As the outside grew dark, nearly 10 people gathered in the meeting room on the second floor of the guild.

You could tell how late it was from the fact that the outside was already dark despite it already being summer.

However, the guild was open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so magic items that used magic stones were used to light up the guild all around, meaning that there were no problems with it being too dark.

Anyway, inside the meeting room, sweating from the summer heat, the discussion between everyone continued as they drank fruit juice chilled using a magic item.

The honest thoughts of the people in the meeting room where that they would rather drink chilled fruit wine rather than fruit juice. Even though they were in a meeting, they could still hear the sounds of people drinking and making noise in the guild’s bar below.

「As far as I’m concerned, Stee is fine, but it’s too early for Roble to reach B rank. I can’t blame him for not being able to get along with me. But, if that clouds his eyes and dulls his decision making, I cannot confidently give him a request.」

Alnicht said that as he brought a glass of chilled fruit juice to his mouth.

Any of the people taking the rank up test would have been surprised if they saw Alnicht now. Aside from Rei, who had already half expected his attitude to have just been for show, Roble, who had been very disagreeable with Alnicht, would have been astonished to find his arrogant personality from the rank up test completely gone.

In the first place, Alnicht wasn’t that arrogant of a person, even if he was a little harsh on others. Although his original purpose in coming to Gilm had been to recruit Rei, he had not been swept away by the actions taken by Egg and Marina, who had eliminated those likely to cause trouble with Rei. The character he had in the rank up test, had just been for show.

「That is true, I understand what you mean, Alnicht-sama. With regards to his combat strength, he’s barely at the B rank threshold……」

One of the guild staff responded with a sigh as Residence listened in with a smile.

「For him to say that Alnicht-sama wasn’t worthy of nobility instead of bringing up Marka-sama’s request during the Bicorn subjugation in the interview……I really didn’t expect him to do that.」

As expected, in this meeting where only nobles and his superiors from the guild were present, Residence spoke in a polite manner compared to his casual tone when speaking to Rei.

「There’s nothing wrong with being impulsive. But that is only realises his own tendency to do that. He can’t act carried away with his emotions. He managed to pass the combat test, but he failed the etiquette and decision making tests. He couldn’t even talk with Alnicht-dono, who was supposed to be the client for this request.」

Alnicht gave a bitter smile at what Residence’s superior had to say.

「It might sound immature from me, but if I were to make a nominated request, I wouldn’t ask him.」

「Personally, I don’t mind people with that kind of personality. That said, I’m not too keen on having a self-centred high ranking adventurer as a party member either. I think it would be best I passed up on him.」

Following after Alnicht, Marka rubbed her eyes and spoke as she drank some chilled fruit juice to wake herself up.

Even if she was more mature than her age, her body was still that of a 7 year old child. Because of that, she was fighting against the sleepiness taking over her.

「As for me, I wasn’t involved in any particular way, so I guess he probably has reasonable tolerance towards people who aren’t hostile to him.」

Orkide continued after her.

Alnicht had played the role of a haughty noble, but it was Orkide’s true nature to avoid trouble, so he didn’t bother getting himself involved much with Roble, the topic of their conversation. But because of this, he had been able to observe the interactions between Roble and Alnicht from an outsider’s perspective.

「Hmm, I see. ……Then, what did you think?」

Residence’s superior turned to look towards one of the men in the meeting room.

It was a middle-aged man in his 40’s who had been silently listening in to their discussion.

If Rei, Roble or Stee had been here, they would have been surprised. It was because the man attending the meeting as a guild staff was someone who had taken the rank up test alongside them.

「He’s not a bad person, but it’s too early for him.」

「……I see. If even Ons says so, then it’s settled.」

Yes, it was Ons.

The seemingly inconspicuous and silent man had in fact been working alongside Rei and the others as one of their examiners. Yet, Rei and Stee, who had both felt suspicious of Alnicht, had not felt anything from Ons at all, showing his skill.

That was why he had been invited from outside Gilm’s guild to help with the test.

At first, when everyone else had gathered in the meeting room to discuss the rank up test, Marka, Coan, Alnicht and Orkide had been surprised to see Ons. However, they understood after it was explained to them that Ons had also been one of the examiners.

……In addition, Alnicht had a rather interesting expression on his face.

「So, with respect to Roble, we will not be promoting him to B rank this time.」

With the the decision from Residence’s superior, Roble was given a fail for the test.

「Next is Stee. She’s a Foxkin and an archer. She was quite skilled with the bow and among the members participating in the rank up test this time, she was able to attack from the furthest distance.」

Everyone else nodded in admiration at Residence’s high evaluation.

Although Stee was in a party with Roble, her skills were still highly regarded because she was an archer. She had an advantage that most ordinary warriors didn’t have, the ability to one-sidedly attack the enemy from a distance. It was because of this that weren’t as many archers as warriors.

「She also showed far more respect towards nobles that there’s no need to compare her with Roble. She was a little unfamiliar with conversing, but I think she will get used to it working more at B rank.」

Following after her combat strength, Alnicht praised her etiquette skills.

At this moment, everyone listening in thought that Stee would be passed.

「But, she has some difficulty making decisions. The matter about the Bicorns that you each approached them about. I believe it was you who talked with her……」

Residence’s gaze turned to Orkide, who nodded as he spoke.

「It was me. She refused my request, but looked somewhat troubled. Of course, she wasn’t going to let the Bicorns escape, but it seemed like she overthought it in her mind.」

「Isn’t that natural? I think it’s a lot better than to say yes or no without any thought.」

One of the guild staff responded, but Orkide shook his head.

「If you think about it normally, then that’s true. But the way she was acting at the time made it seem like she felt like she might be seen as having colluded with me. That’s just what I felt, so I can’t say for sure……how did the interview go?」

Fuah~, Orkide gave a small yawn as he asked Residence about the interview. Residence nodded in response with slight concern.

「Well, I told her in the interview that she could say anything she wanted, but she didn’t bring anything up at first. In the end, she told me that Orkide-sama had asked her to let the Bicorns escape, but it still took her considerable time to bring it up. Considering that, I still have some doubts about her ability to make decisions on a moment’s notice.」

「I don’t think it’s a problem in the end though, since she still told you.」

At the guild staff’s words, the other nodded in agreement.

「Ons, how was Stee from your perspective? Do you think it’s appropriate for her to go to B rank?」

At the question from Residence’s superior, the eyes of everyone in the room turned towards the silent man.

Ons may not have been expecting that, but he nodded as he spoke.

「I’m a little concerned about her skill, but she has high potential. Besides, unlike Roble, she’s not aggressive. If anything, she’s the type of person that uses others well.」

「Huh, that’s quite a high rating, unlike Roble.」

Marka said that with a small smile on her face. However, the others couldn’t help but noticed she was starting to rub her eyes to fight off her sleepiness.

「Does anyone else have anything to say about Stee?」

「She worked quite well as someone to smooth out relations within the party. And, I don’t’ know if this is a necessary skill for a B rank adventurer, but she was also a pretty good cook. If she worked with other nobles on a request, the food she can make won’t be so bad that they would reject it, even if it wouldn’t fully satisfy them.」

「……Is that so? The water that Rei had served during that time was so good that I don’t remember too much about the food……」

Orkide followed on after Alnicht’s words.

In fact, the dishes that Stee had served during lunch were not bad at all. However, since the water Rei created with his magic power and the Dagger of Flowing Water had been so good that it could have been called dew from the heavens, Stee’s food ended up being perceived as neither good nor bad.

「Umu, that water was delicious. I wonder if it could even be served to royalty.」

At the words of praise from the daughter of Duke Quest, a royalist noble, the guild staff who hadn’t tasted the water Rei had created using the Dagger of Flowing Water couldn’t help but gulp as they imagined what it must have tasted like.

The unfortunate problem for them was that it was water. Since it was such a common drink, they found it impossible to imagine how it would have tasted like.

In the end, as if to bring the conversation to a close, Residence’s superior spoke up.

「Anyway, although Stee is still somewhat immature, she still has the ability to be promoted to B rank. Are there any objections?」

The meeting room was silent as nobody raised any objections.

「Then it is decided, Stee will be promoted to B rank. ……Now, lastly, the most important one……」

The moment Rei’s name came out, the meeting room started buzzing in a different way from before.

Some of them frowned while others smiled.

In the midst of all this, Residence, the on site examiner, decided to speak first.

「Honestly, I have no issues with his combat strength. If it’s just that, he’s not just B rank. It’s enough to reach A rank.」

「……That’s true. Considering that he even has a title, we don’t need to worry about his combat strength at this point.」

The guild staff all nodded in agreement.

Everyone here already knew about Rei’s combat strength. As for the guild staff, many of them had known Rei since he first came to Gilm. It had started with him killing the Orc King at G rank, which finally allowed him to take on requests outside the city. And more recently, he had been given a title after overwhelming the vanguard of the Bestir Empire’s army by himself. He had even killed the Lemrace, a huge B rank monster bordering on A rank.

「Removing the criteria for combat strength, how about the rest?」

In response to his superior’s question, Residence spoke up after a moment of hesitation.

「First of all, I don’t have any issues with his decision making. During his interview, he immediately reported the matter that Alnicht-sama had proposed to him. Well, it would have been nice if he had shown a little more thought about it, but at the very least, I don’t think he would have chosen to do anything that would damage the kingdom, guild or Gilm.」

「Well, in that case, the last issue is his etiquette……」

「I’m not sure what to say about this one……I can only say he is unsubtle. However, he has no malice behind it. I’ve heard that he was raised by his master deep in the mountains, so I can’t blame him for that.」

Hearing Residence’s thoughts, most of the people present were troubled.

Aside from etiquette, he had no issues stopping him from being promoted to B rank. But the key problem was his etiquette.

After that, they continued to discuss Rei’s rank up for about an hour……by the time they had reached a conclusion on whether or not to promote him, it was already well past midnight.

[Previous Chapter] [Table of Contents] [Next Chapter]