Reina-san looked at Philia and smiled.
"Philia-chan, it looks like you're back on your feet."
"Yes! I'm completely better now. I'm sorry for making you worry, Reina-san."
"No, don't worry about it. Running into that elite goblin couldn't be helped. More than anything, I'm just glad to see the two of you here today, healthy and well."
"Reina-san..."
At Reina-san's kind words, Philia looked on the verge of tears.
After that, I asked if there were any suitable requests for us.
"Before we get to that, let me make sure of something. Erik-kun, Philia-chan, you two are capable of defeating goblins now, right? Have you thought about challenging the dungeon? With your current skills, I think you could easily handle exploring the upper floors."
The monsters roaming the forest...
The elite goblin that had appeared during our previous outing was a creature that didn't naturally inhabit the area.
Normally, only three kinds of monsters lived in that forest: goblins, horn rabbits, and slimes.
And we had grown strong enough to defeat all three.
Seeing our progress, Reina-san was suggesting we try our hand at the dungeon.
A new dungeon had recently formed in the forest.
Exploration had progressed rapidly, and the guild had just announced that it extended beyond 150 floors.
A dungeon of such immense depth was rare. Adventurers had once again flocked to the royal capital, keeping the dungeon rush alive and thriving.
"Hmm, I think I'd rather wait and see a bit longer."
"I feel the same way. I mean, the dungeon is even bigger than the forest, right? Exploring it with just the two of us sounds pretty rough. I'd rather wait until we can hold our own a little better before tackling it."
"I see. You two really are cautious."
Philia and I had reached the same conclusion: we weren't ready for the dungeon just yet.
Hearing our answer, Reina-san nodded and laid out a selection of requests for us to browse.
Since we were just coming off a rest period, we opted for a gathering request rather than a subjugation request.
We were to collect ten mana-imbued mushrooms growing in the forest, with a reward of fifty copper coins.
Once the paperwork was settled, we left the guild and headed outside the city walls.
"Erik-kun, we took a low-paying request, but will you be okay on money? I'm staying with the House of Strict, so I don't have to worry about lodging costs, but..."
"Oh, I earn enough from odd jobs around town, so I'm fine. If I really put my mind to it, I can make several silver coins a day just from city requests."
"Wait, really? Do you know about some secret high-paying gigs or something?"
"No, just normal requests helping out with housework. I'm good at cleaning, you see. That's how I make my money."
Even without factoring in the clients who tipped extra, a single day focused on city requests was enough to earn me at least one silver coin.
Besides, my Cleaning skill had leveled up this morning, which meant I could finish jobs even faster now.
"Being able to earn that much from simple chores... I think you might be the only one who can pull that off, Erik-kun."
"Nah, I doubt that. Anyone can clean if they try, right?"
Cleaning didn't require special skills.
It wasn't a matter of ability, but of motivation.
"What about you, Philia? What kind of requests do you usually take around town?"
"Hmm, a bit of everything, really. Housework chores, helping people with their shopping, putting furniture together... Sometimes I even help look for lost items."
"Huh, you stay pretty busy, don't you?"
"Yep! Roan-san told me it's best to get as much experience as possible, so I'm trying out all sorts of things while I'm still a beginner!"
Roan-san really did have a wonderful mindset.
As Philia's mentor, he was doing a fantastic job guiding her.
"Speaking of which, how is Alan doing?"
"He's been skipping his training, you know. Roan-san is lucky if he can get him to take even one request a day..."
"...Why is he being so lazy?"
"Hmm, I'm not really sure. It seems like he wants to do it deep down, but he just can't find the motivation and ends up slacking off. Roan-san seems pretty troubled by it too. He said Alan was never this lazy back in the day."
From the sound of it, going on adventures with Alan was still a long way off.
Chatting like that, we eventually arrived at the forest.
Stepping under the canopy, we began searching our surroundings from a different perspective than usual.
According to the request, the mushrooms we needed typically grew in dark, damp environments.
The forest was blanketed in dense foliage overhead.
With that in mind, we decided to search the darker areas near the water.
"Hmm, nothing so far."
"It's been an hour since we started, and we haven't found a single one since that first patch."
Just a few minutes into our search, we had stumbled across a small cluster.
There had been about four mushrooms growing there, all of which we harvested.
Since then, however, an entire hour had passed without spotting another one.
We had also run into monsters and fought them along the way, and fatigue was beginning to set in.
"Should we take a break soon?"
I suggested the idea to Philia, and we decided to rest at the base of a large tree.