The Strongest Wizard Becomes a Countryside Guardsman After Taking an Arrow to the Knee

Chapter 336 – Heading by the Elkay Adventurer’s Guild

There was a possibility that Damian had contacted the Demon Lord about us.

It was his mistake after all, so he probably would figure that he had to say something.

Even so, the Demon Lord probably had other things to think about than that, I bet.

「I guess we should get going there, then.」

「Yeah, and I’m coming with you.」Luka said.

「Me too.」said Yureena.

「Ryaa ryaa!」

「And I’ll be going too.」said Vi-Vi.

「Moo moo!」

So three girls, and two beasts, then.

「Let me go as well!」

「Yeah, I guess since your brother might be there.」

I thought it would be good if Leah went as well.

「Hmph. I guess I’ll stay here.」said Timi.

「Ryaa?」

「I thought it would be good to go with you, Shiggy, but I think there’s enough fight in your group.」

「Yeah, I don’t think anyone could beat us.」

「And some of those thugs might come here after all.」

「Yeah, it would be a big help if you watched over this house.」

And so Timi decided to stay with the kids, and that was a relief for me.

There wasn’t much chance that Damian would attack though.

However, I didn’t know if that Demon Lord or whatever might send someone.

There was a chance that someone else might attack.

So I turned to Steff,

「What about you, Steff?」

「Are you going to stay with me, Steff?」

Timi asked her.

「Do you need help?」

「Hm. I guess I don’t need help in case someone attacks, but it is a bit much being alone. I might need you to buy something.」

「I see. You’re right.」

If only Timi was there, then Tom and Kay would have nowhere to go.

And if they had to buy something, the house would be left empty.

It would be best if another was there with them.

「Okay, then we’ll stay here.」

「Miss Steff! You can play with me!」

Kay seemed pretty happy to have Steff with her.

She was playing around with Steff’s rather large tail. Seeing this Timi looked rather lonely.

I guessed it was because Timi was so strong, it was hard for her to get close to children.

However, it was best she remained there, so I’m sure she’d make friends quickly.

Now that the groups were set, Vi-Vi said,

「Should we check out the guild before we go to the castle?」

「For information?」

「Yeah.」

「Sounds like a good idea.」

「And you can let me do the talking.」

Timi said, knowing that with her position, she could get a lot more out of whomever was there.

So we decided to set out to the guild first.

「See you all later.」

「Sure. Be careful. You’re going to the castle after the guild, right?」

「In case nothing happens.」

Timi petted Shiggy and looked a bit forlorn.

「Good luck, master!」

「See you!」

「Be careful!」

And so we all left the house.

「This is the way to the guild.」Luka showed us.

「Hm...there are a lot of people here.」

「But everyone looks so poor.」

We watched people as they walked by us.

They all had clothes that looked old and tattered.

Even though it was winter, many houses didn’t have smoke coming from the chimneys.

I guessed that people just didn’t have the money to pay for heating themselves.

「It’s strange that the only people that have money for decent clothes were those thugs.」

「And there were a lot of them in Damian’s gang.」

「Hmph. I really wonder what that agent is doing.」

Vi-Vi said again, angrily.

「We might want to have a talk with him as well.」

「Wait a second. Instead of you “talking” to him Al, leave the agent to me.」

「I’m not going to do anything rough, but it might be better for someone like Yureena to talk to him.」

「I think that’s a good idea. It’s safer.」

Luka said, agreeing.

Some thugs came up to us on the street, and Luka knocked them all down.

「This place really is unsafe.」

「Way worse than the eight ward of the capital.」

「At least in the capital, you have the crown watching over you most of the time.」

And so we arrived at the guild.

「Is this really the guild?」

「It says so on the sign board.」

But the building was smaller than even Tom’s house.

「Excuse us...」

Luka said, without hesitating, walking straight in.

Following her, I entered.

There was a counter inside, with one fellow sitting there.

This guy was probably the Elkay Guild Master.

「Who...who the hell are you?!」

He said, a bit frightened.

「We’re just adventurers. This place is pretty dead.」

「I see...adventurers...」

The guild master seemed a bit relieved.

There was no doubt he was probably getting hustled by thugs and was happy to see some actual customers.

「It’s been a while since I’ve seen new adventurers.」

「Strange to hear a guild master say that in the borderlands.」

「You guys should probably get out of here as quick as you came in.」

「What do you mean?」

Luka asked, and the guild master started talking.

The tax rate on taking a quest in Elkay was astronomically high.

The usual tax on quests were designated by the towns, cities, and villages. The capital never made a law on how much it should be.

It was the region that decided, however, because they wanted the guilds to provide a lot of work for them, they usually kept it low. Even in places that didn’t like adventurers just coming in and out, it was still quite low.

「Seems this agent really doesn’t like adventurers.」

Luka said with a furrowed brow.