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It was the day after Rir and I went on our date and ended up deepening our relationship. We had come to the adventurer’s guild to finally rank up. To begin with, it had been our plan to do that today.

“Excuse me, we would like to raise our rank,” I said as we handed the receptionist girl our guild cards.
“Woof.”

She carefully took them.

“Indeed. You are Sir Shuu and Lady Rir of the Red Ears, correct? Which would you like to raise, your party rank or your individual ranks?”
“Erm, all three. Hers, mine, and the party’s rank.”

Back then, it had dropped three SS-Rank magic cores. Though Rir and I defeated the Mountain Eater together… I was a bit worried whether the magic cores would count for both of us.

“Alright, I understand. Since you both and your party are currently at D-Rank, you will need to present either 30 D-Rank or three C-Rank or higher magic cores for each.”
“Here you go.”

I took out two SS-Rank magic cores, while Rir brought out one, and we placed them on the submission platter. The receptionist’s complexion changed instantly.

“Eh… wha-… huh?”

SS-Rank magic cores are crazy, after all, aren’t they?
Yesterday, Rir had told me that I should expect the people here to be shocked. Still, to think that the receptionist would open her eyes this wide and be stumped into silence…

“…Shuu, take a look behind us…” Rir told me as she tugged my sleeve.
“Hm?”

Come to think of it, it’s gotten quiet. It started around when we turned in those SS-Rank magic cores. How strange.

As for the reason… The rubberneckers who’d noticed that we were about to rank up had all turned speechless, same as the receptionist. Although SS-Rank magic cores didn’t appear on the market, everyone knew how they looked.

“Erm, excuse me. About those SS-Rank magic cores…” I asked the receptionist.
“Ah… right… uhm… indeed, please wait here for a moment…”

She took the platter with trembling hands and left the counter. After she took a door that led somewhere further inside, only the sound of it closing echoed through the place. Together with that sound, the rubberneckers… or rather, adventurers, customers at the bar, and clients, who had been watching that scene, surrounded us in a flash and started raising their voices.

“What… just what the hell did you guys do~~!?”
“SS-Rank magic cores…! That’s the first time I see those outside of a museum…”
“Huh… so, what does this mean?”
“This means that those two will become SS-Rankers… Sheesh…”

They kept jabbering on and on.

There were several dozen adventurers and others surrounding us. In the middle of that, the Reversi¹ lover and his friends, the only ones other than Rir, who I hung out with often, parted the crowd.

He grabbed my shoulder.

“Shuu… how… how did you manage this…?”
“Well… some time after we got in that incident, we found a dungeon… We kept defeatin’ magic beasts while we were wanderin’ around, so we leveled up… that’s how we managed to beat the dungeon boss and got our hands on those SS-Rank magic cores, y’see.”
“Dude~!?”

This explanation was apparently enough to convince them, and the other people around us. At least judging from their faces.

“You… you managed that while in the middle of a crisis…”
“Dude… you did have it hard… Still, finding and clearing a dungeon is super lucky!”
“Well, I knew from the beginning that you’d become a big shot! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”

A short time later, the receptionist returned together with a tiny old man.
I’m pretty sure that guy is… the manager of this guild branch.

He was discussing something with the receptionist, and once they were done, he beckoned us over. They let us into the counter area, so we went to him.

“Were you kids the ones who submitted those magic cores?”
“Yes, we were.”

Likely since she still wasn’t good with strangers, Rir merely nodded without saying anything.

After shooting us a glance, the old man gave us a mumbled “follow me”, left the receptionist girl at the counter, and entered the door leading further into the building. We went after him.

In the room we reached, there were two sets of chairs and tables that seemed to be slightly more expensive than the other things around us. One was likely for personal use, and the other for discussions.

The old man sat down in a chair which probably had been prepared for our talk. Before we knew it, there were three cups of tea on the table.

“Well, sit on down,” he told us as he indicated with the palm of his hand to a wide couch on the other side of the table.

We did as he asked us to and took a seat.

“I am the manager of this guild branch. You knew that, didn’t you?”
“Uhm, yes, we did, Sir.”
“Hrm.” After giving us a satisfied look, he sipped his tea. “Incidentally, these three SS-Rank magic cores are undoubtedly from a monster you both defeated. We were able to verify that.”
“Y-Yes.”
“With that being said, both of you and your party are now officially SS-Rank. Congrats. Well, it’s still tentative.”

As he explained this to us, the old man sipped his tea again.

“Phew… You will likely get a summons from the castle in a few days’ time. There, you will receive affirmation of being SS-Rank from the king. Though you shouldn’t need to do anything special there.”

This time, the old man took out something like a marshmallow wrapped in paper from his pocket and put it in his mouth.

“Ah… erm… I used to be Master’s… Sir Shuu’s slave… but I was released from slavery by him…” Rir asked him in a slightly trembling voice. “Still, will I, as a former slave and a beastfolk, be allowed to visit the castle, Sir?”
“Yes, you will, my girl. For this occasion, at least. You are no longer a slave and… in the first place, almost all adventurers are treated the same in regard to status.” As he said that, his expression turned slightly sullen. “Usually, that is.

This time, I asked him a question.

“Is there an issue?”
“Well… you didn’t hear that from me, my boy, but yes, there is. The rules are clear, but there is one single person’s egoism who might turn them void²…”

He’s probably talkin’ ’bout the king. He doesn’t have a good reputation, after all, and if he has some issue with Rir, that means he’s a bigot.
Ugh… I don’t wanna meet that guy… Still, I gotta if I want to go home…

If it looks like he’ll do something to Rir, I’ll either protect her, or we’ll run away. Guess that should work.

“Understood… erm… How many days from now can we expect that summons, Sir?” I asked the manager.
“Hrm, probably between three days to one week from now. Until then, you should rest up. If there are any issues, you can consult with me.”
“Thank you very much.”

Afterwards, we gave the old man a somewhat falsified account of how we had obtained the magic cores and what we had done during our crisis, and then went home to our apartment.

TL notes:
Shuu makes his move to get an audience with the king. Let’s see how that’ll turn out…

The politically independent adventurer’s guild is a mainstay in isekai stories, and it always made me wonder why governments, especially medieval monarchies, would tolerate establishments that foster anything from thugs to uncontrollably strong superhumans. I guess it offers people, who’d otherwise fall into banditry, an honest occupation, but in the end, it likely comes down to convenience in world building (or the lack of it).

1. It says “Othello” in the original, but back in chapter 237, they were playing Reversi, so I assume it’s an error.
2. So, the king can veto those things, but it’s not expected that he does? Always a great system until you get someone ruthless enough to do it either way.

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