“Speak of the Demon-King’s aborted bastard… Fortune, you really are a silly bitch…” the peer’s breaths so mumbled, her heart calming down.

  The receptionist, calming in kind from that spooking entrance, immediately donned her usual pleasant smile; “Oh! Nilia! Hello you! You are…early… That was…fast; it usually takes you longer…”

  The foreigner, however, immediately made way to the main counter before essentially chugging her sack right over it, onto the receptionist’s side. “I greet you also.” she merely greeted.

  “Wow… She’s strong…” The receptionist’s peer noted in breath.

  The foreigner’s apparent companion—a man of sorts—attempted to follow along with his own slibbery sack, yet it was clear he was somewhat…very much…more exhausted than she; his breaths panted, his muscles burned, as he made his own way to the main counter, lobbing his sack over it similarly. Arms freed from that disgusting thing, he promptly gripped his knees with a hunching back, catching his exhausted breaths… “Gods’ sacred, you little…menace… You…need to…slow down! I’m not…built for…this sort of…stuff…no more, you know?”

  “It is not me who had stopped too far away from here. And I wanted to be quick.” the foreigner replied, bluntly but cordial enough.

  “Hey, lady… These…parts ain’t the safest! I’ve gotta…make sure…my cargo…is protected, you know?” he replied with panting breaths.

  “Yes. And I could have also done one at the time; it was not necessary for you to come.” she frankly stated.

  “You’ve…been paying me…more than…I agreed to… Half your…whole reward, regardless…of my…actual rates and…participation! So… It’s about…time I started…putting in…my work…to earn that…” he said, still panting; “Don’t…”—he huffed, his breath recovering—“Don’t take my suggestions as…complaints… I ain’t…complaining”.

  The receptionist and her peer stared somewhat blankly as the two continued their own discoursing exchange. The peer’s eyes, however, were looking more at that man in particular... “Who’s…that?” she whispered to her other.

  “…I do not know. First time I am…seeing him…” the receptionist replied in equal whisper, trying not to come to…dubious presumptions. Instead, with her charm, her voice lunged forth; “Oh, well hello you!” Her eyes looked at that man, “This is the first time I am seeing you here, and you do not seem to be a member of this Guild branch… Thus, who might you be?”

  “Huh?” The man, shifting his attention, straightened his posture. “Oh…me?” He pointed at himself.

  “…yes, you.” And the receptionist clarified the obvious… Her peer was attempting to withhold her amused giggles, she could tell.

  “Oh, rightly… Yeah…” He seemed slightly embarrassed. “I’m just a wagon driver… She hired me a while bit ago to carry her back and forth and…back and forth…over and over again for this collecting stuff…” He lightly scratched the back of his head… “She’s been paying me half the full reward, so I can’t complain—predicable pay is predicable pay, and I like it that way…”

  “Ohh! Rightly! I see!” The receptionist’s voice jolted as if realizing; “Yes! Rightly, I remember. You are that wagoneer. Nilia had mentioned you a few offhanded times, I believe!”

  As the receptionist continued to speak to him and him to her, her peer continued to stare at this…wagoneer, and with eyes increasingly…peering.

  Indeed… Neither too weak nor too strong but evidently tough and built… Scarred and rugged, yet not too aged; clearly a man who has been around many places… And the more she heard him speak and talk, the more she could not help but find a slight silly charm to him. Certainly, quite the many ‘boxes’ were being marked, so to speak, and her peering quickly turned into…leering; the peer became interested in him.

  “Well, I am happy to see someone has been helping—” The receptionist suddenly paused mid speech, having begun to see from the corner of her vision…a certain kind of glare emanating from her supervisor and peer next and near. Head slowly turning, “…w-what?” she thus…inquired.

  Yet… “Heyyy, soo…” Her peer spoke with a certain voice… “Because of our chatty-chat, I just realized… I don’t think anyone’s actually gone to the quest department to restock the board today, so… Uhm… Mind if you do that this time?”

  “H-huh?” The receptionist was slightly confused, perhaps aloof to the…signals her peer was attempting to convey. “I mean, sure…? But I can do that…after this? I need to handle her, so—”

  “That was not a request, Honeypot.” Yet her peer stated, voice stern and firm.

  “…” The receptionist stared, slightly dumbfounded… “Alrightly… Uhm…” Frankly, it was kind of terrifying to see this gal actually be authoritative for once… “Fine, fine…” She sighed, “I got… You will have to handle this for me, then…” Begrudgingly, she separated off and away, down and through one of the many doors behind.

  The receptionist’s now alone peer promptly took over her vacated spot, aheming as she dawned her own smile. “Anywayy! Sorry about that, soo…” she thus spoke, her demeanor more respectable and cordial. “Turning in your collection targets, aye? Which are uhm…” She glanced at the two rather putrid and oily bags, already able to tell from the…smell; “Aged clamfield sea shrubs, then?”

  “Yes, and I would prefer to depart soon since this is not finished.” the foreigner was blunt even if still cordial; there was an…impatience in her stature.

  “Yeah, I bet. But you should know the norm by now, little missy.” the peer replied, her hand swiftly demanding something.

  The foreigner stared…before realizing… Right—every time. Quickly, she took off a…backpack of sorts—which, indeed, was something that was equipt on her back. Although hardly the largest, its size was still passable, having a larger carry capacity than any satchel or lady handbag; it was quite durable too, being made from the thick skin of…some animal species.

  Nevertheless, opening this backpack, the foreigner retrieved the two identical quest-sheets which had been so shoved into it and slid them onto the counter.

  The receptionist’s peer very swiftly flipped their pages as if already knowing by default what she needed to look at and on what page. “Huh… Wow, alrightly. Very prudent with your collection count and tallying, it seems… All recorded exactly how… Hm.” Well, if that was not a rarity. “Warmly good, then… Coppers slip up on this all the time.”

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “Yes. I know. I was told this same thing. But I just need to return to the…thing—the quest, I mean to say…” yet the foreigner…rather hastily replied, her leg just a little shaky.

  “Hmm?” The peer’s eyes so peered at the foreigner with a curious eyebrow raised. Indeed, despite what this peer might seem to be, she was nevertheless still a seasoned main counter receptionist of this Guild branch; she could read between the lines when it came to people. “Are you alright?”

  “Huh?” The foreigner tilted her head. “Y-yes? Of course. I am fine.” Her voice, however, did not have its usual pleasant affect. “It is necessary for me to finish this quest, and…I do not like…using the time. That is all…” She was being honest.

  Yet the peer only continued to look at the foreigner, some inferences being drawn yet…much remained obscure, for this foreigner was strangely hard to read; however, there was still something about her…

  The peer faintly sighed… Oh, well. She opted to leave such as thus for now.

  “Well, if you say so…” Her attention proceeded to thoroughly shift to that wagoneer still idling by, having clearly dozed off. “Soo…you,” she began to speak, her voice not bothering to obscure her true intentions, “How nice of you to help a little lady adventurer like that; you must be one of those ‘always earn the fruits of thy labor’ types, hm?”

  “Huh?” The wagoneer, caught off guard, looked at her… He was able to quickly tell the subtle contexts within this woman’s voice. “Duhm… Y-yeah, of course…” Blushing accordingly, he looked down and away… “Like I said, she’s been…paying me half of her reward… Way more than she ought to, so I felt…I’ve gotta put in my works to earn it if we’re going to be…working together, you know? Help her out more…” His awkwardness was kind of funny, so mused the amused peer.

  “So, is that why she managed to finish this so fast…” Indeed, the peer glanced again at those two stuffed sacks… “Clamfield sea shrubs are notoriously a slug to find timely; they’re in high demand in Oceanfield and Warmful Smile, and for some reason the Company’s been wanting them… So, adventurers from all over keep nabbing them.”

  “Hmm? Oh, no, no,” the wagoneer shook his head, “I only helped later on… This lady menace did most the work; she actually—”

  “I found that the sea shrubs which matched the quest’s specifications,” the foreigner interjected hastily, “many of them were buried underneath the…” Yet she stumbled… “Word…word… ‘Coast’? No, ‘beach’—Yes, the beach. I found that many of them were buried underneath the beach.” Or, more accurately, other adventurers seemed to have had knowledge of this, whom she observed digging the sand, whence she had gotten the idea to do so similarly.

  “That so?” The peer titled her head lightly.

  “Yes. A lot of the old ones. I think that some animal or…creature has been collecting them over the time and buried them or…maybe time buried them. I do not…know, but that is why the…collection was faster, and so now I must finish this, thus…” The foreigner was eager to get going and not conversate, such was clear. Indeed, her leg was now even more jittery, seemingly.

  “Huh. You’d think after being at this for thousands of years, we’d have realized something that obvious… But whatevs.” The peer shrugged, her eyes returning to those two putrid oozing sacks, staring at them…blankly…

  Standard procedure stipulated a thorough confirmation check by either weight calculation or direct count; however, not even the Demon-King himself could force her to touch that sack… Nope, she was not touching that…

  “Alrightly, so…” the peer returned her eyes to the foreigner, “Since Lav trusts you, I’ll trust you too and assume your count is…truthful and accurate and confirm…later…” Which was to say, when the next batch of hapless underlings arrived to do the confirmation for her.

  “I see. So, I will take the leave, then.” The foreigner hastily bowed before gabbing the quest sheets and shoving them back into her backpack before promptly redonning it; turning herself around, she marched away without any delay.

  “Well… I didn’t exactly say…you could, but… Alright, then…” the peer merely mumbled, not stopping her from leaving since there was no need; however, it did feel oddly…rude, the way she left.

  The wagoneer began to follow along in kind, turning himself to leave, yet…

  “Oh! Hey, hey! You!” The peer called out to him, the wagoneer pausing and turning with look of confusion. “I hope this isn’t rude, but… You’re from the…Empire, aren’t you?”

  “…” The wagoneer stared at her… “Haha… So, you can tell, huh?” he…awkwardly replied.

  “Yeah… Your accent; it’s subtle, but you’ve got a…rural-born Imperial flavor to it.” She had observed. “You’re a…veteran also, aren’t you?”

  “Heh…” The wagoneer looked at her, scratching the back of his head. “You can tell that too, huh? I heard you Guild ladies can be perceptive, but that’s just scary…”

  “Well, former-Imperial military isn’t an uncommon sight outside of the Empire…” she stated… “But… You look really…in shape. So, it’s obvious that your breaths aren’t short because you’re weak… You…fought in the war, didn’t you? Siege lungs?”

  The wagoneer was slow to reply, his eyes drifting… “Yeah, siege lungs. Don’t know what shit they used, but it’s left its mark…” he remarked; “But I’d rather you kept these to yourself, miss. Don’t particularly care if you can tell or not…” He was kind about this, at least.

  The peer ahemed; “Rightly, sorry… Just curious…” She pressed her finger on her lip. “And don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone. Promise.” She lightly smiled, before…shifting the tone of her voice. “Well, anyway… We didn’t really get to chat much, but…keep helping that little lady out and coming back here. I hope to fancy your sight again and have a chat.”

  The wagoneer, signals received, blushed… “Aren’t you a charmer, like flattering a stranger huh…” He ahemed, a little sweaty; “But I mean, yeah… That’s… That’s the plan… And I wouldn’t…mind talking again to a looker like you, haha…” He was flustered, but seemed receptive… “Just don’t start mentioning…what I’d you didn’t mention, haha…” He nevertheless established.

  “Yeah, no worries. Sorry, I can be stupidly loose-tongued sometimes.” The peer giggled a little; “But until next time, then…”

  Awkwardly aheming, the wagoneer turned around and began to depart, yet…

  “Oh, sorry! Double-wait! One more thing!” The peer yet again called out, the wagoneer again so pausing and turning… “Might be a…weirder question, but… Uhm… Nelia, that’s her name rightly?” Had she seriously forgotten? She ahemed; “Yeah, Nelia… You’ve spent…some time with…”

  “Since the start of this month or so give or take.” he answered in advance, having predicted the question; “What’s this about now? Just know, I can’t keep her waiting for too long…”

  “Oh… Sorry, nothing really… I was just curious, but, uhm, is she…normally like this?” she thus asked. “I heard she’s sweet, but she seemed kind of…edgy—if that make’s sense… I haven’t actually spoken to her much, so I don’t know her normal…”

  The wagoneer took a moment to recall and contemplate… “Kind of? Sometimes? We haven’t really talked that much honestly—or rather, she don’t talk much, least not when she’s focused on what she need to do… But whenever we do, she’s been nice for the most part, even if a bit distant and on-the-point…” he thus answered; “Though, she is a little menace, as I like to call her… A conniving one, I feel…”

  “Hm. I see, I see…” the peer cordially nodded her head, “Well, goodly noted then!” She smiled. “Anywayy… Sorry for stealing your time, fancy-sight… Hope to see you soon.” She winked.

  The wagoneer blushed yet again, “Of course, not a problem… I’ll be back here soon enough, scary lady. You take care then…” Aheming, he finally made off and departed away.

  And as those doors shut closed, the peer’s donned affected slipped from her face… “Hmm…” Mumbling, she mused in mind. Since the day that foreigner had stumbled in to receive her badge, she had a strange suspicion; there was something about her that kept her eye… Yet so much remained hard to see or conclude, let alone infer.

  Nevertheless…

  “…I get this really weirdly stupid…ugly tingle in me…that keeps saying…there’s something seriously wrong with that girl…” Alone and by herself, her thoughts escaped her breaths. “Don’t get any good senses from that one; not then, not now… Or maybe I’m just being ol’ me again… Not like I’m any better in heart and soul…” She sighed… “Seriously, what do I know anymore?”

  Whatever. Not her problem by the end of the day. Her subordinate will have to learn the lessons of this job the hard way, ultimately… Even if she could not help but worry.