Appraiser's Job Chapter 5

The work of an adventurer’s guild is roughly split into three parts.

First are the adventurers that butcher the monsters. Their work included removing all the money making materials from the corpses of monsters such as bones, flesh, and skin. At the heart of this job was the appraiser whose private workshop was attached to the guild.

Second is the buying and selling of these raw materials. The business included buying materials from adventures such as those taken from butchered monsters or artifacts excavated from dungeons. Reversely, the guild also dealt with the selling of these objects. An appraiser’s work mainly involved the appraisal of these raw materials and artifacts, and the results of their efforts affected how much money moved in and out of the guild.  

Third are all the other services the appraiser provided. Other than just determining the value of magical items, appraisers work as mediators for adventurers. It is their job to introduce requests from the city as job-quests through the guild to adventurers.

These missions cover everything from the quick and simple requests to the slaying of vicious monsters. Here, appraisers demonstrate some of their power by ensuring that adventurers don’t accept quests not in line with their abilities. The interested party judges whether or not they have enough capability to accept the quest.

At first glance it seems as though appraisers have a lot of free time, but in reality they shoulder a lot of burden inside the guild.

I swear it’s not the case that I’m abandoning the guild just so I can go run through a dungeon. What are they going to do in the event that they need something appraised while I am gone?

“Fwhoo...” I exhaled, leaning on the back of a chair and stretching out my back.

It will be noon soon. Now would be a good time to start thinking of what to eat for lunch. The food stalls around here would be fine, or should I go to that restaurant managed by the cooking guild near here that I’ve always favored?

I did eat meat yesterday, so maybe I should eat something with fish every once in awhile. How about a stew full of white fleshed fish?...Ah, my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

“Oh Little Io,” came Mr. Hansel’s voice, cutting through my thoughts.

Taking off my gla.s.ses, I made my way down to the first floor. From behind the counter, he was making a ‘come hither’ motion with his hands.

“What is it?” I asked.

“You’re going out for lunch, aren’t you? While you’re at it, would you mind delivering this to the sewing guild?” he said as he took out a large hemp sack and dumped it in my arms. Upon receiving it, its immense weight immediately made itself known.

“This is?”

“Silk thread we’ve been requested to produce. We had a crawler coc.o.o.n in stock at the time of the order, so we were just barely able to make it.”

A crawler is a gigantic caterpillar monster.  It seemed to be a larva of some sort, but the adult form was still shrouded in mystery. Since it can spit out threads irregardless of the occasion, it was an extremely bothersome monster. However, that thread was of such a high quality, that even just one part was highly valuable. It surely was something a sewing guild would covet.

“Understood,” I said.

“Wonderful.”
 

I left my guild. The glittering sunlight was shining radiantly at high noon. The cold had slightly abated, and I could feel the comforting warmth of the season.

The sewing guild and the cooking guild were in the same direction. It should be fine if I just deliver this parcel to the sewing guild first, then go and have lunch after.

Re-adjusting the hemp sack in my arms, I started walking down the side of the street. The majority of the people going back and forth in front of me were adventurers. There was a knight carrying a big sword on her back, and a mage carrying an ancient looking cane. Truly, the people that walked through here were quite varied.

The city’s current prosperity alone is the best proof of how great an impact the adventurers had had on its reinvigoration. The residents of the city were so thankful for the revitalization that they actively went out to accept arriving adventurers. It's quite simple how these adventurers survived here.

──I could see the sewing guild coming up. I wonder if the guild master is in.

“h.e.l.lo…” I said from the doorway before pa.s.sing through it and into the guild.