Chapter 11: Debt 11 - Return to the Guild

After defeating the black dragon, Ryan and his party had agreed that they would leave the elven village at dawn.

The generosity that the elven king showed toward them was to grant them a reward.

Although Ryan felt guilty about the fact that the dragon had arrived in the elven forest in the first place by tracking his and his companions’ trail.

Even so, he accepted the generosity the king bestowed upon him and kept the reason why the dragon had invaded a secret.

When dawn arrived, Ryan, along with Helen and Mirian, gathered in the square.

The elder and his granddaughter were already standing there.

The sun began to rise and illuminate the entire place.

"So, are you really leaving so soon?" Mirian asked, with a hint of uncertainty in her gaze.

Helen took a step forward, began to stretch her body, and yawned.

"That’s right, we’ve already been away from the capital for a month, so they probably think we’re dead."

Mirian approached, rubbing her eyes.

"I hate getting up so early, we should have left at noon."

’I hate getting up early too, but Helen wouldn’t stop pestering us.’

The elder approached and took Irina’s hand.

"Hey, young man, why don’t you just stay here and marry my granddaughter instead?"

"Grandpa!" Irina pulled her hand away.

"No way!" Helen and Mirian shouted in unison.

"You two certainly are coordinated," the king added as he quickly approached them. In his hand was a small box that emitted a faint light.

"Father, is that...?"

"Yes, it’s a nice gift, don’t you think? The heroes asked for something to help them on their journey."

"But what exactly is this gift?" Ryan placed his hands on his chin, trying to deduce what it was.

"Analysis."

"I see, it’s a magical inventory. This will be very useful to us."

"See? I knew I chose a good reward," the king added with pride.

The elder approached them.

"And not only that, but this item is actually epic-grade. The binding space will be as vast as the wielder’s mana."

Ryan accepted the gift and tucked it into one of his outfit’s pockets.

’It’s a really small box. Looks just like an SSD.’

After putting the item away, Ryan shook the king’s hand, and the king told him they would always be welcome in the village whenever they liked.

Irina was staring at him intently.

The king looked at Irina.

"I know you want to go with them, but you have to fulfill your duties as a princess."

"I know that already," Irina grumbled.

’And I don’t think it would be a good idea anyway. Also, why are these heroines being so quiet?’

Ryan turned around, then lowered his gaze to the ground.

There lay Helen and Mirian, holding onto each other and fast asleep.

"Then why did you insist so much if you were just going to sleep!"

Ryan smacked each of them on the head.

The king, his daughter, and the elder couldn’t help but laugh at the sheer peacefulness they displayed, completely unfazed despite having fought a dragon and now just sleeping right there.

...

In the end, they said their goodbyes and departed straight for the capital. Following Irina’s directions, they quickly made their way out of the forest and arrived at a small dock, where they were sent off on an elven ship.

Only it took them a single day to reach the capital.

Upon disembarking from the ship, they headed quickly over to the adventurers’ guild.

Mirian pushed open the doors of the adventurers’ guild.

Everyone walked inside, and Ryan looked around.

’So this is the guild. It’s exactly what I would expect.’

"Idiots!"

The shout came from the guild’s reception desk.

A woman with an unnecessarily sexy body was glaring daggers at them as she approached.

’The guild leader?’

"S-Sophia, don’t be mad, we couldn’t make it back in time," Helen responded nervously.

But before anyone could say anything else, she wrapped the three of them in an awkward, tight hug.

"Sophia?!" Mirian didn’t know whether to struggle or just stay still.

"Ah, in time you say? We had the entire guild worried, you know! We sent out a search party and they found nothing. I thought you were dead."

"Tsk, how dramatic," Helen muttered.

Sophia pulled away from them and coughed, recomposing her posture.

Ryan took a step back after the uncomfortable hug.

"Where have you been all this time?"

"...It’s a long story," Helen replied.

"...I’m glad you’re alive," Sophia murmured.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing!" Sophia’s expression shifted.

Then she took a deep breath.

"Well, you have one hour to tell me that story. Sit down."

"What! I don’t want to, that’s way too annoying!" Helen grumbled.

"Helen, enough, it’s better to get this over with quickly," Ryan added as he sat down.

Ryan looked at them again, and neither of them protested.

Over the next hour, Sophia had them filling out a long report. Occasionally she would ask questions that Helen and Mirian answered vaguely.

Though they omitted the matter of the S-rank.

It didn’t seem like they were trying to lie; they just wanted to finish as quickly as possible and leave Sophia satisfied.

"In short, you’re saying that all this time you got lost inside a dungeon and that’s why you couldn’t make it?"

"Yeah," everyone affirmed, nodding their heads.

"I see..."

There was a brief silence.

"Now then... IDIOTS! Do you have any idea how much trouble you’ve caused?!"

"Tsk, I knew Sophia was going to be furious," Mirian muttered.

"Do you have any idea how much trouble you’ve caused? You took a mission, didn’t complete it, and didn’t even check in! You’re completely ruining the guild’s reputation!"

"Come on, calm down, Sophia, you just had to give the mission to other adventurers, right?"

"Silence! You know very well that you are only given one week to complete any mission. The client took their business to our rival guild, and we had to pay compensation for damages."

"Ha, what a shame, that must have been terrible," Helen replied, turning her face away to avoid eye contact with Sophia.

Sophia grabbed Helen by the arm.

"Regardless, that compensation is coming out of your own pockets."

"What! But we don’t have that kind of money, you’re going to bankrupt us!" Mirian grumbled.

’So they spent a whole month relaxing in that dungeon when they had an important mission? These two really are irresponsible...’

Ryan slowly backed away to slip out of the guild so he wouldn’t get dragged into it.

"Ryan! Don’t you dare try to escape, get over here!" Sophia shouted.

’Shit, why are they dragging me into this too? Well, no helping it.’

Sophia pulled out a piece of paper and forced them to sign it.

"Fine, so how much do we owe?" Mirian asked.

"Can’t you read? It says it right there."

Mirian leaned closer.

"What!!! Half a million crones? That’s way too much, you’re going to ruin us!"

"No, no, no, Sophia, you can’t charge us that. This is pure extortion."

’...I’m not even going to share my opinion.’

"No complaints. Besides, you already signed."

"But Sophia..." Mirian looked at her with tears in her eyes.

"Stop complaining already. I’ll give you a chance with a mission. If you complete it, the guild will cover the compensation expenses."

"Are you serious?" Helen hugged Sophia across the counter.

"Let go of me already!"

"But what kind of mission is it exactly?" Ryan interjected.

"Well... It’s actually just about collecting materials for manufacturing magical paper."

’Magical paper?’

Helen sat up on the counter.

"Fine, that will be incredibly easy," she said with pride.

"One more thing. Due to a shortage, you will only be able to find it around the domains of Demon King Rohan."

"WHAT?!"