Arriving at the detached building, we walked around the first floor that I had just cleaned.
"This is incredible. It's even cleaner than it was before the mess."
"To tell the truth, my [Cleaning] skill leveled up since the last time I took a request here, so my cleaning ability has improved."
"I see... So that explains why it is this spotless. My, oh my, at this point, our own staff's cleaning skills could hardly hope to match yours, Erik-kun."
"N-No, that's not true! I can tell how skilled the servants here are just by seeing how pristine the main mansion is."
Ever since obtaining [Cleaning], using the skill allowed me to see how clean a place was at a glance.
While this detached building had been filthy, there was not a single speck of dirt left in the main mansion.
"Well, that is because over a dozen of us work together to keep it clean. Whereas you did all of this alone, Erik-kun."
Once we finished the inspection, we returned to the main mansion and reported to Belinda-san.
"For Marcus to be this excited, your skills must have improved yet again, Erik-kun."
"Excited is an understatement! If only we had a servant with this level of skill, imagine how much easier things would be..."
Marcus-san said, casting subtle glances in my direction.
"I'm sorry, but I plan to continue working as an adventurer."
"...I suppose so. It cannot be helped."
Marcus-san slumped his shoulders in deep dejection.
Watching him, Belinda-san chuckled and signed the completion form.
It seemed as though talk of an extra reward was about to come up again, but I politely declined and left the estate.
"Phew, that was close. I already learned from last time that nobles have a warped sense of money..."
If I casually accepted too much, I risked letting my own financial sensibilities get skewed, so I had to stay vigilant.
Having wrapped up the request, I headed back to the Adventurer's Guild to submit my report.
While waiting for the paperwork to go through, I was browsing the board for my next job when someone gently tapped me on the shoulder.
"Morning, Erik-kun."
"Morning, Philia. Are you taking on a request now?"
"Yeah. Since I'm free in the mornings, I thought I'd do a little training and pick up a town request."
It was Philia, and she explained that she had come to accept a city-based request.
"Erik-kun, Philia-chan. You two are heading outside the city this afternoon, right?"
"Yes. We agreed from the start to use mornings for town requests."
"I was just happy he agreed to team up with me, so I gladly accepted that condition."
"Fufu, you two seem like you'll make a great party."
At Reina-san's words, Philia broke into a pleased smile.
After that, my paperwork was finished, and I headed out of the guild ahead of her.
Over the course of the morning, I occasionally ran into Philia at the guild between jobs before finally wrapping up my work to take a lunch break.
Since Philia had just finished her own request and was back at the guild, the two of us headed over to Sara-san's cafe together.
"Mmm, the apple juice here is delicious no matter how many times I drink it~"
"Fufu, you really do look so happy every time you have it, Philia-chan."
"Ehehe, but it really is so good!"
It seemed Philia was a regular here.
She was particularly fond of their apple juice.
"Still, to think you two formed a party. Did you know each other before?"
"We met for the first time yesterday and teamed up on the spot."
"I was the one who approached him and asked Erik-kun to form a party with me."
"Oh, really? In that case, here's a little treat on the house to celebrate your new party."
With that, Sara-san handed each of us a glass of apple juice.
Philia and I thanked her and happily enjoyed our second round.
"Erik-kun, are we hunting slimes again today?"
"That's the plan for now, but I'm thinking of targeting horn rabbits today as well. Watching you in action yesterday, I feel like we can handle it."
"Roger that!"
And so, we accepted a horn rabbit subjugation request back at the Adventurer's Guild.
Unlike the slime hunt, this wasn't a permanent request; it paid 10 copper coins for five of them.
The posting noted that the materials should be kept in as good a condition as possible, so Philia and I agreed to focus on taking them down cleanly.
Heading outside the royal capital and into the forest, we began our search while making use of our magic tool.
"...There. A horn rabbit."
"You're right. It looks so cute, but it's the bane of beginners."
"Yeah. Cute as it looks, it's fast. Apparently, plenty of adventurers have let their guard down around its appearance and ended up injured."
A horn rabbit was a monster with a horn roughly half the length of its body.
Despite its adorable looks, it was highly aggressive, and a single moment of carelessness could prove fatal.
On top of that, lone individuals were rare; they almost always roamed in pairs.
Sure enough, looking in the direction Philia pointed, two horn rabbits stood in our line of sight.
In all the time I had spent exploring the forest, I had rarely ever encountered a horn rabbit on its own.