Volume 1 - CH 22

‘Hmm. Are you sure you should back down so easily?’

Glenn’s bright expression made Alina all the more suspicious.

‘Easily? Not only are you monstrously strong, but you even managed to break through my “Observator Temporis”. My chances of winning against you are nil, and I’m not in the mood to die just yet.’

He said, shrugging his shoulders.

‘Guildmaster?!’

The pale-faced secretary hurried over to Glenn’s side.

From the point of view of those who were frozen in time, no more than a moment had passed. But when the secretary saw that Alina had lowered her warhammer, she sighed a breath of relief. In the corner of the training ground, Rururi cast a healing spell on Jade as Loewe helped him to his feet.

‘That aside, missy. Sorry for making you fight me. Truth is, there was something I wanted to know. The true nature of your skill, that is.’

‘The true nature of my skill?’

‘Whether it’s an actual Dia skill or not. Only transcendent skills can overcome common skills, and by the same token, only Dia skills can overcome transcendent skills. That’s the assumption, anyway. Simply put, the only thing that can surpass a skill is another skill of higher rank. Now, keep in mind that this is only a hypothesis. So far, no one has ever awakened a Dia skill. That’s why the most highly valued skill at the moment, “Observator Temporis”, came to be regarded as the strongest in the world. However, even though you were trapped in my Observatorium, you managed to escape its confines. Meaning that you are almost certainly the first user of a Dia skill.’

‘Huh.’

As Alina gave an indifferent reply, she made her warhammer vanish into thin air. ‘Well, whatever. What matters is that my peace and quiet is guaranteed.’

‘But still…’

Looking around at the devastation of the training ground, Glenn fastened his broadsword to his back and scratched his cheek.

‘That’s some terrifying power. Both the walls and floor are made by fusing relic fragments together, but…’

‘That’s why I tried to stop you, guildmaster.’

Jade, who had recovered thanks to Ririru’s white magic, looking a pathetic and tattered figure with all his equipment—save for his great shield—from his armour to his trinkets damaged in some way, interjected in displeasure.

‘I get that you wanted to measure miss Alina’s strength, but as I told you, to challenge her is an act of suicide. Look at my armour. Destroyed with a single blow.’

‘Yea, but still… It’s been a while since I felt so close to death.’

‘Same for me.’

Loewe and Rururi gave a serious nod of agreement. Seeing the elites of the guild intimidated by Alina’s power made Glenn groan in exasperation.

‘But now that I’ve seen it for myself, I’m more and more impressed by your strength, your mettle. You’re a hell of a lot tougher than the average lad around here. Good grief, you’re too good to be stuck behind a reception desk.’

‘That’s what I said. But miss Alina insists the receptionist’s life is good for her.’

‘Anyway! With this, my peace and quiet is guaranteed. Don’t get involved with me again!’

Hmpf, Alina snorted. She scowled at Glen before turning on her heels. She just got a half-day off, and she planned on spending the rest of it locked up in her room at the inn.

‘Please wait, miss Alina.’

Jade’s call stopped her in her tracks. Immediately Alina’s eyes took on a coldness harsher than a midwinter morning, and she spat out in a low voice that chilled all who heard:

‘What do you want, you rat?’

‘I told you I didn’t rat you out! In fact, I tried to stop him from this.’

‘You too. From now on, don’t try to talk to me or barge into my workplace again.’

‘Miss Alina, please calm down and listen.’

‘I don’t wanna. I’m going home.’

‘A new dungeon has been discovered.’

Once again Alina, about to leave, got stopped in her tracks by Jade’s softly spoken words.

‘Huh?’

‘A four-storey dungeon east of Ifühl, near Elm’s Gorge. Its difficulty is most likely the maximum S-rank.’

‘A new… dungeon?’

Alina muttered in shock. Her imploring eyes shifted from Jade to Glenn.

‘He’s lying, right? Tell me he’s lying.’

‘Unfortunately, what Jade said is true.’

Alina’s hope was mercilessly crushed by Glenn’s confirmation of the truth.

‘And according to the search party’s estimation, its degree of difficulty is higher than that of the Belfla subterranean ruins, where we had our hands full with that Hellflame Dragon. To put it bluntly, it’s impossible to capture this dungeon as it is. Were’ re currently in the process of selecting a new vanguard for the Blades, but we can’t seem to find the right guy for the job. If we don’t find a good candidate soon—’

‘Who gives a crap about that!’

‘Eh?’

Alina raised her voice as she grabbed the stunned Glenn by the collar and shook him violently.

‘Do you know what happens when a new dungeon is discovered? The rabble flocks to it and the amount of quest commissions go through the roof! And who do you think has to deal with all that!?’

‘Oi, stop it, I can’t breathe’

‘We receptionists! Until it is captured, I have to work endless overtime processing the commissions of the horde of adventurers going to the new dungeon!’

‘O—overtime?’

‘I’m going to be stuck in a new overtime hell!’

Alina ranted and released Glen’s collar.

Even though she had just beaten the Hellflame Dragon, finally escaped her overtime hell, and regained her ability to return home on time, the next hell was already waiting for her? Alina’s lips quivered as images of never-ending overtime vividly danced through her mind.

‘Hey, Jade…’

Glancing sideways at the shocked Alina, Glenn whispered to Jade.

‘Did she become the Executioner and started killing bosses because she hates overtime?’

‘That’s right. It seems like that’s her only reason.’

Glenn watched Alina for a while as she hugged her knees, muttering the word “overtime, overtime” to herself as if it were an incantation, before he cleared his throat and said:

‘Truth is, there’s something different about this time’s dungeon. It’s a hidden dungeon.’

Glen pulled out a familiar-looking red orb fragment.

‘You’ve heard of the Tower of Chalk, no?’

Alina involuntarily closed her mouth at the sudden mention of that place.

‘In fact, I called you here because I wanted to talk to you about this.’

Shooting a glance at Jade, Glen continued

‘I heard from Jade. About words spelling out a commission form suddenly appearing out of a relic. In all the years I’ve been involved with the guild, I’ve never heard of or seen a phenomenon like that.’

As if to add to his explanation, the secretary interjected from the side:

‘We have searched the archives going as far back as possible; in the two-hundred years since the founding of the guild, there is no record of such a thing ever having taken place.’

‘It’s hard to believe, but I had a search party look for the Tower of Chalk mentioned in the golden letters. The result, well… they actually found it. A new dungeon where there was none before. We gathered the experts from the guild to discuss it, and that’s the only conclusion we could come to.’

Glen paused. He stared at Alina intently and opened his mouth:

‘What we are dealing with here is a so-called hidden quest.’

‘Huh?’

Alina couldn’t believe her ears.

‘That’s just a legend, right? I’ve never heard of them actually existing’

‘I thought so too. But how else could you explain the existence of a dungeon that remained hidden until you discovered that quest and accepted its bizarre commission but as a hidden quest?’

Alina listened quietly as Glenn continued to speak.

‘The more I hear about this quest, the more I realise how unprecedented it is. Of course, we have always been extremely cautious when it comes to capturing newly discovered dungeons, but this time we have to be even more careful in our approach.’

‘Why are you telling me all this?’

Alina asked reluctantly, feeling like she wasn’t going to like the answer. As expected, she got the reply she feared.

‘I’d like to ask you, possessing a Dia skill, to fill the position of vanguard for the Blades. Of course, you can expect to receive full support from the Blades, as well as a handsome monetary reward.’

‘This is completely different from what you said before.’

‘If I hadn’t said that, you wouldn’t have accepted the challenge, would you?’

‘Hmm. I see. Well, you’re not wrong. But,’

Suddenly Alina’s eyes opened wide and she confronted Glen with with a threatening, bloodshot look.

‘Do you really think you can persuade me with money!? At least come up with a dramatic business improvement proposal to eliminate overtime if you want to convince me!’

Glenn’s complexion changed as he saw the white, faintly glowing magic circle begin to form under Alina’s feet.

‘Okay, okay, I got it! I got it, so please get rid of that dangerous magic circle!’

‘I’m glad you understand.’

Hmpf, Alina snorted. She interrupted her skill, but suddenly her brow furrowed in doubt.

‘In the first place, if this dungeon is as dangerous as you say, why can’t you go in after the Blades are in proper shape? At a time like this, can’t you at least leave the capture to other adventurers? As I thought, the guild are slave drivers.’

‘Wait, you’re misunderstanding—’

‘Adventurers are resultists. The same goes for the Blades.’

Jade replied in place of the flustered Glenn.

‘So when a dungeon is discovered, the Blades take the best possible steps to get results. We capture it before other adventurers do, and in doing so contribute to the development of the town. Whether we’re in proper shape or not has nothing to do with it. If we can’t produce results worthy of the elite adventurers, we can’t call ourselves the Silver Blades. That’s all there is to it.’

Alina averted her eyes at Jade’s serious look.

It was as he said. For better or for worse, adventurers are resultists.

In this respect they are markedly different from receptionists. Receptionists work to a fixed schedule and receive a fixed salary. If they feel unwell they can take leave without too much trouble. That is because when you work as an organisation, there is always someone who can take your place.

Adventurers can always take a break, can always slack off. But they can only do that if they deliver. The price of their freedom is an obligation to produce results. For the guild’s chosen elite, this is especially true.

‘I see’

Alina sighed. It seemed that the lack of a vanguard in the Blades had become a rather severe problem. Now that this hidden quest had been discovered, they were likely desperate as well. She understood that. Alina knew only too well how it felt to be short on labour. She always thought that if they could increase the number of receptionists at Ifühl Counter by two, three people, then even if the adventurers had trouble capturing a dungeon, or a new dungeon got discovered, at least it wouldn’t become an overtime hell like it does now. However.

‘Still, it doesn’t have to be me, does it? I see plenty of adventurers every day.’

Alina’s tone grew more forceful as she pointed at Jade.

‘Don’t tell me that out of all of them, there isn’t a single vanguard who can accompany you to an S-rank dungeon. Find someone else’

Alina, having said her piece, once again turned her back to Glenn. With the arrival of a new dungeon, a new overtime hell was a foregone conclusion. From here on, things were going to get tougher for her as well. This wasn’t the time to concern herself with the Blades’ troubles.

‘Hey, missy,’

‘What? You still need something?’

‘What if I told you that if you’re willing to cooperate with the Blades, I’d make your overtime disappear?’

Alina stopped dead in her tracks when she heard the reward that Glenn proposed.

‘You’d make my overtime… disappear?’

Alina raised her eyebrows in suspicion and turned around. As if it were the only condition he didn’t want to propose, Glenn, a bitter look on his face, answered reluctantly:

‘Maybe you’ve forgotten, but I am the guild’s highest authority. The organisation moves on my word—even if I’m abusing my authority. I will double the number of receptionists at Ifühl Counter. This will ease the burden of your workload and eliminate overtime.’

‘Wha—!’

‘You won’t be joining the Blades. You’ll simply be cooperating with them. Naturally, I won’t tell anyone about our deal. When the capture is complete, you can go back to being a receptionist. How about it? Not a bad deal, eh?’

A long silence followed.

This was a deal that only the guildmaster Glenn could propose.

Moreover, it was a much more attractive reward than a pile of money. Alina could not have wished for a better deal.

‘J—just to confirm,’

Alina, desperately trying to keep her voice from breaking, asked timidly:

‘When you say “cooperate”, you mean just for this one time, right?’

‘That’s right. Of course, if you want to help us after that, I would be delighted.’

Alina fell silent.

Cooperate with the Blades. In other words, she’d have to join them in the clearly troublesome task of diving into and capture the new dungeon. For the sake of her own peace and quiet, she’d have to do the thing she’d been avoiding the most—work as an adventurer.

On the other hand, if she just get it over with this time, she will receive a work environment where no matter how busy the counters get from now on, overtime will no longer be an issue. Wonderful days free of overtime lie ahead. Is there even a reason to hesitate?

No.

After letting her gaze wander for a while, Alina finally mumbled:

‘I—if you insist… but just this once!’

‘So you’re on board!’

Alina glared at the bright-faced Jade and grimaced.

‘Ugh… I don’t have a choice. It’s all so I can get home on time.’

God surely moves in complicated ways. Why did god choose to awaken something as troublesome as a Dia skill in a receptionist? Would it not have been better to awaken it in an adventurer?

‘In return, you have to protect your promise of getting rid of my overtime!’

Alina barked and turned away, feeling more than a little bitter at herself for having awakened her skill two years ago.