Chapter 405: Meteor Claire

Thieves Guild was a colloquial term. They did not actually steal. They carried out legitimate and sometimes embarrassing commissions that could not be made to the public, such as investigating a spouse's extramarital affair, the kind of jobs that private detectives would do back in Japan.

Hikaru had known Kelbeck for a while now. He did not need to dress up as Silver Face whenever he met the guy, and unusually for Hikaru, he would occasionally ask Kelbeck to do some risky jobs.

Like when he assisted in rescuing Lavia. Or selling gems Hikaru could not readily convert into cash.

On the other hand, Kelbeck could not really say no to Hikaru either. Paula was the one who healed him when he was severely injured in an assassination attempt, and Hikaru arranged for him to be reunited with his estranged sister Katy, an alchemist from Forestia.

「What are you doing here?」Hikaru asked.

「I should be the one asking you that.」Kelbeck replied.「What was that awful acting?」

The two of them stopped at the edge of the main street and talked in whispers.

「I pretended to be a dimwit.」Hikaru said.「Was it weird? The guys following me turned back, though.」

「You knew someone was tailing you?」

「Yeah.」

「Hmm. So you're looking for gold, too?」

「Yeah, something like that. What about you?」

「I'm headed to Forestia on guild business.」

「Oh, I get it.」

Gordon was a town located near the border of Forestia. So he's gonna go see his sister, Hikaru thought.

「No, you don't get anything. You're probably getting the wrong idea already.」

「I don't think so. Must be nice for the guild to give you money so you can visit your family.」

「See? You got it wrong. I got a job.」

「You're going to see Katy, aren't you?」

「I'm busy. I don't know if I can see her.」

「She's gonna be so sad.」

「I didn't tell her I was coming, so she can't be sad.」

「I'll tell her. I'll write her a letter.」

「You better not.」

「Then just say it. 'I'm going to see my sister.'」

Kelbeck fell silent, his face sullen. What an awkward guy. No one's gonna get mad at you for wanting to see your sister, so just go.

「You shouldn't go to the mountains.」he said.

「Where'd that come from?」

「I'm aware of your capabilities, but how are you going to find the golden village on such a large mountain? There's always the possibility that it's been buried by a landslide or something.」

「That's a good point.」But Hikaru had some information from old man Hoya.

「You have some information, don't you?」

「I won't climb the mountains without a single lead.」

「Still, I wouldn't recommend it.」

「Why not?」

Man, he's persistent.

「First of all, if you underestimate the mountains, you'll get hurt. More stamina is required in traversing them than flat plains.」

Surprisingly, Kelbeck was giving serious warnings.

「Next, I heard from my guild mates in town that a party of rank-B adventurers are out exploring. They're Jewel Hunters, so they specialize in treasure hunting. It should only be a matter of time before they find the village.」

「Really, now...」

That's good to know. This means that we need to hurry up as well.

「Lastly, there's some nasty rumor going around. Apparently the rank-D party Midday Owl is on the case as well.」

「Who?」

「Of course you don't know them. They're a band of robbers that even we keep an eye on. On paper they're adventurers, but they hide evidence of their crimes well. We don't even know how many members they have.」

「Hmm.」

I guess treasures attract shady people. Hikaru nodded.

「You don't seem scared at all.」

「Well, wyverns are more dangerous.」

「True. So what are you gonna do about the wyverns?」

Hikaru showed Kelbeck the bell he got.

「What's that?」

「A magic item.」

「Looks like it, but what does it do? The inscription looks like random scribbling to me.」

Hikaru showed Kelbeck the bell because he was a Magic Item Specialist, but even he couldn't seem to make sense of it.

「Anyway, we'll be fine.」Hikaru said.「Oh, right. I got a question. Can you gather a reliable bunch of people from the Thieves Guild? I don't want the gold to be stolen.」

「Whoa, whoa. Already assuming you found it, huh? Then again, this is you we're talking about. You must have something in mind.」

Hikaru had no idea why Kelbeck had that much trust in him. It must be the huge deals they had made.

「I can get you transport.」

Nice. It never hurts to ask.

「Thanks. As for the payment...」

「Twenty-five percent of the cargo.」

「No way. That's too much.」

「Come on. If not transported, gold is just rock. It's only worth something when it's brought to society.」

The corner of Kelbeck's mouth lifted, and Hikaru narrowed his eyes.

Haggling with me, eh?

Hikaru was beginning to enjoy himself.

「Percentage-based payment is a no-go. 500k fixed.」

Five hundred thousand gilans was equivalent to five million yen.

「Hiring trustworthy couriers costs a lot, you know.」

「If you hire ten people, that's 50k each. They'll be employed for around ten days. Sounds enough to me. Oh, that's right. The Thieves Guild takes a cut.」

「You make it sound like it's a bad thing. Do you have any idea how much trouble I went through for you? Selling those gems was a huge pain.」

Kelbeck turned King Allegro's gems into 250 million gilans. Compared to that, 500 thousand was pocket change. But those were two separate matters. Kelbeck himself seemed to be enjoying bargaining.

「I'm sure you made a huge profit on the sale.」HIkaru said.「You must have made a big name for yourself in the Thieves Guild too.」

「They bombarded me with questions on where I got them. I had a lot of trouble keeping it secret.」

「I received 250 million. How much did the Thieves Guild make? Fifty million? A hundred million? Or perhaps two hundred million?」

「Fine. 500k it is.」

He gave in easily. It was apparent that he made a lot of money with the gems. It didn't really bother Hikaru. Selling gems was different from selling gold. The former required appraisal, using contacts to find buyers, or auction them off, and sell them while taking demand into consideration. It was possible that the Thieves Guild had not sold all the gems yet.

「In exchange, let us sell the gold.」Kelbeck added.

「You sure? You probably haven't sold all the gems yet.」

「It's fine. Even the government buys gold. It'll be a piece of cake.」

「In that case, I could just sell to the Merchants Guild.」

「C-Come on, now. Don't say that. We'll give you a better deal than the Merchants Guild could ever offer.」

「Okay, then.」

Kelbeck felt that he had to sell the gold too to save face.

「Then I'll show you to this town's Thieves Guild.」

Kelbeck began walking with Hikaru.

An hour later, Hikaru met up with Lavia and Paula. The northern exit of the town looked like the entrance to the mountains, with a huge gate on a gentle slope. The gate itself was a steel fence that could be opened and closed using wheels.

Trolleys probably loaded with gold ore—it wasn't obvious at a glance—were arriving one after another from the Gordon Gold Mine, to be transported to the ore sorting plant. The gold contained in the ores was so small that they looked like mere rocks. These ores were crushed and sifted in a huge water tank. Gold is heavy, so it sinks.

The place was chaotic, with the sound of rocks crashing against each other, the creaking of wheels, and all the shouting.

「All set.」Lavia gave a victory sign. Both girls were wearing gray hooded cloaks to protect them from the rain, and were carrying backpacks.

Oil paper prevents food from getting wet. Water bottles were necessary for hydration, but they didn't bring much, as there were many drinkable springs along the way. Worst case, they could collect water from the atmosphere by learning Water Spirit magic through the Soul Board.

As such, most of their luggage was food and blankets. Hikaru was dressed in a similar manner as the girls. The bell hanging from his waist made a clinking sound.

「All right. Let's go.」Hikaru said.

「Right!」Lavia said.

「Let's go!」Paula exclaimed.

The three of them walked out of the gate and onto the road that led to the gold mine. The road was wide and lined with tracks for the trolleys.

A rank-B party and a band of robbers...

Hikaru recalled the conversation he had with Kelbeck on the way to Gordon's Thieves Guild.

There were other adventurers searching for the village, but those two groups stood out. Many of the adventurers trickling into town were waiting for the rank-B party to find the village, thinking that there would be a commission to carry all the gold.

Why is the Thieves Guild more trustworthy than the Adventurers Guild?

As an adventurer, however, Hikaru was more concerned with actual profits than appearances.

「How long until we get there?」Paula asked.

「Old man Hoya said two and a half days, so even if we go slow, we should be there in about three days. Sounds like the shortcut—actually it's more like a secret route—that he told us about still works.」

If we don't run into any trouble, Hikaru thought. He didn't say that part out loud, because he thought Stealth could keep them away from any trouble. He got the anti-wyvern bell just for some peace of mind. Part of it was because Hoya gave it to him.

Unfortunately, Hikaru would soon realize he miscalculated.

Flame Goats were goats whose bodies were clad in flames. Several times bigger than normal goats, they could make the earth tremble when they raced down a mountainside.

「Gwwwwoooaaahhh!」

「Surround it! I'll stop it from the front!」

「Take Lady Claire away from the range of its fire!」

「Aaaaah!」

The ten adventurers battling one Flame Goat moved in a fluid motion. Some cut through the spewing flames, slashing the monster's huge body, while others drew the attention of the Flame Goat with their large shields filled with magic power. It took a few minutes to kill it, but they weren't in any real danger at all.

The adventurers surrounded the corpse.

「Phew. Finally dead. Damn, it's hot.」

「Good work. Want some water?」

「I guess the fire dies when it's dead. How does that even work?」

「Is the meat edible?」

「I heard it tastes awful.」

「Guys!」a woman called in a sweet voice.「Are you all right?」She came running over from afar. She had pink hair and pink eyes, a rarity in this world, and wore a pure white robe inappropriate for adventuring.

「It was nothing!」

「Yup. Nothing for us B-rank adventurers.」

「We didn't even need Claire's healing magic.」

The rank-B adventurers party, Meteor Claire, was deep in the mountains. They built their party around Claire, a Healing Mage. All members had magical powers, and they fought with swords, bows, and shields imbued with mana.

「You're all so strong.」the guide said.「We should arrive at the spot where the geologist met the Pozi tomorrow.」A woman in her twenties, she was familiar with the mountainous region and had a more detailed map than the Adventurers Guild.

「I'm so glad to hear that.」Claire said.「We've been walking for days and I'm exhausted.」

「Do you want me to give you a piggyback ride?」

「No, that's my job. My bow's useless here.」

「You have the important job of searching for enemies. I'll do it instead.」

「No, me.」

「I can do it.」Claire chimed in.

「How can you give yourself a piggyback ride?」

Her friends burst into laughter. Claire joined them as well. She seemed to be in her mid-twenties, but her young appearance and cheerful personality made her a favorite of the party members.

As the sun was about to set, Meteor Claire began preparing the camp. With ten people, the preparations were quick and easy. They were all in great spirits, as they could take turns being on guard.

「Are you sure you only want me to guide you to the place where the geologist met the Pozi?」the guide asked.

They were sitting around the fire after dinner. To Claire's left and right sat two adventurers who looked like hunks at first glance, but a closer look showed that they were a bit out of shape. Behind them stood three others, all of whom, with the exception of the one who had taken a nap earlier, were devoted to Claire.

It was like a reverse-harem party that bordered on cultic. The guide found it creepy.

「Yes. He will take care of the rest.」

The man sitting to Claire's left—he seemed to be an archer—rubbed the bridge of his nose with his index finger. He had spotted Flame Goats and wyverns with his excellent eyesight. They fought the former, while avoiding the latter by hiding.

They said they could take down a lone wyvern, but the creatures tend to call for companions, so it was best to stay out of their way as much as possible.

The man could spot a wyvern before it could spot them. It was no wonder that Claire had great trust in his ability to spot enemies.

「Do you know where to go from there?」the stern-looking man standing behind asked.

「I explained it before.」Claire half-turned around with a smile. There was intensity in her expression.

「R-Really?」

「He had a hangover back then.」another chimed in.

「What?! F-For real?!」

Claire let out a small sigh.「I didn't use healing magic to discourage you from drinking too much. I'm partly to blame for not using magic, but you have to listen even when you're hungover. Understand?」

「M-My bad...」

「I forgive you.」

「Claire!」the man said with a twinkle in his eye.「I swear I won't drink anymore!」

The other members shook their head in disbelief. He had said the same line countless times before.

What game are they playing here?

The guide was staring at them intently. She wasn't bad looking, and although she was a bit plain, she was on the prettier side. Since nine out of the ten members of the party were men, she expected a couple of adventurers to make a move on her, but so far there were none. Everyone was crazy about Claire.

And Claire, knowing this, treated them all equally.

Scary. Talking like a child when you're in your twenties...

The guide was a little—no, really weirded out.

「Now, I'm going to explain it again, so listen carefully.」Claire said.「I have examined the geologist's work, so I know the routes he took.」

What? The guide almost blurted out. The geologist's documents should be quite technical, and not released to the public.

The adventurers didn't need a single piece of geological information. They only needed to know if the gold existed. It just so happened that the endorsement of other scholars who judged the geologist's notes to be credible took on a life of its own.

But Claire studied the notes and learned the route that the geologist took.

「He went through here.」Claire pulled out a map.

She was sitting on the opposite side of the fire from the guide. Her map seemed to be a copy of the one that the Adventurers Guild had, and a lot simpler than the one the guide possessed. Red lines indicated the route the geologist took. The guide couldn't help but crane her neck.

「There was no Pozi village along this route, of course.」she said.「Same on this line connecting the town of Gordon to this route. The village is located deeper in the mountains, further than the geologist's route, and away from the town. If we follow a treadable path from the point where the Pozi and the geologist may have met, we can get pretty close to the village.」

「Sounds like a shot in the dark.」

「Not at all. Mountains create your paths for you. If there's two slopes on both sides, you take the middle. If there's a cliff, you take a detour. You wouldn't traverse a dangerous path, especially if you already have a route you take every day.」

「What do you mean?」

「The Pozi people didn't go down the mountain, so it's safe to assume that the place where they met the geologist was somewhere they usually passed by. Although a lot of time has already passed, if we can find some traces, we can get much closer to the village.」

「That's where I come in.」The adventurer with excellent eyes pointed at his chest with his thumb.「With this much visibility, it's easy to spot anything out of place.」

Once they left the road that led to the mines, they should find themselves in a deserted mountain trail. It was a reddish brown mountain with only a few shrubs and dead grasses.

I see... This party might just find the Pozi village.

The guide was honestly impressed. She had assumed that adventurers were just roughnecks who solved problems through senseless violence.

Most adventurers were indeed just like she imagined, but rank-B adventurers like Meteor Claire were different.

Of course, that's only if they end up where the geologist and the Pozi met.

The guide smiled softly.