Chapter 28

One by one, the people of the Adventurer Guild return to their respective places.

Those with homes go home, those staying at the inn go to the inn, and those living in the Adventurer Guild head up to the second floor.

At this late hour, the guild staff, except for those on duty, finish their tasks and prepare to leave.

Similarly, Wendy, who works as a receptionist at the Adventurer Guild, also finished her preparations to leave and returned in casual clothes.

“Sigh… For some reason, today feels more exhausting than usual.”

There were no particularly troublesome adventurers, nor were there any urgent requests that required immediate attention.

Honestly, it was a quieter day than usual.

But as they say, when a day passes more quietly than usual, that’s when problems tend to arise.

In the leisurely evening hours when no more adventurers were taking on requests, the remaining tasks were just taking orders from adventurers having dinner or managing the guild’s supply store.

She thought today would pass peacefully without any issues, but then, what’s with that delicious-looking dish?

The violent sizzling sound of fried chicken and its savory aroma were a deadly temptation for her, who had been standing all day without even having dinner.

Perhaps she was being tortured through her senses of hearing, sight, and smell.

If she were an adventurer, she could have ordered something else or just left if she couldn’t stand it.

But as a guild receptionist, she had to endure the hunger that became more pronounced with every sound, unable to look away, making it a truly painful time.

“It was really… hard to watch.”

“Why are you complaining to me about it…?”

“Because you’re the only one who’ll listen!”

Wendy said, looking at the red-haired adventurer woman who was listening to her complaints.

Among the adventurers, there weren’t many young women around Wendy’s age, so this woman was one of the few adventurers Wendy was close to, even privately.

“How can someone use precious cooking oil so lavishly to cook!? Just after registering as an adventurer, the first request they take is a stone-grade request, much lower than their own rank, and right after finishing that, they make such a luxurious meal that even silver-grade adventurers wouldn’t do!”

Wendy talked about Kurt.

But it was more about being annoyed by Kurt, who had troubled her during work, rather than actually being angry or disliking him.

Considering that Kurt often came to buy ingredients and they had become somewhat friendly, it was more like a light complaint.

“If it’s like this, I should ask Kurt to lend me the kitchen in exchange for sharing some of his cooking!”

In the end, that was the main point.

The red-haired adventurer chuckled at Wendy’s conclusion.

“Hahaha. But I kind of like it? Preferring cold beer over lukewarm beer, and even buying a mage’s magic for it!”

“Exactly! I’ve never seen anyone else do something like that.”

“Well, I can use magic myself, so I enjoy it for free. But to pay for cold beer without being able to use magic? I’m not that much of a mood person! What, are they nobility? Hahaha!”

As she said, the red-haired adventurer was a mage.

When Kurt ordered cold beer, unbeknownst to him, it was she who cooled it.

Requesting small magics at the Adventurer Guild wasn’t about having a mage on standby; it was a system where, upon request, the guild would mediate with an adventurer mage who would perform the magic for a fee.

Despite being a mage, which could offer a more stable and less dangerous career, she insisted on becoming an adventurer herself.

This made her quite an eccentric, considering the flaws of being a mage, and Wendy sighed, knowing this.

“Sigh… I guess you and Kurt might actually get along well.”

“Yeah. Even from a distance, I kind of liked him. Adventurers should eat food that can wash away the day’s fatigue, not nibble on tasteless stuff!”

“By the way, shouldn’t you have charged double for using magic? You used it for less than half the price.”

“It’s fine. It’s nothing. I liked that guy.”

And so, the two chatted over beer in the quiet Adventurer Guild after most adventurers had left.

The night deepens in the Adventurer Guild.

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As usual, my party and I were cooking and having breakfast on the first floor of the guild.

Both Mari and Karina had naturally made it a routine to come to me in the morning to ask for breakfast.

Especially Karina, who, after asking me to teach her cooking the night before, became even more comfortable, waiting at my door with Mari for me to come out.

“Kurt’s cooking is always delicious!”

“Hmm… So adding salt brings out the saltiness, but too much makes it overly salty…”

“Once we’re done eating, let’s take on a request.”

“Finally…!”

At my words, Mari’s eyes sparkled as she looked at me.

Yesterday’s request didn’t satisfy her adventurous spirit at all.

Honestly, even I thought catching a three-legged chicken was lacking in fulfilling the romance of being an adventurer.

But today, there was a reason we had to take on a proper request, so she couldn’t help but feel excited.

The reason was simply that we were out of money.

Unlike other professions, an adventurer’s life isn’t about working diligently every day.

Depending on the difficulty of the request, it’s common to rest for a few days after completing one.

First, most adventurer tasks involve some level of danger, so the pay is relatively high compared to other jobs.

Thus, you can maintain a livelihood without working every day.

Second, adventurer work often consumes a lot of stamina or results in injuries, making rest and recovery essential after a mission.

The reasons for not working every day and the reasons you shouldn’t work every day.

For these two reasons, most adventurers take a break, ranging from a few days to several weeks, after completing a request.

But even though I completed a request the day before, I had to take on another without rest.

The first reason was that the request I completed yesterday was chosen purely out of interest, not for the reward, so the pay wasn’t great.

It was a stone-grade request, two ranks below my bronze rank.

Unlike other requests, it had significantly less risk of injury or death and could be taken by anyone, so the reward was really small.

Moreover, a request that could have been handled by one person was split among me, Mari, and Karina.

Of course, even such a request was better than nothing, so we could have taken a day off.

But the second problem was that we spent all the money we earned.

The frying powder and cooking oil used to fry the chicken were bought from selling the Shavel Tiger’s corpse, but renting the kitchen facilities and ordering cold beer used up all the money we made that day.

Honestly, the biggest expense was ordering the cold beer.

Frankly, paying for meals every time is quite a burden.

Of course, that doesn’t mean we can give up.

Maybe I should consider finding a mage companion.

But just needing someone to cool drinks isn’t enough reason to take anyone as a companion, so this is quite a dilemma.

But that’s not the important story.

The important thing is that I earned a pittance yesterday and spent it all.

For that reason, I had to take on a request today to find something to do.

“Today, we really need to take on a proper request!”

“Yeah. Low-grade requests don’t even leave enough money to buy cooking tools after a meal.”

“No! You should be saving, not thinking about buying cooking tools!”

“After buying cooking tools, if there’s any left.”

That’s not likely to happen.

And so, we headed to the Adventurer Guild’s request board.

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“Hmm… An elephant-tusked boar attacking a village…”

Pork, huh…

Grilling it with a sauce made from soy sauce and ginger would be a delicacy in itself.

The only downside is the lack of rice.

“Kurt! That’s an iron-grade adventurer request!”

“What’s the problem? You’re iron-grade too.”

“Anyway, if I follow Kurt, I can take on bronze-grade requests too!”

Wow, look at her trying to hitch a ride. If the higher-ups catch us, we’ll be in trouble.

But indeed, as Mari said, iron-grade requests don’t earn much money, so it’s a pity, but we decided to give up.

Unless it’s rare ingredients like Awakening Species meat, it’s cheaper to buy meat from the market after completing a higher-grade request.

Hmm. Recruitment for adventurers to participate in the Spine Ruins excavation.

Adventurers needed to conquer the Goz Dungeon. Reward to be decided after consultation.

There were quite a few requests with decent rewards, but nothing really caught my eye.

If it’s not related to food, my interest just drops.

Maybe I should take on a monster extermination request that looks tasty, even if the reward is a bit low.

As I thought this, a request written in an unnatural sentence caught my eye.

“Sea Golem overpopulation, adventurers needed for population control?”

Sea Golem with the word “sea” is strange enough, but reproduction?

Can golems even reproduce?

At my puzzled words, Karina looked at the request and cleared up my confusion.

“Ah, Sea Golems aren’t real golems; it’s a nickname for a certain creature.”

“What kind of nickname is that?”

“The real name of the Sea Golem is Sea Golem Lobster, a crustacean with a body as hard as a golem’s shell. Adults are about 3-4 meters in size and are hard to hunt, but their very hard shells are famous for being used in various fields.”

Karina went on to explain more about the Sea Golem’s ecology, but I was already stuck on a certain word she mentioned.

“Lobster, you say?”

Lobster…

Crustacean…

Seafood…

Come to think of it, since reincarnating as a Lizardman, I’ve never had seafood.

“Yeah. This is it. I’ve decided on this request.”

“Huh? Suddenly stopping mid-explanation… Don’t tell me?”

“Ah! Kurt’s eyes are shining with appetite!”

I wonder what Sea Golem tastes like.

Since it’s a lobster, maybe it tastes like real lobster?

Or maybe it’s more like shrimp.

Or perhaps it’s a completely new taste, unlike either.

I’m already starting to look forward to it.

“Kurt! Are you really thinking of eating Sea Golem!?”

“That’s ridiculous! No matter what, eating such a grotesque creature!”

“What’s the problem?”

“Of course, there’s a problem! Lobsters are practically like water bugs!”

“That’s right! How about looking for another request!? Like this one here, the elephant-tusked boar extermination request!”

Why all the fuss?

Calling lobsters bugs…

Ah, I get it.

“Have you guys never had seafood before?”

“Of course not! How could we eat such disgusting things!”

These guys have never had seafood before.

Now that I think about it, I saw it in a documentary in my past life.

Nomads living in the Mongolian steppes, who have never seen the sea, can’t distinguish between shrimp or lobster and bugs, considering eating seafood the same as eating bugs, which horrifies them.

Mari, who lived only in the Elf Village, hadn’t tasted proper meat dishes before leaving the village, let alone seafood.

And the same goes for Karina, who lived in the northern tribes.

Indeed, if that’s the case, I could understand.

But understanding and agreeing are two different things.

“I’ve already made up my mind.”

A stomach set on eating fried chicken in the evening should have fried chicken, and a stomach set on eating Sea Golem should have Sea Golem.

To put a different food into a stomach set on a certain dish is a cowardly compromise and a despicable negotiation.

And I’ve decided in my heart to eat Sea Golem cuisine.

“Ahhh! What do we do!? He’s really thinking of eating it!”

“T-that’s right! This request requires at least a silver grade! But Kurt is still bronze grade, right!?”

“That’s why we’ll take it under your name. I’m teaching you cooking, so you can do that much, right?”

As I put my hand on Karina’s shoulder and asked in a suggestive voice, she began to waver between instinctive disgust and gratitude towards me.

If I push a bit harder, she’ll take the request soon.

“Ah! Look at you trying to hitch a ride! If the higher-ups catch us, we’ll be in trouble!”

“What’s the problem? The Sea Golem extermination is the adventurer life you dreamed of, isn’t it?”

“That’s true, but!”

And so, our second request was decided.

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