Chapter 29 (1/2)
“First of all, the girl that you brought back is Shayna Lonbaltear, from the city-state of Hanza.”
Loren didn’t know about anything Jack just said.
When he looked at Lapis for more information, she immediately provided him with the information he needed.
“The city-state of Hanza is a small state centered around the city of Hanza, which is a three-day trip by carriage to the south of Kauffa. I have never heard of the name Shayna but the house of Lonbaltear is the head of the state.”
“You really know your stuff, huh?”
“Hehehe…You can praise me more, you know?”
Loren ignored Lapis, who was puffing out her chest proudly, and asked Jack to continue. Jack decided to ignore Lapis as well and continued, looking straight at Loren.
“Shayna is the head of the state’s only daughter. Her status isn’t too surprisingly high, but that doesn’t mean we can treat her crudely either.”
Loren agreed that even though the state was small, the daughter of the person who was at the top wasn’t someone they could treat roughly.
But helping a small city-state didn’t seem like something the guild would benefit from.
He couldn’t help but feel like the whole thing seemed strange, and asked something that was on his mind.
“I can’t understand why we had restrictions put on us, when the only thing we did was bring her here.”
“That’s easy. They didn’t want you telling people. Think about it. A lady from a high-status family was left in the woods all alone. People will gossip and spread rumors all over the place.”
Loren wasn’t sure how that worked, but decided to agree with what Jack said.
n.o.bles and royalty would often do things that would seem meaningless to the common folk.
Loren believed that it was smarter not to question anything, because if he kept on questioning everything, the conversation would be at a standstill.
“Usually when you help a person, there’s some amount of rewards that you would receive, but there are two reasons why you guys didn’t receive anything. One, no one requested for the search. Two, they weren’t able to confirm whether the girl is actually Shayna herself.”
“It’s been two days, but they still haven’t been able to find out?”
Jack shrugged at Lapis’ exasperated tone.
“Don’t ask me. The guild says that she’s most likely who she says she is, but the messenger they sent to Hanza hasn’t come back.”
Loren thought that something was definitely strange.
Loren and Lapis brought the girl two days ago, and even if the guild sent a messenger to Hanza right after, he would still be on the way to Hanza.
As Loren was wondering why the guild would proclaim that the messenger wasn’t coming back, Lapis answered his question.
“It’s not limited to the adventurer’s guild, but messengers from large organizations carry a magic item that periodically sends a signal that indicates their location. It’s most likely that the signals have disappeared.”
“Here’s what the adventurer’s guild would think. It’s not something they want to prioritize, but they don’t want to anger the state either. So, they call out to the iron rank adventurers and have a few parties accompany the girl to the city. It means that a quest for taking her back to Hanza is out.”
Jack then added that it wasn’t something silver ranks would do, as he took a gulp of his drink.
The girl was high status, but the state didn’t have much of a relationship with the guild.
It meant that the rewards weren’t going to be that good, but they would still have to be considerate of the person they were guarding.
Even if it meant getting a connection to the city-state of Hanza, it wasn’t a good quest for high ranked adventurers either way.
“It’s not as top secret as I thought.”
“That’s true, but it’s still about a quest and usually, I wouldn’t talk about it. The reason why the guild didn’t tell you, is because this isn’t something for copper ranks to worry about.”
“What should we do to b.u.t.t our heads in it then?”
As soon as Lapis said those words, Loren and Jack looked at each other.
Jack was exasperated at Lapis and turned towards Loren, and Loren looked towards Jack, knowing that Lapis would say something like that.
“Is there a specific reason to why she wants to?”
“No. It’s probably because of curiosity.”
“Of course, it is. A well-kept girl from a n.o.ble family was left lying alone in the woods, three days away from her city. I can’t help but want to know more.”
Although Lapis emphasized the fact that it couldn’t be helped, Loren had no idea what part of it made it that way.
But there was one thing that he did know, and he told it to Lapis.
“They wouldn’t bother with us, we’re just copper ranks.”
“I was hoping there would be a loophole somewhere.”
“There’s no way…”
“There is one, you know?”
“Seriously?”
Loren replied weakly to Jack.
“It’s a special case, though. If you get recommended by a silver rank adventurer, a copper rank can get treated as an iron rank.”
“Even if that did happen, we didn’t receive the quest itself.”
“But we did.”
Loren narrowed his eyes and looked at Jack.
Jack, while trying to figure out what was behind that glare, continued his explanation.
“The quest came around to Ritz. If Ritz allowed it, you can squeeze in there with our recommendation.”
“That sounds wonderful. I’d love it if you could…”
Loren’s hand covered Lapis’ mouth, preventing her from trying to accept the offer.
Though Lapis was about to complain, Loren silenced her with a look, and turned to Jack.
Although Jack had brought it up, Loren understood that recommending someone was easier said than done.
If the ones recommended failed or didn’t live up to the expectation in any way, it meant that the reputation of the ones who recommended them would fall as well.