Adventure King (R-18)

Nearly two rooms in my inventory had now been filled with the bodies of muck rats, not to mention the two wolves. 

Enough that I would need to pay a visit to the guild sooner or later. It was unsettling to me, keeping a graveyard's worth of bodies within the recess of my mind, and the sooner I was rid of them the better. 

The two knights and I marched back through the fields, the sun now high in the sky beginning its descent towards the west, letting us know that we only had a few more hours left of daylight. Soon enough we were back through the gates. The soldiers manning the gate shooting off a crisp salute to the two knights and myself as we passed through. Smiling to myself at the special treatment I was receiving. 

I thanked the two for their help before beelining to the adventurer's guild. Bursting through the door with my head held high, not bothering to stow my newly christened armor just quite yet. Enjoying the looks of envy, even coming from silver rankers, noticing a familiar face among them. Nate, the spearman who had just weeks ago instructed me on my first excursion as a newbie adventurer. 

Tammy was there, winding her blonde curls around her finger, manning the desk with a bored look as usual, her eyes opening more at the sight of me. 

"K-keaton! I didn't expect you to come back. Your party was talking about how you didn't show up yesterday... a-and we all heard the rumors!"

She was clearly nervous about how to address me, our stations were suddenly so different. 

"It's alright Tammy, aren't we friends? Let the others know I'm sorry about that, some other things have come up, as I'm sure you've heard."

She bobbed her head, still somewhat nervous. Leaning forward to whisper in my ear, the small gap in her blouse gave me a peek at her nipples and disappointingly flat chest. 

"...is it true?" She tickled my ear with her hot breath. 

"Is what true?"

"That you're a mage?"

I smiled genuinely, showing off my perfect teeth. 

"Do you want to see?"

She gulped. Licking her pink lips briefly.

I wasn't sure if she was trying to seduce me, or was just this careless, but I was turned on. 

"Let's speak in private. I have a big transaction for the guild."

We passed through the employee entrance out towards the back. The back of the guild was basically a big fenced in lot, with several wooden carts resting unused. Bigger teams would rent these out, hiring supporters to drive them and dress the carcasses, bringing back only what they needed. The collected loot would be counted here and transactions made. 

We were alone now, surrounded by tall wooden fencing, with the only entrances being the wooden gate with a latch that could swing open, and the door we had just come through. The yard was dirt, but there was something of a porch and cover set up along the building. An outdoor fireplace, table and chairs arranged for people to relax in. 

Tammy began trying to make tea, but I stopped her. Pulling out two cups of tea made the morning prior, still fresh and piping hot, just as they had been when I stored them using [inventory]. 

*gasp* "So it is true!" She beamed excitedly, huddling over the table where I had just materialized the refreshments. I proceeded to summon out snacks, pushing them towards her. 

She excitedly chowed in on the fresh bread, jerky slices, and cheese, probably not having had dinner yet. I realized both how early and late she worked until each day.

"It's so amazing *chew* to think you're actually *chew chew* a mage now Keaton *swallow* how'd it end up happening?" She was furiously tearing into the food, burping embarrassedly afterwards. A sight that somewhat astounded me. Although I'll admit I was somewhat hungry by now, I didn't touch the food, letting her eat as much as she wanted. Was she getting enough at home? How much did a guild clerk make anyway?

"So, Tammy. I mentioned I had a big purchase for the guild. So I suppose I'll start with that." Pulling out a single muck rat body and laying it onto the dirt outside. It bled like a fresh kill would, given that this body was only stored a few minutes after death.

"I have about three hundred more of these. They aren't dressed, so I'll need you to hire labor for that. Think you can do it?"

She grinned. 

"Shouldn't be a problem. We can hire local laborers to dress the bodies, that's not a problem. Seeing how fresh this is, even if we just allowed them to take the meat instead of wages, we'd still get volunteers." I knew how valuable meat was now in the winter months, even if our winters weren't particularly harsh here. The cattle and sheep wouldn't breed until spring, so this was towards the end of cycle with the fewest animals. They wouldn't want to thin the numbers of any viable livestock just yet, since they needed them to grow the herds as much as possible. 

"That sounds good to me, should I wait for you to hire them, or should I just lay them all out right now."

"You can go ahead, its cold enough that the bodies should keep for a night. We can get some people together tonight, and I would guess they'll be done by morning if that's how many you have. We'll have to get the exact worth of everything you have appraised at that time."

I nodded, starting to unload my inventory. Lying the bodies in rows all across the entire yard. Thankfully I didn't need to actually touch the bodies when retrieving them, unlike how it was with storing them, which saved me from getting any more blood on me.