I Became a Forest Witch Who Raises Dragons

That Kind of Work

—–

On the second day after the commotion at the Adventurer’s Guild.
I was standing alone in front of the Adventurer’s Guild.

‘I ended up coming after all…’
The signboard of the Adventurer’s Guild building I’m looking at now has the guild’s emblem of a winged shoe engraved on it.
It’s said to symbolize the free spirit and exploration of adventurers who are not bound by anything, but considering that adventurers in this world are closer to errand runners or mercenaries, it’s a slightly ironic explanation.

Anyway, the reason I’m standing in front of the Adventurer’s Guild building is… because my wallet has finally hit rock bottom.

And also because today is the day I get my adventurer’s card.
‘I’m feeling a bit nervous…’
Thinking about taking my first steps as an adventurer makes me feel somewhat nervous.
They say every new beginning always comes with both excitement and fear, don’t they?
That’s exactly the state I was in.

But one can’t stay at the starting line forever.
Creak.
After taking a light deep breath, I pushed open the door of the Adventurer’s Guild.
As soon as I opened the door, the characteristic smell of metal and sweat of the Adventurer’s Guild hit my nose.
The scene unfolding before my eyes was similar to two days ago, reminiscent of a marketplace.

“Last spot for the orc village reconnaissance mission!!!!!!!”
“Looking for a warrior to clear monsters around Rain Village!!!!!!”
‘It’s still a noisy place…’
People crowding around the bulletin board, people sitting around tables discussing requests, and people recruiting party members.
Lively if you put it nicely, noisy if you don’t.

Suppressing the urge to use a silence spell, I slowly walked towards the reception desk where I had seen the guild employee last time.
As I reached the reception desk, the employee spoke to me, seemingly recognizing me.
“Hello, Miss May. Are you here to receive your adventurer’s card? Just a moment…”

Oh. She seems to remember my name. Even though it’s an alias.
…Well, it would be strange not to remember after what happened.
The guild employee who saw me immediately started rummaging through the drawer without me saying anything, and handed me a simple bronze adventurer’s card.

‘So this is an adventurer’s card..’
It has quite a hefty weight.
It’s a simple design with the Adventurer’s Guild emblem engraved in the center of a regular pentagon shape.
I briefly thought about just putting it in my subspace, but since the adventurer’s card can also be used to prove identity, I decided to just wear it around my waist.

It’s also cumbersome to take it out of the subspace every time I need it.

After receiving the adventurer’s card, I then asked her to recommend a job suitable for a copper rank adventurer to take on.
“Excuse me. Could you recommend a suitable job among those that copper rank adventurers can take on? Preferably something that can be finished quickly..”
“Hmm… Just a moment…!”

Rustle rustle. The employee took out a few sheets of paper that seemed to be request forms from the drawer in response to my question.
After looking through those papers, she started reciting the request contents to me one by one.
“Well, the requests that copper rank adventurers can take on are… goblin subjugation, finding lost children, mineral collection, sewer investigation… about these.”

‘Hmm…’
Perhaps because they’re requests that can be taken on by copper rank adventurers, the lowest rank, most of them are only simple requests.
The rewards are all about the same too… The best one seems to be goblin subjugation.
“Could you explain a bit about the goblin subjugation request?”
“Um… I’m sorry, but for copper rank adventurers, there’s a principle of at least 2 people when taking on monster subjugation requests….”

‘Oh no..’

Things in this world are really not easy.
Even if I insist here that I can do it alone, I’d just end up looking like that man who caused a commotion at the guild last time.
But taking on other requests means low pay, and I don’t know how long it would take to complete them.

‘Should I do a lost child finding request…’
As I was pondering over the request forms in front of me, a familiar voice reached my ears.
“Excuse me.. Are you perhaps trying to take on the goblin subjugation request?”
“You’re….”

Black hair reaching the shoulders and black eyes with a hint of brown, an appearance that still looks youthful.
…The one who spoke to me was the adventurer girl who had an altercation with the man I petrified two days ago.
“I was also looking for a companion. If it’s okay with you, sister…”
A slightly uncertain voice.

The girl wearing leather armor reinforced with metal plates on the chest and joint areas was nervously watching my reaction, perhaps worried that I might reject her proposal.
‘What should I do…’
We’ve already met before, but only twice at most.
Although my first impression of her was good, that’s all it was. What if she’s someone approaching me with some intention?

I wanted to readily accept the girl’s proposal, but my nature of not being able to trust others easily held me back.
Even though I knew the possibility was slim, doubts kept rising.
“Do you perhaps dislike the idea…?”
Unaware of my thoughts, the girl in front of me kept waiting for my answer.

…It’s not polite to keep her waiting either.
Despite the continuously rising doubts, my choice leaned towards accepting her proposal.
‘Right. Even if something happens, I can at least take care of myself.’
I finally accepted her proposal.

“…I’m sorry. I was lost in thought for a moment.. Let’s take on the request together.”
“Really?! Awesome! I’m actually a silver rank adventurer, you know? Just trust me!”
She was overjoyed, almost jumping, when I accepted her proposal.
The way she proudly showed her adventurer’s card hanging at her waist seemed quite cute.

“I’m Chae-eun─no, Airi. Nice to meet you, sister! Oh.. I just realized you might not be older..”
“…I probably am older. I’m May. Nice to meet you too.”
“Okay! Sister May!”

We two finished introducing ourselves.
Then we turned our gaze to the guild employee at the reception desk.
“Shall I process it as you two taking on the goblin subjugation request? The location is Rain Village, and the deadline is two days from now. The client is the village chief of Rain Village.”

The employee who had been watching us started explaining briefly while holding out the request form, as if she knew what we were going to say.
I thought this when she handed me my adventurer’s card earlier too, but this person is quite perceptive.
‘Rain Village.. That’s the village I visited before.’

It’s the closest village to Heren Village where I live.
It’s quite a large village, so I occasionally visited to buy ingredients.
“…You need to stop by the Adventurer’s Guild to report the completion of the request. Otherwise, you may be disadvantaged in future promotion assessments.”
“Yes. Come on, Sister Camilla. You told me this last time too.”
“Can’t help it. This is also a rule.”

After listening to the employee’s brief explanation that followed, we coordinated our schedule on what to do next.
“Then, shall we meet here at this time tomorrow to depart? We’ll need to prepare things too!”
“Yes. That sounds good.”

I nodded at Airi’s words, agreeing to meet tomorrow, but… she somehow had a pouty expression.
“Please speak more casually! You’re being too formal!”

…It seems she didn’t like that I kept using polite speech.
Speaking casually isn’t such a difficult thing to do..
“Okay. Airi.”
“Hehe. No taking it back! Then see you tomorrow, sister!”

She seemed much happier when I spoke casually.
‘Is it such a happy thing..?’
Airi then said goodbye to me and left.
After that, I looked over the request form once more, then headed home where Saya and Puel would be waiting.

“Kids! I’m home!!!!”
I returned home with meat skewers in both hands, bought with the remaining money.
Is this how parents feel when heading home with chicken?
‘Although I’ve never experienced that…’

Having grown up in an orphanage with just my little sister, I couldn’t have had such an experience, but that’s how it feels. Just the feeling.
“Ariel!”
“Big sister….”

Saya and Puel greeted me as I entered the house.
But Puel’s expression seems a bit strange. Puel is looking at me with a somewhat sad expression.
“Puel. Did something happen?”
“N-no…”

In contrast to Puel who seemed a bit gloomy, Saya was smiling as usual and pointed to the living room.
“Ariel! Sister Marian came!”
‘Marian?’

In the living room that Saya pointed to, Marian was sitting with a somewhat complicated expression.
It seems she visited our house while I was at the Adventurer’s Guild.
“Did something happen? If you had told me you were coming, I would have waited…”
“Ah, don’t worry about it. I came intending to surprise you. But…”

Marian trailed off, unable to continue her next words. She eventually spoke to me with a hesitant air.
“Ariel.. Are you short on money these days?”
Marian’s question about whether I’m short on money. It’s true that I’ve been a bit short on money lately, but….

‘How did she know..? Did the kids tell her? I’m sure I never mentioned money in front of the kids..’
Do I look that poor…? I shouldn’t…
“Mo-money? It’s fine! I recently found a job so things have gotten better.”
Worried that Marian might be concerned, I deliberately spoke in a bright voice.
Yet Marian’s expression became even more serious.

“Work… You say you found work…”
“Marian? But why suddenly…?”
As I waited for her words, tensing up thinking something serious might have happened.
Marian then uttered something outrageous to me.

“Perhaps… I’m just saying perhaps… The work you say you found… It’s not that kind of work, is it…?”
“That kind… of work…?”
“I mean! You know… Like selling beauty… or something…”

Marian’s face was red as she spoke. As if she was embarrassed to even mention it.
“Eeh…?”
And seeing Marian like that, I couldn’t hide my bewilderment.
‘Surely… ‘selling beauty’ means…”

Wasn’t that a euphemistic expression for the work of women in the pleasure industry?
It’s hard to believe such words came from the mouth of the strait-laced Marian, and the subject is me?

Thud.
…As if representing my shocked state of mind, the meat skewer I was holding fell limply to the floor.