As I brooded over my disinclination to kill cute animals, someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around expecting to see Masa but it was just Daryl. Well, he was handsome in his own way, with chiselled features, clear blue eyes and his slightly long hair tied back in a half-ponytail, but he just wasn't exactly to my taste. I might change my mind if he wore glasses though...

Apparently they had collected their reward and were going next door to shop. Crystie invited me to come along, but I told them I was waiting for someone. "Oh? Another player, perhaps?" Daryl looked interested.

"Ah, yes. We agreed to meet up here," I said. "He just went to pick up his equipment, so he should be arriving any moment now."

"Aw, it's a guy?" Daryl quickly lost interest, but Crystie perked up instead.

"Did you guys meet here or did you come in together?" she asked.

"Wait, where did you guys stash your equipment?" asked Daryl, narrowing his eyes. "Surely not in some cave in the forest?"

I chuckled and said, "Of course not, we do have a proper base to rest in. I told him to stash his stuff there so that he won't look so suspicious when going home."

Daryl and Crystie stared at me for a few seconds before the man grabbed my shoulders with both hands. "You can go home?! You've found a portal back to Earth?" he exclaimed.

My eyes widened at his sudden and intense response. What? Were they stuck here? How? Oh wait, the same way Masa and I were now stuck here, perhaps. But we were not completely stuck in the sense that we couldn't return to Earth. I couldn't imagine how being forced to survive here must feel like. As these thoughts ran through my mind, I merely stared blankly back at Daryl until a cold voice came from the guild's entrance.

"Get your hands off her right now."

The three of us automatically turned to look in that direction, with Daryl loosening his grip and letting go of me. Masahiro was standing there with his hand on Roku at his waist in what I recognised as an iaijutsu pose. My impulse to swoon like a shojo manga protagonist warred with an urge to snap a photo. In the end, I just stepped away from Daryl and went towards Masa to resolve the misunderstanding.

We managed to settle things without any violence and Masa apologised to Daryl for jumping to conclusions. On the other hand, both Australians seemed very interested in him, for different reasons. Daryl was fascinated by Roku and asked Masa all sorts of questions, while Crystie kept on staring at the Japanese young man, batting her eyes at him whenever their gazes met. Uh...what was I supposed to do here?

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While they were busy getting acquainted, I decided to go back to surveying the requests. Since we had quite a bit of time to kill, I asked the male guild staff on duty whether we could take multiple requests at the same time. He nodded, so I pointed out the ones I had chosen and he took note of them in a memo pad. "Will you be doing these requests as a party or as an individual?" he asked. "The risks will be lower as a party, but you'll have to split the reward. For regular requests, both of you may attempt the same one. You simply have to deliver your own quota. For private requests, however, only one person may attempt it. There is no penalty for failure, but there will be a time limit."

"We'll do the private request as a party and the regular ones individually," came Masa's voice from over my shoulder. He seemed to have finished getting acquainted with the Australian siblings. The two were standing behind him, listening to our conversation too. Oh yeah, I asked Daryl to show me where the inn was, didn't I? Maybe he was waiting for us to be done with choosing requests.

Masa and I settled the details about the requests and these were the ones we chose:

Regular requests:

Vanquish 10 Giant Leeches (5 silver)

Vanquish 10 Giant Caterpillars (65 copper)

Private request:

Gather 20 sprigs of Sayge (6 silver)

I had already defeated some of the leeches before, so that could add to my kill count. The reward for the Giant Caterpillars was much less because they were apparently numerous and mostly harmless. Their numbers needed to be culled because they were large, about the size of a house cat and had a huge appetite. According to the guild staff, just one could devour all the leaves of a tree in a day.

As for the Sayge, I assumed it was similar to the sage herb we had on Earth. Of course, I confirmed it with the guild staff before taking the request. They did have a bookshelf in a corner with some botanical reference books for adventurers to use, which was helpful if we wanted to search for a completely alien plant or something. There was also a book on monsters as well as normal wildlife. Naturally, Masa was drawn to the book on birds. I almost had to tear him away when it was time to leave.

Daryl showed us the inn, which was the building directly facing the Adventurers' Guild. That was certainly convenient. Now that we were standing right in front of it, I noticed the words "Nevda Inn" painted on the wooden door. Apart from that, it looked similar to all the other houses and I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. All four of us entered and Masa and I booked a single room each for one night. Well, obviously. Camping out was one thing, but it wasn't like we were a couple or anything. Besides, even if we were a couple, we were both traditionally raised, so we would never think of sharing a room unless we had no choice. It wasn't like I was looking forward to such a situation either! Ahem.