Catato Patch 

Translated By: callmemistress

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Io Raton. 26 years old. Appraiser. That is the title that was given to me.

 

Appraisers are people whose occupation is judging humans, monsters and all manner of items. By using appraisal magic we examine what kind of abilities someone has and what kind of materials can be harvested from a defeated monster. We aren’t rare. There’s always one of us attached to any adventurer guild in town.

 

And today I, who was just that sort of commonplace person, was on my way to work at such an adventurers guild. For a moderately large guild in the city of La Niña, it seemed to be famous among the adventurers. There was no other guild in this or the surrounding cities that could take on contracts to kill rare monsters. And best of all, the guild master was renowned for being an oddball.

 

But this kind of boastful talk is meaningless.

 

I take out my favorite glasses from my bag and pass through the doors of the guild as usual. An aggressive-looking skinhead raised his head in my direction as he rummaged through the contents of the shelf at the back of the counter.

 

“Ah, Little Io, good mornin’. You’re up early today,” he said in a quiet and gentle, feminine tone of voice.

 

Yep, operating as usual today.

 

“Good morning, Mr. Hansel,” I greet him, putting on my glasses.

 

“What happened to the dissection of yesterday’s Manticore?”

 

“Ah, that’s right. We somehow managed to finish it yesterday, all thanks to Mr. Sheek’s hard work. The materials taken from the tail were superb. I think I could fall in love.”

“Is that so?”

I put my bag behind the back of the counter and flipped over my name tag hanging on the wall. It’s a rule to hang up your tag while at work.  As I finished, Mr. Hansel went under the counter to prepare for business.

 

It had become my morning routine to organize the notes that accumulated throughout the evening and tidy up the countertop, despite it not being part of my original duties.

 

Behind the scenes Mr. Hansel was dusting the shelves while humming subtly out of tune. As I listened to the music, which was so loud that someday I think we’ll start to get complaints about it, I cleaned up the countertop as quickly as I could. And like that nearly 30 minutes passed.

 

“Mornin,” greeted an energetic half-naked young man as he entered the building. “Master, do you eat skewers? I bought them at a food stall over there.”

 

“Morning Mr. Sheek. Your muscles are as lovely as ever today.”

I wondered how Mr. Hansel could use that as the first greeting of the day. But Mr. Sheek seemed to have enjoyed having his muscles praised anyway. Why does this guild gather all the weirdos? ….

 

I scratched my cheek and called out to Mr. Sheek who was striking a meaningless beautiful pose, “Good morning Mr. Sheek. Please put on some clothes. It’s still cold out. You could catch a cold.”

 

“The cold can be overcome through a fighting spirit!” It would seemed persuasion had no effect on him....

 

I turned my head toward Mr. Hansel who was coming out from under the countertop I had just finished cleaning. “Well then, I’ll get back to my work.”

 

“Ah, little Io.” Mr. Hansel ceased his shaking of his feather duster and came up to me. “There are some things that were requested to be appraised last night. I wonder if you could appraise them. They’ve already been placed in your workshop.”

 

When someone brings in items they want examined late at night after I’ve returned home, I’ll work on them the next day. The current situation is an example of this.

 

I nodded, “I understand. I’ll keep straightening up then.”

 

“I’m begging you,” Mr. Hansel winked, seeing me off with that aggressive-looking face of his that did not suit his girly pose.Without a doubt this person’s gender was mistaken at birth. Thinking this, I ascended the stairs from behind the reception area and headed to the second floor.