After spending the entire day excavating, I was ready for a change of pace.
That was why I headed to the Adventurer’s Guild with my colleague. We were both using our Second Characters—Nika-chan and Miti-chan.
"I really want to farm some SP, you know?" Alto said.
"Right now, leveling up is the only way, isn't it?"
"Well, besides transferring the Second Character's SP to the first... I actually thought of something. A process that could potentially increase our SP."
"You did?"
That caught my attention immediately. Do tell, do tell.
"First, you have to have the Second Character unlocked. You clear the scenario, meet up with your primary character, and hand over the SP."
"Right."
"Then, you let the Second Character get Lost and recreate them. Just loop that until you hit your target SP."
"...Alto, that’s a bit much. You’ve got no heart, have you?"
"Hey, take it easy! I'm not actually going to let Nika-chan get Lost. I'm just saying the mechanics allow for it."
Well, she had a point. Theoretically, it was possible—assuming, of course, you could bring yourself to delete such adorable Second Characters.
"Besides, I don't even know if you can pick a Second Character again after they've been Lost. I don't know the death penalty for them either, and I have absolutely no desire to test it. I'll just wait for someone to post it on the Wiki."
"Takuro-shi is the most likely candidate for that test."
"Probably. My deepest condolences to him."
When I’d checked the Wiki the other day, he’d already become a Gravekeeper, after all.
"I wonder if there are any requests that reward SP?"
"Hahaha, as if there’d be a quest that conven—"
"Actually, there are. Requests that offer SP as a reward."
What?
The Elf Receptionist had chimed in.
"Wait, they really exist? SP rewards?"
"Well, it is a game, so I suppose it makes sense... What kind of requests are they?"
"These ones here."
Oh? "Delivery of Medicine for the Daughter's Illness," huh?
...Wait. Is it finally time for the Intermediate Magic Potion to shine?! Could the Medicine to Make Your Heels Smooth actually be useful...? No, probably not.
"This one probably fails unless you can craft an Advanced Magic Potion."
"You said 'these ones.' Are there others?"
"There are a few more. Would you like to see them?"
"Absolutely!"
"Picking the jobs we can actually handle—that’s the bread and butter of the Adventurer’s Guild."
I looked through the limited selection and found two that seemed doable for us.
'Purification of the Defiled Land. Reward: 10 SP'
'Emergency: Complete Removal of Poison from the Well. Reward: 3 SP'
I wasn't entirely sure what "Defiled Land" entailed, but if it involved "Defilement," Nika-chan could handle it. If it was something else, though, who knew?
The well poison only gave 3 SP—equivalent to one level—but Miti-chan could definitely handle it with her Poison Absorption. It was basically free SP.
"...Oh! Finally, a way to get SP without leveling up!"
"For real? Hey, Miss Receptionist, has this been here long?"
"...No. To be honest, these request forms just sort of appeared recently. However, the paperwork is in order and the reward 'exists,' so there's no issue."
In other words, from a meta-perspective, these quests were unlocked because we cleared the Second Character scenario.
I wondered what "existing" SP looked like. Was it a physical object?
"Hmm, I won't know for sure about this Defiled Land until I see it. Maybe we can manage, though..."
"There’s no failure penalty for this request, so you might as well give it a try."
"Really? Then let's give it a shot. Worst case, we just report back that we couldn't do it."
"Understood. I'll mark it as tentatively accepted. Please report back regardless of the outcome."
Apparently, once we finished, it would be treated as if we’d officially taken and completed the quest.
"By the way, this one says 'Emergency.' When is the deadline?"
"Oh? I'm not sure."
"...You don't know? Even though it's an emergency?"
"...Well, the procedure is fine, and there's no specified Valid Request Period... The reward is already being held in escrow, so it's not a problem. Just... please try to hurry."
That was incredibly vague.
Then again, in games, "emergency" quests often stayed active forever until the player actually accepted them. You could ignore a crisis, sleep at the inn for a week, and then show up just in time to save a girl at the last possible second. It was a classic trope.
The Demon King won't take a single step toward world domination as long as the hero is busy sleeping at the inn for a thousand nights.
"Alright, I'll take the well poison cleanup."
"I'll go check out the Defiled Land, then."
We decided to split up to handle the jobs.
If I finish my part first, I'm coming to help you!