Having accepted the request, I headed down to the guild's warehouse.
Located underground, the storage area was quite spacious.
"There are plenty of shelves... so what's with all those materials just tossed over there?"
"Those are materials turned in for Permanent Requests. They pile up fast, and while we used to have assigned spots for everything, things got so hectic that it just turned into that mess."
"If that's the case, wouldn't it have been better to set out some large crates from the start...?"
With that, she gave me a tour of the space.
In terms of overall floor space, it was roughly the same size as the Starsia Company's warehouse.
However, the Starsia Company had much higher ceilings, making the guild's warehouse feel slightly more cramped.
This commission was also strictly limited to organizing the front section of the room.
Deeper inside were numerous valuable materials; if I handled them carelessly and broke something, I would be stuck paying a massive sum in compensation.
Taking that into account, I was only tasked with cleaning the area where relatively inexpensive goods were stored.
Once the explanation was over, I immediately got to work.
"First, let's start over there. Time to clear away whatever is blocking half the doorway."
A mountain of materials from Permanent Requests sat near the entrance.
Overflowing in every direction, it obstructed half the passage.
I decided to begin my cleanup there.
"Are the ones near the bottom even usable anymore?"
I looked at the materials resting beneath the pile.
From the looks of it, they were completely squashed flat under the weight of everything above them.
"Well, they're not mine to throw away, so I'll just group them together in a crate for now."
Before starting, I had asked Reina-san to prepare several large wooden crates.
There were plenty of unused wooden crates of various types stored deeper in the warehouse.
A few staff members came by and arranged them wherever I pointed.
Naturally, I fitted wheels to the bottoms so they could be moved around effortlessly.
It was a simple modification using some old handcarts that had been gathering dust in the warehouse.
When I checked with Reina-san, she gave me permission since neither the crates nor the carts were being used, so I made sure to assemble them properly.
After that, I labeled the crates with the names of the materials and sorted everything accordingly.
"Just doing this makes it look so much better."
Once sorted, the mountain of materials that had clogged the entrance was neatly cleared away.
The wheeled crates rolled smoothly, so I arranged them neatly by the entryway.
With clear labels on each crate, anyone could tell what was inside at a glance.
"Next up are the shelves... They don't look too bad from a distance, but up close, they're a complete mess."
Countless adventurers brought materials to the Adventurer's Guild every single day.
When putting them away in storage, the staff probably rushed through it because of tight schedules, shoving things in haphazardly.
Deducing from the fact that certain spots were kept tidy, I figured at least someone among the staff had tried to keep things orderly.
"If there's at least one person making an effort, it won't fall back into chaos immediately. And if I turn this into an intuitive layout, the others will probably follow suit."
With that thought in mind, I began tackling the shelves.
The first step was to group identical materials together.
Even items of the same type were often scattered in different spots.
Similar-looking materials, in particular, had been carelessly lumped together.
I sorted them by type into boxes and placed them back on the shelves.
Generally, setting out about three boxes per material provided enough storage, so I prepared three wooden boxes for each category.
"...With so many spare boxes lying around, someone must have tried to organize this before."
Since Reina-san had told me I could use the wooden boxes as I saw fit, I made full use of them without hesitation.
I sorted the materials and wrote clear labels on every box.
Now, anyone could see where everything went at a glance, making things much easier for the staff.
For items that were easily confused, I even jotted down warning notes, prioritizing practical convenience as I worked.
Naturally, I swept the floor as well.
Dust and debris had gathered beneath the shelves, and a few dropped materials were buried underneath.
"I'll put these fallen materials into this box for now. I certainly can't go throwing them out on my own."
Even if they were gathering dust in hidden corners under the shelves, they were still guild materials with monetary value.
I didn't know if all of them were still usable, but I made sure not to discard anything without permission.
"Erik-kun, let's take a lunch break....Wait, what?"
I had started organizing around ten o'clock.
The first noon bell had just finished chiming, signaling lunchtime.
Right on cue, Reina-san stepped into the warehouse and called out to me.
"Reina-san, is it lunch already? I'm still in the middle of cleaning, though..."
"...Did you really clean all this in just two hours?"
"I did, yes. Is something wrong?"
"Rather than wrong, it's more like... incredible..."
Reina-san seemed utterly stunned by the warehouse's transformation.
To be sure, it looked vastly cleaner compared to when I had started.
Even so, the job wasn't finished yet.
"I see now. I finally understand why your reports are always overflowing with praise, Erik-kun."
After that, I intended to skip my lunch break and keep working, but Reina-san dragged me out anyway.
Just like yesterday, she brought me along to her favorite diner.
"Eat up. Cleaning takes a lot of energy, doesn't it?"
"That's true, but I could easily last until evening."
"Just eat. Otherwise, you won't grow big and strong, you know? Training your skills is important, but eating properly is just as vital."
Following Reina-san's firm lecture, I went ahead and ordered the same set meal as yesterday.