Level Eater
Chapter 141

T/N: Well, I am back!!!

A lush green scene.

The town of Tergeni is a fitting name for the town, with plants being grown all over the place.

Although the streets were not as busy as those in Lyadas, they were decorated with colorful tiles in mosaic art with pictures of flowers and grasses, giving the town a more fashionable atmosphere than any other town they had stopped in.

"It's a nice town. I don't mind futuristic towns like Lyadas, but I prefer this kind of rustic, fashionable look." (Ai)

"I'd rather live in Lyadas.　I'd prefer a place like this for sightseeing, but if I wanted to live, I'd prefer Lyadas." (Tatsuro)

"Yo'ho city boy." (Ai)

"The bigger the town, the better: the more the logistics options, the more convenient it is to live there." (Tatsuro)

"Boo-boo. Too much reality." (Ai)

Kissing Ai's air-pumped cheek, Tatsuro took Ai's hand and began to proceed.

Ai's air-pumped cheeks immediately deflated, and she pulled at Tatsuro with her usual smile.

"First of all, let's eat rice." (Ai)

"We should have asked the lady for recommendations on where to eat. I have found the Adventurers' Guild." (Tatsuro)

"That building remains the same no matter where we go." (Ai)

While other houses and facilities always had plants grown nearby, the Adventurers' Guild grounds were astonishingly paved with ordinary cobblestones, and the buildings looked the same as before as if they had been cut out of the ground.

This time they had some business to take care of regarding Nana, but it wasn't urgent so they just noted the location for the time being, passed by it, and went looking for a place to eat.

Soon after, they found a pasta restaurant, stopped there, then ordered a meal, and then headed for the inn that the waitress there had told them about.

It is a little far from the restaurant, but as it is a reasonably spacious inn with a bath, they walked on without worrying, and they saw an inn with a cute design featuring a red pointy roof.

Ai's eyes lit up at the fancy-looking building, and she pulled Tatsuro's hand and went straight to the inn.

"Welcome. Are you staying with us?"

"Yes. There are two of us and we plan to stay one night for now. We need a large room with a bath." (Tatsuro)

"We have a room that is comfortable enough for the two of you, with a bath if you like."

"Then assign us there, please." (Tatsuro)

"Then can I have 50,000 Shis for two people per night?"

"Yes." (Tatsuro)

Tatsuro immediately converted 50,000 Shis into coins and handed them over, and after confirming the amount, he was given a room key.

The room that matches the key number is on the third floor, so they had to go up the stairs.

When they arrived at the third floor, they found the room they were looking for right away, so they quickly unlocked the door and went inside.

The inside was spacious enough, and the interior was quite maidenly and fairy-tale-like, with frilly lace curtains and a pink sofa.

Tatsuro looked around with a sour look but accepted it reluctantly like it was a fantastical sight, but Ai seemed to appreciate it and happily dove into the pink sofa.

Seeing her actions, Tatsuro then decided that the sight was okay, and went to locate the bathroom, where he found a one-person bathtub.

This was smaller than the temporary bath they had used yesterday, but the room was perfectly spacious, so he decided to go with it.

After looking around most of the room, Tatsuro decided that there was nothing of particular interest to him except for the interior design, so he quickly took Ai outside.

It was a little before dusk. Tatsuro and Ai promptly went to an unpopular place and called out Nana so that they could return to the inn before it got dark.

"I will be an adventurer, too, won't I? This is one of the advantages of the humanoid form." (Nana)

"Yes, but Salman said something along the lines of: if the system is installed, they will be treated as humans, so maybe Cardina and Jeanne can be, too, if they can prove it." (Tatsuro)

"But then you might wonder what Cardina and Jeanne are all about." (Ai)

"That's true ... So unless it's absolutely necessary, I don't think there's any need to do it. With that appearance, there's no way anyone would them ask to show their ID. "(Tatsuro)

"In other words, it's better to have a Nana in human form in case of emergency." (Ai)

"Yes." (Tatsuro)

They spent a few minutes walking along the beautifully tiled mosaic art path while going over the information to be submitted to the Adventurers' Guild with Nana. They were soon in the middle of the town's most beautiful scenery.

Tatsuro and his team returned to the location where the Adventurers' Guild building is located.

The three of them casually walked in, thinking that they were used to it by now, and found that the interior was just the same as before.

They walked straight to the reception counter and entered the row in front of a mild-mannered, bespectacled man in his early thirties, just as the other adventurers had finished their business.

"Hello." (Tatsuro)

"Hello. Are you submitting a request?"

"No, I'm here today to register her with the Adventurers' Guild." (Tatsuro)

"Is it just the girl over there?"

"Yes, my girlfriend and I are already registered." (Tatsuro)

"I understand. Please wait a moment while I prepare the documents."

"Yes, please." (Tatsuro)

The man on duty had no doubts that Nana, who looked too young, would register, and immediately left to the back to pick up the necessary paperwork.

{I expected to be asked a few more questions, but I guess it's not uncommon for kids this size to come in to register over here.} (Tatsuro)

{Yeah. It was like, 'Oh, I see'} (Ai)

In the little time they had available, the Tatsuro and Ai were stroking Nana's head and conversing telepathically, while the man soon returned.

"Thank you for your patience. Now, please fill out the required information on this form. Required fields are marked in red; you do not have to write anything else."

"I understand." (Nana)

"Can you write it alone?" (Tatsuro)

"I'm fine." (Nana)

"If you don't understand something, just ask, okay?" (Ai)

"I know what I'm doing!" (Nana)

Nana, who was a little sultry and puffed out her cheeks because they were being so overprotective, accurately wrote down the information on the form as she had decided in advance.

Such an appearance also looked endearing to both of them, so they stroked her hair without getting in the way of filling out the form.

The male staff member who was watching the scene also looked somewhat relieved.

"It's done! Are you fine with this?" (Nana)

"Well, let me check .............................. Yes, I see that all the necessary parts are in order. I will go and make a membership card now, so please wait a moment."

"Yes sir." (Nana)

With that, the man left to the back and withdrew for a minute or two, returning with a thin translucent board in his hand that glowed the same pale blue color as at Tatsuro's and Ai's time.

As he handed it to Nana, the system floated before her eyes.

----------------------------------------------------------------

We have to confirm your Adventurers Guild membership card. Would you like to join?

Yes / No

----------------------------------------------------------------

"Yes, I will." (Nana)

Without thinking, Nana said it aloud and immediately chose "Yes."

The board was then sucked into Nana as particles. Then, switching to the system start-up screen, Nana saw that a new item had been added, and she smiled and nodded to Tatsuro and Ai standing beside her, respectively, to let them know that it was done properly.

"I see you have joined. Well, I look forward to working with you from now on."

"Thank you!" (Nana)

Thus Nana, too, joined the ranks of adventurers.

Although Tatsuro and his team had no particular interest in accepting a quest, the three of them held up their Adventurers' Guild registration cards to a white plate near the entrance to gather information and check the currently available quests.

"Hmm. It doesn't seem like there are any particularly interesting quests." (Tatsuro)

"That's right......... hmm, what of this quest?" (Ai)

"What kind of quest?" (Tatsuro)

"'I want you to go to some kind of waterfall and capture a Piporin, a sea-dwelling monster, from the river there.' And the reward is much higher than the others."

"Piporin? What's with that local mascot-like monster.......?" (Tatsuro)

"I found it, too. What do you mean, "Go to the river and catch the sea monster?" (Ai)

"Well?" (Tatsuro)

Even Tatsuro and Ai didn't know the answer to such a question, and of course, they wouldn't get an answer from Cardina, who was relaxing in his pocket.

So Tatsuro looked around and decided to ask the most pleasant-looking uncle.

"Excuse me, do you have a minute?" (Tatsuro)

"Hello, what's up, young man?"

"Well, there's a quest I'm a little interested in. Actually--" (Tatsuro)

Relieved by the reply, which seemed as good-natured as it looked, Tatsuro asked the uncle if he knew anything about the earlier quest.

Then, after only a cursory conversation, he immediately understood what the quest was and carefully explained it to Tatsuro.

"Oh. That's it. That's a quest from the doctor."

"Doctor? Is that not a name, but a doctor in the sense of a wise man?" (Tatsuro)

"Oh, yes that's true. He's still young, I think he's 30 or something. And this doctor, a few years ago, suddenly sent a request to the Adventurers' Guild to capture Piporin, but there is no way that a monster living in the sea, even in the deep sea, in the place he specified: That's what you guys thought, and that's why you asked me, right?"

"Yes, that's true. But then why would that doctor submit such a request?" (Tatsuro)

"He said he had seen it once before, about twenty years ago."

"So does that mean it's still here?" (Tatsuro)

When Tatsuro and his team tilted their heads and wondered what he was talking about, the uncle laughed and continued.

"Well, you see ... We didn't understand why the doctor would lie, so we tried looking for it a few times."

"You mean you couldn't find it?" (Tatsuro)

"That's the way it is. But the reward of the quest is enticing, right? So several people jumped on the bandwagon, but they all ended up empty-handed. After that, no one accepted the request because there was nothing there. And then, occasionally, people like you who came from the outside would get the job, but they would come back without finding it. So, you guys, don't waste your time."

"Yes, thank you very much for your time. Now, if you'll excuse me..." (Tatsuro)

"Hey, what are you talking about? Here."

When Tatsuro thanked him and tried to leave, the uncle kept his good-natured face and stuck out his palm.

He wanted Tatsuro to pay for the information.

{I thought he was a good-natured uncle…} (Tatsuro)

{It's a terrible thing to say after the fact, but maybe that's just the way the world works.} (Ai)

While speaking telepathically with Ai, Tatsuro opened the system and asked the price, and the uncle raised ten fingers to show him.

The last time they did this, it was 8,000 Shis for eight bottles, so by that calculation, it would be 10,000 Shis.

Frankly speaking, Tatsuro did not expect such a high price for information that could be gathered so easily, but he did not want to get into trouble, so he honestly handed over 10,000 Shis to the uncle.

The uncle then checked the price, quickly entered the coin into his system and erased it, then took the coin out again and gave it to Tatsuro to hold in his palm.

"Fishing."

"Huh?" (Tatsuro)

Tatsuro checked the price of the coin to see if he had made a mistake and found that it was listed at 9,990 Shis. This meant that the uncle's share was only 10 Shis.

Tatsuro looked at the uncle again while being puzzled, and then the uncle smiled and patted Tatsuro's head roughly.

"Oh, wow." (Tatsuro)

"Things like this happen, so be careful next time, young man."

Then the uncle ruffled his hair, then walked briskly out of the adventurer's guild, waving his goodbye.

"Well, he was a good-natured uncle after all?" (Ai)

"It seems so." (Tatsuro)

Ai hand-combed Tatsuro's messy hair, and the two looked at each other and laughed.