「Oh, it looks like we can see Gilm.」

Marka gave a happy shout from within the carriage.

It had been several hours since they had lunch with dishes made from the meat of the Bicorns they had hunted on the grassland. By the time they arrived back in Gilm, it was evening.

Inside Duke Quent’s carriage, Marka had happily talked about the food she had eaten as well as the delicious water Rei had served her.

In addition, Marka had borrowed the Dagger of Running Water from Rei and created some water, which although was not as clear tasting as Rei’s, still made her very happy.

Because of that……

「So, Rei. Would you give that Dagger of Flowing Water to me? Of course, it would not be for nothing. Name your price and I will give it to you.」

Marka, who had come to love the Dagger of Flowing Water more than ever, offered to buy it from Rei several times.

However, for Rei the Dagger of Flowing Water, which could produce water just by pouring magic power into it, was not just essential to working as an adventurer……it was also a very useful magic item in of itself. If he just needed water, he could use a water bottle or he could store some in barrels and then store the barrels into the Misty Ring or on a carriage like ordinary adventurers. However, if you considered the taste of the water, the Dagger of Flowing Water was far superior, so Rei did not accept Marka’s offers.

「Sorry, but I have no intention of giving it up.」

「Ojou-sama, if you’re too persistent, Rei will hate you. If that happens you won’t be able to play with Set.」

「M-Mm. That certainly is a problem. ……I guess I will just have to ask around Osus if there is a similar magic item.」

Osus. Also called the Magic City, it was a city that thrived on the selling and purchasing of magic items. Spurred on by the development in alchemy that had been made by the Bestir Empire in their last war, the Mireana Kingdom was now planning to broaden their connection with Osus. It was safe to say that the only daughter of Duke Quent, a leading figure in the Royalist Faction, would be one of the people chosen to do that.

「Let’s do that. If this kind of magic item becomes more popular, it will be quite convenient for adventurers who need to camp out.」

「Umu, I don’t think that ordinary adventurers would be able to afford such an expensive magic item, let alone use it on a frequent basis.」

As she replied with some puzzlement at Rei’s words, the carriage continued on, going straight to the guild after completing the procedures to enter the city.

……On a side note, Stee was feeling depressed after having the food she had worked so hard to prepare be defeated by water created from a magic item, having had a good deal of confidence in her own cooking skills.

The four people in the carriage, which could only be called garish, were Roble, Stee, Alnicht and Orkide. Of the four, Roble and Alnicht did not get along as just ignored each other. Orkide was leaning against the side of the carriage, enjoying a leisurely nap. In order to lighten the mood in the carriage, Stee had to take the initiative to continue the conversation like she had done in the morning when the went out to hunt the Bicorns. However, there was no way for her to do that in her current state of depression. As a result, the carriage was silent with a strange tension.

Speaking of silence, the guild carriage that Ons and Residence were riding was no different. But, fortunately for them, the two of them didn’t seem to be bothered by the silence.

Like that, the one boisterous carriage and two silent carriages finally arrived at the guild.

With regards to the rank up test, the main task of subjugating Bicorns had been completed, so only one task remained.

Everyone got off their carriages and Set went over to the space for tamed monsters without anyone needing to say anything.

Seeing that, Residence spoke up.

「Now then, first of all, the subjugation of the Bicorns has been hard on you all. The only thing left is the individual interview, as I have mentioned to you previously. Each of you will be called from the meeting room one at a time.」

Saying that, Residence quickly entered the guild.

The others followed after him……

「Oh, they’re back. So, what do you think?」

「Hmm, as far as I can see, Stee? She doesn’t look too good. Did she make a mistake in the Bicorn subjugation.」

「That guy called Roble……he doesn’t look too good either. It’s Bicorns right? I don’t think guys who about to get B rank would fail to kill monsters like that.」

「Yeah, I think it’s something else. I know a bit about Roble, he wouldn’t be so depressed just from failing something.」

「Then what is it?」

「Who knows? That’s not something I can tell you.」

「Rei……I can’t see much of his expression under his hood, but it doesn’t seem like there’s anything wrong.」

「Well, if it’s pure combat strength, whether he’s C or B rank is not even a discussion. In the first place, it’s strange to have a title at C rank.」

「Well, yeah. So if Rei is going to fail, it’s going to be on something else……」

While hearing the discussion of the people around them, the group went straight past the counters and upstairs.

Lenora and Kenny were at the counter and naturally saw Rei. However, it was the evening and they were too busy giving the rewards for adventurers who had completed their requests or dealing with those that had failed to call out to him.

Evenings were the busiest time period alongside mornings, so it couldn’t be helped. However, Kenny still let out a sigh of disappointment that she couldn’t talk with Rei, who was only visible for a short moment.

However, she soon returned to her work dealing with adventurers after Lenora hit her head with a rolled up set of documents.

 

 

Even though it was already evening, it was still quite bright, the sun had yet to fully set as it was now summer. Meanwhile, in the meeting room on the second floor of the guild, the participants of the rank up test gathered there.

There were the people who were taking the test, including Rei, the guild examiner, Residence, and the nobles, including Marka. A total of 9 people.

In the middle of all this, Residence spoke up as Rei and the others all took a seat.

「Now then, as I said before, I will be conducting the individual interviews. You may rest assured that I will be the only one interviewing you.」

Roble gave a sigh of relief.

He was probably grateful that Residence would be the only one interviewing him as he definitely would not have got along with Alnicht.

Glancing at Roble’s reaction, Residence immediately called out to him.

「Good timing. Roble will be the first to be interviewed. The rest of you wait here. The interview will take place in a private room next to this meeting room. Roble, come with me.」

「Eh? O-Oh. I understand.」

「Roble, good luck.」

Stee called out to Roble, who nodded tensely.

With that, Roble left the meeting room, following after Residence.

「……Roble, I hope we will be fine. He doesn’t like interviews or things like that.」

Stee murmured to herself.

「However, if his rank goes up, he will have to meet with more nobles right? Well, there are still quite a few B rank adventurers, so it does not mean that you will definitely have to deal with nobles.」

At Stee’s murmurs, Marka, who had sat down on a chair that Coan pulled over, replied.

「That’s right. Besides, if you’re in a party, you can let other members handle discussions with the nobles.」

「Now that you mention it, Elk from Axe of the Thunder God was like that.」

Rei, who was listening to their conversation, recalled the face of an A rank adventurer, who looked like a grown up mischievous kid.

He had heard Elk tell that to him directly, so it left a strong impression on him.

「……That’s true, I definitely can’t imagine someone like Elk-san caring about etiquette.」

「That said, he still knows the bare minimum. He also has more to offer than just etiquette.」

It was clear that he was valued for his combat skills and not for his politeness to the client.

「However, I still think a certain level of etiquette is required. Especially when dealing with requests from nobles or royalty.」

Alnicht spoke as he listened to the conversation between the 3 of them. Marka and Coan both nodded in agreement.

Although it might be possible to rank up without knowing proper etiquette, it was always better to know some than to know nothiing at all.

In the first place, it was rare to have such a strange person as Elk.

「Hmm……I don’t care much for stuff like etiquette. It’s troublesome. I don’t want to have to be so formal.」

「Haah, where’s your pride as a noble?」

As they spent their time talking, Roble returned to the meeting room after about 20 minutes.

Immediately after he entered the room, all eyes focused on him and he flinched for a moment before speaking.

「Rei, you’re next.」

「……Me?」

Rei that thought that Stee would have been next considering she was Roble’s partner, so he couldn’t help but ask to confirm.

However, Roble just silently nodded.

Robles nod made Rei realise he was serious. Rei stood up from his chair and left the meeting room.

As he walked out, he felt everyone’s gazes on his back.

 

 

「Well, take a seat first.」

A small room next to the meeting room. It was about 10m^2 in size, just good enough for a small group of people to have a discussion.

After entering the room, Rei sat down in a chair at Residence’s prompt.

「So, I will now start the interview with you……ah, that’s right, before we start, please tell me if you have any thoughts or feelings regarding this rank up test.」

「Anything at all?」

「Oh, of course.」

Hearing his reply, Rei looked at Residence before starting to speak.

「Alnicht gave me a strange request when Set was herding the Bicorns over. Was that part of the test?」

「……A strange request? No, I didn’t ask him to do anything. What did he ask you?」

Residence prompted Rei to continue, but Rei paused for several seconds.

Should he say it or not? Rei hesitated for a while before finally deciding that it was probably part of the test and spoke up.

「He asked me to intentionally let the Bicorns flee and said he would reward me separately. He wanted to restrict the amount of materials that can only be found around Gilm that would go to the rest of the Mireana Kingdom.」

「……Is this true?」

「Yes, definitely.」

Rei nodded and acknowledged it immediately, even though Residence asked him if it actually happened.

「I’ll say this first, framing a noble would be a very serious crime. You understand that when you say this, right?」

「I’m not trying to frame Alnicht for anything. I am only telling you what he said, purely in terms of the request he gave me.」

While Rei explained, he was already half convinced that Alnicht’s request wasn’t real and only served to be part of the test.

(In the first place, Alnicht’s arrogant personality seems to be a deliberate show made for the purpose of the rank up test. Considering that, mentioning Alnicht’s request here should be the right choice……)

「Hm, is that so. In that case, I will look into it myself……are you sure about this? You can’t just tell me it was a joke or an accident later after saying that here.」

As if double checking……Residence asked Rei again after telling him that there would be penalties if the results of his investigation turned nothing up.

「Yes, that’s fine. If I’m wrong, then it’s my mistake, so I should be punished for it.」

「……That’s fine. If you say that, then I won’t say anything more. I’ll tell you the results of my investigation later, so remember that.」

That was the end of the matter about Alnicht and the interview ended after he was asked for his impressions on the test as well as Roble, Stee and Ons, who he had worked together with.

The results of the rank up test would be revealed after 5 days. Until then, the participants of the rank up test, including Rei, held a sense of tension.

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