Chapter 22: Fina and the Bear Part Two

Chapter 22:
Fina and the Bear
Part Two

 

SO, TODAY I WOKE UP and made breakfast for my mom and sister like I always do. Mom seemed better today. I waited until they finished breakfast, and then I went to the guild. When I got there, I was so happy to find someone brought in lots of wolves to be butchered. It looked like I would have lots of work today.

The refrigerated warehouse at the back of the guild is cold. They need to make it that way so that the meat doesn’t rot. They have warm gear made from wolf pelts at the warehouse, so I borrowed those. They’re made for guild employees, so it was a little big, but what can you do? They’re warm.

When I went into the back of the warehouse, the wolves were all piled up into a heap. I took one of them and put it on top of a table. The tables are a little tall, so I have to set up a stepstool for myself, but it’s easier to butcher them this way.

I gutted the wolf and skinned it capably. What a pretty wolf. Wolf pelts fetch different prices depending on if they’ve been hacked up with a sword or finished with just one hit like this one. It looked like a really great adventurer had defeated this wolf.

I could understand why they brought the wolf in without butchering it, then. Low-rank adventurers will butcher everything themselves to avoid handling fees. High-rank adventurers don’t need to try as hard to save money. I’m grateful for that.

After I took off the pelt, I butchered the meat into the cuts they sell to the inns and restaurants and normal families. They can’t sell the scraps, so I take those home. We’re going to have meat for dinner today.

Thank you, guild.

 

There’s plenty of butchering work for me every time I go to the guild lately, which is great. A few days ago, there was even a goblin king. Of course, I haven’t ever butchered a goblin king before, so I watched the older employees work on it, so I could learn. Apparently, goblin kings are very tough. They could barely get through it with a regular knife.

It had really horrible cuts all over the front of its body, but the back of its body was clear. I guess the person who beat it fought it from the front.

There sure are some amazing adventurers out there.

 

I had wolves to butchered today, too. Apparently, they were brought in by the same person—a girl wearing a bear outfit. It was Yuna! Yuna had been helping me indirectly.

Today, there were horned hares. Their pelts are soft and fluffy and feel so nice. I’ve heard their horns can be turned into some kind of medicine, but that’s not really part of what I do, so I don’t know much more. My job is just butchering. I split the hares into their pelts, horns, and meat.

I wish I could make clothes out of these pelts for my sister. I wanted them so bad, but I’d never steal them. If I did that, I’d be betraying Mr. Gentz’s trust after he gave me work.

 

I had work again today. I was happy as a clam.

While I was working on skinning wolves, I listened in to the guild workers and heard there a big heap of monsters coming in that needed butchering. Maybe it was Yuna? I would have liked to go check, but I couldn’t leave my workstation.

But right after that, Mr. Gentz came in to fetch me. Apparently Yuna wanted me to work exclusively butchering things for her! He took me to Yuna, who said she would pay me to butcher all her kills while she was in town. I was over the moon to hear I would have a steady job!

Since I still had work that day, we promised to meet tomorrow and went our separate ways.

 

The next day, I woke early in the morning and went to the inn Yuna was staying in to meet her at the time we’d agreed on, but when I got there, she was having breakfast. Maybe I was there too early? Yuna asked me to sit with her, though, and gave me juice. It was really good.

We talked about what we would do today, and she asked me if I wanted to go with her or stay here. If she was going to the woods, I wanted to accompany her. I might be able to find herbs that would help my mom, but I would stay behind if I’d just get in her way. But Yuna said she could protect me, so I chose to go with her.

 

When we got to the guild, we went over to the quest board. I waited for Yuna a little bit away from the board, where I wouldn’t get in the way. Yuna looked like she might be arguing with some adventurers again—I think that bear outfit just draws attention—but nothing happened after all, and she left the adventurers behind. What a relief. It looked like she’d found a quest she liked, so I asked her what kind of quest it was.

She told me, “Tigerwolf slaying.”

I was speechless for a whole second. I don’t know much about how adventurers work, but can D-rank quests really be completed by a single person? It looked like everyone else was making parties to fight together.

Was it really okay for me to tag along on a quest like this?