Rupegia Ch. 03: Royd’s Kerfuffle

A minute later, an old man and Sonny come down. The old man is short and skinny, his pure white beard protrudes from his jaw and makes men envious with its magnificence, and though he lacks hair on the top of his head, the pure white hair on the sides is well maintained. He wears simple velvet clothing, the same color as the uniform, with only the guild symbol embroidered on his chest as decoration.

The guards signal to us, and we all go towards the dismantling area. Over there, Gordon and his assistant are processing some meat and stare at us in surprise as we enter.

"Well then, could you show us the corpses?" The old man gently asks, then he gracefully motions with his hand towards the large, empty tables.

I pull out the bodies, and I hear a few gasps of surprise. The orc and goblin lost their equipment, but they're still recognizable as the dangerous duo because of their physique.

Curiosity gets the best of me, and I take a look. The orc's genitals are completely shredded, and I feel pain between my legs just from looking at it.

"So, it's true. We really need to send a complaint to the Lord," the old man mumbles, then he turns to me and smiles gently. "Now, then. My name is Silas, and I'm the guildmaster. Could you all take a seat and tell us the story in detail?" He motions towards the benches on the wall.

We obey and retell our fight.

--

"Quite the predicament, Sir Nour," Silas comments with a worried frown.

"Sir"? So it's really true that Nour is an important person. I just wonder why he didn't use his last name.

Silas turns to me and smiles as he adds, "And we all benefit from having someone like Mr. Ryder among us."

I'm bad at being praised. Should I say something in response?

Sonny smiles wryly and continues, "A Gray Berserker and now an Orc Headhunter. You're giving us a surprise after surprise, though I wish it was of a different kind when talking about the orc."

I chuckle and reply with a tired grin, "I think I just have bad luck."

The fact that I've been isekai'd should be enough evidence of my bad luck.

Sonny glances at the corpses and ponders, "Depends on the perspective. Those two monsters are really valuable, and the prestige that comes from killing them isn't small."

"I just want a calm life," I mumble and frown.

Gordon laughs while butchering the orc, then Sonny murmurs something and casts a spell. I don't know what spell it is, but he starts talking towards nobody while looking at the orc. He suddenly turns around and reports, "The spirit confirms it, he was killed on the sixth floor."

So mages can talk to monster spirits, too? I know that I only need a few points in [Spirit Magic] to be able to communicate with spirits, but a monster spirit being able to talk is new to me. I guess this is really useful for information gathering.

"Have you decided how the bounty is to be shared?" Sonny asks us with an impassive tone.

Nour shakes his head and immediately replies, "Oh, we aren't taking the money. Mr. Ryder saved us, so all the reward goes to him. Now, if the talk is over, we'll take our leave. We're all extremely tired, and all we want is to rest."

"Oh, it's done. The rest is with us," Silas agrees with a nod.

They didn't even let me reply.

Nour turns to me and smiles gently as he says his farewell, "Then we'll be off, Mr. Ryder, but one last thing. Could you come here to the guild tomorrow before noon? I'd like to properly give you my thanks and reward you."

I'm taken aback, and I stumble a little during my response, "I-Is that right? Sh-shouldn't the bounty reward be enough?"

He gives me a warm stare. "That's just money. You saved our lives, so I should at least reward you a bit more. Please, just come tomorrow."

I sigh and relent with a nod, "Alright then. I'll come."

He grins, pleased with my response. "Thank you. Then I'll see you tomorrow. Goodbye, Mr. Silas."

Nour and his companions give Silas a quick bow and leave.

Sonny comes towards me and reports, "Now, then. The reward for a runaway monster of threat level five is five gold. His corpse is going to sell for three gold and the goblin for one gold."

That's a huge amount because runaway monsters are a serious threat to everybody. The orc skin sells for a lot, and this one, especially, is way tougher than normal.

I also take this opportunity and bring out all my remaining proofs of extermination but not the bodies I collected. It all sums up to four silver and a bunch of copper coins. A pittance in comparison to the orc, but at least I recouped the loss from the days that I didn't sleep at the inn.

Silas spends this short time simply observing me. It seems that I've already caught the eye of the guildmaster, but I'll be laying low for the week, so no grand feat will come while I simply relax and train safe and sound inside these walls. I also don't believe in jinxing, so I can say this with confidence.

After I take my money, I say my goodbyes and leave.

--

It's almost night, so I go towards the inn's bathhouse and get a few concerned glances when they see my bloodied armor. I'll leave the cleaning of the blood for later, so I take out a fresh set of spare clothes after I take a wash.

Today, I order a drink while eating. They only have something similar to apple cider currently since nearly all fruit juice ran out, and there's not much wine in the town.

I eat my meal with happiness, not necessarily because it's good, but because I'm happy to be alive. Once I left the guild, I felt like a huge weight was lifted from my shoulders. All I want is some comfort and love, away from being in situations where I have to frantically stab a disgusting orc in the neck.

The innkeeper's daughter seems to be extra lovely to me this dinner. I learn that her name is Selina, and she starts some small talk, but it doesn't last long because she's too busy.

Once she leaves, I just decide to enjoy my meal: a vegetable salad with a lot of cooked beans and some chicken sauce. The vegetables of this season seem to be slightly sweet, similar to carrots and pumpkins. They go well with the beans and extra well with mutton, but today the meat is different. The inn is serving the delicious, marbled Rabid Rabbit meat, and it's of a much higher quality cut than the one sold at a stall.

After eating, I drop on my bed and immediately fall asleep.