In the end, we didn’t find any seaweed at the morning market. I had hoped to get some wakame or kombu, but I guess we’ll have to look elsewhere. I had noticed some kelp-like plants swaying underwater near the port, so maybe I could just dive in and grab some myself.

But that would be for another time.

“Alright, let’s head to the guild.”

Right after breakfast, Rio and I set out for the Adventurer’s Guild, bringing Nir along with us. From our inn near the sea, we walked down the main street toward the center of town. Since this was a large port city, the guild here was fairly sizable as well. The familiar sign, depicting a sword and shield over a magic circle, was the same as in other countries.

Upon entering, we drew some attention, and when Nir emerged from behind us, a few people’s expressions turned to shock—just like always.

“Now, let’s see… the requests…”

Directly in front of us was a spacious counter, with a request board on the left and a rest area serving light meals on the right. Between the counter and the rest area, a staircase led up to the second floor.

We headed straight for the request board, but it was crowded, making it difficult to get close.

“…Huh?”

The requests were sorted by rank, but as I scanned the upper part of the board from left to right, I only saw requests ranging from G-rank to D-rank.

“Oh, it says C-rank and above are on the second floor.”

Rio pointed out a small note tucked into the corner of the board.

“Alright, then let’s head upstairs.”

As soon as we spoke, a nearby adventurer flinched and glanced at us, but we ignored it. We climbed the stairs to the second floor, passing another staircase leading further up—likely to an archive or records room.

Upon stepping into the second floor, we immediately felt a different kind of pressure. The gazes directed at us carried a weight we hadn’t felt downstairs. As expected, this was a floor restricted to C-rank and above.

“Kids…?”

Someone muttered suspiciously, but no one directly approached us.

After briefly scanning the area—finding it structurally similar to the first floor—I started toward the request board when a sudden prickling sensation ran down my neck.

“Oh?”

After a moment, Rio reacted as well. Thanks to her practicing with me, she had also gained the Appraisal Detection skill, and it had just activated.

Turning my head in the direction of the sensation, I caught a man’s eyebrow twitch slightly. There were several adventurers around, so I couldn’t say for sure, but he was the most likely culprit.

“I don’t know how much they saw, but what should we do?”

“Hmm… I’d rather not have it spread around.”

“Let’s give them a little warning.”

It was best to act quickly to prevent rumors from spreading. Instead of heading to the request board, I turned toward the rest area, where the group of four men was seated. The man who had reacted earlier was still watching us closely, while the other three whispered among themselves.

“Did you see anything?”

“You appraised them again, right?”

“Hey, come on…”

Enhancing my hearing, I caught snippets of their conversation. That confirmed it.

Standing in front of their table, I crossed my arms and stared at the man who had appraised us.

“Huh?”

The red-haired man in the group noticed us first, his tone filled with suspicion. The appraiser himself remained silent, but a nervous bead of sweat formed on his forehead.

“What did you see?”

“…What?”

At my direct question, two of the other men let out confused noises, and a ripple of curiosity spread through the surrounding adventurers.

“You appraised us, right? So, what did you see…? Oh, never mind. Actually, I’d rather you didn’t say it out loud.”

After changing my mind mid-sentence, Rio burst into laughter.

“Ahaha, so if you could just not spread it around, that’d be great.”

“Grrr…”

Nir let out a rare, low growl.

We couldn’t make them unsee what they had already seen, so the only thing we could do was politely ask them not to talk about it.

“Hey, now.”

The red-haired man started to rise from his seat, looking annoyed, but the appraiser quickly grabbed his arm to stop him.

“…What the hell?”

He turned around to find his companion frantically shaking his head, looking visibly disturbed.

“…It’s that bad?”

Instead of responding to us, the red-haired man whispered to the appraiser, who simply nodded repeatedly, his face pale.

With a reaction like that, I was really starting to wonder what exactly they had seen. Rio and I exchanged glances and shrugged.

“Well, that’s that.”

Maybe I’d ask them about it later in private.

With that settled, we finally turned back toward the request board.

“Tch.”

Behind us, one of the other men clicked his tongue, but by the time we reached the board, some of the adventurers had moved aside to make space for us. It seemed we had drawn a bit of attention, but that couldn’t be helped. I had no idea what the best way to handle being appraised was, but I figured we’d learn over time.

“Which one should we take?”

Scanning the requests, I noticed that, fitting for a port city, many involved the sea, ships, or marine life.

“Oh, look! There’s a request for capturing a Demon of the Sea.”

“Whoa, seriously? But it says ‘capture.’ That means we need to bring it in alive.”

The one we bought at the morning market yesterday was already dead. Since it was a C-rank request, capturing one alive must be difficult, or maybe it was actually a pretty strong monster. Given that they were being sold at the market, I assumed it was the former.

“Hmm… should we take this one?”

“Sounds good.”

With our decision made, we pulled the C-rank request from the board and took it to the counter.