D-Rank Promotion!

I thought about what I should do for my skill selection, but I decided to take my time thinking about it after returning to the inn.

If I did not choose after I was satisfied, there was a chance I would regret it.

I probably should not decide while I was still this excited.

I brought the retriever closer and converted the Giant Lizardman’s corpse into spoils.

What rolled out with a clunk was—

Great Green Scale Ore.

It was monster ore. It became material for powerful weapons and armor. In other words, C-rank-equivalent equipment could be made with this.

I picked up the stone and peered into it.

…This was my first time getting monster ore…

“I wonder if it’ll sell for a high price after all?”

“Nishishishi! Of course it will! But, you know—”

Misha continued like this.

“Since we went to the trouble, why not make a shield instead of selling it?”

“A shield?”

“Ios’s equipment’s weak point is your shield, right?”

…As Misha said, only my shield was the “high-quality large shield” I had gotten as an extra. On top of that, maybe because of that battle just now, it was dented all over. Even if it was repaired, I did not know whether it would return to its original condition.

“Yeah, making a shield isn’t a bad idea.”

Far from not being bad.

Just thinking about it made my heart pound.

Wearing equipment made from a monster I had defeated with my own hands.

Surely that fact would give me a feeling of pride.

After all, I had broken through such a deadly situation.

“All right, let’s do that.”

We returned to the surface.

When we headed to the Adventurers’ Guild to sell off the spoils we did not need, the staff members were bustling around for some reason.

I caught a nearby female staff member and asked her.

“What happened?”

“Well, you see, an area boss appeared on the E Layer of Piptat Dungeon!”

The Adventurers’ Guild measured the density of miasma in detail. They must have determined the fact of its appearance from that.

E Layer—area boss…

Ah.

“If that’s the case, we defeated it.”

“Yes! It has to be defeated!”

“No, that’s not what I meant.”

I waved my hand, then continued like this.

“We just defeated it?”

“Yes, so it has to be defeated, and—hm? Defea… defeated it? You defeated it!? Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”

The staff member stared hard at me.

“You defeated it!?”

“Yes, just now. It was a Giant Lizardman.”

“W-w-w-wait, please come to the back!”

The moment she said that, we were suddenly shown into a reception room in the back of the guild.

“Please wait here!”

Since we were told that, Misha and I sat down and waited.

Before long, the female staff member from earlier and a middle-aged male staff member appeared.

The female staff member opened her mouth.

“It is true that the confirmed miasma density has decreased—and the area boss’s waveform also matched that of a Giant Lizardman.”

Then she continued like this.

“…Was it truly the two of you?”

“Yes.”

I nodded.

“When we were trying to head to the D Layer, we had the bad luck to get caught up in the area boss’s appearance… The two of us, myself and the girl there, managed somehow.”

That was how I explained it.

It was something I had discussed with Misha and decided while we were waiting.

We would not mention Nyankoromochi.

We both judged that to be better. …To begin with, even we did not know its true nature. Telling a huge organization like the Adventurers’ Guild would probably be dangerous.

As expected, saying I had defeated it alone would lack credibility, so we decided to say Misha had fought too.

“That must have been a disaster… However, it was fortunate that you were strong people like yourselves. If this had been an E-rank-equivalent party, they would certainly have been wiped out.”

Saying that, the male staff member nodded with a hmm.

“Um, would you mind letting us confirm both of your adventurer cards…?”

We understood that those words were half-forced. Misha and I placed our cards on the table.

The male staff member picked them up and gazed at them closely.

“Hmm, hmm. Ios-san and Misha-san, is it. …!? F-rank… you are!?”

The surprised-looking male staff member stared hard at me.

…That reaction was only natural…

An F-rank wrapped in B-rank equipment was rare to an absurd degree.

We were already level 22. We could probably have gone up to E-rank easily, but we had been too busy with the rapid level-ups and had forgotten.

…Well, even if we were E-rank, the abnormality of wearing B-rank equipment would not change at all.

“Yes, well…”

I gave a vague reply.

“As for the equipment, I have connections…”

“I see.”

The male staff member only responded briefly and did not step into that topic.

Confirming an adventurer’s identity fell within the guild’s authority, but equipment was private, so it had nothing to do with them. The staff member likely understood that point.

“Excuse me. We will read these cards.”

The female staff member took a handy-sized terminal from her waist.

It was something used when reading the information on adventurer cards.

“Go ahead, I don’t mind.”

I answered casually, but there was also a part I could not quite understand.

What would they do by reading our cards here?

“…Are we going to be summoned again later or something?”

“Ah… as for that… I cannot say that there will not be anything, but—”

The male staff member answered with a smile.

“For the time being, the purpose is to pay your reward.”

“Reward?”

It was true that I had registered an account with the Adventurers’ Guild. It was so they could transfer the proceeds from buying and selling spoils.

…But I did not remember taking on anything from the guild.

The male staff member continued speaking.

“Because you defeated the area boss for us. Usually, we request a subjugation from our side, but in a sudden case like this one, we process it through the same flow. Therefore, a reward is generated.”

Misha and I looked at each other.

It was not as if I had been thinking that working for free was a loss, but when it came to receiving something, it made me happy.

“…Um, about how much would it be?”

“It is a small amount, for which we apologize… but in the case of a C-rank-equivalent target, it is one million gold.”

““One mil!?””

We raised our voices at the same time.

Our sense of money had begun to break lately, but even so, that amount still had an attractive ring to it.

“We will pay it once the confirmation work here is complete. Also, this is something that requires internal adjustment, but—”

The male staff member continued like this.

“We are thinking of raising both of your ranks from F to D.”

“Huh!?”

“People who defeated a C-rank-equivalent monster being F-rank would be troubling for us as well, you see.”

It was something to be grateful for.

…It was not as if we wanted to remain F-rank either. We had simply been busy leveling up and had put it off…

There were benefits where the Adventurers’ Guild’s support became more substantial as one’s rank rose. Discounts on carriages and inns, reductions and exemptions on fees during buying and selling, and the like.

I had heard that being treated as beginners, F-rank and E-rank did not offer much to be grateful for, but at D-rank, where one was regarded as full-fledged, there was apparently a fair amount one could feel.

My spirits rose.

A different feeling from when we defeated the Giant Lizardman—

A feeling like my heart was gently warming.

D-rank—though lower-ranked, it was a realm where one was regarded as full-fledged.

At last, I had reached that point.

Since the talk was over, we left the guild.

The moment we went outside—

“Hey, hey, Ios.”

Misha said that and raised her left hand.

“…We did it, Misha!”

I slapped Misha’s hand.

A nice paan! rang out.

“Nishishishi! Somehow, it happened in no time!”

“Yeah.”

It really had happened in no time. From rock bottom after being expelled by Grail. To a world I never could have imagined back then.

“We’re having a celebratory drink again today, Ios! Let’s drink like crazy!”

The excited Misha jokingly bumped her body into mine with a boom!

A crack! of pain ran through my body.

“Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!”

Yes, my body was battered. Because the Giant Lizardman had beaten me up so much…

Right now, I had only received the minimum treatment with an emergency kit.

“Ahh!? S-sorry, Ios!? D-don’t die!?”

“N-no, I’m all right… Let’s have them heal me at the temple for now…”

Thankfully, the Adventurers’ Guild had given me a ticket usable at the temple “for treatment costs.”

I probably should not misunderstand too much, but—

I felt good, as if I had become a somewhat amazing adventurer.

---

“Kuh-kuh-kuh-kuh…”

Grail put a good-humored laugh on his lips.

He left the Adventurers’ Guild counter and headed to the table where his companions were waiting.

“Hey, you lot! I accepted a quest worthy of us now that we’re level 16!”

He slammed the request form onto the table with a bang!

Written there were the words “Promotion Quest.”

“We’re not at the stage where we should be stagnating at F-rank anymore! We’re aiming for it!”

Loudly, proudly—Grail shouted from the bottom of his stomach.

“E-rank! The height worthy of us!”