Chapter 124
Hillis sat on a chair in her room alone, her arms laying on a table as she stared up at the sky grumpily. The cloudless winter sky was so clear that it made her feel frustrated. She was sitting here because, after Libra targeted her in a surprise attack during the New Year Festival’s martial arts competition, she was half-forced into quarantine.
From the temple’s perspective, this measure was necessary to ensure Hillis’s safety since she was as important as the pope. But she was dissatisfied with her situation.
Who would dare hurt the saintess who stood at the highest peak of holy magic? As long as she had the “miracle” that she created, the number of people in the world that could hurt her was very low.
Certainly, Libra’s surprise attack scared her a lot. You could say she felt a profound sense of crisis. However, during Libra’s surprise attack, she wasn’t afraid for her own safety but for the well-being of the audience who were gathered there. Hillis had more confidence than anyone else about her own safety, but other people were a different story.
She sighed and made plans to go abroad. She felt her heart pound just like when she would prepare to play pranks without her parents’ knowing before she became a saintess.
* * *
It had already been 15 days since I was transferred to the adventurer’s guild headquarters. Flam and I were able to get the hang of the work at the adventurer’s guild. Working in this relaxed manner was also due to the adventurers’ guild’s lack of work in the first place.
Ah, of course, that was according to my standards. At my seat, I easily organized the accounting documents Demuir asked for and magically drilled holes at the top of the pile of papers, tying them together with a string.
“Here are the finished accounting documents you asked for.”
When he received the bundle of documents, Demuir hugged me with a deeply touched expression.
“You’re my savior!” Demuir began to praise me with his hands together like usual.
If you praise me so much, I’m going to be conscience-stricken. In fact, I finished the accounting documents that Demuir asked for in 10 minutes and spent the rest of the time playing around.
People who have never experienced the feeling of pleasure from playing while others worked would not know of this new world. Of course, the story would be different if it was something like a mandatory break from work.
“No, it wasn’t that fast.” I worked for 10 minutes and played for 40 minutes, so I was reluctant to get compliments.
Yet, Demuir shook his head enthusiastically and offered me a snack. “What do you mean not fast? You finished an entire morning’s worth of work in under an hour! Even Roseland says that having too much modesty is bad manners!”
True, the amount was a lot to calculate with just one abacus. During my probationary training days, I had made a magic excel sheet, so I just entered it there to finish it quickly. If Demuir had not asked me and worked on it by himself, he would have had to do calculations all day.
“If it’s just calculations, I can help. Would you like for me to help you more?”
At my suggestion, Demuir’s eyes actually started to moisten, and he prayed, “Oh, God. Thank you for sending me an angel!”
Demuir bowed at the waist and politely handed me the accounting documents. “Here you are, Den-nim!”
“Haha, such exaggeration.” I smiled and received Demuir’s accounting documents. It was half the number of the documents I had just finished and given back.
“I’m counting on you, Den-nim!”
Organ saw the accounting documents being handed to me as he passed by and he frowned and started to nag Demuir, “Didn’t I tell you not to pass the work on to the new guys?”
At the sudden nagging, Demuir protested with a look that showed how unfair he thought the situation was, “I didn’t pass it on! Den! Den said he would do it for me!”
“And so you passed it on because he said he would do it? It’s your work!”
“But I’m the only one who can do accounting here! Mr. Dano is too slow at calculating, and Miss Fiona is busy at the counter! You make too many miscalculations! Mr. Roseland helped me, but he got busy with the promotion this time!”
As Demuir despaired and clutched at the floor, Organ became flustered and tried to pick him up. “Keuhmm! All right. Get up.”
It was definitely true that there was a lot of accounting work because the adventurer’s guild also did profit-making activities. However, given Demuir’s calculation speed, it was not too heavy a task to take on.
“What’s wrong with asking for help from someone who’s good with calculations?”
In a word, that despairing face was all acting. As evidence, Demuir closed his eyes and avoided eye contact with Organ, and the corners of his mouth were slightly raised.
“Yes, it’s my fault. I know you’re busier than anyone else, so get up now.”
Demuir looked like he was about to cry when Organ apologized with a nervous face. However, after this apology, Demuir tapped Organ on the shoulder with an energetic face as if he was never on the verge of crying.
Only then did Organ realize that he had been deceived. He clenched his fist but soon sighed. “We certainly needed another person to work in accounting too. It’s weird that only one person is in charge of all the accounting.”
Organ looked at me and said, “I’m sorry, but can you help with the accounting?”
I nodded lightly at the request. “Yes. Well, simple calculations are not difficult.”
This was rather welcome for me. I could get a job that seemed to take a long time, finish it quickly, and then pretend to work.
“Den! Thank you!” Demuir took my hand and shook it up and down.
“I know that you’re thankful, so let go of my arm and stop exaggerating.”
Demuir put my arm down, and Organ nodded calmly. “Then I’ll talk to Roseland and Fiona. They probably won’t order you to do any more miscellaneous chores.”
Yahoo! Simple calculations were more convenient than tedious chores.
I was starting to assimilate into the adventurer’s guild.
* * *
“Come, it’s time to stop working.” As it approached 6 p.m., Roseland clapped and got up.
“Good work.”
Since he said it was time to leave work, everyone stood up and got ready to go home.
“Who’s on night duty today?”
Organ raised his hand. “It’s me.”
Hmm, Dano was definitely listed as on duty on the night duty chart, but Organ raised his hand instead.
“Ah, Dano went on a business trip yesterday, right? Then please work hard.”
“I will.” Organ nodded. He seemed to be the substitute for night duty.
Roseland handed the keys of the adventurer’s guild facility to Organ and went over to Flam and me.
“Come to think of it; you two will be included in the night duty rotation starting tomorrow, right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
I was assigned to be on night duty tomorrow, and Flam was on night duty the day after tomorrow.
When I nodded, Roseland massaged his chin, thought for a moment, and said, “I’m sorry, but could you stay until 10 p.m. today and learn about night duty from Organ?”
Organ was in charge of our training, so it seemed like he was trying to get us to learn together while Organ was on night duty. Indeed, it would be a significant burden on Organ if he had to be with Flam and me separately during our night duty shifts. In terms of efficiency, it was good for me and Flam to observe Organ on night duty.
“Yes, I will do that.”
“I have no objection.”
Roseland smiled and nodded when we agreed. “Thank you. I’m sorry, but I don’t think you two will be able to leave early tomorrow.”
The adventurers’ guild allowed people to leave work early around lunch the next day as compensation for night duty. Originally, work began at 9 a.m. when the day was bright. However, they guaranteed the right to sleep during night duty, so we were ordered to work in the morning. Still, it was true that we had to work late into the night, so they were being considerate of those who worked night duty.
“As you know, since Dano is on a business trip, if Organ goes home early along with the two of you, there will be only me, Fiona, and Demuir in the afternoon.”
The adventurer’s guild employed retired adventurers as guild workers, so there was no shortage of manpower for physical and miscellaneous work. However, in terms of paperwork, it was difficult for the three of them to do it all because there were many things that could not be passed on to the guild workers. Of course, it wasn’t impossible.
“Of course. How can we ask for a reward when we are being asked to learn?” Flam nodded with a straightforward remark.
His thought process was as old as his face. He was definitely a middle-aged man.
“I don’t mind either. I’m on night duty tomorrow anyway, so I can’t get off work.”
Roseland was very apologetic when he heard my joke, “I’m sorry. It seems you’ll be working overtime today and tomorrow.”
“No, it’s really okay.”
I shook my hands and said it was okay, but Roseland worried anyway. “I’ll think about compensation. Tell me if there’s anything you want later.”
“Okay, thank you.” I sincerely thanked him. The welfare of the adventurers’ guild was better than I expected.
The adventurer’s guild that I had in mind before my appointment felt more like the military. To be exact, I thought of the adventurer’s guild as a sort of reserve force. So, I thought they would run their operations very strictly.
However, the management of the adventurer’s guild was quite sophisticated. Before Flam and I were appointed here as newcomers, only five people worked in administration.
“Good luck!” Demuir was waiting to leave as his work was finished a long time ago with my help. He waved at me energetically and left work.
“Good luck.”
Flam spoke as Fiona and Roseland also left work, “Should we eat dinner first?”
We headed for the restaurant. On the first floor of the adventurer’s guild, there was a cheap restaurant with large portions. It was one of the welfare facilities for adventurers and was an in-house restaurant restricted to adventurers and associated civil servants.
Since the headquarters of the adventurers’ guild was large, sales were quite good even though the food was cheap. The restaurant’s sales served as income for the adventurer’s guild, so the opinion of whether to open it up to outsiders or not had been deliberated.
However, the restaurant remained a facility exclusively for adventurers and civil servants officials. This was due to opposition from guild workers who ran the restaurant, saying it was already hard just accepting all the adventurers.
We sat amongst the noisy adventurers who were laughing and talking and ordered food. While waiting for our order, someone suddenly sat next to me and put their arms around my shoulders.