novel bin Chapter 28 Settlement
Chapter 28 Settlement
"Phew~"
The sun rose from the edge of the plain, its warm rays falling evenly over everyone's faces.
House tilted his head back slightly, closed his eyes, and quietly bathed in the soft morning light.
Passersby, seeing House covered in blood and reeking of a strong, putrid stench, instinctively avoided him, keeping a safe distance and not daring to approach him.
I opened my eyes again and looked at the travelers coming and going on the road, and the villagers carrying farm tools to work in the fields. The sounds of conversation and the footsteps of pedestrians lingered in my ears.
Having just survived a life-or-death ordeal and nearly died at the hands of a monster, House looked at the peaceful and tranquil scene before him, and the tension in his heart finally eased completely.
Carrying the "numerous" spoils he had acquired on this adventure, House strode toward the Adventurers' Guild.
By this time, the four had already successfully left the Misty Forest and returned to the town.
Because Pierce's injuries had not fully healed, Leila helped him to the church for further treatment.
As for Sylvia, she originally planned to go to the Adventurers' Guild with House to submit the quest, but after being persuaded by Pierce and Leila, she eventually accompanied the two to the church for a thorough physical examination.
While healing potions can treat injuries and mend broken bones, they are ultimately not a panacea.
Even if some broken bones are barely healed under the effect of medicine, they are prone to growing crookedly or misaligned, and the bone shape is not correct. They can only be corrected by the church pastor performing orthodox healing magic to realign and adjust the bone growth pattern.
As for House, because he has the "healing" skill of "slow self-healing", he does not need to go to the church.
This monster talent skill allows House to regulate his breathing, check his injuries, and gradually complete the body's repair and conditioning.
While it can't reach the level of a slime that can survive even after being split in two, it's still incredibly powerful.
It was through this fierce battle with the goblin warriors that House came to a deeper understanding of the incredible power of [Slow Self-Healing].
My opinion of the talent "Slow Self-Healing" has completely changed.
Of course, House didn't explicitly tell the three about the existence of the [Slow Self-Healing] skill.
The three of them simply assumed that House was just too powerful.
Pierce, in particular, upon waking up and hearing from Leila that House had single-handedly defeated the goblin warrior, thought he was hallucinating.
What do you mean by a seemingly kind and honest young adventurer who just randomly joined in, dressed simply, carrying a cheap longsword, actually possessing strength comparable to a professional?!
Are you kidding me?!
......
Arriving at the Adventurers' Guild, since it was early morning, the adventurers, being free-spirited "unemployed vagrants," did not need to get up early to go to work like everyone else.
After completing a quest, most adventurers would gather at night in the guild hall or a street tavern to boast about their adventures to their companions and friends.
Some of these kind-hearted veterans will even share their valuable experience accumulated over the years with new adventurers who have just embarked on this path, free of charge.
After a long night of chatting, you naturally need to sleep until noon to replenish your energy and restore your strength.
This is why most adventurers are used to waiting until noon to gather in teams, accept quests, and set off.
After passing through the cold and empty lobby, I arrived at the front desk, where several attractive guild receptionists with sweet voices were chatting with each other.
As House, covered in blood and clearly just returned from an adventure, approached, one of the receptionists, who wasn't chatting in a group, waved to him, signaling him to come forward.
"Hello, receptionist Theresa, how can I help you?"
With a perfectly measured smile on her face, a polite and appropriate tone, and impeccable service, she was impeccable in every way.
Indeed, no matter the world, the professional qualities of working people when facing customers are the same.
"I'm here to submit the task."
House placed his adventurer badge, which was stained with blood, on the counter along with the adventurer badges of Pierce, Leila, and Sylvia.
"Please be mindful of..."
"They are not dead, but their injuries are serious and they need to go to the church for treatment first."
House preemptively interrupted Theresa's standard line and offered an explanation.
Then he placed the pouch containing the goblin ears on top and poured all the spoils inside onto the plate prepared by the hostess Theresa.
While waiting silently for Miss Theresa to use tweezers to pick up the ears and begin counting, House's gaze unconsciously drifted to one of the larger ears.
Those are the goblin warrior's ears.
House mixed it in, partly because he was too lazy to categorize it at the time, and partly because he was testing the waters and wanted to see if this kind of monster loot, which wasn't on the quest objective list, would also be included in the guild's quest rewards.
He was very curious about how the Adventurers' Guild was able to accurately divide the mission objectives and extra monster rewards in order to solve the loopholes that allowed people to resell monster materials or use monster items from other regions to cover up their missions.
Observing Miss Theresa's actions closely, one could see that she had taken out all the goblin imps' ears and placed them in another pile, while the remaining wolf fangs and goblin warrior ears remained in place.
The answer is self-evident.
House still couldn't figure out how the guilds were identified.
But he couldn't just ask directly, because that would make him seem like a low-class adventurer trying to speculate or cheat on the mission, only adding to the embarrassment and suspicion.
"There are 6 silver coins in total. Please keep them safe."
"Also, would you like to have the guild purchase and appraise another portion of the non-quest-related monster materials?"
It actually has recycling value?
House was slightly surprised, then nodded gently in agreement.
While Miss Theresa was busy examining the materials, he quietly put away the six silver coins that had been tallied.
Unexpectedly, the second adventure resulted in income being less than expenditure, and House sighed silently in his heart.
With only 6 coins, I've lost a lot this time.
A secondhand longsword worth 20 silver coins broke, a secondhand leather armor worth 20 silver coins was severely damaged, unauthorized use of someone else's healing potion may leave a debt of half a gold coin, and in order to leave the forest quickly, most of the luggage had to be discarded...
Destroy it.
"...Never mind, at least I came back alive, and I even got a new monster girl to form a contract with."
House mentally reassured himself and quickly adjusted his mindset, turning to look at the fledgling perched on his left shoulder.
On the way back to town, House named it.
Happy.
After all, its first cry was a strange "ha-ha-".
"By the way, Miss Theresa, do you know what a wind-swept falcon is?"
Since there happened to be someone nearby who might be knowledgeable about all sorts of adventures and monsters, House took the opportunity to ask.
Although he no longer needs to find ways to increase Harpy's affection level, he will still have to raise it in the future, so he still needs to understand some precautions such as its diet, personality, and potential harm to others.
House was also puzzled by why the mother bird would devour her own chicks.