The Adventurers Guild in the city of Gilm. The receptionist Lenora absentmindedly played with her ponytail as she dejectedly looked at the official document her boss had just handed her.

Although the document was filled with complex, bureaucratic sentences, the core instructions could be summarised as follows:

・Keep a close eye on the adventurer Rei.
・If the adventurer gets into any trouble with the Aristocratic Faction, report it to the Guild Master immediately.
・Similarly, report to the Guild Master immediately if the adventurer gets tangled up in any serious disputes with other adventurers.

「Haa……」

She involuntarily let out a heavy sigh while reading the document.

Fortunately, since it was just a little while before the noon bell, there were very few adventurers inside the guild. Only a handful of people were scattered around the tavern area, eating an early lunch.

「What’s wrong? Why are you sighing like that?」

The co-worker standing next to Lenora asked curiously. It was Kenny, a cat Beastkin receptionist. She casually stretched her arms overhead, showing off the incredibly flexible, lithe limbs characteristic of the feline family. Lenora couldn’t help but feel a sharp pang of envy as her eyes briefly darted down to her own modest chest.

「Here, look at this.」

Forcibly diverting her gaze from Kenny’s large breasts, Lenora handed the document over.

Because it was almost noon and there were no adventurers lining up at the counter, they had some free time. Kenny took the document and began reading without hesitation.

「Umm, what is it? ……Wait, what the hell is this?」

Although Kenny had started reading the document out of mild curiosity, her cheeks began to cramp as she got further down the page.

「It’s exactly what it looks like.」
「Doesn’t the guild strictly maintain neutrality when it comes to disputes between adventurers? But this order says we have to report any incidents involving him immediately?」
「That’s not even the craziest part. Look at the seal of approval at the very bottom.」

Kenny dragged her eyes down to the official seal stamped at the end of the document, and she froze for a moment. It took her a few seconds to finally find her voice.

「Wait, isn’t this the Guild Master’s personal seal!?」
「Exactly.」

The seal of the Guild Master. That meant the highly irregular instructions written in this document were ordered directly by the Guild Master herself.

「Lenora, what did you do?」
「I haven’t done anything!」

Faced with Kenny’s deeply suspicious look, Lenora retorted defensively.

「But if you really haven’t done anything, why did you personally receive direct orders from the Guild Master? I mean, what exactly is your relationship with this adventurer, Rei?」
「I don’t have any special relationship with him!」
「In that case, why were you specifically given these instructions?」
「Probably because I was the one who handled his initial guild registration. And since then, whenever he completes a request, he always brings the paperwork straight to my counter.」
「That’s……wait, is that Rei guy hitting on you?」

Lenora shook her head slightly at Kenny’s words.

However, what Kenny was implying wasn’t entirely baseless. After all, the receptionists served as the public face of the Adventurers Guild. Naturally, management specifically hired beautiful, charismatic women for the role. As a result, the receptionists were often idolised by the rough-and-tumble adventurers. They were treated as unattainable objects of desire, women they wanted as lovers, or at least women they desperately wanted to spend a single night with.

Kenny was trying to say that Rei might be exclusively visiting Lenora’s counter because he was trying to woo her. But based on the brief interactions Lenora had actually had with Rei, she didn’t get the impression he was trying to flirt with her at all.

It wasn’t uncommon for an adventurer to regularly visit the exact same receptionist. In fact, it was practically a daily occurrence. And because there was a tavern attached directly to the guild, there were always several incidents every year where a drunk adventurer would try to aggressively hit on Lenora or the others. ……If they pushed it too far, they would be thrown straight into the guild’s holding cells for interfering with official business. The next morning, they would inevitably end up tearfully paying a hefty fine for their drunken stupidity.

「He isn’t hitting on me. In the first place, the Rei mentioned in this document is just a kid. You know, the boy who got into that massive brawl with the Claws of the Hawk out front?」

Hearing Lenora’s blunt description, Kenny immediately realised who Rei was. It wasn’t uncommon for bad-mannered veteran adventurers to mess with rookies who had just come to register. However, those situations usually ended with the rookies desperately sucking up to the veterans to avoid a beating. This dynamic often formed a toxic hierarchical relationship between adventurers, where the rookies were used in various exploitative ways. Usually, they were just ordered around to do trivial chores and grunt work. Because the rookies could technically still gain some practical experience while being bossed around, the practice wasn’t entirely bad. Therefore, the guild generally turned a blind eye and tacitly consented to the hazing.

However, the adventurers involved in this specific fight were the Claws of the Hawk, a seasoned D rank party that had acquired solid combat experience and was widely regarded as an independent, capable group. Yet, Kenny had heard the shocking rumours that they had been utterly humiliated, beaten half to death, and stripped of all their money and weapons by a single rookie.

Of course, the hot-blooded veterans had fully intended to beat the arrogant rookie to a pulp. Comparing the combat experience of seasoned D rank adventurers to someone who had literally just registered that day, the difference should have been overwhelming. That was exactly why Rei’s completely one-sided victory had left such a massive impression on everyone in the guild.

「That kid, huh……I heard he actually tamed an A rank Griffon. The Guild Master must have incredibly high expectations for this rookie to issue a direct order like this.」

Kenny easily recalled the figure of Rei in her mind. A small boy wearing a high-quality robe and casually carrying a massive scythe that dwarfed him, creating a striking image that was impossible to forget once you saw it.

However, she couldn’t actually remember what his face looked like, simply because the absurd, evil-looking scythe he carried demanded so much attention.

「But still, does the Guild Master really hold that much expectation for a mere rookie? Enough to give him this kind of special VIP treatment?」
「Well, just look at the kid’s track record so far.」
「He has only accepted two requests since he registered. Subjugation requests for Goblins and Soldier Ants. He brought back ten proofs of subjugation for the Goblins, but for the Soldier Ants, he brought back over thirty proofs of subjugation.」
「……Seriously?」
「Seriously.」

Setting the Goblins aside, defeating over thirty Soldier Ants in a single day was a feat that even a highly organised, veteran C or D rank party would struggle to accomplish. Yet, he had done it completely by himself. Very few people in the entire city could pull that off, let alone a rookie who had just registered with the guild.

「……Ahh, I see. Well, if he brought his Griffon along, I suppose it makes sense he could do that.」
「I think the mere fact that an A rank Griffon willingly follows that kid is proof enough of his absurd ability.」
「So, at the end of the day, this Rei kid is an incredibly promising rookie……and because he’s already being counted as a major combat asset for the city, the Guild Master is showing him extreme favouritism?」
「Well, that’s the most likely explanation.」
「Is that kid really only 15 years old? With that kind of raw talent and combat ability at his age, it’s highly likely he could aim for S rank in the future.」

Guild Rank S. In the entire world, there were only three people who had officially reached that pinnacle of power. The boy named Rei, whom she had just been ordered to keep a close eye on, might eventually become an extraordinary fighter on that exact same level. Thinking about the sheer scale of his potential, Kenny felt a sudden, thrilling shiver run down her spine.

「So, did our VIP Rei come in today? I don’t recall seeing him during the morning rush.」

Receptionists truly were the face of the guild, and they were incredibly skilled at remembering the faces of individual adventurers, even during the chaotic morning rush.

「Because he took on two heavy subjugation requests on consecutive days, maybe he decided to take a rest today?」
「Well, that makes sense. Carving through over thirty Soldier Ants would exhaust anyone.」
「Wait, how should I put this……why are you suddenly so interested in Rei?」
「Well, I want to get closer to that kid while I still can! It’s practically guaranteed he’s going to rise to the very top of the world in the future. I wonder if he’s okay with an older wife? And you know, I happen to have the exact kind of body that men absolutely love.」

Saying so proudly, Kenny crossed her arms under her generous breasts, deliberately pushing them up to emphasise her cleavage.

Seeing her shameless display, Lenora wore a dangerously thin smile as thick blood vessels visibly popped on her forehead.

「I see Kenny doesn’t seem to realise that her little fantasy isn’t necessarily guaranteed? Roughly speaking, no matter how much raw talent you say he has, right now he’s still just a G rank novice. Even if he does eventually promote to S rank, it will take years. I’m quite sure that by the time he finally reaches the top, Kenny’s ‘great body’ will have started sagging quite a bit.」

Hearing Lenora’s venomous words, Kenny’s own eyebrow started twitching violently.

「Ara~ ara~, I wonder if the little girl with the depressingly flat body also suffers from a depressingly flat imagination.」
「……Kenny, are you trying to pick a fight with me?」
「Are you, Lenora?」

An explosive tension filled the air behind the counter. Right as the two women were on the verge of throwing hands, the loud ringing of the noon bell echoed through the guild.

Completely disregarding the two receptionists locked in a deadly glare, the rest of the staff quickly looked away and abandoned the counter in a rush to grab an early lunch.

With everyone else fleeing the immediate area, the unfortunate noon shift was left entirely to Lenora and Kenny, who were currently staring daggers at each other, betting their very pride as women on the outcome of their silent duel.

Getting along by constantly fighting, acting like relatives who absolutely abhor each other, it was exactly that kind of bizarre friendship. Although there were various idioms to describe such a dynamic, Lenora and Kenny were the living embodiment of it.

Thus, though it certainly wasn’t peaceful, the daily life inside the Adventurers Guild wasn’t exactly dangerous, either.

「So this is a potion.」

While the fierce battle for feminine honour unfolded between the receptionists at the guild, Rei was sitting comfortably on the bed in his inn room, carefully examining a small glass beaker he held in his hand. A vibrant blue liquid sloshed gently around inside the glass.

Outside his window, a clear blue sky stretched endlessly, with bright sunlight pouring down, making it the perfect weather for a summer day. However, Rei hadn’t visited the guild to accept a subjugation request today.

His main goal for the day was to thoroughly examine the materials he could harvest from the Goblin rare species he killed the day before yesterday and the massive Queen Ant from yesterday. To prepare for this, he had visited the bookstore early in the morning and spent a few gold coins to buy several reference books.

On his way back to the Dusk Wheat Pavilion, a shop dealing in second-hand adventuring gear had caught his eye. Besides standard health potions used to recover physical stamina and heal wounds, they sold mana potions that restored magical power, medicinal serums that cured abnormal status effects, and specific antidotes for things like paralysis. The shop also sold various practical tools like animal traps and heavy iron vices. He wasn’t particularly interested in the weapons or armour, since he already possessed the absolute pinnacle of gear in the form of the Death Scythe and the Dragon Robe, but he did purchase several different types of potions and carefully stored them in the Misty Ring.

It should be noted why there weren’t already stockpiles of potions inside the Misty Ring. It was simply because the original inventors of the modern potion, Zephyr and his organisation, had long since passed away. Takumu, the ancient mage who knew the most about game-like mechanics and development, had desperately tried to artificially replicate them, but his research regarding alchemical potions hadn’t made any significant progress before he died. Even if he had succeeded, true potions were incredibly rare, luxury items in the modern era, priced far beyond what commoners or even lesser nobles could easily afford.

「Even if I just drink it, it should be fine.」

Rei muttered, staring dubiously at the glowing blue liquid.

The usage of a standard potion was extremely simple, as you either drank it or, as the second-hand dealer had advised him, poured it directly onto an open wound.

If you drank it, the overall healing effect was significantly higher. First of all, the magical properties circulated through the bloodstream, reaching the entire body rather than just localising at the site of the injury. Furthermore, the regenerative effect lasted much longer when ingested. Additionally, drinking a potion also restored a moderate amount of physical stamina.

On the other hand, if you poured it directly onto a wound, the immediate, localised healing was slightly faster, but that was it. There were absolutely no secondary benefits like sustained regeneration or stamina recovery.

But despite the obvious benefits of ingestion, the vast majority of adventurers chose to pour it directly onto their wounds, and very few people willingly drank them. Why was that? It was simply because potions tasted absolutely horrific.

「Yuck. I would certainly prefer to refrain from ever drinking this if possible.」

Just to confirm the horrifying rumours he had heard from the second-hand dealer, Rei dipped his finger into the beaker and licked a single drop. He immediately screwed his face up in deep disgust.

The taste was exactly like a heavily concentrated, bitter green vegetable smoothie he had once been forced to drink as a penalty game back in Japan.

「Even though the healing effect is better, it wouldn’t help at all if I tried to drink this in the middle of a battle.」

Even if the regenerative effects were superior, trying to choke down something this utterly foul during a life-or-death combat situation would be impossible. The sheer distraction of the taste alone would be suicidal for Rei.

It should be noted that there were supposedly some hardened veterans in this world who willingly chugged potions in the heat of battle……but after tasting it himself, Rei found that incredibly hard to believe.

Still, since there was always the very real risk of sustaining an injury he couldn’t simply shrug off in the middle of a fight, he had bought a few high-quality potions and stored them in the Misty Ring just in case.

Was it possible for him to simply equip an accessory with a continuous, passive healing effect, similar to the one he had given to Set? Thinking about the possibility, Rei eagerly checked the inventory list in his mind, but his joy ended prematurely when he confirmed that absolutely no passive healing items existed in the Misty Ring’s vast stores.

Resigning himself to relying on the foul tasting potions, Rei spent the rest of his rest day quietly reading the reference books he had bought, carefully studying the anatomical diagrams and material properties of the Queen Ant and the other monsters he had encountered.

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