Inside, I spotted plenty of armored men with weapons, but also several ordinary civilians. There were multiple reception desks for both accepting and submitting quests. I remembered Graste mentioning that individuals also posted quests, so it made sense that there weren’t just adventurers in here. For that reason, and luckily so, three kids didn’t stand out too much.
We went to the registration section. There was no line, so we strolled right up to the desk.
“Three new registrations for the kiddos here.” Graste pulled a chain off from around his neck and showed it to the receptionist. The tip of its pendant sparkled in the light. Was it platinum, or a mock-metal that resembled it?
“Certainly,” the receptionist replied. “Are you also their recommender?”
Graste grunted in confusion. “Also?”
The receptionist tilted her head past us, and we immediately spun around. A person had come up behind us. It was Dad!
Our jaws dropped and our feet froze to the ground. My brain stopped moving all together due to the surprise. Why was Dad here? How did he know about our plan? Was he here to stop us?
Running the different possibilities through my mind, I felt like a kid whose prank had just been exposed. Am I gonna get scolded? Punished? I still couldn’t move, but Dad responded to the receptionist without delay.
“Yes, I’ll also be recommending them. I’m Diamond-rank. Will that be a problem?” Dad took his chain off as well. Its medallion tip sparkled even brighter than Graste’s.
“No, no problem at all. Not for Diamond-rank, no!” The flustered receptionist pushed papers in Dad’s direction. “Um, may I have your signature here, please?”
Dad moved passed us to the desk to sign the papers and that was all it took to confirm our registration. Marie, Rose, and I lowered our heads and accepted our own small necklaces with tiny bronze pendants.
“These serve as proof of your adventurer status,” the receptionist said. “Don’t lose them, as re-issuance will incur a fee. Now, I will ask you to please uphold the adventurers’ standard and dutifully fulfil any quest that you take on. I wish you all good luck!” She spun off the lines as if she were reading from a manual, then smiled and waved.
We bowed, then retreated from the reception desk. The four of us—besides Dad—were unable to feel particularly upbeat at the moment.
“Go ahead, and do what you came to do,” Dad said. “We can talk later.”
“Err…right on.” Graste glanced at Dad before tentatively taking down a piece of paper from the bulletin board. Then he led us over to the quest acceptance counter.
Accepting a quest was simple enough. We just submitted a written application, then, once we finished the assignment, we brought back some of the monster parts as proof of fulfillment.
With our first quest accepted, we went outside. The tense atmosphere followed us out, and the four of us lined up side-by-side and faced my father.
“So, do you have anything to say for yourselves?” he asked.
“My bad!”
“I’m sorry!”
“Sorry!”
“Please accept our apologies!”
Four simultaneous apologies, accompanied by bows of the head. It was the best we all could do. There weren’t any excuses we could offer.
I had no idea how Dad had gotten the scoop on our plan, but that was irrelevant now. I stole a glance at Dad. At least he didn’t look mad.
“You’re all so predictable,” he sighed.
“Predictable…? Dad, you predicted that we would go monster hunting?”
“I wasn’t sure if you were going to do it, but I knew you were up to something. I saw it in Marie’s eyes when we’ve talked over the last few days. It was obvious you two were hiding something.”
Marie gulped. “Uh, sorry, my bad.”
I tried to keep everything under wraps, but I had been too focused on myself. I hadn’t thought to keep tabs on Marie’s overly honest personality.
“You really schemed a monster hunt without telling me.” Dad crossed his arms. “Monsters are dangerous, and willfully seeking them out is certified madness. Haven’t I warned you all about this before?”
“Y-you have.”
“Father, we’re sorry.”
Marie and I hung our heads. We knew we had broken the rules. We also knew that those rules were necessary to break, even if it meant defying Dad.
“And Rose, you of all people should know better. Does Ted know about this?”
She shook her head. “No, sir.”
“I bet he’s worried sick wondering when you’ll be home.”
“That may be true, but he will be reassured when he’s heard that I was with you,” Rose said. “He trusts you completely.”
Dad gave a resigned sigh. “Fine. Well, I have nothing left to say.”
I saw a victorious smile flicker on Rose’s face. Was Ted the guy who picked up Rose that one time? I thought. Ted must be the village headman whom Rose lived with. If Ted had complete faith in Dad, then Rose could probably go monster hunting with us so long as he was there. That meant that Rose, at least, had solid permission to accompany us.
Graste cleared his throat. “Look, Gawain, this is what we all settled on after hearing plenty of ideas from the youngsters. Don’t tell ’em off too much, eh?”
Dad glared at Graste. “Don’t get me started on you, pal.”
Graste averted his gaze and clumsily whistled. He was defenseless against Dad.
Eventually, Dad sighed again and shook his head. “Go on, then. Tell me your plan.”
We started to explain. We touched on how Marie wanted to get stronger and overcome the fear she felt from the goblin attack. I expressed my desire to test mana’s effect on monsters. For her part, Rose didn’t mention anything specific, just that she thought it would be necessary for her future. When we finished, Dad sighed yet again.
“I get it. I see now that this is not just a game. Although, I have to say I knew that from the beginning. I know you kids. I know you wouldn’t do something this stupid just for the fun of it, but I needed to hear it for myself.
“Okay, you two, lift your heads up. Be proud! There was real meaning behind your decision to do this, wasn’t there? You should be proud of those decisions, even if it means that you’ll be yelled at by your old man.”
Marie and I looked up at Dad. He had a little smile on his face. Was he…happy?
“I have to say, I’m impressed that you all decided to not just do this on your own, but you sought someone stronger than yourselves, and whom you can trust. You considered the obstacles and prepared yourselves to overcome them. I’m sure you would’ve been safe with Graste, even if I had never found out about this. But there are no sure promises in this world. It is better to be safe than sorry. So next time, tell me your plans, no matter what. You’ll be a lot better off hunting monsters with two high-ranking adventurers.”
“Does that mean…?”
Dad nodded. “I’m coming with you.”
I was so shocked that I was speechless. It was true that Dad had stood by our side so far. He had also set plenty of boundaries for us and had always been strongly opposed to us taking dangerous actions.
“Judging from your progress with magic and sword fighting, I think it’s time for you all to try something new,” he said. “And that’ll be a lot better when accompanied by people stronger than yourselves. After all, we adults have a duty to look after you kids. All three of you have proven yourselves and improved in an impressive amount of time. That included doing a lot of things I couldn’t have done myself. I’ve been thinking about that, that’s all.”
Dad must have read what I was thinking, and answered my question of why he had changed his mind.
“Thank you, Dad,” I said.
“Thanks so much! I’m gonna try even harder now!” Marie said.
“Mr. Gawain, I am so grateful for your support,” Rose said.
“Don’t mention it.” Dad chuckled. “But we need to take the fights seriously. You all need to stay focused, okay?”
“Yes, sir!” we all shouted as Graste nodded vigorously.
Dad turned to Graste. “Next time, you’re getting a panther fist to the throat.”
“You wanna kill me? Oi! I get the idea! I screwed it up! Sheesh, gimme a break! The kiddos woulda been safe with me!”
“Let’s see this so-called strength on display then!”
Somehow, all the blame had fallen on to Graste. I owed him an apology.
“Let’s get going,” Dad said. “We don’t want to get home too late tonight.”
Dad took the lead, and we followed him out of the guild. Our plan experienced a few twists and turns, but I supposed the result was the same as we hoped for…more or less?
With that, our monster hunting adventure had begun.