"Well then... here's to the completion of the request. Cheers!"
"Cheers!"
The tavern attached to the Golts Guild.
The voices of adventurers rang out through the tavern.
The current time was still around four in the afternoon, a bit early even for evening.
Even so, a large number of adventurers in the Guild tavern were happily starting a banquet.
"Here you go, thanks for waiting! First up, Orc meat skewers! I'll be bringing more different Orc dishes later, so don't eat too much of these!"
The tavern clerk said as he placed the Orc meat skewers on each table — and these were not the kind with vegetables sandwiched between pieces of meat, but truly skewers made entirely of Orc meat.
The dissection of the Garangiga had been completed, and the materials and meat were handed over to Rei, completing the request about thirty minutes ago.
The adventurers currently holding a banquet in the tavern had come straight from finishing work, completing the request procedures at the Guild, and arriving at the tavern in that same post-work momentum.
Naturally, the Guild that had commissioned the dissection of the monsters Rei's party defeated had also asked the tavern to prepare for a celebration in advance, as a way to reward those who had finished the work.
What saved the Guild was the fact that Rei had transferred one whole Orc to them.
Of course, the Golts Guild was not in such dire financial straits that a single banquet would make or break them.
Even so, the Guild staff as a whole felt deep gratitude toward Rei and his party for transferring enough ingredients for a whole Orc, not to mention the matter of the dungeon conquest.
"Delicious! Yeah, a drink after finishing work is the best!"
"You said it. I'd say we live just for that one drink."
"The Orc skewers too... delicious. So delicious... but with the dungeon gone, it's going to be hard to secure Orc meat ourselves from now on."
An Orc that fell from the dungeon on the cliff face and died was, for the adventurer who found it, literally a feast.
An Orc's Magic Stone could sell for a decent price, and its materials could be turned into money too.
But for the adventurers, the Orc's meat was what truly mattered.
Even when operating in a party of several, Orcs frequently exceeded one hundred kilograms — and that was just the edible meat portion after removing the innards and such.
Of course, there were also smaller types of Orcs, but fundamentally, whoever secured an Orc corpse could eat its meat to their heart's content.
...Naturally, since there was no way a few people could eat a hundred kilograms of meat, they would sell what they could not finish.
"Well, it can't be helped. That dungeon had a Boss Monster in it, you know? Who knows what would've happened if a dungeon like that had just kept expanding."
"Hahaha, there's nothing we could've done about it. We would've had to go out of our way to summon High-Rank Adventurers to conquer it."
"How is that any different from our current situation?"
"The big difference this time is that it wasn't a request — Rei and his party challenged the dungeon on their own initiative. So it wasn't a Nomination Request or anything like that, which means they didn't need any reward. That's the key part."
"Those guys made a killing from conquering the dungeon. They wouldn't need to bother receiving a reward."
The adventurers listening around the man speaking while drinking his Ale nodded in understanding.
It was only natural. After all, they had dissected the monsters — the Garangiga, Kelpies, and Argos Bear — that Rei and his party had defeated on a Guild request.
Selling the materials obtained from that alone would undoubtedly make them a fortune... no, it would not be strange for the amount to exceed even that.
The Garangiga in particular had grown to a size completely different from the original monster, likely due to the influence of the Dungeon Core, and its strength had increased as well.
The adventurers who dissected it had never fought the Garangiga themselves, and since the original Garangiga did not even appear around Golts, more of them were unfamiliar with the creature known as a Garangiga.
Because of that, there were a small number of adventurers who believed that all Garangiga as monsters were as large as the one they had dissected.
"Anyway. If you really want to secure Orc meat, you'd have no choice but to go to that dungeon, right? Well, there's also the possibility of an Orc settlement forming around Golts."
At those words, every adventurer listening grimaced with expressions that said "ugh..."
Among them, the one wearing the harshest expression was, naturally, the Female Adventurer.
For a Female Adventurer who knew full well what happened to women captured by Orcs, an Orc settlement forming near Golts was nothing short of a nightmare.
No, it was not just the Female Adventurer — even the female tavern clerk was directing a cold glare at the man.
He must have noticed. The man hastily began making excuses.
"Well then, we're off."
"Yes, go have fun. But remember, we're heading back to Gilm tomorrow, so don't stay out too late."
The day after the Garangiga dissection was completed, Rei went out into town together with Vihera.
The final day of their stay in Golts was also the last day of three consecutive dates.
Elena, Marina, and the others saw the two of them off.
"I'm a little jealous."
"Of what?"
Marina muttered as she watched Vihera, whose back alone was enough to draw attention, and Elena asked, puzzled by the remark.
"Vihera gets to spend the whole day with Rei today, right? My date and yours weren't that long."
"Ah, I see. ...Now that you mention it, I can see why one might be envious of Vihera. But we had priority on dating Rei. Thinking of it that way, it's understandable that Vihera gets to fully enjoy her date with Rei on the final day."
Beside the two as they conversed, Byune was riding on Set's back.
Ielo was also on Set's back alongside Byune, and the person and two creatures enjoyed a leisurely moment together.
Unlike yesterday, Byune had no combat training today.
Reliu, too, was on his final day in Golts, and had already left to search for souvenirs.
"Well then, what shall we do today? How about we go out, just us girls for once?"
Elena pondered Marina's proposal for a moment... and eventually nodded.
"That sounds fine. ...What about you, Byune?"
"Nn..."
Byune answered languidly to Elena's call.
Whether her fatigue from yesterday had not yet faded, or she had grown sleepy after breakfast — Elena could not tell the exact reason, but she understood at least that Byune did not want to go out and preferred to take it easy.
"Very well. Then rest in the room. Even if something happens, you should be able to handle it on your own, Byune."
She said this partly because Byune's combat ability had improved, but also because she predicted that even if something unusual happened in Golts, it would not become anything major.
"Nn."
Giving a brief reply to Elena, Byune climbed down from Set's back and headed toward the inn.
After seeing Byune off, Elena and Marina discussed what to do with their day.
"Well, well..."
The moment they entered the shop, the clerk saw Rei and flashed a knowing smile.
It was only natural, of course. This was the shop where Rei had bought a hair ornament for Marina yesterday.
Naturally, the clerk remembered someone who left as strong an impression as Marina, and he also remembered Rei, who had been with her.
And today, the person Rei was with was someone who radiated an intense sensuality and left an equally strong impression — but was clearly a different person from Marina.
In other words, from the clerk's perspective, Rei was on a private date with a stunningly beautiful woman two days in a row.
It was only natural to direct a knowing glance at such a customer.
...If anything, he winked as if to say "I get it," and opened his mouth.
"Welcome. This is your first time at this shop, isn't it? What sort of items are you looking for?"
The way he emphasized the word "first time" was likely an implicit way of saying that Rei had not come to this shop with Marina yesterday.
In return, the clerk's gaze silently appealed to Rei: you'll buy something, won't you?
(Well, there's no need to hide it, I suppose. Besides...)
To Rei, the clerk's behavior was almost completely off the mark. That was because...
"Oh? Hey, Rei. The hair ornament Marina was wearing yesterday — you bought it at this shop, didn't you?"
Yes, Vihera had come to this shop because she was interested in the hair ornament that Marina had Rei buy for her yesterday.
At Vihera's attitude, the clerk's expression froze for an instant.
He probably never imagined they had come to the shop for such a reason.
Even so, the fact that he quickly erased his look of surprise was likely because he was a veteran who had been in customer service for years.
"Oh, is that so? Come to think of it, you do look like the person who came in with that flashy Dark Elf young lady yesterday... Sorry about that, she just left a stronger impression."
The clerk tried to smooth things over, but when comparing Rei in his Dragon Robe with the hood up and Marina in her Party Dress, it was only natural that Marina would leave a stronger impression.
...If Rei had his hood down, he too would leave quite a strong impression.
Whether he noticed the clerk's demeanor or not, Vihera turned her gaze to Rei and spoke.
"Well, now that that's settled, shall we take a look around? There might be something interesting."
"I doubt there's much here that would catch the eye of a pretty young lady like yourself."
Seeing the clerk offer Vihera what was not quite flattery, Rei suddenly recalled that this clerk had also called Marina "young lady" earlier.
(It should be obvious just from looking that Marina is a Dark Elf. Does that mean he's doing it on purpose?)
It was common knowledge that Dark Elves lived far longer than humans.
What was more, Marina did not look like a young girl of uncertain age; she had the appearance of a mature adult woman.
Naturally, her age was likely far greater than the clerk's — the clerk should have understood that.
"Look, Rei. Isn't this one pretty?"
Vihera said, looking at a small box that was likely meant for holding small accessories.
Rather than jewels... colored stones were bound together to decorate it, and the box looked like quite a fine piece.
"It is. ...Are you going to buy it? I bought a hair ornament for Marina, so..."
"No, it's fine. Even if I had something like this, I'd just struggle with where to put it. Just looking at it is satisfying enough."
With that, she looked around the shop.
Of course, the shop itself was not that large, so she finished looking rather quickly.
In the end, they purchased a single cloth pouch scented with flowers and left the shop.
"Well then, where to next?"
"Hmm, let me see... Even if you ask me where to go, I don't know what kind of places this town has. It would be interesting if there were an Arena, even."
"What exactly are you expecting from Golts?"
An Arena was a very Vihera-like request.
...Though in her case, the desire was not to watch fights in an Arena, but to fight in one herself.
But naturally, a place like Golts would not have an Arena.
If anything, if Golts did have an Arena, it would undoubtedly be even more prosperous than it was now.
However, building an Arena would require an astronomical sum of money, that much was certain, and once completed, there would be the question of whether it could be operated successfully.
In particular, they would need to gather a corresponding number — and quality — of fighters to compete in the Arena, and whether Golts could manage such a thing... it would be difficult.
"I suppose it can't be helped. Let's just wander around somewhere then. I'm sure there are at least a few reasonably interesting places."
Whether the Arena talk had been a joke for Vihera... or simply a light topic she could let drop easily, Rei could not tell. Either way, the fact that she did not dwell on the Arena was undoubtedly a relief for him.
"Reasonably interesting places, huh... Shall we go to a library?"
"I. Don't. Want. To."
The way she deliberately separated each word suggested she truly disliked the idea.
As a former princess of the Bestia Empire, she should have had considerable experience with the act of reading... What a waste, thought Rei, who enjoyed reading himself.
"Shall we go look at some Magic Items? Though I doubt there are any great finds."
If this were a frontier like Gilm or a Labyrinth City, it might be one thing, but this was the rural town of Golts.
There had been a dungeon nearby, but now that Rei and his party had already conquered it on their first entry, there was no reason to expect anything from Magic Items.
"Sure, let's take a look. There might be something interesting."
With that, Rei and Vihera headed for a shop that sold Magic Items.