「Hmm?　Rei-kun. Anything happened today?」

Kenny was quick to spot Rei after he entered the guild and called out to him with a smile.

Rei headed towards the counter.

On that note, the fact that he didn’t choose to head towards the bar showed that he wasn’t that interested in alcohol.

It also had the purpose of avoiding running into drunks who had been drinking during the day. After all, although there were almost no people would try to mess with Rei if they were sober, if they saw Rei while drunk……a lot of trouble might end up happening.

「No, I’m just trying to kill some time……it’s seems that I have quite a lot of it.」

「Ahahaha. It is winter after all. It’s always like this at this time of the year. Hey, Lenora.」

Saying that, Kenny called out to Lenora, who was checking some documents next to her.

「Yes. But that doesn’t mean there’s no work. I still have to go through the documents. Ah, hello Rei-san.」

While looking through her documents, she replied lightly before pausing her work and bowing her head slightly to greet Rei.

As she did that, her familiar ponytail shook slightly.

「Kyu!」

「……Eh?　Did you say something just now?」

Lenora asked involuntarily at the sound she heard from Rei’s direction.

「……No, did you just imagine it?」

「Is that so?　Hmm, I must be getting tired.」

Tilting her head, she decided to take a break and took her hand off the documents she was working with. But Rei turned his eyes to his shoulder.

That was where Yellow, who was currently invisible, was. He had though that he might have wanted to wait outside the guild with Set, but for some reason had hopped onto Rei’s right shoulder before he entered the guild. It wasn’t a problem because he was invisible, but if he showed itself, there would have been a big fuss about him having a young dragon. No, maybe people would have just accepted it because he was Rei.

That all said, Yellow had been told by its master, Elena, not to cause a fuss. But he had also been given a higher priority order. That was his next highest priority after delivering and bringing back a letter. In order to complete that order, Yellow stared at Lenora and Kenny, who continued their conversation with Rei. He remembered their faces to make sure he wouldn’t forget.

……Yes. That is, he faithfully followed Elena’s instructions to investigate what kind of women Rei interacted with.

「Speaking of which, what happened to Scorching Wind? 　It seems they had gone out to hunt Lizardmen even though it is winter.」

「Well, it seems that Milein-san had wasted a lot of money. Sulunin-san was complaining a bit about it. Still, it seems that they managed to save up enough to last through winter with that last request.」

「Hey, Kenny. You shouldn’t tell other adventurers that information so easily!」

While listening in from the side, Lenora warned Kenny to be careful with a frown, but Kenny just shrugged her shoulders.

「I know. Seriously, you’re so strait laced.」

「You know. You’re a guild receptionist, you should think with your common sense first.」

「Yes, yes. ……Ah, speaking of which.……」

Kenny, who was talking with Lenora, took out a document as she just remembered about it.

「Rei-kun, I’ve got good news and some not so good news……which one do you want to hear first.」

Saying that, she picked up the two documents and waved them in front of Rei.

(The good report……it’s probably about ranking up. In addition to the fact that I was close to ranking up after my time in Baar, there was also that request to hunt Blue Caterpillars and the spy incident.)

Passing through Rei’s mind was the request from Ranga, which had been processed as a nominated request. The reward had included some hush money for him to keep everything a secret for now, but excluding that, the reward was still extraordinary for a D rank adventurer.

While thinking about that, Rei decided to reply first.

「Well, I’ll hear the good news first.」

「Okay. Ta-dah!」

Kenny showed him the document he had on her right hand as she said that.

The document clearly stated that Rei’s rank would go from D to C, along with the guild masters approval, as expected.

「C rank, is it.」

Because it was what he had expected, Rei nodded his head as he received the document from Kenny and filled in the necessary details, including signing his name with a pen.

Kenny, who was looking on, spoke while looking somewhat astonished.

「Huh?　You’re not surprised?」

「Well, I had been told by Min before taking on the Blue Caterpillar subjugation request that I was only just a bit short of ranking up.」

「But to get to rank C in such a short time!?　Do you know we’ve still been updated the fastest rank up record since the adventurers guild was established in Gilm!?」

Although Kenny said that with great emphasis, it wasn’t something that would make Rei so happy that he would get so excited.

Of course, since his rank had risen, it meant that he could receive requests with a higher rank than before, which meant encountering more powerful monsters and increasing the probability of getting new magic stones.

Because of that, if he was asked if he was happy or not, he would definitely say he was happy about it. However, he had lost his timing to say it after seeing Kenny, who was so much more excited about it than he was.

「Mm. Well, it can’t be helped. In that case, enough about that……yes, next is that trickier one. It’s related to your rank up.」

At those words, he was passed a request form. The contents were that he was requested to provide combat instruction to a person for about a week. What was unusual that where the client was stated, 『Mouet Cisne』was written. It was a request from a noble with a surname. In addition, the politely written request had named him specifically. The reward was 5 copper.

「……」

Reading the contents, Rei frowned.

Speaking of the nominated requests he had received so far, they had been to search dungeons, deliver medicinal ingredients to Baar or to capture spies that had infiltrated into the city of Gilm. Comparing each of them, they had all been troublesome.

Of course, he knew that nominated requests usually had some good reason. But considering what he had experienced so far, it was the truth.

(There wouldn’t be any problems with a nominated request to hunt monsters……but, among all things, to train a noble. There’s no other request that would fit me worse than something like this. In addition, the reward is unusually cheap.)

「Hey, don’t look so disgusted by it. Because this is also involved in ranking up.」

「……I heard that you would only need to take tests when ranking up from E to D and from C to B?」

Rei asked while recalling what he had heard previously, but simply nodded her head in agreement.

「That’s right. In fact, this is not a test. So, even if you fail this request, it won’t affect your rank up. However, this is sort of like a C rank request……well, maybe it’s like a trial. That is why the reward is so small. You would be given your C rank guild card on completion of this request.」

「……I see. So, why have I been nominated in this case?」

「This is due to a result of negotiations by the guild. The guild has referred you as a suitable person to the other party.」

「What is the failure condition of the request?」

「A statement from the other party. However, since the premise of the request is to gain the experience of a C rank request, it’s a lot easier as it isn’t an ordinary request.」

(Well, what’s up with that deal? No, I don’t really have a choice but to upgrade my rank. Of course, I could still rank up even if I didn’t take the request, but some negative factors would probably show up later.)

Giving a sigh at Kenny’s words, Rei nodded his head. On Rei’s right shoulder, Yellow rubbed his body against Rei’s cheek as if to silently encourage him.

Yellow stayed silent as it remembered that it had been told to keep its presence hidden. Rei continued to talk with Kenny while being impressed at Yellow’s intelligence.

「So, specifically, when does the noble……uh.」

「Baron Cisne.」

「When should I head over to Baron Cisne?」

「That hasn’t been specified yet. However, there is a deadline. Let me see……within 10 days, including today.」

「10 days, is it? I understand. I should head there soon then. Can you give me directions to Baron Cisne’s residence?」

「Yes, wait a moment. ……Here, this.」

Without any hesitation, Kenny took out a hand drawn map from nearby documents and handed it over to Rei. Perhaps she had predicted that Rei would not decline the request.

「……Well, okay then.」

「Eh? 　What?」

「Nothing. In that case, I guess I’m done here?」

Hearing from Rei that he would get going if there was nothing else, Kenny reached out from behind the counter and grabbed the hem of Rei’s robe.

「Is there still something I have to do?」

「Well, I don’t have anymore business……but a meal……how about that?」

Kenny was older than Rei, but Rei was currently taller as she had been sitting down. As Kenny invited Rei out for a meal with upturned eyes, Rei almost involuntarily nodded when……

「Kyu!」

「Kenny, you always talk about those things. I’ve told you no discussions about your own life while at work.」

Yellow’s right forefoot hit Rei’s cheek as he gave a small cry at the same time Lenora called out to Kenny.

Luckily, Lenora and Yellow’s voices almost overlapped, so it seemed no one noticed anything strange……

「……Hey, Lenora.」

「W-What’s with this all of a sudden. This isn’t how you usually are.」

「That’s not it. Didn’t you hear a strange sound just now?」

「……A strange sound?」

「Yes. It sounded like a small animal……」

「Hmm……there are no summoners or summoned beasts here though?」

「Did I mishear that?」

Lenora didn’t seem to have heard it, but Kenny, who was on same side as Yellow, seemed to have heard it.

Still, she looked like she might have misheard it because of its quiet cry.

「Maybe. ……That’s not the point. Never mind that, you should concentrate on your work Kenny.」

「Even if you tell me to work……there’s not much left. After all, most adventurers have stopped work, so naturally won’t we have less work?」

「That’s true.」

In some way, Kenny’s reasoning made sense and Lenora was at a loss for words.

Rei watched the two of them, but Yellow, who was still invisible, poked Rei’s cheek with his forefoot and prompted him to hurry out.

……Yes, this was one of the orders Yellow had received from Elena. In other words, try to find out who likely held some affection for Rei and if they tried to get close to him, stop it as much as was possible.

However, because Yellow was only 20cm in length, it’s physical strength was limited. The only thing he could do was to interfere with the current situation.

「Well, I’ll get going if there’s no more business……」

「Oh, hey, Rei. Since you’re at the guild, stop by our table!」

Soon after Rei spoke, someone put a hand on his shoulder.

It was fortunate that the person’s hand had grabbed his left shoulder. If they had grabbed his right shoulder, Yellow would have been knocked off and exposed. Even though he could turn invisible, it was only his appearance. Even in that state, Yellow was still physically there. In other words, you could still feel him.

Feeling a sense of relief, Rei looked back and saw a female warrior in her 30’s or so. Perhaps she was drunk. Her cheeks were faintly dyed red.

「Freon.」

Turning around, Rei called out the name of the female warrior while looking at her face.

She was a member of the Rank C party, Crushing Warriors, with who he had previously taken on a Harpy subjugation request.

Even though she was in her 30’s, she still looked pretty good. Kenny, who had been fighting with Lenora a few second ago, turned to look at Freon alertly.

To Kenny, a guild receptionist, Freon, who was an adventurer like Rei and had no particular partner was definitely worthy of her vigilance.

However, this was just Kenny’s own imagination. For Freon, Rei was a kid in his mid teens, half her age. She didn’t see him as someone of the opposite gender. To Freon, she only saw Rei as someone like a younger brother.

……Still, it would be a mistake to say they looked like a 『son』and『mother』and it was forbidden to call them『parent and child』. Brazos, the other member of Crushing Warriors, had said that before and considering that he was hammered into the ground despite being a Dwarf, famed for their ability to take hits, the danger of those words was understood by everyone.

In the end, he was invited to participate in a party with Freon and Brazos in the yard attached to the guild.

Luckily for Rei, he was able to leave before getting drunk.

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