Since they left ter this time, having done their usual morning training, the guild is in full activity by time Sincir arrives with the girls, and their entrance attracts looks; Either because of the strangeness of their group, or because word of his fight against Zarod has spread, or both.

  “I’ll go grab our badges,” Sincir tells the girls, “You two go look for something for us to start with.”

  Unfortunately, only D ranking adventures and above are allowed to exchange crystals for money at the guild, which is another rule intended on stopping wannabe heroes from throwing their lives away, and since Sincir will be starting from F rank with Ena, they still have a ways to go before they can start making real money, being stuck with the guild’s normal requests for now.

  According to Eleanor, it shouldn’t take more than a month or two to climb from F to D rank with their combined efforts, so Sincir is eager to start.

  Unlike the previous time, there are five clerks attending at this point in the morning, four of which have retively long lines in front of their desk, and one of which is miraculously unoccupied, despite the busyness surrounding her.

  Of course, Sincir heads for free table, smiling as he leans his arms against it and meets the cold blue eyes of the clerk behind it.

  “Hey, Mary, how is it going?”

  The gaze Mary throws the pce where his arms meet her table could freeze fire, her mouth pressing into a thin line as she then shifts her eyes to rest against his, expression disdainful. “Beat it, boy; I’m busy.”

  Sincir chuckles. “C’mon, don’t be like this; I know that, deep down, you’re happy to exert the function you’re paid to perform.”

  Mary groans as she opens a drawer under her table, grabs something from it, and then throws two steel tags toward his chest, which Sincir grabs by reflex, having to step back in order to do so.

  “I had a feeling you’d pester me in specific,” she says, “Now scram.”

  Sincir gnces at the military-style badges in his hand; One of which says Ena Reyphyra, F Rank, and the other Sincir, F Rank, engraved in the metal.

  Sincir smiles. “You’re more considerate than I gave you credit for, Mary… I know a nice tavern close to here. Let me repay the favor.”

  Mary grimaces. “Brat, I’m not in interested. Have I not made that clear enough? Do you really have nothing better to do than annoy me?”

  Nothing as fun…

  Sincir sighs, pretending disappointment. “Well, if you’re really against it, then I won’t insist… But, for the record, if it’s the size you’re worried about, then you should know it is already big enough to do the job… Anyway, I’ll be going now, have a nice day.”

  Having said as much, Sincir waves at a positively furious-looking Mary, then turns on his heels and heads to meet with the girls.

  The Explores Guild avaible contracts cover a decently-size rectangur board of at least a couple doze meters, and the number of parchments pinned on it must reach at least a hundred or two, though Sincir isn’t very surprised, considering the size of Elderspire.

  In spite of the many adventures standing near the board in search of a suitable job, finding the girls isn’t hard, since the stand near the very beginning, where the lower ranking contracts are generally pced.

  “Found something?” Sincir asks as he approaches them, causing both of them to turn on his direction.

  “We’d have, if not for a certain idiot,” Eleanor murmurs.

  Ena smiles. “I was curious!”

  Sincir chuckles. “Really? And what did you find?”

  Ena shrugs. “I saw a griffon sying request, a troll one, and a rge fire elemental one… Escapee from Garden of Fire, apparently. It burned a whole field yesterday... Too bad they’re all Rank A, though.”

  Sincir shakes his head. “And you wonder why I didn’t let you enter the guild on your on. Okay, forget to high-ranking stuff; You know we don’t have permission to take them. What’s in store for us, lowly F ranking adventures?”

  “Goblins, herb picking, goblins, wolf sightings near pntations, goblins, escort to nearby towns, goblins, escapee low tier monsters from the nests, goblins, sewer monster extermination… And more goblins still,” Eleanor sites drily.

  Sincir snorts. “I take it there are a lot of goblins around these parts?”

  “They’re weak; Even a farmer can than take care of a few of them. But they’re like rats, swarming pntations, lone travelers, and hurting the local wildlife… Worst, it’s impossible to root them out completely, and they breed like rabbits.”

  Sincir stares at some of the goblin sying contracts, grimacing as he does so. “Two copper a head? Seriously?”

  “We receive a silver for confirmation of a destroyed den, and another for a shaman’s ear, so it’s not as bad as it seems,” Eleanor says.

  Sincir hums. So far, their savings over these past five years amount to twenty gold or so; Not enough to buy a house, but a decent amount of money, if used wisely.

  “How many of these did you manage to do in a day?”

  “I was lucky enough to find three of them right next to each other once, but other than that, usually one or two… And if we’re unlucky, the den might be empty by the time we arrive, and very few of their tribes have shamans. I still having met one.”

  Ugh. Just thinking about going on a multiple hour walk just to find out there’s nothing there causes Sincir to shudder.

  “Should we go pick up the herbs, after all…?” Ena murmurs, “I’m not sure how I’d feel about sying defenseless creatures…”

  Eleanor grimaces. “They’re weak, not defenseless. And besides, they’re a pgue. If left alone, they’ll swarm the fields nearby until nothing is left, and then the people of the city would starve. It’s dirty work, but it has to be done.”

  Ena sighs. “Sorry, sorry…”

  “You have more experience with it, so you choose, Eleanor.”

  Eleanor nods, stepping closer to the board as she gnces from contract to contract.

  “There’s actually a trick to it…” she murmurs, “These are usually brought in by hunters or farmers when they spot the pests near their homes, but since goblins aren’t wholly stupid, they’ll move locations if they realize they’ve been found out. Which means, the fresher the request, the less likely it is for them to have left already... Here, these two are an hour or so apart, and they’re only two days old. If we hush, we might be able to get them both done and return home before sundown.”

  As Eleanor unpins both the requests, Sincir smiles at her.

  “Good job.”

  She shrugs. “Just one more thing; Usually, adventures aren’t allowed to take more than one request at a time, but goblins are an exception, as long as you show the clerk their locations are near each other.”

  Seeing Eleanor extending the parchments in his direction, Sincir blinks. “What? We can’t just take them?”

  Eleanor rolls her eyes. “Of course not; There’s a penalty if you fail to complete a request, so you have to go through the reception before taking them out.”

  …Shit, he didn’t expect having to talk with Mary again so soon, but if he heads for a different clerk now, she’ll never come to respect him… Fuck.

  Sincir sighs as he accepts the goblin sying contracts from Eleanor, then turns on his heels, and heads back to Mary.

  Unexpectedly, most likely in virtue of having predicted something simir was going to happen, she is watching him as he crosses the guild’s lobby, a sweet smile on her face in spite of the freezing coldness of her gaze.

  “Hi again… I was told I’m supposed to pass these by you,” Sincir says as he approaches her table, expression as innocent as he can manage, “They’re really close by, so-”

  “I’m sorry; Only one request per adventurer party,” Mary cuts in, her voice as sweet as poison.

  Sincir grimaces. “Look, I’m sorry for my earlier inappropriate comment. I swear it’ll never happen again.”

  Mary shrugs. “I’m only obeying the rules.”

  He groans. “You wouldn’t have me kneel in front of all these people, right?! I’m begging over here…!”

  Mary grimaces. “What is wrong with you?”

  “Is just kneeling not good? You want me to kiss your shoes as well…?”

  Mary’s eye twitch, but then, rather than answering, she raises her gaze to stare over his shoulder, eyes widening slightly.

  Before Sincir can turn to look, he notices the absence of the usual ughter, whispers, and rough voices which usually surround the guild’s lobby, and the noise of slow, metallic footsteps as they approach his back.

  Once he does look, the first thing he sees is a tall woman, cdded in partial steel armor, of skin resembling dark bronze, slitted eyes of the same color, and a rge, bck axe hanging from her hips; The second is a rge, decapitated troll head, bigger than his own body carried, being carried by the woman, over her shoulder.

  Sincir stares at the woman, then at the small trail of blood left in her wake, then at the silent adventures around the lobby, fear clearly visibly in their expressions.

  “…Are you stupid? No matter how you look at it, you should’ve brought something smaller than the whole head, right?”

  The woman blinks.

  “Please don’t tell me you dragged this thing across the entire town?”

  She opens her mouth, then stops and gnces over her shoulder, noticing the blood.

  “…Oh. Fuck.”

  Sincir rolls his eyes. “Don’t ‘Oh!’ me; Somebody is gonna have to clean that. If you understand, then take this stupid thing somewhere else… By now, the entirety of Elderspire already knows you’ve syed it anyway, so don’t bother bringing something to confirm the kill when you’re back. Shoo, shoo!”

  Without waiting to see if she’ll listen to him or not, Sincir turns back to Mary, who is giving him a strange look.

  “Sorry, it must be hard to work here if the average adventurer is this brainless… You were saying something about your favorite tavern? Should I pick you up after your shift ends, or would you like to go home to change first?”

  Mary facepalms, then extends her other hand in his direction. “…Just give them here. I assume you’re partying with Eleanor and the half-elf for this?”

  Handing her the contracts, Sincir smiles. “You’re awesome, Mary.”

  Mary grimaces as she stomps both contracts, then hands them back to him, before taking her quill and writing something down with it (which Sincir assumes is their names and the contracts they took).

  “Get out of my sight,” Mary murmurs, without looking at him again.

  Sincir chuckles. “See you ter...”

  He almost bumps against the woman from earlier as he turns around to leave.

  “…Yes?” he asks once he notices she is staring down at him with a frown on her face.

  “I’m not stupid; The troll was missing it’s right ear, so I couldn’t bring it,” she says, “And I thought I had dried the head… It must’ve begun dripping again at some point along the way here.”

  “…Okay?”

  She blinks, then clenches her teeth. “Apologize.”

  Sincir cocks his head. “I don’t think I will. Now what?”

  The woman’s slitted pupils tremble, and for the first time, Sincir notices a tail behind her as it slowly sways from side to side menacingly… A bronze dragon’s tail.

  “…Half-dragon, eh? You must be used to getting your way, but unfortunately, as fun as it might’ve been to put you in your pce, I have things to do. See you around, I guess.”

  Having said as much, Sincir walks around the seething half-dragon woman as he heads toward a wide-eyed Ena and a frowning Eleanor, ignoring the many looks the show has attracted, as well as the burning sensation on the back of his neck caused by the dragon’s stare.

  “Let’s go,” Sincir tells the girls as he approaches them, “Or we might not be able to clean both nests in time.”

  “That was so rude!” Ena says, once they exit the guild hall, “Sincir, even if she made a mistake, you could’ve been nicer about it!”

  Sincir ughs. “Is that so?”

  “Her name’s Celia, and she’s S rank… The only S rank in Elderspire, as far as I’m aware,” Eleanor adds, “I’m not sure making of her an enemy brings us much benefit.”

  Sincir throws the both of them a gnce over his shoulder. “You too, Eleanor? Look, I wasn’t being rude, and I wasn’t trying to become her enemy either,” he tells them, waving at the small trail of spshed blood next to them as they continue to walk; Since they’re headed for the city’s gate, and Celia probably came from there, they’ll undoubtedly be following it for a while. “In a way, you could say I was flirting… Though I admit it’s a bad habit to do it with every hot girl I stumble across.”

  Ena rises an eyebrow, her expression visibly showcasing her disbelief. “Flirting? That?”

  Sincir shrugs. “Flirting doesn’t necessarily mean saying nice things, or giving someone flowers; Though that can work, too. Different approaches will work with different people. Celia is probably not used to people standing up to her, right? So, what happened back there is likely to leave an impression, and she’ll be thinking about me for a while now, whether she wants to or not.”

  “Ugh,” Ena murmurs, “That’s so wrong… Men can be so stupid sometimes. If you’re into her, couldn’t you have just said so?”

  Sincir sighs. “It’s not a men thing… If Celia was a guy I was trying to impress, and I was a woman, it’d have worked just the same. It’s easy to criticize when you’re not the one putting yours on the line, but if you think about it for a second, do you really think a normal approach would work on someone like Celia?”

  Ena averts her eyes, gncing at the blood trail beside them. “…Fine, I guess you probably couldn’t just come out and say it to someone like Celia without becoming a ughing stock,” she murmurs begrudgingly, after a moment.

  Sincir nods. “Flirting, in its essence, is a way to go from being an unknown, or a friend, to a potential lover. There are no rules, and worrying about failure, or about what other people might think, will only lower your chances; If they find somebody else because you’ve hesitated for too long, then you have only yourself to bme.”

  “How do you decide on what approach to take?” Eleanor asks.

  Sincir shrugs. “Experience, I suppose? I saw the way people were looking at her, and from that, I took she probably has trouble making friends. Besides, in that position, my options were either to say nothing, or piss her off… Had someone warned her about the head, the problem could’ve been avoided, but because of the way she portraits herself, and her heritage, everybody is afraid to approach, and she ended up embarrassing herself as a consequence; Wouldn’t you want somebody to step up and tell you you’re being stupid to your face, rather than having them ughing, every time you turn your back?”

  “You could’ve been gentler about it,” Eleanor points out, to which Ena nods.

  Sincir chuckles. “What for? Some women like a gentler approach, but a lot of them don’t, especially the warrior types; First and foremost, I wanted Celia to understand that I can stand up to her, or she’d never respect me… That being said, next time, I’ll probably treat her better, so that she knows I’m not actually just an asshole… If I could do something to help her, that’d be even better, but I doubt something that convenient is going to happen.”

  “Will you apologize for today?” Ena asks.

  “Sure, as long as she manages to press that huge axe against my neck, I’ll apologize about whatever she wants; I’ll even clean her boots with my tongue.”

  Ena shakes her head exasperatedly. “You’re impossible… Why are you even flirting with a woman you’ve just met, when you have Esme already? And I thought you were trying to get Mary to go out with you? How many of them do you even need?”

  Seeing Eleanor’s eyes darting from Ena to him, and the glow of judgment in them, Sincir grimaces.

  “I’m not collecting them, you idiot. I never said I was trying to marry Celia; Or Mary, for that matter. I think we could have some fun together, and I think we could benefit from being friends, but that’s it. Esme is the only one who is my girl, and that’s because she took the initiative to change the nature of our retionship; She might look innocent, but she basically bckmailed me into making her my girlfriend, believe it or not.”

  Ena and Eleanor exchange a gnce.

  “He’s a public menace,” Ena murmurs.

  “A danger to all women worldwide,” Eleanor agrees, nodding her head and sighing sadly as she does so.

  “Hey, I can still hear you.”

  “I feel bad for Esme,” Ena adds, “Should we go on a strike until he closes their retionship?”

  Sincir rolls his eyes. “On a strike of what? I’m the one who is helping you two idiots put your lives on track, remember?”

  Both Ena and Eleanor grimace at that.

  “It pisses me off that you think you can have any woman you want opening their legs for you,” Ena says, now staring at him in the eyes once more, “It isn’t right.”

  Sincir shrugs. “I never said that, and I don’t think it either; But I have a lot of experience, and the shamelessness to put it to use. They’re always free to say no.”

  “Go on, try it on me then. Use your mind tricks,” Ena retorts daringly.

  This time, Sincir is the one who grimaces. “That’s not how flirting works; If you’re determined to refuse me no matter what, then I have no chance. Likewise, if Celia is gay, or isn’t sexually attracted to short guys in the slightest, then she’ll probably refuse me, even if I py all of my cards correctly.”

  Ena snorts, then clicks her tongue, shaking her head mockingly. “A two-thousand-years-old sex demon, unable to seduce a simple teenager girl… What would your demon friends think?”

  “Fucking idiot, don’t say shit like that when we’re in public!” Eleanor hisses at her, causing Ena to blush as she throws their surrounding a quick scan, sighing with relief once it becomes clear no one heard them.

  “...Sorry, Sin, that was a bit out of line,” Ena murmurs, after making sure nobody heard them.

  “It’s fine… But enough of my love life. Let’s focus on the job, for now. Eleanor, you know how to get to these locations?”

  Having now lived in Elderspire for two years, Sincir knows at least the general direction of the contracts they took, but Eleanor has a lot more experience heading outside of the city, so they’ll probably have her lead the way.

  “Yeah, I’ve been there before,” Eleanor says, as he hands her the contracts.

  It takes their trio about an hour of walking to reach the gate closest from the location the contracts point toward, since they end up having to cross most of Elderspire to do so... Of course, they could’ve rented horses, or a carriage, but the payment for killing goblins is shit, so it’s it would’ve costed them most of their earnings to have do ne so.

  Once they’re at the gate, the guards there take a look at their badges, then their contracts, before letting them through without having to wait in line, which is a nice bonus of their adventurer work.

  “You’ll settle the pace, Eleanor, since you’re used to it, and we we’ll take turns with the backpack... Once we leave the main road, remember to pay closer to attention to your surroundings,” Sincir tells them, to which Ena nods, and Eleanor rolls her eyes.

  Eleanor’s backpack has most of what they might need in a pinch, including rope, rations, water, etc… Though they’ll have to bring more gear in the future, if they pn on camping outside, such as sleeping bags and a tent.

  The roads around Elderspire are fairly busy for most of the day, especially the five main roads connecting to the city’s main gate; Thus being the case, once Eleanor begins to jog at a light pace, Ena gnces at her with wide eyes.

  “H-hey, are we really running by everybody like this?” she whispers at the other girl.

  “We won’t make it back before nightfall if we don’t,” Eleanor says.

  Ena groans, but she does fall after the two of them obediently, in spite of the light blush Sincir spots around her cheeks, to which he chuckles.

  “You’ll need to get used to not caring about what people think when it comes to things like this,” he tells her, “Or you’ll never get anywhere in life; Just look at how Celia strode into town carrying a troll head, like it was no big deal.”

  “How did she get past the guards at the gate, anyway?” Ena murmurs.

  “Would you have tried to stop her?” Eleanor asks.

  “…Fair point,” Ena concedes with a chuckle, after a moment, “There’s no way those poor gatekeepers are paid enough to stop angry half-dragons from bringing troll heads in.”