A loud crash echoed from upstairs, like a door being slammed hard enough to hit the wall. Whoever did it was clearly furious. Then the guildmaster's voice thundered down the stairwell.
"What are you all arguing about this time?! Sally, what happened? …Lina!? What's with the blood on your hands?! And why are those guys lying on the floor?!"
He rushed down the stairs while firing off questions, then froze when he saw the blood on my hands and the four disgusting men sprawled unconscious on the ground. Panic flashed across his face.
"I knocked them out."
"You did all of that by yourself?"
He asked again, clearly not believing it. I nodded.
"Yeah. If I caused trouble for the guild, I'll resign."
I knew what this looked like. A violent receptionist wasn't exactly good for business.
Sally suddenly grabbed the guildmaster's arm in a panic and blurted out,
"Dad, don't fire Lina! It's their fault! They went way too far!"
She even forgot to call him "guild master" while on duty. She was that desperate to defend me. I was so lucky to have a friend like Sally.
The guildmaster sighed and gently patted her head, speaking in a soft tone I almost never heard from him.
"Easy, easy. What did they do?"
Sally, Mr. Brett, and a young adventurer with light purple hair explained everything. Once he understood the situation, the guildmaster looked at me.
"Lina."
"Mm."
I braced myself. Instead, he gave me a thumbs-up.
"Nice work. Go wash the blood off your hands."
"...Thank you, Guild master."
With his approval, I headed to the restroom. As I walked away, I heard him start yelling at the crowd.
"Are you all idiots? What gives you the right to doubt Lina's strength? She can walk into the dungeon in light gear and take Lanivia below Level 90 for fun. Can any of you do that?"
He was exaggerating a bit. I only dressed casually in the dungeon because I had a special permit. Still, I knew he was saying it to make sure no one underestimated me again.
No one argued back.
When I reached the sink and washed my hands, pain flared. My skin was scraped raw from punching too hard. I healed myself while listening to him continue.
"If you can't do what she does, then why question her? Even Karen didn't rush in to help her. Why? Because he knows Lina doesn't need him to solve everything for her."
Once I finished healing, hunger hit me. I pulled out a slice of cake and took a bite. When I returned to the counter, I heard something that nearly made me choke.
"So don't think Lina works here because Karen thinks she's weak. If anything, Karen's the weaker one."
"What?!"
The entire room erupted. Everyone looked shocked, whispering in disbelief. I hurried to deny it.
"G-Guild master, that's not true. Karen is way stronger than me."
He meant well, but that was ridiculous. Everything I knew, Karen taught me. He was the only person in the world who could beat me—and I'd never fight him anyway.
But the guildmaster shook his head and spoke with the confidence of experience.
"You'll understand someday. A man can't beat the woman he loves."
"...Is that so?"
What struck me wasn't how much he loved his wife. It was that he'd seen right through Karen's feelings for me.
Honestly, Karen… if you're going to make it that obvious, just say it already. How long are you planning to keep me waiting?
Still, hearing that made my chest feel warm. All my stress melted away.
"Alright, break it up. Back to work. Brett, throw the blacklist trash out."
He shooed everyone away and ordered Mr. Brett to toss the four newly blacklisted creeps outside.
"Blacklisted already?" Brett asked, surprised.
"Harass my staff, Don't get to take jobs. End of story."
I returned to my counter. The moment I sat down, the guildmaster came over.
"Lina, you can clock out early today."
He was worried I might still be angry and snap at customers. But switching back to work mode was easy for me.
"I'm fine. I can keep working."
"Hmm. You look refreshed. Must've blown off a lot of stress."
"Mm."
We both smiled. He laughed and headed back upstairs.
I looked forward—and saw no one in line.
It took me a second to understand. Everyone was still scared of me. They were afraid I'd take my anger out on them.
For the first time since I started this job, my counter was empty. So I let my mind drift to Karen and wondered what he was doing.
Even after lunch with little Lani and the entire break period, no one came. I was starting to get bored. I glanced at Sally's counter—she was swamped. Counter No. 1 was busy too. Everyone else was working nonstop.
Except me.
"Miss, I'd like to file a quest."
I snapped back to attention. A man stood in front of my counter.
"What would you like to quest?"
"Ten black cows. Delivery to Felix Restaurant."
I wrote everything down, then looked up.
"Understood. They're on Level 14. 40 copper coins per cow, plus a 50 copper coins handling fee. Total is 4 silver 50 copper coins."
The reward system in the dungeon is simple once you understand the pattern.
On level 1, the pay is 1 copper coin per target. On level 2, it increases by just 1 copper, making it 2 copper. It continues like that step by step, and by level 10 the reward reaches 10 copper coins. It's incredibly cheap.
That's because almost no one submits quests for levels 1 through 10. I haven't received a single quest for those levels since I started working.
Below level 10, however, the quantity of quests jumps dramatically. From there, the increase changes to 10 copper per level. Level 11 is still only 10 copper, though, since there's essentially no danger involved.
There's one exception: the mining veins from level 71 to level 80 aren't included in the standard calculation. Those are priced according to market value. Ores are valuable commodities—especially diamonds—so their rewards fluctuate.
The good news is you don't have to memorize the entire table. The formula is easy. Take the level number, subtract 10, then multiply by 10 copper. That gives you the answer.
He placed the money on the counter and left.
"Thank you. Have a nice day."
I processed the payment, filled out the quest sheet, and calculated the adventurer's cut—eighty percent. Then I posted it on the purple-tier board.
When I turned around, there was a massive line.
Whose line…?
I walked back to my seat still thinking it couldn't possibly be mine.
It was.
The first person in line bowed deeply.
"Ms. Lina, we're here to apologize on behalf of everyone. We're sorry for doubting your strength."
"I thought you just followed behind Mr. Karen. I was wrong. I'm sorry."
"We're sorry for gossiping and letting those idiots harass you."
"You didn't deserve how we treated you."
My face heated up. This was so awkward. I didn't know what to say, so I defaulted to my professional smile.
"It's fine. I don't mind."
"Ms. Lina is so kind."
I'm not kind. I'm not a saint. I just make decisions that benefit me.
A tough-looking female adventurer stepped forward.
"Lina, from now on, if anyone tries to hit on you, we'll drag him out ourselves."
"Please don't. I can handle it."
I didn't want to become someone who needed protecting.
"You're always busy. Let us at least handle the small stuff."
"I can't. This is my problem — I can't trouble you with it."
"...Alright. If you insist."
She nodded and left. She'd really come all this way just to say that?
After that, every single person in line apologized while doing their business. It was exhausting. My stress started creeping back.
I miss Karen.
I want to cling to him, bury myself in his arms, fall asleep wrapped in that comforting scent.
Right. When things get hard, I just think of Karen. As long as I think of him, I can keep going. He's probably thinking of me too, dealing with those mysterious companions of his.
(I've got this…!)
Energy restored.
Soon it would be time to clock out. Lani and I would watch a movie together, happy but a little lonely.
For some reason, after that, no one ever tried hitting on me again.
Thanks to that, my days have been peaceful ever since.