I open the door leading to the adventurer guild, Riodo, that’s in the capital of Kuama.
There’s a slightly pungent scent of blood. It is most likely the lingering scent of the adventurers that use this place.
I separated from Comrade and brought Wolfe with me to obtain information.
There’s the need to research the details of the guild members of Riodo, but we need Wolfe to join first.
The momentum of the wars happening in the areas was lost after Yugura defeated the Demon Lords.
It is not something sweet like them feeling a sense of comradery after facing the invasion of the Demon Lords together. If they were to cause a war in a situation where a Hero that can defeat even Demon Lords has appeared, they were all worried of the possibility that that very Hero would get involved in it, too.
On top of that, after Yugura ended the battle against the Demon Lords, he left the influential people to manage the respective lands.
He taught the procedure to deal with the adjoined Nethers, and made it so the other influential people can’t deal with the Nethers satisfactorily.
And in this way the other influential people who couldn’t throw away their selfishness would have to move to a remote region, or pledge fealty towards the king that was left the nation to and change to nobles.
However, there were still people in the nation that had a desire for political power even inside those lands.
They gathered powerhouses from various locations in a way that a nation couldn’t and began operating as a new power.
They were the adventurer guilds. The first one to show up was the highly regulated Morgana.
Morgana was established when the battle against the humans and Demon Lords had just finished, but the hatred towards demi-humans was still present.
Because of this, it is natural that most of the adventurers affiliated to Morgana are humans.
The one that was born to oppose the threat of Morgana was Riodo. It is this guild that’s said to have been established by demi-humans.
There’s almost no opposition to demi-humans now, but there’s things that still remain even through the test of time.
Demi-humans have very little opportunity to shine in Morgana. It should be plenty possible to recommend Wolfe to Morgana with her skills, but as long as there’s few demi-humans registered in Morgana, there’s the possibility that she would stand out in an undesirable way.
Because of those reasons, it ended up with Wolfe registering to Riodo… But considering the anxiety that would bring acting together with Rakura, such background is just an extra to the reasons.
The one that took in adventurers without distinction after that was Shunait.
Having a wide acceptance range was a happy condition for the newbie adventurers and their influence increased in the blink of an eye.
Morgana and Riodo decided to take the route of being selective about the quality of their adventurers to oppose Shunait.
Just like how Morgana can gain the trust of many nations, Riodo stands at the other side of the coin as the place where you can fulfill in the shadows the requests that can’t be done in public.
When we entered, the adventurers around poured their gazes at us.
There were people who looked away after noticing that it was not a client but someone from the same trade, and there’s also those who were observing us as if assessing us. There’s a variety of gazes, but I can’t feel any that’s amicable.
I paid no mind to it and walked to the reception and spoke to the man sitting there.
“I would like to register someone to Riodo. It is this person here.” (Ekdoik)
“A white demi-human, huh. That’s rare, moreover, young. Wouldn’t she earn more money if you were to put her on display instead?”
“If you think so, then your eyes are 3rd rate.” (Ekdoik)
“Hmph, then show me your power.”
The man at the reception tilted his body and shouted to the adventurers around.
“Oi, we are going to have an exam for a new recruit! Anyone that wants some pocket money, speak out now!”
The condition to join Riodo is whether you are strong.
There’s also exams to test your intelligence and magic skills, but battle prowess is prioritized.
The man that judged Wolfe must be skilled. He seems to have chosen the battle prowess exam from seeing her equipment.
I should tell them beforehand at the time when Comrade joins.
A single man walks towards the reception not long after. His face is full of scars and is spreading pressure to the surroundings.
The exam to test battle prowess is a mock battle against a Riodo adventurer.
The ones that lack the capability will get baptized harshly and, at times, end up being unable to work as adventurers anymore.
“I will do it. No reason to refuse if I can enjoy it while waving off my booze expenses.”
The adventurers around were watching this with warped grins in their faces.
…Every single one of them is 3rd rate. Even if Wolfe is holding back her mana, I don’t know if they can serve any good for the exam if they can’t even see through that.
“Wait a moment.” (Ekdoik)
“Hah? Saying you want to stop now won’t work, okay?”
“I don’t care about that. Wolfe, is that okay? You will be showing your skills here, but don’t kill them. Also, try to avoid crippling them.” (Ekdoik)
“Okay!” (Wolfe)
That should be good enough. Wolfe has been training with pretty strong people on the regular.
If she were to fight with that same mindset, she would end up killing unnecessarily. Comrade told me vehemently that this must be avoided.
“Are you provoking me here? How stupid. Let’s begin already.”
The man and Wolfe move to the center and take their stances.
The man’s weapon is a steel club. He must have been using it for years, the tip has changed to a dark color.
It is pathetic to see that he has been neglecting taking care of his weapon.
“I am ready whenever. I will teach you that yer 10 years too soon to be he—”
Match set.
She grabbed the face of the man with her bare fists instead of punching him as a form of holding back, and then smashed him onto the ground just like that, but she broke the ground and the upper half of the man had been buried on the ground.
He is convulsing here, so it doesn’t seem like he has died. That’s a relief.
If she were to kill someone right after she began acting, I don’t know what Comrade would have said. It has been a while since I have had chills run down my spine.
I didn’t think a day would come when I would be happy about the floor here being made out of wood.
The adventurers have their mouths open in shock. Only one or two must have been able to follow what she did just now.
“Oi, someone treat him. You should be able to get the treatment fee from his ‘booze expenses’.”
Wolfe came back here with an unconvinced face.
“What’s the matter Wolfe? You don’t need to worry about that guy. He seems to be alive after all.” (Ekdoik)
“Uhm, Wolfe hasn’t shown her real strength with this…” (Wolfe)
“…Being able to show this much is enough.” (Ekdoik)
I return to the receptionist and pay the registration fee silently.
The reception man shook his head as if he returned to his senses and confirmed the money for the registration fee.
“That was a surprise. What’s with that demi-human?”
“If I had to explain in an easy to understand way for you guys, it would be that she is the disciple of Gradona.” (Ekdoik)
“The Holy Fist’s… So the same as that Pashuro. Tell me that beforehand.”
“Would you have believed me even if I told you?” (Ekdoik)
“…Not sure.”
The man finished counting the registration fee, and brought out two metallic plates, a chisel, and a hammer.
“Name?”
“Wolfe!” (Wolfe)
“No family name?”
“Uhm…” (Wolfe)
“That’s fine.”
One of the reasons why we chose Riodo was because there’s no need to register with your full name.
This means a lot for the residents of the underground that take on requests that bring hatred towards them.
On the other hand, in the case of Morgana, there’s the extra step of confirming with your relatives when there’s no recommendation.
It is clear that the process would be troublesome considering the environment of Wolfe.
The receptionist carved the name of Wolfe on the overlapping metallic plates with practiced moves.
And then, he set the metallic plates on the machine placed on top of the desk and closed the lid.
“Place your hand on the crystal there and put your mana in it.”
“Okay!” (Wolfe)
“Wait. Just a bit is fine. Don’t pull off something similar to Ilias.” (Ekdoik)
“I-It is okay!” (Wolfe)
She took a deep breath, placed her hand on the crystal, and poured mana.
The receptionist stopped her after a while.
“It should be fine now. Move your hand away.”
When Wolfe took her hand off, the receptionist brought the metal plates from before out of the device, and gave one to Wolfe.
By pouring mana onto it -even if subdued- others can confirm you are indeed the person. Though this is limited to only the place where you registered.
“This is your guild card. You will have to pay extra if you lose it, so don’t, okay?”
“Okay!” (Wolfe)
The registration has been finished safely. We can finally begin the investigation with this.
“Wait a moment.”
The one who called us was an adventurer in the surroundings. Moreover, he isn’t alone, there’s several of them.
“That’s quite the promising newbie joining us here. Her physical strength is also not bad. Want to join me?”
“No, forget about that breath stinker. I can provide you with a place where your strength can shine, you know?”
There’s a number of reasons why adventurers lurk around the guild headquarters, but there’s mainly 2 reasons.
The first one is to win the request fast when an outstanding client shows up. The other is to increase your allies.
It is hard to secure hands in jobs filled with danger. That’s why skilled adventurers would search for handy comrades in the guild.
I say comrades, but it is more like pawns. They want people they can use at their leisure.
They most likely won’t give up easily even if Wolfe were to refuse. I should scatter them here.
“Oh my, isn’t that Ekdoik~?”
A languid voice and the sound of the wood creaking.
When I moved my gaze there, there was Girista carrying a giant greatsword on her back.
“Geh, Girista?!”
“What’s with that? Wincing at the sight of someone’s face is so rude~.” (Girista)
The adventurers immediately take distance from Girista.
There’s almost no one in Riodo who doesn’t know about the battle junkie Girista. It turns into a battle the moment you complain to her, so that’s a matter of course though.
“I came here to register Wolfe in the guild.” (Ekdoik)
“Oh my, you joined a place like Riodo, Wolfe-chan~? But I am kind of happy that you are together with me~.” (Girista)
“C-Can’t be helped if she is an acquaintance of Girista…”
It seems like they are not such daredevils that they would make the acquaintance of a dangerous person into an ally. The adventurers around take distance in low spirits.
I should be grateful here that this wrapped up in the most peaceful way in a sense.
But now that it has been spread that she is an acquaintance of Girista, heavy obstacles might show up in future information gathering.
I planned on meeting her at a different location originally, but our destination being the same makes it faster.
Girista received the payment for completing her request at the reception and regrouped with us outside.
“You took a different request despite being in the middle of Comrade’s request?” (Ekdoik)
“Isn’t that okay? The reward for the request of Boss is big, but I also want the booze expense for the day~.” (Girista)
“Boss, huh. Another weird nickname.” (Ekdoik)
“He is my biggest patron after all. I will of course show appropriate respect~.” (Girista)
“So Girista was famous.” (Wolfe)
“Infamous.” (Ekdoik)
Girista has a past record of getting excited in the middle of a monster subjugation and dragging even the adventurers around her, causing casualties, so she is not allowed to enter Mejis.
She is a woman that even has a wanted poster of her, moreover, has even been banned from the guild.
Though the ‘banned’ of Riodo means ‘don’t show your face when the sun is up’. And so, she shows up only at night.
“Oh my, Ekdoik, could it be that you are sour because you are not famous~?” (Girista)
“Is Ekdoik-san not famous?” (Wolfe)
“I haven’t caused problems like Girista and Pashuro after all. What’s the point of narrowing down my range of action when the reason I joined the guild was to earn for my meals to begin with?” (Ekdoik)
That said, there’s a number of people who know my strength, and that led to catching the eye of Raheight though.
“Then let’s do our best and become famous in the good sense of the word!” (Girista)
“Is there the need to become that famous?” (Ekdoik)
“You are still losing to Rakura, you know?” (Girista)
“Right. Let’s do our best, Wolfe.” (Ekdoik)
“Yes!” (Wolfe)
I completely forgot that the reputation of Rakura has already reached Kuama.
The extermination of the horde of monsters that appeared in the Gahne Nether, the extermination of the horde of devils that appeared in Taizu, and the subjugation of the Great Devils: Beglagud, Fokudulkura, Zashpenfosse, Baraguwerin, and Tenesuasparigun.
It was actually Wolfe that defeated Zashpenfosse and Baraguwerin, and Ilias defeated Tenesuasparigun, but information has been spread around that there’s no doubt she fought together with them.
She defeated an army of monsters and defeated 5 Unique Monsters, so there’s rumors going around that she might already be approaching the realm of the Holy Fist Gradona. Half of that was spread by me though.
So this is what it means to tighten your own noose, huh. Let’s just think positively of it. That’s exactly what makes her worth surpassing.
◇◇
“Subjugating 5 Unique Monsters, medals of honor from the kings of Gahne and Taizu for completing the request to subjugate the monsters, moreover, even the letter of recommendation from the Pope of the Yugura Church, Pope Euparo…and even K-King Zenotta?! All documents are real… P-Please wait a moment! This is too much for me after all!”
I ended up acting together with Rakura-dono, and so we headed to the headquarters of Morgana to register her, but…I feel like we overdid it here.
Mister Friend readied recommendation letters from the nations at the time when he was heading to Kuama so that Rakura-dono could join the guild and make it easier for her to act.
We readied one more from King Zenotta at the time we accepted the request, but…now that I think about it calmly, wouldn’t it have been fine with just one?
Even the receptionist grew pale and ran off deeper in.
“Uhm, Mix-chan, could it be that this has become an extremely troublesome matter?” (Rakura)
“…Mister Friend is one scrupulous guy after all.” (Mix)
Also, most of what Mister Friend has achieved has been credited to Rakura-dono.
In the case they inquire with the other countries, the standing of Rakura-dono will be even more…
“E-Excuse the wait. Go ahead and enter the room deeper in.”
The receptionist came back with hurried steps and guided us to a room deeper inside the guild. This is the place that only management or people with special treatment are guided to.
I have been guided to this room a number of times as someone who had Ani-sama prepare a recommendation letter.
Proof of your identity is absolutely necessary when registering to Morgana. I have hidden the fact that I am royalty from the public, but I have been given suitable treatment matching that standing after all.
That we are being led here means that…we are going to meet that person.
An elegant room laid at the other side of the door. This is a special guest room prepared for the cases when you receive requests from influential nobles or government officials.
And the person standing deep in that room…is the current guild master of Morgana that’s said to be known by all adventurers.
“Nice to meet you, Rakura Salf-san. I am the representative of Morgana, Ritial Zentry.”
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