The rank system for adventurers placed most of its weight on their combat abilities. There were many cases where adventurers of low rank were still suitable choices for high-ranking requests that fell within their area of expertise. Melissa, who had experience as an adventurer herself, had an excellent reputation for giving recommendations for requests suitable for an individual adventurer’s skills. Thanks to her talent, the adventurers under her care had an unusually high rate of successfully completing requests. It had earned her quite a reputation, not just within the guild staff but among the adventurers as well. Alas, however, it was also the reason she was slowly losing to the guildmaster and his plot to saddle her with an unwanted promotion. If this were a game of chess between her and him, right now Melissa seemed to have found herself put in check.
And yet, Melissa was proud of her work. She wasn’t about to stand by and let the task fall to an unsuited adventurer.
“I’m glad we’re on the same page!” the guildmaster said. “And I can’t think of any better person for this job than our Miss Kanata! So all that’s left is for you to go and persuade her!”
Melissa suddenly realized, too late, that she had fallen for the guildmaster’s ploy. The guildmaster liked to play the part of an incompetent buffoon, but he had earned his position for a reason. He must have said what he had in order to bait Melissa into making a declaration like that. Kanata really was the most suitable person she could think of for such a difficult request. Her ability in combat was off the charts, of course, but she was also brilliantly intelligent and extraordinarily beautiful. She could question people on the street without arousing suspicion and effectively analyze the vast amounts of information she would need to sort through. There was no reason not to suppose that her investigative prowess was as exemplary as everything else about her. Moreover, she met the most important qualification of all—there was no chance that Kanata had sullied her hands with the drug herself.
Melissa had been working with Kanata for months at this point, and knew her well. Kanata was a strange girl, to be certain, but she was an extraordinary individual. Her power came from the core of her being. Melissa didn’t know what Kanata had done to obtain such strength, but she was certain that it had nothing to do with dangerous, illegal drugs.
Kanata, by the way, happened at that very moment to be inhaling vast quantities of her own drug of choice—she had her face pressed right against her pets’ fluff, taking deep breaths of the precious substance, her head spinning with euphoria.
“Very well,” Melissa conceded. “I will approach Miss Kanata about the request.”
The guildmasters nodded in approval at her response. They could tell from how she had comported herself throughout the conference that Melissa was a woman with a strong sense of responsibility. If she took on a task, she was certain to see it through to the end. They had already come to consider her a future guildmaster in her own right. After all, why else would she be at this conference? It put a smile on the old veterans’ faces to see such a promising youngster in their organization.
“All right,” said the chairman. “With that settled, that concludes today’s meeting. And Melissa, good luck.”
Before the chairman himself—the guildmaster of the main branch of the Adventurers’ Guild—all Melissa could do was nod politely. But in her heart, she was crying bitter, messy tears...
† † †
“Jeez, boss, sounds like a lot of trouble...” was Bella’s response when Melissa told her what had happened. The moment the meeting was over, she had come racing back to the Royal Capital to discuss the situation with Bella, her junior in the guild. Bella had lightly wavy, blonde hair and light-brown skin, with a pair of protruding canines that only made her smile cuter. But today there was no sign of that innocent smile as she pondered this situation.
“Tell me about it,” said Melissa. “I tell you, I’m exhausted down to my very core.”
The fatigue had hit her all at once. She felt like she needed to sleep for an entire day straight after getting home from a meeting like that, but she still had not yet had the opportunity to rest her head. If she lost her focus, she was at risk of dozing off right there at the reception desk. Worse, the carriage ride home had been spent curled up gloomily in her seat as the guildmaster lectured her about this and that, increasing her fatigue considerably.
“But, like, wow!” Bella gushed. “They have you handling direct requests from the crown now? Even above the elite adventurers who report directly to the main branch? Nothing’s gonna stop you from moving up through the ranks now, boss! As your student, it’s inspirational!”
“If you’re so inspired, hurry up and take my place...” Melissa grumbled to herself.
It wasn’t as if the job would be over once Kanata accepted the request either. She would have to accompany Kanata as part of her investigation as a member of the Adventurers’ Guild staff. The focus of Melissa’s work was the reception desk, but she took to the field on many occasions, such as when she accompanied Kanata on her adventurer’s license qualification test, or when she directed traffic for the guild’s adventurers back when they captured the dragon.
“I wonder if you’ll get another bonus for this one!” Bella cooed, practically wriggling with desire. “There’s this hat I wanna buy real bad, you know...”
Melissa shot her a dead-eyed glare.
“I’m not buying you a hat,” she said. “Well...” she relented. “I suppose I will be relying on you to handle my work while I’m gone. Maybe once this case is settled we can go shopping together.”
“Seriously?!” Bella’s eyes lit up. “Hot damn! Just leave it to me!”
“You’ve gotten to the point where you can handle most of it on your own,” Melissa told her. “I’m expecting great things.” Aside from her uncouth habits of speech, Bella had become an excellent worker. Melissa thought Bella should easily be able to handle things while she was gone, especially when given the proper motivation.
Melissa, however, underestimated her own abilities. The amount of work she did regularly was far more than an ordinary person could handle, but Melissa herself had no idea. The next day, Bella would find herself weeping, anguished, as she struggled to keep up with Melissa’s work schedule from hell.