So I'm a Snake, Who Cares?

I hurriedly said goodbye and left.

It seemed Obern had also finished saying goodbye to Daisy.

‘Hey Obern, did the talk go well?’

‘Yes, of course. Daisy understood.’

‘Then listen to this. I just heard something… Gasp!’

I was startled.

Hidden by Obern’s high nose bridge, I was late to notice, but there was a clear handprint on his cheek.

‘A-are you okay?’

‘The conversation went well. I’ve got Daisy wrapped around my finger.’

He seemed unaware of the handprint on his face.

I couldn’t ask anymore.

==

When I told Oliver about the auction house.

“That’s definitely a place we need to check. If those items exist, there’s an 80% chance they went through there.”

As expected, Oliver had it all figured out.

“However, it’s not a place we can carelessly investigate. The auction house is the hardest place to crack in the sewers. All factions cooperate to maintain it.”

There were various factions in the sewers.

Rogue guilds, loan sharks, drug dealers, gangs, even bounty hunters.

While they fight over interests, they cooperate to maintain the auction house.

It’s called an auction house, but it’s really a black market and their source of income.

“So it’s lower priority. We’ll enter the auction house after gathering as much information as possible.”

After saying that, Oliver took us somewhere.

Nahagu, the largest lower district.

“We could enter the sewers right away, but we won’t.”

‘Why?’

“Because we need an identity to participate in auctions and enter the main areas of the sewers.”

By identity, does he mean an identification tag?

I don’t have one, but Obern already has that.

“No. More precisely, we need ‘affiliation’.”

It meant belonging to either a rogue guild or a gang or something similar.

But Obern joining a gang was out of the question.

“Becoming a registered bounty hunter will do.”

Bounty hunting seems to be a more legitimate profession than expected.

“Actually, they don’t just hunt bounties, they also work as problem solvers. Or we could be adventurers, but that’s more for working outside the imperial road than in the sewers.”

Come to think of it, I had met adventurers before.

They also had ranks like B-class and A-class. This world is full of professional diversity.

I was curious where to register.

“Any tavern in the lower district will do.”

Oliver took us to a tavern.

“Under the tavern’s sign. That lantern is important.”

It wasn’t the lakeside house we went to before, but a different place.

Under the sign reading ‘Rock Restaurant’ hung a blue lantern.

“Places with blue lanterns are called blue-light houses, those with red lanterns are red-light houses.”

‘What’s the difference?’

“Wanted criminals can’t enter blue-light houses.”

Then could it be?

“Red-light houses allow wanted criminals to enter.”

That’s surprising.

So wanted criminals can openly enter taverns and it’s okay?

“Fighting is strictly forbidden in inns. That’s the rule of the lower district.”

Slums have their own rules.

It seems taverns and inns with lanterns can post requests and handle bounty rewards.

While warrants are issued by the country, taverns act as proxies for this business.

“Above ground, most are blue-light houses, but in the sewers, most will be red-light houses.”

Creeeeak!

When we opened the door, despite it being morning, the smell of alcohol hit us.

The tables were half full, with most customers drinking beer without much food.

Oliver led us past these tables to the counter.

“Doesn’t look like you’re here for drinks…”

Like at the lakeside house, the owner of such taverns is usually a burly middle-aged man.

“Bounty hunters?”

“You’ve got good eyes.”

“Doesn’t look like you brought this one in though.”

The innkeeper frowned slightly as he looked at Obern.

No matter how you looked at it, Obern didn’t fit in the lower district.

Can’t help it when he’s built to shine so brightly.

“Registering as a new bounty hunter.”

“That pretty boy?”

I burst out laughing with a “Pff!”

Pretty boy, really.

“You’ve got a snake with you. Pets aren’t allowed…”

“He’s a magician. It’s his familiar.”

Pet, really.

I slightly raised my head from Obern’s wrist and glared at the innkeeper.

“A magician… Well, I can register you, but…”

“Skip the temporary and go straight to formal registration.”

“Hey, who do you think you are?”

As the innkeeper was about to get annoyed, Oliver opened his coat lapel.

A small, shining badge was pinned to the chest of his inner clothing.

N-no way…

“A-class Bounty Hunter, Oliver. I’m personally recommending him.”

So Oliver was an A-class hunter!

And it seemed A-class hunters had something like recommendation rights.

“Ah, understood.”

A-class certainly carried weight.

Oh, by the way, English isn’t commonly used in this world.

It’s just that those squiggly characters can be translated to something like A, B, C, D.

So A-class Oliver is just below S-class bounty hunters in rank.

“Here’s your D-class badge. You can start working right away.”

What the innkeeper handed over was a pathetically wooden badge.

Compared to Oliver’s shining badge, it looked far too shabby.

How frustrating…

We sat down at a table.

Oliver spoke proudly.

“As you can see, becoming a bounty hunter is very easy. However, at D-class, you’re treated no differently than ordinary people.”

Oliver spoke with a serious expression.

“First goal is to reach B-class and enter the area where the rogue guild and information brokers are. That’s the first barrier.”

Right. Get to B-class.

“Let’s move as quickly as possible. I’ll get the wanted posters and request forms.”

While Oliver got up.

I climbed onto Obern’s shoulder.

And said firmly.

‘Obern, our goal isn’t B-class.’

‘What…?’

‘We’re going for A-class.’

By the way, I had been far from A-class my whole life.

‘Let’s get ourselves a gold badge too!’

This time, I was determined to reach A-class.

‘Hmm… certainly.’

Obern understood my feelings.

Meanwhile, Oliver brought back a booklet from the innkeeper.

It was a collection of copied request forms and wanted posters.

“Let’s start by picking something easy and manageable. Do you have any preferences?”

I told Oliver clearly.

We weren’t just thinking about earning bounties.

While building up achievements.

‘The vicious ones. And…’

I wanted to gain magic power too.

‘Pick ones where it doesn’t matter if we bring them in dead.’

Choose Dead or Alive.