A Rousing Welcome at the Research Institute! Let's Raise the Real-World Standard.

"Hey, hey, hey! 【Hero】-kun! I've been waiting, waiting for you!"

"Oh, excuse us."

"Excuse us..."

"You're not intruding at all, so don't worry about it. And you too, young lady—make yourself at home. Sorry I can't even offer you tea, haha!"

We'd just arrived at the Research Tower.

After a short wait, someone at reception showed us to a room, where an incredibly energetic older man welcomed us. Behind him, researchers in white coats were packed shoulder to shoulder, though none seemed inclined to step forward.

"Ah, I haven't introduced myself! I'm Miston, head of the Research Institute! There's no man more handsome than me in this institute!"

To my surprise, this old guy was the director—in other words, the head of a research institution.

His face was as square and rugged as the weapon shop owner's back in the 〈Nameless Beginning Village〉. Was that handsome-man comment a joke?

"Oh, I'm—"

"You're Zephyrus, the first-year student, right? Of course I know you. And Hanna-san, too—there isn't a soul in the Research Tower who doesn't know your names."

Apparently, introductions were unnecessary.

Still, I was surprised. I could understand myself being famous, but Hanna too?

"Besides, the members of Guild 〈Eden〉 are the hottest group around right now. A 【Hero】, 【Saintess】, 【Shield Princess】, 【Princess Knight】, and 【Alchemist】—what kind of guild is that? I've never seen one like it!"

It seemed information about our guild had spread everywhere.

I mean, Estelle had only become a 【Princess Knight】 this morning. How did he know already?

It was true that the academy required us to register our Job and LV before entering a Dungeon, but had word gotten out from there? That had only just happened, though...

"Honestly, I'd like to have every researcher here give the members of 〈Eden〉 a grand welcome. Zephyrus-kun, could you bring them all here sometime?"

"Well, that depends on how hard the Research Institute works, doesn't it? I'll ask them, at least, but we're at an important stage ourselves. If they find out the institute has nothing to show for its efforts, they won't cooperate."

"Harsh! But you're right. The princesses' trust won't come for free, either. We have to earn it with the results of our research!"

"I'll cooperate. It benefits me, too. That's why I came today."

"Thank you! Mr. Zephyrus, you're the hope of our Research Institute! We'll spare no effort to help in any way we can!"

I exchanged a firm handshake with Director Miston.

The reason I was being so readily welcomed was partly due to the Job list at the entrance ceremony, but, to be blunt, it was also because the research institution itself had achieved almost nothing.

In the game version of 〈Dan-Katsu〉, the game began at age sixteen, so finding the conditions for Jobs to manifest was relatively easy.

Well, even then, it took the dedicated 〈Dan-Katsu〉 players a tremendous amount of time and effort to find them. I helped out a fair bit myself.

But in real-life 〈Dan-Katsu〉, actions from before age sixteen were also tracked, so there were a lot of unknowns about what people had done.

It was only natural not to remember things from early childhood.

And since the 〈Dragon Statue〉 wouldn't display the Job list until you turned sixteen, there was no way to check in advance.

The difficulty was on an entirely different level from the game.

Still, I think the dedicated 〈Dan-Katsu〉 players would have found everything anyway.

Because of all that, the Research Institute was in a rather awkward position even within the academy.

Apparently, the headmaster wanted to get some results out of the institute, so he was providing all sorts of support, including introducing students like me who'd obtained excellent Jobs.

However, the truth was that they hadn't achieved much.

But that was a problem.

Later on, as we added members to the guild, members with low- and mid-tier Jobs wouldn't be able to keep up as the Dungeons got stronger. The same went for joke Jobs. (Not that they can't keep up.)

That's why we needed as many people with high-tier Jobs as possible.

I'd considered teaching them personally, but 〈Eden〉 was currently Rank F, which meant it could only have up to ten members. At the highest rank, S, up to fifty people could join, and I planned to climb to S rank in the near future. When that happened, I wanted as many high-tier Job holders in the guild as possible.

But that wasn't something I could accomplish in a month. In a month, all the students would have acquired a Job.

I could say, "I'll come recruit you once we reach S rank..." and keep them waiting, but I'd rather not if possible.

So I decided to spread the paths—and hints—to high-tier Jobs far and wide, so more people would learn about them.

After that, honest, capable students would make their way to high-tier Jobs on their own.

Then I could recruit them later. Mwahaha.

So I wanted the Research Institute to help spread that information and make it widely known.

After what had just happened with Estelle's 【Princess Knight】, they clearly had ways of getting information around.

"Well then, let's start by discussing some possible conditions for Jobs like 【Great Swordmaster】, 【Great Archmage】, and 【Priest】."

"Oooooh! Starting with the big ones! Please, go ahead! Also, there are a few Jobs we haven't discovered yet. Could you tell us about those later, too?"

"Sure. But make sure you give us proper publicity."

"You got it!"

Director Miston spread out a sheet of report paper, and the researchers lined up behind him unfolded their own sheets in perfect unison. They were well trained.

Then, as soon as I started giving them hints, they began taking notes at high speed.

I hoped this would help increase the number of people with high-tier Jobs, at least a little.

There was also the last resort of Job Change, but I didn't want to rely on that too much, so I hoped the Research Institute would come through.