A Former Police Officer Who Died And Get A Second Life!-Chapter 116: A Strange Family

So if something as small as a way of calling him could make Cari smile, then it did not matter to him at all.

Since Cari showed no sign of letting go, Qiong Xing lifted him onto his lap and gently patted his back.

"I’m sorry, but please allow him to stay like this. He will at least listen to the details today."

"A-ah, alright."

"...I understand. You must have your own circumstances. For now, I’ll just explain the request."

Sarin still looked shocked, but Katarina had unexpectedly calmed down and brought the conversation back on track.

"The request is to become the prince’s tutor. The period would be..."

"Please decline it."

As expected, it was not a decent request.

He refused immediately and stood up with Cari in his arms, preparing to leave the room.

"The reason?"

"Do you need one? Personally, the main reason is that I have no desire to educate a foolish prince. More than that, there are surely many others who are far more qualified to teach him. I do not understand why they would ask a mere adventurer like me. And I do not want to accept a request that will clearly cause trouble later."

The moment he heard the word "prince," the first face that came to his mind was that man who had looked down on Leander and the others.

He did not know why such a request would be made to him after what had happened.

But not knowing made it even more suspicious and frightening.

There was no way he could accept it.

"So you do know him. I was wondering why they would give such a request to an adventurer... Well, if you don’t want it, that’s that."

The fact that Katarina did not scold him for calling the prince foolish suggested that she probably thought the same.

After apologizing to them for the trouble, Qiong Xing then left the room.

...

Katarina first learned about the boy when Sarin came to her in surprise, saying that an F-rank adventurer had received a nominated request for the first time.

She had thought it was impossible.

However, when she checked the documents, there was no mistake.

It truly was a nominated request.

And the one who had submitted it was an old friend of Katarina and Sarin. He’s a man well known for being difficult and stubborn.

"Has that guy finally gotten so senile that he can’t even read anymore?"

"If he couldn’t read, he wouldn’t have been able to submit the request in the first place. Still, I was surprised too."

That man was an alchemist.

He often submitted requests to the guild for gathering medicinal herbs, but his standards were extremely strict.

When making recovery potions, the freshness of the herbs and whether they had any damage or bruising greatly affected the process.

It was only natural that good products came from good materials.

That man had lived his whole life as an alchemist, so it was normal for him to demand high quality.

It was natural, but whether that expectation would be understood by the rookie adventurers who accepted the request was another matter.

Some became adventurers out of admiration.

Some were forced into it by poverty.

Others did it half as a game.

There were many reasons to become an adventurer. But among them, very few would treat a low-level job like herb gathering seriously, let alone handle it carefully.

It was common to see herbs roughly pulled out of the soil, leaves bent and torn, or plants covered in scratches.

Even so, they were not completely unusable, so technically the requests were still fulfilled.

However, that man was not the type to stay silent.

He would openly insult the adventurers in front of them.

If the rookies lost their temper and attacked him, he would claim self-defense and beat them down thoroughly—breaking not only their stamina but also their pride.

With that kind of behavior, one might think no one would accept his requests anymore.

But his targets were always new adventurers who had just started.

If they had no other jobs, they had no choice but to accept.

And from Katarina’s point of view, if they gave up that easily, then perhaps they were not suited to be adventurers in the first place.

They were free to pursue their own adventures as they liked.

But once they accepted a request, they had a responsibility to fulfill it.

If they lost control just because someone insulted them, how could they make calm decisions in real danger?

"So, this Qiong Xing... he seems to be an adult at least, but what kind of person is he?"

If that stubborn old man had taken a liking to him, then there must be something special about him.

But the answer Katarina received was unexpected.

"Well... apparently he looks like a young noble from a good family. But inside, he’s a bit... airheaded? Like naturally clueless? Still, he’s polite to everyone, so the staff seem to like him a lot. Also, he’s traveling with a few slaves..."

"But?"

Sarin hesitated, which was rare for him.

When Katarina looked up, she saw him giving a wry smile.

"They said... it looked more like a family."

"...What?"

She did not understand.

She understood the meaning of the words, but precisely because she understood them, she did not understand.

"Slaves... right?"

"They were wearing collars, so they must be slaves. But according to the staff, it was one child and two beastmen."

That made even less sense.

There were slaves in this guild as well.

Both beastmen and humans.

Slaves existed, but they were nothing like the "family" Sarin had described.

It was true that some of them were too capable to be kept as slaves.

However, most of them were treated as errand runners and were in weak positions.

Katarina herself never looked down on them. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

She treated them as fellow staff members.

But she knew that some employees did not like her attitude.

"Isn’t it possible that they were simply ordered to act that way?"