In front of the mayor's mansion in the mining city of Norvan.
Me, Satsuki, Mee, and Cyril were led by a servant into the mansion.

The servant took us into a large room that looked like a conference room.
There were tables and chairs arranged in a U-shape, and we were instructed to take a seat in one wing of the room.

We took our seats as instructed.
Across from us, the senior adventurers were already seated and waiting.

We were served tea and waited for a while.
Just as we began to think that we should have a conversation with our companions, the door to the room opened.

'I'm sorry, I kept you waiting.

With these short words, a small, chubby dwarf woman entered the room.

She was about the same height as Mee, or slightly taller.
Dressed in fine clothes that showed her good tailoring, she walked briskly through the room to the master's seat at the U-shaped table.

Dwarves are generally stocky, but unlike male dwarves, who are bearded and stocky, female dwarves often have the lovely appearance of human children.
Their faces also tend to look younger than their actual age, and although the calmness of their facial expressions can indicate their age to some extent, without it, they could be mistaken for children.

The girl who appeared here also had the appearance of a young girl in her early teens, but in reality she was probably at least older than us.
Even so, she was probably in her late twenties or thirties at the most, but to be honest, you can't really tell the age of a Dwarf woman by looking at her.

In addition, behind the dwarf woman was a mature human man wearing a sorcerer's robe and holding a staff in his hand - in other words, he was dressed just like me.
He was probably a mage in the mayor's entourage.

The dwarf woman sat down on a high chair that seemed to have been specially set up for her, and looked over at us and the other group of adventurers.

'This is Ivelia, the mayor of Novan. Thank you for coming, adventurers. I assume you've come on a quest to exterminate the Rockworm, is that correct?

The confirmation came in a lovely, yet calm voice that matched his appearance.
The leader of the senior adventurers answered in a thick voice.

'Oh. You are E rank adventurers, but we are D rank adventurers with experience. We're not a bunch of picnic kids. You can rest easy. If you want, you can pretend they didn't see us and pay us twice as much.

What the hell?

Satsuki is about to stand up in anger at my quick ridicule in front of my client, but I restrain her with my hand and direct my words to my client, the dwarf Ivrea.

'It's true that he's right, we're still inexperienced adventurers, but we'll get the job done. You can trust us on that. We also have sufficient knowledge of the Rock Worm, and we are confident that we have the necessary skills to deal with it.

At my words, Evelyn murmured a 'huh' and moved her eyebrows in interest.
She then turns to the party of D-rank adventurers and asks them a question.

'Yes, that's right. Do you have any knowledge of Rockworm?'

When asked this, the leader of the party, a fighter-looking man, became flustered and said, '...... Hey, please,' urging his fellow mage-looking man to explain.
The mage-like man, who was urged, replied in a sluggish manner.

'Oh, and ...... it's like a giant worm, it lives in caves and stuff, it's pretty strong,...... and I think it's ...... something. ......'

'I see, I understand. So, what about you?

Ivrea now looks at me and asks for an explanation.
I nodded, chewed up the knowledge in my brain, and put it on my tongue.

'Rockworms are monsters that mainly live in rocky mountains, such as mines, and their adult body length can reach five meters or more. Earthworms move through the soil while eating dirt, but rockworms can do so even on rocky ground although they are slow. This is because they have a strong acid in their bodies that can melt rocks, which they sometimes spit out of their mouths to attack. Their body surface is also as hard as a rock, making it difficult to even properly wound them with a simple blade. Taking into account these overall abilities, the monster rank is D, or even higher if it is a particularly huge individual...''

'Okay. That's enough.''

When Ivrea said that, she turned her gaze to the mage who was waiting in her entourage.
The mage in her entourage nodded firmly at that.
I guess he's checking to see if I'm right.

Then Ivrea said, a smile on her face.

'I can guess just by listening to this exchange which one of you is the one who is trying to control your abilities, but in any case, I hope both of you will do your jobs well. According to the miners, rockworms have been found in several tunnels. This means that there is a high possibility that there are several of them living inside the Norvania Mine. You will be rewarded according to the number of them you kill, as I indicated in the request for the quest. I expect you to live up to your name as an adventurer. That's all.

That was all Ivrea said, and then she dismissed the group and left the room with the mage in her entourage.
Next, the senior adventurers, their faces reddened,

'You're so unreliable! You've embarrassed yourself in front of your client!

'Huh? Is it my fault? I can't answer a question like that out of the blue! It's your fault because you said something unnecessary!

They cursed each other and left the room as if they were running away.

Then there were four of us left.
When I stood up and started to work, Satsuki, Mee and Cyril came up to me.

'As expected of Will!

'Yes, sir. William can be counted on.'

'Yes, he is. That look on their faces, it honestly made my heart swell.

I don't feel bad when people praise me like that, but it doesn't mean that my explanation will contribute to the completion of the quest.

If I may say so, it would be nice if the senior adventurers could make use of the knowledge I presented to them to help them survive.
It's not as if I'm babysitting them, and as adventurers, they'll have to take responsibility for their own survival.

'That's not the point, we should keep our guard up. Rockworms can be very dangerous monsters depending on the circumstances of the encounter. If we're not careful, we'll become their food.''

'Aye. But they're not as tough as the orcs we helped the elves with. We'll be fine.''

It was usual for Satsuki to chuckle at such optimistic views.
But is it just me who feels uneasy when I see that? .......

This is why I looked at Cyril and Mee, both of whom were sighing.
I looked at them and chuckled.

'Eh, what's with the ......? What are you three laughing about?

Satsuki, seeing this, had a question mark above her head.