LIGHTNOVELSTORY C17
C17: Brünnhilde’s Homework
It took me less than 15 minutes to finish picking the herbs. I carefully put the bundles of herbs into a bag and counted again to 50 bundles, the number I had to provide.
“All right, that’s a wrap.”
“Good work, Seiji. Let’s go get some food. It’s on us.”
“Oh, you don’t mind?”
“It’s your duty to treat new adventurers. Hey, guys.”
Wade called out to his friends, but none of them disagreed.
“So——we’ll report back to the guild and have a celebration.”
“Right. How about some grilled meat?”
“Wow, that sounds great.”
“————“
Berg, Michelle and Meena are also in the groove. Brünnhilde still hadn’t gotten out of her sea of thoughts. Is it really that difficult? It seems that the homework I gave Brunnhilde was a very difficult task.
◇◇◇◇◇◇
I reported to the guild and received my reward. The reward for collecting herbs is seven copper coins. I don’t know what the standard is, but it seems to be pretty cheap. I tried to share the copper coins I received with my friends, but the four of them refused with smiles.
“That’s your first reward, right? Keep it.”
“You’ll never forget your first……reward.”
“Yeah, yeah, take care of it.”
“Good for you, Mr. Seiji.”
Everyone was kind. Once again, it’s great to have friends. We then headed to Wade and the others’ favorite restaurant for a meal and ale. There was a large round table with a variety of dishes, all of which looked delicious.
“………Humans are deeply obsessed with food.”
Brünnhilde wrote in her note. Surely, that’s not wrong. Growing meat and vegetables, boiling, baking, steaming, and using different seasonings. That’s a cooking method that only humans do. I wonder how much of it she wrote on the paper.
“Come on, we’re hungry!”
“Oh, thank you.”
I was hungry, so I ate my steak without hesitation.
“There you go, Brünnhilde, eat up.”
Thank you very much. I’ll have some.”
“Do you drink alcohol, Ms. Brunnhilde?”
“Yes. No problem.”
Michelle and Meena are bothering Brünnhilde. Let’s leave the girls to each other.
Wade said, tipping his glass of ale.
“For now, I’ll take care of you until you get promoted to F class. Until then, you can party with us and have adventures.”
“Oh, thank you.”
Me, Wade, and Berg clinked glasses.
◇◇◇◇◇◇
We made a promise to meet at the adventurer’s guild tomorrow, and parted ways with everyone. Brünnhilde and I returned to the inn and took a breather.
Brünnhilde is still sitting on the floor.
“‘Brünnhilde, have you done your homework?”
“No, not yet.”
“I’m not in a hurry, so take your time. But we should be grateful to Wade and the others. They’re helping us out when we don’t know anything, and teaching us the ropes of being an adventurer. That’s a big help.”
“………Humans are kind.”
“Yes, humans are kind. People are kind, of course, not everyone is kind. Do you know what that means?”
“………is unknown.”
“It’s about the bonds between people.”
“Bonds.”
“Yeah. When someone is kind to you, you are kind to them. That way, you can be kind to each other.”
“………Can be kind.”
“Yes. You can be kind to others, Brünnhilde. It’s not because I told you to, but you have to think for yourself and be kind for the sake of that person.”
“…………”
I pat Brünnhilde on the head. I want her to have a mind of her own. Well, I’m going to be busy tomorrow.
◇◇◇◇◇◇
Then, for the next few days I went on adventures with Wade and his friends. The experience with Wade and his friends was so much fun that I almost forgot my original goal of gathering information. We started by gathering herbs, and then went on to repair the town’s roof and clean the sewers. According to Wade, it’s this kind of training that makes you a full-fledged adventurer.
“It’s not so easy to move up the ranks of adventurers, not if you’re going from G to F, but all adventurers hit the D level wall, and you have to do very well to become an A to C level adventurer.”
“Oh…..Wade and the others, I believe.”
“We’re E level, in the middle of the pack around here.”
“With a little more work, we can move up to D level!”
We were talking on our way back to the guild after cleaning the sewers. For the past few days, I’ve been taking requests from all over town. I didn’t need to buy any equipment or tools, and I didn’t have to spend much money.
Wade and the others taught me many things. It wasn’t the kind of information I wanted, but I got some common sense on how to live in this world, and some information on the nearest “kingdom ruled by a demon king” from here.
The Magical Kingdom, the closest country to here. It’s a magical nation ruled by the Queen of the Night, Nachtigal. It’s a different nation than the Ostrode Kingdom.
I don’t know what the Demon King is like, but it might be a good idea to head to the Magical Kingdom to learn more about the Ostrode Kingdom. Before that, I’ll raise my adventurer’s grade and investigate the nearby Temple of Pholus.
If the temple is an ancient ruin and has any usable items, we’re in for a treat. Besides, I can use the items in the ruins to verify my cheat.
I arrived at the guild and submitted the request. The receptionist told me that I would be paid.
“Congratulations, Seiji and Brunnhilde. With this request, both of you have been promoted from G-class to F-class!”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes. Please hand in the Ring of Possibility and the recognition form so we can complete the procedures.”
“Oh, please.”
“Please.”
The procedure was over in a few minutes, and the ring and the recognition slip were returned to me. The ring had not changed, but the color of the recognition slip had turned blue. When I put on the ring and accessed the status screen, I saw that my grade had changed from G-class to F-class.
“Now we can investigate the ruins!”
“Congratulations, sensei.”
“Yeah, you too.”
Thank you, sensei.”
While I was soaking in the excitement, Wade and the others approached me.
“What, Seiji, you want to do archaeological research?”
“Uh, yeah, I’m just curious.”
“Wow…….That’s weird.”
Wade and the others are looking at me as if I’m an oddball. What’s so weird about archaeological research? Well, there’s the verification of cheats and Brunnhilde’s equipment.
More importantly, my grade has been raised. According to the agreement, Wade and his team will take care of us until we move up from G grade to F grade…….That was the deal.
“Wade, Berg, Michelle and Meena, thank you so much for all your help.”
“……Don’t worry about it. You’re going to investigate the ruins, right? Let me hang out with you at least one last time.”
“Yeah, right?”
Wade and Michelle said, patting me on the shoulder. Well, I’ve been taken care of and I can show it to……everyone.
“All right. Let’s get going tomorrow.”
” ……We’ll celebrate your promotion today!”
“Haha. Let’s not drink too much, guys.”
“……is difficult.”
Wade looked very happy as he answered Meena.
◇◇◇◇◇◇
At the inn, Brünnhilde’s homework is not yet finished.
“Brünnhilde, after we have surveyed the ruins, let us depart. There is no more information to be gained in this town.”
“Yes, sensei. What town will we go to next?”
“Next, let’s go to the Magical Kingdom, which is ruled by one of the……Demon Lords. There should be some information about the Ostrode Kingdom there.”
“Okay. I’ll be submitting my homework soon.”
“Yeah.”
There is no definitive answer to this homework. What’s important it’s what Brunnhilde answers. More importantly, we have to investigate the ruins tomorrow.
“Brünnhilde, tomorrow we will investigate the ruins and test my cheat.”
“Yes, sensei. If the facility works, we may be able to access the main data.”
“Oh, then…….”
“If a sister machine is asleep. Please use “Repair” to restore it. Repairing the body is not a problem, but if the Valkyrie Heart has been removed, it will need to be reinserted.”
“Valkyrie Hearts is……Oh that gem. Is it in the ruins?”
“Unknown.”
I found it by accident in the ruins. I don’t know if it’ll be there again…….Hmm. Is that bad? Anyway, tomorrow I’m going to investigate the ruins thoroughly.