Black quests were assignments illegal everywhere, passed to adventurers not through the Adventurer’s Guild, but black guilds or personal connections. Approving black quests meant approving assassination, thievery, and business interference, like what was happening now. From a governmental standpoint, such quests didn’t just disadvantage the people, they threatened them.
In fact, the Adventurer’s Guild had been founded to stop such quests in the first place. So then why hadn’t the shopkeeper reported this? Typically, the guild would investigate such cases, and if they determined it to be a black quest, Galland and his crew would never rear their heads here again.
“Why haven’t you reported this, sir?” asked Daggers.
“Quiet! I did! But the guild didn’t think this was a black quest!”
“With all they’re doing, there has to be at least some evidence that—”
“There ain’t. Officially, this is just a quarrel between some nasty adventurers and a shopkeeper. They’ve got someone on the inside, most likely.”
“But why go through all this effort?”
“Who knows. It’s probably ’cause of a certain weapon of mine. Good grief! And I keep telling ’em that handing it over to adventurers isn’t gonna do any good,” sighed the shopkeeper.
“You have something that valuable?”
“Well, it’s rare, but...many cannot handle wielding something like that. No, maybe there isn’t a single soul out there who can. Sure, it’d make a fine decoration, but that’d be slighting the man who made it. That weapon’s more than a damn centerpiece!” The shopkeeper clearly respected the intentions of the blacksmith who crafted this weapon.
“Do you know the blacksmith?”
“Nope, he’s more like a role model of mine. I haven’t even met him before.” Unlike earlier, the old man now looked slightly joyful.
“Hey! What are you two yapping about?!” Galland threateningly closed in on the shopkeeper. “Hurry up and sell us that Lyonnes Relic! If not, you’re gonna regret it!” said Galland as he cracked his knuckles.
Violence against an old man? Daggers couldn’t stand this any longer. He stepped in between the two. “And you call yourself an adventurer?”
“Huh?” Galland turned his attention to Daggers. “Know your place, lowlife!”
Galland threw a punch, which Daggers easily caught. He twisted Galland’s wrist in a display of strength.
“H-Huuuuh?!” Galland looked utterly shocked.
One of the adventurers behind him unsheathed his sword and pointed it at Daggers. “O-Off of him!”
However, Daggers simply muttered, “Storage,” summoning his shield to block. Then, he used it to push the adventurers straight out the door.
“Bwah! What’s with this guy?!”
“H-He’s so damn strong...”
Those were the mutterings of the adventurers who had slammed into the ground after being pushed out of the door.
“H-Hey! W-Weren’t you just some low-rank?” asked Galland.
“Oh, I don’t like to brag, but I’m an S-rank, actually,” said Daggers, revealing his adventurer badge.
“H-Huh?!” Galland’s eyes shot open wide. He retreated with his butt still stuck to the ground.
Only a single rank divided A-rank and S-rank adventurers, but the difference between them was huge. It was quite rare that an A-rank adventurer managed to climb up to S-rank, and a whole party consisting of S-rank adventurers like Yui’s was even rarer.
Though now that Lloyd had joined, that wasn’t exactly true anymore...
“Y-You’re an S-rank adventurer?” asked the old shopkeeper.
“Yup, I am. Though I don’t really like to go around announcing it.”
“Huuuh?!” Daggers’s words hit hard for Galland and his crew, who took every opportunity available to brag about their rank.
“B-But you never said that!” shouted Galland.
“Nope. I didn’t!”
“D-Damn it!” Galland bit his lip in frustration. “You better remember this! Let’s scram, guys!” With that, Galland’s crew dashed off as fast as fleeing hares. In all honesty, they looked pretty lame.
At the same time, Daggers suspected that the insider with the Adventurer’s Guild had illegally inflated their ranks so he could use them as pawns.
“So that was enough, huh?” Daggers breathed a sigh of relief. Things had worked out somehow or another.
“You were that strong, boy? I can’t believe you’re an S-rank adventurer.”
“I wasn’t trying to hide it on purpose.”
“Hmm...” the old man pondered for a moment. “Yes, I’ve decided.”
“Hmm?”
“Wait here. Actually, follow me!”
“Huh? Wait a sec—”
“Just shut up and come over ’ere!”
Daggers followed the man into the back, though he was half forced to. This was where the weapons were stored, and one stood out above the rest.
“That’s...”
“This shield’s a Lyonnes Relic, a ware made by the famous blacksmith Lyonnes. It’s called the Aegis, and it’s made of mythril, the hardest ore in the whole world. It’ll withstand almost any force—actually, it wouldn’t even crack if you were fighting a Hero.”
“R-Really...?”
“Well, maybe it’s got nothing against the Holy Sword, though you might still win depending on who’s wieldin’ it!” The old shopkeeper was clearly passionate about this shield, but apparently it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. “But this shield’s so dang heavy, it makes you wonder why Lyonnes made it in the first place. You can’t use it while wielding a sword, and you can’t even wield it on its own either.”
“I see. So that’s why you said handing it over to those guys would be pointless?”
“Yup. But there aren’t many shieldmasters out there, and dragging this around on a long journey’d be... Well, you’d have enough of a hard time just trying to fight with the thing.” Every single detail really did call the whole shield’s existence into question. “One theory says it was a gift for a legendary adventurer, but that guy’s gone. With each passing year, him being dead just seems more and more likely. But...”
“But?”
“Would you take it? I don’t need any money. I wasn’t gonna sell the thing anyway.”
“Huh? Really?!”
“Sure. That lot won’t be coming back here if it’s gone.”
While the shopkeeper insisted this was a win-win situation, Daggers couldn’t help but feel guilty. “No, I can’t take it for free. I’ll pay for it, and you can use the cash to fix the place up.” Thus, Daggers used storage magic to summon more cash than the shield would cost and handed it over.
“You sure about this?”
“Of course. This is a great deal for me too.”
“The shield was just rustin’ away anyway. Use it. Only someone with odd magic like yours could carry the thing around.”
“Odd magic?”
“That summony stuff you’ve been usin’.”
“You mean storage magic?”
“Yup, that stuff. You wouldn’t be able to take it with you otherwise, right?”
“I guess not.” Now, Daggers had another reason to be thankful that Lloyd had taught him this spell. After listening to the shopkeeper’s passionate ramblings for a little while longer, he left the store.