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Translator: Kazumi
Editor: Silavin
Arisa, who had left the party to run an errand, tilted her head when she saw Riku looking at the reception desk with a puzzled expression.
“Is something the matter, Riku-sama?”
Currently, Riku was working with Arisa to complete a request for a certain adventurer’s party.
Technically speaking, Arisa and Riku were treated separately from the party, but in this situation they were recognized as members of the party.
Roman, the leader of the party, was being hassled by a burly male adventurer.
“…Huh? Ah, I see. Riku-sama, things like this happening are like a rite of passage for adventurers.”
“Is that so?”
“If you get fed up by this, you might as well not aim to become an adventurer.”
There were plenty of adventurers who acted like they were always better than everyone else and picked on beginners.
How one dealt with these people was probably the first test novice adventurers faced.
Roman, who was being harassed, had been an adventurer for about a year now. It was safe to say that he had become relatively used to dealing with people like this.
He had quickly finished his business without showing any signs of concern about the man’s intimidation.
The person who was being harassed right now was being targeted while waiting for a reply.
The people watching around them were looking at him with a mixture of pity and amusement.
“Like I said, it’s funny, right? Why is a kid like you D rank?”
“I don’t know… I was just doing the usual requests. My rank just came with it?”
As he watched the man smirking, Roman felt a sense of nostalgia.
Even when Roman had risen to D-rank in a short period of time, after graduating from the Adventurer Training School, he had been hassled by similar types of people.
At the Crown Headquarters Adventurer Department in Amamiya Tower, Roman’s face was known to a certain extent, so almost no one would bother him.
However, they were now not in Amamiya Tower. Heck, they were not even on the Central Continent. It was only natural that Roman’s face was not well known here.
“Hey, you at the reception desk. Isn’t the rank given by Crown a bit strange? Why is this brat in the same D rank as me?!”
The man who had changed the target of his anger from Roman, who had dodged him, now started to pick on the receptionist.
It was daytime, and the reception desk was relatively quiet. The man knew this and was calling out to the receptionist.
“The criteria for Crown’s ranks is the same as the official guilds. That child is not being treated with some kind of exception.”
The receptionist firmly replied, but for such people, they seem to be deaf to such inconvenient words.
Or, they tend to interpret things in a way that suits them.
As proof of this, the man loudly announced to those around him.
“So, are you saying that my rank is wrong?”
He said this without a smirk on his face, and some of the people looking for requests looked at him in disbelief.
Riku, who did not know what to think about it, tilted his head and asked Arisa next to him.
“The receptionist just said that Roman-san’s rank is correct. Why would that mean his rank is wrong?”
“Well…” Arisa tilted her head slightly, wondering how to explain it. She quickly shook her head and gave up on trying to answer.
“There’s no point in taking what people like this say seriously. You shouldn’t think about it too much.”
“Is that so…?”
Riku still did not understand, but eventually, he stopped thinking about it too much and decided to accept Arisa’s words.
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The place where Riku and the others were in, was a Crown branch in the Airika Kingdom on the Eastern Continent.
Crown had received a request from the Airika Kingdom, and Crown was about to send Roman’s party and Arisa as a group that would fulfill the request.
At the same time, Riku’s story of wanting to be an adventurer had come to their attention, so they decided to have him accompany the party.
Incidentally, Crown did not send Riku off without an escort.
Even now, a party of veteran adventurers was watching from a distance.
Meanwhile, Kouhi was always by Riku’s side. Thus, no one present could realistically do anything to Riku. Still, Crown had nevertheless sent another high-ranking adventurer to watch over them, to prevent any mishaps. That was another reason why Arisa was sent here with them.
The Crown branch in the Airika Kingdom was expected by the kingdom from the very beginning, and a magnificent building was prepared for them.
In addition to the space where the adventurers receive their requests, there was also a standard tavern and restaurant.
However, the dining area, which was attached to the reception counter, was a separate room.
This area was modeled after the building of the Adventurers’ Department at Crown Headquarters. Because of this, the request area was typically fairly quiet. At most, one could hear voices of discussions within parties. Most would be whether to accept the request.
Therefore, the man’s voice echoed well throughout the place.
The man could not hear Arisa and Riku’s voices, but he seemed to notice that they were talking about him.
The man glanced over at them and his smug smile deepened when he saw Arisa.
“Hey, what’s this? This isn’t a place for child-rearing! Is Crown a place where people can come with their kids?”
The man made a particularly disparaging remark about Crown.
The receptionist frowned at this.
She did not usually get involved in disputes between adventurers, but when someone made a direct insult to Crown, that was a different matter.
The receptionist was about to speak to admonish him, but she soon heard a voice from another direction.
“Hey, I’ve been listening to you from the start, but who do you think you are? If you’ve got so many complaints with Crown, you can just leave. No one would stop you.”
The voice came from the stairs at the back of where the reception counter was.
“Huh?” The man turned around reflexively and saw a female Elf in a deep green robe at the end of the corridor.
The man immediately recognized who it was and his face quickly changed.
Before the man could say anything, the staff working at the counter reacted.
“Chief.” At the sound of his voice, all eyes in the room turned to the Elf.
The looks were more out of respect, or fear, at seeing someone of higher status. It was not because an unusual Elf had showed up.
“So, what are you going to do? If you want to quit, you can quit anytime. It’s not like it’s something worth shouting about in a place like this.” The man, who had been saying whatever he wanted until now, looked momentarily intimidated by the Elf, who was speaking in a very casual tone. The Elf was not even trying to intimidate him.
*…Tsk.* After giving a single tongue-click, the man left the scene with his companions, who were watching his every move.
After watching the man leave, the Elf turned her gaze to Roman.
“Are you Roman?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Hmm. I’ve heard about you. Would you mind coming to my room? Oh, and bring your friends along.”
“Understood.”
Roman nodded in agreement and then looked towards the party members, with Riku and the others.
Noticing this, Riku and the others hurried over to Roman.
They soon all headed for the room that the Elf branch chief was showing them to.
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