"Ehh?"

"Nothing. Sweet. I'll try to find some dried squid for you."

"Geh. Not again... list duty's the worst."

Our day begins.

"Welcome to the Adventurer's Guild!... Oh, it's just Key."

First stop: The Adventurer's Guild.

Ever since the Demon Lord was defeated and the Star of Revival (that red star that shines bright even during the day) disappeared, the guild released the restrictions on the Farwitch Labyrinth, and droves of adventurers began flocking in our once-isolated village to try their luck at the legendary "hardest S-class dungeon" Farwitch Labyrinth. And nobody could stop those hot-blooded adventurers, so we villagers had to accommodate them.

And thus this Adventurer's Guild branch was formed, by renovating our old meeting hall. There are cracks all over the walls, the furniture's all cheap wood and the place smells weird overall, but it fits the atmosphere of a poor village branch perfectly.

"Ey, Jina. How's the receptionist life?"

"Not enough pay."

"I see..."

The only receptionist, Jina, with long dark reddish hair combed to perfection, is a childhood friend of mine. Once a florist, she took the receptionist job in a flash for one thing and one thing only: money.

"That guild master they sent here's too stingy. Why won't he give me a raise? Eee, I do some honest good work here every day. Every day! Appreciate my efforts, cheapskate!"

"You're complaining to the wrong guy. And besides, not only do you cheat these poor adventurers at times, you ask for a raise every day. I'd fire you if I was your boss."

"Cheat? I'm not cheating nobody! False accusation!"

"I don't care. You have your scams, I have mine. I'm just here for the Most Requested Books Survey."

"Eh, that silly survey? Not here to chat a bit?"

"It's list duty day today, and I'm handling the errands"

"How boring. Here you go. I got thirty two people this month, so that's 320Gs total."

"I bet half of those are fake."

"I do honest business here! Honest!"

I asked Jina to give out a survey to the adventurers asking what book they'd like to read (for a price, of course) so I could order new books. Not my idea, but rather Ela's, as an attempt to attract more visitors. Ah, I'm so lucky to watch my cute little sunshine taking the assistant librarian job too seriously. If it wasn't for her, I'm sure the library would fall on its own weight.

... and as usual, the most requested book is porn. Why porn? The hell, is this an adventurer thing? I don't understand.

At least there are some normal ones. Let's see,

Plant Life of the World

Magic Books

Sword Arts and You

Fishes of the World

Taking Care of Kids

Fight! Fight! Fight! Legendary Hero Falen!

Easy Money for Beginners

"... So you want an Easy Money for Beginners book? But you're not a beginner at easy money anymore though."

"Dat not me."

Well, I'm done here. I still have a lot to do today, so I should leave quickly or I may be chatting with Jina all day. I give her the money and prepare to leave, but she stops me.

"... Hey. I got some juicy news floating around. Wanna hear?"

I smell trouble. It's the same aura feeling when Erika plans something stupid.

"And how much?"

"100Gs."

"The hell!? You're making me pay? I'm leaving. And forget about the survey as well."

"Wait! I'll give you a special discount. 50% off!"

"See you next time."

"40%? 30%? Okay, 10%!"

"Hm, I bet asking adventurers directly would save me a lot more."

"Free! I'll give it for free! Free... *hic*"

"That's more I like it."

Ah, that violated look of doing something for free, I like it. I can get used to this. Her fault for charging so high for a survey. Anyways, if it's that Jina, who's got a nose for especially troublesome trouble, then it's worth hearing.

She looks around, making sure that no one's listening and draws me closer.

"I heard this from a traveling merchant, but it seems like the kingdom summoned a hero."

"... What?"

That's odd. The Hero Summoning Ceremony is Alraz Kingdom's ultimate weapon against the Demon Lord. From what I heard and read, with the Sun Goddess' guidance, they summon a "hero" from another world, usually with strange and cheat-like powers, to battle against anyone who threatens our world. Why those heroes would do so much for us, I don't know. Must be a hero thing.

But the Demon Lord has been killed, so there's no reason for summoning a hero now. This all sounds suspicious.

"But that's not the weird part."

"Ha?"

"Apparently, this hero went and kidnapped the princess!"

What a twist!

"What? Isn't that a big deal? Why am I not hearing anything about this from the adventurers?"

"The kingdom's all hush hush about it. They're trying to solve this with as little attention as possible, and adventurers aren't really known as the silent type. Well, my merchant friend thinks that if news of this spreads out, Alraz Kingdom's gonna be the laughingstock of the world. I mean, what kind of kingdom summons a kidnapping hero?"

She's got a point.

"So how much are they offering?"

"One Million Gs."

The surveys fall on the ground. One million... one million... with that kind of money, I could destroy that stupid library and rebuild it, with lots to spare to play around! But... the enemy's a summoned hero, so I guess the danger level's high as well.

"... What does this hero look like? The princess?"

"Not much information about the hero. But the princess, she's got golden blonde hair... not enough to go around, as well."

"No sketches?"

"Like I told you, they're all hush hush."

I pick the surveys up again. Ha... in the end, the only important information she gave was about the summoned hero, but I doubt that it's going to affect this poor village at the borders of the kingdom. I shouldn't get too worked up.

"I'm running out of time, I still have some shopping to do. Thanks for the free info anyways."

"Grrr... yeah, cheapskate, get outta here. And don't forget, if you find her, we split the prize 60-40."

"What the hell? It's gonna be 100-0."

"... 70-30?"

"Just kidding, I'll split it even. Least I can do for all your help."

"Sign here please."

"The hell!?"

I slam her silly head with the surveys and leave for good. It's always a bother to deal with her. Oh, I forgot to complain about her driving troublesome adventurers to my library! ... I'll do it later.