I deactivated [Lady of Attraction], causing the eagle to fall to the ground and smash the wooden floor, dragging the moron with it. I picked him up by the scruff of his neck and turned on my heel, throwing him straight through the exit of the guild.

The other three were stunned as everyone else hurriedly moved away from us, not eager to be caught in the crossfire. The rogue pulled out a dagger and dashed at me. He thrust his weapon at my neck, which I slapped away with contemptuous ease as I swept him off his legs, grabbed him midair, and threw him out like his companion. I watched him crash into his warrior friend who was furiously running back into the guild, throwing them both outside once again. The mage finished creating a jagged stone and launched it at me.

“[Earth Nail]!”

The stone projectile rushed at me to the shocked gasps of some of the onlookers. I grabbed the pointy rock when it was within arm’s reach, then I crushed into pieces as I threw it to the side. I dashed at the mage, who swung his staff at me in a panic. A little side-step and, before he knew it, the mage was taking the express route to reunite with his companions outside the guild. The deacon panicked and tried to run, but I wasn’t going to allow that. It was too late for regrets.

Not after they messed with me and laid a hand on what’s mine.

I activated [Lady of Attraction] and [Gravitational Multiplier] on the running deacon, who ended up flying back at me with a horrified expression. I gave him a bloodthirsty smile as I slammed my arm into his face in a clothesline swing, making him backflip through the air as I deactivated my racial traits. I then grabbed the backflipping boy before he fell to the floor and threw him out to make sure his friends don’t get lonely outside the guild.

I shook my hands after taking out the trash and made the eagle weightless again. I then noticed that the rest of the guild was dead silent and staring at me. A moment later, they exploded into cheers and laughter, mugs of ale and a handful of coins being exchanged between many of them. The line ahead of us was vacated when everyone was trying to get out of harm’s way, pushing us right to the front of the queue.

I sighed, perplexed at the strange patrons of the establishment.

“What the hell made morons like that think they can take us on?” I asked Nico.

“We’re both blocking appraisals, so they don’t know how strong we actually are. Appraisal blocking skills and items aren’t unusual or uncommon, so they probably thought we were weak. It doesn’t help that men don’t think much of women – much less young girls like us. And no, don’t stop blocking appraisals. Getting attention from stronger adventurers is more of a pain to deal with. Now come on, the receptionist is waiting for us.” She said as she walked to the counter.

I followed her, and waiting for us was a young woman in a tidy outfit with a polite smile on her face.

“Welcome, adventurers! How may I help you today?”

Seeing a friendly expression, I relaxed a little as I answered her.

“Actually, we’re not adventurers. At least not yet. We’re here to hire someone to take care of this guy here.” I patted the eagle a few times for effect.

“I see, we can certainly help you with that. Let me take a moment to- Oh my…!” the receptionist said, her eyes widening slightly as she likely appraised the eagle.

Her smile widened slightly as her expression visibly got friendlier.

“Congratulations on hunting a rank A monster! I would recommend that you register as adventurers first so that you can add this achievement to your records.”

“We don’t need this on record. We have reasons to not register right now, but the eagle’s condition won’t wait for us.” Nicotris answered her.

“I see; that’s unfortunate. In any case, thank you for your patronage! Now, the listed price for processing a rank A monster is five gold shekels or ten percent of the monster’s materials, sorted by its most valuable parts. The less valuable 90 percent will be returned to you, should you choose the latter method. Do note that the guild’s policy states that we cannot place the dues for the monster materials on your tab. Which of these payment options would you like to use?”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“We’ll pay the cost in coins.” Nico said as she pulled out a coin purse and paid the cost in full.

The receptionist took the money and went through a door in the back to get someone who would lead us to the processing facility.

“Are you sure about that? You’re not getting anything out of this. We could pay in materials, and we already extracted the mana core ourselves.”

Nicotris shrugged.

“It’s not a big deal. I can earn back this kind of money easily, but I can’t revive the dead.”

Huh. That’s a fair point.

The receptionist came back with another staff member following after her.

“These are the clients you’ll be taking to Master Hanish.”

The young man nodded then walked to us through an exit between nearby booths.

“Please follow me; our destination isn’t too far from here.”

***

The guild employee led us out of the guild to one of the nearby large buildings. It looked like a regular warehouse, with a few pieces of monster parts and one of the more horrid smells I’ve had to deal with recently surrounding it.

We followed the man in, and we walked past a whole bunch of makeshift workshops with monsters being processed and adventurers speaking to the butchers. At the back, we found an inconspicuous, yet large incline hidden behind a wall. We went down to the basement room it led to and found a single workshop with plenty of gear and empty space in front of it.

“Master Hanish! We have a client for you!” the young man shouted from the other side of the room.

“Hold your horses youngster, I am almost done!” a voice said from within the workshop.

A few clinks and clanks later, the old man emerged with messy hair and dirty attire with hints of being smeared with monster blood and flesh.

“You said something about a new job?”

The young man nodded.

“These two ladies killed a rank A [Abyssal Crowned Frost Eagle], and they paid the price in gold shekels to have it processed.”

“These li’l pipsqueaks did? Well, I’ll be damned!” the old man exclaimed.

He took in the eagle and spoke to us as he began to inspect it.

“I’d say you lassies a‘ve done a great job, but the carcass ya brought me is in horrendous condition.”

“Is that going to cause problems?” Nicotris asked.

“Nah, I’ve worked with much worse. I can still salvage most of it. But before I get started, what kinda stuff are ya trynna make from it? Armor? Weapons?”

“Does it matter?” I asked.

“Well, of course it does, ya bimbo. Which parts I choose to cut and how big the cuts gotta be can’t just be made into a one-size fits all. I gotta choose between ‘em all the time, and while you can still use em for either purpose, it’s not gonna bring out the most in em.”

“Huh. Makes sense.”

Nicotris turned to me.

“We should probably go for armor. Besides the talons and the beak, not much of its body can be used to make sharp or hard weapons. Bird bones are too brittle and weak to crushing damage to be used for blunt weapons either. We can make a few arrowheads and a spearhead for Ati and Nisos, but no one else uses a physical weapon.”

I nodded.

“Yeah, that makes sense. Everyone else has pretty average armor, and it’s time to get them an upgrade. I could use better armor myself. Does that sound good to you, old man?”

“That’s fine and dandy; I can make a spearhead and about ten arrowheads. But how many sets o’ armor are ya trynna make?”

“Can you make four?”

The old man laughed.

“Don’ be ridiculous, kid! Does that thing look like it has enough leather for four whole sets?!”

Nicotris interrupted us with a thought of her own.

“We don’t need four sets of leather armor. We have four people without a set of rank A armor; Kiara over here, who’s a mage and has a set of rank B Tyrant Gorilla leather armor, a falconman archer, a beast-tamer caster, and a hoplite who serves as our tank. The one who needs defense the least is Kiara, since her armor and defensive abilities are pretty good. What do you think you can make for a party like that?”

“Hmm…” the old man rubbed his beard.

“I can make a wicked feather-covered leather armor set for your falconman pal, which should make flight easier for him. Do make ‘em come here today so I can take their measurement. The beast-tamer I can’t do much for, and neither can I for the hoplite tank o’ yours. The eagle’s not suited for either of em. But I can add to the leather armor you’ve got on ya; there’s plenty o’ feathers still on it, and they’ve got a pretty swell intrinsic frost resistance. The rest o’ the leather I can package for ya. Did ya want anything done with the meat?”

“I’d like you to sell the monster’s meat to the guild and have it send the proceeds to us. How much would you like as payment for the smithing and leatherworking?” Nicotris asked.

“Eh? Didn’t we already pay?”

The old man laughed.

“Ya paid for the monster processing, not for making armor and weapon parts. And no, I am not taking extra money for the process. I am never gonna live it down if I charge pretty young’ins like yourselves for equipment that can keep ya alive. Can’t say I approve o’ someone yer age goin’ so deep in the dungeon, but you youngsters ain’t gonna listen to an ol’ fart like me, so I just gotta do what I can and pray to the gods to keep ya safe.”

“Huh. You’re pretty nice, old man!”

“Thank you for your kindness, Master Hanish.”

Nico and I thanked the old man.

He waved us off.

“Just repay me by not dying too soon, kids. And take that mana core to an enchanter who knows their head from their arse; it’s too valuable to be wasted on some apprentice kid. Now get outta my workshop, I ain’t got all day!”