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To find a suitable request, I visited the Adventurer’s Guild and discovered a rather strange phenomenon. The types of requests on the bulletin board were heavily skewed to one side.

There were hardly any monster extermination requests that used to be quite common. Instead, they had been replaced by relatively simple tasks like herb gathering.

Of course, it wasn’t that there were no monster extermination requests at all. It’s just that requests for exterminating relatively weak monsters like goblins or wolves had disappeared. Requests involving monsters that yielded valuable materials were still around.

At that moment, an adventurer approached me, took a glance at the bulletin board, and sighed. It wasn’t a deeply disappointed expression; it felt more like they were resigned to this situation as if it were something familiar.

“Excuse me.”

“Huh?”

That’s why I decided to speak to the adventurer.

“Why are the types of requests on the bulletin board so biased? It wasn’t like this before.”

“The long winter is the problem. I heard that other monsters have moved their habitats due to the never-ending cold.”

“Is the increase in herb gathering requests related to this?”

“Yep. Because winter is prolonged, wild herbs have become hard to find. Since they can’t be procured at shops, people make requests like this… But if even professional merchants can’t find them, how can adventurers?”

“Hmm. Thanks for the answer.”

I handed a silver coin to the observant adventurer. They received it with a light smile and turned to leave the guild.

I frowned at the bulletin board. I thought to pick something light due to the short request period, but in a situation like this, even that seemed nearly impossible.

It seemed that the number of adventurers inside the guild had significantly decreased.

“Hey, Seris?”

That voice was oddly familiar. As I turned in the direction of the voice, I saw a receptionist waving at me, holding a thick bundle of requests.

I didn’t know their name, but I recognized them from passing by several times.

“Hello.”

“Did you return from Monster Island?”

“Yeah, thanks to you, I had a good trip.”

“Did you make a lot of money?”

“I think I earned more than I expected.”

“I see…”

The receptionist said that and approached the bulletin board, starting to organize the requests. They discarded the expired ones and posted up new ones.

While continuing their work, the receptionist spoke to me.

“Are you looking for any specific requests?”

“I was hoping to find something light, but it seems hard to come by.”

“Hmm, that seems right. So, what are you thinking for the request time?”

“Can you help me find?”

“If it’s here, sure.”

The receptionist showed me the bundle of requests in their hand with a light smile.

“I’d prefer if the request duration didn’t exceed ten days.”

At my words, the receptionist began flipping through the requests.

It seemed I wasn’t going to find the request I wanted, as the receptionist sighed and shook their head.

“Why not try the guards instead?”

“The guards?”

“The kingdom has posted bounties on the bandits nearby. If you can capture them, you could get a decent reward. Since you’re Silver Grade, it should go smoothly for you.”

“Bandits running rampant? Here?”

“Given the weather, it’s hardly surprising. With farming impossible, many have turned to banditry just to eat.”

“Thanks for the good info.”

“Not at all! Feel free to drop by anytime when you’re done. There are many places looking for Silver Grade adventurers.”

I bid farewell to the receptionist and left the guild.

It seemed like the smiles had vanished from the faces of the locals, but to think bandits were also flooding in. It seemed the peace of this kingdom was plummeting as rapidly as the temperatures.

Passing along the frozen path, I arrived at the building of the guard responsible for the city’s safety. Aside from the soldier guarding the entrance, I couldn’t see anyone else.

“What brings you here?”

As I approached, the guard greeted me.

“I came because I heard I could get a reward for taking down a bandit group.”

“A bandit group…? You?”

It seemed my appearance made it hard for them to believe. I blew out a puff of white breath and pulled out the Silver Grade badge I had stashed in my pocket.

“What is this…?”

The guard furrowed his brow at the badge and pondered for a moment. Then, he told me to wait a moment and entered the building.

How much time passed? The guard returned, accompanied by someone who seemed to be his superior.

“Ah, so you’re… you?”

The man looked down at me with a pinched expression, but then his face changed as he saw the silver badge in my hand.

“Haha… you really are a Silver Grade swordsman, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“It’s hard to believe. If you’re okay with it, would you mind if I sent someone to confirm with the guild that issued that badge?”

“Of course.”

The man smiled slightly at my answer, then smacked the back of the soldier standing next to him and said,

“Now, hurry up and go.”

“Y-yes…”

The soldier, now rubbing the back of his head with a subdued expression, began to walk off. The man watched him in displeasure and shouted loudly,

“Run faster!”

“Y-yes!”

The once shuffling soldier suddenly sprang into action at those words. The man, satisfied with the sight, turned to me and said,

“Since it’s cold outside, how about coming in and waiting?”

“Sounds good.”

The man led me into the reception room. As I sat on a plush sofa and stared at him, he introduced himself.

“I’m Mikel, the guard captain.”

“I’m Seris.”

Mikel and I chatted about various subjects. Mostly, he asked questions and I answered. He asked where I had been recently and what kinds of requests I usually handled.

“Monster Island, huh… that dangerous place?”

“It was a mysterious place.”

“I’d like to hear more details.”

Mikel showed interest in the story of my adventure. With a good response from the listener, the speaker could only get more excited. Mikel even pulled out some snacks he had been hiding away for himself and offered them to me.

It was the moment I arrived in the forest where the king resided in my tale. Just then, a knock on the door and a voice resonated from outside.

The guard who had gone to confirm with the Swordsmanship Guild had returned. After Mikel gave him permission, he came in and whispered something to Mikel.

I could hear their conversation due to my enhanced senses beyond that of an ordinary human, but I chose not to let on.

Once Mikel had heard all the conversation, he waved his hand and shooed the guard out. We were back to being alone.

Mikel rose from his seat and bowed his head to me.

“I’m sorry for my doubts. I hope you’ll accept my apology.”

“No, it’s fine. If I were in your position, I wouldn’t have believed it easily either.”

After that, Mikel and I discussed the bandit extermination. I explained the reasons for the bandits’ emergence and the main person leading them. Checking a large map with Mikel as we talked, I soon had a question come to mind.

“By the way, Mikel, why isn’t the guard moving directly?”

“There are more than one or two bandit groups that have emerged like this.”

“Short on manpower?”

“Exactly. That’s why we ask for the help of adventurers like you.”

“There are a lot of bandit groups, huh.”

Mikel smiled bitterly and continued,

“First, I hope you can avoid unnecessary killings; they made that choice just to survive.”

“Do we spare all of them?”

“No, the main person leading them doesn’t need to be spared. If you can bring back just their head, there’s a reward promised.”

As he said that, Mikel handed me a wanted poster featuring a sketch of the culprits. Every one of them looked like rough, mean men.

I nodded and took the wanted poster, getting to my feet.

“Alright. I’ll be back soon.”

“You’re setting off right away?”

“The sooner, the better, right?”

I answered his question lightly and left the guard station.

*

Two days passed since I set out to hunt the bandits.

Finding the bandits was fairly easy. As I rode around on my horse, young girls would often have them approach me on their own. However, meeting the leader of the bandits proved to be quite a challenge.

From the fact that I had never met them, it seemed they were quite cautious.

“Hurry up and walk!”

I shouted at the people who were tied up with ropes and walking weakly. This time, I had captured a total of ten bandits, all exuding a terrible smell of blood upon meeting them.

Since the corpse of an Iron Grade adventurer had been discovered nearby, it was clear that these were their doing.

With that, I led the bandits toward the Capital City of the Karma Empire. Despite the cold weather causing the bandits’ fingers and toes to frostbite and necrotize, that was none of my concern.

“Thanks for your hard work!”

The guard stationed at the castle gate greeted me with a short salute. Since this was my third return today, they opened the way without a word.

Tap-tap-tap—

The sound of Nightmare’s hooves and the rough breathing of the bandits slowly dispersed. I led them directly to the guards.

After handing over the bandits, I needed to collect my reward from the guards. I had to confirm whether the people I brought in were indeed bandits, but that didn’t take long.

“Um, Seris? Could you wait a moment, please?”

Just as I was about to leave the guards after receiving my reward, a guard approached me.

“What’s going on?”

“Well… there’s a guest waiting for you, Seris.”

“A guest is waiting for me?”

I frowned. A guest waiting for me? My social circle was so small that I couldn’t think of anyone who would come looking for me. At most, I could think of Su and Shu, who had left my hometown to start as adventurers.

Creak—

A heavy and formidable footstep echoed from behind me.

Creak—

A towering figure was coming toward me, clearly the guest who wanted to see me. I tensed my muscles and turned around.

“Are you Seris?”

“Do you know me?”

The one who spoke was a middle-aged knight clad in full plate armor. From the condition of his gear and the aura he exuded, I could tell he was no one to ridicule.

His swordsmanship was likely on par with or even surpassing Celyon.

The middle-aged knight stroked his beard with his sparkling silver gauntlet. Then he opened his mouth.

“I’ve heard a lot about you, fey swordsman chosen by Hairan.”

“F-fey swordsman…?”

Catching me off-guard with the embarrassing title, the middle-aged knight proceeded to say something outrageous.

“You mentioned Nightmare, right? I’d like you to sell it to me.”

It was a proposal I couldn’t refuse. I furrowed my brow and responded.

“No.”

“Sixty thousand gold….”

“No.”

“Then seventy thousand…!”

“No.”

With each successive refusal, the expression on the middle-aged knight’s face twisted deliciously. He slowly calmed his breathing and said,

“Listen well, Seris. A good horse deserves a good knight to shine.”

I let out a long sigh and turned away. This was not someone I could reason with. His aura spoke volumes. He had his own firm beliefs and was a stubborn person who thought he was right.

“I’ll give you a hundred thousand gold.”

The middle-aged knight’s voice drifted behind me. But his words couldn’t catch hold of my ankles.

Outside the guard station, Nightmare was waiting for me. The creature, seemingly uncomfortable with the gazes of those around, had been pawing the ground, but the moment it saw me, it hurried over and licked my cheek.

Whoosh—

How could I sell such a pretty thing?

Seeing how a middle-aged knight with that awkward title had come looking for me, it seemed I had gained some fame from hunting the bandits.

Mounted on Nightmare, I tugged on the reins and charged off quickly toward my next destination.

 

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