Welcome to the Monsters' Guild ~ The Strongest Group Who Did Everything, for a Price ~ Chapter 3

Important announcement: next week there won’t be any update.
The main reason is that the translator has some errands to do, so he won’t have time to translate novels.
Now, time for a great news: we’re currently in the process of migrating on another site, with our personal domain!
We were already thinking of doing it in the future, but the traffic on this wordpress hosted site is so great, that we decided to antic.i.p.ate it! Thank you!

"Actually, I've come to ask for an available place that can be managed by me for my monsters."

"A place… you say?"

Honestly, Trow sounded skeptical about what Raiz planned to do with his monsters.
It was obvious, since he came to the city along with a dragon.

"As you know, the war with the neighboring country is over.”

Raiz started to calmly explain, in order to ease their suspicions.

"I worked for the army as a tamer, but now that the war is over, neither me or my subordinates are of any use anymore, so we were discarded."

"You what?!"

Trow screamed shocked.

"Discarding a tamer that subjugated a dragon?! That’s impossible!"

The Guild Master’s face distorted in anger, but he couldn’t be blamed .

A tamer that strong would frighten any country.
Driving the enemy to hesitate was already an excellent result and while it’s true that keeping monsters was quite expensive, that was the same for any army.
Slaying a dragon would require a lot of manpower.
It can fly, it can reach its destination faster than ground units, it can breath fire, and its scales are as hard as steel.
A human army would have suffered significant losses.
In that case, if the cost was the same, it was clear what kind of advantages having one on your side would bring.
Thinking about removing such a unit from the army was inconceivable.

"Well, it’s the truth. Feel free to search for it yourselves."

Raiz didn’t have anything to hide.

"n.o.b… I mean, Raiz."

Trow wore a serious expression.

"I’ll be blunt. We can’t let a dragon in the city, even if it's completely obedient."

Well, it’s only fair.

Trow wanted to preserve the public order, so that was the least he could ask for.
No armed person who enters a shop is well-intentioned.

"Of course, I wouldn’t ask for such a thing. Outside the walls… rather, what about we settle on a field nearby the Forest of Monsters? This way we won’t bother you."

"The Forest of Monsters…?"

In this continent, there are plenty of dangerous areas where there’s a high chance of monsters appearing. Anyone would recognize such places, since they usually have the word ‘monster’ in their name. Of course, that forest was one of them.

Dekuch’s walls were necessary to protect the city from those monsters, but they were clearly useless against flying creatures like dragons.
Raiz has basically offered to defend the city in exchange for being able to set down there.

Is there really no particular reason for him to choose this city…?

Trow, who would have usually welcomed him with open arms, could not help but wonder.

That forest busted with monsters and no one could say that Dekuch’s soldiers were great warriors.
Most of them had to join the war, but even though it was finished, they had yet to return because they had to subdue the few rebellions that broke out and then wait for the permit to send them home.
Thanks to the walls, the city managed to be still in one piece, but if a high-leveled monster were to destroy them, the city would be done for in no time.
That’s why Raiz’s proposal couldn’t be refused, given his strength.

"Yours is a tempting proposal."

Trow felt the good will in it and made sure that the negotiations kept going.
Still, as far as he wanted to accept, the final decision was up to the mayor.
Also, Raiz said that he wanted to live outside the city walls, so there wasn’t really the need to ask for his permit.
He came only to negotiate peacefully.

"Mayor, Raiz would be really useful for the defense of our city. The breeding season in the forest is getting closer, so accepting his proposal would be really convenient."

"If you say that, I understand…"

He was persuaded by the Guild Master’s words.
After all, Raiz was practically just asking to borrow a piece of land and Trow wanted to use his strength.
If something happened, the blame would fall on Raiz.
Obviously, both the tamer and Trow knew it, only the mayor hadn't grasped it yet.

I’ll try to insist a bit, just to be sure.

"Now that I think about it, I wanted to introduce you one of my subordinates. He’s a unicorn and his Healing Magic can heal wounds and diseases."

"A unicorn?! One of those legendary beasts?!"

Trow couldn't hide his excitement.

"Exactly."

Not like it’s the only one in the world. They can breed too, you know…

Sighed Raiz in his heart.

Only beautiful maidens could ride unicorns and with their horn they weren’t only able to heal wounds and sicknesses, but to purify contaminated water too.
Even though they were defined as holy beasts with snow-white fur, they were but lolicons.
They wouldn’t let kings ride them, but they would accept any young girl and since they were obstinate, grannies could forget about riding them.

"Where is it now?!"

"I asked it to wait outside."

"Oooh!"

Trow, who was composed since moment ago, was now thrilled.
Still, his interest was comprehensible.
Adventurers longed for knowledge, treasures and fame.
There weren’t many chances to be along with a unicorn, a mythical holy beast.
The voices of people who came just to see it could be heard from the window.
Trow started to fidget as he wanted to join them.

"The unicorn isn’t the only help I can lend you. I have a treant who can fertilize the ground and thanks to my flying subordinates, we can reach dangerous places where certain medical herbs grow. If you give the permission to stay here, we promise to help this city as best as we can."

"I see…"

After those words, the mayor dropped his shoulders as Trow looked out the window.
Regardless, it was clear to everyone that Raiz was a real tamer.

"Well, you are willing to help and protect the city with your subordinates’ abilities…"

The mayor glanced again at the Guild Master, then sighed thinking that it was impossible to ask him to keep an eye on Raiz.
He wondered if he would have to do that in the future.

"Sorry, would you like to see the unicorn?"

'You can understand if a monster is dangerous just by looking at it', wanted to comment Trow, but he kept it for himself.

"Well… what do you say, mayor?"

"Y-Yes, it’s fine."

Postponing the decision made the both of them feel better.

◆

When they exited the building, they saw a young girl clutching the unicorn’s horn, which shone with a warm light.
It looked like she bruised her hands and that light was healing her wounds.

"…Wooow! I’m all better now!"

She exclaimed showing her uninjured palms.

"Oh my, there’s not even a scar!"

"Healing Magic is amazing!"

The unicorn smiled smugly, "I’d heal any wound a wonderful lady like you has", he bragged after that she thanked him.

Stop with that act, man.

At first, the beast sounded humble, but Raiz knew well that it only wanted her to keep touching him.

"While we’re at it, do you have any injury?"

Raiz asked to the mayor, encouraging him to try his subordinate’s capacities on himself.

"Well… I have to say that my back hurts in the last years. Can you do something for this?"

"Leave it to me. Unicorn, can you heal him?"

"Boss, have you finished the negotiation already…? Tch."

As soon as the equine looked at the mayor, it clicked its tongue.

"The mayor has some problems with his back, so I’d like you to heal him. Can you do me this favor?"

"…Sure."

It sounded like a normal conversation, but now that the unicorn could be petted by a young girl, it had to touch a clammy old man.
It suppressed a heartbroken cry.

"I’ll take care of this in a moment."

It said and then got closer in a loud manner to the mayor’s back and pressed his horn on it.

"Ouch!"

Stung by the horn, the mayor screamed a little in pain.

"A man should bear this."

Its att.i.tude was completely different compared to a few moments before with the girl. The horn started to s.h.i.+ne with a warm light and the mayor’s back started glowing as well.

"Good heavens…! It doesn’t hurt anymore! It’s fantastic!"

He caressed his back excitedly.

"So, this horse’s magic heals back pain? Good to know."

"I’m a unicorn, not a horse!"

It remarked madly to such an affront.
It looked like the unicorn disliked being confused with a common horse.

"Oh, my bad, are you a unicorn? Can you fix my back too?"

"Mine too, please."

In a just a moment a queue of old people formed.

"W-What?!"

It asked confused.
In his heart he wondered why he had to deal with that many old geezers when he just wanted to be friends with some cute girls.

"While you are at it, I’m counting on you."

"Master, pleeease!"

Cried the unicorn.

"Please, please!"

Pleaded the old people.

"S-Stop it! Fine, I’ll do it, just stop begging me!"

As it screamed, it started healing them.

"What do you think about it? Reliable, don’t you think?"

As the beast kept healing people, Raiz asked the mayor.

Trow couldn’t take his eyes off the unicorn, so it was impossible to talk to him, but when he snapped out of that state, he pulled out a diary1 and started drawing a sketch of the beast on it.

"I think so. It has been a long time since I felt this good."

Healing the mayor was a good point to conclude the negotiation in Raiz's favor.

But what about the dragon…?

Of course, that was the most delicate argument, but Raiz whispered in the mayor’s ear:

"By the way, I also have some wonderful sirens and lamias as subordinates. Of course, they would never hurt anyone, but if you’d like to come and check how things are going, I’ll make sure they welcome you warmly."

"I see. Actually, your proposal is really attractive for the city, so I agree with it. I allow you to open your activity and live outside the city!"

Monsters can be scary, but among them are some that look half-humans and half-monsters and usually the former part is beautiful.
Lamias and sirens are part of this category with their wonderful faces and the mayor, hearing that they’d warmly welcome him, accepted Raiz’s proposal right away.
The ability of a tamer is their control over monsters, so there was no chance that the city would be attacked by them.
That chubby man had a huge responsibility on his shoulders, but his weakness for the opposite s.e.x betrayed him.

"Thank you very much!"

That’s how Raiz gained the mayor’s approval to open his own guild.

◆

"Perfect, it’s done!"

Outside Dekuch’s walls, Raiz built a hut.
It would become the office where he would manage everything.
It was the best their current budget could offer, but he was positive.
They could build something better with the future earnings.
Behind it, a fence covered by a cloth traced the ranch’s perimeter, where the monsters were chilling out.

"Lord Raiz, we’re about to start…"

As the lamia held some paper in hand, she stood so close to Raiz that she was about to touch him.
Since physically speaking she was the monster closest to humans, she helped her master with the paperwork.

"Yeah, the guild ‘Monsters’ Delivery’ starts today!"

"Yeeeah!"

The voice of monsters resounded after the Lord of the thousand beasts’ announcement.

1 The original states “sketchbook” (スケッチブック), but I can’t really think about a medieval setting with people carrying around sketchbooks… so I thought about “diary”.