A Bottom-Tier Adventurer Devoted to Supporting Their Idol Activities: Every Time, They Offer Rare Materials and Stir Up the Elites - Episode 36: The Meeting of Tomage and Renya. Ellel’s Confusion

Episode 36: The Meeting of Tomage and Renya. Ellel’s Confusion

“A gray-haired man suddenly got registered as an A-rank, I heard!! What’s going on!?”

At the counter of the Adventurers’ Guild, a red-haired man was shouting. It was the young B-rank adventurer Tomage. Behind him, two of his party members were desperately trying to calm him down.

“That was a decision made by the higher-ups…”

Behind the counter, the male staff member replied with an awkward expression.

“This is absolutely weird!! What the hell is going on with the Adventurers’ Guild!?”

Overwhelmed by Tomage’s anger, the male staff member panicked and looked around for help. The appraiser Corina made eye contact with him. She reluctantly stood up and walked over to Tomage.

“Corina, did you hear? That gray-haired guy suddenly got registered as an A-rank adventurer.”

“Yes. His accomplishments in the subjugation team and the solo defeat of an Earth Dragon were recognized. And he was specially registered as an A-rank adventurer.”

“An Earth Dragon… defeated solo…?”

“Yes. I appraised the magic stone. Without a doubt, it belonged to an Earth Dragon.”

Corina answered firmly.

“Corina, do you think it’s reasonable that that gray guy got registered as an A-rank?”

Tomage looked at Corina with a pleading expression. Corina’s face didn’t change.

“Yes. I actually met him. And I felt he had the power of an A-rank. The wave of magic power pouring out of his body was abnormal.”

“I see…”

At the moment Tomage hung his head, the door of the Adventurers’ Guild opened.

“Ah.”

The male staff member behind the counter let out a foolish-sounding voice. Following the voice, Tomage turned around.

Standing there was a young man with gray hair, gray eyes, and white skin. With a confident expression, he crossed the first floor of the Adventurers’ Guild and came up to the counter.

“Renya-san, are you here to sell something?”

Corina’s voice lifted as she moved to the buying counter.

“Yeah. I was practicing magic in the Western Forest and ended up gathering quite a lot of magic stones.”

Saying that, Renya swung the backpack from his back to the front and began pulling out large magic stones one after another. He was lining them up on the counter.

Each one was bigger than a fist. It showed that he had been fighting rather formidable monsters.

“…Twenty-nine, thirty. Thirty magic stones this big…? Renya-san, aren’t you overdoing it a bit?”

Corina said in exasperation. Renya scratched his gray head with a finger and gave a dry laugh, “Haha.” Beside him, Tomage had a stern expression on his face.

“Corina. Is there any request for subjugating strong monsters? The monsters in the Western Forest are starting to feel lacking.”

“Ah, if that’s the case, we just posted some new requests on the board earlier. So there might be something.”

“I see.”

Without paying any attention to Tomage’s gaze, Renya walked over to the request board.

“Hey, let’s go too. We’ll take the same request as him.”

“Got it.” “Let’s test his strength.”

Tomage and his two party members also approached the request board and began checking the new request forms.

Then, they tore off the same request form that Renya had taken.

The request was for the subjugation of a huge monster that had appeared in a port town to the east of the royal capital.

#

“Ellel. Come to my room for a moment.”

In the dining hall of the White Orchid Magic Corps headquarters. Captain Paola called out to Ellel, who was clearing her dishes after finishing her meal. Paola’s voice quietly echoed. It had a certain tension to it.

“Yes? Did something happen?”

Paola silently nodded. But her eyes seemed to waver. It was as if she was about to say something but swallowed the words.

Seeing that expression, Ellel seemed to realize something and quickly finished cleaning up. She then began walking with Paola.

The two entered the room at the end of the second floor of the dormitory.

Paola offered Ellel one of the paired leather sofas, and Ellel sat down politely. Paola sat opposite her and stared at Ellel’s face.

“A person believed to be the ‘gray-haired masked man’ has been found in the southern part of the Kingdom. He apparently visited the royal capital and got registered as an A-rank adventurer.”

“What…!? That can’t be…”

Ellel lifted herself from the sofa and was lost for words. Something stirred deep in her chest. And the sound of her gasp echoed loudly.

“His name is Renya. He’s a young man with gray hair, gray eyes, and white skin. From what we’ve gathered so far, ‘the passing-by adventurer, the masked man, and Renya are the same person.'”

With a mixed expression of anger and doubt, Ellel shook her head.

“The passing-by adventurer and the masked man are the same person. But that Renya guy is different. He’s definitely someone else. The passing-by adventurer wouldn’t do anything to stand out publicly.”

Paola put a hand to her mouth and thought silently. Eventually, she muttered quietly.

“So it’s like that after all… Then what’s Renya’s goal? Is he trying to take over the achievements of the passing-by adventurer and quickly become a hero?”

“That might be the case…”

“The Adventurers’ Guild, wanting to publicly show their strength expansion, and Renya, who wants to become a hero. Their interests aligned. And thus, he was given a special A-rank registration, perhaps.”

Paola’s words were laced with sarcasm. Beneath that, there was a lingering unease and frustration.

“Troubles with the Empire are likely to continue. Right now, the imperial succession struggle is intensifying between the First and Second Princes. They’re trying to show their power by targeting the Kingdom. The Adventurers’ Guild is probably planning to use Renya to counter that.”

“Just like with the thief group subjugation team, we might end up conducting joint operations with him?”

“Unfortunately, that’s probably going to happen.”

Ellel’s face clouded. She could feel her thoughts sinking.

“Hopefully, it doesn’t turn into something troublesome…”

Those words seemed to foreshadow future developments.