“That's good to hear — members of the A-rank adventurer party, Scarlet Shield.”
‘A’ rank.
It was the pinnacle for adventurers, in terms of competence. Dragons, higher-ranking vampires, and Cerberus are the kinds of monsters they fought against. It should not be difficult to understand the value of such people who were entrusted with the task of defeating such monsters. They were living legends who confronted monsters which humanity had no hope against except to bow in defeat.
There was another rank, the S rank, but it was more of an honorary title. The only condition for promotion from A to S rank was that the adventurer must have made significant contributions to the guild. An A-ranked adventurer could earn enough to feed himself for several years in a single adventure. Those who were lazy would take requests less frequently, while those who were more diligent would usually only take jobs that interested them. For example, quests that involved battles with powerful enemies or exploration of unknown lands. Such jobs were in no way commonplace. That was why requests for high-level adventurers tend to pile up and go unfulfilled. To solve this problem, the rank, S, was established as a kind of decoration to encourage those who were motivated by honour and title.
That's why A rank was the pinnacle for an adventurer. There was no clear distinction in ability between it and S rank.
In other words, the party sitting in front of Tullius were some of the most talented adventurers in the world.
“Ah, you guys haven’t introduced yourself yet.”
The red-haired swordsman led the way, with the others proudly revealing their names in sequence.
“I am Gerald. Gerald ‘Red Lion’ Layson. I am the leader of the party.”
“My name is Cedric ‘Crimson Wall’! Nice to meet you!”
“Gotsch ‘Dancing Ape’. Hehe, pleased to meet you.”
“My name is Ninon ‘Scarlet Nun’.”
Naturally, all of them had a nickname. They announced the proof of their bravery and talent with pride.
Tullius shut his eyes for a moment as if deeply impressed, before opening his eyelids and nodding.
“I've remembered your great names. Then shall we ―”
“Oh, I understand. Ninon…”
“Here.”
Ninon respectfully presented the two separate letters after being prompted.
One was a letter from the adventurer's guild. The other was a letter from a noble.
The civil servant in attendance ― Victor ― briefly inspected them before handing it to his Lord.
“Your Excellency.……”
“Hm. These must be the notification letter from the guild and the letter from Margrave Doldran. Please give permission to allow the people listed to stay in the territory to allow them to explore the Trees of Darkness… Haa, all these formalities are so bothersome. We had already agreed on this before.”
“Sir, you are before the guests.”
“No, we don't mind. We find the formalities troublesome too.”
As Tullius fumbled with the letter in disgust, Gerald nodded in approval.
The adventurers were visiting and staying in the territory, and the lord acknowledged it. This meeting was held only to confirm this fact to each other.
These formalities were certainly ostentatious, but it was a different story when the adventurers were A-ranked. The personal soldiers of lords were unlikely to be a match to them. It was a headache for the nobles to have adventurers who could outmatch their own army roaming freely in their territory. Therefore, when an A-rank adventurer moved to another territory, it was customary to exchange written permission beforehand, and to hold a meeting like this afterwards.
This was a tacit understanding and there were no particular penalties for breaking it, but it was better to follow it as much as possible. Margrave Doldran, the Lord of the territory where the Scarlett Shield came from, understood these customs.
“Still, it is somewhat surprising. I didn't think Lord Doldran would let you all go.”
“The west has been calm. It won't be a problem if we left for a short while.”
“The big game have all been taken down!”
“Oh? Isn’t that amazing!?”
Tullius widened his eyes.
The western part of the Kingdom was dangerous in a different sense, compared to St. Gallen. There were no large numbers of monsters, but occasionally, a powerful monster would appear. This was due to the strong monsters coming from the great desert where dark elves live, and the demonic peninsula beyond it ― both of which were outside the sphere of human influence.
He was boasting that they had taken down all the notable monsters in the west, where even dragons were sometimes sighted. If these had not been the words of the very best among the A rankers, it would have been dismissed as the ramblings of a fool.
“Adventurers get rusty if they don't fight. It's a lifesaver to have new challenges.”
“Gotsch?”
The nun chastised the thief for his light words. It was not right to say that they were glad to have a new dungeon in front of the lord.
Fortunately, the young noble did not seem to mind.
“No, no, no, don't worry about it. So, you are here to explore the Trees of Darkness?”
“I don't suppose there are other business that would require an A-rank to attend to here.”
“That's true.”
This was an investigation of the “Trees of Darkness”, a dungeon that appeared in Marlan. This was a direct request from the Adventurer's Guild, not from an intermediary from somewhere else. Gerald and the others were here for this quest.
“It seems the guild has finally decided to get serious. They’ve brought three other B-rank parties in addition to us.”
“An alliance with A rankers at the core and B rankers on the flanks? Magnificent.”
“There are probably more adventurers coming, since C rank and below adventurers will act as support.”
“In fact, we could have moved in much sooner. The folks at headquarters finally made their move after their favourite was crushed and their asses were on fire!”
Cedric was referring to the case in which a C-ranked party, the Guardian of Scales, was annihilated in the Trees of Darkness. Apparently, they were frustrated with the guild lethargy in taking action and attempted to scout the dungeon on their own. Furthermore, in the background, there was a monopoly of hunting grounds by mid-level adventurers, and they were worried about the decreasing competency of adventurers in Marlan.
These stem from the guild's negligence. It was not uncommon for adventurers to kill each other in disputes over hunting grounds. Respecting adventurers’ autonomy, they hesitated to intervene, which in turn made the situation worse. This was a common occurrence here. While they folded their arms and watched the problem unfold, a promising star who was about to be promoted to B rank went down. The guild finally became flustered.
Gotsch let out a sigh with a sarcastic expression.
“I heard there was a lot of trouble at the guild headquarters in Canales. The official who was supporting the party shouted that there was a liability issue. The one who was being told off deflected by saying it was her fault for showing them favouritism and making them arrogant. I heard that it took them three days to conclude that they should finally send a serious survey team.”
“Well, wasn’t that quick? Broussonne would have taken at least 5 times longer.”
Tullius maintained his smile as he joked. It would be good to say that he was enjoying the chat. However, there was no sense of seriousness nor urgency in his tone. It did not seem to concern him.
The Trees of Darkness existed here in Marlan, and he was the lord of this land.
“Speaking of dealing with things, how are things moving on your end?”
Gerald spoke stiffly towards the happy-go-lucky looking youth. Tullius blinked his eyes gently.
“The town has been expanded in capacity and is ready to receive more adventurers. Is there anything else you need?”
“How about requesting for more high-ranking adventurers?
“Mr. Gerald!”
Ninon restrained him. It was clear that Gerald had gone too far with his statement. It was beyond the scope of a short meet and greet session to try and find out what the other party was thinking. In addition to that, asking an aristocrat on the security measures for his territory was not something that an outsider who just arrived yesterday would do.
But the words that came out of his mouth could not be taken back. Tullius' gaze wandered upwards as if he was considering Gerald’s question.
“Hm, even if you ask me...We don't know what's inside the Trees of Darkness yet. In such a situation, even if you ask me to request a B rankers and higher…”
“But I heard you had quickly requested help to find the missing ore prospectors.”
Gerald was referring to how the Trees of Darkness was discovered. Tullius had sent C and D-ranked adventurers to search for the missing people. Due to that, many adventurers’ lives were lost.
