Chapter 602

“Deek! What are you doing in here?”

“Haven’t you already gotten the orders?” I asked.

The Guild Master chuckled. “Ah! It’s about that then. I thought you’d take some more time to rest. You seem to always be going somewhere. It’s tiring just watching you.”

“The girls don’t seem to want to take any days off. I guess that one day was enough. Even Carmine sounded energized on my last contact with her. When I had suggested a day off, I had forgotten about Carmine and Salicia, but I heard the girls had brought them to Chalm for the day. It seemed to have done them well. Either way, Carmine’s next fight is going to be coming up soon, so I was thinking about training her up a bit.

“Wouldn’t that mean Dungeons?”

“Dirage is a bit too big, and we don’t know where any of the other dungeons in the wilderness are. That’s why I’m sending Lydia, Terra, and Celeste out to do recon. They’re going to try to locate the dungeons in the wilderness, but that might take a couple of weeks.”

“Weeks? Is it wise to send out your strongest?” The Guild Master asked worriedly. “After all, we did just have a giant golem attack the city.”

“Wait, what?”

“Ah! Nothing! I mean, what if a giant golem attacked the city? I’m just worried your party will be too weak to handle any of these missions. Even if we can resurrect you, it’s something I’d like to avoid.”

I didn’t take offense. The Guild Master had sent countless people out on missions, so he was really just trying to make sure I had thought of everything. I had carefully considered things. It was getting to a point where I couldn’t afford to move around as a group any longer. The girls needed to depend on each other to overcome challenges by themselves once in a while.

As for why I picked the three, Lydia was the best scout, hands down, so it made sense for her to go. As for Celeste, her ability to fly allowed her to get a vantage point and see things at a distance. Finally, Terra could build protective barriers, buying them time, and also create shelters so they could rest safely if needed. Besides, if they got in trouble, they had access to Portal and could flee if needed.

There was also another reason I decided to do things this way. The girls had sat me down and given me a scolding the other day. They said that I wasn’t giving enough time toward Raissa, Carmine, and Salicia. I had worried they knew Raissa was pregnant, but they didn’t seem to indicate as such. I suspected that Astria and Elaya knew, but thankfully, they had kept this knowledge to themselves.

Thus, I was going to bring Raissa, Carmine, Salicia, Shao, and Miki with me on this adventure. I worried a little about Raissa, but I wasn’t taking her into a dungeon. Rather, the quest was to hunt Bandits in the countryside. Carmine was a protective wall, Shao a skilled assassin, and Miki was good at detecting life force. No one knew more about Bandits than Salicia. Supposedly, Carmine and Salicia were more powerful than the other girls too. Since I could take over the scouting duty, there was no reason Raissa even needed to risk her life at all.

“Unfortunately, you’re registered as a team for E. It has to be those five girls. However, you can use your individual registration, you can accept requests as well. Unfortunately, that puts you at F.”

“Geh… that’s what the Prince is trying to fix.” I sighed. “Are there any F-level bandit requests?”

“No.”

“I didn’t think so, are you sure we can’t make an exception?”

“The Adventuring Guild isn’t run by the nobility. I have to follow the rules here. I would love to make an exception, but I can’t… the lowest bandit level quest is a D, so even if you did sign up for a new ‘E’ party, it’d be a problem.”

“Then, what do you have in mind?” I figured there was no way he’d tell me this unless he had a plan.

“That’s simple. You’re going to have to accept the mission with a guide. Fortunately, I found the perfect person for you.”

“Ah? Who?”