After defeating the black dragon, Ryan and his party agreed to leave the elven village at dawn. The elven king rewarded them for their efforts.
Even though Ryan knew this incident was actually caused by the dragon tracking his party, they preferred not to say anything and simply accept any reward for taking down the beast.
When dawn broke, Ryan, along with Helen and Mirian, gathered at the plaza.
The elder and his granddaughter were already there.
As they approached, the sun began to rise, illuminating the entire area.
"So, will you truly leave the village this soon?" Irina asked, a hint of uncertainty in her eyes.
Helen stepped forward, began stretching her body, and yawned.
"That is right. We have been away from the capital for nearly a month now, so they probably think we are dead," Helen commented as she adjusted the scabbard of her sword at her waist.
Mirian walked over, rubbing her eyes.
"I hate waking up this early. We should have left at noon."
'I hate waking up early too, but Helen would not stop nagging us.'
The elder stepped closer and took Irina's hand.
"Hey, young man, why not stay here and marry my granddaughter?"
"Grandfather!" Irina yanked her hand away.
"No way!" Helen and Mirian shouted in unison.
"You two are certainly in sync," the king added as he walked briskly toward them. In his hand was a small box emitting a faint light.
"Father, is that...?"
"Yes, it is a fine gift, wouldn't you agree? The heroes asked for something that would aid them on their journey," the king replied.
"What exactly is this gift?" Ryan placed his hand on his chin, trying to deduce what it was.
"Analysis," he muttered.
"I see, it is a magical inventory."
"See? I knew I picked a good reward," the king added proudly.
The elder approached them.
"Not only that, but this item is actually of epic quality. The storage capacity will be as vast as the wielder's mana," the elder explained.
Ryan accepted the gift and stored it in one of his pockets.
'It is a very small box. Looks like an SSD,' he thought. After putting the item away, Ryan shook hands with the king, who told him they would always be welcome in the village whenever they wished.
Irina was staring intently at him.
The king looked at Irina. "I know you wish to accompany them, but you must fulfill your duties as a princess."
"I know that already," Irina grumbled.
'I don't think that would be a good idea anyway. Besides, why are these heroines so quiet?'
Ryan turned around and glanced down at the ground.
There lay Helen and Mirian, hugging each other and fast asleep.
"Why were you so insistent on leaving if you were just going to sleep!"
Ryan tapped each of them on the head.
The king, his daughter, and the elder could not help but chuckle at the sheer ease they displayed, completely unbothered despite having fought a dragon and now simply sleeping right on the spot.
...
They finally bade farewell and set off directly for the capital. Following Irina's directions, they quickly navigated out of the forest and reached a small dock, where they were sent off on an elven ship.
It took them only a single day to reach the capital.
Upon disembarking, they made their way swiftly to the adventurers' guild.
Mirian pushed open the doors of the adventurers' guild.
"We're back!" Helen shouted excitedly.
'So this is the guild. It is exactly what I expected,' Ryan thought as he evaluated the place. It resembled a tavern, filled with numerous tables and adventurers. He quickly inspected most of them, noticing that each and every one belonged to rank A.
[ CHARACTER STATUS ]
Race: [Human]
Level: 98 — Rank: A
Class: Paladin
Title: Iron Fist.
Strength: 1200 | Magic: 600 | Agility: 800 | Psyche: 500 | Defense: 930 |
Those stats did not impress him; by his side were two gorgeous rank S heroines, and they had just slain a dragon.
The surrounding adventurers began murmuring among themselves.
"Looks like they survived. How could they send them on such a mission when they are so weak?" commented one adventurer who had an enormous axe slung across his back.
Others laughed at the adventurer's remark and joined in the mockery.
"The guild master is far too lenient with them, even though they are so weak and troublesome."
"Ha ha ha, you're right. It would be better if they just expelled them from the guild already."
Ryan ignored the comments, but glanced sideways at Helen and Mirian, who appeared utterly furious. When Helen turned, Ryan could not help but think she was about to slaughter every single person in the guild.
"Helen, don't do anything reckless..." Mirian whispered to her.
However, Helen turned toward the critics, and just as she was about to speak, a loud voice ringing from behind stopped her in her tracks.
"You trio of idiots!" The shout came from the guild's reception desk, halting Helen's actions and pulling Ryan from his thoughts.
A woman with an unnecessarily attractive figure was glaring at them with a striking pair of emerald eyes and red hair that was impossible to miss.
Ryan observed her in detail as she approached.
"Stat," he muttered.
[ CHARACTER STATUS ]
Race: [Human]
Level: 102 — Rank: A
Class: Savage
Title: Star of Victory.
Strength: 2950 | Magic: 450 | Agility: 1500 | Psyche: 700 | Defense: 2110 |
'The guild master? She is clearly far superior to the rest of the adventurers here.'
As he observed closely, he noticed that in the blink of an eye, her stats flickered, and the numbers refreshed for a mere fraction of a second. Though he could not read the exact numbers, he saw the rank flash with the letter S before instantly returning to the letter A.
'What the hell? Who is this woman really?' Ryan frowned, but was pulled from his thoughts by the unusual tone in Helen's voice.
"S-Sophia, don't be angry, we couldn't make it back on time," Helen answered nervously.
Before anyone could say anything else, Sophia wrapped all three of them in an uncomfortably tight embrace.
"Sophia?!" Mirian did not know whether to struggle or simply stand still.
"Ah, on time, you say? You had the entire guild worried, you know! We sent out a search party and found nothing. I thought you were dead."
"Tsk, how dramatic," Helen muttered.
Sophia stepped back from them and cleared her throat, regaining her composure.
Ryan took a step back following the awkward hug.
"Where have you been all this time?" the woman named Sophia asked.
"...It is a long story," Helen replied.
"...I'm glad you are still alive," Sophia murmured.
"What did you say?" Helen asked, unable to hear her clearly.
"Nothing!" Sophia's expression shifted.
She took a deep breath.
"Well, you have one hour to tell me that story. Let's go to my office."
"What! I don't want to, that is way too annoying!" Helen complained.
"Helen, stop it, it is better to get this over with quickly," Mirian added as she followed Sophia up to the second floor.
With no further protests, everyone followed Sophia up to her office on the second floor.
Over the next hour, Sophia had them fill out a lengthy report. Occasionally she asked questions, which Helen and Mirian answered vaguely.
They omitted the fact that they had reached rank S from their report. Not because they were trying to lie, but simply because they wanted to finish as quickly as possible and leave Sophia satisfied.
"In short, you are saying that you were lost inside a dungeon this entire time, and that is why you couldn't return for so long?"
"Yes," they all affirmed, nodding.
"I see..." Sophia murmured, looking over some papers on the desk.
A brief silence followed.
"Now then... IDIOTS! Do you have any idea how much trouble you have caused?!"
"Tsk, I knew Sophia was going to be furious," Helen muttered.
"What did you expect?! I sent you on a quest to hunt a monster, and in all this time I received no word! Even for rank C adventurers like you, it should have only taken a week to return!"
"Come on, calm down, Sophia. It wasn't just a simple monster, you know?" Mirian intervened.
"Silence! You know very well that you are only given one week to complete any quest. The client took their business to our rival guild, and we had to pay compensation. Now, even if I report that you completed the quest a month late, there is no way you will receive a reward," Sophia explained, letting out a sigh as she dropped the papers onto the desk.
"Wait, what do you mean no reward?" Helen grumbled, slamming her hands onto the desk.
Sophia grabbed Helen by the arm.
"It is only logical. Furthermore, I will deduct that compensation from your payment on your next quest," Sophia added.
"What! But you're going to bankrupt us! We even brought back dragon parts to sell to the guild," Mirian complained.
"Very well, that will serve to cover part of the compensation," Sophia added.
Mirian and Helen glared at her with restrained anger.
Ryan let out a heavy sigh and rubbed his forehead.
'Damn it, we are just as broke as those elves. I was hoping my luck would help here, but with this pair's terrible luck... it's looking tough,' Ryan thought, glancing sideways at his companions.
"Fine. How much are you planning to charge us, Sophia?" Ryan asked, attempting to see the sheet of paper she had left on the desk.
Sophia turned the paper around and showed it to them.
Mirian leaned in closer to look.
"WHAT?! 25,000 crones?! That is way too much, you're going to ruin us!"
"No, no, no, Sophia, you cannot charge us that. That is the exact amount you were supposed to pay us for completing the quest. This is extortion."
"Sophia, please..." Mirian looked at her with teary eyes.
"Stop complaining already. I will give you a chance with a quest. If you complete it, the guild will cover the compensation costs, and I will also grant you the reward for slaying that dragon you mentioned. Naturally, without factoring in that it was a dragon; you will only be paid the standard assigned fee."
She swept her gaze over each of them.
"Are you interested?" she asked.
"Are you serious?" Mirian jumped onto Sophia, hugging her tightly.
"Let go of me already!"
"What kind of quest is it, exactly?" Ryan intervened.