XIX: A-Rank
I didn’t really get how it had happened, but I had somehow been tricked by the examiner and I was now an A-rank wizard. Kylan, Darion, and Belinda were all C-rank, so the disparity between us made things a bit awkward. Actually, I could have used it as an opportunity to leave Daybreak, but they weren’t bad people, and after journeying together I had begun to feel a sense of fellowship with them. More than anything else, they needed me.
But if I stick with them, I’ll only be able to eat monster meat…
Troubled by my dilemma, I returned to where my party members were waiting.
“How’d it go, Marcus?” Kylan asked, looking at me expectantly. “I was half expecting that with how strong you are, you might be able to make it to C-rank in one go.”
There was no way I could say I had not only surpassed C-rank, but B as well, and made it to A.
“Yeah, I think I did all right,” I said. For the time being, I decided to smile and dodge the question. Just then, the receptionist called out to me.
“Oh, Marcus! Congratulations! You’re the first rookie adventurer ever to start at A-rank! I’d like to give you your rank certificate, so please, come this way.”
…Can you not?
“A-rank?!”
My three companions weren’t the only ones who were surprised; all the assembled adventurers started murmuring.
“That’s gotta be a mistake! Or nepotism!” one adventurer said.
“Anyone, no matter how strong they are, starts at C-rank at most,” said another. “And he’s A-rank…? Hey, what kind of trick did you pull?!”
The adventurers pressed me for answers, and I didn’t know how to respond. I had tried to refuse it. If they had any complaints, they should direct them to the examiner and the guildmaster.
“Marcus wouldn’t do that!” Kylan said. He and the other two stood in front of me to defend me.
“Shut up, you C-rank nobody! If he’s really A-rank, there’s no way he’d be in a party with you!”
It was basically the truth, but he was being awfully harsh. Didn’t he have a shred of human decency?
“Hngh!” Kylan grunted. The derisive adventurer had struck a nerve. My three party members grimaced, and were easily pushed aside.
Hey, can you stick up for your friend a bit more?
“Hey you, Marcus, right? How’d you cheat on the test?!” a swordsman shouted. His unkempt facial hair made him look more like a bandit than an adventurer. “Why don’t you show us your face!” He lunged at me and roughly grabbed the collar of my robe.
This is bad. If he takes off my hood, my face will be exposed. I reflexively moved my arm, hitting the swordsman on his bearded chin with the staff I was holding. There was a thunk, and he crumpled to the floor.
“He took out a B-rank swordsman in a single blow!”
“Damn, he’s strong!”
“No way, is he actually A-rank?”
“But I thought he was a wizard?”
The bearded man was apparently quite a strong swordsman.
“Who cares! Surround him and beat him to a pulp!”
All the adventurers closest to me attacked at the same time. Are these people adventurers, or a gang?
It wasn’t going to hurt much if guys like that managed to land a hit on me, but I didn’t want to expose my face in public if I didn’t have to. I was a wizard, though, so I had to fight back using magic; otherwise my story would be inconsistent.
After a moment of frantic thought, I arrived at my conclusion: I would hit my attackers with my staff, but act like it was wind magic. Wind was invisible, so I knew I’d get away with it. If I swung my staff while chanting spells, that would be a good cover.
“O wind!” I made a horizontal sweep with my staff, and as I did so, I made its inscription shine with light and recited an incantation for a wind spell.
“Gah!”
With one swing of my unnecessarily solid metal staff, I sent four adventurers flying. The staff was shining, which would probably make it look like magic.
“O gust!” I used my staff, without even looking around, to uppercut a man who had circled behind me.
“O gale!” I spun my entire body, flooring two people who were trying to flank me from either side.
In this manner, I swung my staff to repulse the adventurers one after the other, though I got the feeling that I had forgotten to keep reciting wind spells about midway through. Thankfully, it wasn’t like anyone was paying that much attention.
Still, this staff is really easy to use for bludgeoning. There’s no way this is a real wizard’s staff, right?
“My nose, my noooose!”
“My arm’s broken!”
“Oww, it hurts!”
“What’s with that staff?! I’d rather be cut by a sword!”
The remaining adventurers surrounding me took a single look at the ones bleeding and writhing around on the floor, and they all backed down. It almost looked like I was the bad guy, but I was only acting in self-defense.