Chapter 4

The six members of the A-rank party "Sheep's Fighting Spirit" were said to have accepted a hunting request. "Sheep's Fighting Spirit" is so famous that it is known in other countries as "There is this party in Aris Town." I have known about them since I was an adventurer.

When I asked about the origin of the "Sheep" in the party name "Sheep's Fighting Spirit," I was told that it was because sheep were once herded in this area long ago. The reason they no longer herd sheep now is that a vast dungeon appeared nearby, causing frequent stampedes. A stampede refers to when the number of monsters (dangerous beings that attack people) inside the dungeon increases so much that they come out in groups. Because they rampage in groups, people began to live barricaded within the walls of the town. And that is how things are now.

"Sheep's Fighting Spirit" represents the town's indomitable spirit and is a party that has been rooted in this town for a long time. The party consists of five A-rank members and one B-rank member.

I placed the request form and the registrant card on the designated spot of the magic tool (which is similar to a scanner from my previous life). When a party accepts a request, the system registers it for all members of the party as long as the leader's card is used. The request was to hunt monsters.

**A-rank Request**

**Hunting (Information Gathering)**

**Location: Bigenu Forest**

**Content: Reports of sightings of B to A-rank monsters; hunting or information gathering**

**Number of People: Around six**

**Reward: If hunted, 300 Rank Points and 15 gold coins. Additional rewards based on the condition of the monsters.**

**Reward: If only information is gathered, 60 Rank Points and 3 gold coins.**

The request states, "If possible, we would like you to hunt them, but information gathering alone is also acceptable."

Rank Points are the points needed for a registrant to increase their rank. The adventurer guild's ranks start from the lowest G rank and go up to F, E, D, C, B, A, and S, with the highest being SS rank. Those who register as adventurers start at G rank with 0 points. They can accumulate points by gathering herbs or hunting monsters, and once they reach the required points, their rank is upgraded.

The request form placed on the counter. For any request, the points are divided among the party members after completion. If "Sheep's Fighting Spirit" goes to the forest and successfully hunts the monsters, the 300 points divided by six members would give each person 50 points. The reward of 15 gold coins is also for the party. If they bring the slain monsters to the guild and sell their hides or fangs, they can earn additional rewards.

"Oh, you're going to take this request?"

"We need to clear it quickly, or the monks who use that dungeon and forest will be in trouble."

There are two dungeons near this town, and the one prone to stampedes is on the southeast side. The other is a cave dungeon in the southern forest, a super-beginner dungeon frequently used by low-rank adventurers. It has few levels, making it easy to clear.

In fact, the recent monster sighting reports came from low-rank adventurers, and they were children. Today, they entered the forest to hunt low-rank monsters for meat to add to their dinner. They heard a noise and, upon sneaking over, saw what appeared to be high-rank monsters. They fled and reported it to this guild. They thought no one would believe them because they were children. However, with my "Appraisal" skill, I could see that one of them had the "Monster Analysis" skill (a skill that can determine the strength of monsters). I believed their report was not far off and decided to issue it as an A-rank request. A-rank requests can be accepted by B to S-rank adventurers.

The sub-master (hereafter referred to as Sub-Mas), an elf with blonde hair and narrow eyes, was initially hesitant. "Are you going to take the children's word for it?" I suggested that a hunting request that includes information gathering would be fine, and we agreed to create the request. I also added, with a smile, "If you like, I can go gather the information now. Please take care of the reception in the meantime." This probably helped.

Our guild was short-staffed when it restarted two years ago, so even the guild master would man the counter if it got busy. While that's not the case now, Sub-Mas showed a weary expression.

The sub-master of the Aris branch of the Adventurer's Guild looks in his late twenties to early thirties but is the oldest in the guild. He was laughing at the beastkin he saw earlier, though I don't understand why he found it amusing. Sub-Mas might not have wanted to create a high-rank request based on ambiguous testimony, but he seemed to weigh it against having to man the counter.

"Alright, if it includes information gathering. There are plenty of B and A-rank adventurers, so someone will take it."

He quickly signed the request form, probably to avoid manning the counter. The guild master or sub-master's signature is always required to post a request. The guild uses a magic tool with a magic detection feature for the request acceptance process. If the guild master's or sub-master's magic-infused signature is not detected, an alarm sounds. Incidentally, magic is automatically infused when signing without conscious effort.

You might think this is overkill, but it is necessary to prevent staff from embezzling rewards and putting them in their own pockets. It also prevents the creation of extraordinary reward requests. In either case, this method is used to prevent the creation of fraudulent requests.

One of the reasons for this is a request I saw when I was still an adventurer. At that time, a receptionist at this guild was assigning requests to male adventurers. I remember it was something like, "400 Rank Points for each Horn Rabbit hunted." Horn Rabbits are weak enough that G-rank children can defeat them with a group of five to six. As you can see from the Bigenu Forest request, this was an outrageous reward. I was amazed they could even think of such a thing.

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