Bronze Rank and the Noble Escort
After obtaining new equipment, I spent my time frantically completing quests as the noble lady's escort. The gear was several times better than before, making the requests far more enjoyable to tackle. The coat blocked most attacks, allowing me to fight more aggressively than before. With my summons cooperating, I could seize the advantage in most situations.
Once I completed the five quests assigned by the Adventurer Guild, my assigned receptionist, Anel, beamed and congratulated me.
"Congratulations! Thanks to the guild recognizing your achievements, your final rank has been set as Bronze!"
It was the expected result. Between my success rate—never failing a single quest, including the subjugation of the young Nepentula—and the variable of my summons, it would have been strange if I hadn't reached Bronze. When I kept a nonchalant expression, Anel pouted.
"What? You're not happy about becoming Bronze?"
"It's the result I already expected. It'd be weirder if I were surprised."
I wasn't ignorant of how the Adventurer Guild's evaluation worked. As a former employee, I couldn't let something like this make me swing between joy and disappointment. Suppressing the corners of my mouth that threatened to rise, I maintained my composure. Disappointed that she didn't get the reaction she wanted, Anel grumbled.
"I was hoping you'd act like a kid and get all excited."
"If you want that, wait until I reach Silver."
Of course, I had no intention of showing excitement even then. If I did, Anel would gleefully spread the news to everyone. I wasn't crazy enough to celebrate in front of her. Since she clearly wanted to tease me openly, I had no plans to give her the satisfaction and answered with a sly smile.
Judging that there was no opening to exploit in my thorough preparation, Anel cleanly gave up and moved to the main topic.
"Well, congratulations on reaching Bronze. As your adventurer rank rises, a few services become available. Will you take them?"
"I don't need all of them. Just a few."
"Since you used to be a guild employee, you probably know what's worth taking. As expected, you're thinking of taking the recommended quests?"
"They're easier to adapt to."
The difference between Iron and Bronze was bigger than I'd thought. Considering that one of the minimum requirements for Bronze was the ability to use Aura, the difficulty of quests would clearly change. To prepare for cases where newly promoted Bronze adventurers couldn't adapt to the increased quest difficulty, the Adventurer Guild had created recommended quests—a system that assigned somewhat ambiguous quests between Bronze and Iron to newly promoted adventurers.
At first glance, it might seem like busywork, but it was a more important process than it appeared. It was the guild's way of ensuring that adventurers who had crossed the wall didn't die meaninglessly. They thoroughly investigated quests and only recommended those that seemed suitable, making it a service that newly promoted adventurers were practically required to accept.
Anel rummaged through the documents on the reception desk and pulled out several sheets of paper.
"Here are the recommended quests."
"You already prepared them?"
"I figured you'd get promoted right after taking down the young Nepentula, so I got them ready in advance."
"As expected, your sense is good."
Impressed by the competent receptionist's work, I looked over the recommended quests. Destroying a War Ant outpost, subjugating the remnants of black mages, and an escort request. There were only three, but each one was intriguing. Carefully examining the quest details, I came across familiar information.
"If it's the War Ant outpost, does this connect to the scouting party quest from before?"
"That's right. The adventurers who wiped out the scouting party chased the fleeing ones and discovered the outpost."
War Ants were a race that functioned as a single hive mind. Their outpost meant hundreds of ants gathered in one place, which made me interested. Though each individual ant was weaker than an Iron-rank monster, their numbers would provide plenty of experience points.
After looking over the outpost destruction quest with interest, I moved on to the next one.
"The black mage remnant subjugation was probably put together with information from Neon."
"Correct. Multiple adventurer parties, including Liliye's, along with the security forces and the church, are preparing to cooperate on the subjugation."
Since he'd said from the beginning that he planned to convert to an official black mage, this was the natural outcome. I thought of Neon, who was probably at the forefront right now, preparing with the most enthusiasm. Proving his innocence wouldn't be over in just one or two years.
'I was a black magic hater from the very beginning! As proof, I'll reveal the locations of those filthy black mages who came up to the North!'
Thanks to how enthusiastically he'd provided information—enough that there was no need to call a priest of truth—the North was currently in the midst of a black mage subjugation craze. The Flame of Doom had apparently prepared thoroughly and sent a considerable number of black mages up here. Quite a few of them had survived. Hearing the numbers, I was slightly surprised at how we hadn't noticed them until now, but it couldn't be helped. No sane person would have reason to come to the North as a black mage.
According to the hastily formed investigation team's report, dozens of black mages had already been torn apart by monsters near the northern entrance. It wasn't like they were terrorizing the royal capital—just dozens dying on the way up to the North. Who would come up here? In a way, the Flame of Doom had struck a clever weak point, but they probably never imagined that even one black mage would betray them so deliberately. If their plan had succeeded, they would have completed a secret laboratory that no one would have noticed, even if it cost many sacrifices. Well, whether they could have obtained test subjects there was another matter.
Anyway, after checking the second quest, I looked at the last one.
"An escort request? This one seems ordinary."
"It's not completely ordinary. It's an escort for a noble young lady, after all."
That was true. Nodding at Anel's words, I read the quest details. There were various explanations, but to summarize, it was an escort request for the youngest daughter of the Seraris Viscounty in the Central Empire. The destination was her maternal grandfather's house, Baron Hornst in the North. The purpose of the visit was to attend Baron Hornst's sixtieth birthday celebration.
After confirming the quest details, I looked at Anel with a strange expression. On the surface, it was a normal escort request. In this world, it wasn't unusual for nobles to hire mercenaries as escorts when traveling. But if this quest was included among the recommended quests for a newly promoted Bronze adventurer, that changed things.
"This isn't an ordinary quest, is it?"
At my question, Anel nodded readily.
"Right. It's not an ordinary quest. Quite a complicated issue is involved."
When I gave her a look asking for more explanation, she pulled out another sheet of paper from among the documents and showed it to me. It listed the hidden objectives of the escort request. Unsettling movements from the Seraris Viscounty. The youngest daughter traveling without even a proper carriage, let alone adequate escort forces, under the pretext of celebrating her grandfather's birthday. The desire to hide their travel route, and so on.
As I carefully read the information, Anel added more explanation.
"The current situation of the Seraris Viscounty isn't good. It's a Central noble house, so we don't have detailed information, but there's an investigator's report that unsettling movements have been detected from that direction."
"If it's from a guild investigator, the information should be reliable."
The guild's investigation team was the group that went into uncharted territories to gather monster information. With their skills, they'd easily obtain information about other regions, so I raised my trust in the information by several levels.
"Honestly, it's not something we need to concern ourselves with."
"Right. Since it's about another region, we didn't need to get involved."
"If it weren't for the fact that it's the viscounty's maternal family, that is."
Baron Hornst's house was a place I knew as well. It was a vassal family of the Edenberg Countship and a warrior house famous for crushing monsters at the vanguard of expeditions. Rumor had it that he cherished his daughter dearly. Even if only half of that rumor was true, if the youngest daughter died in the North, it would cause considerable chaos within the countship. That would be a stain on the Adventurer Guild's pride, as they handled the North's security on behalf of the nobles.
"She's the youngest daughter, not just anyone. Wouldn't the viscounty treat her preciously?"
"It seems she came secretly. She only brought two people with her."
So the youngest daughter had taken action herself to resolve her family's crisis. It was quite admirable, but because of it, several factions were now in a difficult position. Having roughly worked out the situation, I asked with a serious expression.
"What did the countship say?"
"They told us to handle it."
"How cold. Is it because it's difficult to intervene openly?"
"Well, that's why the Adventurer Guild exists—to handle these kinds of matters."
I'd thought they might at least provide some support since it involved a vassal family, but of course, since we didn't know the full story or the truth, we couldn't say anything definitive.
"Does the guild want me to take this quest?"
"Probably. Since you're a former guild employee, you're a trustworthy adventurer."
"Looking at the details, it won't be just me doing it alone."
"Two people have already accepted the quest. And you're the last one."
I see. After thinking it over, I decided to accept. Usually, when you resolved a quest the guild specifically pointed out, there was a corresponding reward.
"I'll take this one. Since it's a troublesome quest, the compensation will be solid, right?"
"Of course. The Adventurer Guild handles that kind of thing generously, don't they?"
The guild's extralegal authority wasn't given for free. As they had the responsibility of protecting the North's security in place of nobles who fulfilled their duties on the front lines, if the youngest daughter of the Seraris family had come to the North, they had to protect her properly. Only then could they prove that the North's security was intact.
"Then head straight to the western gate. They said they'd depart as soon as the party is formed, so they'll be waiting."
"That was fast."
At Anel's words, I hurried toward the western gate. The fact that they'd move as soon as they gathered people meant the situation was that urgent. What kind of conspiracy was targeting the viscounty? I wondered as I rushed along.
Finding the escort target among the bustling crowd at the western gate wasn't difficult. There were adventurers standing guard around a girl wearing a robe. Four of the six adventurers spotted me and waved, showing their adventurer badges.
"Are you the adventurer who decided to participate this time?"
"Yes. I'm Argo, the final participant."
"I see. We're the adventurers tasked with escorting them to Edenberg. Nothing strange happened on the way here, so stay alert."
At the adventurer's words, I frowned. The escort target was the youngest daughter of a viscounty involved in a suspicious conspiracy. If the conspirators weren't fools, they wouldn't be unaware of the youngest daughter's cute act of rebellion. If nothing had happened during the journey, the incident would likely occur during the final stretch.
"This is troublesome."
"The guild isn't unaware of it either. But the situation being what it is..."
"If they help openly, it becomes a political issue and things get much more complicated. Can't be helped."
At my expression, the adventurers also scratched their heads with awkward looks. The relatively weaker Central nobles were extremely wary of nobles from other regions. It was understandable, given the overwhelming difference in power from the start, but actually experiencing it made me frustrated that a matter that could be handled easily had to be twisted into something difficult.
"Well, we've finished our quest, so we'll head back."
"Good work. I'll wrap up the escort quest properly."
"Right. We're counting on you."
While the adventurers who had finished their quest with my arrival headed toward the Edenberg Adventurer Guild branch, I checked on the remaining party of five, including myself. First, I greeted the two people who had received the same quest as me.
"I'm Argo, who just became a Bronze-rank adventurer. I'll be in your care from now on."
"I'm Goro, a Bronze-rank adventurer. Let's work well together during the quest."
"I'm Arash, a Bronze-rank adventurer. Take care of me during the quest."
I could clearly feel the mana rippling from Goro, who appeared to be a dog beastman, and Arash, who was an orc. As the final escort, the guild had apparently assigned skilled individuals. Since we'd be together for the next few days, I smiled with satisfaction at my companions' reliable abilities and turned to look at the escort target—the young lady and her maid.
The young lady, her face hidden by a robe, didn't speak, her guard raised due to the conspiracy involving her family. Instead, the maid, dressed in practical clothing, stepped forward.
"I'm Nighting, serving Lady Alice of the Seraris Viscounty. Please take good care of the young lady until the final escort."
"I'll do my best."
"I believe in you. I've already confirmed the adventurers' abilities sufficiently on the way here."
The maid's eyes were filled with trust toward us, apparently having sufficiently assessed the adventurers' skills during the journey. From her perspective, having three knights who could use Aura as escorts wasn't misplaced trust. However, given the situation, I looked up at the sky with an uneasy feeling. The sky was sunny, as if mocking my mood. At least the experience points should be decent.