Helping with Adventurer Party Management - Chapter 279

It is easy to simply spread the success stories of the Adventurers’ Church throughout the city. All that needs to be done is to use the church’s communication network to inform the congregants, saying something like, “If you have any issues dealing with the gutter slimes, we recommend requesting help from the Adventurers’ Guild. The estimated price is two copper coins.”

As part of the maintenance of the city’s facilities, we collect small donations from the church members in the district, like a neighborhood association fee, pool them, and make requests periodically from the church. With the market price of slime cores rising, we have no shortage of novice adventurers willing to accept requests at a low price.

Our company never has enough slime cores, so this arrangement works well for us. 

The church is pleased to have a collection route for donations from its members. Even if this donation is small, establishing the habit of donating increases the church’s collection power over time.

For residents, it’s a minimal cost to clean up the city without risking injury, while novice adventurers gain work and earn money. It’s a system that makes everyone involved happy.

A business should be like this.

The problem lies in encouraging rural churches to introduce adventurers.

In town, there is a regular means of communication through the church network, and rumors spread quickly. If you feel like it, you can walk around and check the information. If a certain church is doing well, a sense of competition arises between churches, ensuring that the method spreads as others quickly copy it.

To be honest, I don’t know much about the relationship between churches and adventurers in rural areas. When I am an adventurer, I often move around from this town, rarely taking on requests to protect rural areas because the rewards are not worth the time involved.

I honestly tell Father Serio about this and ask if he can introduce me to a priest familiar with rural life. He introduces me to a priest who serves in a rural area until last year and now works at another church in this town.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

A few days later, I finally finish my work and go to the church I am introduced to.

This district is located directly opposite the earl’s castle, far from the Adventurers’ Guild and Leather Street, so I have hardly ever come here.

The streetscape is similar, as it’s both a third-class district, but the types of shops and the state of the houses are slightly different.

Sara, like me, has never been to this area before, so she looks around curiously.

The church is located in a corner of the town where the shops are lined up. Looking at the entrance, it resembles a former shop that has been renovated into a church, so much so that one might mistake it for an extension of the shop next door. 

Unlike the Adventurer’s Church, it does not have a graveyard, and its function may be limited to serving as a meeting place for prayer and consultation. To use an analogy, if the Adventurer’s Church is a branch office, then this church is more like a local outpost.

The ceiling of the small entrance is low, making me feel like I have to duck my head as I pass through.

Upon entering, I find myself in a meeting hall with a surprisingly high ceiling. In front of me stands a priest giving advice to the townspeople who seem to be his followers.

Even though I have a letter of introduction, I decide to wait in the corner of the meeting hall until the consultation is over. The hall isn’t particularly large, but perhaps because of the high ceiling and the structure that lets in light from outside, it creates a solemn atmosphere. It’s a very tasteful design.

I visit churches and mosques in tourist destinations overseas, and in stone buildings with high ceilings, hymns and prayers echo beautifully. I guess the acoustics are built with that in mind.

As I kill time gazing at the ceiling, Sara nudges me in the side with her elbow. “Hey, is that the priest you are introduced to?” she asks in a low voice.

“It seems so.”

Sara is not satisfied with my answer and whispers her own impression. “He doesn’t look like a priest.”

From my vantage point, I can’t see well because of the townspeople surrounding us, but I can make out his stocky silhouette. He might look different from other priests, who tend to be thinner. His hair is a bit thin, and he appears older.

Of course, I don’t say that.