Chapter 3: The Rookies

The William Tell Overture began playing loudly right next to my bed.

That’s kinda loud… I should’ve chosen the song a little more carefully.

“Nhh… ’Sup?” I was a little disoriented, since I’d been woken up by the sudden call, so I groggily answered the phone.

“It’s happening! He’s finally here!”

Sue’s voice was just as loud and intense as the William Tell Overture that had been playing a few moments ago… I wondered what had her so chirpy so early.

“…What’s happening…?”

I yawned a bit and rubbed my eyes before asking for clarification.

“The baby! He’s here! I have a little brother!”

Sue’s voice was so full of vigor and joy that it took me by legitimate surprise. Wait… A baby? Duke Ortlinde and Ellen’s?!

“Amazing! Wow, so he’s a boy? Congrats.”

“Mhm!”

Ellen, Sue’s mother, had gone into labor just a little bit after midnight. The child was born without any complications a little while after. The birth didn’t have any complications, so they were happy and healthy.

With that, the Ortlinde house also had a successor in place. If the child was a girl, then it was likely that my child with Sue would be the one to succeed Ortlinde’s name, but that wasn’t necessary anymore. The duke didn’t know it, but it was actually highly likely that my kid with Sue was going to be a girl, so I didn’t think he’d be getting a successor from me anyway…

I calmed down Sue a little bit before ending the call. I couldn’t fault her joy, though. She’d been talking about how she wanted a little brother for ages… But frankly, I wasn’t in the right mindset for such excitement. I was sleepy.

A little while later, as I was getting dressed, Sue sent me a photo of herself holding the little baby. Apparently his name was Edward, Edward Urnes Ortlinde. Little Ed.

Edward was the name of Sue’s late grandfather on her mother’s side. He was the one who could use the [Recovery] Null spell.

“Guess I’ll prepare them a gift…”

I wondered what to give them. Maybe a baby stroller with a [Prison] around it that makes it indestructible? Nah… Bit much. Maybe something like the baby bottle I gave Yamato… I could give them a combo set with a bottle and a stroller, or something. Ohh, maybe I can give them the handheld printer I gave the Refreese princess. They’ll surely wanna be taking a lot of photographs, so I’ll give them one of those and a photo album. That sounds like a nice enough gesture.

After I left my room, I went to find Yumina and brought her to the Ortlinde estate.

“Sue was pretty happy, huh?”

“Well, whenever she’s with us she only has Renne as far as people who are younger than her go. She’s probably happy that she’s an older sister now.”

We’d returned from the Ortlinde estate in no time at all, and were now enjoying a peaceful teatime date on the balcony. Sue had managed to calm herself by the time we’d visited, and she even had a surprisingly calm and elegant air about her. She was probably ready to be a good older sister.

While it was nice to see Sue being all well-behaved, a selfish part of me still missed her usual boisterous self… I hoped it wouldn’t be a permanent change, but even if it was… Sue was still Sue.

The family was happy with the gift I’d given them and immediately asked me to take a family photo of them and Leim. That was the first photo in what I was sure would be a long sequence of photos that tracked little Ed’s life. I was glad to give them the first piece.

“Mm… It’s a pain to have a little brother who always gets into trouble, you know?”

“It’s a pain to have an older sister who eats my cookies without asking!”

I glared at Karen, who had appeared out of nowhere and started eating my food without permission.

“Don’t sweat the small stuff, Touya… Your hair’ll fall out, you know?”

“That’s not gonna happen!”

I’m not gonna go bald, you jerk! The alchemy lab has a hair-growth serum specifically to prevent that! As we squabbled a bit, my smartphone began to ring. It was Relisha from the guild.

“Touya speaking. ’Sup?”

“It’s Relisha. Pardon my intrusion, but I wanted to talk a bit about the adventure academy we’d discussed.”

Oh yeah. I forgot about that. The adventure academy was a facility we’d thought up where trainee adventurers would learn about everything they needed to become an adventurer, from practical techniques to mental prep work. We’d been planning it for a while, and it seemed like they were finally ready to move ahead with it.

Relisha wanted to hear my thoughts on it from an adventurer’s perspective, so I headed right over. I felt bad leaving Yumina to deal with Karen, but it would probably be okay.

I walked through the gates into the castle town. It’d been a while since I’d gone in on foot. The town was a lot livelier than it was when it was first founded. I found myself instinctively smiling when I saw that everyone in town seemed to be really happy, too.

Brunhild sat right on top of the trade route between Belfast and Regulus, so we had a lot of merchants, adventurers, and travelers passing through. In a sense, my Duchy was like a hub for all walks of life. Passing through Brunhild only took a few hours, so people who were dead-set on their destinations didn’t stop by the castle town. But even keeping that in mind, our inns were still fully booked often.

I think part of the draw was that Brunhild had a lot of things other nations lacked, including capsule toys and ether vehicles that could be found at the Strand store. Our food was also a melting pot for cuisine, various delicacies were gathered in this nation. We even had meals that you could only really find in Eashen. Hell, if you paid the entry fee, you could even go through to the beach on the dungeon islands. Unless they were on urgent business, pretty much everyone coming through the trade road stopped here to see what we had to offer. Thanks to their patronage, we made a ton of revenue.

I peeked into the tavern next to the guild, looking for Suika. I reasoned that if the little gremlin was in there, I’d be able to pick her up on the way back.

Alas, the horrible little creature wasn’t there. I feared for the safety of whoever she was drinking alongside instead.

I headed to the guild, and the receptionist led me up to Relisha’s office right away.

“Sorry to call you out on such short notice.”

“It’s all good. I was pretty much free anyway.”

I sat down opposite Relisha and started hearing her out.

“So, as you know the current guild ranking system works like this. Black rank at the bottom, then purple, green, blue, red, silver, and gold at the top. But we want to add a new white rank at the very bottom. All new guild members will be placed in this white rank.”

Hmm… Okay. New rank under black, got it…

“The white-ranks will be put through basic training by the adventure academy. But obviously, not all white-ranks are going to be at the same level of skill. If one of them thinks they should have a higher rank and doesn’t need to sit through the academy, then they can take a ranking test for a nominal fee.”

That made sense enough to me. If a person felt they were good enough, it’d only be fair to give them a chance to prove it and take on higher-ranked jobs off the bat. I’d already had the whole thing where some guys picked a fight with me just because they were higher-ranked, so that seemed like a good idea. It’d save me trouble, too. I didn’t want to have to come in and beat up every overconfident idiot who rolled into town.

“So who’ll be teaching at the academy?”

“Various retired adventurers and a few active ones will come in for demonstrations. After finishing the two-week course, they’ll automatically be ranked up from white to black.”

“Do white-ranks have to attend the academy?”

“Nope, it’s optional. If they want to take on quests and slowly rank up that way, it’s fine too. But white-rank quests are typically gonna be stuff like chores or simply finding herbs. Any monster-hunting quests would probably be easy, too… Something like hunting individual wood-spiders, or lone-horned rabbits.”

Newbie adventurers often loved going monster hunting. If they did tough missions over and over again, they’d put themselves in danger without even realizing it.

There was a large number of rookies who didn’t heed that kind of advice, and recklessly did whatever they wanted.

That was one of the reasons why the academy was so important. The veterans would be able to give the newcomers a fighting chance. If they didn’t heed advice even after all that, they’d only have themselves to blame. We just wanted to prevent casualties on average.

“And what about the fee?”

“Enrolling in the academy will have a fair price attached to it. They’ll be split into various classes that cover different things, but the price should be fair.

We’re working on it.”

It’d be tough for them if they were grouped up with a teacher that went hard on them, but I had a feeling that such hardships would come in handy down the line.

“The ranking test will be judged by several instructors. Since the test is to judge the skill of our new recruits, the only ones who can take it are whiteranks.”

Typically, an adventurer who wanted to rank up would be judged on how many quests he’s cleared, the difficulty of said quests, how many he’s failed, whether he’s started trouble before, etc. Those factors would then be converted into a point-based system, and those points would be referenced to see if the adventurer could rank up or not. You could even have your rank decreased if you weren’t careful.

Failing quests a lot, arguing with clients, committing crimes, or ignoring guild guidelines were all grounds for demotion. But most cases simply had the person expelled from the guild instead. Letting adventurers like that stay with the guild just made everyone look bad. If a person ended up getting their rank decreased, it would only be because the Guildmaster believed they were capable of redemption.

“So we’re building the academy in the southern plain, right?”

“That’s right. It’s already about seventy percent done. Although, there was something I wanted to talk to you about…”

Relisha frowned slightly. I wondered what the issue was.

“That other world merge you mentioned… When that happens, what do we do? People like Norn will surely want to join up with us, and they’ll bring those Gollem things with them. When that happens, do we judge them based on the strength of the individual, or their Gollem partner?”

That was definitely a reasonable concern. Even if an adventurer was a total newbie, they’d be able to clear high-ranking quests with a sufficiently powerful Gollem.

“I think you should judge them on their own strength. Treat the Gollems as equipment. They could be taken away from their owners, or break down. If that happens, they might get a new Gollem, and we wouldn’t want to fluctuate their rank based on what Gollem they happened to be wielding.”

“Very well. Norn herself is actually quite skilled, I saw it with my own two eyes. Her Gollem was powerful as well.”

I pitied those dumbasses who’d gotten their asses beat by Norn, since she looked like a little girl. But still… I worried about Norn. She was a capable adventurer, but she still only had the physical capabilities of a six-year-old. She couldn’t afford to overdo it.

“Which other countries are you going to be building the academies in?”

“Ah, well. Right now, we’re in talks with Belfast, Regulus, Roadmare, and Lestia. Brunhild’s academy will be the first, however. We’ll be able to use it to iron out the kinks and refine the process.”

As my conversation with Relisha continued, I asked her something I’d been wondering.

“This isn’t exactly related, but where’s the Guild HQ located? And who actually runs the guild?”

“You’ll have to forgive me, but the location of our headquarters is a secret that can’t be divulged to anyone. There’s also no leader as far as the guild goes. Only several Guildmasters such as myself that serve as trusted administrators.”

Hmm… I wonder if the Guildmasters are all species with long lifespans like elves or fairies. Maybe some of them are even older than Leen… I think I recall Doctor Babylon saying that the guild even existed during her time.

Hell, it was even possible that some of the original Guildmasters could still be in place, but I didn’t think that was especially likely.

“Actually, um… Your Highness, or rather… I’d like to speak to you as the gold adventurer, Mochizuki Touya. I have a request.” “Hm? What’s up?”

I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach, but I asked her to continue.

“Actually I was wondering if you could act as an examiner for the first ranking test. I won’t ask any more of you afterward, but I’d like you to do it the first time.”

“Hmm…”

Guh… This is kind of a pain in the ass, honestly. I guess I can gauge people’s strength pretty decently… But the people who apply for the ranking test are gonna be people who are already self-confident. I want them to accept whatever I say, ideally… But I have a feeling I’ll just get people pissed off at me.

Still, the final call is the guild’s in the end. They’d need to put up and shut up.

Taking those things into account, I was ready to accept on a condition.

“Can I hide my identity? You just want me to judge their strength, right?

There’s no need for them to know who I am, is there?”

“That’s understandable, but… I was hoping that we could use your identity as a gold adventurer to have the people taking the test accept their results more easily. I also wanted to use you as an example of not judging a book by its cover.”

Relisha stared at me quietly. Aw, c’mon… You wanted to use me as an example? I mean, I guess it’s fair… I don’t exactly look strong or anything.

“Would you even be able to hide your identity, Grand Duke? There are plenty of people who know how you look, and I see you walking around town often.

Would you be donning a mask, perhaps?”

“Ah, nope. I did that kind of thing once but it didn’t prove popular. I can use [Mirage] to change my appearance on command, see?”

I quickly looked up a random person online and synchronized my appearance to match theirs. Height, weight, and general body shape were a bit awkward to change with [Mirage], though. Since a person would be able to put their hands through any part that extended past my actual body.

If I magicked myself up a disguise and introduced myself as a red or even silver adventurer, then that would be more than enough.

“Very well, then. I think this’ll be okay. But if I am honest, I really was hoping to add a little more importance to the whole affair by including a gold adventurer.”

Relisha sighed softly after speaking. Hmm… Geez… Now I feel kinda bad, don’t look at me like that… Wait, I have an idea!

“Why don’t I bring along the other gold adventurer to help out instead?”

“Hwuh…?” Relisha blinked a few times in confusion.

◇　◇　◇

“Sorry to bug you out of the blue like this.”

“Ohoho. Think nothing of it, nothing at all. Life as a former king is rather dull, let me tell ya. I’d also like to see how my little Hilde is doing.”

The former king of Lestia, Galen Yunas Lestia, chuckled softly as he spoke. He was the only other gold adventurer in the world, and also happened to be Hilde’s grandpa. He looked like an innocent old man with a walking stick, but that gentle appearance concealed his true power. Putting aside people like me and Hilde, who were imbued with divinity, he was definitely among the strongest people in the world.

“Eek!”

“Ohohoh. Mm… Not bad at all.”

The receptionist at the guild cringed and clutched at her rear. This was the only downside to the old man. He was a relentless lech.

“You’re the same as ever, Master Galen.”

“How could I stop, Ms. Relisha? It’s the secret to my old age, I’ll have you know. If I ever stopped doing what I do, I’m sure I’d fall down dead in seconds.”

…Maybe defeating him wouldn’t be so hard after all. Relisha shrugged and rolled her eyes as she continued to talk with Galen.

I thought for sure that he’d immediately try to touch her or something, but that didn’t seem to be happening. Given that they already seemed to have been acquainted, I wondered if he’d ever tried to have a go at her in the past.

The old man apparently had a method to his madness. He claimed that he would never touch a woman that he had touched before. He also only went for girls over twenty, so Yumina and the others were safe from his leery gaze.

I’d gone to Lestia through a [Gate], explained the situation, and then brought him back to Brunhild’s guild. I’d gotten permission from King Reinhard first, of course. There were a few Lestian knights here as escorts, but they were probably actually here to keep him in check. He was far stronger than any of them, anyway.

“So you want me to fight the newcomers or something?”

“No, I’ll be doing that. You should just give your personal evaluations of them.”

The ranking test had three examiners. The old man and I made two. The third examiner was a silver adventurer. I’d also be changing my appearance and disguising myself as a red or silver-rank.

Then Galen, as the gold-rank, would pass final judgment. Nobody would be able to object, given his status.

“Why should you hide your identity, sonny? Is it really that much of an issue?”

“We’re a much smaller country than Lestia is. There’s a chance I could run into the examinees in town, and I wouldn’t want them to hold it against me.”

“Seems like you’re making a big deal outta nothing. Not like anyone holding anything against you means anything, does it?”

He sort of had a point… But I also felt like people might have an issue with the country’s leader wasting time on guild affairs.

Even I was aware of the fact that I played it pretty fast and loose for a monarch. I kind of knew that I was making Galen go out of his way, too. I did promise that I’d show up to judge Lestia’s eventual ranking test, but that didn’t really feel like appropriate compensation either.

“Mm… So what are you testing them on? Just strength alone? Or are you going to examine their other assets?”

I wondered that as well. There was more to it than mere fighting, after all. Most adventurers who prided themselves on physical force and just beat their way through everything typically found themselves staying in blue-rank. Without any more complex form of thought, they just couldn’t get up to red.

There was quite a wide gap between blue and red rank. Red-rank missions were often given out by foreign nations, as well. If some random guy who had a bad attitude was granted red-rank status, it could cause diplomatic issues.

That was why each and every red-rank had the personal approval of their relevant Guildmaster. It definitely wasn’t a simple feat. Apparently, my own red-rank promotion went so smoothly because of how I contributed to peaceful relations between Belfast and Mismede.

In terms of strength, I was fine, too. I’d killed the Black Dragon by that point, and had no issues with stuff like mithril golems. I was approved in an instant.

A lot of adventurers who had trouble in their careers were blue-rank, too. Those that failed to rise up to red ended up taking out their frustration on their guildmates, and they often had their licenses revoked as a result. Personally, I thought people like that never had what it takes to become red-rank in the first place.

“In general, I think the qualities would be determined by whoever’s examining, but Master Galen has a point. Judging on fighting power alone isn’t right. The guild rank doesn’t just reflect combat ability, after all. It’s up to the examiner to pick out these finer aspects, as well.”

“Mmh… So we need to think of the test criteria ourselves, then?”

“Yes. But we’ll obviously oversee it and make sure it all fits.”

We definitely did need to take their combat power into account, at any rate. If we just handed out ranks to anyone willy-nilly, then we’d cause a lot of problems down the line.

After all, the people we increased the ranks of would be tied to us from that point on.

As I was about to open my mouth, there was a knock at the door.

“Guildmaster, the third examiner is here.”

The receptionist bowed her head before smiling and letting another person in. The third one was a silver adventurer, right…?

I looked at the doorway and blinked in confusion. I was completely taken aback.

“Karina?! Sis? What’re you doing here?!”

“Hm? I was called here, wasn’t I? Didn’t you know I was coming?” The one in front of me was the god of the hunt, Karina. She looked the same as ever, her light armor strapped to her body in various places, and her emerald-green hair tied up.

“What?! The third one’s you? When did you hit silver-rank?”

I knew that Karina had registered as an adventurer, but I didn’t know that she’d climbed so high. I thought she was just trying to hunt stuff at her own pace, so I didn’t expect her to have reached such a high level…

“I hunted most of the prey I could get my hands on, so I ended up going to the dungeon islands. There just happened to be a Dragon in the area at the time, so I killed it after accepting the quest from the guild. The whole ranking-up thing was basically just a bonus.”

“You killed it… with just a bow and arrow?!”

I knew that she was first-class even without her divinity, but the fact that she could shoot down a Dragon was seriously impressive…

“It’s no big deal. All you have to do is aim for the right tendons to ground it. Then, when it’s on the ground, you just have to slit the right vein open with a machete. Easy peasy.”

Hitting a tendon with an arrow and then piercing it is still kind of insane… Damn, I didn’t know I had a silver-rank so close at hand… Wonder if she’ll be the third gold before long.

“Wait… is this girl your sister?”

“Oh, no… I said sis, but she’s actually my cousin. Karina, this is the former king of Lestia, Galen.”

“Eheh, nice to meet you.”

“Hohohoh… You certainly must be a member of the grand duke’s family…

There’s not a single blindspot or opening on you at all.”

Galen sighed quietly as his fingers wriggled. He must’ve tried groping her. I remembered that he’d tried to do it to Karen and almost got pulverized. Given that Karina’s physical abilities were far higher than Karen, the old man didn’t have a chance.

We quickly briefed Karina on the ranking test and carried on from there. We were quite the line-up, I almost felt bad for the examinees.

“So, how do we judge them?”

“Judging them on fighting alone isn’t right, but they still need to be strong. I think all ranks green and under can be based on brute force alone.” That was reasonable. If a person applied for the test, it meant they were self-confident. We’d need to be sure who was actually confident, and who was just arrogant. If the participants weren’t strong enough to reach green rank, then the test would basically be done.

“So what if we see someone who makes the criteria for green rank?”

“Then we’ll have them take a quest and judge them based on how they handle it. We need to see their priorities.”

“Seems reasonable…”

We all slowly cobbled together the details of the first ranking test.

A month later the adventure academy opened its doors.

The academy would stand as a cornerstone to the skills and knowledge any adventurer should know. Weapon handling, monster identification, survival skills, and other basics were all to be taught. Basically, anything that a more experienced adventurer would consider second nature. In other words, we raised a school that would raise inexperienced people into equipped and ready rookie adventurers.

This place basically didn’t have much to offer to people who were already experienced due to different fields. Former knights, or game hunters, were the people who’d be jumping straight into the ranking test. Ultimately, the academy was created to prevent inexperienced people from dying needlessly. It wasn’t made to help people who already knew the basics.

In the end, the student roster wasn’t very big. There were only a few young boys and girls. After two weeks of education, they’d be automatically put into black rank and sent out into the world.

The first ranking test would also be allowing black-rank members to participate, as a way of appeasing the newcomer adventurers who had just applied before the opening of the academy and the introduction of the white rank.

There were people from other ranks who wanted to join as well, but ultimately the whole point of the test was to gauge the potential of people with no real adventuring experience.

The guild’s official statement said there was no need to re-evaluate anyone who had enough guild experience already.

There were twenty-seven applicants for the ranking test. A little more than I expected. The examinees had all been assembled within the academy’s training field, and after a small introduction from Guildmaster Relisha, the test began.

“Welcome to the ranking test. First up, we have a few introductions in order. I am Galen. I’m no longer in service, but I’m a gold adventurer. This young lady here is Mochizuki Karina. Karina is her given name. She’s a silver adventurer, and quite impressive. And this young man here is, er… Regin Leif. He’s a red adventurer!”

Before I ascended to gold, Galen was the only one who had reached that rank. He was a legendary hero who had married into the Lestian royal family. His name ended up turning quite a few heads, so most eyes were on him. But Karina, with her strong body and dashing good looks, attracted a fair share of attention as well.

I’d used [Mirage] to turn myself into a generic-looking guy with brown hair and a normal face. I didn’t want to leave too much of a deep impression. There were a few people in the crowd that looked up at Karina and I with unhappy or even irritated faces. Seemed like they had issues with a woman or a young man having such high ranks.

“First things first, a basic strength test. You’ll be fighting against Regin for one minute. You can use whatever kind of weapons you’re used to.”

Once Galen stopped speaking, one of the examinees raised his hand.

“Shouldn’t we be using training weapons for this? A lot of us use weapons that could cause serious harm.”

The speaker was a young man with long brown hair, he vaguely gestured toward a bald-headed older man that stood nearby. The older man grinned slightly and folded his arms.

The older guy wore a tiger-stripe vest, tanned skin, and a huge battleax hanging about his waist. He kind of looked like a bandit. If something like that hit a person head-on, they probably wouldn’t get back up. Judging from the smirk plastered on its owner’s face, he knew that quite well.

Galen looked to me for guidance, so I took a step forward.

“It doesn’t matter what kind of weapon you use against me. You can use magic, as well. I won’t make a single offensive motion until five seconds before the end of the match. I’ll be playing defensively. Also, I’ll be wielding this.”

I took out a small weapon that barely extended beyond seventy centimeters in length. It was flimsy and made of wood. A basic cypress stick.

The participants in the crowd ended up having mixed reactions, but they could easily be sorted into two camps. There were those who relaxed at the sight of the stick and those who became enraged.

Some were relieved because they were glad they weren’t going to be beaten too badly, while the others were probably upset that they were seemingly being looked down on. The bandit-looking guy with the battleax looked especially pissed-off, though. He was glaring at me furiously.

“So, who’s first?”

“Heh, pretty interestin’ gimmick. I’m up first, pal.”

As I’d expected, the bandit-looking fella came stomping right up. I didn’t really mind who came first, so I nodded toward him. The man’s irked expression twisted into a grin as he gripped his battleax in both hands.

“Alls I gotta do is beat ya down, right? That’ll make me tough as one a’ them there red-rankers, right?”

“Well… it’s not just strength alone, but yeah. If you beat me down, we’ll recognize you have at least red-rank strength. But are you sure you wanna use that thing? There’s still time to change your weapon out.”

“Pssh. You getting’ cold feet after seein’ me ax? Thought you was hot shit, didn’t ya?”

Yeah, this guy’s definitely no good. He has no tact about him at all. Karina, seemingly seeing this guy’s nature just as clearly as I had, sighed softly and left the area.

“Eat this!”

The man swung down his battleax toward my head. I was honestly a little taken aback by how readily he’d gone for the lethal shot.

I sidestepped and avoided the shot, resulting in the battleax lodging itself in the ground. In terms of physical strength, he was definitely pretty up there.

“Tch… Don’t get cocky!”

The man continued swinging his ax over and over again. But each swing took far too much time to come at me, and as such, I had no difficulty avoiding them. I could see clearly where his attacks were coming from. It was actually kind of boring. Plus, he was rapidly running out of stamina. I could see his breathing was strained after only a few swings. The man definitely wasn’t good at using his own weapon.

“Thirty seconds left.”

Karina muttered over in our general direction. The lack of interest in her voice was palpable. She wasn’t even watching the fight, she was just staring down at her phone. Though that might’ve been because she was keeping a close eye on the stopwatch app.

“Get over here already…”

“You weren’t prepared for this of all things? My build isn’t heavy, and neither is my weapon. Didn’t you think it might be hard to hit me? There are fastmoving monsters out there too, you know? If you aren’t versatile with your weapon choices, you’ll just die out there.”

His battleax was actually a pretty solid hunting weapon, but he definitely should’ve brought in a side weapon like a machete.

I even tried to warn him subtly before the fight began, but he ignored me. He wasn’t thinking about how to hit me, he was only thinking about the act of hitting me. That was why he’d never ever get a shot in.

“Gh… B-Bastard… You…!”

“Five seconds left.”

“Time to wrap it up, then.”

When Karen told me how much time was remaining, I immediately jabbed the stick into the side of the man’s head.

“Gwauugh!”

The rough-looking guy, who was almost certainly twice my size, stumbled backward uncontrollably. He fell on his back and rolled a few times before coming to a stop. His eyes had rolled into the back of his head.

I didn’t even hit him especially hard… He definitely didn’t have much in the way of training. I was honestly disappointed in him.

“He’s purple.”

“Mhm, purple.”

“Purple it is.”

The three of us agreed right away. He had a bit of strength, so I was fine to have him start higher than black. But he wasn’t quite strong enough to make it to green-rank. Purple was best for him at this point because I figured if he took on more than three lone-horned wolves at the same time, he’d probably get himself killed.

Thus, that man’s run with the test was over. A few guild staff members picked him up on a stretcher and carried him off to the academy’s infirmary.

“So, who’s next?”

I smiled as I called out to the rest of the entrants.

◇　◇　◇

“That’s it, then?”

I’d just finished up the mock battles against all twenty-seven attendees. Not a single person had even managed to lay so much as a finger on me. All that really meant was that there wasn’t a single applicant who was on gold-rank level, though.

Of the twenty-seven, only seven of them were what I’d considered worthy of green-rank. The other twenty failed to reach that level. Thirteen were assigned to black-rank, while seven were assigned to purple.

The blacks and purples would be ending their tests there. They’d be able to leave after handing their cards over to the guild staff and recording their promotions.

Galen turned to the seven we’d judged worthy of green-rank.

“Very well… There’s only seven of you here now. You’re all considered to be at least on par with a green-rank adventurer. But all that really means to us is that you pass in terms of combat proficiency basics, nothing else. Adventuring takes more than just strength, and there are many different kinds of quests.

There’ll be quests that you excel at, and quests you underperform on.”

Adventurers needed to be aware of what did and didn’t work for them. In my case, I couldn’t stand escort missions.

It was definitely difficult to do missions for complete strangers without issues cropping up now and then. There were also certain employers who’d be rude or snappy, too, so we needed to be sure they’d be able to handle it. Plus, there were also times where adventurers would have to work with others, and that could cause trouble now and then. Other times they went well. The mission where we met Sue went relatively smooth, for example.

“Let’s imagine there was a monster right in front of you. If you were a knight or a blade for hire, perhaps you’d want to strike efficiently to bring it down quickly. You’d want to stab it through the heart, or crush its head… right? But does anyone here know why an adventurer shouldn’t actually do that?” A small-statured girl raised her hand in response to Galen’s question.

“Oho. You know, little missy?”

“Yes! If we killed it like that, it could damage valuable parts that we could have otherwise sold as resources.”

“Ohohoho, exactly! If a certain creature’s pelt is valuable, but you burned its fur with Fire magic, then you made a mistake! If a horn used for crafting is shattered or damaged, then it’s not going to sell for nearly as good a price! Adventurers need to consider the monetary value of their prey, but not to the extent that you’d put your own life at severe risk.”

The girl flashed a self-assured and proud grin, but I just glared daggers at her. I’d specifically told her not to stand out in particular… She seemed to notice, since she looked away and started innocently whistling. What a pain she was…

Her hair was cut short and a little bit messy. She wore a small scarf and clothes that allowed for easy mobility, which was good given her role in Brunhild. She was one of our intelligence corps members, Sarutobi Homura.

I wanted to have a woman on the inside during the ranking test, so I had her join the entrants after getting permission from Tsubaki.

Since she was basically a spy, I asked her to keep quiet and pay attention… But the girl was probably just a little bit too excitable for her own good. Given that she was a ninja, you’d think she’d be used to staying still… Karina glanced over at her and then sighed in my general direction. I’d told Galen and her about Homura in advance.

“So here’s what’ll happen. We’re going to have you all accept a quest as part of the ranking test. The client will be the guild itself. It’s a full quest, all filed through the proper channels. That means you’ll be rewarded if you succeed. But if you fail, it’ll also be marked on your record as well. Remember to take care out there.”

If you failed a quest, it damaged your credibility as an adventurer and affected how the guild saw you. Even if two adventurers were of the same rank, the guild would typically favor the adventurer with the cleaner track record of success.

One of the people in the group, a young man, raised his hand. It was the longhaired man who’d asked the question about weapons earlier. He seemed the patient and methodical type.

“Will this quest be classified as a personal mission?”

“It won’t. It’s a party mission, which means that you’ll all shoulder the burden of success or failure together.”

Galen’s words made the group murmur in surprise. Homura didn’t have much of a reaction, since she was informed ahead of time, but there was also another person who didn’t seem all that bothered.

She was a cat beastwoman who was probably from Mismede. She looked to be in her early twenties and had black hair. Her black cat ears poked out from her hair as well.

She wore light leather armor with a heavy knife at her waist. Her cat tail was tipped with white and flicked around behind her. Her outfit was clearly based around being speedy. She focused on agile slashes during the mock fight as well.

As I looked the girl over, a man from among the seven spoke up.

“Hold on now… Doesn’t that mean if someone here acts as a dead weight and fails, then we all fail?”

“That’s correct. You’ll all be sharing the burden.”

“Tsk… That’s ridiculous…”

The man grumbled quietly. He was almost two meters tall and had a pretty buff physique. He looked to be close to thirty and occasionally itched at his vibrant red hair. He wore armor that covered his torso and upper arms. He also had his hands, legs, and midsection covered securely as well. His weapon of choice was a broadsword.

I remembered being impressed when I fought him. He was definitely at least in the top two when it came to strength in the group. He was definitely used to fighting against people, so he had probably worked as a knight or hired blade before applying for the test.

“I wonder who the dead weight’ll be, hm? Depending on the quest, we might not need any meatheads…”

“You sayin’ somethin’?”

A woman sent a few biting, teasing words in the man’s general direction. She wore a sleeveless vest, and a pair of shorts with a heavy belt tied around them. Her right shoulder bore a snake tattoo, and she wore a whip around her waist.

She wore her dark, greyish hair tied up around the back of her head in order to keep it out of the way. She seemed to be in her early twenties.

Her arms were folded as she sidelong glanced toward the red-haired guy. Her chest already threatened to burst out of her shirt, but her folded arms just pushed them up even more. They were big… Really big…

Galen was already staring her up and down with a predatory gaze, despite his soft laughing. He wasn’t even blinking…

“You’re sayin’ someone as tough as me is dead weight?!”

“You definitely seem good at fighting folks, but how’s that gonna help us against monsters or beasts? You should go stock up on antivenom before we head out, or you’ll bite the dust fast.”

“Wh-What…?”

Seemed like the guy hadn’t even considered the possibility of poisonous attacks. That wasn’t a huge deal, though. Low-ranked adventurers typically didn’t get quests to kill poisonous creatures, and if they ever did, they’d be warned by the guild staff about it.

“Good grief… We’re going to be in a party, aren’t we? You two shouldn’t be squabbling already.”

The long-haired man from earlier stepped in between the two. He seemed fairly unassuming at first, but he was actually pretty powerful. He was at least on par with the red-haired guy. I wondered if he was of noble descent, given his general behavior… But his gear was all banged up and dirty. The only thing his sword had going for it was how resilient it was. It was possible he was from a disgraced noble family.

“Huh? Why do I gotta listen to someone like you…?”

“Because we’re sharing the burden. Emphasis on sharing. This isn’t an issue that’s just yours anymore.”

“Just so you all know, you can drop out here and now. You’ll be placed into the guild as a green-rank member, and start taking quests tomorrow.”

Everyone went quiet in response to Karina’s words. All seven of them were strong enough to be judged as green-rank, so we’d be fine with them stopping and simply going into the guild as-is.

“I got no plans’ve steppen oot, lassie. If ye pests wanna clear oot, then go fer it. But I’m stayin’ reet put.”

A dwarven man suddenly spoke up. He looked like a typical dwarf. Massive beard, short stature, broad shoulders. I had no idea how old he was. Even young dwarves tended to have big beards, and the older ones often lived much longer than a hundred years.

He wore a heavy battleax on his back and a little hatchet at his waist. He used both weapons well during the fight against me.

He probably came from the kingdom of Ryle. I wondered if he had connections to the team of dwarven technicians and engineers I’d met some time ago.

“I don’t intend on quitting here and now, but I’d like to hear the quest details before I actually lock myself into it.”

Another man from the group raised his hand. He looked to be in his late twenties and had a fairly stern face. He didn’t particularly stand out in any kind of way, except for his fanciful brown coat and the staff in his hands. It wasn’t like Galen’s cane, it was a legitimate magical tool, a staff to aid in the casting of spells.

The well-used staff had two spellstones embedded in it. One was brown, and the other was yellow. Respectively, they represented light and earth, and he wielded spells from both schools.

He’d used a lot of magic during the mock battle against me. He’d managed to chain together good spell combos like [Earthbind] and [Light Arrow], but took an awful lot of time to focus. He wouldn’t be able to win against anyone with sufficient experience against mages. I’d pretty much been able to dodge all of his spells, even if they were set up well.

His abilities were much better suited to fighting monsters or beasts, rather than people. He was basically the opposite of the red-haired guy.

“Mm… It seems fair to ask for more details, very well. The quest is to take place on the dungeon islands through Brunhild’s teleportation gates. You’ll be tasked with heading to one of the islands in particular and obtaining some spinfire weed from the mountains to the northernmost region. Look here.”

Galen held up an illustration I’d prepared. It was a grassy herb with blazing red leaves that spiraled off in a few different directions.

“You have three days to find it. There are a few dangerous monsters in the area, so you’ll be granted two platinum coins each.”

Hearing that caused a few of the group to open their eyes wide. I could understand why. Two platinum coins were basically close to two-million yen. Getting that much for only three days of work was unbelievably good.

This quest was deliberately designed to be a little too difficult for greenrankers. We’d also included our ninja and made sure there’d be no casualties during the quest either.

Also, the quest reward was irrelevant to whether or not they were promoted further. Even if they didn’t do well enough to be judged higher than green, they’d still get their coin if they succeeded.

But obviously, if they failed, that’d be a mark against their permanent records, too…

When all was said and done, nobody dropped out. Though they had a few individual issues, they ultimately agreed to take on the challenge as a sevenstrong party.

The guild staff went around to collect their signatures, and the Guildmaster gave the go-ahead. With that, they’d formally taken on the quest.

The ninja girl, Sarutobi Homura.

The stoic catgirl, Mew.

The red-haired warrior, Garron.

The busty tattooed girl, Rose.

The young man with long brown hair, Abert.

The rough-around-the-edges dwarf, Dom.

And finally, the all-too-serious mage, Surges Partes.

Aside from Homura and Surges, none of them had surnames. This was pretty common amongst adventurers. They were usually dirt-poor commoners who never knew their birthrights, or just didn’t get surnames. Though there were also those that hid their family names for whatever reason.

A lot of beastmen and demi-humans didn’t have surnames either. Or rather, they just used the name of their clan or where they were born as their surnames instead.

“The guild will cover your fee for entering the dungeon island zone, but any other costs need to be incurred on your own backs.”

“Huh? You aren’t even gonna give us rations or nothin’?”

“We already told you, did we not? We filed this as a proper quest. Why would the client care enough to put aside provisions for whoever decided to take it?”

“Tsk.”

Garron rolled his eyes in response to Galen’s words. That definitely varied by client. Some of them would provide supplies, while others wouldn’t care enough. There was also the option for the adventurer to negotiate before taking a quest, but ultimately it boiled down to “Don’t like it? Don’t take it.” I almost forgot to tell them one other thing.

“You’ll be followed by an invigilator from the guild.”

“Huh?! What for?!”

“This is still part of the ranking test. They’ll be there to judge you all individually. But don’t try to show off, either. If you end up failing because of that, you’re gonna get hefty negative marks.”

I answered Rose as best I could. I didn’t know why she was so surprised. The whole point of this was to evaluate them in the field.

If things got too bad, the invigilator would also step in to help them. It’s true it was a proper quest, but it was also a test. I didn’t want anyone dying on my watch.

“Any other questions?” The cat-eared girl, Mew, raised her hand slowly.

“Tell me about the weed.”

Some of the other wannabe adventurers looked confused as to why she asked that, but I just grinned toward Karina and Galen. Mew was more perceptive than I’d expected.

“Spinfire weed is a plant that grows in high altitude areas, typically appearing between summer and fall. It has a strong aroma, which lends itself well to spicy seasoning in food. The monster species known as the Fire Lizards adore eating this plant… which means that wherever you find it, you’ll surely find a Fire Lizard nest.”

When I finished speaking, some of the test participants had already gone white in the face.

■　■　■　■　■　■　■　■　■　■

■ Sarutobi Homura

Aha… I expected something like this. I did not expect the grand duke to concoct an easy test…

Most of the other participants did not seem all that shocked, but some did.

Fire Lizards were giant lizards with copper-colored skin. They had the unique property of releasing a burst of flame all around their bodies when enraged. The Fire Lizard’s body-slam technique was especially dangerous when combined with its flaming skin ability.

In Eashen, the creature was actually known as a Great Blazer, but I had never seen one before. There had never been any near my village.

Hmm… I was told this mission was not going to be too difficult. I probably should have switched out with Shizuku or Nagi…

Then again… That means I get two platinum coins too, right?! Ehehe… If I had that much money… I could eat all kinds of lovely snacks! I guess this is actually good news. I got pretty lucky!

I grinned slightly, but the grand duke glared at me. Even though he had changed his outward appearance, his actions were still pretty much the same.

Don’t worry, geez! I will do my job properly, I promise!

Matters pertaining to the guild were not exactly explicitly related to Brunhild, but I was a member of the knight order, which was more like the grand duke’s private security force. Thus, all I had to do was follow my orders! I was just glad that the grand duke did not give us particularly hard jobs.

If you ask me, boss-lady Tsubaki is the one who gives us the hard jobs. She works us to the bone! With such a harsh attitude, it is not any wonder that she is still single… Eek! What was that feeling just now?!

I looked around in confusion, feeling a rush of killing intent directed right at me. Oh gosh… I do not know where… but the boss-lady is here somewhere… She is so darned scary, e-eep! How can I tell that she is glaring harder now?!

“…Are you quite alright?”

The cat-eared girl turned to me with a look of concern. She must have noticed that I was sweating a lot.

“A-Ahaha… I am fine, yes! Very fine, thank you!”

“…Okay.” The cat-eared girl turned back to face the three examiners. Gradually, the killing intent aimed my way wore off.

Please don’t kill me… I assumed that she was going to be the invigilator that the grand duke had mentioned…

Still, that girl… Mew-san, seemed to have been worried about me. It was possible that she had just found me suspicious, but she seemed to be quite a nice person.

Internally, I noted, “Mew +1” on my mental scoring sheet… But it was not like her empathy was a good indicator of her skills as an adventurer.

“The seven of you have until sundown in three days to deliver the spinfire

weed. That’ll mark your quest as complete! Good luck.”

The three examiners, the grand duke included, headed off. And then, the Guildmaster followed suit. Now, all we had to do was get to work.

◇　◇　◇

The grand duke was gone, so it was up to us seven to figure out how to proceed.

“Shall we all make our preparations before meeting in front of the portals in an hour or so?”

“Hold it! When’d you start giving orders?”

Abert started forming a plan when Garron cut in and started yelling. Guys like him were definitely annoying, I did not like it one bit.

“I’m not giving orders, I’m just trying to help. Or do you want to figure out our next course of action?”

“There’s no need for that. All we need to do is get to the island and grab that grass as soon as possible, right? I can do that alone. I don’t need you guys dragging me down.”

This guy was sounding more and more like an idiot.

“You dumb? If you fail, then we fail together. I’m not gambling two platinum on you.”

The tattooed woman with the giant chest… or rather, Rose, started speaking down to Garron. Her way of speaking was a little cruel, but I generally agreed. Nobody was going to leave the hope for such a large amount of cash with someone they only just met.

Surges-san, the staff-wielding man, began walking away. He completely ignored the others. I wondered what was up with him.

“One hour, then. In front of the portals. See you there.”

He muttered quickly before walking off. He was just as selfish as Garron, but not quite in the same way.

The dwarf guy, Dom-san, then sternly walked off on his own. After that, Mewsan walked off as well.

“In an hour, then.”

“Gh…”

“Hmph.”

Garron, Rose, and Abert also parted ways. They probably realized that they were wasting time. I shook my head slightly and planted my hands on my hips.

“These guys certainly seem like a whole lot of trouble…”

“Adventurers are often quirky people with strange personalities. The higher the rank, the more eccentric they are.”

“I see, I see… That makes sense. Guess that explains why the grand duke is ranked gold already.”

“Karina, don’t just say whatever… That doesn’t make sense at all.”

“E-Eep, Grand Duke?! And Karina-sama?!”

I turned around to find the grand duke and his cousin Karina standing behind me. The grand duke had undone the spell on him and looked like his usual self. I quickly doubled back and bowed my head to him.

“Wh-Wh-What do you wish of me?”

“Nothing major, just wanted to wish you luck. You should know already, but your main mission here is to observe them in action, right? Don’t help them out too much just because you want the quest to go well, even if you become their friend.”

“O-Okay.”

That is a little rough…

“What exactly constitutes too much?”

“Like… if you became the main star of the party or something. Just don’t do anything too extravagant. You can’t afford to stand out. You need to be stoic and quiet, like a ninja.”

Stoic and quiet?! I’m basically the worst at that!

“Oh, this too. There’s three days worth of food in here, as well as some medication. It has [Storage] enchanted on it, so it can hold a lot.”

The grand duke created a small magic circle in the air, then pulled a bright green rucksack out from it.

Apparently, it was magically enchanted to have enhanced storage capacity. Plus, it was not heavy at all! I loved it. It also looked adorable.

“Can I keep this?”

“I mean… I basically gave you these supplies for the mission, yeah. Oh… you mean the rucksack itself? Sure, I guess.”

“Yippee!”

Ehehe… Shizuku and Nagi are gonna be so jealous.

“Just remember to report in occasionally. Hide your smartphone, too. Don’t let the others catch you with it.”

That was obvious! The only people in Brunhild with smartphones were those who had important jobs, people in positions of power, or those that had a connection with the grand duke.

Connections were not just family-based, either. That also extended to his friends. The innkeeper of the Silver Moon had a smartphone, and so did Renne the maid.

Of those three categories, I fell into the important jobs bucket. We ninjas were exactly that.

Anyone aware of the smartphone’s existence would also know that anyone who had one was closely associated with the grand duke of Brunhild. That generally meant they would not mess with you.

After all, this world was full of rumors about the grand duke. Some talked about how he mercilessly crushed the coup in Regulus, some said that he caused a beam of light to vaporize the former leader of Yulong, and others said that he had placed the king of Sandora in an infinite torture chamber. Those rumors sounded pretty silly to me.

“Alright, then! As Brunhild’s Intelligence Corpswoman, Sarutobi Homura! I will do my best!”

“Mhm, give it your best shot. Keep up the good work.”

The grand duke smiled and nodded. I am gonna do my best!

About an hour later, all seven of us were gathered at the portal. Everyone had some extra stuff with them. Dom-san the dwarf had the most, and I had the least. Or rather, what appeared to be the least. It was only a small rucksack on the outside.

“Don’t go askin’ us to share food with you later. You should’ve packed better.”

“Do not worry about me, hehe… I do not plan on making you give up anything you have, heh…”

“Tch… Cocky little brat.”

That guy was really annoying. I grinned and winked at Garron, but he just shrugged and turned around toward the portals. He clearly thought he was tough with that shield on his back.

“Let’s move, then.”

Abert carried on after Garron. Rose, Dom-san, Surges-san, and Mew-san headed off toward the portal too.

There were three portal gates that led to the dungeon islands. Each gate connected to a different island. We were aiming to go through the portal that led to the island that housed the Amaterasu dungeon.

“…Will you be okay without food?”

“Mm? Oh, I will! I am going to be fine, I promise.”

“I see…” Mew-san spoke up softly as she walked by my side. Her voice was more than a little distant, but she still seemed to be worrying about me.

It seemed as though the guild had already gotten in touch with the gatekeepers. Once they checked our guild cards, we were let through without any issue.

The gatekeepers were also members of the knight order. They knew me because I ate meals with them, and also from seeing me around town.

They pretended not to know who I was until the others went through the portal. After that, they grinned and flashed a thumbs-up at me. I could feel their motivation. I shot them a thumbs-up back, hopefully communicating that I was gonna do my very best.

As soon as I passed through the portal I came out into a mausoleum building and smelled the sea breeze drifting through. It wasn’t exactly an enclosed building or anything, it was basically a circular platform with a roof, supported by pillars instead of walls.

…I feel a little embarrassed that I never came to one of these islands before… I had always been too busy with missions or training to come to the dungeon islands. Not to mention the fact that I could not swim, either… That actively discouraged me from wanting to be near the seaside.

It is really hot here, though… But I also heard that it gets really cold at night… I did not know there were places with such wild temperature variation…

“Alright, let’s head to the area with the weed. There should be a bridge around here.”

“No shit. Nobody needs you callin’ the shots.”

Garron grumbled in Abert’s direction again. Abert heard him, but didn’t respond much.

Surges-san took a map out from his breast pocket and mulled it over.

“…About a kilometer to the north or so. The bridge’ll lead us to the little offshoot island with the spinfire weed.”

The dungeon islands were actually made up of about seven islands. The three main islands were the ones with the dungeons on them.

Tsukuyomi, Amaterasu, and Susanoo were actually just the names of the dungeons, though.

The islands were named by the grand duke. There was Sunday Island, Monday

Island, Tuesday Island, Wednesday Island, Thursday Island, Friday Island, and

Saturday Island. They had kind of weird names, but I was not in a position to complain.

Amaterasu Dungeon was located on Sunday Island, Tsukuyomi Dungeon was located on Monday Island, and Susanoo Dungeon was located on Wednesday Island.

So, with that knowledge in mind, we were on Sunday Island. The spinfire weed we needed was located on Tuesday Island.

It was the second-largest of the seven islands and also happened to be connected to Sunday Island by a bridge.

We walked for a short time before the bridge finally came into view. It was made of stone and stretched off far across the water.

“That’s amazing.”

“I heard that the grand duke of Brunhild built this bridge. It’s supposed to be enchanted with Fortification magic so it can’t wear down easily.”

“I heard there’s a barrier in place around it. Something about preventing beasts and monsters from approaching it. It’s certainly something special…”

Rose, Abert, and Surges-san all spoke out in awe when the bridge came into sight. All seven islands had been connected with bridges thanks to the grand duke. It would certainly take a while, but it was very much possible to walk over to any of the islands.

Only Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday Islands had portals installed on them, though. So if you walked off to an island without one, you would have to trek all the way back.

“Quit gawking, morons. Let’s go.”

“Shut up, bigmouth. We’re going!”

Rose snapped back at Garron’s provocation. I really wished that he would think a little more before talking.

We all walked atop the bridge. The view was so nice that I found myself focusing on it instead of the group, and ended up trailing a little bit behind the party as a result.

It is so hot here… Is that not a heat-haze over on the other end of the bridge…? Wow… I reached into my bag and grabbed a water bottle. After unscrewing the cap, I greedily chugged it down.

Whew, that hit the spot… That was so cold, too… Ahh… According to the grand duke, anything within my rucksack was frozen in time. That meant things would remain at the same temperature as they were when they were put in. Food would not rot or spoil, either. You could not put living things inside, though… But small animal corpses would probably be fine.

I put my bottle back in the rucksack, but caught sight of something in the sky. …Is there something flying above Tuesday Island? Wait… That cannot be…

I covertly triggered my mystic eye, taking care to ensure the other party members could not see what I was doing.

My mystic eye gave me the power to see things at a distance. I could also see through relatively simplistic obstacles in the distance, too.

The vision in my right eye magnified until… What the…?!

I saw a Dragon. It had glimmering scales that faintly pulsed with light. Its tail was long, and its wingspan was broad. It looked like its forearms were fused with its wings, which meant it was more of a Wyvern.

Wait… Wait… Why is there a Dragon on that island?! Wh-Wh-What do I do here?! Wyvern or not, a Dragon is still a Dragon, right?! There is just no way our party can hold our own against it. If I had my knight order gear, and Shizuku or Nagi on standby then maybe… But not like this!

I had heard that before I joined up, several members of the knight order fought against a whole Dragon army. They only managed to win because they used everything they had and had the support of the grand duke. I wondered how I would fare against even one of them.

Given that Tsubaki was overseeing all of this, I needed to inform her right away. I pretended to wipe sweat from my forehead as I covertly typed a message on my smartphone.

Beep

▼Wyvern in area. Pls advise.

A reply came by pretty quickly.

Beep

▽No issues with Wyvern. Continue mission.

What…?! Does she mean we have to take it out ourselves? I guess being able to react to new dangers on the fly is definitely a good trait for an adventurer to have, but this is a little ridiculous.

“Y’alright, lassie?”

“Oh, I am fine, thanks…”

“Divven’t keep yer feelins to yerself. We’d be in a reet bad pickle if ye collapsed’re summin.”

Dom-san, the dwarf, spoke to me with mild concern on his face. He was a little rough around the edges, but he seemed sincere.

It was the same with Mew-san earlier, too… It was likely that they considered me in need of babysitting since I was the youngest.

I looked up and saw that the Wyvern was gone. With any luck, it was just passing by, and would not show up again…

We headed off the bridge and stepped onto Tuesday island. Since we were no longer on the bridge, that also meant we were no longer protected by its barrier. Magic beasts or monsters could leap out at us at any moment.

Surges-san paused for a moment and took out a magnetic rock to determine his location. They sold those kind of goods at the Strand company store, but my smartphone was a lot more accurate in terms of positioning.

“It’ll be over there. Pretty sure the spinfire weed is located in that area.”

He pointed his staff over at a rust-colored mountain in the distance. It was really far away. I was not entirely convinced we could even make it there in a single day. Suddenly, I sensed something.

“Something’s coming.” Mew-san spoke before I could, alerting us to the incoming danger.

Everyone took a combative stance and glanced around the area. A few bushes ahead of us rustled here and there. Something was alive in there.

In a flash, an animal leaped out from the shade. We all relaxed when we realized it was just a little deer.

“Damn it… Got scared for a second…”

“Ahaha! That scared you? Are you a baby, meathead?”

“Shut it!”

Just as Garron and Rose started bickering, the cute little deer in front of us died. It was crushed between the jaws of a massive beast that had leaped out from behind it.

We could only stare on, shocked and horrified, as the sound of crunching bones and the smell off fresh blood weaved themselves through the air. The little deer’s head fell to the ground with a wet splat.

The monster, its mouth entirely glazed with blood, looked over at us. It had a lion-like head, a mouth lined with sharp fangs, and a striped body. Its mane was a bloody red, and its eyes were pure gold.

“A Blood Liger!” Rose identified it in no time at all.

Blood Liger? Uh… That’s a magic beast that lives in the mountains and, uh… Uhm… Oh geez… Aaah… boss-lady explained this once, right?! Why did I not pay more attention back then?!

“Groarrrrgh!”

The Blood Liger roared furiously at us, which was typically not a good sign. We quickly came to our senses and readied ourselves for battle.

“Get back, it’s—”

“Haaah!”

Rose called out, but Garron completely ignored her and charged right at the monster. He slashed downward at it, but it deftly avoided his attack. The Blood Liger quickly followed up with a massive swipe of its paw.

“Hah… No chance!”

Garron held up his shield and blocked the monster’s attack. He stood his ground, taking a hit that would have surely sent me flying. I was a little impressed.

“I said get back!”

“What?!”

Rose called out again, just seconds before the Blood Liger released a spew of fire from its mouth.

“Gwaaaah!”

Garron was engulfed in flames and forced to fall back. The Blood Liger attempted to pounce on top of Garron, but Dom-san threw his hatchet. His reaction times were incredible.

The Blood Liger leaped back, just narrowly avoiding the flying hatchet.

“Keep away from it! Those things can breathe fire, that’s what I was trying to say!”

Oh, right! They can totally breathe fire! I knew that!

Surges-san started chanting and wound up casting [Rock Crash], spawning a hefty boulder from nothing above the Blood Liger’s head. Unfortunately, he didn’t quite time it right, and the beast leaped to the side. The boulder shattered against the ground as it made impact.

“Don’t you have a faster spell?!”

“I need to focus on incantations to cast! Don’t ask me to do the impossible!”

Abert thrust his blade toward the Blood Liger as he complained about Surgessan’s abilities. Rose then jumped in from behind and used her whip to grab the monster’s attention.

“We’ll handle this for now. Go help that brash moron!”

Surges-san ran over to Garron and started casting Healing magic on him.

“Ey, lassie! Dinnae swing yer whip around here! I’ll hit ye by accident!”

Dom-san was about to bring his battleax crashing down on the Blood Liger, but Rose’s whip ended up getting wrapped around him. The situation was really bad. They could not co-operate at all.

I took out a few pointy bo-shurikens from inside my clothes and tossed them toward the Blood Liger’s head. One of the bo-shurikens embedded in the monster’s eye. I wish I could have taken credit for such a great shot, but it was a pure coincidence…

“Graaaaaagh!” The one-eyed Blood Liger turned around and charged right at me. But I was not about to let him catch me so easily.

I jumped up and grabbed a tree branch, then swung around it once and leaped to another. The Blood Liger was chasing after me, but I was leaping from branch to branch with ease. This was my special Sarutobi jutsu, the leaping monkey style.

Once I was far away from the rest of the party, I stopped on the ground and unsheathed my ninjato blade.

It wasn’t all that fast, in all honesty. Compared to Moroha-sama, it moved like a slug. I could easily read its movements. So long as I avoided the flames, I was sure I could kill it myself.

But that was a bad thing. I was told not to stand out, and I definitely could not kill the first major enemy of the quest alone…

I had no idea what to do. The enraged Blood Liger shambled toward me, various liquids spewing from its mashed eyeball.

“I definitely should not kill it alone…”

My job here is to make sure that everyone else gets to kill it! I took out a tiny bottle of liquid and splashed it over my blade.

“Grarrrgh!”

“Hup!” I jumped to the side and nicked the Blood Liger’s shoulder with my weapon, just enough to make a shallow cut. That was all I needed. Now, all I had to do was wait for the poison to take effect.

The liquid I had applied to my weapon was a toxic extract from one of Eashen’s death frogs. It was a poison that paralyzed the body and slowed down respiration. The more the target moved, the faster they would be affected. It just looked like lethargy at a glance, but it was far more deadly.

I just had to go back and let the others finish it off.

Just as I turned, I saw Mew-san appear from the treeline. She jumped down and slashed at the Blood Liger. Her blade struck true, lopping its meaty tail off in a matter of seconds.

“GYRAAAUUUGH!”

The Blood Liger turned around, screeching and spewing flames at Mew-san. Abert suddenly appeared from nowhere, jumping in front of Mew-san to block the flames with his shield.

Not smart, Abert…

“…O-Ow! Ow!”

Though he managed to block the flames for a short while, he quickly winced in pain and threw his metal shield to the ground. That much was obvious. What was he expecting to achieve by trying to block something hot with a conductive item?

Surges-san charged in and cast [Light Arrow] from the rear guard. Three shots rang out, but only one of them landed a hit on the Blood Liger’s head.

The Blood Liger started to shudder and tremble. I did not know if that was a result of the magic attack making a direct hit, or the poison I had inflicted earlier. One thing was for sure, though. It was growing weaker.

“Hah!”

“Eat this!”

Rose’s whip reached out and wrapped around one of the Blood Liger’s forelegs. At the same time, Dom-san jumped in and dug his battleax deep into the beast’s other foreleg.

“Grauuugh?!” The Blood Liger’s eye narrowed. I could see the anguish and rage contained within the beast as it wobbled from side to side and fell to the ground.

Abert, Dom-san, and Mew-san brought their sword, knife, and battleax down upon the monster. I just stood by and watched it happen.

“Outta the way, idiots!”

Garron finally caught up with us, running straight toward the Blood Liger. He brought his heavy sword up high above the feline’s head.

The sheer brute force behind the swing crushed the creature’s skull, shattering it along the muzzle and obliterating its mouth.

The Blood Liger, well and truly suiting its name at this point, finally stopped moving.

“That’s what you get, bastard!”

…Man, he just stole the kill even though he did not actually do a thing… Geez. He had made another mistake, too.

“What the hell did you do that for?!”

“Huh?! Whaddya mean?! I killed it!”

Rose raised an angered voice toward Garron. I was pretty tired of seeing them fight, but I understood why someone as discerning as Rose would understand his error.

“A Blood Liger’s incisors are extremely valuable items! You just crushed them into dust, so now they won’t sell for anything at all! You pigheaded oaf, you just cost us a serious score!”

“Guh…”

I knew all that. It was not just specific to Blood Ligers, actually. Any kind of magical beast incisors of that size and sharpness could fetch a pretty penny, but Garron’s reckless attack had smashed these ones to little bits.

The larger the fang, the higher the value as a crafting ingredient. But if they were broken, then they were useless. Item value was one of the main things an adventurer needed to pay attention to when fighting.

Mew-san gently eased the remaining teeth fragments out of the Blood Liger’s mouth. She then expertly de-clawed its paws, as well.

“I’d want the pelt as well, but we can’t bring it with us…”

“Mm? Why not? If we can sell it off, we’ll help you take it apart.”

“Lugging around a Blood Liger pelt would put unnecessary strain on the rest of the mission. The scent of its blood would attract other monsters to us as well.” Rose grumbled quietly in response to Abert’s question.

This tattooed, busty woman certainly knew a lot about handling wildlife. She was probably a hunter or poacher before she decided to become an adventurer. I felt a little bad, since I could have used the rucksack I had received from the grand duke to safely store the pelt without any issues…

“Just bury the pelt, aye? We kin git it on our way back!”

Dom-san shrugged and spoke pretty matter-of-factly, prompting Mew-san and Rose to start skinning the creature. Nobody wanted to get in their way, so we all stood back and watched.

“Can we harvest it for food?”

“Sure. You enjoy the taste of old boots?”

Abert asked another question, which resulted in a dry response from Rose.

The meat of a carnivore typically tasted pretty bad. It was usually stringy, too.

There were rare exceptions, of course. Dragon meat actually tasted incredible… But it was not as if I got to eat that regularly or anything.

Abert and I looked on as the two girls harvested the Blood Liger, while Domsan, Surges-san, and Garron sat down nearby. Once the two finished, we buried the pelt and skin beneath a large tree a bit away from the corpse.

Dom-san carried the teeth fragments and the claws. Once the mission was over, we all agreed to split whatever the materials sold for.

“Let’s carry on. Nightfall is soon, we need to reach the base of the mountain by then.”

Abert was right. It was dangerous to travel in the wilderness at night. Monster attacks intensified under the cover of darkness, and it was easier to get lost in low light.

We quietly continued on toward the foot of the mountain. We kept on going, taking out small creatures that got in our way. Eventually, we came to a sudden stop as a shrill, bird-like chirping resounded all around us.

“What is that?! A monster?!”

“It’s a Horolo Bird. It’s a magical beast, but not one that’ll be a threat. It tries to scare predators away with its noises…” Mew-san spoke casually while continuing to walk ahead. That was enough for us all to calm down, and we carried on after her. Rose quickly caught up to Mew-san and began engaging her in conversation.

“You sure know a lot about magic beasts.”

“I was born in Mismede, in a village close to the Sea of Trees.”

“Ahhh, makes sense. I used to work at the hunter’s association up in the imperium, so I know about the kinds of magic beasts you find up that way…

Can’t say I know all that much about southern ones, though.”

That made sense. Rose’s knowledge about magical beasts made more sense now that I knew for sure she was a former hunter. I wondered why she changed her career path.

“You’re from the east, right? I’m assuming based on your clothes.”

“Huh?”

Rose turned around and threw a question my way. She probably thought it would be easier to talk to me and Mew-san since we were the only girls.

“Y-Yeah! I was born in Eashen.”

“Eashen, eh? You sure have traveled quite far… Isn’t the grand duke of

Brunhild from Eashen as well? Is that why you came here?”

“Ah… Y-Yes. That is why!”

I sounded a little bit stilted, but I was not exactly a great liar.

The grand duke was not actually from Eashen, but that was a pretty common rumor at this point.

Brunhild was formed when the grand duke received a plot of land from Belfast and Regulus, and brought in the ninja clan headed by Tsubaki. After that the Elite Four of Takeda came in with their men as well, so Brunhild was almost completely founded by the Eashenese people.

The architecture and food of Brunhild were also somewhat Eashen-like, which contributed to the misunderstanding. That did raise the question of where the grand duke actually came from, though. I wondered if it was Yulong, but I did not believe he would let his homeland decay like that.

“Ah…”

“Something wrong?”

Mew-san, who had been leading us, suddenly came to a stop. Rose stopped too. The cat ears atop Mew-san’s head started twitching.

“Water flow… We’re near a river.”

“A river?” Rose turned and had Surges-san check the map.

“There’s a river on the map, yeah. If we move along it upward, we’ll reach the mountain’s base.”

Surges-san looked over the map before speaking to Rose. We all had a copy of the island map, but Surges-san had the most detailed one available. The pricier the map, the better the information.

Heh… But the map on my smartphone was actually a lot more accurate! It even showed our location in relation to everything else. I could not use it, though. We eventually reached the river and started heading upstream.

Walking by the river had its perks, but also its downsides. Magical beasts were living beings as well, so they would eventually need to drink water. That meant there was a slightly higher chance of running into one by a fresh water source. But one of the pros was that it was a clear area, which meant we would have a good line of sight against any enemies in the area.

We kept on walking along the riverside, without encountering a single magical beast at all. I was surprised at our luck.

The sun sank before we reached the base of the mountain, so we decided to make camp a little bit away from the riverside. We picked up some dried branches and leaves, before setting up a small campfire.

“Where are you headed? It’s dangerous to go alone.”

I tried to sneak away from the fireside, but Rose caught me out.

“J-Just going to, uh… take care of some business.”

“Ohh… I get it. Stay safe!”

Rose smiled and waved me off as I headed deeper into the woodland.

I was not actually going to use the bathroom, I was going to eat. But once I saw what meal was in my rucksack, there was no way I was going to eat it in front of the others. I climbed up to the top of a tree and took it out of my bag.

“…If I ate this in front of the others, Grand Duke… they would suspect me immediately.”

The right half of the ornate bowl I’d taken out was filled with rice. The left half was filled with thick cully, which smelled really nice and spicy… There was also a lovely fukujinzuke relish atop it… I couldn’t mistake this dish at all. It was a hefty serving of delicious cully rice.

Our grand duke was certainly a strange guy, giving me something so good.

“Ah… This tastes so good!”

Cully rice was a masterwork of mealtime deliciousness. But I had implied to Rose that I was relieving myself, so I could not sit back and enjoy it leisurely.

That being said, it was actually pretty nice just wolfing it down as fast as I could… It was truly delicious, after all.

I finished eating and drank from my water bottle, then sent an update to the grand duke. No issues so far… Sent…

It wasn’t like there were not any small issues, though… The Blood Liger fight honestly gave me some cause for concern. They kept getting in the way of each other, after all.

I was not exactly expecting stellar teamwork from such a ramshackle party, but being able to adapt was a valuable skill for adventurers to have. I could not say for sure that it meant they would fail, but it was not exactly promising.

I decided to hurry back to prevent any strange suspicions or misunderstandings.

My tummy was well and truly filled. I headed back to the campfire and lay down on the grass a little bit away from the others.

All the others were eating the food they had brought. In terms of travel provisions, adventurers usually brought dried meats, smoked fish, legumes, and dried fruit since they kept well. But this was a short mission, so there was some bread and fresh fruit as well.

“Mm…? I smell cully…”

“I don’t smell anything. I guess you’re just missing food from your homeland.

Anyone would if they had to eat bread this gross.”

Mew-san started sniffing the air. Her nose twitched. Rose tapped her on the shoulder and grinned.

Mew-san turned her head and stared me down. I pretended like I did not notice. Beastpeople had strong noses… I was worried she had exposed me. I looked over at the others and found Dom-san was stirring a pot of meat and veggie soup. He even had some alcohol with him.

Abert walked over to the dwarf and folded his arms.

“Really? Drinking? What if we’re attacked in the night?”

“Divven be a fool, laddie! Booze is jus’ water tae a dwarf. Ye gonna banish me drink frum me?”

Abert just sighed and shut his mouth. Dwarves were certainly heavy drinkers, but I knew another short person who could drink them all under the table.

That girl was surprisingly adept at staying sober even if she looked drunk to outsiders. I had a strange feeling that she was capable of controlling her sobriety, but I had no way of proving it. Either way, she had beaten several dwarves in a drinking contest once and it left me terrified of her power.

She managed all that despite looking like a girl far younger than me… The grand duke’s family was made up of strange, scary people.

Abert turned from Dom-san and started to address everyone else.

“We need to keep the fire going all night. How’re we gonna handle the rota?”

I covertly checked my smartphone for the time. It was around eight o’clock at night. It would be about nine hours until sun-up.

We decided to split it with two people on watch, then two people on watch, then three. We did not just want one person on watch, because if they fell asleep then there would be nobody keeping an eye out on the situation. With two or more people, we would have our bases covered.

I briefly wondered how we were gonna get paired up, but Rose just dragged me and Mew-san into a group of three with her… I certainly was not complaining.

After that, it came down to deciding how to split up the men. We figured it would be troublesome if Abert and Garron joined up together, so we decided that Dom-san and Garron should be one team, while Abert and Surges-san would be another team.

Then, we had to decide the order. We settled on the girls guarding first, then Abert and Surges-san, then Dom-san and Garron. Abert and Surges-san got the worst of it, since they had to wake up in the middle of the night.

The night dragged on, which meant it got a lot colder. The others took out heavy fur capes and draped them over themselves as they settled in for sleep.

We three girls took out our capes as well, draping them around our shoulders.

We would be able to reach the weed we were after by noon the next day, assuming all went to plan. Ideally, there would not be any Fire Lizards or anything, either. Adult Fire Lizards could reach pretty huge heights, and they liked to move in big groups.

I looked up and found Rose scanning the area.

“Mm? Something wrong?”

“No, I’m just wondering if that guild invigilator might be out there… I can’t sense anyone, so I was wondering if they’re actually watching us.”

She is. Fufu… You fool! I might not be the invigilator, but I am right here!

Tsubaki is definitely out there too, but she would never let a novice adventurer like you detect her presence.

“I bet there’s one out there, yeah. Probably from Brunhild’s intel corps… Someone way beyond adventurers-to-be like us.”

Mew-san voiced her suspicions. She was certainly perceptive. Rose responded by quirking a brow and tilting her head in surprise.

“Why would someone from Brunhild’s government be involved in this? Isn’t this just a guild thing?”

“One of our examiners is related to the grand duke of Brunhild. That’s what I’m basing my suspicion on, anyway. Plus, we’re doing the mission on Brunhild territory. I imagine they’ll have someone keeping an eye on us in case things get dangerous.”

…You are very keen-sensed, Mew-san. Rose glanced around a few more times, but ultimately gave up on looking for anyone else. She turned back to Mew-san.

“So that means if things go bad, we’ll be saved?”

“Maybe. But that means we’d fail the test. No rank increase, no reward, no glory or satisfaction.”

“That’d be bad… But I’m honestly a little relieved. That means we’ll be okay no matter what.”

“You should not put all your stock into being saved by invisible others.” I interjected a bit into their conversation.

“Yeah, you’re right. If someone is watching us, then they’re probably just tasked with monitoring us. They’d probably only step in if things were extremely dangerous. Maybe they’d cut in if we were gonna lose a limb or have permanent damage done to us, but I’m not so sure they would swoop in if some mediocre level of danger appeared. Maybe if a monstrous beast of unprecedented strength appeared, but we shouldn’t rely on them.”

“You have a point. There’s no guarantee they’ll save us, so we shouldn’t count on it.”

Mew-san and Rose nodded. There was still a chance we could suffer major injury before Tsubaki stepped in. Then again, that was why I was there to begin with. I would be able to buy precious time in an emergency.

“Mm… Adventuring really is dangerous, huh?”

“You can make a lotta cash, though. If we succeed here that’s two whole platinum.”

“That is definitely nothing to sniff at… Wonder what I should buy.” I briefly fantasized about spending my money.

The knight order wages were not exactly luxurious, but we definitely got a lot of perks to make up for that. We could use the gaming room whenever we wanted, and we were even fed for free. The grand duke provided our basic living needs, so the relatively low pay did not really bother us since we could use it for disposable income.

Now and then the grand duke put extra cash in our pay packets as a bonus, too.

I wondered if the reward for this quest was his way of paying me a bonus…

“The pay’s so good it’s almost suspicious…”

“They probably want us to buy good equipment with it afterward. Because if we get promoted, then we’ll be getting quests that are higher in difficulty, so we’ll need—”

“Kin a dwarf not git some shuteye roond ‘ere?! Ye lassies gotta stap yer jibberin’!”

Dom-san’s irritated yelling overpowered Rose’s voice. The three of us sighed quietly and looked at each other. Perhaps we had been a little too loud.

We continued looking out for danger, quietly this time. Eventually, we started up a conversation again, but made sure to use gentler voices.

◇　◇　◇

“It’s morning. Time to get up.”

“Mh…?”

I opened my eyes to find Mew-san gently tapping my shoulders. After passing off the watch to Surges-san and Abert, I immediately laid down. It still took me a while to get to sleep, so I did not really feel all that well-rested.

I woke myself up by splashing river water in my face. The sky was already fairly bright.

Abert checked everyone was in the area before speaking.

“Alright, team! We need to find that weed before nightfall.”

“We should pay attention to our surroundings as we carry on. We’ll have no idea where to expect the weed.”

The spinfire weed was found in mountainous areas, so we were honestly pretty close to places where it could be found.

We needed to keep our eyes peeled because we did not want to accidentally walk past any.

We carried on along the mountain path, keeping our eyes wide open as we went. After about a three-hour walk, the forested area parted and the path ahead became considerably rockier. We had a much higher chance of finding the spinfire weed in a place like this.

There were a few plants here and there, but it was not what we were after. There were boulders taller than Garron all over the place, so it was kind of hard to see. It was proving quite the hassle.

“What should we do, gang? Split up and search for clues?”

“Oh aye, an’ end up Fire Lizzie chow? Not on my nelly we ain’t.”

“If we keep going as a group we’ll waste time. We’ll cover more ground apart.

We’re not gonna make the quest deadline at this rate!”

Surges-san and Dom-san gave different answers to Abert’s proposition. It was true that we might end up wasting time, but still…

“I’ll go find it myself! You idiots! Are gonna waste all our time by arguing?!”

Garron grunted before heading off on his own. He did raise a reasonable point, though.

“What a selfish guy…”

“True, but he’s still not wrong. The longer we stand worrying, the less time we have.”

Surges-san split off from the group and began looking on his own as well. The rest of the group all shrugged and sighed before separating.

I headed up to the tallest rock in the area and started scanning the area with my mystic eye. Then, I stopped because I had actually forgotten to get permission. Finding the weed was part of the quest, so I did not know if I was actually allowed to help them find it or not.

I had no idea, so I decided to ask the boss-lady.

Beep

▼Boss, can i find the grass 2 or iz that bad?

After a few moments, I got a reply.

Beep

▽Weed is good. Continue mission.

Guess it is fine, then! Time to look around!

I could not find it at all…

I had spent hours searching, but it yielded nothing. I began to wonder if there actually was any spinfire weed at all.

Maybe the spinfire weed is the friendship we forged along the way… Maybe they just wanted to see how we would act in pursuit of spinfire weed… No way, that cannot be it at all. I bet the grand duke came to the island earlier and picked all the spinfire weed in the easy-to-find places. That sounds exactly what he would do…

I did not think he would be so evil as to make us hunt for something that was not there… It was probably just in a really hard-to-find area.

“Oof… My back kinda hurts… I bent down too much.”

I stood up straight and stretched a bit. My back was sore, which was not too surprising. I rested my hands against my waist and bent backward.

The world turned upside-down. I had a pretty flexible body, so bending backward and looking behind me was not that big of a deal. Suddenly, I froze up. Something was standing behind me.

A large, scale-covered body, a rusty copper color… Thick tail, sharp claws… Slit-like eyes that stared at me unblinking.

We made eye contact.

I quickly righted my body’s position as the Fire Lizard jumped at me.

“Eeek!” I dodged its attack with a hard turn to the side. I took out a few boshurikens and launched them at the creature, but they just pinged off its body. It was tougher than I thought! The Fire Lizard roared out in anger after being attacked, and flames erupted all over the surface of its body.

“…Just my luck.”

I pulled out my ninjato and held it in a combative stance. I had no idea what to do. If I pulled out the poison like earlier, it would just melt in the heat. I doubted I could even pierce those scales to begin with.

Man, if only Shizuku was here… She can use water-based ninjutsu really well, so those flames would not stand a chance… I specialize in fire ninjutsu, so what am I supposed to do?!

“Not like I can run, though… I guess nobody else is around, so this should be fine…”

I moved upwind of the Fire Lizard, reached into my sleeve, and released a small bag of powder. The powder had been harvested from another magical beast, Noir Butterflies.

“Greuugh?!”

The powder hit the Fire Lizard in the face, blinding it instantly. Even if it was a Fire Lizard, it was not as if it could shoot fire from its eyes. That was why I knew it would be a weak spot.

It could no longer see, so I did not want to squander my opportunity.

I started picking up heavy rocks in the area and pelting them at the Fire Lizard. Blunt attacks were the way to go against powerful foes, after all.

“Greh! Gryeeeh!”

I had thrown a few hefty stones at its head, so it was definitely a lot more

dazed than before. I did not like to boast about it, but I was fairly physically strong. I could easily lob rocks bigger than a human head. Some people once tried to tell me that it was not a very womanly trait, but I definitely did not care about things like that.

“Greuuurgggyyyeeeh!”

“Ack! That was a close one!”

The Fire Lizard vomited flames from its mouth in a fashion similar to that of the Blood Liger.

“Bastard!”

“Greugh!”

I picked up a few larger rocks and started hurling those as well.

Eventually, after a few more choice smacks to the noggin, it stopped moving. The fire on its body also went out. It shuddered and breathed its last atop a stony surface.

Woohoo! Victory is mine! I do not even care if that was completely unninjalike at all! Victory is all that counts, damn it! I poked a bit at the dead Fire Lizard. It was not hot, surprisingly. It was actually kind of cold, which was sorta gross.

I had no idea what kind of raw materials were best harvested from Fire Lizards. Hopefully not the skin, given how hard I had bruised it with the rocks.

Mew-san or Rose would probably know best. I briefly considered going back to ask them, but finding the spinfire weed was more important.

The presence of a Fire Lizard probably meant that the weed I was searching for was nearby.

Just as I was about to continue my search, a burst of light illuminated the sky.

It was not lightning, either. It was quite a sunny day. The rapid flashing was coming from someplace to the north.

It was likely [Flash], a Light spell. That meant Surges-san was the source.

Is that meant to be a signal? Maybe he found the grass, or… I gulped in fear as my eyes scanned over the dead Fire Lizard. I immediately started running toward the light.

I reached the location, a small canyon between rocky outcroppings, and found Surges-san, Garron, and Dom-san all surrounded by a group of Fire Lizards. They had clearly been chased into the canyon area and trapped by a pincer formation.

Garron and Dom-san were bearing the brunt of the Fire Lizard’s intense heat, while Surges-san cast magic from the back lines.

Surges-san suddenly cast [Light Arrow] from behind Garron’s shield, sending a few projectiles out.

The beams pelted into three Fire Lizards, but aside from causing them to stagger a little, no real damage was actually done.

The strength of a spell was determined by a user’s experience, and the amount of magic they poured into it. I felt a bit bad saying it, but Surges-san did not seem like that good of a spellcaster.

Well, if he poured all of his magic into his spell, it was likely that he would be able to kill a good amount of them, but then he would just collapse from mana exhaustion.

I threw a couple of bo-shurikens at the Fire Lizards near Dom-san. The shurikens could not hurt them, but it distracted them long enough for Dom-san to take advantage of their openings and slash them with his battleax.

He swung his weapon to the side and held up his shield before getting into a better defensive position.

After a while, Mew-san, Rose, and Abert appeared. It was now all seven of us versus the Fire Lizards, but the three down in the canyon area were still trapped…

I knew how to deal with it, but I was told not to stand out too clearly. I just sighed, shook my head, and decided I had to help them.

“Dom-san! Raise your shield and brace yourself!”

Dom-san did not really understand why I yelled that, but he held his shield up anyway. I took out a few devices from a pouch tied at my waist and lobbed them at the Fire Lizards near Dom-san.

In a matter of seconds, a loud explosion rang out. The Fire Lizards were blown sky-high, as well as chunks of rock. Dom-san held his shield up, preventing him and the others from being pelted with debris.

The Fire Lizards were confused by the sudden explosive attack, but so were Dom-san, Garron, Surges-san.

“Get over here, you three!”

“Mm? A-Ah, yeah!”

Garron and the others ran past the fallen Fire Lizards and regrouped with the rest of us. We quickly decided to move to the exit of the canyon area, so we would not be caught in a pincer attack again.

“Hey, short stuff! You got more of those?!”

“Do not call me that! And yes, I do, but…”

“Then toss them already!”

“No way, idiot! Do you know how expensive those grenades were?! You gotta enchant them to get them made! It cost me like three silver coins for just one, do you get it?! That is three nice, fancy meals per one grenade! Meathead!

Idiot!”

I started yelling at Garron because I was stressed, which prompted Rose to place a hand on my shoulder.

“Easy there! I get they’re expensive, but this could be life or death. When we get our reward we’ll reimburse you, okay?”

…Oh, you will? You better not go back on that promise. It is not as if regular knights get them as standard issue or anything! I paid for them with my allowance. The grand duke would not just hand them out!

After everyone agreed to reimburse me, I took out my koga grenades from my pouch. I had three left. It would not be enough to simply kill the Fire Lizards alone, but we would be able to weaken them, disorient them, and then finish them off.

“Take this!”

I tossed the grenades at various areas where the Fire Lizards had gathered.

Boom! Kaboom! Shakoom! Three loud blasts rang out, sending more Fire Lizards hurtling into the air. They came crashing back to the ground with considerable injuries.

“Go! Start with the weakest ones and work your way up!”

We all followed Garron’s lead and started killing the immobilized ones first. We decided to prioritize killing them over preserving parts we could harvest.

None of the Fire Lizards were capable of fighting at this point. They were either too disoriented from the blast to fight, or already running away. I leaped from one to the next, stabbing the blade of my ninjato into their soft bellies, or slitting their throats.

Finally, Dom-san tore the last Fire Lizard in half, and we could finally relax.

“…Now that was dangerous.”

“Aye, sure was. Without the wee lassie’s blasters, we mighta been deed.”

Abert and Dom-san breathed heavily as they spoke. I kind of resented being considered a little girl, though…

“Thanks, you really saved us.”

“No worries, honestly…” I gave a dismissive wave to Mew-san’s compliments.

Honestly this is pretty bad… I took an active role when I should not have… I hope this is okay, I would not want them to make us take the test again because of this or something… I stood up, quietly praying that the boss-lady would not reprimand me for what I did.

There were various Fire Lizard corpses around the area.

“Can we profit off these at all?”

“The Fire Lizards? A little bit, I guess. The skin’s the most valuable thing about them, but there are monsters out there with better quality, tougher hides. It’s cheap, for the most part.”

I was a bit disappointed with Rose’s response. We’d done a whole lot of work for a whole lot of nothing.

“Why were there so many Fire Lizards, anyway? Did you guys screw up?”

“No! We found a buncha Fire Lizards and started fighting them, then more and more kept showing up!”

They ended up surrounded before they even knew it. That was definitely a screw-up that no experienced adventurer would have made… Minus points…

I sighed as Abert and Garron started squabbling again, but then Mew-san started sniffing the air.

“Oh!”

Mew-san started walking toward the small canyon area. W-Wait! Is that not dangerous? There might be more Fire Lizards…

I followed after Mew-san, and the others came up from behind me too. We headed through the small canyon and came out the other end, only to find a whole field of spinfire weed. It was spread out ahead of us like a vast red carpet.

“Wow…”

“This is amazing…”

Abert and Garron stared in disbelief, while Surges-san reached down and cut off some of the plants at the stem.

“Mhm… This is spinfire weed.”

“Ahaha… Woo! We did it!”

“Yep. We did.”

Rose hugged Mew-san, and the two smiled broadly.

The whole area was surrounded by massive boulders, so there was no way my mystic eye could have seen through it. It was like a hidden garden in the middle of a rocky danger zone.

“Mm… Well, this explains the number’ve beasties.”

Dom-san was probably right. This hidden oasis was likely their feeding

grounds. It was also a place they would want to fiercely defend. “Alright, team. Let’s all take a few bundles of the weed each.”

Everyone agreed with Abert, picking up the spinfire weed and pocketing it.

The quest had only demanded a little bit, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

Plus, there was always the chance of the weed being valuable on the market. It seemed like everyone else was thinking that too, since they took as much as they could carry.

Everyone breathed out a sigh of relief and started chattering, probably because the main objective had been secured.

“This honestly ended up being easier than I expected.”

“Easy, eh? Weren’t you the one in danger during the Blood Liger fight?”

“Well, let’s just be thankful that we can get two whole platinum coins from this.”

“Yeah, it’s just… There’s something that doesn’t feel quite right here…”

“…Mm. You too, lassie?”

“Getting two platinum coins for such little relative effort… Was this really all there was to it?”

As the six of them talked to each other, I suddenly spotted something strange at the top of a nearby mound of rocks.

I jumped up there to get a closer look. For some reason, the top of this rocky outcropping had straw, grass, and other plants laid out atop it. The top of the rock had also been carved out like a bowl as if something had created a safe resting area.

H-Hold on… This kind of resembles a nest… But… Oh no… Wait… Why is there so much spinfire weed, anyway…? Why did the Fire Lizards not eat most of it…? Wait… Maybe there is a reason they did not eat it, even if they wanted to… Oh. Oh no. I get it… Whatever nests here… The Fire Lizards can only come in and eat a little bit while it is away… Because if they were found out, then they would be in some serious danger…

“Everyone! We have to get out of h—”

“GRAAAAAARRRGH!!!”

A creature appeared above us, letting out a piercing roar. This was the owner of the nest I had stumbled upon.

Sharp fangs, and scales that faintly pulsed with light… A long neck, and a malicious-looking barbed tail… Its forearms were long and twisted, fused with its wings.

It was a Wyvern.

Two deep crimson eyes glared down at us as if the beast was sneering.

◇　◇　◇

This was bad. This was really, really, really bad. A Wyvern was way too much for us to handle… I did not have my knight order gear, and I had wasted all my grenades on the Fire Lizards! I definitely was not capable of bringing down a whole gosh-darned Wyvern on my own! Maybe if it was not airborne, but it did not seem all that eager to have a ground-based battle.

It flapped its wings, staying aloft and glaring at us. I leaped down from the nest area and joined the others, taking care not to spook the flying creature above.

“Wh-What the hell… Why is there a Wyvern here?”

“Wyverns are red targets… What are we supposed to do?!”

Rose and Surges-san stood frozen in fear, like prey being sized up by a predator.

When the grand duke was just a normal adventurer, he had killed a Black Dragon by himself and earned the Dragonslayer title. But obviously, he was no ordinary man. We could not do what he did.

Plus, while Black Dragons were red targets like Wyverns, there was a difference between the two. Black Dragons were considered true Dragons, but Wyverns were not. Even if we beat the Wyvern here, none of us would get the title the grand duke received.

Though, that was fine by me. If an actual Dragon showed up we would’ve been dead already.

If you thought about it in terms like that, it was probably better that we were only facing a Wyvern.

“Everyone, listen… We need to back off slowly. If we move slow and show the Wyvern we have no hostile intentions, then we might be able to leave without upsetting it. So long as we stay very quiet and move very slowly, we—” My words were cut off by a very loud, very metallic clang.

WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!

I turned to find Garron, who had dropped his shield against a rock by mistake. OH COME ON…

“I-I’m sorry! My handle snapped off, and…”

“GRARRRGH!”

The Wyvern roared furiously before spewing several fireballs in our general direction.

“Run!”

We all scattered, avoiding the fireballs. The blasts from the monster instantly seared the ground and charred the rocks where we had been standing. If that had hit any of us, we would have been cooked alive.

What do we do?! Fight it?! B-Boss-lady and the others should know something is up, right?! Do we really have to buy time until then? Can we even buy time until then?!

“H-Hey, what do we do?!”

“Don’t ask me! You’re the one who upset it!”

“Shut up, idiots! We do not have time to argue!”

You dumbasses… Gah… There really is not another way here. I wanted to stick to the mission, but someone could seriously die here… I have no real choice at this point.

“Listen, guys. I need you all to run. I will draw it away from us.”

“W-Wait a sec. You mean to be the bait?!”

“I am the fastest of us, am I not?” I grinned toward Rose.

“I refuse… I’ll stay too.”

“Mew-san… I’m thankful for your feelings, but it’ll be easier on my own. To be honest, if I have to worry about you, it’ll be harder for me to escape.”

I didn’t want her to find my words cruel, but I also didn’t want us both getting in needless danger.

“But we can’t just leave you alone!”

“You can, and you will. Now get going!”

Abert was about to speak up, but I cut him off and ran full-pelt toward the Wyvern.

I took out a few bo-shurikens and lobbed them toward the Wyvern’s eyes. Frustratingly, it dodged them with little effort.

I ran even further from the rest of the group and continued throwing different items up at the Wyvern.

I looked back at the others and found they were hesitating. Run, you idiots!

I tossed up the vial of poison that I had used against the Blood Liger and waited until it was in the air above the Wyvern.

Then, I expertly launched a bo-shuriken at the bottle, shattering it in the air.

The liquid glimmered in the sunlight as it rained down onto the Wyvern’s body.

“GIGYAAAH!”

The poison would not actually do much if it did not enter the Wyvern’s bloodstream, but it would still tingle, burn, and sting on contact.

I never intended to kill the Wyvern with the poison. I just wanted to hurt it enough to grab its attention. It worked.

“GRAAARRRGHAAAH!”

“Whoa!”

The Wyvern continued to chase me, spitting fireball after fireball in my direction.

I looked back again and found that the others had fled from their spot. Thank goodness they had. I would have been mad if they were still there.

I continued to run in the opposite direction to everyone else, leaping over a bunch of rocks and getting away from the small canyon area.

What now… What now…? How do I escape this thing? It will likely take the boss a while to get here, and if I flee too far the Wyvern might lose interest and go after the others. I definitely should have saved those grenades… I was a fool. I could have used them to bring that big dumb thing down!

Karina-sama hunted one of these, right? She aimed for the tendons, did she not? Gh… No way… No way… There is just no way I can handle that.

I guess I could just get up close and personal, and hack at its wings with my ninjato? No, wait… that will just end with me crashing alongside it!

“GIGYAAAH!”

“…Crud!”

I was not paying attention, so the Wyvern had circled in front of me and cut me off. I quickly changed my route and ran into the nearby forested area. I leaped from branch to branch, much like a monkey.

Is everyone safe now? They better be… I just need to keep focusing… I got too lost in thought. A massive fireball whizzed past me and obliterated the tree I was in the middle of leaping toward.

Oh nuts! I curled into a ball in mid-air, defending myself against the barrage of splinters I was flying into. I hit the ground hard, rolling forward in an attempt to dull the impact.

“Agh!”

The barb-tipped tail, which I was fairly sure had poison on it, jabbed right toward me. I dodged it by jumping to the side, but pain coursed through my leg. I had twisted my ankle in the fall. Escape was going to be a lot harder.

As I began freaking out on the ground, the Wyvern vomited up another

fireball to launch at me. But for some reason, it coughed and sputtered, only releasing a small flame. Oh! Did it run out of magic?!

Most monsters and magical beasts absorbed magic from the atmosphere around them to cast spells. Thunder Bears used lightning magic in this way, same with Killer Mantises and their Wind Slicers. It seemed like Wyverns needed a similar process for their fireballs.

Serves you right, jerk. You should not have used it so much!

“I guess that I am not out of the woods yet, though…”

It would not be long before it had enough magic to hurl a fireball again. I was squandering my only chance to do anything to it.

But I had nothing that I could use to kill the Wyvern… Well, I did have one idea… I just doubted it would work.

“GRAAARGH!”

The Wyvern landed down on the ground and snapped at me with its teeth. Too close!

I leaped backward and hurled some shurikens into its open mouth.

“GYIIIIGYYYAAAH?!” Even if it had a tough hide, its mouth still contained soft tissue.

The Wyvern sputtered before coughing up the shurikens. Unfortunately, I did not do much in the way of damage, but I had clearly hurt it.

It attempted to slam its tail at me again, adding more weight behind its strike with the rest of its body.

I just barely avoided the attack and saw the mighty tail reduce several large trees to splintered wood.

I was in a whole heap of trouble. My dodging was getting slower and slower. My ankle was killing me… Where the heck was Tsubaki?!

Just as my pain reached its peak, I heard someone yell out [Woodbind] loudly! My call for Tsubaki was answered by several twisting tree roots that dug themselves out of the ground and wrapped around the Wyvern’s feet.

Wait… I looked up and saw Mew-san and the others running to my aid. At the back of the group was Surges-san, the man who had just cast the spell.

“Whaaat?!”

The barbed tail came swinging toward Mew-san, but Dom-san and Abert jumped in with their shields. Unfortunately, the force was a little much, and the trio was blasted back a bit.

The Wyvern struggled free of its wooden confines and soared into the sky.

“You okay?! Where are you hurt?!”

Rose was by my side in the blink of an eye, calling out to me.

“I-I am fine… Why did you all come back? Now there was no point in me being a decoy!”

“…We were all running, but… at some point, Garron turned around and started running back to you. We just followed him.”

“What?!”

Garron was waving his sword up at the airborne Wyvern. He did not seem as scared as he did earlier. “…Are you an idiot?!”

“Shut up, kid! If you died because of my screw-up, then I’d never be able to live with that! You think I’d want people saying that I let a kid die on my first real mission?!”

Your screw-up? Oh… The shield thing. I guess that was kind of a screw-up…

Mew-san and the others came back. It seemed like they were okay, even though they had been blasted back.

“GRARRRGRAAAGH!”

The Wyvern screeched again. If it was an Elder Dragon, then its roar alone would be enough to cause psychological or even physical damage, but regular Wyverns were not quite as intimidating.

But it was still an enemy far beyond us in terms of strength. We were outmatched, and every one of us was still relatively new to the whole adventuring thing.

The Wyvern suddenly swooped down, extending its claws as it aimed for Abert and Dom-san. All they could do was defend. If they attempted to raise their weapons, then they would just be ripped to shreds.

“Haaaaaah!”

Garron saw his chance and charged in from behind the Wyvern. He brought his broadsword down upon the creature’s long tail, which was dangling behind it. I looked on in anticipation as the sword cut into the Wyvern.

“GRARRRGUGH!”

It was no good. Garron’s sword did pierce the skin, but not nearly deep enough to lop it off. It only caused a light cut. The injured tail reflexively snapped back at Garron, sending him flying backward. Oof!

“Gaaah!”

Surges-san immediately ran after Garron, Healing magic at the ready.

The Wyvern went after Garron in retaliation, but Abert saw his chance to slash against the beast’s wing. But unfortunately, he was not strong enough to make a serious injury either, only cutting it lightly.

“GROGRAAAGH!”

The Wyvern was clearly irritated, and I was not in the least bit surprised. It opened up its mouth before staring down Dom-san and Abert.

The two of them were immediately engulfed in flames. It wasn’t the fireball attack it used before. Instead, it was just a regular old flame breath.

“Gaaah!”

“Hngh!”

The two of them managed to raise their shields, but they were still attacked at relatively close-range. They collapsed after a few seconds of exposure.

The Wyvern’s flaming breath spread across the trees, and we quickly found ourselves in a burning hellscape. The Wyvern did not seem to care at all. It turned its attention toward Surges-san, who was standing near the heavilywounded Garron.

Surges-san managed to direct the attack away from Garron, but the two of them were still caught in a major blast. They had been rendered incapacitated in seconds. The Wyvern landed and began shooting out more fireballs, so I leaped onto its back. If the two of them took another hit, they would die.

I plunged my ninjato into its back with all my might… but I only managed to very slightly pierce through its tough scales.

Damn it, why is it so tough-skinned?! I should have brought a mithril ninjato with me… I am so stupid! Damn it… This is what relying on that crystal knight sword gets me… I am way too rusty at this!

“Gragraaargh!”

“Uwaaah!”

The Wyvern writhed, throwing me off. I landed on the ground with a harsh thud. It hurt really bad. I squirmed in pain and tried to stand up, just in time to see Mew-san and Rose charge toward the Wyvern. It smacked them head-on with its tail and sent them rolling backward.

None of the party members were in a position to get up at this point, but I still staggered to my feet.

“Ugh, whatever! I guess I have no other choice here!”

Being a ninja was not really a job that meant much in the way of direct combat. We were meant to gather intelligence and escape unnoticed. Most of our skills were developed with that in mind. Our elemental ninjutsu were mostly designed to help us escape from things, same with our poisons.

But I was bad at those ninjutsu techniques. I excelled in close combat. I loved employing that stuff in my training with the knight order… And there was a technique I learned during my training that could work against the Wyvern.

Still, it was impossible for me in my wounded state to do anything to the enemy before me, so you would probably wonder what it is I could even try.

The solution was a simple one. Inflict damage on the beast from within its body… That was not actually simple at all, but whatever.

“Uh… Let me see here… I need to gather up magic in my fist and then smack it… I guess? Elze-sama’s lessons were a little odd to grasp…”

I closed my eyes and gathered all my energy in my center. I felt my magic swirl inside me and then focused it all on my fist. A master of this technique would be able to strike far-off enemies without physically touching them.

I knew that first-hand. Elze-sama had used the technique to smack me from long-range. It hurt like hell!

Linze-sama told me that I had more magic inside me than my peers, since apparently, most mystic eye bearers shared that trait. If I had the right aptitudes, I would have been able to use magic pretty well, even.

I quietly focused, concentrating my magic power and physical power all into my right fist.

“I have done it only once before… I do not know if I can do it now, but I have to try…”

I glared up at the Wyvern standing before me. It was no longer trying to fly, possibly because Abert had nicked its wing. I had a good chance on my hands, and I had to take it! I darted toward the Wyvern with everything I had, launching my body like a projectile. It opened its mouth and blasted a fireball my way, but I altered my trajectory and just barely missed it. Then, I drove myself toward its chest.

“HAAAAAAAAAH!”

My fist, imbued with all the magical and physical might I could muster, slammed into the softest area of the Wyvern’s chest. The moment I made contact with the Wyvern, I released the magic contained inside my hand and launched it a tiny bit forward.

The physical sensation was like slamming my fist into a rubbery wall. Obviously, the punch alone was not going to do a thing to the Wyvern. The punch was just the delivery method to get the magic inside its body.

I stumbled backward and landed flat on the ground. I tried to clamber back up, but my body refused to respond properly. My knees were weak, my palms were sweaty. I felt like I was going to vomit. This was the side effect of putting everything I had into that attack.

“Gruh…”

The Wyvern made a weird noise. I looked at it as it began to stumble backward, shakily swaying its head from side to side.

“Gruuurgh…”

The Wyvern began vomiting and convulsing before it fell forward into its own puke.

“…Did I do it?”

The Wyvern was not moving at all. I was also unable to move.

“Ahahaha… I… Bleh… That stinks, gah!”

I flickered between happiness, disgust, and pain. The thrill of victory washed over me, but it was mingled with the smell of vomit and the stinging pain of my right hand. I was unable to move, either… so I was stuck smelling that gross stuff. It made me feel queasy.

“Gruuuh…”

“What?”

My heart skipped a beat. The Wyvern was groaning. I looked up and saw the beast was shakily rising back up. It had its long neck craned upward into the air. “No… How…”

“GRAAAAAARGH!”

The Wyvern’s roar brought the harrowing reality of the situation crashing down upon me.

I thought I had killed it… But I was wrong. I could do nothing but stare on in horror as it began to breathe fire. A wretched, creeping flame that got closer and closer to my prone body. It looked like it was traveling in slow motion, and I knew there was no way I could dodge it.

I… I might actually die here, huh? I wish I had eaten more tasty snacks in life… Shizuku… Nagi… Please live good lives… Wait, hold on.

Hold on here, something feels off. Tsubaki could not have been slacking, right? Why are they so late? Boss-lady and the others definitely should have made it here by now… Oh.

Now I get it.

Hah… You were by my side all along… You were just instructed not to interfere, huh?

That certainly sounds like the grand duke’s way of doing things. He does not like to act until the last possible moment… Which is kind of annoying, since it just means he will end up saving my sorry butt…

He might seem strict, but he has a pretty just heart. That is why I know I cannot possibly die here.

“[Prison].”

There it is… Salvation…

◇　◇　◇

The flames unleashed by the Wyvern failed to harm even a single hair on my head. The monster found itself encased in a barrier, along with its fire.

There was only one person in the world capable of something like that.

“Took you long enough…”

“…I’ve been here the whole time. I just held off cause you were doing so

well.”

Sorry I couldn’t finish the job, geez! I glared at the grand duke as he descended from above. I wish the sadistic bastard had just kept his mouth shut. He was still using his illusory magic, but I could tell it was him from the way he was laughing. It was way too obvious.

“Target Lock. [Mega Heal].”

He cast a recovery spell, causing Mew-san and the others to heal up on the spot.

I found that my bloodied hand cleaned itself up instantly, and the pain in my ankle was also gone.

My head was still woozy, though… Probably due to the blood loss and my physical exhaustion. I sat back down and clutched at my head.

“You exhausted your magical supply, which is why you’re almost unconscious.

Who the hell taught you something so damn reckless, anyway? [Transfer].”

I will have you know it was one of your fiancees who taught me that, mister high-and-mighty!

I felt my head clear as he transferred his magic into my body. I leaped up to my feet and moved my arms around a bit. Woo! I am back to peak power!

“You should all be feeling better now. So yeah, the test is basically done at this point. You can opt to continue the test if you like, but I won’t be helping you with that. If you guys think you can take this thing out, then, by all means, go ahead.”

The Wyvern angrily stomped around inside the barrier. I could not hear any noise, but it did not take a genius to tell how angry the creature was.

“I’m done here. Not about to waste my life on a stupid gamble.”

Surges-san stood up and raised his hand. The poor guy’s robes were shredded to bits. Mew-san and Rose raised their hands shortly afterward.

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want the rewards, but I can hardly spend it if I’m dead. I’m out.”

“Same here.”

Abert and Dom-san followed suit by raising their hands.

“I’m finished too. I learned a lot today…”

“Aye… Count me doon fer the count an’ all.”

The two men chuckled, then looked over to Garron.

“…Yeah… Me too. It sucks, but we’re definitely not strong enough to take out a Wyvern.”

Garron grumbled quietly, his hand still tight around his weapon’s hilt. He was probably upset at how weak he was. Though it was good for him to be able to admit that to himself.

The grand duke then turned to face me.

Oh right, I gotta say it too.

“Yep, I am done here! I give up! Oh dearie me!”

“If you’re sure, then.”

The grand duke grinned a bit. It was not exactly like I could complain or anything… After that, he snapped his fingers.

“Graaaaaargh!”

The Wyvern was released from its confines, and its roars were audible once more.

Everyone except the grand duke and I braced ourselves for battle, but before anything else could happen an old man appeared. He was wielding a sword.

Wait… is that not the former king of Lestia?! When did he get here?! I never noticed?! W-Wait, is that Karin-sama standing next to the grand duke? What is with these people?! How come I failed to sense them?

“Been a while since I fought a Wyvern… Shall I teach you kids how it’s done?”

The old man spoke up, then vanished in a flash. Before any of us could even blink, he had circled around behind the Wyvern. The Wyvern’s tail was lopped off and fell to the ground in one strike.

“GRAUUUGH!”

“First thing’s first. You have to stop it flying. Usually, you’d consider impeding the wings, but what you should aim for is the tail. It needs the tail to keep itself balanced in the air, you see?”

The Wyvern tried to take off, but immediately wobbled and crashed its head into the ground. That made sense, but it was still pretty hard to hack off the tail! After that, the old man sliced off the Wyvern’s toes.

“This is actually the best spot, though. The skin is a lot thinner and more brittle along the toes, and cutting them off can prevent them from slashing you.

And then, all you have to do is this…”

The old man jumped upward and flicked his wrist. The blade cleaved through the Wyvern’s neck and decapitated it in seconds. What the hell?!

I saw two sudden flashes of light, faster than a blink, and then the Wyvern’s wings fell off. Its body was then split down the middle.

In a matter of moments, the terrifying and terrorizing Wyvern had been reduced to several neatly-diced chunks.

…This was the power of a gold adventurer.

“And I guess that’s how to do it without going overboard.”

We all stared in disbelief, our jaws dropping and eyes wide. Are you saying that you were not going overboard there?!

“When you consider how many materials you can harvest, you should kill it in one go. I’d personally suggest destroying the brain or heart. That’d take a goodquality weapon, though.”

No kidding… Wait a second, that sword you have there is a crystal one… Yeah, that one is made out of phrasium! No wonder you cut up the Wyvern so easily… Did you have the grand duke make it for you?

Even if I had a sword as good as his, I doubted that I would be able to kill the Wyvern as efficiently as he had. I would have probably slashed the thing up crudely and damaged the materials.

The grand duke slowly turned toward us and clasped his hands together.

“I’m sorry to tell you all this, but you’ll only be reaching green today.”

“Because we failed the quest?”

Abert frowned at the grand duke’s words.

“Well, mostly. But there were some other things we’d been keeping an eye on too, including everything you guys did from the moment we gave you the quest. For starters, none of you went into the guild to read up on what you’d be encountering. That definitely lost you guys some points. With a tiny bit of research, you would have been more prepared against the Fire Lizards and known more about the spinfire weed.”

Oh yeah… I forgot the guild had something like that… I guess preparing intellectually is pretty important too.

“Also, you guys really didn’t work together that well… I know you all just met each other and all, but you should’ve been more mindful.”

He was likely referring to the Blood Liger incident. Everyone was too selfabsorbed during that fight, which meant there was little to no coordination.

“And you guys didn’t bother looking over your equipment when you made camp. You don’t want your gear falling apart during vital moments, do you?”

“Guh…”

Garron’s shoulders slumped at that. His shield was damaged during the Blood Liger fight, and the whole Wyvern situation exploded because he was not aware of that. I also spent a great deal of time chatting to others, and I did not pay attention to my gear either. They were not the only ones who needed to reflect on their actions…

“Also, about the Wyvern at the end… You might think it was bad fortune that you encountered it, but actually… you should’ve been more attentive to your surroundings. Why didn’t you consider anything about why the Fire Lizards hadn’t eaten the spinfire weed? Why were they moving in such an abnormally large herd? Really, that comes back to you guys not reading up back at the guild. You should have known better.”

Hey, I noticed! I just noticed too late.

Boss-lady always tells me to think before acting, so I guess I need to improve that as well…

“There are a few other issues here and there too… But ultimately, we’ve decided none of you are worthy of blue. Sorry, but that’s how it is.”

“That’s okay… I think it’s fair. If this wasn’t a test, we’d have all been eaten alive at this point. If anything I’m glad this has given me some proper perspective on what it takes to be an adventurer.”

Abert humbly nodded his head. Everyone else was quiet, but they probably felt the same.

“It isn’t exactly the best consolation prize, but you guys can do whatever you want with the Wyvern carcass.” “Huh?!”

We all stared in shock at the old man’s words.

Wait, really? We get the Wyvern? Seriously?!

“Is that really okay?”

The grand duke suddenly butted in.

Quiet down, man! I want it!

“It’s fine by me. Their equipment got scuffed up pretty bad during the test. It’s not like it’s a real Dragon or anything, and I already cut it up a fair bit. Its value will have dropped a lot compared to an intact one. I don’t really think it’ll be worth all that much, honestly.”

“I still think it’s worth about five platinum, though…”

Five whole platinum coins?! That is around a third of our original reward amount… We would have gotten fourteen, but now it is five…

That was still a considerable amount of money. But when you factored in how much we would need to spend on new gear, it did not come out to a huge amount. Everyone seemed pleased, though. The results were unfortunate, but I figured this quest was still a valuable experience for everyone involved.

We began skinning and harvesting the Wyvern as a team. Karina-sama taught

us how to properly handle it, and we went at it as best we could.

Dom-san headed back to find the Blood Liger pelt and skin we had buried the day before, too. That was a little extra pocket change.

There was a lot of stuff, though… We could not exactly carry it all off to the guild that easily, but I knew a man in the area who could handle that for us.

Staaaaaaaaare…

“…I get it already. Quit looking at me like that.”

Good job, Grand Duke. What a kind man you are.

He used his storing magic to stash our raw materials in an instant, which caused the others to reel in surprise and confusion. After that, he used his teleportation magic to bring us back to the guild, so they were even more shaken.

I understood what they meant, though. Our grand duke was the strangest man in the world.

Once all our materials were inspected at the guild desk, we were paid seven gold coins each, with one gold coin spare.

We were going to split the coin between us, but then Abert suggested spending it on a lavish meal. We all agreed and headed toward the tavern. The tavern was right next door to the guild, so it took about a minute to get there.

I was not old enough to drink alcohol, so I settled on some fruit juice instead. I made up for that by eating up as much food as I wanted. This was a rare opportunity for me, after all.

“What now?”

“What do you mean?”

Rose spoke up to me as I was tearing into a chicken drumstick. Mew-san sat by her with curious eyes.

“I guess it might have been fate that we took this test together, you know? We were talking, and we all agreed that we want to continue as a party for a while… I wanted to know if you were gonna join us.”

Oh… I get it. You guys were planning on that, huh?

I looked over at the nearby table and saw Dom-san and Garron trying to drink each other under the table. Abert was watching them, laughing and clapping, while Surges-san quietly drank off to the side.

“Are you going too, Mew-san?”

“I am. Rose invited me, and all.”

Mm… That does sound nice, but… I cannot do that.

“Sorry, but I will have to decline.”

“What?! But we’d be safer in a group!”

“Well… if I must be honest, the adventurer thing has always been a part-time thing for me. I have no plans to become a fully-fledged adventurer. I hope you can understand.”

“I see… Well, we won’t force you. It’s a tough job where your life is at risk, after all.”

“That’s a shame.”

Rose and Mew-san let out sad sighs, but gave up. Sorry, guys… but I have friends here in Brunhild’s knight order. I cannot leave them behind. I might try my hand at some adventuring now and then, though.

“I will be staying here in Brunhild. If you see me around, please say hi. If you ever have any troubles, please count on me. I might look this way, but I am actually pretty well-known in these parts.”

“We’ll hold you to that, then.”

“Yeah.”

We all laughed in unison, clinking our drinking glasses together. The real reward really was the friends I made along the way. I could probably introduce them to Shizuku and Nagi at some point, too.

“Oh right, you guys still owe me for those grenades!”

“You little…”

“Don’t be so miserly!”

Do not call me miserly! It is a known fact that he who laughs while throwing away copper coins will eventually weep while scrounging for them! You need to pay me what I am owed!

I turned my eyes to the drunken men at the other table, grinned, and planned on how best to part them with their money.

■　■　■　■　■　■　■　■　■　■

“And that is it for my report.”

“Mm. I’m glad they’re still committed to being adventurers. I didn’t exactly expect the Wyvern to show up or anything.”

I sighed in relief once Tsubaki finished talking. I was surprised enough that there had been a Wyvern flying in the sky around the island. I didn’t expect that it would make its nest there.

I was worried that more of them might show up, so I decided to ask Karina to hunt around the islands a little more frequently.

“This mission would have been valuable for young Homura as well. She has an issue where she does not really think things through properly.”

“Well, to be honest, she infiltrated the group in the best way… She could perfectly match up with them, after all. I wish she was a little more patient, though.”

“I will be giving her some harsh discipline starting tomorrow.” Discipline…? Don’t do that, she isn’t a dog.

“Honestly, I think you should hold off. That’s part of what makes Homura herself at the end of the day. It doesn’t have anything to do with the way she’s been taught. She may well learn to use her nature to her advantage.”

I was actually pretty impressed by how well she was able to make friends with the other adventurers. She’s pretty damn good at blending in.

“O-Oh right, one other thing… Tell her she’s not allowed to use that move she used against the Wyvern! Without the proper gear, she’ll wreck her fist if she keeps using it, and it’s useless to use if she just collapses after.”

“Very well.”

Tsubaki replied, and then I couldn’t sense her anymore. Frankly, I found her whole ‘hiding in the ceiling’ schtick a little silly, but I figured it was just part of her style.

“Are you finished with your talking now?”

“Yeah, sorry to keep you waiting on me.”

Old man Galen, who was seated on the sofa opposite me, let out a small chuckle as he sipped his tea. He was holding a mass-produced smartphone that I had given him as thanks for his help.

The knight king of Lestia, Reinhard, had a smartphone already, but Galen told me he wanted to talk to Hilde now and then, so I figured it would be okay if he had one too. Though, there was a condition.

“Let me just repeat myself here. No sketchy photographs, no upskirts, no peeping.”

“…My, your suspicion of me certainly runs deep. Do I look like the kind of man who could do such a thing?”

“Yes. Yes, you do.”

I did want to believe him, though. He swore on his honor as a knight.

“If I get their consent, is that fine?”

“I mean… I guess, but…”

“Oh yeah… Do you have more of that stuff you showed me one time, with the slender young ladies? I certainly enjoyed those photos!” Oh come on… I mean, I do have some, but…

I sighed quietly, reasoning it was better to give him some lewd stuff than have him embark on a life of criminal activity. I downloaded some racy shots of girls in swimsuits from the internet, then forwarded them to Galen’s phone.

“Ohoho! Yes, this is good! How voluptuous and sweet their curves are!”

Galen grinned madly, a filthy expression on his face as his perverse eyes scanned the smartphone screen up and down. I quietly acknowledged that aspiring adventurers must never, ever see a gold adventurer with a face like this. It would surely destroy all their aspirations.

“Ah, Touya! Touya! Hilde told me about this thing called a movie, right?!

Moving pictures, yes? Is there perhaps such a movie with girls like this in it?”

…Aren’t old people supposed to be bad with tech?! Wait, maybe this is just his perverse logic coming to the forefront? Galen pleaded and begged for a few minutes after that, and I finally gave in… I downloaded a few choice videos from the internet and sent them over to him.

“Hoho… Hohoho… Ohhh… Amazing… Amazing…! They’re jiggling, ohoho!”

With that, the old beast had been quelled… However, the audio was pretty loud, and would surely get me in trouble.

I used [Storage] to take out a pair of wireless earphones that Doctor Babylon had made, then passed them to Galen.

A few days later, the pervy old bastard had sent me photos of various butts and chests. Thankfully, they were clothed, but the angles were certainly concerning.

I just hoped that the guy asked for their consent…

I was going to delete them, but I decided to hold onto them… Just in case they came in handy. That was all, just in case.