My Sniper System

Chapter 14 - The Crimson Guild's Exchange

“I’m here to exchange an item for money.”

I didn’t run around the bush and tell them what I wanted. The receptionist, who had an uninterested look despite her optimistic behaviour, tilted her head and opened her mouth. While conversing with me, the girl entertained the few strong-looking adventures beside her. Those were the ones who leered at the receptionist, maybe thinking about filthy things to do with her. I didn’t know. I was quick to judge and trusted my instincts. And that one guy who had been looking at the woman’s chest said it all.

“Fine. Just hand out the treasure, and a staff working here would appraise it for the guild. The treasure exchange currency is here,” the girl said, and handed me a clipboard. “Whatever’s written there on that piece of paper is the absolute price of each treasure. Please avoid complaining about it if you still want to stick around inside this guild.”

“If the item you’re trying to exchange is fake, we will escort you outside and ban you from any transactions you wish to have for our guild. However, if your item truly came from the portal, we would like to reach out to you for our next business and hopefully receive some news about us, regardless of whether you wish to be an adventurer or a trader. Your identity shall be safe in our hands, so don’t you worry about it. With the resurgence of portals, we need more helping hands than usual,” the receptionist girl continued.

Just as the girl had finished her sentence, the men on her side growled and gritted their teeth in my direction. I gulped the last drop of saliva inside my mouth and read the words written on the pad.

It was what the receptionist had stated. The document given to me described the quality of the treasure and its equivalent price for exchange.

Quality for trading treasures:

Mythical - 1,000,000 Yen

S Class - 1,000,000 Yen

Rare - 500,000 Yen

Uncommon - 100,00 Yen

Common - 10,000 Yen

According to the receptionist, someone from her guild had the power to appraise any treasure. I could only guess that numerous people had attempted to scam the Crimson Guild, but failed to do so. When there was someone skilled to see the time’s quality, those swindlers wouldn’t have a chance to throw the guild off.

I rechecked my system and reviewed the item I received from the portal. The treasure remained as it was before. According to the portal, the prize I received was the Ruined Sword, which was a rare item. If I lined it up on paper, this weapon would fetch me 500,000 Yen. It would be more than enough to pay the hospital bills for Hina’s parents.

I opened my inventory and revealed the blade in my hand. Since I couldn’t equip it, the weapon just rested on my palm. I didn’t have any use for this weapon, so it was best to sell it for my personal funds. It was what it was, especially if money was hard to find.

“Here it is… It’s called the Ruined Sword. Please check it. We really need the money to pay for my… her family’s hospital bills,” I uttered, and handed the sword to the girl. “Please, if you may.”

“Sure….”

A long pause came afterward when the receptionist saw the sword. Her eyes widened. A high-pitched gasp escaped the girl’s mouth. It was as if she couldn’t believe her eyes that a weapon that had a rare quality nestled on the table.

I hated to lie, but the Ruined Sword had an otherworldly design, as if a master artisan had crafted it. Or maybe an angel or a deity in disguise made it. This was just a rare weapon found in Class A. I couldn’t imagine how dangerous and cool it could be if the treasure dropped from a Class S portal.

The girl stared at the weapon for a few minutes without picking it up. Suddenly, a man appeared beside him. It was a bloke who had an eyepiece different from mine, resting in his eyes and a moustache befitting a classy man. I doubted the hair on top of her mouth gave him abilities. But the eyepiece on his face was the real deal. My system told me so.

“I am the Appraiser that this girl has talked about recently. I also work for the Crimson’s Leader, the one who is above these branches. Let me see what you have here. I hope you won’t waste my time.”

[Level ??? Appraiser]

[Unfortunately, your level is too low to view the Appraiser’s stats. Fortunately, the Appraiser couldn’t also see through your status. Your protective measures have been activated.]

A few panels materialised in front of me, informing me that the Appraiser was too high-level for me to see his stats. It didn’t matter to me if I could see his stats or not. But when I activated my appraising ability, the Appraiser himself glanced at me and glared in my direction. It was as if he knew I wanted to tap into his character and view the inner details of his abilities. However, if this man had planned on blaming me for it, he wouldn’t have evidence that I checked his status points. So I was safe.

“Are you an adventurer?” he asked, and grabbed the Ruined Sword and raised it to his eye-level. “Were you the one who retrieved this… or someone else? You couldn’t have stolen this, could you?”

“My brother is not that kind of person!”

The first one to retort was Hina, who had been listening beside me. When Hina uttered those words, we all turned around towards her in surprise.

“My brother will never steal from anyone! He fought a monster fair and square and won that fight! I also helped her!” Hina persisted.

When the Appraiser listened to Hina’s report, he whispered a few words to the receptionist and told her something we couldn’t hear. The woman widened her eyes and feverishly nodded at the Appraiser within a few seconds.

“C-Come this way, please, the two of you. Let’s head inside a room,” the receptionist instructed, and walked out from the table.

She, afterward, pulled in an adventurer she had been conversing with earlier to check the desk for the time being. Lucky for her, the adventurer agreed to her request and guarded the table.

“Why do we have to enter a room when you could’ve handed me the money there?” I asked, and sent a million question marks to the two Crimson Guild members.

“I see. If two adventurers fought an A-class Portal, maybe that would be possible,” the Appraiser claimed, and stared at my figure. “The girl is a tank mage. Or, at least, that’s what my appraising ability tells me. But you… you’re different. It seems that you have a gift, but my skills couldn’t see through you. Interesting.”

But just before we could even walk away, the Appraiser uttered a few more words. I had a feeling that he was mocking us instead of assessing our abilities. But the only thing this Crimson Guild member tested was my patience.

“Is the little girl coming with us? I presume you’re the adventurer and you’re babysitting this… girl,” the Appraiser stated, and raised his eyebrow. “She doesn’t look that strong, despite being the Tank Mage.”

The Appraiser had a point. But if someone had judged the book by its cover, it would only lead to that person’s demise.

“For your information, I helped my brother defeat the…”

Before my sister could continue her sentence, I covered her mouth and fill in the missing words. “Let’s just talk inside, shall we? And don’t worry, mister appraiser. What she’s said is the truth. My sister also received a gift, and a powerful one to boot.”

“Very well. Let us proceed.”

The four of us travelled all the way inside the building. A lengthy hallway welcomed our presence as Hina and I followed the receptionist and the Appraiser. We talked about nothing throughout the entire trip. Well, there was nothing to converse with except for trading the treasure into money.

After a few minutes, we finally reached our destination. We were at the farthest part of the Crimson Build, where not a single soul had visited. That was what I felt. When the Appraiser opened the door, my eyes immediately glued themselves to the different treasures piled inside the room. Everything was painted in a brown hue. There was a wired telephone sitting on the table, making the entire scene historic and classic like in the movies for my eyes. A vault also rested right beside the items. I didn’t know what was inside of it, but this place was filled with secrets that an ordinary civilian shouldn’t see.

My system also told me that this was where mana from the walls came from. Now that I had thought about it, this man in front of me was the one who cast those spells. Even though he was just an appraiser, he could congest his mana and use it more efficiently than the ones Midori, my best friend, had claimed mages to be.

But here we were, inside the room. It was the main office of the Crimson Guild branch.

“P-Please, m-make yourself c-comfortable. I-I-I-If you may, would you like a cup of tea?” the receptionist asked, and didn’t hide her nervousness before us.

I wanted to reject her offer, but Hina had other plans. She nodded and requested the finest tea the Crimson Guild could offer. Wasting no seconds, the receptionist exited the place and left us with this man with a moustache.

“Now, where were we?”