It was the day before the exam. The Association was definitely looking for me now.
I looked at an old, torn map I bought from a street vendor. I needed to transfer to a place completely far away from the capital, somewhere completely quiet where the Association Staff wouldn't bother searching for me. I pointed my finger at a random, isolated valley on the far edge of the map.
I packed my bag, snuck out of the city, and traveled to that faraway place, ready to finally get a good, peaceful nap.
But my luck was absolutely, incredibly cursed.
When I arrived at the quiet valley, a man in an official Adventurer's Association uniform was already standing there, holding a clipboard.
Because of my terrible luck, the random, quiet place I chose to hide in was called the Whispering Canyon. It was the exact location where my Level 7 promotion exam was supposed to take place.
The Association representative saw me walking up the dirt path. His eyes lit up with deep admiration.
"Mr. Astor!" the representative called out, rushing over to shake my hand. "I am your exam proctor! You arrived a whole day early! The Association told me you were avoiding them because you were doing secret, intensive training, but to arrive at the exam site a day early? Your dedication to your craft is truly inspiring!"
I stood there in the dirt, completely speechless. I just wanted to sleep.
The proctor patted me on the back and pointed toward the dark, echoing canyon. "Your objective is simple. There is a high-density Spatial Gate inside. A tear in the world where monsters spill out. You just need to seal that one gate, and you pass. Good luck, sir!"
He practically pushed me into the canyon. I had no choice. If I ran away right in front of the proctor, my cover would be blown and I would lose my Adventurer license, which gives me passive income, forever. I dragged my feet, walking deep into the rocky gorge.
It was dark and dusty. I didn't care about Spatial Gates or monsters. I found a large, flat rock that looked somewhat comfortable. I laid down, put my bag under my head as a pillow, closed my eyes, and went to sleep.
I slept for eight hours.
When I finally woke up, I stretched my arms and looked around. The canyon was completely silent. I walked further down the path to see if I could spot the Spatial Gate the proctor mentioned, but there was nothing there. Just empty dirt and normal rocks.
Someone else must have handled it, I thought happily. Or maybe the gate just closed naturally on its own. Oh well. I didn't do anything.
I walked right back out of the canyon, found the proctor waiting by his tent, and told him the absolute truth.
"I didn't do it," I said, shrugging my shoulders. "I failed the exam."
Celia paused her story, taking another graceful sip of her tea. She looked at Aria, Brielle, and the others, who were all leaning forward, completely captivated by the tale.
"That was Kian's version of the events," Celia said with a soft smile.
Brielle suddenly pushed her chair back and stood up. Her face was flushed with absolute disbelief.
"What?" Brielle blurted out, throwing her hands in the air. "He is actually weak? He has no mana at all? He practically said his own badge is a complete joke! And based on what he just said, he didn't even do anything in the canyon. He just took a nap! He is a fake?"
Celia didn't look offended. She just sat there and offered a quiet, mysterious smile.
Elen quickly grabbed Brielle's sleeve and tugged hard. "Sit down, Brielle."
"How can I sit down after hearing that?" Brielle argued, her voice rising in frustration. "He was running away from a promotion exam! That is a big insult to all of us. Every single Adventurer in the world dreams of being offered a promotion exam, and he just treats it like a chore?"
From across the table, the Archer aggressively kicked Brielle's shin under the wood.
Brielle winced and looked down, but the Archer was already glaring at her. The Archer gave a sharp, meaningful tilt of her head, silently signaling Brielle to look over at Aria.
Brielle glanced over. Aria was sitting completely still. Her hands were resting flat on the table, and her knuckles were slowly turning white. Brielle's throat instantly went dry.
She understood the Archer's silent warning perfectly. If she accidentally insulted that man one more time, Aria might actually lose her mind and draw her sword for real.
Not to mention, they were currently sitting right in front of the man's Level 7 elf companion. Complaining about the Clan Master right here was basically a death wish.
Brielle quickly clamped her mouth shut and slowly sat back down in her chair.
Elen let out a breath and turned back to the elf. "Ms. Celia, did that story genuinely come from Lord Kian?"
"Yes," Celia responded, her smile widening slightly. "Those were his exact words."
Elen relaxed her shoulders. "Then, I get it now."
Brielle frowned, rubbing her sore shin. "Get what?"
"That story was meant to be a joke," Aria said, her voice completely calm again. She looked at Brielle with a knowing expression. "It was meant to humor the Adventurers listening to it. He told a ridiculous story and left it up to the listeners to actually analyze the truth behind his words."
"Exactly," Elen nodded in agreement.
"I don't understand," Brielle said, looking between Elen and Aria. "What is there to analyze?"
"Think about it," Elen explained, leaning forward. "Did you hear the part about the color-coded kids? Ms. Celia was the 'Yellow' in his story. He explicitly mentioned that he didn't even know their names. But that is completely impossible."
Elen gestured respectfully toward Celia. "In the story, Lord Kian said that Ms. Celia and the others had been following him around like ducks since they were little kids. But he didn't know their names? Even the dumbest person I know back in our home country is capable of remembering names. It is absolute nonsense to not ask the names of your daily acquaintances, let alone the core members of your own Adventuring party."
Brielle put a hand on her chin, her eyebrows knitting together as she thought about it.
She slowly nodded. "You have a point there. It really is impossible if he didn't know their names. They were together for years. Even the absolute dumbest person in the entire world knows the name of someone they see every day. And finding someone that stupid is basically impossible."
"Exactly," Elen said, feeling proud of her deduction. She began to analyze the rest of the story based on that logic. "Now look at his other actions. On the exact day he received the quest information, he supposedly ran away and traveled to a bunch of different places for six months. But I bet he was actually preparing. Just like us. Before we go on a major quest, we spend weeks buying potions, gathering supplies, and sometimes acquiring a very specific type of equipment for a specific type of monster. When he saw the details of the Level 7 quest, he probably traveled all over the capital—and even to other towns—right away to quietly acquire the exact equipment he needed without drawing attention to himself. That's why he was probably moving from tavern to tavern. He was probably meeting with underground merchants and informants!"
The Mage finally talked. "Arriving at the right place one day before the exam and saying it was bad luck? That's impossible. It was an obvious joke. You can't say you run away but accidentally arrived at exact place before the appointed time."
The Archer chimed in, snapping her fingers. "And when he declined the promotion exam from the scary branch manager! He wasn't actually rejecting it out of fear. He was just teasing the manager, acting arrogant because he knew he was going to pass anyway. See, Brielle? It's not an insult to Adventurers. There is no insult there at all."
Brielle finally let out a long sigh of relief and nodded. "Okay. When you put it that way, it makes total sense."
Celia let out a soft, pleasant laugh. "That is exactly right. Kian's version of the story was always meant to humor the ones listening to it. If you take it seriously and you don't know Kian well, you will just get confused and angry. But if you have already known him for years, like the veteran Adventurers in this clan house, when they hear stories like this, they just laugh. It is a very good stress reliever for the clan members."
"Yeah," Elen said, a wide smile breaking across her face. "If you really think about it, telling a story where you act like a complete coward is actually really funny."
Elen started to genuinely laugh. The party's Archer and the Mage quickly joined in, the heavy tension in their chests finally washing away. Even Brielle cracked a small smile, feeling silly for getting so worked up over a blatant joke.