Chapter 17: Pre-hunt happenings

Early in the morning after the introduction in the Gemma Merchant company, I went to the Summoners guild with Blanche to register my monsters and to take a job before meeting with the Adventurers guild to discuss a raid on the dungeon that would take place in the coming days. The building of the Summoners guild had a similar feel to the guild in the Macedia city, but here it smelled less like fish and more like horses, mainly because most monsters around this town were those that could transport heavy loads and were resistant to magical energy emitting from the magic crystals and magic stones in the mines.

"Oh, is that you miss Helmina?" I called out to a familiar looking female elf at the counter talking with male receptionist.

"No, not you! I don't want to hear it! I had enough last time!" fear appeared over her face when she saw my face and ran away.

"Wh-what was that…" my mood plummeted in that instant.

"Hey did you see that?"

"That kid made lady Abelle run away in fear."

"What kind of monster does he have to make the Unbeatable S ranker run away like that?"

The summoners were getting loud so I walked up to the counter where the male receptionist was looking after the disappearing miss Helmina.

"Good morning."

"G-good morning, what can I do for you today?"

"I'm looking for food for my monsters, as well as registering some new ones."

"Alright, please give me your guild card… oh, you are E rank? Your strongest monster seems to be Vampire which is C rank and pack of ogres who are D rank. What kind of monsters did you tame?"

"Okay, first tamed monsters are these Foliage slimes and Carbon slime, which I evolved and contracted, respectively yesterday. And the last one, <Dimension home>" I called out to Yue and she appeared with the spear I gave her over her shoulder, "is a Fallen."

"What?!!!" the receptionist almost fell over his chair.

"A Fallen?!"

"I knew those Slimes were weird, but this is an A rank monster, right? And humanoid at that!"

"The church isn't really a monolith on treatment of Fallens right?"

"Yeah, but most call the Fallen [Failed creations], if I remember correctly…"

"Wasn't there a story of an angel becoming Fallen after it let demon hordes attack their homes?"

The summoners were as loud as ever behind us, but didn't even try to intervene. Yue might have looked a little scornful, but that must've been my imagination. Yeah, there is no chance that she would hate someone just because they mentioned angels.

"W-Wi-With confirmed taming of a high class monster, I could grant you a higher rank, however you have not finished a sufficient amount of jobs yet for D rank promotion."

"I see, is there a job I could take then?"

"Yes, we have one urgent job. There is a boy that got lost last night in the southern part of town."

"That shouldn't be a problem, where could I get some part of the boy's clothes? I can have my wolves find him."

"Right! This is address of his parents, if you could head there. Also, what kind of monster feed would you like?"

"I would need feed for Octolocks, Beared Naga, Blue moon Viper, young Shadow Owls, Red Fox and Fire Beetles, thank you."

"We will prepare it by evening, so come pick it up when you can."

"Alright, we are heading out for now, then."

The family lived in a small house on the edge of the slums. The mother worked in a brothel, where she washed and repaired clothes and the father worked as a miner in southern mines. From what I was able to collect, they offered all their belongings for their son's return.

I knocked on the doors of the half ruined house and waited for someone to receive us.

"Kinny?! Ah, sorry, you are here for the quest my husband posted, right?"

"Geh," a disgusted sound came from behind me. I turned around and found out that it was Blanche, who looked at the woman with a disgusted look.

"Blanche?"

"Sorry Arito, but I might have to sit this one out. She's from my village," Blanche made a hateful expression I haven't seen on her even when we were eating food she didn't like.

"I understand, but they can't touch you now, right? And if they tried, they would have to get through me first," I smiled at her and turned back to the woman who had a surprised look on her face.

"You really are… no, it's not important now… I'm sorry…" the woman fell to her knees and pressed her head to the ground, "I know it's unbecoming of me to ask for help after all that happened, but please! Please help me find my son!"

"Urghh…"

"Blanche?"

"F-fine… I will help too…" Blanche, still looking angry, turned away.

"Okay, where does the boy usually sleep?"

"He sleeps with us."

"I see, do you have some of his clothes, if they are not washed, it would be ideal."

"His clothes? Right, I was about to wash them today so they are still dirty."

"Shikuro."

"Woof!"

Shikuro jumped out of my shadow and started sniffing around. I then opened my Dimension home and let out other wolves as well.

"Shadow wolves and Black wolves?" The mother was surprised as she watched us.

"Woof!" Shikuro's ears twitched and with his nose on the ground went after the scent, followed closely by other wolves.

"Alright! We are following them!"

Me and Blanche broke into a run, diving deeper and deeper into the slums. The wolves led us around buildings of all kinds of decay, some people were living even in tents outside them. This place could use some hardcore renovations…

The wolves were making their way easily through the slums, taking turn after turn until they stopped in front of an old ruin.

"Here?"

"Woof!"

With confirmation from the wolves, I used Probe and Earth Search. As it turned out, under the house was a big hollow space with many living individuals.

"Four adult looking people, about sixteen smaller ones. <Dimension home> You guys help out too."

"Tsk, kidnappers, eh? Let's crush them," Blanche was really angry today.

"Yeah, let's do that. Oh, and I will be making Boar stew today."

"Then let's get it over with quickly!" Blanche smiled happily and got ready for a full frontal attack.

I used my original spell, Drill, to make a hole through the roof and jumped down.

"Who goes there?!"

"A mage! Be careful guys!"

"It's just a brat, you can crush him!"

"You two protect the goods!"

The leader-like figure that was ordering his goons to protect the goods, aka the children, stepped up drawing a sword from his waist.

"Don't know who you are, kid, but this is as far as you go."

"Are you sure?" I sneered at him as he completely missed Blanche passing him at high speed and cutting down the two ruffians nearest to the children.

"Tsk! There was another one! Deal with her!"

"Boss!"

"Not so fast, boys," a mist-like thing appeared around the kidnappers and cut their limbs just enough to make them bleed.

"A vampire too?!" The boss was confused, but nevertheless tried to attack me with his sword.

"Too weak!" I dodged his over the top swing and stabbed both of his shoulders in rapid succession with my daggers, which I left in his shoulders so I could grab him and throw him with full force to the ground.

"Web shooter," the cocoon slime in my arm guard shot its silk to immobilize the boss. Meanwhile, the six ogres got down as well and restrained the remaining kidnappers.

"Master, we have no losses and have captured all the criminals. On that note, one of my Bat servants found a hidden treasure, should we retrieve it?"

"Please do. We might have to return it to its owners later, but there might be some documents hidden among them."

"As you wish, sire," Romi bowed deeply, sneering at the kidnappers and left the room in her mist form.

"I never saw her doing that…"

"It's apparently a type of Blood magic, no need to dwell on it too much. Did you find the boy?"

"I did, he's alive, just a little frightened."

"And the other kids?"

"They are from the slums. All of them are orphans."

"I see, that's why there were no more missing children posts. It's weird the guards didn't do anything."

"I think we will have to inform Mr. Henry and the others."

"Good call. Alright! How's it looking?"

"Those men are tied up and ready for departure, sir!" The leader of Ogres, little Elga said while saluting, which started to seem to be her main pose, whenever she spoke with me.

"Good! Romi, what about you?"

"All that was to take is in my Item box. Here master, I have some documents, you might like," Romi handed me a pile of papers.

"Aah, so that's how it is. Well, at least once this is finished, we will have easier life here… um, what is it?" As I went through the papers, a beastkin boy, of rhinoceros type, looked up at me from right next to me. As I've heard, the Rhinofolks, as they are called, are really short statured with head similar to their animal counterparts.

"How are you so strong, Mr. Ancient?"

"Um… well, I trained a lot, I guess?"

"What was that throw? It's not like any martial art I ever saw!" a feline beastgirl asked me as she caught up to the first boy.

"The martial art is called Tesshin, though I don't think there are other practitioners apart from me and Blanche…"

The kids were swarming me faster than I could expect. Each of them had a sparkly look in their eyes. Uh, are they all meatheads? Well, beastmen are for the most part unable to use magic due to their low Magic prowess, so it's understandable why they are so interested in martial arts…

"Okay! We need to get you out fast so for now, go to my Dimension home. You will be safe there."

"Okaaaay!" The kids' cheerful smiles could betray they were ever kidnaped.

"You won't get away with this brat…" the boss sneered.

"Because you have backing in high places? Too bad I have those as well," I smiled at him coldly.

"I will take the boy to his mother. Will you accompany me, ogres?" Blanche asked as she helped the sole elf boy up on his feet.

"Okay, I will deliver these guys to the duke then."

"Wh-what… Did you say?" life and sneer disappeared instantly from the boss' face.

"I will deliver you directly to Duke Nomile. I'm sure he will be more than willing to dig out all the information you have. My condolences in advance."

"W-wait! I will tell you everything! Even where we have the secret stash that even that vampire chick couldn't find! Just don't throw me to them!!!" the fear in his face increased by minute.

"<Earth Search> sorry to inform you, but I already found your secret stash. Seems your bargaining chip is worth less than a speck of dust now." I smiled as I pushed against a wall and used Break rock to make it crumble. On the other side were boxes filled with gold and gems one might never be able to lay eyes upon. Though, that only can happen if you don't know how to make them.

"Ah–Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!" the boss' eyes filled with despair and he didn't even resist when one of the lesser vampires picked him up.

With that done, we returned to the inn where coincidentally, we met up with Kalvig.

"Arito? Who are those tied up men?"

"Some criminals I defeated while on a job. Could you please bring me to where Henry and the rest are?"

"We just returned from training, so it should be easy enough."

***

Once we met up, I explained everything to Kalvig, Henry and Laina, who with every passing minute started to look more and more like demons about to eat a sinner whole. Note to self: Don't piss off kind people.

"Arito, thank you for informing us of this," Kalvig bowed to me.

"To think that there is illegal human trafficking going on under our noses… inexcusable. Thank you Arito, I will make sure to take care of this matter myself," Henry seemed so furious that he would explode at any minute.

"Anyway, what are you planning to do with the kids? They are from the slums and orphans to boot, after all," Laina sounded worried about me.

"I know it would be irresponsible for me to just drop them away now, so I was thinking of purchasing a part of land on the edges of the slums and transforming them into an orphanage."

"An orphanage, eh? That would be good for the town, if something like that existed here, but wouldn't your funds for the shop plummet because of it?"

"That is a valid concern, but I should be fine. I wasn't going crazy with my money so far, and I even made some from doing guild work. Plus, there is something I could have the kids help me with," I said and opened my Item box, retrieving a set of statues made with earth magic.

"Oh wow! Are those Divine statues?" Kalvig was instantly interested.

"And this… is a Skull bear holding a fish in its mouth? It looks so lively!" Laina added seeing one of my goofy recreations of those tourist trap items you can find all over the world.

"I see, so you are planning to have the kids make them for you?"

"Oh, no. That would take too much time, because I made them with magic. I would have them color those statues."

"I see, that's good then," Laina seemed a little relieved.

"Okay. I understand what you want to do, so once you buy the land for the orphanage, I will put in order to the Town Hall to not exert land tax for it."

"Y-you're incredibly kind, Mr. Henry," I bowed to him with sincere gratitude.

If I don't have to worry about land tax, I can have the kids learn at their own pace, I might not even need them to color the statues. This is really good.

"Arito, there is no need for that, you are the one helping us out," Henry smiled warmly at me.

"Okay," I smiled back at him, holding my gratitude close to my heart.

After this conversation, I entered the Dimension home and had lunch with the kids that consisted of preserved meat and fresh bread I got from the staff of the inn.

After lunch I headed to the adventurers guild where I met up with Blanche who handed me rewards for finding the boy in the summoners guild.

"…and then, she apologized for not being of help back in the village," Blanche laid down on the bench with head resting in my lap and recounted everything she talked about with the woman from her village.

As it turned out, after Blanche was sold to the bandits as a slave, the food shed was hit by lightning during a big storm and their food burned down to the crisp. This left the village more dependent on hunters, who in kind had to go deeper into the forest and were wiped out by a monster. Apparently, Blanche's father was one of them too, leaving her mother and two sisters in a hard spot. As the village became powerless, they could not defend against bandits that raided them right before winter. Bandits killed and enslaved many people and those who survived were left with so little food that they could no longer support themselves and had to abandon the village. As it turned out, Blanche's sisters were captured by bandits and their fate was unknown. The mother went crazy and sliced her own throat.

"Now that I think about it, I'm the luckiest of them all. I was sold as a slave and rescued by you… I guess I'm really the happiest girl under the sun and the stars," she smiled at me as she held my hand against her warm cheek.

"But are you sure it's okay?"

"Hmm… I'm more than sure. That place put me through hell, if it no longer exists, then it is the same as with my heart. The moment you saved me, that place stopped existing to me," Blanche burrowed her face in my stomach, making some of the adventurers around, quite jealous. Guys, we are just kids, don't be jealous of kids and try to change yourself! I can see quite a lot of girls being angry with you right now!!

"Alright everyone, listen up! We have a new job on our hands from tomorrow! It's about the dungeon you've surely already heard about and if not, you are second rate at best!" The guildmaster shouted from the second floor, overlooking everyone.

"The dungeon boss was already defeated by the ducal family so our only job is to beat up the remaining monsters in there so the mine can be sealed off for good! As for what kind of monsters we can expect, there are Kobolds, Kobold Warriors, Kobold Archers, Kobold Trappers, Kobold Mages, Kobold Knights and lastly Cave Spiders and slimes. Keep your eyes open when you hunt them! As for the quest, I've decided to allow participation of anyone G rank and higher!"

"Ooooooh!!!"

Wait, that's all?!

While I was still confused about the guildmaster's words, the assembly was dismissed. I've only written our party name (Green Leaves) to G ranker's list and we could return home.

"Aaaaargh… Well, let's get looking for the building for the orphanage, shall we?"

"Okay!" Blanche gave me a bright smile and we went back to the inn where we met up with Laina and went to the Merchant's guild, where the papers of empty houses were held in one place.

When we got there, we were led to a meeting room, where we met an old Gargoyle lady.

"My name is Merle, the guildmaster here. So what can these old bones do for the young Ancient and company? A building for an orphanage, perhaps?"

"H-how do you figure?" I asked with a fake smile.

"Gah-hah! I'm the guildmaster of Merchant's guild! If I let go of something like the rescue of a kidnapped child within two hours after accepting a quest and saving at least sixteen children following that without notice, I would barely be able to hold my position for as long as I did!" the old lady laughed, her two horns shining in the evening sun. "That being said, I have not expected the wife of Duke Nomille to be present as well."

"Indeed. We found these two in the forest and brought them with us to the town. They have been really helpful to us ever since we first met them," Laina said with a bright smile.

"I see," Merle smiled softly, like a mother seeing her child outgrow their shoes, "Red binder."

As Merle ordered, the assistant brought a red binder to her and she started browsing through it.

"Hmm… I'm sure someone who defeated the Yellow spear Raigo could buy any house in this town, but let us look for the edge of the slums first, okay?" Merle smiled wolfishly.

"That would be appreciated," I smiled back at her. So she knows about this too…

"Okay, then there are these three first. They are on edge of the slums near the west gate, so there is little to no crime present. If you talk to the head of the slums, he might even help you in case someone is squatting there."

"Hmm… If I may, the land doesn't have to have buildings on it. You see, I'm quite a competent Earth magic user, so I can build a house if I really need to. Fixing one is possible too."

I gotta save money wherever I need.

"Is that so? Then I guess, this one will be ideal for you. Previous owner of this property combined four parcels into one and had an inn there. Sadly it burned down," the guildmaster smiled even more wolfishly than before.

Am I playing into her hand? Well, it is a good land on paper...

"I guess I would like to see it first, then," I gave her indifferent smile and we went to look at the plot of land together with one guild officer, who was incredibly stressed from riding in a ducal carriage.

"Th-this is it… I will go look for the slum leader, if you excuse me," the guild officer bowed politely and practically ran away.

"Okay, see you soon," Laina smiled and waved after him, "…well, Arito, what do you think?"

"It's big and spacious. I could make the dorm in front with a training field in the middle and atelier in the back Walls on the sides and a gate facing the street closer to the gates. Okay, I guess I could take it. Though I would first need to break down the remnants of the inn and stable."

"Right. I will handle the negotiation for you with Merle, okay?" Laina said as she looked over the overgrown plot of land.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course, Henry is already exempting you from the tax, so I can help with this at least," she smiled with a wink and finger laid against her cheek.

"Thank you really much," I bowed to her and she tapped my shoulder.

"There is no need for you to bow to us so much, okay?"

"O-okay," I smiled softly at her.

We went around to investigate a little, when the guild officer and an elderly man came to us.

Why is that woman hiding there? Is she a resident of slums? And what is with that mask hiding only the left side of her face? As soon as I looked at the woman, she disappeared into the alley. I didn't sense any hostility from her, so it should be okay, I guess?

"I am called Grieva. I've heard that you took care of some of the orphaned children," the elderly man looked intimidatingly at us, or more likely, at Laina.

"Yes, that would be me," I walked before the duchess and Blanche.

"You kid?"

"My name is Arito Aruze, it's nice to meet you," I looked him in the eyes.

"Hahah, no need to be so on edge kid. I just came to look at the crazy guy who would wanna make an orphanage in such a devastated ruin."

"I can use earth magic so I feel quite confident in building houses."

"Dat so? Then we shoulda ask you to fix rest of the houses here b'fore winter strikes."

"I won't promise anything, but I could do something about the worst ones so no one would live on the streets."

"Appreciated! I will put a good word for ya!" He slapped my back strongly before going on his merry way.

The heck is this guy's deal?! I don't mind fixing some houses if I'm compensated fairly… I should've said that out loud, didn't I?

"W-well, given you have permission of the Slum boss Grieva, may I assume that you will buy this property?"

"Arito?"

"I will take it, if the price is right."

"Um, yes! The handling fee and the price…" he spoke in rapid succession as he flipped through the papers, "Ah! Yes, the price is forty five thousand Alba without the land tax."

"That's a weird price for this amount of land. Are there any other strings attached?" Laina's piercing look shot to the cleric, "For a property of this size, would half of the price usually be more fair, given we are near slums and how destroyed the building is."

"I-i-i-it's written right here, madam!" The guild officer showed her the documents, which she carefully studied.

"Oh, there was already written something about a crime syndicate using this place previously, what is that about?"

"I can sense an underground tunnel going from the former stables outside the city walls. It doesn't seem to be used for some time, though," I added, which made the already pale officer turn alabaster white and faint on the spot.

"Geez Arito, you scared him with your look!" Blanche pouted a little, but barely hid her amused smile.

"It was just an accident, really!" I spoke in self-defense in the same joking tone as I slapped the officer's cheek to wake him up, "Listen here, mister. I will close the tunnel and you will be nice and report it to your boss, okay?"

"Yes!!"

"And the price will be as lady Laina said, right?"

"Of course sir!!! Half of the original price!"

"Good! Then let us make haste to the guild," Laina beamed a happy smile and practically dragged the officer to the carriage.

With that out of the way, I opened my dimension home and let out my slimes. I had the Moss and Grime slimes eat the grass. Acid slimes eat the burned wood and then I went in myself and used Break Rock, Rock, Clay and Pavement to create a working space, plus some additional bricks. I also marked off the tunnel to remember where I could find it later. I spread out ropes made from the Cocoon slimes' silk and made marks with them to plan out the building. When I had this rough plan made, I took out some papers I purchased in the inn and made blueprints with them.

"Okay, the plan is simple. Every floor will have twenty rooms. The base floor will hold the kitchen, my office and dining room, on the first floor will be living girls and on the second boys. Near the staircase will be bigger rooms for caretakers."

"Hm? Why separate them? We live together completely normally," Blanche was confused a little.

"We can't have boys and girls living together! That's a golden rule! I offered you your own room at the beginning too, remember? And the inn staff asked if you will be staying with Lena too."

"Oh yeah, that did happen… and their faces were quite confused when I said I would be sleeping with you."

"That wasn't confusion, that was surprise and don't have me even start on those looks they are giving me even now!"

"Okay, separated rooms it is…" Blanche looked little sad, even though we would not be staying with the kids

"Thank you. Now, as for the other important things. Toilets will be at each end of the hallway and lead to septic in the basement, where I will station the Grime slimes."

"Mm-hmm, hygiene is important," Blanche nodded.

"And making baths would be good too. I could make a few bigger tanks under the roof to keep stored water… Now that I think about it, I should probably dig a well too. There isn't a problem with lower water, we just need to make sure it's safe to use."

"Okay! Will you start at it now?"

"Yes, I was thinking about it. Sooner I start, sooner the kids will have a place to live."

"Aren't there quite a lot of those that are older than us, though?"

"That might be the case but if they want to stay under our roof, then they will have to follow our rules. Plus if they decide to leave, I can use it as a place to store my alcohol and have dorms for my future employees."

"Right! Well, I can't really help you with building, so I will be going around the neighborhood to say hello."

"That's okay, but take two Ogres with you."

"Of course! And if they get past them, then I just have to throw them around, like you taught me," Blanche pushed up her fists.

"Hahahah, don't push yourself too much, okay?" I laughed softly as I patted her head

"Riiiight!"

With that I started digging the basement of the orphanage's main building. I used Block to do most of the work, have the slimes carry away the blocks and placing them on one pile. Once we made the basement big enough, I descended and used pavement to harden the floor. Then I had the slimes carry down the blocks and stack them like bricks with Resin slimes's glue to hold them together. We finished about forty centimeters above ground and closed off the space with the ceiling. And as a nice touch, I made the stairs from easily stackable bricks, which I planned to replace with wood later. Given I was not turning the entire plot of land into building space, I had enough space outside to build stairs. This outside plot would be where we would plant flowers later, but that was still ways off.

I got so absorbed in my work that I didn't even realize that Lena, Laina and Blanche were watching me from the carriage.

"Um… how long were you there?"

"Ever since you laughed and said 'I'm a construction genius!!!' that long," Lena said flatly, which made me a little self-conscious.

"Sorry about that…"

"It's fine, the most important thing is that you have fun."

"And I'm already used to it," Blanche added with a smile.

That's so embarrassing!!!