“It seemed to appear out of nowhere when we walked by,” said Estelle. “Right, Sai?”
“Yeah. We didn’t really do anything special,” I said. “Oh, wait, I have an idea—what if we can’t actually open the passageway again until the treasure chest in the hidden room respawns?”
“Oh, I suppose that’s possible,” said the staffer. “In that case, it might be a good idea to pause our investigation and shift to sending teams to check the location at intervals. Thank you for your suggestion. Also...”
The staffer paused for a moment, like he felt hesitant about continuing for some reason, then asked us to wait and left the conference room.
“Any guesses about why he suddenly left?” I asked Estelle.
“Frankly, I have no idea. It would be wonderful if we received a cash reward for our discovery, however.”
“Does the guild actually hand out cash rewards to adventurers?”
“Yes, but only in cases in which they’ve furnished the guild with useful information. Even then, the guild usually waits until they’ve confirmed the validity of the information. It’s possible that he’s going to talk to someone who does investigative work for the guild.”
This time, we had brought back detailed information about how to find and open a hidden passageway, and Estelle seemed to think that it would be better for the guild staffer to relay that information directly to an investigator instead of passing a message along.
But when the staffer returned to the conference room shortly afterward, he was alone, and he brought up something neither of us had anticipated.
“I’m sorry to have kept you waiting, and I know this is very sudden, but would your party be willing to guide one of the guild’s investigators directly to the return device? The guild will treat this as an official request and reward you accordingly upon completion, of course.”
If we accepted this request, it would cost us a lot of time. We technically could reach the location of the return device within a few days if we rushed and worked hard on our own, but we had no idea how much extra time it would take if an investigator from the guild was accompanying us. Estelle and I stared at each other, then turned to stare at the staffer.
“Just as a reminder, we have an important reason for wanting to reach the twenty-first floor of the dungeon as soon as possible,” I said.
“I’m well aware of that, of course, but I believe your victory is almost certain. Your opponents apparently lashed out at staffers of a guild branch in another town and attempted to purchase promotions. These are severe infringements, and as a result, they ended up with the equivalent of negative ranks.”
“...Wait, seriously?”
I wasn’t sure if the guild staffer had permission to tell us about something like this, but he just smiled and shrugged like he was mocking Broze and his second.
“That’s correct. At the moment, they’re reluctantly engaged in cleaning ditches, and having antagonized the guild directly, they will not be permitted to rank up in the near future. Circular letters have been distributed in nearby towns as well, and realistically, they don’t have the time to journey to a faraway town, so there’s no easy way for them to escape their predicament.”
Promotions weren’t easy to achieve here in Ivalia, and the same applied to nearby towns, so it sounded like it would be impossible for Broze to achieve Rank 2 for a few months.
“I guess that means we do have some leeway,” I said. “Can we please have a moment to discuss this?”
“Of course. Feel free to take your time.”
We walked away from the staffer and lowered our voices to confer.
“So what should we do, Estelle?”
“I think accepting the quest would be the best course of action—both for your sake and to improve our reputation with the guild.”
“Well, I appreciate that you’re looking out for me, but everything going on with you is way more important!”
Apparently, if you wanted to work your way up through the ranks, it was important to take on quests issued directly by the guild. The quests themselves were a measure of the guild’s trust, and you could make a lot of progress toward ranking up by completing them. Still, I was pretty sure I could make progress anyway just by working hard, and Estelle mattered a lot more to me than a potential promotion, so I wanted to finish our contest with Broze before anything else.
“I appreciate the thought, Sai, but I can wait. Besides, the staffer told us that we have some leeway, so there’s no need to hurry.”
“Are you sure, Estelle?”
“Yes. After all, between a Rank 5 adventurer and an adventurer with a negative rank, it’s obvious whom the guild will prioritize.”
It sounds like there’s a pretty extreme disparity in treatment on the basis of rank, and bad conduct prevents people from ranking up no matter how strong they are. It’s not a bad system, especially from my perspective, since I’m not particularly strong. It probably helps other adventurers who work hard too.
“In that case, I guess we should accept the quest, huh?” I asked.
Estelle nodded, and we turned to face the staffer again.
“Okay. We’ll accept the guild’s request to guide an investigator to the hidden room,” I said.
The staffer smiled. “Thank you very much. I will keep you informed whenever the guild obtains new information about your opponents.”
Oh, man, I guess ranks really do affect how you get treated! If this is going to earn us that many favors, I’m totally down. It sounded like Broze and his servant had no one but themselves to blame for how things were turning out, and I felt no pity for them.
“The investigator will exit the dungeon via the return device, so it will be sufficient for you to guide him one way. Afterward, you are free to continue exploring or to exit the dungeon yourselves. If the investigator is able to confirm the existence of the return device and your method of opening the hidden passageway, the guild will furnish a cash reward.”
He must have overheard what we were discussing earlier. Estelle and I laughed, and then all three of us began discussing the details of the quest, like when we’d depart and which investigator would accompany us.