My savings had surpassed two gold coins.
Combined with what I originally had, it was all safely deposited into my account at the guild.
Having money made me happy, and it brought that much peace of mind.
Still, I hadn't expected to earn this much so quickly, which left me feeling a little bewildered.
"Well, let's not dwell on the money too much. I'll take on plenty of requests today, too."
Morning laundry and training.
Helping Amanda-san.
After finishing breakfast and going through my usual routine, I got ready and left the inn.
When I arrived at the Adventurer's Guild and stepped inside, the building was as uncrowded as ever.
With few people lined up at the counter, I headed straight over to Reina-san.
"Good morning, Reina-san."
"Yes, good morning. You're taking on requests around town today as well, right, Erik-kun?"
"That's the plan. Did something happen?"
"If you're asking whether something came up, then yes, plenty did."
Saying that, Reina-san produced a thick stack of papers.
It was an entire pile of request forms for household chores.
"There are even more than yesterday. By the way, how do you choose which ones to recommend to me from a pile like that, Reina-san?"
"I check whether the workload matches the reward, and I also prioritize clients you've already worked for once so you won't get emotionally drained."
The going rate for household chores was usually around five to fifty copper coins.
Requests offering more than that often increased the pay to match heavier workloads.
Additionally, when daily life was disrupted after an earthquake like this, many people offered higher pay due to the urgency.
Thanks to that, almost all the requests in front of me right now paid one silver coin or more.
"Also, this is more of a personal favor, or rather a request I'm just hoping you might consider..."
With that, Reina-san set down a separate stack of forms.
Those were for household chores and minor odd jobs that offered meager rewards.
"Understood. In that case, I'll finish up the higher-paying ones first to secure a solid income, and then I'll take on those requests."
Requests from people who were struggling and lacked the financial leeway to pay well.
Sensing the situation, I told Reina-san that I wouldn't look strictly at the rewards and would take on those other requests as well.
With that settled, the first request I accepted was from Cain-san.
After completing the paperwork, I headed toward his residence.
"Good morning, Cain-san."
"Ohh, good morning! You came, Erik-kun! I put in the request, but I was really hoping you'd be the one to take it, so this makes me happy."
Cain-san spoke warmly as he ushered me inside.
The earthquake had left his house in total disarray.
My job this time was to help clean up the aftermath.
"It's been a few days since the earthquake, but you only posted the request yesterday, didn't you?"
"I was out of town again for a bit. When I got back, the place was in this state, you see. I went straight to the Adventurer's Guild to post a request."
"I see. Understood. In that case, let's get right to work."
"Much appreciated."
With that, I began helping to tidy up Cain-san's house.
Since I had cleaned his home once before, I already had a good grasp of the layout.
We started with the living room.
Cain-san had paintings and other decorations displayed on the walls, but some had fallen during the earthquake, leaving their frames broken.
While I could have performed basic repairs myself, we decided to leave those to a proper craftsman.
Together, we moved furniture back to its original positions, righted the fallen bookshelf, and returned all the books to their shelves.
As for the laundry that had inevitably piled up, I handled it all by myself out in the yard.
Cain-san had offered to do the laundry as well, but after seeing how fast I worked, he said he would make progress on other areas and went back inside.
"It's gotten pretty well cleaned up, hasn't it?"
"It really has. It's a huge help having you here, Erik-kun. If I were on my own, it probably would have taken several days."
About an hour had passed since I started, and the inside of the house was looking quite tidy.
The storage room had suffered the worst damage, so we had set that aside for later.
Surprisingly, the kitchen had sustained very little damage.
That was because Cain-san didn't keep many dishes to begin with and used relatively small shelves.
"When I invite friends or acquaintances over, they sometimes complain that I don't have enough dishes, but I'm glad I kept so few. If I hadn't, this earthquake would have caused an absolute disaster in here."
"That's true. I've been cleaning other houses over the past few days, and the kitchen is always where the damage is worst."
"I knew it. Man, what a relief."
With that, Cain-san finished up by washing the accumulated dishes in the sink and scrubbing the kitchen floor.
Then, we headed toward the storage room we had saved for last.
"All right, this is the real challenge. Let me apologize in advance, though. Sorry about this."
"Don't worry about it. Helping to clean up is what I'm here for, after all."
Saying that, I peered inside the storage room as Cain-san pulled open the door.