Chapter 296: Strongest Sage, Heads to Deserted Guild
"For the time being… Let's report our quest."
"Yes!"
"Oh right, we took several quests to raise our rank… It's all over before we did though."
Then Alma skimmed over her guild card.
We're currently Rank E… Beginner's rank.
We were trying to raise our rank straight to A to take on a quest [Warmongers] posted in their quest for challengers… But since they ended up coming to us themselves, we didn't need the Rank.
"Yeah… Well, since there's no disadvantage in having better rank, might as well take what we can."
There might be time when we need guild ranks in the future after all.
Let's just take all the rank we can take.
We took quests that would get us straight to Rank A and all.
We went into the guild while talking.
However…
"…It's deserted."
Not a single adventurer was inside the guild.
There's a lone receptionist who looks completely unoccupied.
Rather, she's dozing off.
The time is currently a bit before the sun goes down.
Though it's not exactly the time when the guild is usually crowded… but would it even be this empty.
This city is supposed to be a city of adventurers——where many adventurers reside and with a prosperous guild.
Something must have happened to make it this vacant.
I should go ask.
"Can I have a bit?"
"Yes. Anything I can help you with?"
The receptionist raised her sleepy face when I called her.
…This… doesn't seem like an emergency that necessitated adventurers to assemble has occurred or something.
"I don't see a single adventurer in the guild… What happened?"
"…Ah. You mean that… Those adventurers are currently scrambling for spoils! …Aren't you going to participate?"
"Spoils?"
…Wonder if some monster with rare pricey parts have appeared around here.
I didn't see any monster like that on our way back here though…
The receptionist replied back while I was thinking.
"A little while ago lights fell down the sky… Then monsters in many cities suddenly died out! Didn't you see it?"
Lights falling from the sky, monsters suddenly dying…?
…Ah, they got caught in [Genesis] huh.
When I used [Genesis] to defeat the surrounding monsters, I had it set on default preset——in other words, its range was 100 kilometers in radius.
Since this spot is less than 100 kilometer apart from where the [Broken Star] was, all monsters around Haigis must have dropped dead.
And… since [Genesis] only destroy souls, the parts of those monsters have remained as is.
Magic similar [Genesis] were also used in the past whenever one wanted to preserve monster's parts.
"I see… So they're all competing to collect those suddenly dying monsters."
"Yes. No one has any idea as to what just happened… But we're very lucky! It's the best time to make a killing!"
"…Glad to hear that."
Thanks to getting back the sensation from the past, I inadvertently killed all monsters within range.
Since monster occur naturally in nature, their numbers should go back up in time… I'd feel a bit bad if the excessive amount of dead bodies caused trouble.
Of course I don't plan to claim ownership of the monsters I defeated, so I don't mind if people go and pick them up.
"Since even high ranking monsters seem to have perished as well… Adventurers have been running all over for a chance to get high ranking materials without fighting! …We have even set up a temporary purchase counters at the city's entrance so they can focus on gathering materials!"
Looks like the guild is supporting the gathering as well.
This probably has turned into a bit of treasure hunt.
…You could live leisurely for a while if you managed to get your hands on high ranking monster parts after all.
I probe the surrounding mana.
And found out that there was a crowd of people near the city's entrance.
We didn't notice since it was a different entrance from the one we took to get in.
"We're not here for selling but to report subjugation quest completions… Can we do that here? We'd also like to sell parts of monsters we defeated."
"Ah, you're here for quest! Of course, it's okay! …Rather, we're thankful for bringing those parts here."
"Is that so?"
"Yes! …Since we're storing the monster parts bought at the temp purchasing counters to the warehouse behind this building… We're even employing townsfolk to help transport those parts to our warehouse!"
Now that she mentions it… I can sense mana reaction coming and going between the city's entrance and the guild.
Since it's moving slowly, they must be using carts of some sort for transportation.
Looks like the guild is having it rough during this busy time.
So that's why there's only one receptionist left here.
All other staff must have gone to handle the temporary purchasing counters.