"Well now, that's quite an impressive Great Deer and Murder Bear you’ve got there. How about selling them to my trading company?"

"Hold it right there! I saw them first, so no cutting in line!"

"Hey, if we're going there, I was first!"

Before we knew it, a crowd of merchants had gathered around us. I had intended to carry the game all the way to the Adventurer's Guild for appraisal, but now I wasn’t so sure.

"Shu, what should we do?"

"Hmm... Should we sell to them, or let the guild handle it? Which would net us more?"

"Obviously, selling to my company is the best option!"

"No, no, it’s my company!"

"Clearly, mine is the right choice!"

"...Can I join in too?"

Their sudden camaraderie was almost comical.

"All right then," I said, "I'll sell to whoever offers the highest price."

Since we hadn’t taken on any formal hunting requests, we wouldn’t receive any guild rewards for these kills anyway. If the guild couldn’t offer additional benefits, there was no real reason to sell to them.

"Fine then, 500,000 Fron for the deer!"

"550,000 Fron for the deer!"

"580,000 Fron right here!"

"700,000 Fron for the deer," a calm new voice said.

The bidding war escalated quickly, and a woman who had just joined the fray ultimately outbid the others for both the Great Deer and the Murder Bear at an astonishing 2.35 million Fron.

"That... was intense," Rio said, wide-eyed.

"Yeah, it was like being caught in a storm," I agreed.

"And that woman... she was strong."

Indeed, the elegant female merchant who swooped in last moment had crushed the competition.

"I didn’t expect to see gold coins come out."

"That bear must’ve been worth a lot," Rio remarked.

The sheer amount of money we received made our earlier penny-pinching over meals and baths seem laughable. Now, anything we wanted was within reach.

"You know," I said, "if those two beasts were worth this much, just imagine the other stuff we’ve got tucked away in our dimensional storage."

Rio’s face went pale as she realized the potential value.

"W-what do we do? It’s a bit terrifying now that I think about it!"

"Relax. As long as we keep it low-key, no one will find out."

"R-right... low-key," Rio muttered, trying to calm herself with deep breaths.

"Anyway, let’s head to the guild and turn in those Regulus Fruits."

"Sure," Rio said, nodding.

"But first, let’s secure a place to stay."

"Good idea."

With the sun setting, we hurried back to the Silver Beak Inn, where we booked a room for a week. With money to spare, it was a relief to secure a longer stay.

At the guild, we approached the counter with our haul of Regulus Fruits.

"Let’s see... fifteen fruits in total?!" the merchant at the counter exclaimed, astonished.

"Yup, including two red ones," I added.

"You what?! Red ones? How far into the forest did you go?"

"Uh... not sure, really," I replied, glancing at Rio, who just shrugged.

"We camped in the forest for a night, so it couldn’t have been too deep," I offered.

The merchant gave me a disbelieving look. "There’s no way you found red ones in the shallow parts of the forest..."

"Well, here they are," I said with a sheepish grin.

After examining the fruits, he finally sighed. "Fine, fine. You’ve got thirteen yellow ones and two red ones. That’s 4,600 Fron. And I’ll process the fifteen requests tied to these fruits for you."

"Thanks!"

That’s when it hit me—fifteen completed requests! Could this be enough to bump us up a rank?

Brimming with excitement, I approached the guild counter to inquire about rank advancement.

"To move from E to D Rank, you’ll need to complete 100 requests, pass a test, and meet certain hunting and gathering requirements," the clerk explained.

"Oh... I see."

"Also, Shu, may I ask where you’re staying?"

"Uh, sure. Why do you ask?"

"It’s standard procedure for the guild to keep track of where adventurers are lodging."

"Ah, makes sense. We’re staying at the Silver Beak Inn."

"Thank you. Here’s your guild card with the updates."

With our tasks at the guild complete, my stomach reminded me it was time to eat.

"Let’s head back to the inn and get dinner," I suggested.

"Yeah! I can’t wait to see what they serve," Rio said, her eyes lighting up.

Satisfied with the day’s work, we made our way back to the inn for a well-earned meal.