Chapter 23
A Human Town for the First Time, Day Two
Buying a ham sandwich for breakfast, we went to the adventurer guild in the morning.
The adventurer guild was considerably packed this early in the morning.
When I looked, it appeared they were struggling for the commissions being posted on the bulletin board.
… Yep, don’t want to get mixed in with that…
“Goshujin-sama.”
As though to tell me to leave it to her, Meat’s eyes were sparkling.
… Honestly, I’m a bit hesitant to have a young kid go into a place like that, but…
“Alright, go get a commission that looks fine!”
“Yes!”
Meat plunged into the bustle of people. Her small body was gulped up by them and disappeared surprisingly quickly…
After a while, she came back holding two commission tickets in her mouth.
I patted her head gently while calling her a good girl. Meat’s body writhed in joy.
She really does look like a dog in every respect.
Well, as for the commissions she took… “Deliver 10 Items, Reward: 10 Copper Coins, G-Rank Minimum, 1 Person Minimum, Note: Deliver by the end of the day” and “Rabbit Subjugation, Reward: Purchase Each Meat for 10 Copper, Rank-G Minimum, 1 Person Minimum, Note: 3 Minimum, 10 Max. Fresh meat only”.
I see, I can be a deliveryman with the clothes golem and a map, and feel like I should be able to subjugate rabbits. These should be fine. I immediately went to the counter with the commission tickets.
“… You’re going to be a deliveryman after having just come to the town yesterday? I don’t recommend it.”
… Oh, it’s you again. The same Receptionist-san as yesterday was at the counter.
“There shouldn’t be a problem if I properly get the address.”
“As far as taking it to a local, wouldn’t it be faster for them to deliver the letter themselves?”
“After learning the address, I wouldn’t go that far.”
“Moreover, taking a subjugation-type commission as well? That’s reckless.”
“Reckless?”
“Yes, reckless. It’s fine to be confident, particularly for a rabbit commission, but these are intended to be used for the skewer stall’s butcher. The meat can’t be made into a mess by amateur swordsmanship and need to be pristine, how would you even take them down?”
“Well, I’ll leave it to my partner.”
Meat was honestly a strong fighter.
“… Furthermore, though I thought I’d explained it when establishing your guild card, you will be fined if you can’t complete a commission, as well as punished. Is that fine?”
“Yeah, I don’t mind.”
Sorry, I wasn’t listening.
At an rate, I submitted mine and Meat’s guild cards and accepted the commission.
“… It has been accepted. Be careful. Oh, please go around back to receive the things for the delivery commission from the responsible party.”
“Yeah, thanks.”
Receptionist-san was scowling profusely, but other than being being belligerent she did her job diligently and properly gave advice. She’s probably a capable person. She also might be the kind of person to easily misunderstand things.
“Alright, then let’s go, Meat.”
“Yes!”
Meat and I left the counter, going around back to do the delivery commission first.
*
Dividing the labor for the delivery commission between us, we finished quickly.
… I didn’t run, considering my leg’s muscle pains, slowly delivering three of the cases to relatively close places. Meat quickly handled the other seven. Even though the clothes golem’s navigation compensated, I couldn’t help praising her excellence. The cuteness of her tail wagging back and forth quickly while I pat her healed me.
We finished with still some of the morning left over. With this we can probably get the rabbits.
Incidentally, I wonder where we’re supposed to hunt the rabbits. Crap, I don’t know about that at all.
For the time being, let’s try and ask the client.
The client was standing at the grilled skewer stall.
The smell of the meat as the glistening oil dripped from it while being grilled drifted through the air. My mouth started drooling on reflex, I had to swallow it back.
“Oh, are you the adventurer that took the rabbit meat commission? Then, the meat? Doesn’t look like you have it though.”
“Ah, no, I still have to head there.”
“That so? Since the meat is for next week, it needs to be hunted today. I’ll be roasting meat here until the evening. Then, was there something you needed?”
Just then, a small noise came from a cute stomach. It wasn’t mine of course, it was Meat’s.
But come to think of it, it was lunchtime huh.
“… Right, how about we get two skewers first? Then, please tell me where we can hunt the rabbits.”
“Sure. Two for ten copper… yep, that’s it. If you’re looking for rabbits, they’re outside town. The west gate would work, in the forest by the Tsuia Mountain, a bit on the side facing us… ah, bring them back intact if you aren’t confident in dismantling them.”
“I see, thank you. Then, we’re off.”
I accepted the skewers, passing one to Meat.
In return, Meat tried to pass me five copper. I didn’t accept them, though.
“It was just a necessary expense for us to get information, don’t worry about it. Besides, it’s a master’s duty to feed their slaves. So, go ahead and eat.”
“… Umm, then what do I…”
“Ah, when Meat finds something she wants to buy, it’s fine to buy it. Save for something you want.”
“Umm… that’s… yes.”
Meat put the copper coins away in the small bag she used as a substitute for a purse. She then bit into the meat skewer.
… Yep, that’s it, it doesn’t taste bad. It doesn’t taste bad, but it’s a bit smelly, compared to a hamburger the taste is a bit light. Her face said something like that.
*
When I showed the commission ticket to the gatekeeper at the west gate, we were able to leave without paying the toll.
Then while heading to the forest, we saw the first rabbit.
“Kya?”
It was kind of… innocently cute. The small animal’s red eyes were cute. It was fluffy and nomming on the grass.
However, in the next moment, Meat severed its head. With the knife golem in her right hand, she easily cut through it with vibration mode.
“It’s meat.”
“Y-yeah. Well done, excellent.”
This child has no mercy.
The rabbit corpse’s legs were somewhat bloody from the neck that still pulsed blood. It was thrown into a leather bag after losing the rest of its blood. She also threw the severed head in while she was at it.
I, with my broken heart, probably wouldn’t have been able to achieve this without Meat… wonder if I’m feeling guilty over those adventurers dying in the dungeon…
Well, I can at least hit a rabbit on the head though. The meat I’ve always eaten is meat that someone’s killed, so when I eat it I’m also assisting that. In that case, there’s no reason to not kill them here seeing as how I eat meat.
Assisted by the blade golem and clothes golem, I could cleanly cut through it.
Though a little of the blood got on me, I quickly used [Cleanup] to get clean.
… Wait, come to think of it none of the blood has gotten on Meat-san huh, I seriously respect her.
We continued that until we had ten rabbits to bring to the client.
The breakdown? Eight for Meat, two for me, so what? Meat could instantly decapitate them after all.
I held out one I found to her, pinning it down with both hands so it couldn’t run away.
I got this one myself (with the golem’s assistance).
Wouldn’t Meat have been fine by herself…?
“Heeh, you’re… An-chan, you look lanky, but you have skill.”
Sorry, those are the results of this child here.
My duty was to hold rabbits by the legs while Meat-sensei hunted for them one by one, I just had to throw them in the bag after all the blood drained. Meat-sensei went into the forest alone, I just diligently waited and did nothing outside while they drained.
At any rate, the client gave us a high evaluation. Though they were sitting in the bag, thanks to draining the blood the fur was in good condition. Except for one of them, he purchased them all for the maximum price of ten copper coins, ninety-seven copper… since most of them were in good condition, he gave us a bonus, making our income one silver.
Eh? Whose went for seven? That’s right, it’s the one I got on my own. It was pretty bad, the body was cut into two you know?