Chapter 10: Rank Up I

Chapter 10: Rank Up I

Chloe motioned me to follow and led me to her office. She sat down at her desk and told me to sit down on one of the couches around a table in the middle of the room.

Chloe rubbed her temples and muttered something before looking at me, "So... You are a dragon?”

“That’s right.”

“You don’t look like a dragon,” Chloe said, trying her best not to sound like she just pointed out the obvious.

“Looks can be deceiving.” I looked at her and added, " You don’t look old enough to be a guildmaster.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” She said and smiled. "Have you met many guildmasters?”

“It’s not my first dance with the guild, however it’s the first time I had to reveal that I’m a dragon. Never had to use that device before.”

There was a knock at the door and Hanna entered with a tray of cups. She put a cup down in front of me and a small plate with some kind of cookies on it.

“Is tea okay with you, Lady Luna?” She sent me a big service smile.

“Lady?” I squinted at her. "Just Luna is fine.”

“But you are a queen...” Visitt novelbin(.)co/m for the latest updates

“Don’t make me eat you,” I said and grinned.

“Ahem, can we get back to business?” Chloe shot a glare at Hanna who gave out a small yelp and moved back behind the couch. “I don’t know where to even begin. For what reason are you here?”

“Here, like at the guild?”

“Yes but also here in general.”

“I woke up, or rather, the whole business with Julius woke me up so I figured I’d pop my head out and see what had changed in the world. I wanted to join the guild to get some funds for traveling expenses,” I said and took out a few coins from my [Inventory] and held them up, "Liz said these coins were no good.”

Chloe took a coin and focused her eyes, "Isn’t this an ancient coin?”

“It’s from the Byzan Empire.”

“Where did you get this? Most of them were said to have been smelted down after the empire fell.”

“Is knowledge about what happened to coins from an ancient civilization common knowledge nowadays?”

“Just an old hobby of mine,” Chloe laughed. "Still, finding one in this good condition is very rare.”

“Time is frozen in my [Inventory]. I tossed it in there when I got it, maybe it was freshly minted,” I said with a shrug.

“[Inventory]? Freshly minted? Are you saying you got it from...? Chloe stopped and looked at me.

“Probably for some job at the adventurers guild back in the day. [Inventory] is a spell to store items, kind of like a magic bag.”

Chloe tapped a finger on her desk. “How old are you?”

“Is that something you would ask of a young woman? I said, faking a gasp, "How old are you?”

“I’m in my late twenties,” She said with a grin.

“But guildmaster, we already celebrated your fortieth birthday last year.” Hanna piped up.

Chloe shot Hanna an angry glare.

“I'm eighteen,” I pondered, "And some seven or eight thousand years? It’s hard to tell when you humans change what calendar you follow all the time.”

There was a knock on the door and a man entered. “We just got a message from the capital. It would take at least two days before they can even send anyone to investigate the dungeon. And that would only be two A ranks and two B ranks,” He said, holding a paper.

“I guess so? I’m not familiar with the difficulty levels of monsters. They tend to change.”

“Tend to change?”

“What rank is a behemoth now? Last time I was awake it was considered an S rank monster and it had the same G to SSS ranks.”

“A behemoth might be SS rank depending on size.”

“So did the monsters get stronger or did the adventurers get weaker?” I pondered, tapping my chin with my index finger.

“But wait, the barrier broke this morning. Are you telling me that you cleared sixteen floors and made the trip back here in a few hours? To travel that distance alone would take a lot longer than that.”

“Ahem, dragon.”

“Ah, right, It’s just... difficult to comprehend,” Chloe said and rubbed her forehead with a pained expression.

“But surely we would get reports if people saw a dragon flying in the sky!” Hanna said from behind me.

“I flew in human form,” I said like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "It’s more convenient unless I have to travel very long distances.”

“You can fly as a human?” Hanna asked and moved next to me.

“You’re asking about skills again,” I poked her cheek then stood up and walked away a little bit so I wouldn’t flip something over, "I use these,” I said and pulled out my wings.

“Woah!” Both Hanna and Chloe jumped back, startled at the sudden appearance of my wings. Hanna quickly regained her composure and started walking around me, looking all over. “C-Can I touch them?” She said meekly.

“Touch me all you want,” I smirked.

“Now it is a little easier to swallow that you are a dragon.”

“I can add more if you want.” My arms and hands got covered in scales and grew claws and I gained a tail. “If you want me to [Shift] even more I might as well just change into my dragon form but then your guildhall would be destroyed.”

“N-No, this is fine... Wow,” Chloe managed to say after a few seconds.

“Beautiful, right? I’m quite proud of it,” I said with a smug smile.

Hannas touching spree had left my wings and her hands were now darting all over my body.

“I know I said you could touch me all you want but I didn’t expect you to take it literally,” I said as Hanna was touching the base of my tail.

Hanna pulled back her hands looking embarrassed as I shifted back to human form, "I’m sorry, it’s not every day you get the chance to, well, touch a dragon so I kind of jumped on the opportunity.”

“Just this once.”

“But your dragon form was beautiful... or what is it called? It’s not a full dragon after all.” Hanna cocked her head and put a finger on her cheek.

“Oh you flatterer. I guess it would be called dragonkin? Sort of like the beastkin? I don't really use it so I have never thought about it.”

“You should use it more often!” Hanna said in a cheerful tone.

“Yes, let's invite chaos to the city,” Chloe said and smacked Hanna in the back of her head, "If you are done interrupting I would like to get back to what we have to talk about with Luna.”

“Oh, right, I’m sorry,” Hanna said and walked back behind the couch.

“Right,” I said and sat down across Chloe, "I gave you the device and told you about the dungeon. What else do you need?”

“Wait!” Hanna blurted out, "We would still get reports if people saw a person with wings fly in the sky.”

“I used magic to erase my presence, you can be sure no one saw me.”

Chloe cleared her throat and glared at Hanna, "I would like to hear about the case with Liz and Julius.”