Disciple of Immortal

Act 2: Chapter 28: Alfred's Subjugation Count

I was standing in the rear most part of the crowd, standing on my tiptoes to sneak a peek at Alfred’s current situation.

Though Alfred told them to worry more about their own achievements than others, in the end, worrying about such things was already in human nature.

In addition, some people who were worrying about others ended up realizing that they also had to worry about themselves.

People gathered around successful people like Alfred. It seems such a phenomenon wasn’t limited to Japanese alone.

「Let’s go, Kanata-san. Thanks to that man pulling the attention of the other adventurers, the other receptionist desk is left vacant.」

Pomera tugged the hem of my robe as she pointed at the vacant receptionist desk.

「O-Okay. No need to worry, I’m coming now, please wait a bit more.」

「Why are you acting like a follower of a new fad…」

Pomera spoke while heaving a sigh.

「I understand… make sure you leave as soon as you’re done, Kanata-san.」

When I was looking around, I saw that Alfred was as unperturbed as ever by the change in his surroundings, and heaved a sigh.

「Maybe I have to show you this.」

After that, he took a lot of Ragno eyes from inside his magic pouch.

A loud cheer rose from inside the guild.

「W-Woow…」

「It seems him being A-rank adventurer isn’t just for show.」

「Tch, so he just wanted to show off the result of his hunt.」

The number of his subjugation proof was… around forty I guess.

Ah, I see now… well… so be it.

「Only that much huh, you just got lucky finding a crowd of Ragnos. If you can do that, I can do that too. Moreover… since you brought that much, it means that more Ragno were on the way to this city.」

「A-As expected of Alfred-sama! You’ll exchange it with money at once, right!」

The guild’s staff interrupted with a slightly excited voice.

And then, I felt that Pomera was tugging on my arm again when I was in a daze, looking at such a scene.

「Are you done, Kanata-san? C’mon, let’s exchange our subjugation proof too.」

「… Ah, you’re right.」

When we left the crowd, I saw that Alfred was shaking his head to the side in an exaggerated way.

I stopped my gait the moment I saw that, and focused my attention on him again.

「You’re making a mistake there, miss. I’ve told you that this is only for the normal ragno.」

「Eh… there’s still… more?」

Alfred took a deep breath, and then flicked the tip of his nose as if he was in the mood for something.

I could only watch in silence upon seeing such a gesture, waiting in anticipation to know what would happen next.

「Why doesn’t he cut the case and go straight to the point before he invites more misunderstanding with his act?」

Pomera was glaring at Alfred with an irritated look on her face while she spoke.

「What’s the matter, Pomera? The way you see Alfred, it’s as if he’s your parent’s enemy…」

「Pomera… just hates the way he puts on such a theatrical act and doesn’t get to the point. Or rather, don’t you realize that fact too, Kanata-san?」

Not really, I wouldn’t hate him for doing that, it was his right after all, but…

Basking in everyone’s attention, Alfred then put his hand into his magic pouch, and rummaging the inside as if looking for something.

「… The truth is, I thought that this Ragno plague was caused by something. Upon searching the cause, I found it, and subjugated it. This guy might cause big problem to magic city Manarak if no one ever found them.」

The guild stirred even more than before the moment Alfred finished his sentence.

Even I ended up completely focused on Alfred’s hand.

「I did think that there must be a reason for this Ragno plague but… it has been… subjugated!!」

「… Uhm, Kanata-san, he doesn’t actually have to rummage his magic pouch for that long just to find the item he wants, right? I mean, you don’t seem to do that when you take out something from your magic pouch. It’s strange, right? He’s definitely just boasting.」

Pomera forcefully pulled my arm while telling me such information, which sounds like an elementary school student reporting to the teacher about their classmates’ crime.

「Please wait a minute, Pomera-san, he seems to be about to reveal a really important information!」

I focused my attention on Alfred as if to not miss any of his words while stopping Pomera from trying to pull me away.

And then, amidst the gazes of the adventurers in the guild, Alfred finally took out a huge Ragno eye from his magic pouch.

「Behold, the eye of a giant ragno. This one must be the culprit behind the Ragnos recent rampage around the magic city of Manarak. This guy is far more dangerous than your normal ragno. But still… they were no match for me.」

Round of applause and cheers exploded inside the guild.

All of them were praising Alfred.

Amongst them, I strained my eyes to have a clearer look at the huge Ragno eye in Alfred’s hand.

「… We should have, two of that right?」

It was from the three giant ragnos that Rosmonde pulled in toward us, one of them turned into dust by my sword though.

Well, I don’t think those giant Ragnos were the main reason behind this stampede..

I mean, with the one in Alfred’s hand, there were at least four of those giant ragnos right now.

We might find more of them if we keep searching for them.

「See.」

Pomera spoke with a cold, blunt remark.

「… You’re right, let’s go.」

Pomera nodded after I agreed with her.

Though I specially chose the furthermost receptionist’s desk from Alfred and co, the receptionist herself didn’t see us since she was looking at Alfred and the others.

「Uhm, excuse me! We took ragno’s subjugation commission! We want to turn in the subjugation’s proof and receive the prize money.」

「Haa, can you at least wait for a bit more? I mean, he’s talking about the cause of Ragno stampede right now…」

The receptionist finally spoke to me after heaving a sigh, not even trying to hide her complaint.

「This is all.」

I turned the magic pouch upside-down, with a box placed beneath it.

After I shook the magic pouch, around one hundred ragno eyes dropped down in the box beneath the pouch.

Though the receptionist’s face paled upon seeing the large number of ragnos’ eyes, she snapped out immediately.

I didn’t want to stand out too much but, well, I guess this was within the safety level.

I mean, even Alfred said that he could hunt as much ragno as he wanted before breakfast.

That’s why I guess I should just aim for an A-rank adventurer normally.

「T-This many…! No way…!」

The receptionist looked really surprised when she saw the last two giant Ragno eyes.

The look on her face then changed to that of stern one upon seeing the two giant Ragno’s eyes.

After she sent a quick glance toward Alfred, she then looked back and saw the subjugation proofs that formed a small hill.

「Uhm… is this… by chance?」

「… Maybe, this is all of them.」

… I was planning to lay down since a hundred Ragnos eyes was equivalent to two and half million gold but, well I guess there was no need to hide this fact since Alfred was quite conspicuous.

Thus, I planned to postpone further investigation about the real reason for this ragno’s stampede.

「Oi look, that guy over there is amazing!」

「What the hell with that amount!」

The adventurers who were looking at Alfred a moment ago were now rushing to our place.

「Good grief, are you sure that you want to get away that fast? I’ve told you right, no matter how much you’re looking at the other’s achievements, it won’t become your achievement. Were you guys really just simpleton who easily… got distracted by that?」

When I turned around, I realized that the crowd around Alfred had diminished… and moved to surround us.

In just ten seconds, all eyes were gathering at our place.

I bowed lightly as I looked at Alfred.

Alfred’s eyes snapped open, he ceased all his pretense from before and glaring at me with a frown on his face.

D-Did we end up gaining his attention too?

Was he actually a hypocrite who swallowed their own words?