I Want to Be an Adventurer Again

I am Yunoa. A man whose adventurer record has been wiped clean, leaving him as nothing at all.

I simply could not accept that a death the guild had processed on paper was irreversible, so I decided to take it up with the Guild Master.

"So where is the Master, anyway? Come to think of it, I've never actually seen him."

"Well... I've never seen him either."

Tina's answer filled my head with question marks. She worked here as a receptionist and she had never once laid eyes on the Guild Master? What kind of sense did that make? It sounded like a butcher claiming he'd never seen a piece of meat, and I was too baffled to know what to say.

"You've never seen the Master? But you've consulted with him before, haven't you?"

"We... only communicate by letter, you see. He's never once come in to the guild..."

The Guild Master — the person in charge of the entire place — had never once shown up for work? Then how was I supposed to chew him out?

"He does have an address, though. You could try paying him a visit..."

Tina handed me a small note she had written on the spot. The Guild Master's address was set down across it in a lovely hand.

She writes beautifully.

I took the note and left the guild at once, heading out to find the Master.

Following the address brought me somewhere unexpected — a place I knew well.

The Koubel Refinery.

I had sold medicinal herbs here with Meruru once. I remembered it being run by a fussy-looking man named Philstone.

"What, did I get the address wrong?"

I stood in front of the Koubel Refinery and checked the note with the Guild Master's address over and over. Tina's handwriting pointed here, no question about it. And the refinery sat in a quiet spot with no other buildings around, thanks to the overpowering smell of medicinal herbs.

"Excuse me."

There was nowhere else to look, so I stepped inside. Philstone was still there, fussing with a potion distiller, utterly indifferent to whether anyone had come in or not.

"Philstone?"

I called his name a little louder. Even back when Meruru and I had come to sell herbs, he wouldn't so much as glance at you unless you made a real effort to get his attention.

"What is it? I'm busy. We don't take customers here as a rule. If you want a potion, go to a general store."

"It's me. I used to come by to sell herbs."

"Hm?"

Only then did Philstone turn his head to look at me. It had been a long time, sure, but we had done business more than a few times.

"And you are?"

He doesn't recognize me?

I couldn't be bothered to introduce myself and wait around until it clicked, so I cut straight to the point.

"I'm here from the Adventurers Guild, actually."

"And?"

"I was given the Guild Master's address, and it led me here. I have urgent business with the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Master. Do you know anything about that?"

I didn't expect much. I was already thinking I should have gone back to Tina and double-checked the address, but I had come all this way.

Philstone looked at me with a smile in his eyes. Not that anything was actually amusing him — his face just happened to be the smiling sort.

"Take guild business up with a receptionist. This is a refinery."

Well. Figures.

I was about to turn around and go back to the guild to ask Tina about the address again, when—

My feet stopped dead on their way out of the refinery.

Philstone was the Adventurers Guild Master?

Why was someone of that standing buried in stinking herbs, brewing potions? He ought to be showing up at the guild and doing something about adventurers with messy problems like mine.

Anyway, Narration had said it, so Philstone being the Guild Master was a certainty. I turned back around and faced him.

"I came here because I couldn't get it resolved with a receptionist, didn't I?"

"I fail to see why you would say that here. As you can see, this is a potion refinery."

"Don't play dumb. You're the Master of the Koubel Adventurers Guild, aren't you?"

A faint crease formed between Philstone's brows. He studied me for a moment, then spoke as if something had just occurred to him.

"Ah. The herb merchant who used to come by with that beastkin."

Oh, now he remembers— that's not the point!

What a piece of work. Completely in his own world. I had no idea where he had pawned off any sense of responsibility as Guild Master.

"I'm an adventurer now."

"Is that so? Good for you."

"Except I can't do it anymore. I've been declared dead."

"How unfortunate."

"Can't you restore it somehow?"

"No."

Philstone answered without a second's hesitation. The refusal was so breezy I couldn't even work up the will to argue.

"Come on, this is the guild's mistake. I'm standing here perfectly alive, and you people marked me dead and locked me out of adventuring."

"Register again."

"If I register again, will I get my original rank back? You're the Master — you've got to have that kind of authority."

"Sorry, but could we pick this up later? The extractor's cycle is finishing."

This man had no intention of actually listening to me. Still, at least he wasn't denying he was the Guild Master anymore.

Fine. I wasn't taking a single step out of here until this was resolved. If I couldn't work as an adventurer, how was I supposed to eat? Sure, I could register again and climb back up from Bronze, but I refused to accept that. It wasn't even my fault the record had been wiped. I wasn't about to swallow that kind of loss.

I watched Philstone draw a vivid red liquid from the distiller through something like a clear tube. He portioned it evenly into vials, then mixed in the variously colored solutions he had prepared beside him. Every motion had the look of someone who had done this for years — even I, who knew nothing about it, could tell I was watching a professional.

I stood there a long while, watching him pull potions from the distiller. I tried speaking up again in the middle of it, but he either couldn't hear me or didn't care, and simply kept at his work.

After a long wait, Philstone finished his potion work and finally looked my way.

"What is it. You still haven't left?"

He looked genuinely puzzled.

"Restore my adventurer record to what it was, or cancel the death record. I'm not going anywhere until you do."

"I suppose I have no choice."

"You'll do it?"

"I intend to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠explain why I will not."

"..."

"Every piece of guild business is required to leave a paper trail. Total documentation of all work — that is how I can run this refinery and still carry out a Master's duties."

So this was the culprit behind the receptionists always being buried in paperwork and worn to the bone. I wondered if this man even knew Tina's face was getting thinner by the day because of him.

"I receive the processed documents by post once a month and review them. And every document is to be handled by the receptionists according to principle. If I allow even a single exception here, it puts a crack in guild operations that have been running smoothly by the book."

"...Isn't a man the guild declared dead standing here perfectly alive a bigger crack than that?"

"If the guild processed a death declaration, there would have been a valid reason. The strange thing is that you came back alive. We cannot apply exceptions to every unusual case that comes along. Are you asking me to leave a stain called 'exception' on the entire guild's process for the sake of one person? Once you make one exception, a second and a third will follow."

Philstone's words were infuriating precisely because they were absurd and, somehow, persuasive at the same time. In the end, he was saying he couldn't change the whole guild's process for my sake alone. So how was I, stripped of my adventurer rank through no ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fault of my own, supposed to get any kind of compensation?

Narration confirmed Philstone's stubbornness all over again. So I had no choice but to register with the guild as an adventurer all over again? Injustice and despair were about to swallow my thoughts whole, when—

The moment I heard Narration's words, a scene flashed through my mind. The memory of when I had first registered as an adventurer — all the procedural questions, the signatures on the forms.

Right. The guild definitely had a process for verifying a person's abilities and background at registration. I had had absolutely nothing to show for myself back then, so I hadn't even made Bronze. I had been given Novice rank.

Which meant the reverse should also be true — if I could prove my ability and experience, I could start at Silver Rank, couldn't I?

"I... understand. For now."

In the end, I conceded to Philstone's stubbornness. Talking him around here would be less useful than going back and consulting Tina. If I could re-register as an adventurer and land Silver Rank in one shot, I honestly wouldn't mind.