My family runs an adventurer's guild.

Therefore, for novice adventurers who register in big cities, enduring the stench and crawling through sewers is an essential part of their professional career.

Chapter 6, The Fake Dragon Owner of the Gladiator's Tavern

A distant view of Totoro Town:

Life in Totoro Town

Of course, Totoro Town, where Phil lives now, is not a megacity like New York or Paris, but just a town with a population of just over 10,000. Its sewer system is naturally not large enough to support an underground society.

Similarly, there are very few magicians living in Totoro Town, and none of them have the ability to turn the sewers into a magical realm.

But that doesn't mean the sewers in Totoro Town are without problems.

In fact, the excessive proliferation of Swamp Slimes and Rotten Mushrooms in the sewers, leading to pipe blockages and poor drainage, often gives the cat-like officials of the city hall a real headache.

In addition, in this world where magic exists, the rats in the sewers sometimes mutate into monsters called "Giant Rats," which dig holes and build nests everywhere, causing huge damage to the sewer system. This is the number one safety hazard in Totoro Town after the monsters in the suburbs disappeared.

Therefore, in order to maintain the normal operation of the town, the municipal authorities of Totoro Town must regularly send soldiers or hire adventurers with weapons to go deep into the sewers to exterminate and clean up the overpopulated rat population in order to prevent a major disaster.

Hmm? Since the main residents of the town are cats, why hire adventurers to deal with the rats instead of letting the residents catch them in the sewers themselves? The reason is this: although the active cats love to hunt rats and birds, even when they are not hungry, it is strictly speaking just a hunting game for them as a pastime, similar to the hunting parties held by British gentlemen in the Victorian era.

The town officials of Totoro Town knew that getting a group of well-dressed feline gentlemen and cat-eared ladies, living comfortably and without worries about food or clothing, to voluntarily venture into the filthy, smelly sewers to catch rats was about as difficult as the Victorian British government trying to persuade a group of fashionable, hunting-loving British gentlemen and ladies to shed their finery, don military uniforms, shoulder rifles, kukri knives, and maces, and cross the ocean to the miasma-filled African rainforest to fight cannibalistic natives.

This kind of sewer cleaning isn't a disaster like a monster siege that could threaten the lives and safety of everyone in the town. Rather than forcibly conscripting militiamen to crawl through the sewers and causing resentment among the town's residents, it's better to spend some money to hire cheap cannon fodder who aren't afraid of getting dirty or tired to risk their lives.

The city hall can easily calculate such a simple amount of money.

Therefore, as the sole clerk of the town's adventurers' guild, Phil received a task from the town hall to clean the sewers.

For this adventurers' guild, which hadn't made a single deal in over three months, this request was a godsend.

However, the next question is, how will the Adventurers' Guild of Totoro Town complete this quest?

If it were a normally functioning adventurer's guild, this would be very simple. They would just post the quest request form from the town hall on the bulletin board in the guild hall. After all, it was just an ordinary, trivial daily quest, not some super difficult task like slaying dragons or immortals. Soon, some adventurer who wasn't afraid of getting dirty or tired would tear off the quest form, take it to the counter, and complete the formalities to accept the quest.

However, the Adventurers' Guild in Totoro Town is currently struggling due to years of dismal management. No idle adventurer would spend all day in the guild hall, staring at the empty bulletin board, waiting for quests that only appear once every month or two. If someone were that leisurely, they'd probably earn more begging on the street than working as a professional adventurer. If Phil simply posted the quest notice on the bulletin board like any other guild clerk and ignored it, then it's likely that no adventurer would ever see the sewer cleaning quest, even after the deadline.

Therefore, in order to earn her commission on this quest, Phil couldn't just sit in the Adventurers' Guild and wait for adventurers of unknown whereabouts to come to her for the task. Instead, she had to actively seek out registered adventurers capable of completing the quest, carrying the quest request form. So, after carefully checking the contents of the request form and counting the deposit prepaid by the city hall, Phil hurriedly left.

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Although Totoro Town is a small town with just over 10,000 people and no walls, it is subtly divided into two parts, the "Upper Town" and the "Lower Town," due to wealth disparity and racial differences. Locals generally refer to them as the "Harbor Area" and the "Hollow Area."

The Harbor District is situated on a rocky plateau rising from the shore of Siren Bay. At its foot lies a long stretch of sandy beach, ensuring the town is constantly bathed in sea breezes. The surrounding scenery is captivating, and the air is fresh. Due to its elevated position, drainage is also convenient. Totoro Town was initially built from this location. The earliest inhabitants, the cat-like creatures who laid the foundation for the town, primarily resided on this breezy seaside plateau. The town hall, the lord's mansion, the various temples, the Adventurers' Guild where Firi works, the town's commercial street, and most of the more imposing buildings are all located in the Harbor District, roughly equivalent to Totoro Town's old town, wealthy area, commercial district, and administrative district.

The "Hollow Area" is located inland at the foot of the plateau and was originally a swamp. Later, with the development of the surrounding wilderness, this swamp was drained and filled in, and as the town's population increased, it became part of the urban area. However, due to its low-lying terrain, the "Hollow Area" is prone to waterlogging and breeding grounds for mosquitoes and flies. People with even a little money are unwilling to live there, so the houses in the "Hollow Area" are rarely built of stone or brick; they are mostly simple, rough wooden shacks. It's roughly equivalent to a slum and densely populated area of ​​transient population in Totoro Town.

There is no clear dividing line between the two districts. Starting from the town's central square, the further west you go inland, the lower and dirtier the houses become. At the edge of town, it degenerates into a jumble of crooked thatched huts and shacks.

In short, dragons and cats mainly live in high places, while other species mainly live in low-lying areas; that's roughly the layout of Totoro Town.

—Who can blame them when cats are naturally inclined to run to high places?

The Gladiator's Tavern is one of the few brick and stone buildings in the [Wa Region], and the only three-story building in the entire region. It's also Phil's destination for his adventurer recruitment trip—in this era, there are no job markets or recruitment websites. Just as captains in the Age of Exploration had to go to taverns to recruit sailors, Phil, facing the deserted state of the Adventurers' Guild and suddenly having business, could only turn to the tavern owner in the slums to find ways to recruit adventurers willing to crawl through sewers and catch rats.

In those days, some taverns, besides providing food, drinks, and lodging, often functioned as employment agencies and information trading centers. From commodity information and anecdotes to recruiting servants and transferring houses, all sorts of transactions and communications could be conducted in the tavern.

Of course, for a tavern to become such a communication platform, many prerequisites are required. Not every tavern owner has such connections, credibility, and ability. In Totoro Town, apart from the owner of the Gladiator Tavern, no other tavern or inn has such extensive resources.

Therefore, after receiving the letter of commission and the deposit, Phil went straight to the Gladiator's Tavern.

In the [Wa area], the [Gladiator's Tavern] is quite a conspicuous building. Not only because of its three-story height, making it stand out among the low bungalows, but also because the tavern's exterior walls and roof have been painted in bright gold, emerald green, and bright red by the extravagant owner, creating a stark contrast with the surrounding drab, dilapidated wooden and thatched huts.

As soon as you step into the tavern, you are immediately hit by the dim space, the noisy sounds, and the smell of alcohol and tobacco.

Phil squinted to adjust to the transition from the bright outside to the dim interior before he could see the surroundings clearly.

Like any ordinary tavern, the Gladiator's Tavern had a bar not far from the entrance, with a long row of high stools in front of the thick oak counter. Two long-bearded dwarves, tipsy from drinking, were leaning against the counter, chatting about trivial matters, making crude jokes, and occasionally letting out a chuckle, while raising their wooden mugs and gulping down ale. Nearby, two slightly more well-dressed humans were playing cards while sipping wine on the rocks. A little further away were rows of chairs, no different from any other tavern.

The Gladiator's Tavern differs from other taverns in that, or rather, its main marketing feature, is a rectangular sandpit in the center of the ground floor lobby, surrounded by a railing—essentially a miniature gladiator arena. Judging from the brown sand in the pit, who knows how many gladiators and beasts have shed their blood here, even losing their lives, all for the cheers of the spectators.

However, it was late afternoon, a relatively quiet time for business, and no gladiatorial combat was taking place in the tavern. Only a kobold, acting as referee, was dozing in a corner of the sandpit. Judging from the bone staff in his hand, this fellow was a warlock. In addition, a group of very pretty bunny-eared waitresses were idly gathered at an empty table in a corner of the bar, bored out of their minds due to the lack of customers. They were all dressed provocatively, with only narrow embroidered scarves covering their chests and ultra-short skirts that barely reached their knees, their snow-white legs swaying back and forth, making one's mouth water.

As a regular at this tavern, Phil knew very well that these seemingly innocent and cute bunny-eared older sisters were actually all working part-time in the sex trade. If you could give them a tip that satisfied them, one of them would immediately straddle your lap, allowing you to enjoy her body in public and release your long-accumulated desires—as long as you weren't afraid of contracting some strange disease.

Of course, with Feli the cat-man in his current body only eleven years old, he wasn't yet mature enough to do such things, and besides, he couldn't afford much in tips. So, the bunny-eared older sisters just glanced at him before continuing their idle chatter and slacking off.

Silently sighing in her heart, "This is the kind of treatment the poor get," Phil skillfully avoided the food scraps and strange stains of unknown origin on the wooden floor, as well as the mysterious moldy lumps next to the table legs. At the same time, she tried her best to endure the lingering smell of alcohol and sweat in the air, and skipped and hopped all the way to the counter.

Then, he suddenly jumped onto the counter, and behind the counter, he saw a dragon squatting on a pile of coins reading a book.

At first glance, this creature appears to be a brass dragon, with fine, dark yellow scales covering its body, a ring of metallic discs on its head, sharp horns on its chin, and copper-green edges on its wings and tail. Its pupils resemble molten metal spheres, and it exudes an indescribable majesty and a metallic aura that commands respect from all who see it.

At this moment, half of its body was buried in a pile of coins, although they were just cheap copper coins, which perfectly matched the greedy nature of the dragon race.

If we disregard the fact that it is only 20 centimeters tall and less than half a meter long, it is not much bigger than a cat.

This is Mr. Ernest, the owner of the Gladiator's Tavern, a "pseudo-dragon" who looks remarkably like a brass dragon.

"...Hey, Mr. Ernest, how's business today?" Phil forced out his warmest smile and waved.

However, Ernest, who was squatting in the pile of coins reading a book, only lazily looked up at him and greeted him irritably.

"...Little Phil? Here to eat on credit again? Even excluding your own bill, your master still owes nineteen platinum coins here!"

In an instant, the smile on the cat Firi's face froze on her face once again.

—Just like the Forest Fairy Cake Shop next to the Adventurers' Guild, the Gladiator's Tavern, run by the fake dragon Ernest, is also one of the main places where the cat-like Philie spends his daily bills on credit in Totoro Town.

Moreover, he wasn't the only little cat with a limited appetite eating on credit at the Gladiator's Tavern; his master, the silver dragon Lulutia, was also there. One can only imagine how enormous a dragon's appetite could be…

Although this silver dragon lady, who worships the god of sleep, is usually fast asleep and only wakes up for one or two months on average each year, she eats several whole roasted cows, pigs, and lambs for every meal during those short periods of wakefulness... That bill is enough to feed a whole group of cats.

This is why Miss Silver Dragon came to the Gladiator's Tavern in the slums to order food.

—Your appetite is too big; you simply can't afford to eat at high-end restaurants!

Even so, over time, Miss Silver Dragon Lulutia's debts at the Gladiator's Tavern grew increasingly large.

Simplified map of Totoro Town and surrounding area

Chapter 7, The Ghostly Lady Who Buys Corpses

One platinum coin is equivalent to one hundred gold coins, and Miss Silver Dragon already owes a full nineteen platinum coins for her meals at the Gladiator's Tavern, run by the pseudo-dragon owner Ernest. Fortunately, due to racial oppression, Ernest dares not charge interest on Miss Silver Dragon Lulutia's bills, otherwise, she would be living a truly miserable life.

"...Oh, I'm sorry, I'm a little short on cash right now. I'll pay the bill once I receive this month's subsidy from the city hall..."

Faced with Boss Ernest's questioning, the penniless Phil could only awkwardly laugh it off, trying to cover up the old debts he had incurred. "...I've brought you business this time! Here, it is." He handed over the letter of commission from the town hall. "...Our guild hasn't had a customer for ten days or half a month, so we can only ask you, the last B-rank adventurer in town, for help!"

—Even though he hadn’t paid the registration fee for twenty years and his adventurer qualification had long been revoked… Phil silently added in his mind.

"...Hmm, your adventurers' guild, which is always on the verge of bankruptcy, finally has a new commission?"

Hehe, that must have been tough! Back when I was just an adventurer, your guild was the liveliest place in town. Every day, groups of adventurers would gather there to drink and boast. Every quest posting would often attract several individuals, even groups of adventurers, vying for it—things like raiding murloc tribes, exploring mysterious caves, escorting caravans, and even the endless goblin battles in the forest…

Sadly, everything has vanished now! The monsters that seemed to roam the town endlessly have slowly disappeared. Those once-renowned adventure teams in town have either disbanded and gone home, or moved to border provinces to continue their trade. As a result, I, the mascot of that adventure team back then, am now the strongest adventurer in the entire town…

The caves I explored with my friends on Dragonroar Volcano years ago are now the private property of a group of dwarven miners. Last month, I suddenly felt like revisiting the place, but the dwarves not only refused me entry, they even set their dogs on me..."

Listening to Phil's flattery, the fake dragon boss Ernest's expression softened considerably. He rambled on about his "exciting past" while taking the commission letter with his paw. He then frowned. "...Hmm? Clean up the slimes, fungi, and rats in the whole town's sewers? A hundred gold coins as a reward? Tsk tsk! That's quite a small business."

This is such a simple task, there's no need to trouble anyone outside; just have one of my slaves run it! Quark! Quark! Stop being lazy and dozing off! Come here! There's work for you to do now!

Upon hearing Boss Ernest's shout, the kobold slave sorcerer referee, who had been dozing in the arena, reluctantly stood up, slowly walked to the counter, and adopted a submissive demeanor, listening to his pseudo-dragon boss's instructions.

Then, Quark, the kobold slave sorcerer who had been assigned by Boss Ernest to clean the sewers, reluctantly prepared his magic lamps, blazing glue, harpoons, and other tools for the sewer environment, his face even more wretched. He kept muttering to himself, "...What bad luck! Woof! How did I, a sorcerer, a noble natural spellcaster, end up crawling into the sewers to get my hands on cat poop?"

However, as the slave of the fake dragon boss, Quark could not possibly refuse to crawl through the sewers to earn money for his master, unless he was willing to risk his life.

So, after complaining and grumbling for a while, the kobold warlock Quark could only leave the tavern with a look of disgust, urged on by Boss Ernest. Then, he took the sewer layout map attached to the town hall commission, opened a nearby manhole cover, and crawled inside...

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Our protagonist, Phil, is an employee of the Adventurers' Guild, not an adventurer, so he doesn't need to participate in adventures in person.

Therefore, while Quark, the kobold slave of the Gladiator's Tavern, with a sour face, reluctantly crawled into the sewers with his bone wand and magic lamp, enduring the pervasive stench and stomping through the filth, using Poison Cloud to eliminate the overpopulated Swamp Slimes, burning the rotting mushrooms clogging the pipes with Fiery Glue, and stabbing the scurrying rats to death with Acid Arrows and Harpoons, Phil didn't need to suffer in the sewers with him. Instead, he could leisurely return to the Adventurers' Guild, curl up behind the counter, and take a nap.

According to Phil's calculations, although the sewers in Totoro Town weren't large, even if Quark, a kobold sorcerer, worked diligently, it would take him at least tomorrow or the day after to finish cleaning the main sewers. There was no need for Phil to foolishly wait.

However, just as Phil was yawning and slowly walking back to the Adventurers' Guild, preparing to take a nap, she was stopped by her neighbor at the entrance of the library next to the guild. She then received another private quest from the librarian, Miss Portia.

However, despite the fact that the Adventurers' Guild in Totoro Town was currently in dire financial straits, Phil was still reluctant to accept the commission.

Because the requirements for this commission are too high, but the reward is too low, no one is willing to take it!

“…Miss Portia, although in theory our Adventurers’ Guild can handle almost any legal business, buying the corpse of a young woman, especially one that is fresh, intact, and beautiful…do you know how complicated this kind of transaction is! And the price you’re offering…”

Looking at the ghostly librarian hiding in the shadows of the house, her face full of anticipation, Phil, who had once mooched a few meals from her cat, couldn't help but sigh helplessly, "...That's too little! A mere two platinum coins can't even buy the corpse of a slovenly old man! And you insist on going through legal channels, the kind where you can openly display the corpse for people to see... We really can't do that!"

In medieval Western Europe, two platinum coins, or two hundred gold coins, would have been enough to make someone die for them. But in the Golden Dragon Kingdom, where gold and silver were extremely abundant, the value of gold and silver was far less, and the purchasing power of that sum was considerably lower.

As a necessary resource for necromancy, the trade of corpses is not considered taboo in this world, somewhat similar to body donation on modern Earth. In some territories of the Old World ruled by necromancers, there were even necromancer lords who issued decrees requiring serfs to surrender the corpses of their relatives in lieu of taxes and labor service, which the serfs considered a great act of kindness: after all, the living are more important than the dead.

To the serfs who rarely had a full meal, handing over a few dead people was nothing compared to the generous benefits of tax exemption and exemption from corvée labor. After all, their family members would just be buried in the soil and slowly decomposed anyway.

The problem is, while those rotten, ancient corpses are one thing, Miss Portia demands a complete and fresh body, preferably a beautiful young girl or woman, and requires all the legal procedures to be completed at the city hall… Two mere platinum coins are simply not enough to satisfy her.

"...But I'm buying corpses to refine into the body of a Corpse Princess for my own use! If I go through those gangs to illegally obtain female corpses, what if the deceased's family comes knocking on my door? I don't want to be sued or even take the blame for someone else!"

Portia the Ghost exclaimed with a distressed expression. Clearly, this Ghost, though seemingly a bit dim-witted, wasn't entirely stupid.

"...So, your money isn't enough at all!" Phil spread his hands in distress. "...You'll need to add at least several times more!"

"...They really can't afford any more money! My family library is open to all residents of the town for free, and it only operates on a monthly stipend from the city hall, which is only two platinum coins a year. Besides, I can't afford to use all my savings to buy a corpse."

Miss Ghost Portia shook her translucent arm excitedly, explaining her predicament, "...because my magical skills are really limited, I'm not confident that I can successfully refine the Corpse Princess on the first try. In fact, if I can succeed once out of ten attempts, I'll already be very lucky."

"...Sigh, it seems we're all poor! But there's really nothing I can do about this. Either you continue to patiently try to save money..."

Phil shrugged. "...Or, how about you lower your standards a little? I can go to the Gladiator's Tavern and ask around. Every now and then, a few monsters are killed in the arena there, and you can get several fresh, intact female goblin corpses for just one platinum coin..."

"...No! Absolutely not! I'd rather die than have a goblin's body!"

Upon hearing Phil's suggestion, Miss Ghost Portia screamed as if she had touched something filthy.

“…Sigh, you won’t do this, you won’t do that, and you don’t have any money in your pocket. What exactly are you trying to do?” Phil shook his head helplessly.

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Ferry's Adventurers' Guild in Totoro Town is located on the edge of the town's busiest central square. To the left is the "Forest Fairy Pastry Shop," and to the right is the town's only library, which is also the town's well-known haunted house.

Because the librarian of this library is a genuine ghost.

The layout of the Totoro Town Library is different from other places. Although it bears the name of a library, its exterior is clearly that of a mage tower. In fact, this library was originally a mage tower, and a mage tower belonging to a great lich!

However, the great lich Krass, who once lived in this mage tower, left Totoro Town forever thirty years ago.

Furthermore, the meticulous lich Krassus carefully packed his belongings before leaving, taking away almost all valuable valuables, books, and magical items from the tower, leaving behind only some discarded old books and furniture. In addition, there was a useless female disciple who was expelled from the tower because she was too stupid to learn necromancy and often caused trouble.

—It's Portia, Phil's current next-door neighbor, who used to feed him cat food.

However, Portia at that time was not a ghost, but a necromancer doll with a soul inserted into it, or a corpse princess.

The reason she transformed from a living person into a corpse princess was due to the failure of one of her teacher's magical experiments.

This made the Lich King Crassus feel somewhat guilty towards his unfortunate apprentice. Therefore, even though he had already decided to dismiss this fool before moving, he still arranged a way out for her: according to the agreement between the Lich King Crassus and the Brass Dragon Lord Achilles before his departure, the deserted mage tower was converted into the town's public library. And Portia, the Corpse Princess, naturally became the lifelong librarian of the mage tower library.

Seeing that Portia, though a good-for-nothing, was at least somewhat obedient and had found a place to stay, the great lich Crassus was finally satisfied and, with his servants, magical pets, and the rest of his disciples, bid farewell to Totoro Town forever, heading to some unknown corner of this world to continue his training and research.

However, nothing in this world is ever truly eternal, nor are there any undead creatures that can truly endure forever.

Thirty years passed in the blink of an eye. Last summer, Portia, the Corpse Princess, finally reached the end of her life, becoming completely paralyzed and decaying. Thus, the poor necromancer apprentice and Corpse Princess Portia was forever stripped of her physical body and became a ghost.

For Miss Portia, the only librarian in the town's public library, this was a disaster.

After losing her body, she could no longer clean the library, organize the bookshelves and books, or play with the kittens!

Having confirmed that her old body was beyond repair, and in order to quickly obtain a new body and transform back into a Corpse Princess, Miss Ghost Portia immediately ran to the Adventurers' Guild next door and posted a quest to "purchase a beautiful young female corpse as a spellcasting material." Her goal, naturally, was to use magic to transform the young female corpse into a Corpse Princess, and then "wear" it onto her own soul.

However, while Firi's adventurers' guild was desperately poor, Miss Portia's library was also in dire financial straits, and they simply couldn't afford to buy her "new body." Not to mention, Miss Portia's magical skills were lacking, and she didn't know how many female corpses she would have to practice on to succeed.

As a result, Miss Portia's quest to purchase a young female corpse has been posted in the guild four times, but no one has shown any interest.

Chapter 8. On the Historical Inevitability of the Decline of Adventurers' Guilds

In short, although Phil had no hope of completing Portia's difficult quest to buy a corpse, he still wrote it down and posted it on the quest bulletin board in the guild hall at Portia's insistence.

—For personal commissions like these, regardless of whether any adventurers accept the quest, the employer has to pay a small service fee as long as the commission is posted. Although it's only a pitiful single silver coin, in the face of the unprecedented downturn in the local adventure industry, earning a little money is still a good thing.

Moreover, to prevent unscrupulous employers from defaulting on their payments, according to the guild's rules, the two platinum coins bounty must be held by the guild in advance when the task is posted. The bounty will only be refunded if no one accepts the task after the maximum three-month period.

Although Phil couldn't use the deposit, having money in his pocket still gave him a subtle sense of confidence and satisfaction.