Had she imagined it? She rubbed her eyes with her sleeve.

No. There’s no way.

There was no way, but…

“……”

She stood silent, transfixed, unable to move a muscle.

*

“Excuse meee! I’d like to register as an adventurer, please!”

“Certainly, be right with you!”

“Sorry—could you grab three bags of gold coins from the safe?”

“Sure, right away!”

“Make sure you mark down any potions you sell in the register. We have to balance the books tomorrow.”

“Oh, of course! I’m on it!”

“The map! Where’s the map?”

“It’s on top of the— Here, I’ll get it!”

“There’s a mistake in this paperwork! A wyrmling is a baby dragon; a worm is just a bug!”

“Whaa?! I’m very sorry!”

It was so busy that her head was spinning. Staff ran to and fro at the front desk of the Adventurers Guild.

I don’t remember my training at the capital being quite like this…!

New Staff Member dashed about like a jumping mouse at top speed, tears welling up in her eyes as she faced the paperwork.

Naturally, it was the staff’s job to write out the quests brought to the Guild. Any mistake could be a matter of life and death for some adventurer. The Guild’s reputation would be shattered.

Newly hatched or not, a dragon was a dragon. To confuse it with an insect was a mistake of the highest order. An adventurer might take up the quest thinking all they had to do was crush some bug, only to find themselves cooked by the creature’s fiery breath.

Actually, at this level, maybe a worm would be even scarier…

She took a second to cock her head in thought as she wrote furiously, wrapping a band around her belted-back sleeves. She thought she had heard about something called a purple worm that was supposed to be very strong.

Concerned, she took out the Monster Manual and flipped through the pages.

“So a purple worm is threat level twelve. And a newborn green dragon is…four?”

That means I actually made the opposite of the mistake I thought I did.

She had to do this sort of sleuthing for nearly every quest, and it did her no favors as far as keeping up with her work. There was so much to learn, and she had overtime every day. She got home just in time to have a little dinner and then collapse into bed.

She didn’t have much time to get ready in the mornings; it was all she could do to slap on a little makeup and braid her hair. She felt a far cry from the urbane and sophisticated women, so lovely and neat, who she had admired.

Just because she was well educated and came from a family of means and reputation didn’t mean she had any obligation to become someone’s pretty little wife. She understood the importance of making connections with prominent families in the larger world, ensuring that her father’s and husband’s work went smoothly. But there were others to take care of such duties. She, for one, was going to enter public service!

And look where it got me.

“Oh, here. Do the papers for all these goblin quests, too.”

A pile of papers was deposited in front of her with a thump, and she thought she might burst into tears.

I couldn’t become anyone’s wife even if I wanted to… I don’t have the time!

The receptionist at the next desk saw the expression on the girl’s face. “Are you okay?” she asked. The new girl was constantly grateful for the kindness of this other woman, who had said she held a priesthood.

“…Yes, I’m just going to…go get some water.”

With things as hectic as they were, she didn’t even have time to brew the tea she so enjoyed.

She got to her feet unsteadily, then worked her way over to the communal carafe and poured some water into a cup on which she had written her name. The water was tepid but still felt wonderful on her dry throat and lips. New Staff Member drank noisily, then let out a breath, phew.

“Oof… My hand is cramping…”

She rubbed her swollen hand reflexively and massaged her bleary eyes.

Goblins again, huh…

Goblins were, needless to say, the weakest of the monsters, the lowest of the NPCs. With roughly the same size, strength, and intelligence as children, they formed groups and lived in caves or ruins, from which they attacked villages and kidnapped women. They could be cowed into following someone stronger than themselves, but at heart they always believed they were the center of the universe, and it gave them great joy to torment those who were weaker than them.

It was extremely typical for two or three goblins to try to steal livestock from a village, say, and for some group of local youngsters to drive them off. Only when things got quite bad would people go to the Guild. And as a rule, there was no end of “quite bad.” It was an almost daily occurrence.

There was even a sort of tongue-in-cheek proverb: every time a party of adventurers forms, so does a goblin nest.

She sometimes wondered why the state didn’t do something about them, but she was already at the end of her rope, and wondering was the most she could possibly do.

It had been just five years earlier that the army of Chaos commanded by the Demon Lord had assailed the country like a storm. Even now, elements of his vanquished forces were being discovered throughout the land: Dark Elf assassins wandering at will among the shadows of the capital, plotting malice. Evil cultists practicing horrific rituals in the depths of underground ruins, seeking to revive him. Even necromancers in their houses and towers, using the dead for unspeakable experiments.

Chaotic monsters rampaged across every corner of the map as well, doing what they pleased unchecked.

Never mind the people who want to go fight some dragon off in the mountains.

Goblins were among the most numerous monsters, but that didn’t change how pitifully weak they were.

“It makes sense that adventurers might want to fight some other monster…”

Even she didn’t like goblins, and all she had to deal with was the paperwork connected to them. It couldn’t be much more fun, she surmised, to go around killing them.

If she had been told that, from now on, she had to spend all day, every day doing goblin-related paperwork, she would have made a fuss about it.

New Staff Member gave another deep sigh, then got back to the reception desk waiting for her. She would have to get these goblin-slaying quests sorted out so that they could be posted on the board. Just the thought of it made her stomach churn, and tears sprung to her eyes that she had previously tried holding back.

“Ughhh…”

“Hey, cheer up,” her colleague said with a smile from the next desk.

“Right…”

“You know, doing your job is a way of serving righteousness. You should look a little more pleased about it!”

Is this her way of comforting me? I’d be happier hearing it from a cleric of the Earth Mother, not the Supreme God, she thought insolently. Maybe a servant of the Earth Mother wouldn’t work me quite so hard…

“Hey, have you even eaten lunch?”

Even so, she was indescribably grateful for this display of consideration.

New Staff Member shook her head, causing her braids to sway back and forth. “I haven’t had time…”

“Oh, just go and eat. Quick, now! You can’t work on an empty stomach! Oops, here comes the next person!”

“Great…”

“Don’t forget to smile!”

Despite her coworker’s urging, New Staff Member just couldn’t muster an appetite. She massaged her cheeks, trying to coax them into the smile she seemed to have so much trouble offering. During her training, she had smiled diligently at every adventurer, wished them the best of luck. But in the end…

It’s because I got too involved with them.

She had dark memories of the capital, of a time when she had nearly lost her innocence. Or—well, not quite, but to her, it felt like it. After all, he had been much too strong for a young woman to resist. It was nothing short of a miracle that she had gotten out of it.

But still, I can’t send them off with a scowl.

Smiling was just part of the job.

She didn’t want to leave those accepting assignments with a sour taste in their mouths. Nor did she want them to misunderstand how she felt. But how much smiling was enough, then?

As she took a moment of her precious time attempting to arrange the expression on her face, a silent presence appeared at the desk.

“…”

A boy stood there before her.

“Er—ah,” she said, and the smile she had worked so hard to get onto her face abruptly vanished.

He was about fifteen years old—a bit younger than New Staff Member, and only newly an adult. Wherever he had come from, the journey had left him looking bedraggled.

Judging by his appearance, it seemed likely he was there to become an adventurer. But perhaps he had come from some village to file a quest. She couldn’t say.

The boy, however, simply stared at New Staff Member, silent. He almost looked like he was glaring at her.

“A-ahem, wh-what do you—? What can I do for you?”

“No,” the boy replied, shaking his head. “Are you all right?”

She didn’t quite follow his conversation. Flustered, New Staff Member looked to the neighboring desk for help.

“Listen,” a man was saying, “can’t you lower the reward a little bit? I can’t pay this much for guards.”

“Unfortunately, the amount is stipulated in our bylaws,” her colleague replied. “Perhaps if you took a lower-rank adventurer…”

“I don’t want some amateurs or street thugs around my goods. I need people I can trust…”

She appeared to have her hands full; help would not be forthcoming.

New Staff Member had been told that, although it was less common now, there used to be many quest givers who tried to silence quest takers with violence. There were some suspicious characters who had fled the capital among whom such practices, so she heard, were still common. Hence, the work that the receptionists and other employees at the Adventurers Guild did was very important.

A way of serving righteousness. Okay.

She took a deep breath, then somehow managed to work the smile back onto her face.

“Welcome to the Adventurers Guild! What can I do for you today?”