After finishing breakfast, we headed to town.
""Where are we going?""
"The Adventurers' Guild. Cedric-san told me to go there at least once."
""A request?""
"I don't plan on accepting any, but… well, I'll at least take a look at what kind of requests they have."
""Got it~""
The first time I went to the Adventurers' Guild in Bailey, the receptionist loudly announced our information in front of others… that was a serious case of information leakage. Because of that, we've never taken on any requests in this town.
Cedric-san, the lord of this town, was concerned about the situation and, together with Andy-san, the head of the Adventurers' Guild of the Guardia Kingdom, carried out a complete overhaul and retraining of the guild staff in Bailey.
"I'm excited to visit the Adventurers' Guild!"
""Me too!""
Today, it's not just us—Theodore-kun and Latis-kun are with us as well.
Since they love adventure stories, they seem very excited about going to the guild.
Unfortunately, Cedric-san and Patrick-san had work, so they couldn't join us.
"Theodore-kun, Latis-kun, this isn't your first time at an Adventurers' Guild, right?"
""Not exactly!""
"But lately, we haven't been taken there much because it's considered dangerous!"
Since a new dungeon was discovered, the number of adventurers in this town has increased.
Along with that, it seems the public order has deteriorated a little. Well, wherever people gather, trouble tends to follow.
""Everyone, make sure not to stray from me.""
""""Okay!""""
With four children and just me as a guardian, even if I had enough combat power, I lacked manpower.
So, as escorts, Lancer-san and Eugene came along as additional guardians.
""Wow~ there are so many people~""
When we arrived at the Adventurers' Guild and stepped inside, the place was more crowded than expected.
I thought there would be fewer adventurers around this time—those heading to the dungeon should have already left, and those taking requests should be gone too—yet the place was still packed.
"This is the Adventurers' Guild! What are you doing here dragging a bunch of kids around?!"
… We had barely taken a few steps inside when a rough-looking adventurer set his sights on us.
Wait, hold on. We haven't been harassed just yet. He may have a scary face, but he could still turn out to be a good person.
"I'm talking to you! Get lost!"
… Too bad. There goes the chance of him being a good person.
"Um, well—"
"What?! Just leave already!"
… He's not even letting me talk.
"What's all this commotion? You again?! I keep telling you, this is where clients come, so don't judge people just by whether they can fight or not!"
As I was wondering what to do, someone stepped in to mediate.
Looks like the guy bothering us is a known troublemaker.
"Look closely! They have escorts! That should tell you they're from a respectable background. Why do you always pick fights like this?"
"Even so, this isn't a place to bring a bunch of kids!"
… Huh? So he's not a complete troublemaker? What's the deal here?
"Lancer-san, Eugene, what exactly is going on?"
"…It seems like we're being harassed, but maybe not?"
"It's hard to say."
"Right~? So what should we do?"
Should we drive him away, or should we try to resolve things peacefully? I couldn't decide.
"Hector-san, what's going on?"
"Another fool was harassing a client, so I was stopping him."
""Again? Hector-san, thank you as always.—Welcome to the Adventurers' Guild. I apologize for the rude behavior of some undisciplined adventurers."
Sensing something was wrong, a guild staff member rushed over.
After listening to the situation, they immediately apologized.
"Well, nothing actually happened yet, so don't worry about it."
"Thank you very much! So, are you here to make a request—? …Huh? W-Wha?!"
It seemed like things would be settled peacefully, but suddenly, the guild staff let out a weird shriek mid-sentence.
"T-T-T-Takumi-sama?!"
"Huh? You know me?"
Apparently, they knew who I was. Had we met before?
"I-I'm so sorry!!"
"Huh?!"
"Hey?!"
The guild staff suddenly bowed so deeply it looked like they were about to fold in half.
Even Hector-san, the adventurer who intervened, widened his eyes in surprise.
"Wait, what? What's going on?!"
"I know this sounds like an excuse, but we are making progress with staff retraining! But with all the adventurers flooding in because of the new dungeon, it's hard to keep things under control! Even with kind adventurers like Hector-san helping, it's still not enough!"
The guild staff member spoke in a tone that was half-explaining and half-unloading their pent-up frustrations.
… Seems like they're really struggling.
"Of all people to harass, they just had to pick the absolute worst one!!"
"Ah… did the Guild Master say something about me?"
"!?"
Hearing my words, the guild staff sucked in a sharp breath.
"P-Please, I beg you! Could you keep this incident a secret from the Guild Master? And also… from the lord?"
"You want to keep it a secret from my father?"
"…Huh? F-Father? Wha—?!"
"Ah~… yeah, it's probably too late for that."
"Wait… These kids… don't tell me… Wh-What have I done?!"
It seemed the guild staff had just realized that the children with me were the sons of the town's ruling Risner family.
Completely devastated, they collapsed to their knees, hands touching the floor.
"… Of all the times Takumi-sama chose to visit, something had to go wrong right away…"
They were even on the verge of tears.
"Uhh, Takumi-sama? What exactly is happening here? Should I still be standing here? Am I going to get punished or something?"
Hector-san, unable to follow what was happening, hesitantly asked me.
"First of all, I'm not an important person, so you don't need to call me '-sama.' Also, you were just helping maintain order in the guild, so there's no way you'll be punished. Please relax."
If Hector-san also started panicking, things would just get even more chaotic.
For now, I tried to calm him down.
I still couldn't decide if he should stay or leave, so I avoided touching on that.
"Even so… we're getting a lot of attention."
""Everyone's looking at us~""
Even when we first got harassed, we had already drawn a decent number of stares.
But now, I felt like everyone in the guild was watching us.
Even if this ends peacefully, it's going to be hard to report to Cedric-san that "nothing happened at all."