The Adventurer Guild in Tsige is busy.

One could easily count the amount of adventurers who would use this town as their base, and the requests given there are top-class.

The reason for both of those things is because of the place that is adjacent to Tsige; the wasteland that no one knows where it ends yet.

People that aim to get a quick fortune, people that are in a training journey, people attracted to the unknowns of the wasteland.

There’s indeed adventurers that step into the wasteland on their own will, but there’s also merchants who see the wasteland as a place overflowing with allure due to the many valuable articles that can be obtained from there.

Even with the many dangers squirming there that don’t match the worth of challenging it, there’s still people in Tsige who aim for the wasteland.

In other words, adventurers and merchants are involved, so the Adventurer Guild, which not only manages the matters related to the wasteland but also the safety of the area, are always quite busy.

For the Guild personnel, being assigned to the Tsige branch meant that they have been promoted, but at the same time, there’s high risk of being crushed by the work and ending up retiring. It is a dangerous workplace in a different meaning from the adventurers.

“Are those all the reports for today?”

Adventurer Guild, Tsige branch.

At the third floor where adventurers would rarely step into, at one of the rooms there, a man who had both of his legs crossed on top of the desk and both hands linked around his mouth spoke to ask for confirmation.

The one facing him was an elderly man.

He had a decent amount of presence, and must have had a good standing as well, and yet, the words directed at him had made the man straighten his back even more and place strength in his whole body.

“Yes, Representative!”

The man sitting looked like he was still in the middle of his thirties, and if they are compared solely by appearance, it would be more plausible if their positions were reversed.

But…if the presence those two are releasing is taken into account, in other words, if someone else were to be in the room, they would be able to tell that the positions they are in are the correct ones.

That’s how much status the presence that the man was releasing from his whole body had.

“So the completion rate of the wasteland related requests is still as low as always. Well, it probably can’t be helped with how many of those requests are unreasonable though…”

“But the target number of requests that the headquarters had placed for this month has been safely fulfilled.”

“I don’t care about the quota. Leaving aside the numerical values set here, you haven’t forgotten the ideal request completion rate that the Adventurer Guild should be aiming for, right?”

“Of course not! In the cases of the Adventurer Guilds established in common areas, the minimum completion rate of requests is 70%. The ideal to aim for is 85%!”

He responds to his superior with tension covering his body. There was no sign of the relaxed state that he showed when the strange adventurer had brought the ruby eye’s eyes he had appraised.

“…So, what’s the current number for Tsige?”

“……18%.”

“Can’t even brag about it.”

“S-Sorry for overstepping here but, thinking about the special circumstances of this town, I think there’s parts that simply can’t be helped. And in reality, the completion rate of the requests that are not related to the wasteland have surpassed 90%.”

“…Hmph. And I am saying that it is a problem that this number is pushed down all the way to 18% when the wasteland requests are added to the equation. Isn’t that proof that a great number of the requests brought here that denote the wasteland are not being properly done by the adventurers that are based here?”

“But…Representative, there’s not many adventurers who can come and go to the wasteland stably. When an adventurer that can complete a decent amount of requests appears, they normally end up dying. Lately, the Lime Latte group that showed the best results seem to not be accepting much requests…”

“Enough! I don’t want to hear excuses all day long. We really do have to establish a department that is specialized in the wasteland and change the way of dealing with it from right down the roots. But even if we want to make countermeasures, the amount of adventurers who can instruct in regards to the basics of the wasteland…”

The Representative muttered the latter half with his expression still dark.

“…”

“From within this month’s deaths in the wasteland, how many of them didn’t fulfill the level requirement?”

“If we go by the corpses we managed to confirm the social position of, it is around 170.”

“Even when the level requirement is placed for their own sake, they can’t even follow that huh. The allure of a place where fortune lies might be great, but this is just…”

The top of the Adventurer Guild in Tsige, Luther, made a long and heavy sigh.

The pain of being unable to properly fulfill the duty of an Adventurer Guild was visible from the wrinkles formed between his eyebrows.

After a while, he exhales silently as if changing gears.

“Truly saddening.” (Luther)  

“…”

“Those numbers are not something we can’t report to the higher-ups though. They are not problems we can resolve immediately by doing just one thing after all.” (Luther)

“Y-Yes.”

“Well then, please tackle seriously the illegal entries to the wasteland by working together with branches in the area.” (Luther)

“Yes!”

“You can leave now.” (Luther)

“U-Uhm…”

His superior had announced the end of this tense time, but the man didn’t nod, and instead, slightly furrowed his brows and speaks in a reserved manner.

It is because his superior didn’t question a part he thought strange of the things that were reported.

An irregular report.

It wasn’t the report about the usual numbers and the progress of things.

And so, a part of the reason why he was in front of an elite of the Adventurer Guild was exactly because he wanted to have a discussion in regards to the details of this abnormality.

“What is it?” (Luther)

“Actually, there are a few people who have recently registered as adventurers…”

“If it is about the matter of the level not increasing, I will take care of that. This should go without saying but, it is strictly prohibited to make this public.” (Luther)

“You will take care of it?”

“Please make the information of him and his surroundings as highly classified. I will most likely be dealing with it officially in the near future.” (Luther)

“…What does that mean?”

“No need to stress over it. It is fine for you to just forget about this matter. That’s all I mean. If I had to put it in simpler terms, it means that you have to take care not to let your tongue slip to the skilled adventurer group that you have been in good terms with for quite a good while and has been making strange movements lately. That’s all I have to say.” (Luther)

“Hih! I-I will be taking my leave!!”

Finishing the report, the man, that had been acting slightly against the rules as a guild personnel, was shocked by the fact that his actions were known, and he immediately decided to leave.

The only one remaining in the room was the representative that didn’t change his posture from beginning to end.

“An adventurer that doesn’t show changes in his level huh. An error in the illusory system, or maybe some sort of curse? Let’s observe him for a bit, and depending on the situation, I may have to report to the boss at Rotsgard. This only smells like trouble though.” (Luther)

A single person surfaces in the mind of the representative.

The figure of a certain man that, if his memory serves right, hasn’t changed in appearance since the time he was a child.

“Good grief. Lime forgetting his duty as an adventurer and biting at the Rembrandt Company; the wasteland having a mountain of requests; the adventurers that don’t have strength, and yet, chase after the possibilities in the wasteland and end up dead; the requests far from being able to reach the 70% completion, can’t even reach the 20% completion. Having these many problems actually makes it comical instead.” (Luther)

With a tone that one can tell the exhaustion in it, the representative looks at the ceiling.

“I wonder if a super adventurer, knight, or mage can move to Tsige and mediate the Rembrandt Company and Lime’s dispute, and while at it, solve the problem of the Rembrandt Company consequently fixing the mood of Patrick-dono, and also take a bundle of requests and solve them all. Such an existence that holds enough power to nurture the path of the stagnating adventurers.” (Luther)

The representative mutters a monologue that was filled to the brim with wishful thinking.

There’s no doubt that he is in a really high standing, but at the same time, it is also an exhausting job.

It is certain that he is currently in a slightly dangerous state.

“If only the rumoured Dragon Slayer were to come to the wasteland and kill the Superior Dragon there, or the super strong mercenary group that is shut in at Lorel Union coming here and fighting the mamonos and demi-humans in the wasteland. Hah…if only the Goddess-sama were to send us a hero to deal with the wasteland as she did with the demon race…” (Luther)

His thoughts had already reached the point where there was no logic to it and it was closer to delusions.

“…No good. It is obvious that I will be collapsing first before any of these were to be fulfilled. If, on top of that, such a troublesome existence were to be thrown into Tsige, I would just explode. By dutifully working on the job in front of me, and polishing my abilities little by little everyday, the future will definitely turn for the better, and in time, all problems will be resolved; that was my belief -my support. But the work in Tsige doesn’t seem like it has any end. I want to answer the expectations of my boss. I do honestly want to improve the guild in this town. But really, what should I even be doing…” (Luther)

Even when knowing those ideals will not be reached, he had no choice but to do what he can.

In the end, as if he had been on the verge of surrendering many times already, the representative reached the same conclusion.

The caring of the adventurers, the treatment of the requests, and the dealing of the town; the preservation of the connections they have in order to make all those points move smoothly.

The Adventurer Guild of Tsige was slowly being cornered.

It is a situation where it wouldn’t have been strange for the guild to have fallen a long time ago. The reason why it has managed to continue standing was obviously because of the reliable staff members and how capable the representative is.  

Will his pain be rewarded, or will he end up being crushed by the work?

That answer would be appearing soon.

He still didn’t know that the exit of that long tunnel was close.

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