A unique meeting (P.3) - Chapter 14
"Hiroki?"
Aya confusingly called out after seeing the quiet state of the thinking ghost.
"Are you sure that there are no spoken languages? Even from other races? Like elves or demons?" He inquired once more, his eyes narrowed in disbelief.
"I don't know if demons spoke our language, but yes, even elves speak the common language. And they have never stated or confirmed that they speak other languages." Aya confusingly explained.
After confirming this new discovery, Hiroki fell on his thoughts once again, his eyes slightly strained by many conclusions he had on his head. But for the time being, he needed to finish this paperwork, so he returned to Aya and smiled softly.
"Thank you for letting me know."
"Ah, no…. I didn't do much…."
She softly responded after not understanding what she had done. She had only given him basic information that everyone knew, so she was unsure about her benefactor's gratitude.
But despite that, she still felt happy about being thanked by the person who was with her the whole time. The one who saved her and stayed with her until the very end...
After a few more minutes of scribbling on his paper, Hiroki stood from where he was pretending to sit and went to the receptionist's desk once again. She, of course, had a slight expectation in her eyes about how this would turn out before coughing twice on her head to clear her throat.
"I know that the test might be a little hard, but despite that, this is our poli–"
"I'm done."
"Eh?"
As she was giving another explanation about this guild policy, Hioki cut off her sentence while handing over his papers.
The receptionist was perplexed by this unexpected turn of events. After giving him this type of test, she expected him to give up and return the papers. Her eyelids widened to their full extent as her eyes shifted on the test sheet at breakneck speed.
"H-how?" was all she could say.
"Are there any problems? I'm certain I answered all the questions." Hiroki responded confidently, fully knowing that he had answered everything correctly.
However, before she could give an answer to Hiroki's question, she looked at him with a whirlwind expression.
"P-please wait here. I'll be right back."
She requested before heading out of her desk and rushing towards the stairs that lead to the second floor of this building.
Then, after a few seconds of waiting, the same receptionist rushed back downstairs at top speed before leaning against her desk to catch her breath.
"Haa… haa… haa….. I'm sorry…haa… for ….. Your…. Wait…."
Sweat was going down her forehead before she looked at Hiroki with a wry smile on her face.
Even Aya was seen looking at the receptionist, concerned about her sudden burst of energy.
Then, after a couple more moments, the receptionist fixed her composure and looked at Hiroki with the same kind of wry smile as if she hadn't just run a full marathon inside the building.
"The guildmaster wishes to speak with you. I hope that you're fine with that, dear sir?"
"I'm fine with it."
Ignoring the sudden change in how she addressed him, Hiroki responded.
Once Hiroki had given his confirmation, the woman motioned for him and Aya to follow her up the stairs to the second floor, where a fancy-looking door could be seen from the outside. That was the main office, which also housed the guildmaster.
But the moment they entered inside, they noticed how the main office desk was filled with many piles of paperwork that the guildmaster seemed to be working on.
"Is that them?" The voice of a woman inquired behind two towers of paperwork at the main desk.
"Yes." The receptionist responded before bowing then leaving the room.
And once the inquiring voice received confirmation from the receptionist, all of the paperwork in this room flashed blue before disappearing in an instant, revealing a certain woman sitting in the main desk office.
She was a lovely blonde woman in her twenties, dressed professionally in greenish clothes and a mini skirt paired with dark colored tights. Her breasts were rather big from the tight jacket she was wearing, indicating that they could be much bigger if she wore a more revealing dress.
However, since she was the head of this guild, she knew that keeping a professional look was a must.
"So you must be this new guy that was interested in reapplying for a license in our guild?" The woman gave a soft, yet confident smile as she asked.
"Indeed, but I never thought that I would have the chance to meet the guildmaster like this." Hiroki took a step forward before responding with a confident, yet poker-faced expression.
The guildmaster softly smiled with her eyes softly narrowed at the response she got.
"That is indeed true. But we also don't usually get new, talented individuals like you this often."
"Talented? I don't recall doing anything that would attract the merchant's guild's attention."
The guild master gave another soft smile before staring right straight into Hiroki's eyes. Hiroki, on the other hand, remained motionless and expressionless, returning the beautiful woman's stare without flinching a bit.
"What my staff informed me was about a new mercenary-looking fella that seemed interested in us. While we are happy to welcome anyone as a new member, recently we have gotten way too many requests and complaints from new merchants. Which eventually led to their bankruptcy."
The guildmaster briefly explained.
"This is why we prevent any adventurer or someone who already has a title in his or her name."
"Is that really the whole reason? Because I looked like a mercenary and somehow was qualified?" Hiroki suspiciously asked.
"No." The guildmaster responded as she shut one of her eyes. "The other reason was that you somehow managed to complete one hundred percent correctly our hardest tests that only well-experienced old merchants are capable of figuring out."
Hiroki fell silent for a moment.
'...so that's why they're so worked up... In my world these mathematical calculations were pretty basic things that every student had to learn. However, due to a lack of education in this world, they have not expanded their physics field...' He thought to himself in defeat. 'I should've expected this kind of scenario in this fantasy world….'
"I did mention to the receptionist that I used to be a traveling merchant, so I do have a bit of knowledge about this kind of work." Hiroki lowered his head as he smiled.
"Yes, I was informed of that as well."
The guildmaster responded back with a smile on her face before looking straight at Hiroki's face with all of her fingers crossed together.
"It is a shame that you are a traveling merchant, because I'm sure you would find great success... I'm sure that you have a reason behind that—"
Hiroki remained motionless while the guildmaster continued looking at him with the same kind of expression.
"—Such as your white hair, I suppose?"
The room fell silent as Hiroki and the guildmaster stared at each other, neither of them showing any emotion. If someone were to describe this type of atmosphere, it would be one of sudden, intense cold.
.
.