✦ ✦ ✦
“Would the two of you please restrain yourselves?” Ramon finally said, cutting into Vincent and Rita’s argument. That put an end to their verbal sniping, at least, though they still kept glaring at each other like a pair of hissing kittens.
I guess this might be one of those cases where the more you get along with someone, the more likely you are to have silly little fights.
“Sorry for the ruckus,” Werner abashedly commented.
“Oh, nah, it’s fine,” I reassured him. “I’m actually glad to see how little all of you have changed since the last time we met.”
“Ha ha! You’re not wrong about that. Vincent’s as cocky and Rita’s as loudmouthed as ever.”
“Boss?!” Vincent and Rita shouted in unison.
“Not to mention sharp-eared at the worst possible times,” Werner added with a grin as he glanced back at them. Now it was my turn to be a little jealous. I sort of envied how well their party got along. “Oh, right! Not to contradict you or anything, but we actually have changed in one big way.”
“Oh? What’s that?” I asked. That surprised me. None of them looked any different, at least.
“We’ve moved up to B-rank, that’s what,” Werner said.
“Oh, seriously?! Congratulations!”
“Thanks.”
“As a matter of fact, that is also the reason we were able to participate in this endeavor,” Ramon noted.
That answered one question I hadn’t really thought to ask. B-rank, it seemed, was the point at which the guild considered an adventuring party to be high-ranked.
“Well, that’s something we’ll have to celebrate later for sure,” I said. Maybe I’ll take them to a nice restaurant in the capital once the leviathan’s all carved up, or something.
“Ooooh! In that case, I want to eat your cooking again!” exclaimed Vincent.
“Count me in too!” Rita chimed in.
“What, really? But we’re in the capital! There’s gotta be tons of restaurants around here that make way better food than I can,” I protested.
The capital was huge, and had so many more restaurants than a typical town that there really was no comparison. Plus, I’d heard that a lot of those restaurants were really high-class. Genuine gourmet dining had to be better than the slapdash home-cooked meals that I always threw together, and I’d thought that visiting one would be a nice treat for everyone. And to be honest, I just wanted to go to one myself.
“That is absolutely not true!” Vincent insisted. “I’ve been to top-class restaurants before, and they taught me a valuable lesson: It takes more than expensive spices and fancy meat to make a tasty meal! Your food is way better than anything you could get at one of those places!”
“That’s right!” Rita agreed. “Your food really is incredible, Mukohda!”
The two of them stared straight at me, their gazes full of hope. Don’t give me that look, please!
“I mean, if you’re really fine with my cooking, then sure,” I conceded.
“Hell yeah!”
“Woo-hoo!”
Vincent and Rita threw their hands up in celebration.
“Again, Mukohda, I’m so sorry about this,” Werner sighed.
“It’s fine, really. I’m not exactly offended to find out that they like my cooking that much.”
We kept chatting and catching up for some time until finally, the gathered adventurers were called away to meet with the guild’s higher-ups.