Kousuke and his party had been investigating the spring on the 52nd Floor, but since they hadn’t found anything else of particular interest, they decided to return to their base.
This time, they had entered the tower primarily to gather materials, so they needed to submit them.
While they still had plenty of time before the deadline, there was no doubt that submitting them sooner would be appreciated. This was even more the case since they were also fulfilling a request from the Public Guild this time.
Upon returning to their base, Kousuke separated the materials into those that were to be submitted to the Tower Conquest Guild and those that were not. The materials not going to the Tower Conquest Guild were further divided into those for the Public Guild’s request and others.
He decided to process the items categorized as “others” that were posted on the Public Guild’s bulletin board on the spot. Anything left over would be sold to Crown’s Commercial Division later.
“Speaking of which, Roman and the others must be having trouble disposing of their excess materials, right?” Kousuke asked Exu, who was watching him sort the materials. He figured that if they were bringing back monsters they fought to the very limit, they would surely have trouble processing the materials. Unlike on the Central Continent, the custom here was to only bring back materials for requests. It was rare for adventurers themselves to sell them to the Merchant’s Guild. The only exception was when major Adventurer’s Guilds received direct requests from the Merchant’s Guild.
Exu, asked by Kousuke, nodded her head. “Yes. Therefore, we decided to keep them in storage and have someone look into them later. We arrange for someone to come from headquarters once a week.” It seemed Exu had already grasped the problem, and proper countermeasures were in place. They would connect a Teleport Gate to a room at the base once a week, and have a representative come over to purchase the items. Of course, keeping the connection of the Teleport Gate a secret from others was crucial.
“I see, then there’s nothing to worry about.” The purchase price for the materials would be based on the market price of the Central Continent, but there was nothing that could be done about it. Once they could officially function as a Crown Branch, the inconsistencies would eventually be resolved. Moreover, once Teleport Gates were installed, the issue of distance would disappear, tending to reduce disparities between regions. Kousuke had come to understand such things through his past experiences.
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After finishing organizing the materials, Kousuke, accompanied by Kouhi and Peach, headed to the Public Guild. After having a request they had received processed, they checked the bulletin board. If there were any materials they possessed that could be gotten rid of, they would do so. As expected, there were several requests on the board for which they had materials that could be used, so they gathered them up and took them to the reception.
The receptionist gave a momentary look of bewilderment when she saw the requests Kousuke brought, but after flipping through them and checking the content, she seemed to understand and immediately began processing them. Seeing this, Kousuke inwardly admired her as quite an excellent receptionist, but there was a reason for this. Normally, there was a limit to the number of requests a single party could accept, but Kousuke had brought more than that limit. She had looked momentarily bewildered, thinking of pointing it out, but if certain conditions were met, it was possible to accept requests beyond the limit. The receptionist, having confirmed that all the requests Kousuke brought met those conditions, proceeded with the processing without saying a word. However, this was strictly an exceptional measure, and many people were unaware of it. Just like one of the adventurers who had just approached Kousuke.
“Hey. Wait a minute.” Turning at the voice, Kousuke saw an adventurer with an unconvinced expression.
“Is something wrong?”
“What do you mean, ‘is something wrong’? Why are you getting special treatment!”
“Special treatment?” Kousuke tilted his head in confusion, and the adventurer’s face became irritated.
“Don’t play dumb! I saw you take on more requests than the limit!” Hearing the adventurer say this, Kousuke inwardly understood. He also noticed other adventurers who had been watching the scene beginning to focus their attention on them with a murmur.
“No. This isn’t special treatment, you know?”
“Don’t mess with me! Normally, you can’t take on requests beyond the limit, right?! How is that not special treatment!” The adventurer, noticing the surrounding attention, seemed to gain confidence as the other adventurers nodded in agreement upon hearing his words, and he put on a smug expression. Kousuke inwardly pondered what to do. While he could explain it himself, it was uncertain whether the adventurer would be convinced.
At that moment, he noticed the receptionist looking his way. Seeing this, Kousuke decided to leave the explanation to the receptionist. He reasoned that other adventurers would be more convinced if the explanation came from a Guild staff member rather than himself. “Could you please explain?” The receptionist’s eyes widened for a moment at Kousuke’s sudden request, but she quickly seemed to understand, nodded once, and began explaining to the adventurer who had approached Kousuke. “Iru, I’ll explain.” It seemed the receptionist knew the adventurer who had approached her. Whether he was displeased that his favorite receptionist was giving Kousuke special treatment, or mistakenly thought Kousuke had threatened her, Kousuke couldn’t tell, but he found it strangely understandable.
“Maiya, but…” The adventurer, called Iru, glanced at Kousuke and started to say something, but Maiya, the receptionist, cut him off. “First of all, I am not giving Mr. Kou any special treatment.”
“Then… !”
“Please listen to me until the end.” Although they were likely acquainted, Maiya maintained her professional demeanor as a receptionist, causing Iru to stop speaking. The exchange somewhat revealed their usual power dynamic.
Seeing Iru fall silent, Maiya continued. “There is a limit to the requests that can be accepted, but there are exceptions.”
“Exceptions?” Iru looked as if he had never heard of this before, and Maiya sighed. “I already explained…” She mumbled something to herself but seemed to regain her composure and continued her explanation. It should be noted that other adventurers who were paying attention to this exchange had expressions similar to Iru’s. Some seemed to grasp the situation just from hearing her words, but they were overwhelmingly in the minority. “For requests that are past their deadline and for which the materials can be provided on the spot, you can process them beyond the limit of the number of requests. Of course, since the deadline has passed, the request fee may be reduced in some cases.”
“Th-is is true?!” To Iru’s surprise, Maiya let out an obvious sigh. “That’s right. Of course, there are other things as well, as this is an exceptional measure, but if you keep this in mind, you should be fine. All the requests Mr. Kou brought meet that condition.” Upon Maiya’s explanation, Iru looked embarrassed and turned to Kousuke. He finally realized he had made an unwarranted accusation. “I apologize.” Though his apology sounded somewhat gruff, Iru bowed his head properly and returned to his party. Kousuke didn’t even have time to say he didn’t mind. He must have been extremely embarrassed.
As Kousuke, who had failed to speak up, looked towards Maiya, she also bowed her head. “I apologize. I will scold him later.” She said this, perhaps not intending to hide her acquaintance with Iru. She likely knew their relationship was already obvious from their behavior. “No, well, just in moderation,” Kousuke replied, somehow anticipating Iru’s situation later based on Maiya’s expression.
I wanted to write about the exceptional measures, so I wrote this story, and Maiya and Iru ended up playing a bigger role than I expected lol (I hadn’t planned on giving them names at first). If readers wish, they might appear again?
