Cause A Commotion, Receive An Offer

The south end guild hall was rowdy as ever when Takao and Sumire entered. Teyumi was at the receptionist counter and waved them over when she saw them. After receiving a warm welcome, they turned in the zeal herbs and received a small but fair reward along with a great deal of praise from Teyumi. Next came the part that Takao was worried about, and Sumire seemed excited about.

“Um— Teyumi, we actually have one more item to turn in.” Takao said hesitantly.

“Hmm? I thought you only took the one job.” Teyumi said curiously.

Takao wasn’t sure how to explain, so decided just to let the evidence speak for itself. He nodded to Sumire, who activated her magical storage and pulled the entire spike boar out into the guild hall. It landed with a loud thud and what Takao thought might have been splintering wood. The whole guild hall fell dead quiet. All eyes were now locked on Takao, Sumire, and the dead boar. Takao looked to Teyumi, but she was frozen in place, staring wide-eyed and slack-jawed at the boar.

“Ahem. It’s for this one.” Takao said, sliding the job flyer to Teyumi.

She snapped back to life and mumbled something about being right back before disappearing down a hallway. With the silence broken, murmuring erupted in the guild hall. Takao couldn’t make out most of it, but caught a few choice phrases.

“Probably found it dead by the road.”

“Weakling Takao’d be dead in a flash if he fought it.”

“I hear the girl can use lightning magic. Maybe she did it.”

“Takao taking credit for other people's work.”

“Just like a weakling.”

Takao had been ready for this, so wasn’t bothered by the abuse. Sumire on the other hand looked irate and had a vein bulging on her temple. Before Takao could calm her down, Sumire placed one foot triumphantly on the boar and addressed the hall loudly.

“Listen here, you losers! None of you would’ve stood a chance against this monster! But guess who did? Takao! That’s right! He’s the one who killed this spike boar! You're all just a bunch of pathetic weaklings, who can’t hold a candle to Takao!” She yelled angrily at the guild members.

The adventurers began murmuring again. Some laughed at her provocation, but a few stood up, scowling at her angrily, hands resting on their weapons.

“You want to try me?” Sumire antagonized, smiling widely and purple electricity sparking from her fingers.

Just when Takao was sure, he would have to stop Sumire from frying the other adventurers, they sat down, and started eating and drinking innocently.

Sumire looked pleased with herself until a massive hand fell on her shoulder. Another hand landed on Takao’s shoulder, followed by a menacing aura emanating from behind them. They turned around slowly to find a mountain of a man standing behind them, his mouth turned up in a smile, but eyes full of venom.

“No fighting in the guild hall.” He said softly, but Takao was sure it was a threat. “That goes for the rest of ya too.” He said more loudly, addressing the rest of the hall. “Come with me.”

Takao and Sumire followed the giant man down a side hall. His head nearly reached the ceiling, and he walked slightly sideways, evidently to avoid rubbing his wide shoulders against both walls. He led them into a side room, and closed the door behind them. It was an office more ordinary than Takao had expected. Aside from the overlarge desk and chair, it was furnished with bookcases covered in old looking books, monster parts, broken weapons, and other odd items Takao assumed to be magical. A small table sat in the center of the room, with a couch on either side.

Takao and Sumire took a seat on one couch, and the huge man sat across from them on the other couch. Seeing him up close and face to face, Takao realized he truly was a giant of a man. His hair was graying, and he looked tired with wrinkles and bags under his eyes, but despite his apparent old age, he looked powerful with huge muscles.

Without getting up, he reached over to his desk with a long, massive arm and picked up a stack of papers. He pulled out two sheets and looked over them, taking in Takao and Sumire as he did. He eyed Takao then spoke.

“Takao. Rank F adventurer. Failed the guild test a dozen times, always failed the magical portion. Passed the last time by displaying some impressive fire magic. She said ya killed the spike boar, but there weren’t any burn marks on it.” The giant said, raising an eyebrow, but without any accusation in his voice, as if he was just stating facts.

Takao shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He didn’t think that had been a question, so he didn’t respond. The giant man shifted his gaze to Sumire.

“Sumire. Rank F adventurer. Dragonian. New to town. Can use lightning magic. Shares the same name and magic as the dragon god Sumire.” He said, raising his other eyebrow at Sumire.

Sumire looked like she wanted to say something, but restrained herself. The giant man set down his papers and leaned back, making the couch creak loudly.

“Aidachi. Rank A adventurer. Retired. Talked into coming back to be the adventurer guild master. Now that we all know each other, let’s get down to business. There’s some oddities surrounding the both of ya, but I’m not gonna inquire into them. Is it true that ya killed that spike boar out there, Takao?” Aidachi asked, his voice deep and gravely.

“Yes, but—” Takao began.

“But I weakened it first.” Sumire finished.

Takao caught Sumire’s eyes and smiled. He was happy to see that she was keeping her promise to be honest.

“Huh. The thing about spike boar is they don’t weaken. They fight full force till they die. It’s one of the things that makes them dangerous. That boar in particular was a tough customer, and the job to hunt it was about to be upgraded to rank C.” Aidachi explained.

Takao felt a sudden rush of accomplishment. He’d killed a C rank monster.

“Let me be straight with ya here.” Aidachi continued. “I don’t want people thinking they can do whatever job they want regardless of rank, so I’m gonna strike ya. Three strikes, and ya out of the guild.”

“You can’t—” Sumire protested, but Aidachi held up a massive hand to stop her.

“It’s just to set an example. I’m still gonna pay ya for the job, with a penalty of course, and I know someone who will buy the boar off ya. Now for the real reason I wanted to see ya. I want to upgrade ya to C rank.”

Takao and Sumire both looked stunned.

“To be frank, the town is short on high rank adventurers. We lost several due to various reasons: retirement, death, the usual. We only have one B rank adventurer left. The rest are C or lower. The winter march is coming, and I need more high rank people before it does. I think ya can handle it, so I’m offering ya the chance to take the advancement test early. What do ya say? Ya want to test for C rank?”

Takao and Sumire exchanged looks. The answer was obvious to both of them.

“Yes!” They both said simultaneously.

“Good. There’s just one thing I want ya to do first.” Aidachi said with a wry smile.

Sumire’s Exposé!
The adventurer guild uses the same ranking system for jobs and adventurers. Ranks start at F and go up to A with F being the easiest. S rank is a special designation given rarely to especially challenging jobs or especially accomplished adventurers. Adventurers can rise in rank by taking an advancement test that is held twice a year.