As the hero stood on the edge of the Eastern Forest, a gentle afternoon breeze tickled his cheeks while he took in the view of the plains and a setting sun slowly disappearing behind the walls of Arame's capital. Finally, this exhausting day had come to an end.
Jiro walked down the path towards the eastern gate of Rosalia with a content smile. He ran his fingers through the wheat that was growing alongside the road, enjoying the short moment of bliss.
All that while holding a damp bag that was leaving a bloody trace behind Jiro. Over a dozen severed goblin ears were dripping down the dirt path. The horrible stench of the decomposing body parts followed the hero like a plague.
(You probably want to know why "over a dozen")
I don't think they need to...
(Some went twice. These bastards lined up twice for the ear cutting. Can you believe it? Bunch of idiots)
But they did it for you, right, Jiro?
(Right, right. I mean… to be fair, I regenerated their ears straight away with holy magic healing, but cutting off the ears of your only friends in this stupid world was quite frankly traumatic)
(I will never look at any fountain without thinking about it)
(Yuck)
As Jiro came closer to the gates, he could already hear the euphoric voices of the citizens beyond the walls. People are openly drinking on the streets and hugging each other. Bards holding on to their instruments, singing the triumphant songs of Arame's best warriors.
It's been officially confirmed by the king himself that the Demon Lord Is Already Dead™, and alongside it, a kingdom-wide festival has begun. Celebrations were going to take a whole week, featuring a grand parade in Rosalia. All knights march through the capital proudly, as people of the crown city throw flowers and gold at them to express their undying gratitude, but that will happen in a few days.
Now? Uncensored joy filled the streets. The whole city became one big party where citizens disregarded status and embraced each other in unfiltered celebration.
As Jiro walked down the cobblestone paths of the vibrant city shining in the light of the setting sun, he watched the incredible scenes.
A dwarven blacksmith and an elven florist – two natural enemies from entirely different worlds – sharing a beer. Both laughing and smiling from ear to ear. At one point, the long-bearded man stood up, holding the blond woman's hand and led her onto the dance floor. Everyone was surprised by the dwarf's elegance and the seamlessness of his movements.
One man surrounded by his friends was drinking what seemed like his third pint of mead. His buddies pat his back, clearly having a good time bantering.
"Come on, Erik! Cheer up!" laughed one of the guys.
"I mean, sure, you got scammed a little bit, but you will laugh about it tomorrow!" said the hunky man in the back.
The drunk man in the middle took a loud gulp of alcohol. Some of the golden liquid trickled down from his lips. He wiped his mouth and slammed his tankard on the table.
"Easy for you to say!" yelled the man. "I swear I will beat this merchant up. Great deal, my ass. He must have caught wind of the Demon Lord's demise, because he wanted to sell me this magical sword soooo much. I thought, two silver coins for such an artefact would be a steal…"
"Well, don't feel too bad, fella. The market has been acting like that since morning. I bet a bunch of merchants were selling their stocks for nothing, before the announcement, to get rid of what they won't be able to sell during peace."
"I know, but… my wife is going to kill me when she finds out"
Lads laugh out loud as they comfort their companion. Jiro smiled as he saw this scene. It reminded him of his high school friends back home. That was the same way they would cheer him up after a break-up. He missed it, but knowing such friendship can exist in this world as well, filled him with hope.
That really brought him back to reality, especially since he felt entirely out of place as he walked through that city-wide celebration - one big reminder of this morning's events. One moment, he was enjoying an evening walk after a date in Tokyo, and the next, he was in a magical world, completely alone. It's almost like his pain was irrelevant to the world.
Jiro made his way towards the adventurer's guild that would soon be closed. Inside, Paulina was sitting completely alone at her receptionist desk. She was completely alone in this big building that, just a few hours ago, was bursting with life.
As the front door creaked behind Jiro, Paulina immediately perked up. She looked up, and as soon as she saw the hero, she stood up with an inviting smile.
"Mr Jiro! You came back already!" she ran up to him "And I see you didn't come back empty-handed".
She grabbed the bloody bag from his hand and opened it to see 16 goblin ears, cut off with incredible precision. She started counting them out loud, but was interrupted.
"Paulina? Where is everyone?" Jiro asked, confused, looking around the guild building.
"Oh, everyone is out celebrating, probably at some tavern, drinking away their monthly income. But don't worry! I stay on my post no matter what, haha!" she giggled as she saluted proudly.
This young girl was clearly a diligent person with great pride in her job. Not even the biggest celebration in her lifetime could get her away from her beloved receptionist desk, which she had worked for her whole life to get to.
"Would you like me to process your quest?" she asked, already dragging Jiro to her station without waiting for an answer.
"Yes, please, if you could"
She sat down at her desk and rolled all the goblin ears onto her little golden plate. She counted them and inspected each of them with care. Paulina put them on a scale and, with a warm smile, she nodded approvingly.
"Yup! They look great. Please give me your quest scroll"
Jiro reached into his back pocket for the piece of paper he received from the guild just a few hours beforehand. He untied the little ribbon holding it together and handed it to Paulina's professional hand. She looked at Jiro like a proud mother, spread it out on her desk, and with one smooth motion, stamped a big, green "COMPLETED" onto the quest.
"Congratulations! You did it on your first try! I know you're the hero, but it's still a remarkable feat to do it so quickly. I really thought it would take you at least 2 days to track those goblins. They're actually challenging to find."
Jiro's mind flooded with memories of Gamma's loud, obnoxious laugh that scared all the pigeons nearby, and the whole village ugly crying when he bade them farewell.
(How in the hell would that be hard to find?)
"And now for the payment… Since goblins are beginner-level monsters, as much as I'm tempted to give Mr Hero every piece of coin we have in the vault, all I can offer you is this"
She slid fifteen gold coins across the table. Jiro looked confused at the money in front of him, then at Paulina. He didn't know what to say.
"Are you sure about this? Fifteen gold?"
"Is there something wrong?"
"Of course! You can't just give me fifteen gold. You can get in trouble for that!"
"Is that not enough?"
"Enough? That's too much!"
"Too much?"
"Too much!"
"But fifteen gold is like…. Maybe one night at the guild quarters and a piece of bread"
"Still! That's way too much -wait, hold up. What did you say?"
"How much do you think gold is worth?"
"Like a lot?"
"Mr Jiro… Fifteen gold is nothing"
"Huh?"