With the festival behind us and a fresh departure awaiting me in the spring, I spent the remainder of the winter saying goodbye to my friends and acquaintances. If Gyunton was still alive, I would’ve gone to see him, but as he had recently passed away, I simply sent a perfunctory message to the Hammil Duchy in Gald to let them know I would be resuming my travels. Then I popped by the Liebel margravate to tell Selene.
“I see. I have to admit, I’m a bit sad I won’t be able to visit you as easily anymore, but I hope you enjoy yourself out there, mom,” she said, softly stroking the protection ring I had given her.
Teto and I smiled at her. “The kids can still come to the forest to play whenever they feel like it.”
“Everyone loves Elene!” Teto added.
Selene’s grandkids used to come to the forest a lot when they were younger. The older two had pretty much stopped visiting us, but Elene still occasionally came, asking the mythical beasts to give her a ride whenever the demons went to trade in Liebel. Everyone in the forest knew her, so even when I was busy, she’d hang out with the other residents or the mythical beasts.
“Besides, we still have our transfer gates. We can go home whenever we feel like it, so if you ever find yourself in trouble, give me a call and we’ll rush right back,” I assured her.
“You can always count on us!” Teto added.
Selene chuckled. “You’re right. Besides, I might be sad, but I’m also really excited to hear all of the tales of your adventures,” she said, a mischievous glint in her eyes.
“That’s a bit embarrassing,” I mumbled.
She must’ve heard about all of the things we had been up to back when we used to be more active as adventurers. I couldn’t help feeling a little awkward hearing about the quests I had taken on fifty years ago.
“Being A-rank is a bit of a pain when all I want to do is enjoy my travels,” I pointed out.
“Teto really doesn’t like having to talk to all these important people!” Teto pouted next to me.
Being an A-rank adventurer came with its perks, but also its pitfalls. Every time someone learned about our rank, they’d start treating us differently. Suddenly they’d start giving us special treatment, which made it difficult to truly immerse myself in the local culture, despite my strong desire to experience each place authentically. To this day, my best experiences were the mining town where we met Arim—since that place was so remote that no one there had ever heard about us—and the time we lived with Yuicia in Lawbyle while hiding our ranks.
I really have first world problems, don’t I? I thought as I watched Selene tell one of her servants to bring her something.
“I actually have been told to give you a certain something when you resume your travels,” she explained, holding out two gold-colored guild cards to us.
“Selene, what are those?” I asked.
“Teto has never seen a guild card like this before!”
“They’re your new guild cards,” she explained. “Come on, use your mana to activate them.”
Teto and I did just that, taking the cards from Selene and pouring our mana into them. The letter S appeared on the surface.
“Um... But why are you giving us our new cards? You’re not a guildmaster or anything. Are these fake?” I asked, scrutinizing my new card.
My question drew a chuckle from Selene. “I understand your concerns, but I promise you that these are real guild cards, mom. I’m giving you these cards with the authority vested in me as saintess of the Church of the Five Goddesses and healer at the adventurer’s guild, not as the Liebel margravine,” Selene explained.
With her son having taken on the margrave title, Selene had started working as a healer for the church and the adventurer’s guild. At the present moment, she wasn’t standing in front of us as a noble lady, but as a temporary guild official.
“You haven’t been rewarded for suppressing the stampede and helping out at the refugee camp, right?” Selene continued, a smile on her face.
For some reason, there was an uncanny intensity in her smile; I found myself nodding awkwardly. “I had a lot on my plate with the refugees, so I kind of just shut myself in the Forest,” I said sheepishly.
“We didn’t even leave to go sell herbs at the guild like we used to!” Teto added.
We had added potions to our list of wares, so we had the demons directly sell them into town rather than at the guild. The only times we had left the forest in the past decade was to go do some shopping, buying things like tea, books, paintings, or tableware for my ever-growing art collection. I’d fund these purchases by selling a few potions at the local guild, but since we’d only popped by a few times in over ten years, we hadn’t left that big of an impression.
“But it’s S-rank cards we’re talking about. Can you really hand them to us like that? Besides, I don’t really want to be S-rank. It’s only going to make traveling even more of a pain,” I said.
“It won’t,” Selene assured me. “You can hide your ranks.”
Selene told us to touch the S on our cards, and Teto and I did just that. Instantly, the letter turned into a C and the color of the card changed to look just like a regular C-rank card.
“Wow, it really worked!” Teto exclaimed.
“Can we really do this, though? Surely, hiding one’s rank has to be illegal,” I asked, eyeing my “C-rank” card with suspicion.
“It’s not. As long as the cards are genuine—and they are. Besides, everyone can hide their status, so hiding one’s rank is just another way of exercising that right,” Selene explained confidently.
She added that one couldn’t lie and claim to be a higher rank than they actually were, but pretending to be a lower rank was fine, as it allowed high-ranked adventurers to escape some of the constraints that came with their position.
“Before you leave, though, let me tell you about your privileges as S-rank adventurers.”
From what Selene told us, as S-rank adventurers, we now had the same rights as the Grand Masters and could be treated like quasi royalty if we so desired. She also advised us about taking on quests; for anything C-rank and under, we could just talk to the receptionist as usual, but she suggested that if we wanted to deal with anything higher than that, we should contact the guildmaster directly and disclose our rank, and we’d get the job. Speaking of which, there was a hidden sigil on our fake C-rank cards, and any guild official would instantly be able to tell that we had artificially lowered our rank.
“So by contacting the guildmaster directly, we could take on higher-rank quests without standing out too much,” I summarized. “Still, I can’t believe they made us S-rank.”
“My father, Lord Gyunton, and Mr. Arsus negotiated with the guild to have you two promoted,” Selene explained.
I felt a pang in my heart when I remembered that they had all already passed away.
“Since you had a king, a duke, and one of the world’s premier adventurers backing you up, the guild didn’t hesitate too much. Besides, you played a big part in the stampede and took in the refugees without asking for any sort of compensation. And, lastly, you have two incredible skills: Creation Magic and Unaging. By making you S-rank, they’re ensuring that no nation can legally attempt to get in your way.”
I was a bit bummed that the three people who had negotiated with the guild for me to be promoted to S-rank weren’t here to see the fruition of their efforts.
“I stayed in contact with Gyunton until his death. He could’ve told me about it,” I said with a sigh.
“Maybe he wanted it to be a surprise!” Teto suggested, causing the corners of my lips to curl up.
I wanted to thank Gyunton and the others, but they were gone.
“I guess our first couple of stops are going to be cemeteries, huh?” I mumbled.
If I couldn’t thank them in person, I could at least go visit their tombs—not that I minded, of course.
“Where will we go after?” Teto asked.
“Hmmm... I’d say we should read all of those travel diaries we’ve collected throughout the years and just go where our hearts take us.”
Selene chuckled. “I’m looking forward to hearing what shenanigans you’ll get up to this time around, mom.”
I have no intention of getting involved in any sort of trouble this time around, though, I thought as I took a sip of my tea.