TPVWH 13

Chapter 13

Registering with the Adventurer’s Guild was over quickly. The receptionist took the paperwork to the back, then returned three minutes later with a plate holding a thin metal card and a book.

“Your registration is complete, Mr. Fleur Madel. As an F-rank adventurer, you are required to accept three quests every month. If you go more than two months without completing a quest without a special reason, your registration will be canceled, and you will be prohibited from registering again for one year. The detailed regulations are in this booklet, so please read through it.”

I nodded as I accepted the fairly thick book, and the receptionist continued with the rest of the explanation.

“Your guild card has your name, rank, accumulated points from completed quests, and account number written on it. It can also be used as identification, so please be careful not to lose it. Your first registration is free, but you will have to pay a fee if you need a replacement.”

“How much is the replacement fee?”

“Ten gold. It’s an artifact, and a mage has to make each one by hand.”

Gah, that’s expensive! I absolutely wasn’t going to lose it!

I put the book and registration card into the bag hanging from my shoulder.

“Um, Mr. Fleur. Do you happen to have any appointments or important plans today? There’s a quest I’d like you to take right away.”

“What kind of quest is it?”

“Sorting medicinal herbs.”

“Ugh. Don’t tell me they’re all mixed together?”

“Yes. It’s about this much in a single sack, but our guild-affiliated pharmacist is already busy enough making potions.”

Medicinal herbs had to be collected separately by type and brought in that way to receive their proper purchase price. But taking the time to do that required quite a while.

Whoever sold the sack of herbs had probably decided to go for quantity rather than quality.

Perhaps because there were so many herbs to sort, the pay was fairly good. After talking with the Hero for a moment, I accepted the quest.

The receptionist led us to the second floor of the guild building.

“Pharmacist Dave, I brought someone who can sort the herbs!”

“You found someone who meets the requirements? Oh, wait. You’re a healer who participated in the campaign!”

The pharmacist was startled when he noticed the silver bracelet around my left wrist.

This bracelet, which helped control divine power, was also proof that I had been a healer in the army that participated in the Demon King’s subjugation campaign. I only learned that after Elmarin explained it to me.

The stone embedded in the center of the bracelet could be used to determine which organization a healer belonged to. Healers affiliated with the temple had a white stone embedded in theirs.

And a bracelet like mine, with no decorations whatsoever, indicated that although the wearer was a healer, using their powers in their current condition would put their life at risk.

“You look like someone who fought on the front lines. Is that right?”

“Yes. I was always on the very front.”

“You’ve been through a lot. But, um, who is the person beside you?”

“They’re part of my party. I’m the only one who’ll be sorting the herbs.”

“I understand. We’re running low on potion supplies right now. If possible, please put the herbs listed on this sheet into the baskets first. Are there any herbs you don’t recognize?”

“No. I’ve picked all of these so many times that I’m sick of looking at them.”

Surprisingly, the names of the herbs were exactly the same as they had been 500 years ago. Thank goodness I didn’t have to study them all over again.

The pharmacist must have been very busy, because he handed me the tools I needed for sorting the herbs and immediately returned to the preparation room.

“Once you’ve finished the quest, get a confirmation slip from the pharmacist and bring it to the counter. As you can see, there’s a lot, so even if you can’t finish everything, we’ll weigh the herbs you’ve sorted and calculate your payment based on the amount.”

“I’ll do my best.”

Once the receptionist left as well, I took off my robe and put on a pair of gloves.

“Hm. Looks like these were gathered at dawn. The herbs are fresh and in good condition.”

“Normally, we’d refuse to buy them if they were brought in this mess. But it seems we had no choice today because we’re short on herbs for making potions.”

The herbs used in potions were tricky to handle. If a potion was made using herbs that had been touched by magic, its effectiveness would decrease.

That’s why they had to be picked by hand, too, and once they were all mixed together like this, they had to be sorted manually as well.

“Licht, sit down for a moment. I’ll finish this in a flash.”

“How long do you think it will take?”

About thirty minutes? That should be enough.

First, I gently untangled the herbs so they wouldn’t get damaged, then placed the same types together in their respective baskets.

There was far too much to deal with, so I didn’t bother processing them any further. That was the pharmacist’s job.

Since different parts of each herb were used as ingredients, washing and trimming them was much better left to someone experienced.

“You’re quite skilled.”

“I’ve done this almost as often as I’ve smashed monster heads. Even when I was in school, handling medicinal herbs was part of everyday life.”

If potions and medicine were used appropriately, it was possible to conserve the divine power used to treat patients. That’s why, back when I was a student, not only the candidates for the Princess of Legacy but ordinary students as well all went around digging up medicinal herbs with hoes.

The empty baskets began to fill with herbs. Once I’d roughly sorted out the five types of herbs used in potions, the pharmacist came over to collect them.

“Wow! You’ve already done this much?”

“You can come back in another ten minutes.”

“I was worried because the apothecary didn’t have any stock. You’ve saved us.”

Could it be that there wasn’t a single potion left at this branch? When I asked, he said that wasn’t the case, but their remaining stock was running dangerously low.

“Our branch is close to the capital, so we don’t normally sell that many potions. But all the outer branches ran out of stock, and the adventurers suddenly started flooding in.”

“So you had to rush to make more.”

“Yes. But, wait, how can you keep moving your hands while having a conversation?”

When you repeated the same task desperately enough times, your body eventually learned it even if you weren’t naturally talented at it. Besides, this was easy enough to do while singing.

I sped up a little, finished everything in a flash, and took off my gloves.

“Finished.”

“Ooh!”

The pharmacist clapped his hands, scribbled his signature across the confirmation slip, and handed it to me.

I handed the confirmation slip to the counter and received my payment.

The calculated amount was 2 gold and 5 silver, but I received an additional bonus for completing the work quickly, bringing the total to 3 gold.

After taxes and insurance were deducted, my actual take-home pay was 2 gold and 7 silver.

Thirty minutes of work for this much? This is actually pretty doable.

I was thrilled to have finally escaped from being completely penniless.

“Would you like to take all of your payment in cash?”

“I’ll take 1 gold and 7 silver in cash, and put the rest into my account.”

“Understood.”

I took out the wallet from my bag and carefully tucked the money inside. Seeing my once-empty wallet become nice and plump made me feel quite pleased.

In high spirits, I left the Adventurer’s Guild.

“I was only planning to register. I didn’t expect to make money too.”

“You did an excellent job, Lady Fleur.”

“I’ll buy you something delicious with this. Snacks too, if possible.”

“If our budget is 1 gold and 7 silver, we’ll have to move somewhere else. It’s almost lunchtime.”

This district was a bustling area close to the Imperial Palace, so restaurant prices were quite expensive. We hurried to find our horses and then headed toward the outskirts of the capital.

“Ugh, all the places that look like good restaurants are packed. I’m hungry.”

“Let’s buy a few things from the street vendors and eat them on a bench.”

“Huh? Is that okay?”

“Shops where you can watch the food being prepared are safer.”

Come to think of it, that made sense. With customers watching, it would be difficult for a street vendor to tamper with the food. I’d learned something new.

There were plenty of street vendors selling food near the market. Most of the dishes were unfamiliar to me, so the two of us discussed our options and chose what to eat.

“Two hot dogs, please. One with potatoes and one with sweet potatoes.”

“Yes. What kind of sauce would you like?”

“Your most popular combination!”

“Yep, two hot dogs coming right up!”

The plump sausages swam around inside the batter before tumbling onto a plate covered with toppings and then plunging straight into the oil!

Watching the two hot dogs sizzle as they fried made me happy.

“Oh dear, they’re going to burst. By the way, miss, were you a healer who participated in the recent Demon King’s subjugation campaign?”

“Yes. How did you know?”

“You look like you’re barely in your early twenties, so you couldn’t have been part of the previous campaign. My daughter was also part of the subjugation army. She’s back with the Knights now, though.”

The vendor congratulated me on returning safely and quickly fried two mini hot dogs, giving them to us to taste.

The bite-sized hot dogs were piping hot, and the sausage inside was pleasantly salty and delicious.

The carefully prepared dishes I’d eaten at the Grand Duke’s residence were wonderful, but snacks from a street vendor had a charm of their own.

Licht, who was a member of the imperial family but had also seen plenty of the battlefield as a Hero, seemed to like them too.

“We use the most expensive sausages from the butcher’s shop, and we make the batter fresh every day. Even if the Princess and the Hero ate our hot dogs, they’d say they were delicious!”

“Mmm, yes. The bread is slightly sweet and crispy, while the sausage bursts with juice when you bite into it. It’s quite exquisite.”

“It’s the best hot dog I’ve ever had.”

“Thanks for the compliments, folks. Though, even if I say that, there’s no way the Princess and the Hero would ever come to my shop.”

Oh, boss. The Princess and Hero are literally standing here waiting for their food.

I glanced at Licht standing beside me. He merely shrugged once and gave me a faint smile.

“All right, they’re ready.”

Two hot dogs came out in a paper box. Licht took them and easily carried them in one hand.

Paying was my job.

“Here’s your change. Oh, miss, what’s your name? I’m wondering if you’re a healer my daughter knows. I’ll ask her when she comes home.”

“My name is Fleur.”

“That’s the same as the Princess’s name. My daughter’s name is Flore, too. We just changed the spelling a little.”

Hmm. If he’d even given his precious daughter a name similar to mine, this owner must really like the Princess of Legacy.

In that case, this much should be fine.

“Licht.”

“You cannot take off your glasses completely.”

“Yes. Just for a moment.”

Licht raised his index finger to his lips. Seeing the signal to keep quiet, the vendor immediately shut his mouth.

I covered the side of my face with one hand, lowered my glasses to the tip of my nose, and smiled brightly.

“I’ll come again next time.”

“Gasp!”

“For your information, I really like street food too. There were no hot dogs on the battlefield.”

I quickly put my glasses back in place, and we left.

We had other street vendors to visit, after all.