"Come to think of it, Tao mentioned she’d accepted a request to hunt Ghouls."
After returning to the castle via Spatial Transfer, our previous conversation suddenly came back to me.
Ghouls are monsters with the Undead Attribute, so they’re fairly resilient. Erasing them wouldn't just be harmless; people would actually be grateful for the help.
"There might be some requests left. I think I'll head to the Adventurers' Guild."
Once the decision was made, there was no time like the present. I immediately set off.
"Hmph. Ghouls, being monsters of the Undead Attribute, are opponents against whom standard magic is less effective. We shall accompany you, Master."
"If anything happens, I'll protect you even at the cost of my own life. Don't worry, Lloyd! ...I mean, Master!"
It seemed Sylpha would be coming along this time as well. I suppose she felt that Ren of the Poison Moth alone was insufficient for a trip to the Adventurers' Guild. Well, that was fine. I actually wanted Sylpha to help me with the experiment today anyway.
"On!"
"Good boy. You too, Shiro."
Accompanied by the two of them and Shiro, I stepped into the Adventurers' Guild. As soon as I walked through the door, I locked eyes with the Receptionist.
"Aaaaaah! L-Lloyd-san! It’s you!"
The Receptionist let out a shrill cry and leaned so far across the desk she was practically lying on it.
"It’s been way too long! Or rather, please come here more often! Lloyd-san, you aren't the kind of person who should be idling at D-rank! If you just showed up more often, you’d hit A-rank in a heartbeat! Don't you think it's a waste to stay like this!?"
"Not particularly."
"Gah!"
The Receptionist slumped onto the desk in defeat. She was certainly an energetic one.
"Rest easy, Receptionist. Master Lloyd has come here today specifically to accept a request," Sylpha interjected.
"Oh! Is that true!?"
"Yeah. Are there any requests for Ghoul extermination?" I asked.
"...Ghouls, is it? We have indeed received reports of sightings and damage starting a few days ago. We have several requests in the system. Please wait a moment."
The Receptionist hurried into the back and returned with a small stack of papers.
"These are the request forms. Since they're within your rank, Lloyd-san, you can choose whichever you like."
I flipped through the papers she handed me.
The North Great Cemetery, the back alleys in the east, the Dean Great Bridge that connected the two halves of the city... Hmm, they were popping up in quite a few places.
"I'll take them all, then."
"All of them!? T-That’s fine, but if you accept them and fail, you have to pay a fine! In the worst-case scenario, you could even be demoted... Are you still okay with that!?"
"Yeah, I don't mind."
Monsters with the Undead Attribute weren't very common in this region. It was better to claim them all before other adventurers snatched them up.
"Hmm, well, with Lloyd-san's skills, you’d probably finish them in an instant. If you complete this many, you’ll likely jump straight to C-rank. It would be a loss for the guild if you changed your mind... Hehehe, Lloyd-san only comes in once in a while, but he’s perfect every time. At this rate, maybe in half a year—no, a year—A-rank really is in sight..."
While muttering to herself, the Receptionist cleared her throat.
"...Ahem. Very well. Normally, D-rankers are only allowed to take one request at a time, but I'll make a special exception just for you."
"Thanks."
"I have high expectations for you, Lloyd-san. Let's work hard and aim for that A-rank!"
The Receptionist nodded with a smile and began processing the paperwork while humming a tune.
Perfect. Experimental subjects secured. Now I could finally test my Holy Magic.
"Hey now, Miss Receptionist, I can't say I approve of the favoritism."
"Yeah, it's common courtesy to take requests one at a time, isn't it? We were planning on taking those jobs too, you know."
I turned around to see two men standing behind me.
"Yo, you little brat. You certainly 'took care' of us the other day, didn't you?"
...Who were they? I had no memory of them at all.
As I tilted my head, trying to place them, one of the men stomped up to me.
"Stop acting like you’ve forgotten! You're the one who shredded our pants, remember!?"
"And I don't know what kind of trick you used, but you sent us flying to the top of a rocky mountain with some weird magic! It took us a whole day just to climb down! We’ve had enough! We're gonna kill you!"
"Lloyd!"
Ren of the Poison Moth tried to step in, but Sylpha held her back. Ren looked at her with a confused expression, but Sylpha simply shook her head as if to say it wasn't necessary.
Yeah, that was for the best. If Ren interfered carelessly, she might be the one to get hurt.
The men tried to grab me by the collar, but my Magic Barrier flared up and blocked them.
"Gah...!? What the hell is this...!?"
"Stop messing around!"
The other man swung a punch, but that too was deflected by the automatically deployed Magic Barrier.
"W-What did you just do?"
"It’s just a Magic Barrier."
"A Magic Barrier!? There's no way a barrier that fast or that hard could exist!"
But it did. I wondered why they were so surprised.
"Honestly, no matter the world, you always find people like this. They simply cannot grasp the difference in power," a voice muttered.
"Shut up, you damn angel. You're pretty much the same," another grumbled.
Jiriel and Grimo were bickering again. Hmm, come to think of it, this was a good opportunity to see what happened when I used Purification on humans. I’d heard it had no physical effect on the body, but I was curious if that held true even for offensive applications.
If I fired it at the absolute minimum output, they shouldn't die... probably.
Purification System Holy Magic: 'Glimmer'.
I reached out, touched both men, and activated the spell.
"Nnghh-aaaaah!?"
The men's backs arched violently. They collapsed to the floor for a second, then immediately stood back up as if nothing had happened. Phew, what a relief.
Just as I was relaxing, the men suddenly dropped to their knees the moment they looked at me.
"We are truly, deeply sorry!"
Everyone in the guild froze, eyes wide at the sudden shift.
"We must have been out of our minds! We were possessed by dark, murky emotions, and just looking at Master Lloyd made us fly into a mindless rage..."
"Yes, but now we feel as refreshed as a clear blue sky! How could we have been so rude to Lloyd-san, who is going out of his way to save the city from Ghouls!? Take as many requests as you like! Please, forgive our insolence from the bottom of our hearts!"
I blinked. Their demeanor was the complete opposite of what it had been seconds ago.
"Holy Magic has the effect of cleansing evil hearts. It seems their spirits were purified by Master Lloyd's power," Gillian explained with a smug look.
"Whoa, whoa... forget purification. That’s at the level of total personality destruction," Grimo muttered, looking horrified.
"Normally it wouldn't have such a potent effect... but it is only natural, given it was Master Lloyd's magic power. He is truly magnificent."
Gillian continued to preen while Grimo backed away. It did feel a bit dangerous if it could completely rewrite a person's character. Since I didn't know exactly what qualified as an "evil heart," it was probably best not to use it on humans again.
"Uh, so, is it really okay for me to take this many requests?" I asked the men.
"No, no, not a problem at all!"
"That's right! We were just being petty and looking for a fight; we had no intention of taking the requests anyway!"
"We shouldn't stay and be a hindrance to Master Lloyd any longer. We’ll take our leave now."
"We wish you a wonderful day!"
The two men departed with bright, refreshing smiles.
Yeah, Holy Magic was definitely dangerous. There was a reason why its use was restricted to the Church.
"Requests for Ghoul extermination have low rewards relative to their difficulty, so few people take them," the Receptionist said, shaking off her shock. "While taking multiple requests is a bit of a breach of etiquette, it isn't actually against the rules. With your skills, Lloyd-san, it’s not a problem."
"Good. Then I won't hold back."
"...However, there have been several reports of adventurers going missing while on these hunts. I'm sure you'll be fine, Lloyd-san, but please be careful."
"I will."
After saying goodbye to the Receptionist, I set off for the Ghoul hunt.