Nozomanu Fushi no Boukensha (LN) - Volume 7 - Chapter SS2

The Senior Staff Member Is An Adventurer? 

While I was at the guild one day, I pulled a job posting off the bulletin board and took it to the reception desk. 

“I’d like to take this job,” I said. 

The receptionist checked the posting and cocked her head. “Huh? I feel like someone just took this job a minute ago. Hold on a second, maybe we made a mistake somewhere,” she said and stood up from her chair. 

The guild managed requests in the form of job postings, but sometimes problems like this happened. The listed reward or the job description would be wrong, or jobs that were past their expiration date would be left on the board. It didn’t happen often, but it did happen. The guild staff were only human, so I couldn’t get mad about it. Some adventurers did, but they were wasting their time and energy. 

I preferred to make use of the wait time by reading the books the guild made available. They had encyclopedias on monsters and medicinal herbs, pamphlets detailing the guild’s rules, and literature on a number of topics. I’d read them so many times already I had them memorized, but I figured it was better than doing nothing, so I picked up one of the pamphlets full of rules. 

As was typical of the guild, the rules were extremely broad, but they were painstakingly made to maintain order to the greatest extent possible. But they were careful not to infringe on the freedom of their adventurers, too. Whoever made these knew adventurers well. A fair number of adventurers still ignored them, though. Wherever you went, you’d always find people who didn't follow the rules. 

“Um, excuse me,” someone said from behind me as I was reading the pamphlet. I turned around and saw an unfamiliar face. Her outfit told me that she was a guild staff member, but she was a very young girl. She must have been new. 

“What?” I asked. 

“I have a question about the rules in there. Specifically regarding Section 15, Article 7, on paying compensation for incomplete requests.” 

“Oh, that?” 

I answered the girl’s question at length. The pamphlet didn’t explain it in detail and the rule was hard to understand without reading the annotated edition, so I could see why she would have questions. I had the same experience back in the day and only understood after reading the annotated edition. 

“I see!” the girl said. “Now I get it. Oh, and there’s more I’d like to ask.” I had nothing else to do, so I answered the rest of her questions. When she finished asking them all, she looked like she understood thoroughly. “Interesting! Thank you! Now it all makes sense. The people that’ve been working here for a while are really something else! See you later.” 

The girl thanked me and left. I was about to say something, but she ran off before I could. 

“I’m not even a staff member here,” I muttered to myself, but nobody was around to hear it.

“Rentt? What’s wrong?” the receptionist asked as she returned from confirming the details of the job. 

“Nothing, really. So what about the job?” 

“Oh, we made a mistake after all. It looks like this job was posted twice. Somebody else has already taken it, so you won’t be able to. I’m sorry.” 

“That’s fine, I’ll look for another job.” 

“Will you? That would help. Oh, in that case, I have one to suggest.” 

“What?” 

“This one, if you wouldn’t mind? I don’t know if it’s something you’d like, exactly, but we’d really appreciate it if you took this job.” 

The description said it was a simulated job for new guild staff. I didn’t know whether this was a thing in other regions, but in Maalt, the guild had a tradition of making new staff members take a job at least once, whether they could fight or not. Not that they forced them to fight, of course, but they wanted everyone to go along for the experience. The guild decided what the job would be, and it didn’t have to be anything difficult. It was usually nothing more than slaying goblins or picking herbs. But that didn’t mean it was completely safe, so they would send a trustworthy adventurer to attend them. I was trustworthy enough, apparently. They had asked this of me just about every year before I started to wear this robe and mask, but I was surprised they would still ask now. 

“Are you sure you want me to do it?” I asked. 

“Yes. We weren’t sure who to ask, but you have Sheila and Guildmaster Wolf’s approval. And personally, I think you’ll be fine too.” 

That was the power of having acquaintances that trusted you. But even this staff member here seemed to have faith in me. I wanted to live up to that trust, so I decided to take the job. 

The job itself was simple enough, but one of the new staff members was shocked to see me. 

“Huh? You’re that senior staff member who told me about the rules,” she said. It was the girl I’d talked to before. 

“I never said I worked for the guild. I’m an adventurer,” I replied wearily. 

“Come on, no adventurer knows that much about the rules! Geez, this is a surprise. Well, if that’s true, why don’t you quit being an adventurer and work for the guild instead? I’d love to work with someone like you, and it’d make the job easier.” 

“Not going to do that, no. I’m sure you’ll be great at the job without me anyway. Good luck.” 

The girl looked surprised. “Wow, I never thought I’d hear that. Most people say I don’t seem serious enough.” 

“There aren’t that many staff members who try to understand the rules in as much detail as you are. It seems to me like you’re the sort who acts casual but gets the job done.” 

“Now I feel really motivated all of a sudden! Let’s go do this job quick,” she said smiling. Then she pumped her fist in the air. 

“I feel like your personality is more suited to adventuring. Well, do your best and try not to hurt yourself,” I responded and began to walk off.