By the time we left the guild, the sun was already right over our heads. The roads were quite a lot more populated than before, though still not as busy as the roads of Ul'nemo, thankfully enough. The Guild was located in the Market District, so it wasn’t a surprise to see a burst of activity in this manner. Adventurers would need to restock or sell their "loot", to use MMO terms.

Hmm, thinking about it, we haven't sold our loot yet. Thankfully, Dimensional Storage puts its objects in stasis so there's no fear of them rotting away.

"So, lunch? I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving!"

"Milord, we need to talk."

Before I could even take a step, Felicia blocked my path. And her expression—it reminded me too much of Marina whenever she was about to go on her long lectures.

Yep, here it comes. The scolding I rightly deserve.

Victoria opened her mouth, only to close it immediately once the ex-necromancer sent a glare to her direction. She didn't even need to be told to stay out of our conversation.

"Follow me. There's an alleyway over there. I'm not having this conversation in the middle of a road like this."

I nodded with a gulp. A slap is fine. Just please, don't take away our nightly breast massage sessions!

The alleyway she spoke of was located across the road. It was a small passage between two rows of houses. As expected, no one else was there. It's daytime after all. At night, drunkards who got kicked out by their wives might be here.

Victoria stood outside the alleyway, almost as if she was our lookout.

"Milord, please, never do that again. I beg of you."

"Yeah, I know. I really should curb my perverted tendencies more. I shouldn't be groping other girls when I already have—"

"No, I'm not talking about that. I already accepted that Milord is a pervert. But I will never accept Milord debasing yourself like that."

"Debasing myself?"

"Lowering your head, prostrating yourself to others, I don't want to see that. It hurts, Milord, seeing you like that."

I fell silent. This, I did not expect.

But, looking at her now, with those glossy eyes and trembling hands, there was no doubt about it.

I had hurt her.

I had hurt her terribly.

Was it her love for me that hurt her?

...Yes. If it was her grovelling in the floor, I would be terribly angry as well.

I am such a fool.

My life… my reputation… it doesn't just belong to me now. It belongs to her as well.

"...I understand. I'm sorry you had to see that." I walked forward and grabbed her left hand. "I promise. I'll never do that again." I gave my best, most reassuring smile.

"I understand, Milord, that you have a low opinion on yourself. But that doesn't mean you can just humiliate yourself in public like that. As someone who loves you from the bottom of her heart, I can't bear to see my beloved in such a degrading state."

Whoa, she just went all out with her declaration of love there.

Yep, as expected, she's now beet-red.

"And here I thought you're taking me here to scold me about the tail thing."

"Like I said, I've accepted that Milord is a young man with a very active libido. It would be presumptuous of me to demand you to have your eyes only on me, as much as I wanted so. Feel free to grope as many women as you want."

Seriously?

"A-as long as you grope me at night as well."

Ah, of course. Just like with Victoria back then.

"A-and also, I could put on a cat tail and ears if it pleases you, Milord. If enchanted with the right rune, you can have them move around almost like the real thing."

An image of Felicia meowing with cat ears and tails popped unbidden into my mind, right before she licked me all over like a cat would.

"W-well, we'll talk about that later."

Damn it, now I'm blushing as well.

------

With our talk finished, we toured around the district for a good restaurant. After we had our lunch, we headed back outside the city, to the south where the adamantoise turtle waited.

"Sir Hugo, may I ask a question to you?"

"Hmm? Of course, Victoria. Ask away."

"How can you just dishonor yourself like that, back at the guild?"

Oh, this again. Guess it's not only Felicia who's concerned about it.

"I groped her tail. Don't you think I should apologize?"

"But, you don't have to lower your head to the ground like that. No warrior your caliber should ever do that."

"Why not?"

"Because you're exactly like those legendary warriors in those tales! You're strong and you have a strong sense of justice! You should carry yourself more like them!"

"Oh? But do they run around groping catgirls' tails?"

"W-well, no. But some of them are womanizers!"

"I'm not a womanizer. I'm a pervert. There's a big difference."

"That's a lie! I know how much Miss Felicia is obsessed about you!"

"Does having one woman make a man a womanizer?"

"I-I suppose not. But you certainly have your way with girls, Sir Hugo!"

Now where did that come from?

"Heh, don't tell me you're falling for me?"

"N-no! I just admire you, that's all!"

"But admiration is the first step in falling in love. Look at me. I admire Felicia. And before I know it, I want to protect her to the end of my life."

"Alright, that's enough flirting from you two."

Our pleasant chat was interrupted by Felicia, who of course, had turned red yet again.

"What? You don't like me praising you?"

"You can praise me anytime. But don't put any funny ideas on her head in the process."

"It's not a funny idea! I really think Sir Hugo is an amazing person!"

"Enough! I forbid you to praise him! I'm the only one allowed to do so!"

I could only sigh, seeing these two bicker yet again.

-------

We arrived at the location marked in the parchment when the sun was nearly gone. There, in the light of the dusk sky, we saw our target from a distance.

It was a gigantic turtle with spikes jutting out from its shell. Its color was bluish white, almost like the color of your typical mana crystal. Steam periodically jetted out from its nostrils. Its size was not quite as big as the dragon I once fought, but it was still an intimidating creature nonetheless.

"Stay back. I'll handle this myself."

I jumped down the hill overlooking the monster. Now how should I kill this big dude?

------

Victoria

"H-hey, you're not going to help him?"

"No need. My Lord is not going to be defeated by a mere turtle."

"But it's a giant turtle! A-and a S-rank too! They're supposed to be really, really strong, right?"

"Just shut your mouth and watch."

Hmph! I can't believe this! So much for being his lover! Are you not worried about him at all?

But then again, if he can win against that many mercenaries without breaking a sweat, maybe he can really take on this thing on his own.

Looking down the hill, I saw him slowly approaching the beast. It had yet to notice his presence so he should be able to have the jump on him.

Hmm? He's stopping? What is he doing?

I rushed forward, trying to get a better view while taking care not to fall down the hill. I may be clumsy, but I'm not that clumsy!

All of a sudden, an ear-splitting roar filled the air, stopping me in my tracks. Urgh! What is… this? My head hurts!

A large thomp followed, an unmistakable sound of something real heavy hitting the ground. The terrible noise stopped and I could regain my bearings once again.

H-huh? Was that… the turtle?

"Hey, you two! I'm finished!"

Looking down the hill, I saw Sir Hugo waving towards us.

And then, the turtle. It no longer moved. How could it, when its head was detached from its neck?

D-did Sir Hugo do that? B-but how? I didn't see any spell being thrown! It's just like with the mercenaries!

"See? You don't know just how strong he is."

Looking up, Miss Felicia had a big, satisfied grin on her face.

--------

We rendezvoused down the hill, right beside the turtle's corpse. Its neck was still bleeding, producing a pool of red right under the stump. Urgh! I covered my mouth as my stomach churned. So much blood…

Still, I just have to ask what he did to the monster.

"S-Sir Hugo, h-how did you do it? I-I didn't see you casting a spell!"

"Huh? You didn't? I stood there for like ten seconds charging it up, you know."

"What?"

"Super Boom Cannon. Essentially, I'm firing a superdense air with the speed of sound. No, a bit faster than that. Twice? Thrice? I'm still not sure. I just developed it recently actually."

Developed?

I remembered. Once, I woke up in the middle of the night because I needed to pee. There, I saw him—aiming his wand to a large boulder in the distance. It was his turn to stay up and watch the camp, and yet, he wasn't doing it. I was too sleepy to speak to him though so after I had my relief, I went back to sleep right after.

Was that… his magic training? Don't tell me he's inventing his own spells?

"It's nowhere near perfect though. Need a good thirty seconds or so to charge up, since I have to wait for the air to come together. It's totally unusable in a one-on-one fight. I'm lucky that turtle didn't notice me until it was already too late."

A-amazing! He really is a legendary hero mage!

"Well done, Milord. You continue to grow stronger day by day."

"No, I still need to get stronger. I am yet a Grandmaster-level mage. To be honest, I don't know how I can reach that level. To be able to destroy a city with a single spell, that is the level of magic I seek."

Really? He's already this strong yet he still thinks it's not enough? I don't understand! If I were him, I would already have slayed all the dragons I could find and give myself the title of legendary knight!

-------

Hugo

After collecting the mineral residing in the turtle’s brain as our proof of victory (which was a True Adamantine by the way, a very valuable gem), we burned the body and buried the hard shell. Leaving it outside intact would inevitably turn it into a zombie monster, thanks to the ambient dark mana in this continent.

Preluded by a short discussion, we decided to return back to town immediately instead of camping it out for the night. We were all tired of sleeping outside, even Victoria, Miss Sleep-Outside-Under-A-Tree herself.

There were certainly risks associated with traveling in the dark. Nighttime monsters tend to love ambushing adventurers, abusing their lack of sight to the fullest.

"Like that."

I fired a simple Boom Rifle at the camouflaged panther thirty eight steps to the northeast, killing it instantly.

Sorry pal, but your bloodlust is showing. I can sense your presence all the way here.

"H-how did you know it was there?"

"Training. I was taught to sense the presence of others by my sword teacher."

I smiled at the befuddled elf. Heh, how about it? I'm being pretty cool, aren't I?

Burning the corpse of the revealed Night Phanter, we resumed our walk home.

It wasn’t just it however, other monsters soon tried to attack us as well. Keyword being try. Some dived from above—giant bats who would suck your blood dry in an instant if you let it bite you—others tried to attack from below, creating a sand pit that would suck unsuspecting adventurer into its stomach. Nothing we couldn’t handle.

When Arborea returned into view, it was already midnight. Thankfully, the city kept its gates open 24/7, so we could just stroll right in, into the nearest inn we could find.

Suffice to say that we all slept until noon the next day.

--------

“There we go! One True Adamantine as instructed!”

Putting on the biggest shit-eating grin I could muster, I placed the gem on the receptionist’s table. Of course, it had to be the same snake woman from yesterday.

“If you want more proof, go out there and look for its buried shell. Too bad we can’t bring it to us. I heard you can live in comfort for the rest of your life if you can extract all the adamantium from it and sell it on the market.”

The receptionist could only stare with open mouth at the gem. In a flash, she grabbed the gem and examined it with her slanted eyes.

“Thisss isss… thisss isss the real deal! Did you really kill that turtle? All by yourssself?”

“Yep! All by myself!”

She froze, wiping the sweat off her forehead with her arm. You alright there, Snake Lady? Need a break? Or are you just too amazed by my prowess that you no longer have any words to say?

“P-pleassse, follow me! The guildmassster needsss to meet you!”

Nice! The last time I got to see one, he gave me a free ticket to S-rank as well!

She took us to the employee-only part of the building, climbing up the stairs in the process. Seeing Snake Lady slithering upwards with ease, I can't help but think how strong her abdominal muscles must be. It comes with the species, I suppose.

The guildmaster’s office was located on the second floor, separate from the other offices. Arriving at the small door, with a placard saying "Guildmaster" in both human and demon tongue, Snake Lady knocked on the wooden frame, calling out the name of the woman.

"Mrs. Matilda! I brought the adventurers I talked about yesterday!"

Huh, so the Guildmaster is a woman.

"Come in."

The door creaked open, revealing a comfortable square room with a woman sitting on the other side. Her body was hidden behind her desk, but just from her smooth face and sharp yet attractive eyes, I could safely rank her 8/10 at the very least.

"So, you three actually did it. You slayed an S-rank monster on your own, even though you had never registered to be an adventurer before."

She stood up, her large breasts bouncing in the process. Damn, those things are big. Same size with Renee's.

"Rula, put the gem on the table."

"At once, Mrs. Matilda."

Snake Lady slithered to the other end of the room, placing the gem on top of her desk.

"Leave us."

"Of course, Mrs. Matilda."

She gave us one last questioning look before closing the door behind her.

"So, where were we? Oh yes, about you defeating that Adamantium Turtle on your own."

Guildmaster Lady had a smirk on her face. I wasn't sure if it was a belittling one or a curious one though.

"Tell me, young man. How did you manage to do it? Judging by that mithril sword on your belt, you're a swordsman, I take it?"

She was now standing close enough to me that I could smell her perfume. Heightwise, she was around as tall as Felicia, making her slightly taller than me. It gave me the perfect angle to stare at her humongous mountains, which only got more noticeable as she was folding her arms under them.

"Yeah, I'm a pretty good swordsman. Cut the bastard's neck in a single swing."

"Without it retracting its head? You have to be pretty fast for that."

"Yep! I'm pretty fast alright!"

Look, Missy, I'm not just going to tell you my trade secret.

"Fine then. I'll give you three the S-rank cards you so badly wanted. A promise is a promise after all."

She walked back to her desk and rummaged through the drawers. Returning back to us, she handed me three Adventurer’s Licenses, each containing our names and the word S on the left side. The design was quite different from the one I got in the Holy Continent, but the contents were the same. Though I noticed there wasn’t a place where your title would be mentioned. As for the language, still human.

"Surprised I already have them? I had a hunch you guys would have them. Call it the intuition of a veteran adventurer."

"You used to be an adventurer, Miss Matilda?"

"Of course. How do you think I got this job in the first place? Just so you know, I was once an S-rank mage myself. They called me The Desert Witch, thanks to my expertise in sand magic. I was so strong Lord Relfatia made me the guildmaster of this place.”

This woman… isn’t she too proud of herself?

“And so, as a fellow S-rank, I hope we can maintain this cordial relationship into the future. Trust me. You really don’t want me to come after you like with those misbehaving adventurers.”

All of a sudden, her pleasant smile turned scary. It was enough to send chills into my nerves.

“You know what I did to them? I let my sand devour them into clean, unadulterated nothingness. You see, I have been granted the authority to punish any adventurers that break the rules as I see fit. And that includes murder. And things much worse than that.”

….

“But enough with the gloomy talk! Let’s talk about something else before you go! Oh, right, your privileges!”

And just like that, she switched back into happy mode.

“As an S-rank, you have the privilege of staying for free in certain adventurer inns in the city. You're also eligible for a discount in certain blacksmiths, armorers, and magic tool shops. Ask the receptionists down there for the details."

Well, that's pretty handy to save some money.

"Our Guild will also buy any rare items you might find in your trip through the observatory. And trust me, we have the best prices in town!”

Sure you do. Only an idiot will buy this advertisement without checking out the other places first.

“And that’s about it, really! Now shoo! I still have a lot of work to do! Look at all those papers on my desk! You think they will take care of themselves?”

“Hold on. How about our payment for the quest?”

“What? You’re not satisfied with your S-ranks?”

“Do you take me for an idiot just because I’m young?”

“Hah! Thought you’d forgot! Here!” She placed a full coin bag in my palm. “That’s for the gem only.”

“The shell?”

“No dice. The quest only says to bring back the gem, not the shell. If you want to sell it, you should’ve hired a whole band of couriers to carry it for you.”

Tch. She got me.

Still, this coin pouch… “This is all gold?”

“Of course! Do you think I’m a cheat? That’s 100 gold coins right there! 50 for the gem itself, 50 for fighting the monsters. That’s Guild money right there. We had a request from an influential noblewoman for the gem, but instead of posting a request like a normal person, she instead called me to her house and asked me for it. Ah, the things I have to do to keep this position.”

She let out an all too dramatic sigh. Oh, stop being such a drama queen.

“Now go! I have to finish all that before I can have my lunch! And I skipped breakfast this morning too…”

That sounds terribly unhealthy.

But what do I know? I’m just a twelve-year old kid.

After saying our leave to the middle-aged woman, we made our way back to the lobby… only to encounter the bunch who mocked us a day before.

"Oi, boy!"

Having neither the desire nor the time to interact with them, I opted to ignore their call.

It didn't work though as they blocked the entrance.

"And here I was being nice. You can't just ignore your senior like that!"

They were a party of four, consisting of an ogre, a minotaur, a centaur, and a human. By the way, the human was the one talking right now.

"Move."

"What? What did you say that?"

"I said move. Or I'll move you myself."

The human looked at his friends before bursting into a laugh.

"You? A weakling who groveled in front of the most pathetic adventurer in town? Move me? I'd like to see you try, whelp!"

His hand launched itself towards my collar, no doubt intending to grab me there and parade me around like the bully he was. Yes. Even his tall figure reminded me of one of my middle-school bullies, back in my old life. I didn’t know how he could get that tall in middle school, but fighting against a taller, more muscular person, it’s hard to do.

But now… now I had no reason to be afraid whatsoever. Not after all that grueling training I did with Fiora.

My feet flew upward faster than he could notice, hitting him straight in the crotch—a move I learned from its best practitioner.

He groaned as he knelt in pain, tears leaking out from his eyes. I finished it by sending him flying out of the door, right to the streets with my Wind Magic.

And then, the remaining three.

“So, you guys still want to fight? Just so you know, I just got my S-rank card after killing an S-rank monster on my own. How about you? What rank are you? Judging by that slow movement of his, I’d guess you’re C-rank at the very most.”

“W-we’re B rank!”

“B rank, huh? They really are lowering their standards more and more.” I let out an exaggerated sigh.

“I-if you’re this strong, then why did you do all that the other day?”

“Because I made a mistake. And I had to apologize for it. That is all.”

I glanced at Felicia. Sure enough, she now had a satisfactory smile on her face. This is good enough, right?

“Now go and look after your friend. I blasted my spell right into his stomach. He might need a night or two at the infirmary for that.”

“Y-yes, Sir!”

The monster trio rushed outside as fast as their feet could take them. Let’s just hope this teaches them not to bully any random kid they see as weak.

“Satisfied?”

“Very, Milord.” Felicia replied with a smile.