Two days after dismantling the Bicorns. Rei was walking along the street with Set as they made their way towards the guild in the afternoon.

The reason they were heading over was because they guild had sent him a message yesterday. They would be announcing the results of the test, so Rei needed to head to the guild the next afternoon.

In the previous rank up test to get to D rank, the results of the test were announced the day after the test was concluded. However, for the B rank test, 5 days had passed before the announcement on whether they had passed or failed was made.

In a sense, it was unavoidable as reaching B rank meant that a person was regarded as a first class talent.

「Phew, B rank. I don’t think there’s an issue with my skills, but I’m not sure how the rest of what I did will be judged.」

「Gurururu~」

Rei stroked Set’s head as he bit on a skewer in his hands.

The moment he bit down, his mouth was filled with the fragrant flavour of the sauce before the taste of meat spread through his mouth.

Some people might have lost their appetite due to the summer heat, but nothing of the sort happened to Rei. Because of that, he made his way down the main street, buying food from stalls and sharing it with Set.

「Oh, Rei. Set as well. What’s happening today? Would you like anything to eat?」

「I’m sorry, but I’m running late. I’ve been called over by the guild, so I need to hurry.」

Although he said that to the owner of a sandwich street stall, he still bought a ham and vegetable sandwich.

The people in the surroundings had some thoughts about Rei’s contradictory words and actions, but just moved on by without saying anything.

Like that, although Rei said he was in a hurry, he continued to buy snacks from food stalls as he made his way down the main street, eventually arriving at the guild.

「Gururururu~」

Set gave Rei an encouraging cry before heading over to the space for tamed monsters as usual while Rei entered the guild.

At that moment, Rei realised that there were more adventurers in the guild than usual, even though it was day time. At the same time, there seemed to be more people over at the bar area in the guild.

He easily realised what was the cause after listening in to what they were saying.

「If you go by combat strength alone, I’d say Rei is the favourite and Roble is second.」

「But, it’s B rank. It’s necessary to have more than just combat strength. If you consider that, I think Stee has more common sense.」

「What about Ons?」

「Who is that? I’ve been in this city for a long time, but I’ve never seen someone called Ons before.」

「I’ve never seen Ons-san either. However, I bet on Stee-san based on her overall ability, so I’m not too worried.」

「Idiot. You won’t earn much money from that. I put a big bet on the old guy called Ons.」

「……What were you thinking? You’ve never seen him or heard of him? I don’t know what skills he has, so how could I place a big bet on him. And he’s taking the rank up test at that age? It’s a fact that he’s at a bigger disadvantage compared to the others.」

「Hmph, that’s why. A man must be able to make a big bet. By the way, my bet was the three silver coins I earned from the last request I took.」

「An idiot, an idiot is over here.」

Rei headed over towards the counter while hearing the sounds of voices coming from all around him. There, Kenny, who had been trying to get Rei’s attention since he entered the guild, waved at him while Lenora handled some paperwork beside her.

「Welcome, Rei-kun. Everyone who was part of the rank up test is already in the meeting room. It’s unusual for Rei to be last. Were you nervous and unable to sleep? Actually, I couldn’t sleep well last night myself.」

「Wait, why couldn’t you go to sleep? That has nothing to do with Rei-san’s rank up test. Ah, Rei-san. Hello. As Kenny said, everyone else is already here, I would like to talk some more, but you’d better hurry to the meeting room.」

「There is a reason. I was worried about whether Rei-kun would be promoted to B rank.」

「That’s why I……ahh, forget it.」

Rei smiled lightly at their usual exchang and thanked them before going upstairs.

「Rei-kun, let’s celebrate together after you pass.」

Jealous glances were directed to Rei from male adventurers who heard Kenny’s invitation.

 

 

「You’re quite late. It seems you’re confident.」

It was Roble who called out to Rei as he entered the meeting room.

For some reason, there was a slight seriousness in the way he looked at Rei.

「Even so, there’s still time, so there’s no problem right?」

Roble hadn’t been as antagonistic when they had worked together to dismantle the Bicorns two days ago……thinking of that, Rei replied as he took a seat.

There was no way that Rei could have known that Roble was feeling envious of him because he had heard Kenny invite Rei out with his hearing, peculiar to Beastkin.

If course, Roble didn’t really want anything to do with Kenny since Stee was his girlfriend. However, he was still jealous of Rei as a man, since he was liked by a beautiful woman like Kenny.

……He had no idea that Stee, who was sitting next to him, could tell what Roble was thinking in his heart.

Rei, after sitting in his chair, turned to look over at Ons without noticing what was going on between the lovers.

「We’ve been through a lot, but this will be the last time we’ll be working together like this.」

At Rei’s words, Ons nodded in silence.

Ons had been sent here from another city as an examiner for the rank up test, but he still enjoyed working together with Rei. Because of that, he didn’t feel that bad for deceiving them.

「……They’re here.」

The 4 of them continued to converse as they killed time before Roble noticed footsteps coming up towards the meeting room.

At that moment, the meeting room, which had previously heard a calm atmosphere, was gradually filled with a tense feeling.

Roble, Stee and Rei. All three of them felt that they had the ability to be promoted to B rank. However, if it were that easy to rank up, B rank adventurers wouldn’t be as uncommon as they were.

It was because they knew this that the meeting room grew tense.

「It seems everyone is here.」

Residence entered the meeting room and looked around before speaking.

Following after Residence, 4 more people entered, Marka, Coan, Alnicht and Orkide, which everyone was familar with.

Everyone understood that the 4 of them were present as they had served as test examiners.

Standing in front of Rei’s group, Residence immediately spoke up.

「Well then, I don’t want to drag too long here, so I’ll quickly announce the results for the rank up test. Those who passed are……Stee and Rei. Roble did not pass.」

「I failed!?」

The first person to react at those simple words was, of course, Roble.

It was only natural as he had been confident in his own ability.

「……Yes. In your case, you were barely able to pass the requirement for combat strength, but your promotion was rejected on other factors.」

「Wait! What other factors!?」

「First of all, your character. It’s not bad to be strong minded, but you can’t control yourself. Regarding Alnicht, you ignored him just because he didn’t match your personality. That’s no way to treat a client, to say the least. In addition, when you were discussing how to divide up the Bicorns, you tried to get the bigger share for yourself first. Also, during the interview, you talked more about Alnicht-sama than about Marka-sama’s offer regarding the Bicorns. There are many other details, but that’s the brief explanation.」

「……」

Roble could be heard clenching his teeth as he listened to Residence’s words.

「Then, next……」

Feeling that, he had provided enough information regarding Roble’s test, Residence was about to move on……

「Wait a minute, I have a few questions.」

「Regarding Roble’s test results, it has already been decided by the higher ups in the guild. It can’t be overturned.」

「No, not that.」

Stee glanced anxiously towards her lover for a moment, but then turned to look towards Ons. Yes, towards the silent man who’s name wasn’t mentioned in the list of people who passed or failed.

「Oh, he hasn’t told you yet? Ons isn’t a test taker, he’s a test examiner.」

「……Eh?」

Stee looked towards Ons with a stunned expression. Roble, who had just been told that he had failed the test, was so shocked that he forgot about his exam results.

Rei also looked over at Ons with surprise.

「……」

Ons nodded in silence as he took in the gazes from the three.

Roble tried to say something as he opened his mouth, but eventually stayed silent without saying anything.

However, the indignation over his test results had disappeared from his face. He must have been too shocked to think about that.

「Ons is an adventurer who came here from another city for this test. He may look like that, but he’s a B rank adventurer.」

「Eh? But, his guild card was……oh, right.」

Stee muttered to herself but quickly realised. Since he was requested to be a test examiner by the guild, Stee realised that it wouldn’t be too difficult for them to make a fake guild card.

「You seem to understand now. Now, regarding combat strength, Stee is slightly short of B rank. However, considering that she is an archer, she managed to pass the minimum requirement. As for etiquette, it’s clear that she has the highest score in this group. ……However, Roble and Rei were really too lacking in etiquette. Other than that, she spoke up for Ons’ share when dividing up the Bicorns and her cooking during lunch wasn’t bad either. During the interview, she lost some marks for taking a while to talk about the details of the deal Orkide-sama had offered, but it wasn’t that big of an issue. That said, since you have reached B rank, there will be times where urgent judgement will be required during requests from the Kingdom or from nobles. You need to be able to make decisions immediately……I won’t say that, but try to make decisions faster. Also, if you’re going to take requests as a B rank adventurer, you should train some more to improve your combat strength.」

「Yes, I will bear that in mind.」

Stee nodded at Residence’s extended comments.

Residence nodded in satisfaction when he saw that before finally looking at Rei.

「Rei, first of all, I have no complaints regarding your combat strength. No, to be honest, I’d say you’re way beyond even B rank. I’m sure you’ll be happy to hear that.」

Marka and the other nobles nodded in agreement.

Ons, while silent, nodded as well.

「And, even though you and Set killed more than half the Bicorns, you still suggested that they be distributed equally. That demonstrated your decisiveness. During the interview, you also discussed the deal that Alnicht-sama had offered you. That showed your decision making. Also, the water that was served alongside the food was good enough for nobles to drink……no, rather, it was delicious enough for even royalty to drink.」

That seemed to remind everyone of the taste of the water that had been made from the Dagger of Flowing Water. They all had a happy expression on their face.

「Although it was banned at the time, you also have an item box. There is no doubt that it is a great advantage when transporting good, including food.」

So far, there had been nothing but praise. To the others and Rei himself, it seemed quite clear that he would be promoted to B rank.

But……

「However, regarding your etiquette towards nobles. You lost a lot of marks. Even though you might have formed a friendship with Marka-sama, you should still behave appropriately in front of the other nobles, and as you had never met Alnicht-sama and Orkide-sama prior to this, you should have treated them accordingly as well.」

「I don’t think that is something that needs to be worried about so much.」

「Marka-sama, that’s no way to present yourself as a noble.」

Residence shook his head slightly at Marka’s words.

He turned to face Rei again before speaking.

「However, considering Rei’s ability in general, it’s strange for you to be in C rank. ……So, we are treating you as a provisional B rank adventurer.」

Residence’s words echoed through the meeting room.

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