As expected, it seemed that even the members of the Crimson Vow realized that they had been in the wrong.
They had forced the Guild Master, who was probably old enough to have a family, to do something reckless and risk his job, and had caused trouble for many local Hunters.
So Crimson Vow sincerely apologized...
"But we can't earn that much just from regular requests..." (Reina)
"For normal requests, the amount of the reward depends on the client. For a child earning pocket money, it's 1-2 silver coins per day. For a beginner's F-E rank job, it's 4-5 silver coins. For a not so dangerous C rank job, it's 6-7 silver coins, or just over 1 small gold coin. …And for escort missions against dangerous monsters and thieves, each person earns 2-3 small gold coins per day. Well, if it's an escort request where an attack is almost certain, or if the other party is not a bandit but a professional mercenary or a former soldier, then depending on the conditions, sky's the limit..." (Pauline)
"Once we reach C rank, you can't take on jobs below E rank, of course... Anyway, escort requests and jobs with high fees don't come around every day, and there will be a lot of competition for good requests, so we're just newbies and can't take on a lot of them, and even if it were possible, we shouldn't do that. It would just cause trouble for the other hunters..." (Mavis)
Mile nodded in agreement as Reina, Pauline, and Mavis spoke.
"In that case, the solution we choose is..." (Mile)
"Let's leave this town and move to the royal capital or a bigger town!!" (All CV)
"How did you come to that conclusion?!" (Guild Master)
The answer the four gave caused the Guild Master to cry out in anguish...
It would be troublesome if they continued hunting monsters in large numbers.
However, there was no problem with hunting a reasonable amount (to a certain extent), and it was a welcome thing, both in terms of thinning out dangerous monsters and in terms of profits for the guild that bought the preys.
Additionally, they wanted to keep the Crimson Vow in town as a source of income for the guild, and in the event of an emergency, as a means of transporting relief supplies and providing support to evacuees.
Besides, if they were to be moved to another town, the hunters and guild staff of other towns would never believe the extraordinary quantities that the Crimson Vow could deliver, and they would certainly be laughed at as "The stupid guild branch that has been abandoned by a cash cow and a large-capacity storage unit that would be useful in emergencies."
...The guild chapter in the town where the Crimson Vow resides would likely find out the truth within a matter of days...
"It's the same wherever you go! ...Well, if it's the royal capital or a similarly large city, it might last about ten days..." (Guild Master)
"......" (All CV)
The four of them fell silent after hearing the guild master's words.
And…….
"I knew it……" (All CV)
The four of them murmured in obvious sour grapes.
"Orcs and ogres are limited to three per day. Goblins and kobolds are limited to 30 each per day. There are no limits on herbs... That said, you definitely cannot try to exterminate them all! In that case, I don't mind if you continue to make requests on a regular basis. Also, please stop taking on too many regular requests at the same time. However, I don't mind if you take on any requests that are left unfinished or red requests." (Guild Master)
Orcs and ogres could be hunted to thin out the population, but their high purchasing price came from the value of their meat, hide, horns, fangs, and other materials.
So, when prices crashed, many people were in trouble.
In particular, if that were to happen, the number of people bringing back heavy meat would drop drastically, and no one would risk the smell of blood attracting other monsters by butchering or skinning the animal on-site. They could understand why the Guild Master would want to impose a quantity limit to the Crimson Vow.
However, there were no materials to sell for goblins, so they were only worth a reward for defeating them, and kobolds, whose hides could be tanned and shipped to the royal capital or other towns, so having more of them wouldn't be a problem, and the thinning effect should have been prioritized.
In addition, it seemed that Crimson Vow didn't like skinning kobolds themselves, and always delivered them whole, so the guild got a profit from the work.
And if medicinal herbs were processed into medicine and shipped, they could be sold in high quantities in other towns.
In a world where medicines could not be produced chemically or industrially, medicinal herbs were in high demand.
"......" (All CV)
And unable to refute the guild master's words, there was a silent Crimson Vow...
"Well, it's the truth, so there's nothing we can do about it..." (Reina)
Reina muttered on the way back from the guild branch.
"Besides, the reason we delivered so much (was to do that) was to quickly become D rank and to make a name for ourselves so that we could receive decent requests even if we were D rank. If we could become C rank, we'd be able to earn enough just by doing normal work, so there wouldn't be any problem." (Reina)
"Yes. Right now, our goal isn't promotion or money, but adventure, helping people, and meeting the expectations of clients in need." (Mavis)
"No, money is important!" (Pauline)
"Ahaha..." (Mile)
Mile grimaces as the three of them continued to act the same as always.
"Anyway, the number of things we can deliver for regular requests is now limited, except for herbs. For those, we’ll need to hunt them all together, put them in Mile’s storage where time doesn’t pass, and deliver the set amount every day.
And among the regular requests, we'll be taking on a lot of interesting, tough, and fun requests!" (Reina)
"Ooh!!" (Other 3)
Yes, there were three types of people who became Hunters.
To earn money to live.
To rise up and gain status and position.
...Then there were those who seek thrilling adventures and helping others for the sake of it all.
This Crimson Vow was clearly the last one...
"...So, this is the order we received on the way home..." (Reina)
Returning to the inn, Reina held out the request form to everyone. What written on it is...
"Defeat livestock attackers - 3 gold coins - Golba Village"
It appeared to be a small farming village about a 5-6 hour walk inland from here.
"Well, it's not like we're in a provincial town that's not even the royal capital, so it's not like we'd get requests to subjugate earth dragons or griffons."
"Well, that's true, but..."
"It's about helping people, right?"
As everyone had said, the people who accepted this request were volunteers.
Three gold coins might be a lot of money for a poor village, but for a party of four, it would be 7.5 small gold coins per person.
In Japanese yen, it was equivalent to 75,000 yen.
At first glance, the reward didn't seem so bad.
But therein lied a trap.
First of all, the type of monster to be defeated was not clearly specified.
The opponent could be a goblin or a kobold... Also, the possibility of it being an orc, ogre, wyvern, manticore, or griffin was not zero.
Furthermore, neither the number of kills nor the employment period were specified.
...In other words, they didn't know how many of what animals they should exterminate and by when, and if they're not careful, they might be told to "Kill until the damage to livestock stops." Even if 10, 20, or 30 days passed, even if there was only minor damage such as a cow's tail being nibbled by a ground mouse, it would continue...
Normally, there would be no client with such ignorance, but there were some malicious villagers who intentionally wrote requests like this and try to avoid paying by saying things like "I can't sign the request as completed because you haven't properly completed the request," and there were also villagers who, without any ill intentions, seriously thought, "Since I'm paying the request fee, it is the natural duty of the person who accepts the request to hunt down all the monsters," or "I should use the person I hire as much as possible to get my money's worth," so no hunter would take on a request with such ambiguous wording.
Therefore, since there was no one to take on this request, it was left hanging on the board, a so-called "Stale request."
Of course, the Crimson Vow knew that much too.
However, it was possible that the person simply was not used to making these types of requests and was unsure of how to write it, and that there was no malicious intent behind it.
Normally, the receptionist would explain this properly and have the request rewritten at the time of request, but since this request was merely entrusted to a peddler who had delivered it, it seemed they had no choice but to accept it as it was and post it up.
Just to be safe, when they received the request, they checked various things with the receptionist.
And since the receptionist there was also a professional, she told them, "If the village you requested assistance from starts saying something strange, just ignore them and go back."
If anyone were to take a silly attitude towards Crimson Vow just because it was made up of young women, the guild would likely take appropriate action.
From now on, any requests from that village would not be accepted.
The guild did not buy or sell materials, medicines, or anything else in the village.
The people of that village would not accept hunter registrations.
Even without taking legal action, they could do whatever they wanted to a small village that had made the guild their enemy.
Occasionally, a village would appear that didn't realize this and would act silly, but most of the time, the issue would be resolved by carefully explaining the situation to the village chief or other important people in the village, without the guild actually having to take any action.
So it shouldn't have been a big problem.
That being said, it would be rude to waste time and have a bad experience without much money, so most hunters wouldn't want to get involved in such requests...
Author's Note
Announcement!
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Thank you for your support! (^^)/