"Oh? Rei-kun. What brings you here today?"
Kenny spotted Rei the moment he entered the guild and called out to him with a bright smile.
Rei headed straight for the counter. His decision to avoid the tavern area spoke to his personal tastes—namely, his lack of fondness for alcohol. There was also the matter of avoiding the drunks who made a fuss from midday. While almost no one was foolish enough to pick a fight with Rei while sober, people often grew bold after a few drinks. Encountering them while they had liquid courage tended to lead to all sorts of tedious complications.
"I just stopped by to kill some time... but you all look quite free," Rei remarked.
"Ahahaha. It is winter, after all. It’s always like this during this season. Right, Lenora?"
Kenny turned to Lenora, who was busy checking a stack of documents at the adjacent station.
"That's true. But it’s not as if we have no work at all. There is always paperwork like this to process. Oh, hello, Rei-san," Lenora said, pausing her work to offer a polite bow. Her ponytail, a sight Rei had grown quite accustomed to, swayed slightly with the movement.
"Kyu!"
"...Eh? Did you just say something?" Lenora asked, startled by the sudden sound coming from Rei's direction.
"No... wasn't it just your imagination?" Rei replied smoothly.
"Is that so? Hmm, maybe I've been pushing myself too hard." Lenora tilted her head and pulled her hands away from the documents, deciding to take a short break.
Rei glanced toward his right shoulder. Iero was perched there, currently invisible. Rei had assumed the little creature would wait outside with Seto, but for some reason, it had moved onto his shoulder the moment he headed for the guild. Because it was transparent, it wasn't causing a commotion, but if it had shown its form, a young dragon would have certainly caused an uproar. Then again, given his reputation, people might have just shrugged and accepted it as another one of Rei's eccentricities.
As for Iero, it was following the orders of its master, Elena, not to do anything that would cause a stir. However, it had a higher-priority command: after delivering the letter and receiving a reply, it was to investigate the women around Rei. Iero stared intently at Lenora and Kenny as they conversed familiarly with him, memorizing their faces so it would never forget them.
"Speaking of which, what happened to Scorching Wind?" Rei asked. "I heard they took a lizardman subjugation request recently, despite the snow."
"Well, it seems Mirene-san has a lot of wasteful spending habits," Kenny answered. "Sulnin-san was complaining about it. Still, I heard they made enough from that last job to see them through the rest of the winter."
"Kenny! Don't leak other adventurers' personal details so easily!" Lenora frowned, offering a stern warning, but Kenny merely gave a small shrug.
"I know, I know. You're so stiff."
"Honestly. It's just common sense for a receptionist."
"Yes, yes... Oh, that reminds me." Kenny suddenly reached for a folder as if a thought had just struck her. "Rei-kun, I have a good report and a mixed report... which one do you want to hear first?"
She flipped two documents over and waved them playfully in front of Rei's eyes.
Rei guessed that the good report was likely about his rank up. Between the work he had done in the City of Baar, the Blue Caterpillar subjugation, and the recent spy incident, he knew he was due for a promotion. The request from Ranga, which had been processed as a nomination request, had even included a reward of 1 gold coin—an extraordinary sum for a Rank D adventurer that likely included silence money.
"Give me the good report first," Rei said.
"Understood. Ta-da!" Kenny flourished the document in her right hand.
As expected, the document clearly stated that Rei's rank was being raised from D to C, complete with the Guild Master's approval seal.
"Rank C, huh."
Since it was what he had anticipated, Rei nodded calmly. He took the document from Kenny and began filling in the necessary items, including his signature, with a pen. Kenny watched him with a bewildered expression.
"Huh? Aren't you more surprised?"
"Well, Min told me I was close to ranking up before I even took the Blue Caterpillar request."
"But reaching Rank C in such a short period of time is incredible! You're continuing to break the fastest record since the Adventurer's Guild was built in the City of Gilm!"
Kenny argued passionately, but Rei didn't feel the need to be quite so jubilant. Of course, ranking up meant he could accept more difficult requests, face more powerful monsters, and obtain unknown magic stones, all of which made him happy. However, seeing Kenny so much more excited than he was made him miss the window to act surprised.
"Hmph. Well, I guess that’s just how you are. Moving on... here is the mixed report. It's actually related to the rank up process."
She handed him a single request form. The task was to provide combat training to a certain individual for about 1 week. What caught his eye was the client field: Muet Cisne. It was a request from a noble—a member of Baron Cisne's house. To top it off, it was a nomination request, yet the reward was a mere 5 copper coins.
Rei's brow furrowed. His previous nomination requests had all been high-stakes trouble: dungeon exploration, delivering rare medicine to Baar, or capturing imperial spies. Given his past experiences, he couldn't help but feel hesitant.
A nomination for monster subjugation would be fine, he thought, but training a noble is the last thing I'm suited for. And this reward is insultingly low.
"Hey, don't make that face," Kenny teased. "This is part of the rank up process."
"I thought exams were only required for the jump from E to D, and from C to B?" Rei asked, recalling the guild's rules.
"That's normally true," Kenny nodded. "Strictly speaking, this isn't an exam. Even if you fail the request, it won't prevent your promotion. However, C-Rank work often involves social obligations like this. Think of it as a trial or an orientation. That’s why the reward is symbolic. Your C-Rank guild card will be handed over officially once this request is completed."
"I see. And why nominate me specifically?"
"That was negotiated with the guild. The client agreed because the guild recommended you personally."
"And if the request is deemed a failure?"
"The client would have to report it as such. But since the goal is just for you to experience a C-Rank request, there aren't any fines or penalties, so don't worry."
Rei sighed and nodded. He didn't really have a choice if he wanted to finalize his promotion, and refusing would likely create friction later. On his shoulder, Iero rubbed its body against Rei’s cheek in a silent gesture of encouragement. Rei was impressed by the dragon's cleverness; it was clearly being careful not to make a sound that would give it away.
"So, specifically, when do I need to go to this... Baron Cisne's house?"
"There's no specific start date, but there is a deadline," Kenny explained. "You need to report within 10 days, including today."
"Ten days. Got it. I'll head there soon. Can I get a map?"
"Of course. Here you go." Kenny pulled a hand-drawn map from a nearby stack. She had clearly anticipated that he wouldn't refuse.
"Thanks. Is that everything?" Rei asked, turning to leave.
Kenny reached across the counter and caught the hem of the dragon robe. "Wait, I'm not finished yet!"
"Is there something else?"
"Um, it's not exactly guild business, but... would you like to get dinner sometime?"
Usually, Kenny tried to act like the older, mature sister figure, but because they were at the counter, she had to look up at him. Rei was about to instinctively nod in response to her invitation, when—
"Kyu!"
"Kenny! I've told you a thousand times, no private conversations during work hours!"
Along with Iero's small cry, its front leg batted Rei’s cheek, perfectly timed with Lenora’s stern reprimand. Because the voices overlapped, the people nearby didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.
"Wait... Lenora," Kenny said, her voice turning soft.
"What now? You're being unusually quiet."
"No, it's not that. Didn't you hear a strange sound just now?"
"A strange sound?"
"Yeah. Like a small animal..."
"Hmm... there shouldn't be any tamed monsters or summoned beasts in here," Lenora replied, looking around.
"Maybe I just imagined it?" Kenny wondered. She had been much closer to Iero, so she had definitely heard it, but without a visible source, she assumed it was a trick of her ears.
"Probably. Now, focus on your work, Kenny."
"Even if I do... there's hardly anything to do. Most adventurers are hibernating, so our workload is tiny anyway."
Lenora was momentarily silenced by the logic of Kenny's argument. Rei watched the two of them, but the invisible Iero touched his cheek with its front leg again, urging him to get moving. This was another one of Elena's orders: to monitor any women who showed affection for Rei and obstruct them as much as possible. Since Iero was only about 20cm in body length, it couldn't do much physically, but it was excellent at creating distractions.
"Well, if that’s all, I'm going—"
"Oh! If it isn't Rei! Since you're at the guild, you'd better come over to our table!"
Before Rei could finish his sentence, a heavy hand landed on his shoulder. It was fortunate that the person had grabbed his left shoulder; if they had grabbed the right, they would have felt Iero, potentially exposing the dragon's presence.
Rei exhaled a sigh of relief and turned to see a female warrior in her 30s. Her cheeks were flushed pink, suggesting she had already been drinking.
"Phron."
She was a member of the C-Rank party Crushing Warriors, whom he had worked with during a harpy subjugation. Kenny directed a sharp, wary gaze at the older woman. To the receptionist, Phron—a fellow adventurer with no steady partner—was a clear rival.
However, Kenny’s jealousy was entirely one-sided. To Phron, Rei was a teenager who had only lived half as long as she had. She didn't see him as a man, but rather as a capable, reliable little brother.
It was worth noting that one should never, under any circumstances, mention that they looked like a mother and son. Brasso, the other member of the Crushing Warriors, had once made that mistake. Despite being a dwarf famous for his sturdiness, he had been flattened into the floorboards for the comment.
In the end, Rei was dragged into the tavern to join the banquet with Phron and Brasso. He considered it a stroke of luck that he managed to make his escape before any of them were drunk enough to lose consciousness.