Facing the manager of the guild who had an amiable smile on his face, I activated [Masseuse] and [Calculative] with an unreadable expression before leaning forward with my hands clasped before me and started, "Let's get this over with, no?"
With a curt nod, the receptionist was sent out of the office, leaving me and the manager who sat with polite smiles on our faces.
"If I may ask a few questions, I would be grateful," he responded calmly.
"I don't mind," I shrugged in response.
"Mr. Clark, not to sound rude, but you're an F-ranked warrior and yet you claim to have slaughtered a whole village of goblins that had been terrorizing this town and the neighboring towns by yourself?" he asked with a skeptical expression.
'Haa… why do these NPCs always try to find a way to make things difficult for little ol' me.' I sighed inwardly as I responded tiredly, "Yes, I did, Mr….?"
"Koft, and I would understand if you had a guild backing you who gave you credit for this kill, so there's no need for deceit at this point, Mr. Clark," he responded with narrowed eyes as he inspected me.
I had begun to feel a sense of frustration over his disbelief, and although understandable, I still didn't like the gaze I was receiving.
Leaning back in my seat, I responded calmly, "If you have called me here to interrogate me, Mr. Koft, I'm sure there are other hunters' guilds who would appreciate such a bounty."
A flash of surprise and restlessness passed through his eyes as I uttered those words, and he responded slightly flustered, "I apologize, there's no need to waste efforts going to another guild when we're willing to give you a fair price."
Polishing my nails with a weirdly shaped nail cutter, I answered, "I sure hope so."
"Okay, how about we give you 100 Valen per storage ring and a free two-year membership of our guild," he began.
"And what does this membership entail?" I asked.
"A full commission on all beasts brought in by the customer, VIP access to our sales and marketing department, advertisement rights for no extra charge, and a platinum card that guarantees the best equipment and materials at any hunters' guild you go," he explained.
'Those are a lot of benefits,' Laura suggested.
'Yeah, to others it might be, but to us, it's all bullshit,' I answered.
'What do you mean?' she asked innocently.
'Apart from the platinum card that guarantees the best equipment at any guild, the rest are useless,' I elaborated.
Sensing her confusion, I explained, 'We're not merchants that we're going to need advertisements, and I'm sure we're not going to be hunting large amounts of beasts as normal hunters do, since we're only staying here for a year. And a price of 100 Valen for more than 30 goblins, including a king goblin, is daylight robbery.'
'Oh yeah,' she answered.
'You didn't understand anything I said, did you?' I asked with a deadpan expression.
'W–who said I didn't, I totally did, okay?!' Laura answered flusteredly.
'Yeah, right,' I answered disbelievingly.
Koft, who had been waiting patiently for my response while I had my little chat with Laura, mistook my silence for rejection and added, "We're also willing to craft you an enchanted-grade armor of your liking."
My eyebrows raised slightly at the sudden offer. "Make it a cloak and we have a deal," I answered immediately.
I could see the twitching veins on Mr. Koft's head as I suggested the change in offer shamelessly, and I nodded to myself, 'Still got it.'
"Fine, 100 Valen, a cloak, and a two-year membership for the 54 goblins, including the goblin king," he finalized.
Standing up and shaking his hand, I answered with a smile, "Nice doing business with you, Mr. Koft. When shall I come to collect the cloak?"
Giving me a storage ring that contained the money and platinum card alongside my now goblin-emptied storage ring, he answered, "It will be ready in ten days."
"That's good," I nodded calmly as I put the storage rings in my pocket and one on my finger.
"Come again," he answered with a fake smile.
"Of course," I answered as I walked towards the door.
With a nod, I left the office and saw the receptionist sitting in the booth and glancing at the now scanty bar area.
'Where is everyone?' Laura asked confusedly.
'Heh, my aura must've scared them away,' I answered while giving a curt nod to the receptionist and walking out of the guild.
'Please, they must've misunderstood you were some big shot and ran away to avoid unnecessary snobby issues,' Laura responded.
'Now that's some anime-level bullshit,' I answered as I made my way to the boutique to get us a change of outfits.
'I don't know what anime is, but I assure you my assumptions are never bullshit,' Laura retorted as she flew out of my head and sped to the large boutique store close to us.
Shaking my head, I walked closer to the boutique store that had a sign that read, "Venus' Beauty" with what looked like glitters embedded in it.
Taking a look at the surroundings, I walked into the boutique and found that Laura was already inside and looking at a knee-length yellow dress with a shine in her eyes.
'You like?' I asked inwardly as I walked to the counter.
'Mhm!' she nodded enthusiastically as a silly smile formed on her face.
"Welcome to Venus' Beauty, the men's section is down the aisle just to your left," the dark-haired receptionist spoke with a professional smile.
"Thank you, but I'd like this dress first and probably some others as time goes on," I answered as I pointed to the dress Laura was clamoring over.
"Of course, that would be 60 Miras," she answered as she packaged the dress.
"Add it to my tab, I'll go to the men's section first."
With a nod, Laura and I split up as I went to the male's section and she to the females.
Scanning the red robe with wavy patterns that hung on the wall with narrowed eyes, I eventually decided to get it as sleepwear for myself after a moment of deliberation.
Getting a few more casual clothing, I went to the female's section and spotted a number of girls of different species testing out some clothes and chattering on.
Looking through the crowd for Laura, I bumped into a human girl with hazelnut hair who was talking to someone.
"Oh, sorry," I apologized.
Facing me with an annoyed expression on her face, she eyed me head to toe as her expression turned from that of annoyance to that of surprise, then disgust.
I was taken aback by the myriad of expressions she was showing, but before I could apologize once more, I was interrupted by her.
"What are you doing here, Clark? Did Miriam finally dump you and you came here looking for another girl to leech off of?"
Her voice caused people to stop what they were doing and stare in my direction with interested gazes, while some of the men and women closer to us had a repulsed expression.
'This is just great,' I thought as I smiled wryly at the growing crowd.
"Answer me, or cat cut your tongue?" the girl continued with a repulsed expression.
"I don't understand what you're talking about, miss, and I would appreciate if you didn't cause a scene," I answered with furrowed eyebrows as I noticed the growing crowd.
"Oho, you finally have the guts to talk back to me, don't you?" she answered with a fake laugh.
"Maira, who is this guy?" one of her friends asked.
"He's the boy toy I sold to Miriam a few months ago. Whenever I ask about him, Miriam always has this weird expression and says that he's no longer here. Now I understand why, he must've run off to look for someone else," she explained to her friend.
'So, she's the one who sold me to Miriam, huh. Should I be grateful or angry?'
While I was deep in my thoughts, Laura had flown over to me with worry apparent on her face, "Hey, is everything alright?"
'Yeah, just a minor issue,' I answered telepathically.
'We could leave if you want,' Laura suggested.
'Nah, just give me some time, I'll fix it,' I answered.
"H…"
'Haa… I knew everything was going too well,' I sighed inwardly.
"He…"
'But like, if we leave now, we could always come back tomorrow,' she suggested hesitantly.
'No… that'll make me look bad, I've got to keep my pride after all,' I rejected.
"Hey!!"
Jolting me out of our inner conversation was Maira's annoying voice.
"What," I answered coldly.
"I'm talking to you," she answered arrogantly, as her friends were looking at me with strange gazes.
"And why do I have to listen to you?" I asked with my head cocked to the side.
"You!" Her face reddened in anger as shock registered on people's faces who were close by.
'Looks like she's some kind of big shot,' I analyzed.
"How dare you speak to me in that manner!" she shouted in anger as she extended her hand to slap me.
'She attacked first.' With a shrug, I let her hit me.
Pah!
A large slap resounded in the store as people's eyes widened, clearly not expecting her to hit me.
'Now, I can execute my plan.' I smiled inwardly as I spat out a little amount of blood.
---
Skill [Liar] is in use!
Remark: You sick bastard 🤣
---
"You… why didn't you dodge?" Maira asked hesitantly as she saw the disapproving gazes that were directed at her.
"Why didn't I dodge?" I asked with a sad expression.
"If I did, you would've said I had grown wings and ordered someone to kill me in some dark alley," I muttered lowly with a tone that made it seem as if it wasn't the first time she had done it.
And the audience bought the idea.
"W–what are you talking about, you peasant!?" she asked flusteredly as people started looking at her with suspecting gazes.
"I may be a peasant, but I don't want my days to be cut short, so I shall not reveal any of your deeds," I said with a voice just enough for the people close by to hear.
"You dare frame me?!" Maira, clearly seeing where things were going, panicked.
"I wouldn't dare," I answered calmly.
"How–"
She was interrupted by one of her friends who placed her hand on her shoulder lightly while shaking her head.
"Y–you don't believe him, do you?" Maira asked her friends hesitantly.
"Of course not, but we should get going. We can deal with this another time," one of them responded with her gaze averted.
After a while of debating, Maira eventually decided to follow her friends out of the store, but not without giving me a death glare as she passed by me.
The people eventually dispersed amidst murmurs, and I was left alone once again.
With a sigh, I murmured, "Let's finish our shopping trip, shall we?"
'Sorry for all that,' Laura spoke with a low voice.
'Nah, this is nothing and it's not your fault,' I responded nonchalantly as we picked out the dress Laura pointed out.
'Cute dress,' I commented as I stared at the strapless blue dress with glitters.
'You think so?' she asked, unsure of her choice.
'Yup, now let's get back home and test it out,' I added.
'Mm.'
Paying for the clothes through the cashier, who looked at me strangely, we passed through another exit in case Maira was waiting for me at the front door. Paranoid, I know, but what can I say?
While complaining about how much the clothes cost, we made our way back to the inn and I lay down on the bed with a plop.
"So lazy," Laura commented as she flew out with a teasing smile on her face.
"Mind games are the most draining," I commented as I buried my face in the pillow.
"Whatever, I'm going to try my clothes," Laura said as she zoomed into our dressing room.
'Heh, women,' I thought with a small smile on my face as I lay on my back.
A while later, Laura came out with a pure smile on her face as she played with the hems of her clothes and asked hesitantly, "How do I look?"
I was at a loss for words as I stared at her in the yellow dress she had picked initially. She looked beautiful, too beautiful for words to describe.
"You look beautiful," I answered with a heavy blush.
"Teehee, of course," she answered with twinkling eyes.
We took turns wearing our clothes and gauging the reaction of the other to see whether or not it was okay. Most of the clothes I bought were all rated as "meh," and somehow Laura looked beautiful in all her outfits—even in mine! How crazy is that?!
Without a doubt, it was a calm and eventless day, but I couldn't help but feel it was the calm before the storm.
Sorry for the late update, I didn't have internet, and I burnt my food while writing this chapter. Enjoy!