Chapter 130: A Complicated Morning

"Ah, I am Goldmine, the branch manager of the Tamer’s Guild’s Oraria Branch!"

Goldmine... What an interesting name.

"And these are my subordinates. When I told them about your dragon, they complained that it was unfair for only the branch manager to get to see it and insisted on coming along too. Haha."

So that explained why there were so many people here this early in the morning. That made sense.

"So the branch manager himself works at the reception desk at the Tamer’s Guild?"

"Not to speak ill of our own guild, but the Tamer’s Guild is one of the smaller guilds, so it cannot be helped. We do not have as many personnel as the Adventurer’s Guild or the Merchant’s Guild. Even when we try to hire people, working with monsters is dangerous, and feeding the monsters we protect is not cheap. As a result, we cannot offer particularly high wages either... However, if we can obtain dragon scales on a regular basis, the guild can expect a considerable increase in revenue!"

Ah, so money was the motivation here too. Everyone needed money to survive, after all, so there was not much that could be done about it. At least they were not trying to propose a direct trade for monsters like the Adventurer’s Guild Master had.

"Oh, but just so you know, my familiar contract with Long is only for one year at the moment."

"We are aware of that. However, since you can communicate with dragons normally, we are hoping there will be more opportunities in the future!"

Whoa, that is a lot of pressure.

Still, Qiu Nuoya could only do his best with whatever he was capable of from now on.

Once the Tamer Guild staff had finally left, Igor finally woke up. He looked rather haggard.

"I’m the one who made him drink, but that guy can really hold his alcohol. I ended up drinking along with him, but we drank way too much. My head hurts..." Igor clutched his head as he spoke. He was obviously suffering from a hangover, but Qiu Nuoya could not help thinking that it was entirely his own fault.

"That’s why I told you to drink in moderation. Here, sit down. Pain, pain, go away~" Qiu Nuoya gently stroked Igor’s head as he slumped into a chair and rested his head on the table. Qiu Nuoya could use Holy Magic, but he normally kept that fact hidden, so whenever he used healing magic, this was how he disguised it. Even so, it was just as effective as ordinary healing magic, so there was no problem.

"That helped. Oh? Come to think of it, where’s Long?"

"He went back to his sleeping quarters." Qiu Nuoya explained everything that had happened that morning to Igor.

Igor gave him a wry smile and said,"So all that happened while I was passed out..."

As Qiu Nuoya watched Igor, he suddenly remembered what Warren had told him two days ago.

Warren’s confession had certainly come as a shock, but according to Warren, Igor was also in love with him.

Viktor had been openly doting on Qiu Nuoya for a long time, so Qiu Nuoya had become completely accustomed to his excessive displays of affection. However, if Warren’s words were to be believed, Igor’s advances were far too subtle to be noticed.

Then again, when Qiu Nuoya thought about it carefully, Igor did often tell him things like, "Come marry me," or, "I can’t live without your cooking," as casually as if they were everyday remarks. Qiu Nuoya had always assumed those were simply jokes between friends, but perhaps Igor had actually been serious all along...?

No, no. He would not think about it.

Igor had never directly told him anything of the sort. In that case, the best thing to do was simply pretend he knew nothing. His relationships with everyone were already complicated enough. The last thing he needed was to make things even more complicated.

Viktor and Warren’s relationship remained as strained as ever. Qiu Nuoya had learned the previous night that the main reason was because Viktor simply hated the name "Warren." Still, Viktor had probably also regarded Warren as a romantic rival when it came to Qiu Nuoya.

"I hate his name. Just hearing that name reminds me of nothing but unpleasant things. I hate his very existence. He took everything away from me, so I hate him!"

It sounded like the reasoning of a child, but Viktor seemed to have some kind of trauma associated with the name Warren. Perhaps he had never been able to shake the fear that someone might take something away from him again, or perhaps even take Qiu Nuoya away from him.

However, that had nothing to do with the relationship they had now. Viktor himself understood that, which was probably why he had never directly explained the reason behind his hatred until now.

Qiu Nuoya had never heard Viktor mention the person named "Warren" who had apparently taken something away from him.

Viktor had lived for a very long time, so he had probably had many companions in the past. Qiu Nuoya could imagine that among them, this particular person must have had an especially profound impact on him.

Still, just because they shared the same name did not mean they were the same person. Qiu Nuoya felt that Viktor could afford to be a little more flexible about it.

"Nuoya, that’s enough spoiling Igor. Let’s have breakfast."

Qiu Nuoya looked up at the voice. He was usually the one responsible for cooking, but breakfast was fairly casual for everyone. Igor was not a morning person and often skipped breakfast. Warren, on the other hand, woke up early and tended to get hungry as soon as he was awake, so he usually ate quite a lot in the morning.

Viktor also woke up early, but he did not seem to have much of an appetite in the morning and usually had nothing more than a drink. Because of that, everyone tended to spend their mornings however they pleased until around eight or nine, when they would normally all be awake.