Helping with Adventurer Party Management - Chapter 81

Around midday, I picked up Sara at the Adventurers’ Guild in the 3rd District. Word is starting to spread about my alliance with the Sword Fangs Legion. While there’s not much risk during daylight hours, I still want to be cautious.

When I quietly enter the Adventurers’ Guild, I see Sara chatting cheerfully with the novice adventurers. After observing for a while, I see her efficiently explaining a tour to the rookies and handing them reservation slips made of wooden sticks.

She’s really cut out for sales.

The adventurers I had guided before spot me and call out, “Kenji-san! Thank you for your hard work!” and “Kenji-san! We appreciate your help!”

Kenji-san? What’s that about? As I’m bewildered by the sudden use of “san,” the adventurers in the guild start murmuring, “It’s Kenji-san…” and “Oh… that’s him…”

As I look around, confused and unsure of the situation, Sara notices me.

“Oh, Kenji! You’re here?”

“Yeah, something seems a bit strange here. Did something happen?”

Sara extends her arm, showing a bracelet. “Hehe, I spread the word! Kenji is now part of the Sword Fangs Legion’s inner circle! Recruited directly by the Legion Captain to make magical shoes!”

“Ah… that’s why…”

Just a short while ago, I was a washed-up mid-tier adventurer making small changes in a corner of the guild, but now I’m being personally welcomed by the leader of a top-tier clan. To the rookies here, it must seem like an unimaginable success story.

Hearing the rumors from Sara, my head starts to ache. They say things like I’m actually of noble blood, or that I’m the third son of a major merchant and a big sponsor of the Sword Fangs Legion, or that I’ve awakened latent magical talents and can now use incredible magic.

If I had such advantages, I wouldn’t be struggling like this.

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It is a good opportunity to hear the opinions of novice adventurers, so I have a brief meeting with Sara at a table in the Adventurers’ Guild. From across the counter, the bald man I dealt with before keeps glancing over at us, but he doesn’t seem to have the courage to actively interfere.

Since I’m an adult, I simply greet him with a smile. The bald man quickly looks away.

“Sara, how are the novice adventurers doing recently? Is there anything that has changed from before?”

Sara pulls out a parchment with records and flips through it as she answers. “Hmm… I don’t think there’s been much change. There are still a lot of injuries, and they don’t seem to be making much money. Ah, maybe there are fewer disputes. It seems like parties last longer when they go on tours. It looks like unnecessary transfers have decreased.”

So the situation hasn’t changed?

If we’re only doing adventurer tours, the fact that novice adventurers’ behavior hasn’t changed is good news. If the market environment doesn’t change, business will stabilize.

However, this means we continue to produce adventurers who become disabled at the current rate. No matter how hard we try, we can only guide a little over 10 people at a time. We can’t handle any more.

We can reduce party expenses a little and cut down on unnecessary transfers, but that’s all. People wanting to become adventurers come in groups of hundreds daily from rural areas, depending on the season. Many of them end up injured or dead within a few quests due to lack of preparation and equipment, ending their short adventurer careers.

This is not just a problem in this city. I shudder to think about how much meaningless loss is happening across the entire world.

I can’t rely on my own skills to overturn this structure. There are limits to individual power. In a world with many illiterates, the spread of knowledge is too slow.

Indeed, I’m increasingly convinced that I need to use the power of dissemination. If we compare adventuring to mountain climbing, a tour is like a mountain guide. While stories of mountain guides are heroic and impressive, developing and improving mountain equipment is what leads to more successfull climbs.

Besides, items don’t discriminate. Whether adventurers or nobles, they can use the same equipment.

I want to create adventurers’ shoes as soon as possible. There are mountains of things waiting to be done, but my impatience only grows.