Kuro no Maou

Chapter 177 – Rank 2

「Yes, certainly all the quests’ completion are now confirmed.」

The young receptionist, Erina, somehow stalled the surprise in her heart and said in a business-like manner.

It wasn’t that she was being embarrassed like a lovestruck maiden in front of this adventurer named Kurono who can get 90 points alone with his face, but she was simply surprised by the fact that all the quests have been cleared.

(Eh, What, just how did he clear all his quests? And not even one week has passed since then, no, more than that, what the hell is with this massive amount of number of subjugated monsters!?)

The massive amount of parts of subjugated monster was something Erina hadn’t seen even once since employment.

(124 Dagger Raptors, 87 goblins, 52 Vindol......*sigh* the 5 Punpun seems the abnormality here......but the most abnormal is 376 slimes)

Rank 1 monsters are weak, to cover up that there are lot of them.

Killing 100 or 200 won’t make them extinct, but giving these three-digit numbers is something not possible for a rank 1 adventurer.

This 376 slimes are not something rare, since they outbreak in large numbers sometimes, but even meeting a group of 100+ slimes, rank 3 adventurer too would choose evasion.

For getting these many numbers of monsters within less than a week, only means directly confronting the group or the nest.

Although there are sometimes, reckless rank 1 adventurers who try to challenge the nests, but most are killed, and if they survived, they would retire from being adventurer.

But, Kurono still looks cool like he did some days before when he came, he isn’t looking scared or traumatised at all.

No, in reality he has presented this many proofs of subjugation,

(Is this person......by chance, really strong?)

So it’s natural to think that Kurono is hiding power not that of rank 1 adventurer.

(No, wait, calm down me, people with power not matching their ranks are not so easy find)

There is also the system of starting being adventurer from rank 3 if the person has enough power as that of soldier when registering as an adventurer.

Due to that, it’s extremely rare to find people having power above rank 1.

But extremely rare, doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

One famous exception would be, the eldest son of『Sword King』Leonhart, in other words the first prince, Eisenhart Tristan Spada, reached rank 5 from rank 1 while still being in Royal Spada Academy.

Other would be, the secret disciples of master magicians or martial artists who live and train and mountains, come out in world and increase the rank at terrifying speed.

However, even the prince and disciples are all who have learnt stronger martial skills or attack magic while being rank 1, and adventurer’s starting line.

And, people like them can be differentiated on the equipment they wear, at the very much least, they wouldn’t appear wearing white shirt and worn-out leather pants.

Right now Kurono is wearing a apprentice magician robe too, but it too is of the lowest grade equipment.

It’s rash to to think of him as those rare people with more power.

(This is......right, the party members are strong, that’s right!)

Erina wavered.

Thinking on it, the completion of quest by acting as parasite and relying on party members is the most easily acceptable thing.

Occasionally, the idiotic noble spoiled children who are fascinated by the epic tales of adventurers, take party members as bodyguards and do their ‘adventurer play’.

People like this appear more easily than the disciples of masters, or rather, they are the only ones who are in existence in the current age.

(*sigh*, Unfortunate, truly unfortunate, if Kurono-san were a mysterious man who lied about his power, I would’ve given you 90 points)

While she is indulging in her thinkings,

「Excuse me, we can become rank 2 with this, right?」

「Yes, with this Kurono-sama and your party『Element Master』will be promoted to rank 2. Congratulations」

She would still be able to reply to the other person while still keeping on thinking, that’s her awesome part.

「I will need to update the guild card right now, so please wait a moment」

Like that, Erina operates the magic item for reading and writing on the guild card with one hand.

「Will you do the updation of other party members too right now?」

「Well, it can be done later, but it’s normal to get it updated at the same time. Would you be in the possession of members card too?」

Yes, while replying with a clear voice, two guild cards with iron lustre are handed to Erina.

(! Isn’t this just an iron plate!)

The expectations of gold guild card was toppled over in a second.

The updation said by Erina is the completion of quest, but seems like the updation understood by Kurono is the the promoting the other rank 1 members like him.

If he is a idiotic noble son, then no doubt a rank 3 adventurer would be his bodyguard.

Though personal bodyguard work is a different occupation from that of an adventurer, but for showing the proof of their strength, most keep the guild cards with them.

(If all members are rank 1, that means there is no bodyguard hired――wait, in the first place, if he were a noble son, wouldn’t his equipment be better than this, this one is just crap!)

In the end, Erina reconsidered the adventurer named as Kurono to be just some low-ragged adventurer at any place.

And, at the time of reading the guild cards of his party members, that thinking only deepens.

(Lilly, Rank 1......Fiona Soleil, Rank 1......both have registered in the same Irz Village at almost same times)

Only the guess that a group of young country bumpkins came to Spada while admiring adventurers can come to my mind while seeing this information.

(No, but the structure of this party is completely strange, 2 magicians and Lily, the fairy, huh, isn’t that just a race name instead of class!)

For example, humans don’t write their class to be human, class explains the fighting style of person frankly, in worst, it explains the type of weapon the person uses.

But, Kurono is not worried in the least that this race name is written as the class.

(Anyways, it’s true that this Kurono and his party are not any normal rank 1 people!)

The moment she thought that, the evaluation towards Kurono,

(Currently, it’s impossible to give him a correct score.)

Is amended.

At the same she thought that this man, Kurono, is a bottomless person, he started looking charming to her.

(This is one great rookie with great future, Ufufu, I’ve got to check his developments from now on)

Like that, Kurono and『Element Master』, the rank 1,

「Yes, the updation is over」

no, them who just got promoted to rank 2, are given the bronze plated guild card by Erina with her eyes filled with expectations.

「Congratulations, I wish good luck to you」

It’s the standard line to be said on increasing rank, but this is the first time Erina has inserted her true feelings in it.

「Thank you very much」

Like that, Kurono takes the bronze plated guild card while showing a smile, which somehow gives sense of relief, on his mostly expressionless face.

(Aren’t that was a bit cool, ugh......)

Erina felt her heart beating faster which she hasn’t felt in a long time, but Kurono spoke in a voice that showed he noticed nothing.

「Excuse me, can I ask something?」

「Yes, what might it be?」

Though Erina said that, she has already guessed what he would ask.

「Can you tell me the quests necessary for rising to rank 3?」

Bingo, In the brain of Erina, the rank 2 monster list is already open.

「Yes, here they would be」

She took out the bundle of all rank 2 quests, takes out the quests fulfilling the requirements for rank promotion, and presents them to Kurono.

「Then――」

「Ufufu, would you take them all?」

On those half-jokingly words, Kurono with a somewhat surprised expression,

「Yes, please do」

Strongly nodded.

(Well then, if he easily gets promoted to rank 3 too, then he is......the real deal)

Erina started the processing of paperwork for taking quests, while her heart beats faster with expectations.

.

.

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(POV: Kurono)

This branch Guild is completely different from the ones I had been using.

In the first place the sizes are different, the Alsace one was 4-storey including the inn space, here the business space alone is 5-storey.

The number of storey are same, but there is comparable difference in the height between floor area and the ceiling, now that’s what you wall overwhelming.

Even after taking this fact, there is a clear difference in the atmosphere between the two.

If you take a guild of village to be bar, this one more like a government office with hard atmosphere drifting around it.

There is no space to eat meal in the lobby, only a wide white painted space is spread out, even the adventurers are somewhat looking like salarymen.

No, it must because there are more people wearing blazer-like clothes, that’s why I’m thinking like that.

I, who has always been using the small guilds in remote countryside, this noisy place in other sense, with only business-like words spoken, only office work is done, gives me sense of discomfort.

I wonder if I will get used to this feeling by the time I reach rank 3, oh hell with my over-positive thinking.

First of all, I need to think about reaching rank 3 as soon as possible.

「So then, Kurono-san was tempted by that beautiful receptionist, and once again you have taken lot of quests, right?」

「O-Oi, don’t make me sound like a bad person」

I reply while getting a somewhat cold stare from Fiona.

「Mu-!」

For some reason it feels like Lily too is also staring at me with dissatisfied look, it’s certainly my imagination, after all the small Lily is a reasonable and good child who listens to me.

「It won’t hurt to increase rank fast, right, even if it’s rank 2, it won’t take much time to clear it too. We don’t need to subjugate 100 or 200 of monsters this time either.」

「Isn’t Kurono-san the same who killed 100?」

「No, I am was good and I killed only 87」

It’s still the same! I got a retort from Fiona, quite rare.

No, at first I had thought to return back after killing 5, but it felt like the hatchet will evolve, so I worked hard and let it drink lots of blood.

And oh great, I challenged the whole nest of goblin without Sword Arts or Bullet Arts, but just a single hatchet, as though I was a swordsman.

In the end, it still didn’t evolve though.

「So, how many quests are there?」

「11 in total」

Different from last time the time limits this time are all different, if we completed them in order, it would be over in around a month or so.

I only took the quests with low time durations, like kicking out the escort quests.

Entering dungeons, it all ends up on one’s strength, if we stay in there for some days, it’s easy to get 10 or 20 monsters.

「I see, certainly with that it might work somehow」

While turn pages of quest documents, Fiona too consents.

「It’s good that you weren’t simply deceived by the charm of the receptionist」

「Why are you feeling relieved?」

Can’t you try to not speak those lines in front of a child, Fiona-san. Thanks to that, it feels like Lily’s stare is hurting me.

「Well, to congratulate for our promotion to rank 2, shall we go and drink?」

I hand over the 2 new guild cards to both of them.

「O-」

「Wa-!」

The two take the guild card with considerably happy expressions.

Yeah, it certainly is deeply moving.

「In other words, it means today is Spada Gourmet Tour Round 2, right?」

「Ah, Argh......Yeah, it’s alright to think it like that」

It’s not like I’m treating her, it will be fine, right? Right? [ET: It’s not double typing of words]

「Thanks to you both working so much that monsters almost went extinct——look at this!」

SFX: Don!

I put down the bag filled with 10K klan gold coins.

Whoa~~, Lily and Fiona congratulate while clapping both their hands.

「Eat and drink as much as you want, it would fine to split the amount after eating, right?」

The sharing of rewards, the equal splitting, standard rule of adventurers, is also being used in our『Element Master』.

「But, is it alright, without having Kurono-san’s equipment bought?」

「No, it’s fine to do that after reaching rank 3. The reward this time, is enough to make a living, but not even enough to let me buy the equipments I want」

The cursed weapon, even one is 100,000 klan, all this reward will only become some small change.

My share of rewards is one-third, so I will have to keep on completing the quests until I reach rank 3, or else I won’t earn the money to buy it.

「It’s fine like that, but if it’s a little less, Lily-san and I can support as well.」

「Thanks, but it’s good that you feel that way」

Financial relationships should be kept clean to the extreme extent, I am of having an equal relationship with these two.

I’m still only 17 years old, I don’t have much life-experience that I can solve problems while bearing a strange anxiety factor, it’s good to be always careful!

「It’s more desirable that Kurono-san buys right equipment and increases the power, neither I nor Lily-san have any attachments to money. So, you don’t have to be so stubborn, right?」

Fiona and Lily urge me,

「Yeah, Lily will buy a weapon for Kurono!」

And on those pure and clean words my heart aches.

What is this......why do i feel like a bad guy who’s deceiving them into supporting me financially?......

「T-Thanks......but if I take money, I will definitely return them with interest added with interest-rates in gray-zone」

「Gray-zone? Well that’s right, Kurono does seem like you will be able to accept it easily if it’s in the form of loan」

「Lily will buy one for you~!」

Please stop recklessly supporting me, I mean seriously, it makes me anxious.

「A-Anyways, let’s forget the work relationship for now and celebrate, right?」

「Let’s explore a new shop today」

This was quite a forced way to change topics but, I won.

「Alrighty, let’s move. Ah, that’s right, Lily, will you get in my hood after a long time?」

I completed the formation with Lily who jumped in the hood while smiling, and we left the guild in high-spirits. [ET: The formation is something like. *dark past emerges* Power Ranger Robots formation *dark past submerges* argh, forget it!]