"How about holding the Promotion Exam in the Forest of Magic?"
Worker posed the question to Rei, but Rei didn't seem particularly surprised. They had already been discussing the Forest of Magic before the offer came up, and the real reason he'd been called to the Guild today was presumably to talk about the Promotion Exam in the first place. Under those circumstances, being told not to connect the topic of the Forest of Magic to the exam would have been the harder pill to swallow.
"The Promotion Exam? Why are you phrasing it as though the decision is mine to make? Figuring that out is the Guild's job, isn't it?"
"You're right. However, this time there are various special circumstances. ...You understand, don't you?"
With Worker's gaze fixed on him as he asked, Rei couldn't exactly shake his head.
"I understand that part. But how does the Forest of Magic come into it?"
"Before I explain, let me state the premise. This arrangement only became possible because Lord Daskar offered to prepare a proxy negotiator for you. Beyond that, it's necessary to hold your Promotion Exam as soon as possible. If the exam gets delayed, it will hold up the Expansion Construction as well."
"I suppose so."
Rei knew full well just how valuable an asset he was to the Expansion Construction. They were currently trying all sorts of measures to keep work from falling behind during his absence, but even so, having Rei present versus absent made a tremendous difference.
"For that reason, even without Lord Daskar's request, I do want you to take the Promotion Exam as soon as possible."
"When you put it that way, it makes sense. But at the end of the day, that's your side's convenience, isn't it? Are you changing the exam content because of it?"
Rei put the question to Worker, though he knew that if he were flat-out told the exam would take place in the Forest of Magic, he wouldn't have any grounds to object. Fortunately, Worker had no intention of pulling a fast one on him here.
"That is precisely why it's the Forest of Magic. As I mentioned earlier, Lord Daskar proposed arranging a proxy for you when receiving requests from Nobles. Therefore, if you take the Promotion Exam in the Forest of Magic, I will use my authority as Guild Master to grant a special exemption, allowing you to skip the etiquette portion of the exam."
"Your authority as Guild Master—you can just decide something like that on your own?"
"Of course, I can't do it on my own. The consent of five other Guild Masters besides myself is required."
A Guild Master's authority was considerable, but it didn't mean one person could unilaterally decide everything. This was especially true given that the matter at hand was a Promotion Exam for an A-Rank Adventurer—the highest rank among Adventurers, S-Rank notwithstanding. Changing the exam content on his own was simply not something he could do.
"Five people... That sounds like a hurdle in itself. Can you pull it off? No matter how much you want to change the exam content, it's no good unless the other Guild Masters accept it, right?"
"True. But please leave that to me. The handover from the Predecessor Guild Master has been completed properly."
The Predecessor was, of course, Marina. Being told that everything would be fine because the handover from Marina had been properly completed made him accept it almost inexplicably easily. That alone spoke volumes about the depth of trust placed in Marina.
"So to summarize: I need to take the Promotion Exam as soon as possible, so instead of a standard exam, I'll take some sort of exam in the Forest of Magic. In exchange, the etiquette portion gets skipped because of the proxy arrangement. ...That about right?"
"That's correct. And I don't think this is a bad deal for you, you know? You're not exactly good at etiquette, are you?"
"I'm not, sure, but I've been learning from Elena and gotten reasonably proficient at it."
"...From the Princess General...?"
At the name Elena leaving Rei's lips, even the usually composed Worker was taken aback. The A-Rank Promotion Exam included an etiquette component, so Worker had known Rei was studying for that as well. But learning etiquette from the Princess General was something he never saw coming.
"Yeah. Elena gave me a decent assessment too, but... if the exam is in the Forest of Magic, that all becomes moot, huh?"
"No, it doesn't. Considering that you may eventually meet with the Royal Family, you still need to learn etiquette properly. ...Originally, I was planning to figure out what to do about that after the exam, but it seems I don't need to worry about that part."
"...I hadn't heard anything about this etiquette situation."
"I was planning to bring it up later. ...So, what do you think? Are you interested in taking the exam in the Forest of Magic?"
Asked again, Rei found himself quite eager about the prospect of an exam in the Forest of Magic. Being exempt from the etiquette exam was a significant plus. Elena had already told him he'd probably be fine, but if he could skip the exam entirely, there was no need to go out of his way to take it.
And even more significant than that was, of course, the Forest of Magic itself. With so many monsters inhabiting it, for Rei who used Beast Magic, it was practically a bonus stage. ...Granted, given the abundance of High-Rank Monsters, it was a bonus stage where a single misstep could cost him his life.
"I'm on board with holding the exam in the Forest of Magic, but what specifically do I need to do?"
"Two things. First, you'll stay two nights in the Forest of Magic. Second, during that time, you must defeat at least two A-Rank Monsters."
"...I see. That's fairly demanding."
"We're accommodating you in various ways, so the difficulty is somewhat higher than a standard Promotion Exam. However, it's not outrageously so."
Worker stated that casually, but from Rei's perspective, there was no way to be certain those words were true. No—given the situation, Worker wouldn't lie to his face, so Rei could at least surmise it was probably true.
"By the way, I can bring Set to this exam, right?"
"Yes, that's fine. It's your Tamed Monster, after all."
"Setting aside the A-Rank Monster requirement, what happens if I end up having to flee the Forest of Magic on Set?"
"Ah, that's not a problem. We'll have you bring a Magic Item that transmits your location."
"So you have something like that too."
It's like GPS, Rei thought, but he kept that to himself, knowing the term wouldn't mean anything to Worker.
"Yes. Since we're having you operate in the Forest of Magic, we'll have you do at least that much. Though to be precise, considering the current situation, that's about all we can manage."
Ordinarily, for an operation in a dangerous place like the Forest of Magic, Worker would have wanted to provide far more substantial backup. But given the current situation, Rei could understand that this was all they could realistically do.
"Well, in your case, since you have Set, if anything truly dangerous happened, you could escape immediately. Still, please bear with it as a precaution. Of course, if you determine on your end that there's danger and you can't continue the Promotion Exam any further, we'll send people out from our side as well."
To Worker, Rei was an extremely important figure. So much so that if Rei's cooperation were lost, the Expansion Construction would struggle even more than it already did. Covering for his absence would require many more Adventurers to work, which would naturally increase the paperwork—or so one could easily imagine. That was why he presumably didn't want Rei to die during the Forest of Magic exam. Worker's feelings on the matter were something Rei could understand perfectly well.
"So with the exam in the Forest of Magic, when exactly will it start?"
"...So you're accepting?"
"Why is the one who proposed it the one being surprised? What were you planning to do if I hadn't accepted?"
"In that case, we would have gone with a standard exam."
For his part, Worker had proposed the Forest of Magic exam after weighing Daskar's request, his own circumstances, and the progress of the Expansion Construction. Even so, given that it was an exam held in the Forest of Magic of all places, he had thought the odds of Rei accepting weren't all that high.
"A standard exam sounds interesting too, but have you forgotten my hobby, Worker?"
"Hobby? ...Ah. Magic Stones."
Until Rei brought it up, Worker had apparently forgotten all about Rei's hobby. After a few seconds of silence, he finally recalled it. In reality, the hobby was just a front. Beast Magic required Magic Stones, and to disguise that fact, Rei had claimed to collect them as a hobby.
"Right. Defeating at least two A-Rank Monsters—I understand that part. But it wouldn't be a problem if I killed more than that, would it?"
"That's fine, and it would actually be helpful in terms of obtaining information on A-Rank Monsters, but..."
Worker was bewildered by Rei's words. Naturally—the exam in the Forest of Magic was a reckless endeavor, one that even Worker himself considered unreasonable. For Rei to say he eagerly wanted to take it, not reluctantly but with genuine enthusiasm, was completely unexpected from Worker's perspective.
"Two nights in the Forest of Magic... once I pull that off, I'll be an A-Rank Adventurer."
"There's also the matter of defeating the monsters, you know."
"I know. By the way, the objective was said to be two A-Rank Monsters, but is there any point in hunting B-Rank or lower ones?"
"There isn't. Of course, given that they're monsters from the Forest of Magic, if you're willing to sell them to the Guild, we'll buy them at a high price."
At Worker's words, Rei nodded inwardly. It was only natural. The Guild must have wanted materials from Forest of Magic monsters quite badly.
"The monster meat I want for myself, so I won't be selling that. But I might be willing to sell materials and such. Though there's also a chance I'll use the materials myself, so I can't guarantee I'll sell them."
"It's unfortunate, but that's fine. It's only natural that an Adventurer decides what to do with the corpse of a monster they defeated. However, I won't pretend I don't hope you'll sell them to the Guild."
Rei nodded at Worker's words. It wasn't as though Rei had any particular grudge against the Guild. Given that, he had no real reason to refuse selling materials from monsters he defeated in the Forest of Magic.
"So, when will the Promotion Exam in the Forest of Magic take place?"
"Let's see. There's the Magic Item to prepare, of course, but beyond that, we need to make various other arrangements. ...How about ten days from now?"
"Ten days? That's quite a while."
Rei was ready to head to the Forest of Magic this very instant. That was why he reacted the way he did upon hearing the exam would be ten days out, but what came back from Worker was a look loaded with exasperation.
"Ten days is the soonest we can manage even if we prioritize preparations above all else. If this were a Promotion Exam for a lower rank, it wouldn't require this much preparation. But this is a Promotion Exam to A-Rank. And an unusual one being held in the Forest of Magic, at that."
Worker's words were by no means an exaggeration. Ten days was the bare minimum that Worker could scrape together by devoting himself entirely to the task. And yet Rei had complained about it taking too long, so it was only natural that Worker wasn't pleased.
"Is there really that much to prepare? I would think just having that Magic Item would be enough."
A two-night, three-day camp in the Forest of Magic... was perhaps an assessment that took the Forest of Magic a bit too lightly, but in any case, the premise of this Promotion Exam was that it would be conducted as quickly as possible. That was why Rei would be going alone—or more accurately, just Rei and Set would be heading to the Forest of Magic. So wouldn't the only thing they need to prepare be the GPS-like Magic Item? It was a natural conclusion for Rei to reach.
In reality, there were various other preparations necessary, which was exactly why Worker had said it would take ten days. Rei was told as much, but he still pushed back... and ultimately, it was decided that the exam would be held in five days.