The Guild Receptionist

I observed the cityscape like a bird – free, free! Wind rushed over my flask; sunlight sparkled through my sacred spring water. Even without a nose, I knew this smell, the aroma of adventure!

I bobbed along in Sharlotte’s satchel, peeking through the glass.

Finally, humans! Civilization! A bustling medieval town just as the Isekai travel brochures promised!

Farms! A village square! A guild! A stage! Numerous pikes and pitchforks!

Numerous pikes and pitchforks?

“What the heck are all those townspeople doing?! Are we seriously opening a new franchise in the middle of a witch hunt?!”

“I’m turning back.”

“No, land! Land!”

We apologized for attacking the adventurers. But the crowd wasn’t riled up for this, or for the fact that there was an amazing, new, easy-to-claim Dungeon Core nearby.

Yes. The fact that there was an unclaimed Dungeon Core had made fewer rounds than the fact that my business partner had been found.

Sharlotte was the problem, as usual.

See, when an Angel answers prayers, it should be a good thing. But Sharlotte? If you wished for rain, she’d bless you with a thunderstorm. Asked for wealth? Enjoy your sudden mountain of counterfeit coins and the guards who come looking for you afterward.

“It’d be one thing if you had been lazy or evil about it…” I bubbled inside my flask, sloshing around as Sharlotte tried to calm the angry mob. “But the fact that you genuinely tried to help, acting out of the goodness of your heart and still messed things up… Oh.”

“Quit it! Waaah! Don’t pity me!” Sharlotte screeched, wings flapping as the townsfolk tightened their pitchfork formation.

“It’s okay. You’re my first business partner, Sharlotte.” I said, ready to never abandon her.

Realizing this, I needed to pivot.

She’s completely useless.

Wait, wait! That’s right! I can’t communicate at all! I still needed Sharlotte as a proxy! If Sharlotte gets dragged away to be purified or executed or forcibly enrolled in divine remedial school, who’s going to talk to customers for me?! Who’s going to scam – I mean, market – my spa?!

“Where do you think you’re taking her?! That deadbeat is important to me!” I bubbled furiously in my flask.

The mob did not look convinced. They couldn’t hear me! Someone in the back definitely just yelled, “Burn the Angel!”

This was a disaster!

“Kazuki…”

“At the very least, save her work as an indentured servant for later! I won’t have anyone to defend the spa while she’s gone! I chose who I associate myself with! That girl is my indentured servant!!”

“Just take me. I believed in you, Kazuki! A hero is supposed to choose his words more carefully! ‘Sharlotte! You’re a lost cause, utterly useless, but I still need your endless potential! For example!”

“No, that’s impossible. How dare you expect that from me! Look at reality in the face. You trashed their houses! And you turned their sheep pink! Answering both adult and children’s prayers is admirable and all, but you're a blessing machine that curses people through sheer incompetence!”

“Waaah! I’m supposed to be your best business partner!”

“I’ll wash you after your hard days of labor, so well, do your best.”

Of course, reality dropkicked me in the face, too! The townsfolk were ignoring my bubbly protests. They dragged Sharlotte off to the square and sat her at a table with a long line to take everyone’s requests for debts she had to work off.

Worse of all… She dropped me!! I wasn't there!!

Sharlotte tried to hang on to me, but the strap slipped, and my water flask popped right out of the satchel. I bounced off and skittered onto the cobblestones – plink, plonk!

By the time the crowd cleared to the new area and a worried person saw me and the dropped satchel, I landed squarely in the hands of …the Adventurer’s Guild receptionist.

“Oh? What’s this? A… potion, portable holy spring?” She read the “Kazuki Sacred Spa™” label that Sharlotte scribbled on me.

She took me to the Adventurer’s Guild, a large building that all travelers visited. Here, quests were dispatched and paid in Gold.

She gave me a polite nod and set me on the lost-and-found counter behind her tidy counter.

Her name tag read: Rin, Receptionist, Records Keeper.

She was everything Sharlotte wasn’t. Calm. Professional. Was this a blessing in disguise?

I watched her work. Amazing! She sorted paperwork with terrifying speed, answered three adventurers’ complaints at once, and only sighed every five minutes. Pen like a pin in her straight blonde hair, she was bound to this counter like a loyal guard dog, or maybe a chained maid of bureaucracy.

She has never had a day at a spa. I could feel her sore shoulders through my glass walls.

She’s perfect! Out with the old Angel, in with the new human!

New target acquired.

And so, while my business partner was forced to do hard labor, I sat here on the lost-and-found counter, delivering my plan of attack for our first new client.

One who desperately needed a hot bath.