Enri’s mouth dropped open as she beheld a sight she would never see in her village, then hurriedly shut it back up.

It was true that she hailed from the boondocks, and it was no surprise that she’d be startled by the mood of the big city, but for a girl her age, staring dumbly with her mouth agape was just shameful.

Enri set out, her back ramrod straight, consciously checking her movements so that she wouldn’t move the arms and legs on the same side or do anything which would make her a laughingstock. However, Enri started to have her doubts about whether it was all right for an obviously out-of-place village girl to be strolling so boldly amongst the muscular adventurers.

At the counter, she was welcomed by the receptionist’s smile.

“Welcome.”

“Y-yes, I’m here to visit.”

Enri locked eyes with the receptionist. Following which, the two of them smiled faintly. Enri felt her shoulders relax, for what might have been the first time since she came to E-Rantel.

“Then, may I ask what business you have with the Adventurer’s Guild?”

“Mm. First, I’d like to ask for some help with the sale of herbs.”

“Understood. Where are the herbs now?”

Enri told her they were on the wagon outside, and the receptionist turned to speak to a woman beside her.

“The appraiser is going to check it now, please wait within the Guild until he’s done.”

“Understood. Then, another thing… although we won’t be putting out a request right away, we might do so in the future.”

Enri crudely explained the situation to the receptionist. The other woman’s smiling face became more and more serious as she heard Enri’s story.

“Is that so… I’m just a receptionist, and I don’t decide the difficulty of requests, but if it involves the Wise King of the Forest, it might be a task that only the adamantite-ranked Momon-san can handle. Of course, his services will not be cheap.”

Enri sensed a shift in the receptionist’s mood. She seemed entirely unmotivated, as though she had decided “it’s no use even if I tell you, what a pain”.

While living with the goblins, Enri had gradually learned to read the emotions of others. This was because goblins were ugly and looked much different from humans, and she had worked hard to recognize and deduce their feelings. It was a way Enri had grown.

She must be thinking the village doesn’t have so much money, huh… well, given my clothes, it’s a reasonable conclusion to make… and she is pretty well-dressed, after all. Enri briefly compared her clothes to those of the receptionist, and concluded that fashion-wise, she was completely outclassed.

But clothes like these are far too cumbersome to work in, and they’re too expensive besides. Thus, according to Enri the woman, this battle was a draw.

“Then, I heard the city would provide a subsidy…”

“That’s correct. However, the subsidy is only a portion of the fee, and you’ll have to pay the rest yourself. Adamantite-ranked adventurers are very expensive, and even after the subsidy they’ll still cost a lot of money to hire. Of course, you could offer less money for a request, but the Adventurer’s Guild would never allow it. If you offer less money than the minimum required, your request will be placed under low priority, so you may have to consider that there may be no takers.”

She must have memorized the regulations given the way she’d rattled that off with eyes glazed. The receptionist looked at Enri like a customer who wasn’t buying.

That was only natural. A customer who didn’t spend money wasn’t a customer at all. Everything the receptionist had said was turning out like how Nfirea predicted, so she didn’t feel too upset. It was a reality that nobody would help the weak.

Ainz Ooal Gown-sama is truly the village’s savior for helping us. And he even gave a simple village girl like me a valuable treasure like that. She wondered how the receptionist would react if she used this horn as payment. It would be great to see the look on her face, but Enri knew she would never do such a thing. This item had been given to her by that great magic caster with the instruction to “use it to protect yourself”. She couldn’t sell it off, not even for the village’s sake. She couldn’t do such an ungrateful thing.

“Understood. Then, please tell me how much the fees will be. That way I can go back to the village to discuss things.”

“If it’s like that… then how about this? Please come back after the inspection for the herb sales are done, that way we should have finished calculating the amount.”

After thanking the receptionist, Enri left the counter and sat on a sofa in the lounge, staring at the ceiling to while away the time while the inspection dragged on.

So tired…

Every moment since she’d entered the city gates had been a grand adventure. Or rather, when she thought about it, ever since the day her parents had died, the confusing things had just piled on.

All I wanted was to lead a simple, unchanging life in the village…

As she thought about the things she’d lost, Enri sighed.

She thought about what had happened after that — the goblins, her childhood friend, and shook her head.

Can’t they go any faster…

If she had something to do, she wouldn’t have the free time to think about such depressing things. She would rather focus on work than think about things that made her sad.

“Enri-san, the appraisal is complete.”

Enri rose and headed for the sound of the merchant’s voice.

“Thank, thank you very much!”

“The fee is—”

At this moment, Enri heard the sound of someone striding, no, practically sprinting over to her. As she turned, she saw the receptionist from earlier in front of her.

“Haaa— haaa— Enri-san of Carne Village. No, I mean, Enri-sama. About the matter from earlier, could I discuss the details to you?”

This was the same receptionist from just now, but her attitude was completely different. Even her eyes were bloodshot.

“Ah, I’m sorry, but I was just about to tell her about the results of the appraisal—”

“You shut up, I’m talking here.”

The receptionist’s reply made the merchant’s face twitch.

“If it’s alright with you, would you like to discuss this over a drink in the receiving room?”

She was smiling, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes. Instead, there was a desperate, struggling feeling in them.