A few days had passed since that ridiculous request from the merchant. Crimson Vow and Wonder Trio were enjoying a leisurely afternoon tea in the clan house, a former inn building.
"The matter regarding the merchant who appears to have come from the provinces seems to have spread among both guilds, their members, the general public, and even some of the nobles. I don't think anyone will try to use Crimson Vow and Wonder Trio as transporters anymore. ...Excluding people from the countryside, people who are ill-informed, and fools who mistakenly think they can get away with anything, though..." (Pauline)
"Also, from now on, when a strange request comes in, the receptionist will check it properly and give guidance." (Mile)
Mile added this to Pauline's explanation.
For normal requests, the receptionist would check whether the conditions were reasonable when accepting the request. If the condition was extremely bad, they would give advice, but if the client refused to listen and insisted on releasing the document as is, they have no choice but to accept it under those conditions. It was not a problem for the guild as they received processing fee, and there might be some eccentric hunters who didn't mind these conditions. The chances of this happening were probably close to zero, but it didn't really matter if there were no takers and the request was left on hold. It was up to the client to decide whether to let the request form expire and have it removed from the board, or to pay an extension fee to extend the posting period.
However, in the case of designated requests, the terms were decided in a face-to-face meeting, since the requester was asking a specific person to accept the order. If the requester initially offered a high fee, it could not be reduced below that amount after the meeting, so it was not unusual for someone who wanted to negotiate a lower fee to place an order without deciding on the details of the terms. Of course, when it was absolutely necessary to get acceptance, there were cases where a reasonable fee was presented as the minimum amount before negotiations, in order to prevent being refused without even getting a meeting.
Regardless of the conditions put forth by the clients, if they didn't appeal to the hunters, they simply refused the task. Nevertheless, the guild consistently received the request acceptance fee, so there was never any issue. It wasn't as though reaching an agreement could be achieved in every instance merely by engaging in discussions.
Therefore, the receptionists bore no responsibility whatsoever. However, they had not anticipated such absurd conditions being proposed. At the very least, among the merchants in the royal capital, there were none quite so foolish...
However, moving forward, they assured that they would pay closer attention to that aspect. In advance, she would review the proposed conditions to a certain extent and advise the merchants by saying, "All requests with such conditions have been rejected." In particularly egregious cases, she would inform the hunters of the situation and ask, "Would you like to refuse without meeting the client?" This level of consideration was provided. This special service was provided exclusively for Crimson Vow and Wonder Trio, due to the presence of individuals possessing immense storage magic, which had the potential to attract similar foolish requests in the future. It seemed that the guild was paying a great deal of attention to both parties.
"Of course, this doesn't include things like transporting supplies when the guild is called in for an emergency. In that case, of course I don't care if it's just luggage transport or a low fee. Well, the only time we get an emergency request to transport large amounts of medicine, water, or food to an area where carriages can't reach is during a monster stampede." (Reina)
"That kind of thing happens about once every 20 to 30 years..." (Mavis)
"...And tomorrow marks exactly 30 years since the last stampede—" (Mile)
"Stop!" (Reina)
Reina got angry at Mile's inappropriate joke.
Yes, the monster stampede was a major event that swallowed many villages and towns, resulting in numerous deaths. Survivors from the devastated villages and towns moved to the royal capital, meaning that some of the people in the area might have lost their families to the monster stampede and were once young children. Therefore, it was an inappropriate topic that should never be mentioned in public.
"I, I'm sorry..." (Mile)
Seeing that Reina was not scolding her as the usual "educational guidance" but was seemingly genuinely angry, Mile finally realized that what she had just said had been a slip of the tongue.
When you think about it, although the causes were different, Reina had lost all her family and friends, and was the only survivor. Since then, Reina had always been overly sensitive to themes of total annihilation or being the sole survivor. Unfortunately, Mile had forgotten this fact, leading to her major blunder.
Reina then decided not to pursue Mile any further, as she appeared to be truly remorseful. It seemed that the inappropriate remarks made by Mile earlier had been pretended not to have happened.
"Well, at any rate, this should completely put an end to any merchants trying to use Crimson Vow and Wonder Trio as carts, right? …Normally, merchants from the provinces would have found out that we hadn't been absent from the royal capital for long periods of time, and that 'no merchants in the royal capital had made any transport requests,' and would have checked various things and found out that neither of our parties would be accepting such requests. As expected, even if they're local merchants, it is rare to find someone of that level who has come all the way to the royal capital." (Mavis)
Mavis said that, but...
"The merchant girl, Arly, whom we met in the port town, said she was in the royal capital, but now she's in a provincial town..." (Reina)
"Ah……" (Other 3)
The three of them were left speechless by Reina's remark. That's right. The world wasn't solely made up of reasonable people, no matter what profession they belonged to. Among the hunters, some were honest, while others were rude fools. In the same way, there were probably a certain number of fools among merchants.
"...Well, it's certain that the number of flying insects gathering will decrease dramatically, so it's not a problem. Now we can finally concentrate on my activities as Hunters. Whenever we start out in a new city, it's always a hassle at first because we get tangled up in weird stuff. Well, those kinds of things will stop coming around soon though... So, it's fine for Crimson Vow (us), but Wonder Trio (you guys) are still being solicited to join the party, right? They're saying they'll let all three of you in at once..." (Reina)
"Yes. As expected, We don't get many offers to poach just me, but we do get offers for three people together. From parties of four or five people, or even large B-rank parties..." (Marcella)
"Ah~……" (All CV)
"But you can just say no to those kinds of things, and with Marcella-san and the others, you won’t have to worry about being forced into anything. After all..." (Mile)
"Yes. Even if we are attacked and tied up, we can just put away the rope..." (Marcella)
"Even if my mouth is covered, I can still use chantless magic..." (Monica)
"In the first place, since their goal is to use us, there’s no need to worry about a surprise attack that stabs us in the heart. In that case, we can do whatever we want. Even if we're surrounded by a large group of people, we can attack all around with hot magic..." (Aureana)
Mile nodded in agreement at what Marcella, Monica, and Aureana had said. For self-defense, Marcella and her companions were taught not only hot magic using capsaicin, but also many other nasty spells.
"Plus, if someone tries to use violence on you and you fight back, it would be self-defense, right? Everyone knows you guys have a lot going on with you, and you have no reason to pick a fight with other parties anyway. I have no doubt that the guild, the other hunters, and the guards will all believe your testimony. So, even if you injure or — in the worst-case scenario — kill the people who get involved with you, you will definitely be innocent, so you can fight back as much as you like without worrying about anything." (Reina)
"...Th-That's true..." (Marcella)
Marcella replied a little hesitantly to Reina's words. Indeed, that was true, but it seemed a bit too much to go to such lengths against fellow hunters rather than thieves.
Of course, if the opponent harbored murderous intent, they would retaliate without hesitation... Given that minor injuries were easily healed with magic, both Crimson Vow and Wonder Trio had a tendency to underestimate the severity of their own and their opponents' injuries, as long as they weren't life-threatening or involved limb loss.
It was unlikely that anyone would be foolish enough to consider using violence to subdue someone who, after all, would need to be relied upon as an ally in the future and could always retaliate. Therefore, the three members of Wonder Trio just let Reina's words pass by without much consideration unmentioned. And so…….
"Just as Reina-san said, Wonder Trio (us) will now begin our activities as Hunters in earnest. Unlike Crimson Vow (you), we've only just skipped a grade and become C-rank, so we need to achieve some notable accomplishments in order to set an example. If we don't show enough ability to be granted a grade skip, it will be a disgrace to the Guild Master..." (Marcella)
"That's right. Do your best." (Marcella)
Marcella's words made sense, so Reina encouraged them, and Mile and the rest nodded in agreement, but...
"So please lend your Mile-san to us for a while." (Marcella)
"Whaaaaat?!" (All CV)
"…No, I don’t mind if I join you, but I don’t think it would be good for me, from another party, to be in the middle of showing everyone at Wonder Trio_ what they’re capable of…" (Mile)
Naturally, Mile pointed this out, but...
"It's okay, don't worry about small details!" (All WT)
"That's not small details at all!!" (Reina)
Reina made this remark in response to that...
Author's Note
Announcement!
On Thursday, November 9th, the second volume of the comic "I Shall Survive Using Potions! Continued" (the comic adaptation of the original work, equivalent to volume 11) will be released! (^^)/
It includes an original short story (8 pages) written by me.
Thank you very much! (^^)/