The deafening echoes of Hetzer's MG34 burst faded, leaving only the frantic skitter-scrabble of retreating rats and the ringing in Hans' ears. Sludge dripped from the ceiling where her tracers had gouged the brickwork.
"Zehn! Confirmed!" Hans shouted over the residual tinnitus, scanning the pipes where the other rats had vanished.
"Cease fire! Conserve ammunition!" He glared at Hetzer, who was beaming with pride, the MG34 still smoking. "And stop shooting the infrastructure! We don't need a cave-in!"
"As you wish commander!" Hetzer chirped, slinging the MG34 with a practiced motion that still looked absurdly casual.
"But Hetzer's tactical analysis indicates frontal assault suppression was 98.7% effective! Minimal structural degradation detected!" She tapped her temple knowingly.
With that, their hunt for sewer rats were over. Hans sighed, "Let's get out of here before something else comes up."
"Hetzer agrees."
With this they left the sewer with 10 giant rat tails. Their boots were covered in sewer garbage as they walked through the street to the guild.
Thankfully their legs were secure due to the jackboots the German Army issues. Though the smell was real and the people walked away from them.
When they entered the guild again, there were adventurers sitting in tables and chairs all over the place. They looked at the newcomers and were like,
"Oh, so the new adventurers without gears, came back?"
Some even laughed at their clothings and thought they couldn't probably kill the rats. Crude whistles followed Hetzer—"Oi, sweetcheeks! Lose the tin-can and join real fighters!"
Hetzer clung to Hans afraid of their glances. But Hans ignored. They walked straight to the receptionist.
"Hey, why didn't you wash yourselves before coming here?!" The girl said clenching her nose.
"But we don't have the money to wash our boots. Here take the 10 rat tails. This proves we completed the task." Hans replied.
The receptionist took the tails while still clenching her nose with one arm and confirmed that they were authentic.
She practically flung the reeking tails into a nearby burlap sack labeled "DISPOSAL" with a look of utter revulsion."
She slammed a small, grimy pouch onto the counter with her clean hand, keeping the other firmly clamped over her nose.
"Your payment. Five copper pennies. Standard rate. And here take your new guild cards for C rank adventurers. Now get out."
Hans took the pouch of coins and their IDs. But he knew only 5 coins were not enough. So he had to take on more quests. But for now the five were enough to cover for a quick meal.
"So do you have anymore missions for us?" Hans asks.
"Check the notice board. It should contain some jobs a C rank adventurer can do." The clark said trying send Hans literally anywhere else.
"If you take on a quest, just remove the request from the notice board and keep it with you. After completing the task bring the required objects or a proof of completion with the rooster for verification." She clarified before they left.
Hetzer followed Hans to the notice board, but to their despair, most of the 'C' rank adventures were in the sewer cleaning or finding lost items or getting rid of rats and other dwellers of that place.
"Eww, commander, Hetzer doesn't want to go there again." Hetzer cried.
Hans also had no appetite to go there. So he took a rare C rank task that was posted by the city lord directly: To catch some thieves who have stolen golds from the city vault.
The rooster also notes their hiding place at the foot of a hill outside the city. This baffled Hans. He wondered why the lord didn't send police to have them arrested.
"I can definitely do this one commander." Hetzer was enthusiastic. And why shouldn't she be. Afterall both she and Hans had the ability to kill the thieves without them ever knowing.
But of course before doing any of that, they had to wash themselves, their boots to be more specific. With this thought in mind Hans and Hetzer went outside the town.
They had to find a river or pond or any other water sources because it was obvious, other than the guild, no one else will ever allow people with such dirty smell to enter their properties.
When they left through the gates, even the guards didn't speak to them just opened the door and asked them to leave.
Once outside, they started looking for any water sources to clean up themselves. And after looking for a while, they stumbled upon a small stream.
The stream had a rapid current however the water was clear and not even knee-deep.
Hetzer immediately jumped into the stream splashing some water. But then she looked at Hans with crying eyes.
"What's wrong?" Hans asked. He was surprised by the sudden change in Hetzer's expression.
"Hetzer doesn't want to use her hand to rub the materials off of the boot. Hetzer still remembers how commander used to clean her."
"That was before you were a girl." Hans retorted "I cannot do that now."
"Boo," Hetzer pouts. "Hetzer wants the commander to do it."
"Not happening." Was Hans' reply. "You have a scrubber inside you probably. Use that."
Hetzer puffs but complied, she brought out a scrub looked at Hans again and started to rub her feets with to clear the garbage. After Hetzer finished, Hans followed suit.
It was almost noon and both of them were getting hungry. Hetzer's stomach growled forcing a smile from Hans.
"Alright, let's get this over with and get something to eat." He said as they march towards the hill mentioned as the thieves' hideout.