Chapter 272
272 - Reunion
“Alright, shall we meet in three days?”
“Yes, I’ll see you then,”
We’re on the 1st floor of the Adventurer’s Guild, having just finished discussing the list of dungeon items my party has collected with Nadiya-san in the Guild Master’s room.
Since today was going to be all boring talk about the sale and purchase of dungeon Drops, I left Fer, Dora and Sui at the inn and came with Elland-san instead.
“Huh, I finally understand what Elland-san meant when he said I won’t be able to buy up everything,” said Nadia-san thoughtfully. “The amount you’ve collected is quite tremendous.”
“Heheh, it was the same back at Doran. Moreover, it’s breeding season for the special monsters too, so we get even more special individuals this time, [5]” said Elland-san cheerfully, clearly enjoying her shock.
“Ahh, though we’re quite a large guild, even our budget is limited. I shall have to go through the list with my vice guild master before making any final decision.”
“As discussed, Doran would wish to purchase some Dark Spheres, insect base materials as well as other armour and weapon making materials.”
“Yes, yes, there’s no need for Elland-san to remind me. There’s absolutely no way we can buy everything so some of it will go to Doran anyway.”
“Nevertheless, I appreciate that,”
Well, I’m glad Elland-san and Nadia-san are being so agreeable to each other. Now that their conversation seemed to be winding down, I said, “I shall see you in three days.”
[6] “Ah, right, I shall need to look for my vice guild master too,” said Nadia-san absently.
With that, we parted from Nadia-san. [5]
[6] As Elland-san and I left the Adventurer’s Guild, I pondered how to spend the day. Ahh, maybe I should go home for a nap? Or maybe do some frying in the garden? Or-
“Mukouda-san! Is that you?”
Both Elland-san and I turned and I was struck by four very familiar, very macho forms of, “Alonzo-san, Clement-san, Mathias-san, Earnest-san, so you made it!”
It was the members of the [Shadow Warriers]. The party of Adventurers that took part in the subjugation of the Orc Village back in Neihoff!
~
“Hahah! I didn’t expect you to actually clear the Avering Dungeon!”
“Ahh, before we know it, you’re already an S Ranker now!”
“Hohoh, to think we actually got to know someone so amazing. Thanks to you that we managed to complete the Neihoff mission cleanly.”
“Yeah, we also made a lot of money thanks to Mukouda-san!”
We were at a bar catered to Adventurers. The bar happened to be run by the Adventurer’s Guild too, how convenient. Nadia-san sure is innovative.
[4] “So,” I began. “What have you guys been up so since I last saw you?”
[4] “Well, after that subjugation mission, we’re so flushed with cash that we gave ourselves a short break.”
[4] “A real break for once, heheh! Thanks, leader-san!”
[4] “We only arrived here about 10 days ago and did some research before diving into the dungeon.” Mathias-san continued. “We thought it should be fine since Alonzo and I have been in Avering’s dungeon before with a different party, but…”
“It didn’t take us long before we realised that something was wrong,” Alonzo-san interjected. “It happened on the 3rd day… in fact, Mathias was the one who noticed it first.”
“Mathias has really good intuition, it’s saved us plenty of times before,” [3] Clement-san commented. The rest of the [Shadow Warriors] nodded.
“Anyway, since that lucrative subjugation mission, we all decided that going ahead was not worth it and backed out,” said the leader, Alonzo-san.
“It turned out to be the best thing to do since it turned out that we landed in the beginning of an unusual breeding cycle for special monsters,” said Mathias. “We got out in time to see representatives from the Adventurer’s Guild hanging around the exit, gathering information about the sudden surge of dungeon monsters.”
“I believe Mukouda-san’s party went in right after we got out,” said Ernest-san.
I nodded, [3] “Yes, we went in about 8 days ago, I believe.”
“So? What was it like?” [3] Alonzo-san leaned forward, curiosity on his face.
“It was crazy~~ Monsters piling on top of each other to attack us,” said Elland-san. “There were a lot of special individuals as well.”
I had already introduced Elland-san to them earlier… [9]
“Ah, this is Elland-san. We cleared the Avering dungeon together…”
“Eh? Elland-san? As in the former S Ranker now Guild Master of Doran?!”
“Why did you have a Guild Master in your dungeon raiding party??!!”
“Eh, well, it was all due to a series of unexpected incidents…”
Naturally, I can never say that it was due to his obsession with Dora-chan. [5]
Unexpectedly, Elland-san was quite modest. “In fact, Mukouda-san didn’t need me around at all. Fer-sama, Dora-chan and Sui-chan are all very strong and capable.”
“Ahh,” the [Shadow Warriors] all nodded knowingly. “Nothing’s impossible with a Fenrir backing you,”
“Not to mention, that little dragon and that Slime are insanely strong too,”
“Back at the Orc Village…”
The conversation soon degenerated into who could heap the most compliments on my familiars. Before veering into a most unexpected direction.
“…participating in a dungeon challenge with Mukouda-san is most comfortable. Aside from barely having to fight, Mukouda-san’s cooking is the best…” Elland-san actually sighed and had this dreamy expression on his face. [5]
“I’ll say,” murmured Alonzo-san. “Mukouda-san’s cooking is incredible,” [5]
Soon, the talk became a competition of how good my cooking is. It was all rather boring and repetitive and I soon began to space out…
“Yo, Mukouda-san!”
Someone thumped me on the shoulder and I turned to see a familiar face.
“We heard you got back from the dungeon. I thought we’d wait until you’ve settled down a bit before looking you up, but here you are!”
It was the party members from the [Ark].
[Gumihou: Oooh, it really is a reunion all round.]
[1] Structural Change: Combine 2 paragraphs
[2] Structural Change: Combine 3 paragraphs
[3] Structural Change: Combine paragraph & dialogue
[4] Structural Change: Change passive sentence to dialogue
[5] Delete Repetitive or Pointless Information
[6] Additional Information for Aesthetic Purpose
[7] Add Dialogue Tag
[8] Creative Licence Taken
[9] Flashback instead of a vague summary of Elland-san’s introduction.