"Alright, please sign me up."
After hearing about the combat training, I went through the registration process to enroll.
I was the very first participant to sign up for this session.
"It will be held the day after tomorrow. I'm sure you won't have any issues, Erik-kun, but please make sure not to be late."
"Understood."
With my registration for the combat training complete, I checked today's available requests.
As expected, Marina-san's name was nowhere to be seen.
Looking around to see if there were any other promising jobs, I noticed a request posted by the Starsia Company.
It was a cleaning commission, though this time it was for their storefront rather than the warehouse.
"The pay is great, but why was a request like this left unclaimed?"
"Well, it's still early in the morning. Someone definitely would have snapped it up before long, but since it was still available, I brought it over to recommend to you, Erik-kun."
"I see. In that case, I'll take it."
With that decided, I accepted the cleaning request.
Since it came from a prominent merchant company, the reward was high at two silver coins.
After thanking Reina-san for saving such a good job for me, I left the building and headed toward the location.
"The warehouse was huge, but this storefront is massive too."
I arrived at the company's premises.
The shop sat on prime real estate in the commercial district, and its sheer scale overwhelmed me.
Reminding myself that this was where I would be working today, I shifted into work mode and stepped inside.
"Oh, my! I was just wondering if you might come by, Erik-kun, and here you are!"
"Hannah-san, good to see you again today. I didn't expect you to be here."
"Fufu, my husband was actually supposed to handle this, but he hurt his back this morning, you see. So I had to step in on short notice."
"Is he going to be alright?"
When I asked, Hannah-san broke into a wry smile.
"Even at his age, he was so thrilled about something that he went skipping down the stairs several steps at a time and threw it out."
"Th-That's..."
"Ridiculous, isn't it? That's why I left his care to the servants and came out here myself."
With that explanation out of the way, Hannah-san went over the details of today's request.
It was indeed a cleaning job, but this time I would be tackling the storage room located within the storefront itself.
The collapsed shelving incident at the warehouse had clearly been raised as a serious issue within the company.
Foot traffic in the store was far heavier than in the warehouse.
Since they had no way of knowing when someone might bump into a shelf and send merchandise crashing down, they decided to tidy everything up preemptively.
However, since none of the staff were particularly good at cleaning, they had opted to hire an adventurer instead.
"We did specify on the posting that we wanted someone who excels at cleaning, but having you take the job, Erik-kun, is simply the best outcome."
"Someone at the Adventurer's Guild held onto it for me, thinking I might want it. Well then, I'll get straight to work."
"Yes, please do."
With that brief exchange, I got down to business.
I wasn't working completely alone this time; one of the shop employees worked alongside me.
"Hey, you're that adventurer the Madam mentioned who's so good at cleaning, right? How do you get that good at it anyway?"
"Well... I think most people probably dislike cleaning, you know? You have to handle filthy things and all. But personally, I really love seeing a space after I've cleaned it with my own hands. That feeling of, 'Look how clean this place is now when it used to be such a mess!' I love that sense of accomplishment, and that's how I got so good at it."
Since the employee asked, I explained my reasoning.
Ever since I was young, I had helped clean various houses back in the village.
At first, it was just something I did to survive and save up money for the day I would finally leave.
Over time, however, I realized that I genuinely loved the look and feel of a freshly cleaned, spotless space.
A place I made pristine with my own hands always seemed to shine brighter to me than to anyone else.
"Ah~ yeah, I think I get what you mean. I tend to let the dishes pile up myself, but once I actually start washing, I end up wanting to scrub down the whole counter too. And when everything is done, I look at it and think, 'I really did a great job!'"
"It's very similar to that feeling. From there, I kept thinking about how to clean even better, and over time, I developed techniques to work both more thoroughly and much faster."
Even as I chatted with the employee, my hands never stopped moving.
Since it was just a shop storage room, it wasn't excessively large.
With the employee helping to move goods around, the entire job was finished in about two hours.
"Whoa~, Madam! Come take a look! It's completely spotless!"
"Erik-kun's cleaning skills really are incredible, aren't they?!"
Once the work was done, the employee excitedly called over Hannah-san, who had come by to inspect the room.
Watching the employee's excitement, Hannah-san smiled warmly.
"It really has been transformed—it's hardly recognizable. And you even reinforced the shelves just like you did at the warehouse, didn't you?"
"That was part of the request, after all."
Once the inspection was complete, Hannah-san signed off on my completion form.
"Oh, by the way... If you'd like, would you consider using this, Erik-kun?"
"This is brand-new... And it's an item currently being sold in the shop, so it's definitely not leftover stock, is it?"
What Hannah-san handed me was a small adventurer's pouch designed to be worn around the waist.
I already owned one, but mine was a castoff given to me by someone in the village who had been about to throw it away, covered in visible patches from repeated repairs.
Unlike my old one, the interior of this pouch was spacious, capable of holding far more items than before.
The belt was also crafted with specialized loops so that additional hooks and gear could be attached to it.
"The one you're currently wearing looks quite worn, doesn't it? Knowing you, Erik-kun, you'd probably just keep patching it up and using it forever, but I thought it would be better for you to have something high quality, so I bought it for you. Please accept it as a gift."
"...Hannah-san, thank you so very much. I'll take great care of it."
"Thank you for accepting it. Keep doing your best as an adventurer."
After Hannah-san's encouraging words, I exchanged farewells with her and the staff before leaving the building.
I had ended up receiving an extra reward once again.
Still, I reminded myself that this was by no means normal—it was a special kindness that I shouldn't take for granted.
Now that I had a brand-new pouch, I decided to stop by the inn before heading back to the guild.
Stepping into my room, I transferred my belongings and fastened the new pouch around my waist.
Compared to my old pouch patched together with random scraps of cloth, the superior quality of the material was immediately obvious.
The black fabric looked sleek, wouldn't easily show dirt, and the belt still had plenty of room for adjustment.
"If I treat it right, this will probably last me for years."
I murmured softly, running a gentle hand over the smooth surface of the new pouch.
With that, I left the inn once more and headed back toward the Adventurer's Guild.