-----

As Frank's party walked out of the dungeon, they noticed that the number of adventurers around t had decreased a lot, meaning that most adventures disliked diving into the dungeons at night. ​​

Although it was yet to be night, the sun was already disappearing on the horizon, showing only the last bits of sunlight before disappearing.

The party of young Adventurers made their triumphant return to the Guild, which had become busier as in later hours, the Adventurers would gather in there to eat dinner and celebrate their daily loot, and that they had survived another day within the dungeon.

Clishya quickly noticed Frank and his party, sighing in relief, even she was a bit concerned about their safety, especially because they had decided to dive in quite late instead of early in the morning as most Adventurers did. It was an obvious fact for many Adventurers that at night, monsters would grow stronger for strange motives and effects within the dungeons, some people attributed this phenomenon to the Goddess of Chaos, calling it the 'Monster's Curse'.

At night within Dungeons, Monsters would somehow perceive that the sun had disappeared, even when it didn't even touch them through the whole day, and for some strange reason, the moonlight that bathed the world would affect dungeons, increasing the reproductive capabilities of monsters while making them more ferocious and stronger.

Clishya, a young frog-kin beast-girl that had moved to the Acacia town from her small village was still new within the town, but she had been introduced by her aunt that worked in the Guild, giving her the job of being the Guild secretary, an important person that gave out quests to Adventurers while also administrating rewards and money.

"Frank-kun! You're back!" she said with an innocent and cheerful smile, surprising Frank, who found her quite pretty.

"Hm, we didn't die or anything, were you worried about us?" asked Frank with a gentle tone of voice.

"A-Ah, no! Not at all… It was just that some thugs seemingly had gone to follow you after you left the Guild… I was about to call the town's guards and even issue a quest if you had taken longer… those guys are very shady…" said Clishya.

"Oh? What guys? We didn't encounter any guys? You mean the friendly adventurers at the dungeon?" asked Frank with curiosity.

"Ah… Well, never mind then… I am glad that my concern was left as only that, concern… A-Anyways, I don't see you carrying anything… did you manage to complete a mission? If you have the goblin's ears I could- Eeeeh?!"

Clishya was concerned that Frank had brought absolutely nothing from the dungeon, but was surprised the moment he suddenly opened a small drift in space, dropping countless corpses all over the floor.

"W-Why are you screaming?!" asked Annabelle.

"She got spook out?" asked Hilvera.

"Damn, she's quite something…" said Asterion.

Clishya then glanced at Frank who had done something incredibly outrageous.

"Y-You have Spatial… Spatial Magic?! And a storage spell to boot!" said Clishya, as Frank produced a mana barrier while combining it with Stealth, Camouflage, and Silence, making the scene that had occurred not noticed by the Adventurers, who were already busy chatting, drinking, and eating out loud.

"Could you please keep quiet, Clishya-san?" asked Frank.

"A-Ah! S-Sorry…! Oh, it seems that not many noticed… Phew… S-Sorry again… T-They said that I am a bit clumsy…" said Clishya.

"I-I can tell…" said Annabelle.

"Annabelle-san, don't be so rude with Clishya-san, she's the receptionist!" said Hilvera.

"Don't be like that, nee-san, she herself said she is clumsy!" said Asterion.

"Says the clumsiest axe wielder!" said Hilvera.

"H-Hey! Don't say it out loud!" said Asterion embarrassed.

"Anyways, I have brought around five goblins, four demon rats, two giant scorpions, and there are fishes too, though we're keeping them… Is there a butchered here that could extract the Mana Cores for us?" asked Frank.

"Oh! Amazing, you completed everything! Except for the Mandragora…" said Clishya.

"Mandragoras seem to be incredibly rare monsters, so we couldn't find any, even when we dived pretty deep into the dungeon," said Frank.

"I see, well, it is understandable… To be honest, this is surprising! The amount of monsters you have defeated as a party of only Rank 1 Initial Stage Adventurers is amazing! I can see a very bright future for all of you!" said Clishya with a bright smile, as she called a butchered, a large minotaur man who grabbed all the corpses and carried them with his enormous shoulders.

"I'll bring you the Mana Cores in a bit, wait for me up," he said with a serious voice, walking away.

"W-Woah… This is the first time I see a Minotaur that big!" said Asterion, his eyes shining brightly as he dreamed in one day becoming as big as that almost three meters tall Minotaur man.

"Oh, that's Asran-sama, he's a very serious man, and very talented at butchering monsters, leave it to him! …Though, I will have to discount a bit of the reward in money due to his butchering fee," said Clishya.

"Ah, of course, it's understandable," said Frank.

"So his name is Asran! Is he good with the axe?" asked Asterion.

"Axe? I don't know… but he's amazing with enormous knives and even a large machete!" said Clishya.

"W-Woah! Amazing!" said Asterion, his eyes glowing with even more light out of pure enthusiasm.

"Anyways, how much is it?" asked Frank.

Clishya took out a large book where she began to note how each quest was completed, alongside calculating the money that Frank's party earned.

"Hm, the quests only asked for the fat of the demon rats, and the scorpion quests only for the claws… would you like for us to purchase the rest of the body parts? Even the body of the scorpion is precious, and the poison within their stinger is also quite pricy, alchemists pay a good fee for it," said Clishya.

"I see… Sure thing," said Frank.

"Very well… about the Goblins, the quest wanted the entire bodies, so we can't buy them…" said Clishya, as she continued writing and calculating the money.

"Do the bodies of Goblins even sell well?" asked Asterion.

"Oh? But of course! Any monster's bodies sell well. Goblins might seem malnourished and smell nasty, but their meat is still edible, and it is cheap meat that many can afford. It is also impregnated with Mana, which is always good for any of us," said Clishya, beast-men benefited from eating monster meat as they had a stronger connection with mana, being able to draw power from it and nourishing their bodies through it, something that races such as humans or dwarves could not do.

"Ooh, I didn't know that!" said Asterion.

"Wait, does that mean that wants all the bodies… will he eat all the goblins?!" asked Hilvera.

"E-Eh? W-Well, I did not think about that… But I do not think so? Well, it is not our business to ask our patrons what they do with what they ask for… it is part of our policies, sorry…" said Clishya.

"Oh right, now that I think about it, I've seen a restaurant that has goblin meat in their sandwiches and other preparations, the food using that meat is surprisingly cheap," said Annabelle.

"Interesting…" said Hilvera.

"Maybe we should try out goblin meat?" asked Asterion.

"I've never tasted goblin meat… and now I am a bit curious…" said Annabelle.

"Fine, we can grab some sandwiches there if it still open," said Frank, as the three kids cheered.

"Yaay!"

"Hehe, you're like their older brother for them…" said Clishya.

"And they're all like my little siblings," said Frank, glancing at the three kids with a warm smile.

Clishya couldn't help but feel lost on his aquamarine eyes filled with sincerity, as Frank noticed her sudden daze.

"Huh? Is there something wrong?" he asked.

"A-Ah! N-Nothing! And… I am done! It would be… twenty bronze coins and two silver coins!" said Clishya.

"I see… Err, sorry if I sound weird but I never handled so much money before… How much is one bronze coin? And how much is one silver coin?" asked Frank.

"W-What? Y-You don't know something so basic, Frank-kun?" asked Clishya.

"Sorry…" apologized Frank while scratching his head.

"Ah, well… One bronze coin can buy you a loaf of bread, a warm drink, and a full lunch and dinner here, so with one bronze coin, a person can feed themselves for a day, remember that well! And one silver coin is equivalent to one hundred bronze coins, with a single silver coin, a family can feed themselves for over two months. And then, a gold coin cost one hundred silver coins… Only high-ranking Adventurers have gold coins, and with one, you can even buy yourself a small house, and with a couple, a small piece of land… and well, with a hundred… or a thousand, you might as well live in the city," said Clishya.

"I see… but what can I use when I want to buy something that cost less than a lunch and dinner?" asked Frank.

-----