The Skewer Stand

Since Albrecht was a Platinum Rank Adventurer, and he explicitly told them that he was going to register Sheila into the guild, there was nothing the guards could do. They had to let him in, otherwise, they might incur the Platinum Rank's wrath on them.

What they did was already way below the line, but they knew that they'd be pushing Albrecht over the edge if they were to continue pissing him off.

Still, they couldn't believe that both tags that Albrecht used were actually legitimate. Usually, once someone moved up in ranks, their lower-rank tags would be deactivated. Some throw them away, while the majority keeps them as a memento to remind them of their past self.

It didn't even occur to them that all Hereos has two tags. Then again, they only use their Platinum Tags since it was easier to go around with it.

Personally, Albrecht never wanted to use his Platinum Tag, but then again, he didn't want to garner any unnecessary attention for himself. After all, he was in a time constraint here. There was only a day and a half before the conquer attempt for the Seventh Outerlayer, and Albrecht needed to get something before then.

"Whoa~!" Sheila exclaimed as the scenery of the Kingdom was laid bare before her eyes. Her exclamation interrupted Albrecht's thoughts, and for the first time during that day, Albrecht finally got to take off his mind on the mission at hand.

A smile appeared on Albrecht's face as he heaved an exhale. At the end of the day, they were right on schedule. Although they met a couple of hindrances along the way, they were on time regarding the plan that Albrecht laid out.

There was nothing to worry about, and there was time to relax.

"First time?" Albrecht asked as his pace slowed down. Sheila promptly slowed down as well as she took in the scenery of the kingdom.

It was beautiful, unlike the dreary place of the undead where she initially came from. Their world was dark and gloomy, and a stable cold atmosphere enveloped it. Compared to that place, the kingdom was much brighter.

Stalls lined up on the streets, and people casually strolled through them in peace.

Sheila's eyes lit up as she smelled delicious scents in the air. A variety of newly-cooked delicacies were being sold on the stalls, and it made Sheila's mouth water.

"You hungry?" Albrecht asked, going to the usual skewer place he frequented back when he was still residing in the Kingdom of Rilegarthe.

Now that he thought about it, this was the last place he visited back when he was banished from the Heroes of Relics.

At that time, he felt hopeless as if all his purpose was lost. All he wanted back then was to go to the nearest countryside and live an idyllic life from there.

But by a stroke of luck (or rather, by a stroke of a near-death experience), he was thrown into the world of adventurers once again, and this time he had a fighting chance. With the presence of the System and the knowledge across dimensions, he could rival other heroes unlike before.

And right now, he was going to use all that knowledge to the test. With the knowledge he had in his possession, he was going to conquer the Seventh Outerlayer in order to prove that the Heroes of Relics made the wrong decision.

Their guild master already realized it, but it wasn't enough. He was going to beat them at their own game.

"Ten skewers please," Albrecht ordered out of habit even though the girl in front of her was already cleaning up.

When he got back to his senses, he realized that there were only ten skewers left. Talk about good timing.

"Ah! It's white-hair-san!" The girl lit up as she enthusiastically handed her the skewers. "I always save up a couple of skewers hoping you'd be back. You were our most loyal customer but then you disappeared one day."

Somehow, Albrecht felt a bit bad since he really was a long-running customer of the skewer stand. Every morning and evening, he would always stop by the skewer stand to buy a couple of skewers.

"I went on a vacation, sorry about that." Albrecht apologetically said as he bought the last ten skewers.

"No, it's all good. At least we were able to serve you on our last day." The girl exhaled as she continued cleaning up.

"Your last day, what do you mean?" Albrecht concernedly asked. "Are you moving to another location?"

The girl shook her head. "Mmn, we're going to close down for good."

Since they had time, Albrecht decided to hear out the girl. He was aware that her father died as an adventurer, leaving her mom to take care of her. Together, the two of them manned the skewer stand.

As it turned out, they fell into debt and the agency that lent them money had absurd amounts of interest. Even though their skewer stand was doing well, they couldn't pay off the debts, that's why they had no choice but to close it down. The agency will then take over the business as per the contract.

"And how much is the interest percentage?" Albrecht asked. He figured that he didn't even have to ask how much the interest was. If a popular stall couldn't even cover it, then surely the interest rate was ridiculously high.

Then again, there was nothing they could do against the agency. After all, they were a legal entity and they handle a lot of business within the kingdom. In essence, it was their fault that they agreed to such high-interest rates.

However, it's not like they had any other choice.

'They were probably short on money back then.' Albrecht said to himself. "How much is it?"

"It's 70 Gold Coins." The girl uttered in embarrassment. It's not like the white-haired guy was going to help... she was just thankful that he heard her out.

"Ah, just 70 Gold Coins?" Albrecht let out, handing the girl a pouch filled with Gold Coins. "This should be enough to pay off everything. I'm looking forward to ordering more skewers from you." He smiled.