Chapter 318: A Patron

I entered the Adventurer’s Guild along with Fer, Sui and Dora-chan.

The staff who spotted me stood up and quickly rushed off. [1] Not long after that, Guild Master Willem-san, appeared.

“Ou, wasn’t the delivery scheduled for tomorrow? Or have you come to collect a mission request?”

“No, no, nothing like that. I just needed to purchase something…”

“I see, well come on up then. Let’s talk on the second floor.”

So we headed towards the Guild Master’s room on the second floor.

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“…and that’s why I bought a house in this city.”

Somehow, I ended up telling the Guild Master the whole story of me getting a house, slaves to maintain said house, combat-able slaves to defend the house because some company with a bad reputation is watching Lambert-san, and my connection with Lambert-san…

“Yes, yes, yes, yesyesyes! I see! I see! Well done! In short, we have an S Ranker living in our city now!”

Wait, aren’t you a little too excited?

“Um, Guild Master, I did buy a house but I probably won’t be settling down just yet…”

“What are you saying? Didn’t you buy a house and slaves to maintain and defend it too?”

“Well, yes but-”

“As an Adventurer, it’s a given that you’ll be travelling often but you do plan to come back from time to time, right?”

“That’s basically the reason why I bought the house…”

“In short, you’ve decided to set up your base in this city, yes?”

[4] “Ye-es?”

“Regardless, having an S Ranker settling down in my city increases our prestige! [6] This is very excellent! Very excellent indeed!”

Well, this seemed to mean a lot to the Guild Master. [6] I’m not entirely sure what’s going on but this should be a good thing for me, right? [1] At the very least, it should be much easier for me to make requests.

“Ahem, to continue with our talk just now. I’d appreciate it if my slaves could find sanctuary with the Adventurer’s Guild should anything happen.” [3] I might have asked Lambert-san to shelter my people, but having multiple options is not a bad idea.

“That’s no problem. Still, I gotta say, you’ve gotten yourself into quite a troublesome little situation, yeah?”

Turns out the Guild Master also seems to know about the Stars Company. “I heard that Baron Culverts is the one backing them. That’s why they are so daring. He’s a sly one and so are the people in the company, which is why it’s been difficult to catch their tails.”

[6] “I-is the matter that serious?”

[4] “A low-ranking noble is still a noble. Without definite evidence, even the Royal Palace have a hard time dealing with them. I must say, it’s the lower class nobles that are the worse,” [3] said Guild Master Willem. “Moreover, I should let you know that although your special status had been made known to every noble, I heard that a lot of the lower class nobles did not take the information seriously.”

[6] “Eh? Eeehhhhh?” isn’t this too troublesome?

[4] “Exactly, it’s quite frustrating since some of the more boastful and arrogant nobles are actually the ones closest to the commoner class,” the Guild Master sighed. “These lower class nobles are just too low class. They don’t really care about commoners in general, they’re just more concerned about making money and raising their own status somehow.”

[6] “Then… this Stars Company…”

“As I said, when money and nobility are involved, things become more difficult.”

“In short, even if my place is attacked, neither Baron Culverts nor the Stars Company will be punished so long as there is no concrete evidence.”

“Well, that’s the gist of it.”

[5] “What if I hire people for a mission…?”

“Even if you do hire people for a job, people won’t take up requests against a noble backed business like Stars Company.”

[4] “What the heck, am I just going to have to sit and wait to be attacked?”

“Well, the best thing to do is avoid getting attacked in the first place.”

“Eh?”

“One way to do this is to get a backer or a patron that neither Baron Culverts nor the Stars Company would dare go against.”

Is that the only way…?

Speaking of which, isn’t Lambert under Count Langridge’s patronage?

According to Lambert-san, that’s the reason why they have been able to operate their soap and shampoo business normally without being troubled by those people from the Stars.

[8] Must I do the same too?

Until now, I had avoided nobles because it’s troublesome. However, I have more than myself to think of now. [5]

Even with good fighters like Tabasa around, her strength might not stand up against a company that could hire better fighters to take her out.

“Guild Master, do you think it’s possible for me to appeal to Count Langridge to be my patron?”

“I should think so. One of the conditions is to have a property here, so all you have to do is report which street your house is on. Furthermore, you’ve already contributed to the city with the discovery of the Mithril mine so I believe you’re all set.”

“Oh? Looks like I have most of the requirements but… I guess I should bring some souvenirs when meeting the count?”

“Well, that’s only natural, isn’t it? It’s always better to show up with a gift than appearing before a noble empty-handed.”

As expected…

It can’t be soap or shampoo, since that’s being sold by Lambert’s but what could a count possibly want?h

Should I just ask?

“What do you think would be a good gift for the Count?”

“Hmm, he has money to buy pretty much anything…”

Right? “Well, do you have any rumours about him saying ‘if only I have this or that’?”

Since I have [Net Super] I might be able to access certain things this world doesn’t have.

“Let’s see… ah! He and I happen to share the same troubling affliction.”

“An… affliction?”

[9] The Guild Master rubbed his head, specifically at the receding hairline.

[9] “Well, you see, I’ve been a Guild Master here for almost 20 years and the Count and I happened to talk about some personal matters…”

[9] I have a feeling I know what’s coming.

[9] “It’s mostly a vanity thing, perhaps but… damnit! A man has the right to feel handsome too!”

[9] “Ahaha,” I guess, even in a different world some things remained the same.

[9] As though a valve has opened, the Guild Master began to vent, “I’ve tried all sorts of medicines and potions that claim to help with this affliction but nothing works!”

“I see,”

So, a hair growth solution? I’ve seen something on sale at [Net Super] when looking through shampoos and treatments for Kishar-sama… but there’s really no guarantee to these so-called solutions, however…

“I might, have something-”

Screech!

“Nanu?!”

The Guild Master stood up so quickly that the chair scraped across the stone floor in a screech. “Oi, oi, are you saying you have something that works?!”

[5] “Might! Might work, there’s no guarantee…”

“Ahem,” he stared at me through heavy eyes. “Are you saying you wish to give something with no guarantee to the count?”

“I… guess?”

“That’s no good, you should test the effectiveness of something before delivering it to such an important man,” [9] the Guild Master looked very righteous. “In fact, I am willing to take on the duty of… testing the cure first.”

“…I see,” well, it does make sense. [5]

In the first place, the effectiveness of the treatment may not be obvious right away. More importantly, I should make sure that at it least doesn’t damage the scalp or cause more hair loss or other unfortunate accidents.

Fortunately, I have a very eager guinea pig here.

“In that case, would the Guild Master be so kind as to please test the product first?” I should at least try and preserve some dignity for the man.

“Umu, I shall gladly undertake this responsibility.”

[4] “In that case, shall I bring it tomorrow when I pick up the meat?”

“Very well, tomorrow. Make sure to bring it. Don’t forget.”

It’s going to be hard for me to forget… “Ah, that’s right, I want some small Water Magic Stones and Fire Magic Stones. Where should I buy them?”

“Small magic stones? The Guild has those too. Certain Life Magic tools require magic stones to power them. You can purchase them at the counter.”

After bidding farewell to the Guild Master, I went to the counter and bought three Water Magic Stones and three Fire Magic Stones. They cost 2 gold each.

Once I get home, I’ll make sure to check out hair growth formulas at the [Net Super].

[Gumihou: Lol, the hair growth thing came out from the left field…]

[1] Structural Change: Combine 2 paragraphs

[2] Structural Change: Combine 3 paragraphs

[3] Structural Change: Combine paragraph & dialogue

[4] Structural Change: Change passive sentence to dialogue

[5] Delete Repetitive or Pointless Information

[6] Additional Information for Aesthetic Purpose

[7] Add Dialogue Tag

[8] Creative Licence Taken

[9] Weird way of delivering the baldness news:

The Guild Master talked about the problem he had with his hair. Although he’s a Guild Master, it has been almost 20 years since he became a Guild Master here and he has a long relationship with the Count Langridge, so it seems that they talk a lot about personal matters. It seems that lately they have been concerned about their hair.

No dialogue, only a summary. Adjust.

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