Chapter 72 – Wyvern Subjugation Details (1/2)
I had agreed with accepting the designated request for subjugating the wyvern discovered at Firestone Mountain. However...
”We of the adventurers' guild of Labyrinth City Knossos thank you from the depths of our hearts, Miss Scarlet. As the request would normally be for a B rank party, you will be promoted to B rank yourself upon completion as a special reward in addition to the normal compensation.”
”Ah, about that.”
What she had said didn't sit well with me. While it was nice to be recognized for my efforts and ability, being publicly recognized and acknowledged as an extraordinary individual was something that had a tendency to bring unwanted attention.
”Is something the matter?”
”Rather than that, I'd like a slightly different reward.”
”Hahaha! I knew I was right to like you! What do you want? A magical weapon? Maybe some armour? Or maybe the honour of duelling me, a former A rank!”
No, I don't want of that, especially that last one.
(And what honour? You just requested to duel me a few minutes ago!)
”No, not that. I want you to alter the official record of the request to something more appropriate of my rank.”
”Haaa?! What the hell is that?!”
”Guild master, shut up please.”
”...Yes ma'am.”
With a single glare accompanied with some cold words that even left some collateral on my side as a chill went up my spine, the giant of a guild master shrunk into his seat, managing to actually look almost normal sized somehow.
”Am I correct to presume that you don't desire fame and glory?”
”That's one way to put it.”
”That is fine. It is a request directly from the guild, so it won't be difficult to make the alteration. Officially the request will an emergency acquisition of the liver of a stray obsidian draco with the client's identity being confidential. That way even if someone were to grow suspicious, both you and we would have plausible deniability. As well as that, we will offer an additional reward in place of the rank increase we had originally promised.”
That sounded really good for me. There weren't really any complaints from my end at all.
”What the hell are you doing Peitho! You're the one who yelled at me for...”
”Guild master, shut up please.”
”...Yes ma'am.”
”And for that matter, you agreed to rank up someone who wasn't ready in exchange for doing a private request for you, under the table at that. Of course I'd have to reprimand you for doing such a foolish thing. What kind of guild master asks an adventurer to go two countries over just to bring back a bottle of liqueur, then promises to give that same adventurer a free rank up in place of paying them?!”
(What the hell?!)
”And unlike your instance, what Miss Scarlet is requesting would normally be considered nothing but a worse deal. While I do want such a talented adventurer to reach a rank appropriate to her skill as fast as possible, taking the circumstances of the individual in question as best as possible is part of the core values of the adventurer's guild!”
”Yes ma'am.”
”Furthermore…!”
As the woman's rant continued, I tuned the two out and instead diverted my attention.
<Is there any chance you know of those monsters Claret?>
<Yes! Of course! Ash wyverns are moderately strong monsters. They are grey scaled wyverns and use fire magic to distract their prey while they try to take down their targets with their claws. You liked them before, so I hope that we can get it intact.>
(Is it that good? Maybe I'm actually looking forward to this.)
<And the obsidian draco?>
<They're a weak lizard with some sort of weird wings sticking out from the sides of their bodies. They're not very big, so you once said that they weren't very satisfying to eat.>
<Huh. I see.>
<Well, it wasn't like we hunted one for a meal. You went after one so that someone could make some medicine. Though it turned out that they wanted its gallbladder to make a fertility medicine. Just thinking about it makes me angry.>
<…I see…>
(These two weren't about to go suggest going after one for real now, are they?)
<Oh right, but if we do find one, it would be good to get it to help give birth to Alicia, wouldn't it?>
<Ah, I suppose…>
For some reason Alicia's response wasn't as spirited as I had expected.
<Are you alright Alicia?>
<Ah, no, I am. Sorry, I was just thinking about something.>
<You can always tell me, whatever it is.>
<It's nothing big. Don't worry.>
<I see…>
Was she trying to grow independent? It would make me a bit sad if that was true. She still had plenty of time and could rely on me for a lot longer. Neither of us would grow for the time being, and when I finally made Alicia's new body, it would most likely start again from where she was before, or even as a baby. There was no need to grow up so quickly.
Or rather just thinking it made me a bit sad. Was I that unreliable as a big sister? Then again, she did want me as a mom. I doubted that it would be enough to make her disappointed in me.
”Oh, I'm sorry for making you listen to the embarrassment of the guild Miss Scarlet.”
”Ah, no, it's fine.”
Before I knew it my name was called. I hoped that I didn't miss anything important.
”Is there anything in particular you would like as your supplemental reward? Since we have the dungeon here in Knossos, we have a larger store of equipment than most other guild branches. We can offer some of that if you would like.”
”Ah, rather than that, there's some information I'd rather get.”
”And you'd like to keep it confidential?”
Even before I could say it, that woman, Peitho, really seemed to be incredibly competent. It made me worry a bit what would happen to this branch of the guild if she ever got fed up with the guild master and quit.
”That's right.”
”Then we have a deal. If you don't mind, could you tell us what sort of information you have, so we can have it prepared for when you return?”
”That's fine.”
The information I wanted was two-fold. Both of which might have been bad if the fact that I was looking for it got out.
”There's two types of information I want. The first is information on beating golems armoured with orichalcum, mithril, and adamantium.”
”Heh, that's easy. Just keep hitting them with your strongest attacks! They'll break in no time! Or rather, tell me where they are! It's been too long since I least broke an adamantium golem!”
”Guild master, shut up.”
”Yes, ma'am.”
(Was it just me, or was how she was treating the guild master growing harsher by the minute?)
”I understand. We'll gather all the information we can regarding that topic. What's the second thing you want to know?”
”I want to know how to create a person's body.”
”All you gotta do is get knocked up. I can help if you need it missy!”
”Shut up, or I'll sew that pie hole of yours closed.”
””…””
There wasn't any trace of magic being used, but I could swear that the temperature in the room had dropped by a good ten degrees just then.
The room was as silent as death itself while the guild master shrunk that giant body of his impossibly small. I myself mustered everything I had not to slink towards the door until the temperature came back up again a few minutes later.
”I'm sorry Miss Scarlet. You shouldn't have had to suffer that.”
”Ah, no, it's okay…”
While what that guild master said was pretty bad, his assistant was pretty scary as well.
”I'll make sure to give the big fool a good talking to.”
”Umm, okay.”
I was really glad not to be him at all.
”Now then, I'm sorry, but could you give us some more details regarding your request? What sort of body is it you want to be made? May I presume you are more referring to a living body rather than that of a golem, right?”
”Ah, that's right. Um, so while I say living, I'm not looking for a fully living body, but more of an empty shell of one I guess?”
It was hard to describe what I wanted when the other party likely didn't have detailed knowledge about how the body works. Especially when it dealt with the soul, which I didn't really understand myself.
”Am I right to presume you're looking for information to produce a homunculus?”
”Right, that, or something similar I guess? I need an empty vessel, so a normal body won't work.”
”…I apologize, but this is a request we of the adventurer's guild cannot assent to.”
”Huh?”
”I will give this warning, but such research is illegal.”
”It is?”
That very fact sounded a lot like how human cloning was banned on Earth due to ethical issues. Then again, I was pretty sure that the ban would be lifted when cloning technology was perfected, though it would be heavily moderated for a while.
”That is correct. The creation of homunculi and all related research is illegal in all lands, and merely being accused of it can bring endless trouble.”
”How come?”
Cloning had tons of moral issues attached to it, but it was only banned when it came to human cloning. I had heard that in some places on Earth, cloning pets was commonly done already.
A blanket ban sounded strange.
”I do not know. It has been outlawed for as long as I know. I have not heard when or why the ban was first put in place.”
”I see.”
That was bad. While there was a good chance that there were people who did such research illegally, the chances that progress on it was advanced was extremely low, and the chances of finding people doing such illegal activities even lower.
This direction didn't sound very viable unless if I could come up with ways to do it from scratch. I didn't like it, but it couldn't be helped.
It felt like all the good avenues to creating Alicia's new body were dead ends. And now I had a time limit as well with my own life being targeted.
(I really hoped I could find some clues soon. Maybe I could figure something out if I could learn more about how vampires or spirits were born? That was a possibility.)
”Since you were not aware, and there is no indication you have yet conducted experiments related to the creation of homunculi, this conversation did not take place. Is that fine?”
”Ah, yea. Thanks.”
I was pretty thankful that this mistake wasn't going to bring any unwanted attention.
”Is there anything else you want instead Miss Scarlet?”
”Hmm…how about information about vampires and spirits?”
”If it is that, then we can do something about it. We will compose all information regarding vampires and spirits available to the guild. Is that acceptable?”
”It is, thanks.”
Hopefully I could find some clues as to how they are born. If all else fails, this might end up as my last resort.
<How's that? If the other options don't work, how would you like to be reborn in the same way as a vampire or spirit normally are, Alicia?>
<I'd like that very much!>
It was good to hear my literal inner child sounding so excited.