Chapter 176

Chapter 176 Strongest Sage, Picks Quest

"So this is Frejia . . . "

The day after we were qualified to take on the Rank B promotion test .

We"ve arrived at the main city of Fredia territory, Frejia .

"Kinda looks like the capital doesn"t it . "

"It"s rare to see a city this big . . . "

Frejia was more like a capital of a small country than just a city in a territory .

There"s a huge castle in the center of the city, and the streets are well maintained too .

Lots of people around, overflowing with vigor .

Well, in a country without a king like Raginia here, the territory lord is practically one of the country" top echelons .

It shouldn"t come as a surprise for the place where one of those lords resides to turn into a city resembling the capital .

We pa.s.sed through the city and headed to the guild .

I"m not really sure how to proceed with the test but . . . I probably will find out at the counter .

"Is it possible to take the Rank B promotion test here?"

I submitted my guild card at the counter while saying that .

"This is . . . Please wait for a moment . "

The receptionist took my guild card and then she compared the text written there with some kind of paper in her hand .

Afterward, she went inside the guild, taking my guild card with her .

A few minutes later .

The receptionist came back with a middle aged man .

The man has a tag written with 『Branch Head Eirus』 on his chest .

"So you guys are the Mathias Party I heard about . "

" . . . Heard about?"

"The lord here asked me to help you raise your rank to A ASAP, y"see . "

It already got circulated to the guild eh .

Guess that goes to show how strong the relationship between Eis Kingdom and Fredia Territory is .

"To that effect, we had prepared quests that would raise your rank to C in about 10 days so long you have skills to back . . . . but that seems to be unnecessary . Dunno what kinda tricks you used, but the rumors about you guys having monstrous strength might have some truth in it . "

The branch head look over our guild cards .

There"s 『Rank C (eligible for promotion test)』 on the ranking column .

"So can we take the Rank B promotion test now?"

"Yeah . We"re constantly running Rank B promotion test here . For the test, you will need to finish a quest while being accompanied by an overseer, though . . . a relatively safe but time-consuming quest, or a dangerous quest that can be done quickly, which one you fancy?"

" . . . You"re not gonna tell me that we aren"t allowed to withdraw for the dangerous but quick quest, are you?"

"Of course you can withdraw . It will be treated like you"ve failed the quest, but depending on the situations for the withdrawal and the overseer"s judgment, you may be able to take the test again . "

Even if the quest is dangerous, as long as you are able to withdraw, the actual danger level isn"t that high .

In truth, there aren"t many situations where it"s not possible to withdraw .

I"ve thoroughly drilled Alma and Ruli how to escape in an emergency as the most important subject anyway .

Also, we could fly away with Iris in the truest sense of emergency, there should be no problem if I just buy them time to take off .

Of course I"ll never let my guard down in the first place, there"s a very low probability of finding ourselves in a dangerous situation .

"Got it . The shorter one please . . . . Any objection?"

"None! . . . I"m gonna run with all I"ve got if it looks real dangerous tho"!"

Ruli and Iris nodded to Alma"s words .

The three seem to be in agreement .

" . . . You"re exactly like what I heard from Eis Kingdom . Seem like I can leave it to you easy . "

. . . Just what did the princ.i.p.al and the king told them .

Well, it does make things easier at least .

"Are you gonna take the test today? Or do you need to prepare first?"

"That depends on the quest . "

"Here"s the quest tag . "

The branch head hands over the quest tag to me .

――――――――――――――――――――

Special Quest - Rank B

Subjugation of Testra Prairie

Presently, there is an abnormal outbreak of monsters at Testra Prairie .

Sightings of dangerous monsters have been confirmed, damage may extend to the surrounding towns .

Thus, we wish to dispatch adventurers who are capable of subjugating monsters, especially those that could become a threat, in the outbreak at Testra Prairie .

――――――――――――――――――――

" . . . I don"t see specific number for the subjugation . "

"Nothing written about the reward either . "

" . . . First I"ve seen a quest written like this . . . . "

The quest doesn"t have completion condition or reward .

This is . . . Can you even call this a quest .

"True, you"re right to call it a peculiar quest . It"s probably on top of the already difficult rank B quests there are . However, among the current quests for rank B promotion test, this one is undoubtedly the fastest to finish . "

" . . . Are you sure this won"t take long? Even if the targets are defined, annihilating monsters in the whole prairie sounds like it won"t be quick . "

We may be able to annihilate a huge amount of monsters if we use the trick we employed back then .

However, that"s only applicable if the monsters are weak and there is no towns in their path . We can"t always rely on the trick .

Although 『Enforced Detection』 makes monsters concentrate on us, in cases of strong monsters, them just pa.s.sing through means a disaster .

"No worries about that . After all, Testra Prairie is quite small . If the information about the strength of your group from Eis Kingdom is to be believed, it should not even take three days to finish . "

"Three days are short?"

"Yeah . Ordinarily, a Rank B promotion quest takes about half a month to finish . Thus, hunting monsters within the range of this much area should be done in three days . . . . For those with monstrous strength that is . "

The Branch Head took out a map and pointed at Testra Prairie"s location .

Testra Prairie is right next to this city .

It really is quite small . Depending on the monster number, I don"t think this would even take three days .

Or rather, this shouldn"t even take a day .

"And the condition for quest completion? Subjugation targets are monsters that could become a threat sure, but there are many standards to that . "

"Those monsters are specifically . . . Rank B monsters . Like say Blade Shrimps, or Huge Horn Turtles . You"re permitted to withdraw if you meet monsters that are stronger than those, and depending on the number of rank B monsters you beat, you might even still pa.s.s the test . "

Huge Horn Turtles huh . . .

Well now, don"t think there"s any problem gathering them with 『Enforced Detection』 then .

I should not though, considering the possibility of monsters stronger than that at the prairie .

"Got it . We"ll take it . "

For the time being, we found out that Testra Prairie is small and close by to this city .

That this is a relatively short quest seems to be the truth .

"You will huh, thank you . "

The Branch Head sounded like he was relieved to hear my reply .

Why are you thanking us for just taking the test .

. . . Don"t tell me they pushed on us a quest that no one would take for the test?

◇

A few tens of minutes later .

My guess was proven correct .

We"ll be accompanied by an examiner dispatched by the guild for the quest that doubles as Rank B promotion test, however . . .

This examiner obviously looks like he really doesn"t want to do it .

"You sure you"re taking this quest? Won"t you take this one instead? I really don"t want to go there you know . "

He even advised me to take a different quest .

The examiner is a man at his prime, he looks well experienced in battle .

Even compared to the guild adventurers, he"s definitely strong .

A quest that makes even such examiner to be this hesitant .

There"s obviously something behind this .

. . . Let"s ask him .

"Is there a problem with this quest?"

"Problem, problem huh . . . You didn"t know?"

" . . . What is?"

"There"s already been three strong parties that tried to take on Testra Prairie Subjugation Quest, but no one ever comes back! I heard the rumor about Team Mathias being strong, but taking on this quest is just mad! You should pick other quest!"

I see .

This is how quests no one"s able to finish get around huh .

"By the way, when was the last party took this quest?"

"10 days ago . "

" . . . I see, total annihilation huh . "

This place isn"t that far from Testra Prairie, so there"s almost no doubt that the earlier party was annihilated if they took that long .

Opponents that not even one member of a high ranking party was able to escape from huh . . .

"I got it . "

"Are you going to reconsider then?"

The examiner looked relieved to hear me .

But of course, the answer is nay .

"No, of course we"ll take it . No reason not to . "

I handed over the quest tag to the examiner as I said that .

And then he received it while looking like he had resigned himself .

" . . . I"m gonna run away at the first hint of danger, you hear me?"

"We"re doing the same if it looks dangerous . "

Ruli and the girls nodded at my words .

Thus, we took on the Testra Prairie Subjugation Quest .