Chapter 54
The staff member led us upstairs to the second floor.
We stopped in front of the room at the very end of the hallway.
"This is it."
The staff member knocked on the door.
"Guildmaster, I’ve brought the two of them."
"Come in."
A low voice answered.
"Excuse us."
We entered the room.
A man was seated at the desk in front of us.
He looked to be around fifty.
He had short gray hair and a sturdy build.
He looked more like an active adventurer than a guildmaster.
"Have a seat."
"Thank you."
Felicia and I sat side by side.
The report from the Valdis Marquisate that we’d just handed over was on the desk.
The guildmaster looked at me.
"Allen Valdis. B-Rank adventurer."
"Yes."
Then he turned his gaze to Felicia.
"Felicia Roth. Also B-Rank."
"Yes."
The guildmaster flipped through the documents in his hands.
"Cleared the twentieth floor of the Belgrant Western Dungeon. Defeated a Mithril Golem."
He knew that much?
"And in the war against the Doran Empire, you defeated their Sword Saint."
He looked at me.
"That was you, wasn’t it?"
"Yes."
"And a few days ago, you encountered a stampede in the Valdis Marquisate.
You joined in defending the town and defeated a King Ogre."
"Yes."
The guildmaster set the documents on the desk.
"You’ve certainly made a splash."
"That wasn’t what I was trying to do."
"Even if you tried to make a splash, there aren’t many people who could do all that."
Felicia gave a quiet laugh beside me.
"So, you’d like to discuss promotion to A-Rank, correct?"
"Yes. The guildmaster in Belgrant told us we could earn the achievements we need for A-Rank here in the royal capital."
"That sounds like him."
The guildmaster leaned back in his chair.
"I’ll tell you this first: there’s no need for me to test your combat abilities at this point."
"Huh?"
"There’s no point in making someone who defeated a Mithril Golem and even took down the Sword Saint fight a mock battle."
That was a relief.
I’d thought we might have to take another practical exam after coming all the way to the royal capital.
"Felicia Roth, the same goes for you. Judging by your records in the dungeon and on the battlefield, you’re among the top B-Ranks."
"Thank you."
"But that alone isn’t enough to promote you to A-Rank."
I knew it.
"An A-Rank adventurer’s name itself carries weight. It’s the guild’s way of guaranteeing that this adventurer can be trusted with difficult jobs."
I’d heard something similar in Belgrant.
The guildmaster tapped the report from the Valdis territory with his finger.
"Your response to this stampede is commendable. Even though you had no quest, you returned to the town and worked with the territorial soldiers to prevent further damage.
We were also told that after the battle, you wisely chose not to pursue the fleeing monsters."
"They put that much detail in the report?"
"Yes."
It seemed the territorial soldiers had given a very thorough report.
"Including your part in the war against the Doran Empire, your contributions to the Kingdom of Sahar are enough to put you both in contention."
"Then..."
"You’re candidates."
The guildmaster said it plainly.
"You’re not A-Rank yet."
"Understood."
"I’m meeting you for the first time today. I’m not going to promote you to A-Rank based on paperwork alone."
That was reasonable.
"Then what do we need to do?"
"There’s a suitable quest available."
The guildmaster took out another document and placed it on the desk.
"The guild sometimes assigns a quest of its choosing to A-Rank candidates as part of their assessment.
I’d like you to take this one."
"An assessment?"
"Yes. We don’t just look at how many enemies you kill.
We also look at whether you can complete the mission, judge the situation correctly, and cooperate with others when necessary.
Those sorts of things matter, too."
Felicia looked at the document.
"Is this the quest you mean?"
"That’s right."
The guildmaster nodded.
"However, the two of you won’t be going alone."
"There are others?"
"Yes."
Just then, someone knocked on the door.
"Come in."
The door opened.
Three adventurers entered the room.
The one in front was a young man older than me.
He was tall, with a slender longsword at his waist.
Behind him came a man carrying a large shield and a woman with a bow.
"You’re here."
"We were called."
The young man answered.
The guildmaster looked at us.
"Let me introduce you. This is Elliot Gran. He’s nineteen and a B-Rank adventurer.
They’re also A-Rank candidates."
"I’m Elliot."
"I’m Allen."
"I’m Felicia."
We gave each other a slight bow.
"The two behind him are members of Elliot’s party. They’ll be joining you on this quest as well."
The other two also gave us a slight bow.
Elliot stared at my face.
"Allen Valdis?"
"Yes."
"So you’re the one who defeated the Sword Saint?"
It seemed the news had reached the royal capital, too.
"That’s right."
"I thought you’d be a bigger guy."
"Am I that small?"
Felicia burst out laughing.
Elliot laughed, too.
"You’re funny. I meant you’re younger than I expected."
He didn’t seem to mean it in a bad way.
The guildmaster cleared his throat.
"Back to the matter at hand. The five of you will take this quest together.
Allen, Felicia, and Elliot are the ones being assessed."
"So it’s a joint mission."
"Yes. Once you’re A-Rank, you’ll have opportunities to work with people outside your own party.
We’ll be watching how you work with people you’ve just met, too."
I see.
Elliot looked at me.
"I don’t mind. I’m curious to see how someone who actually defeated the Sword Saint fights."
"I don’t know anything about you, either, Mr. Elliot."
"You’ll find out in the field."
He said that with a smile.
It seemed he was up for a bit of competition.
The guildmaster spread a map across the desk.
"Let me explain the quest."
Everyone looked at the map.
A narrow road branched off from the highway running north from the royal capital.
"This is the Old North Road. Since the new highway was built, far fewer people travel this way."
The guildmaster pointed to a spot on the map.
"Several people who passed through this area have gone missing over the past month."
"Were they attacked by monsters?"
Felicia asked.
"We don’t know."
"You don’t know?"
"At first, people suspected bandits or monsters, so the guild sent out an investigation team."
"Did they find anything?"
"Worse than that. The investigation team never came back, either."
The mood in the room changed.
"How many people?"
Elliot asked.
"Four B-Rank adventurers."
"All four of them?"
"Yes."
Four B-Rank adventurers.
They couldn’t have been weak.
And none of them had returned.
"Are those the only people who’ve gone missing?"
"So far, we’ve confirmed that two merchant caravans have gone missing. There are also several travelers who haven’t been accounted for."
"That’s quite a lot."
"Yes. That’s why we’re sending you."
The guildmaster looked around at us.
"But don’t misunderstand. This isn’t a subjugation quest."
"Then what is it?"
"Search for the missing people and determine what caused them to disappear."
The guildmaster continued.
"If there are survivors, rescuing them is your top priority.
Even if the cause turns out to be a dangerous monster, you don’t have to force yourselves to defeat it."
"You mean we can run away?"
"If necessary."
Elliot gave a slight smile.
"I didn’t expect you to say it’s all right to run away during an A-Rank assessment."
"I can’t entrust A-Rank work to someone who can’t judge when to flee from an opponent they can’t beat."
"I see."
He had a point.
When we fought the King Ogre, we could have chosen not to fight if we hadn’t needed to protect the town.
I picked up the quest document.
It listed where and when the missing people had last been seen, along with how many there were.
One detail caught my attention.
"This..."
"What is it?"
The guildmaster looked at me.
"Did they find the wagons from the first missing caravan?"
"Yes."
"What about the cargo?"
"Most of it was still there."
I looked over the quest document again.
"And yet there were hardly any signs of a struggle?"
"That’s right."
Felicia and Elliot leaned over to look at the document, too.
"That’s strange."
"Yeah. If they were bandits, there’d be no reason to leave the cargo behind."
Elliot said.
Even if monsters had attacked them, the wagons could have been damaged, or there might have been blood left behind.
"Did the B-Rank investigation team go to the same place?"
"We’ve confirmed they entered the Old North Road. We don’t know what happened after that."
Only the people had disappeared.
And even the B-Rank adventurers sent to investigate hadn’t returned.
I’d thought they’d give us a quest to defeat a more powerful monster.
Apparently, this wasn’t going to be such a simple job.
"When do we leave?"
"Tomorrow morning."
The guildmaster looked around at us.
"Come back alive. That’s part of the assessment, too."
You have acquired a total of 93,145P.