episode_0035

In this world, guilds are an essential element.

Usually, an adventurer will come in front and say things like, “The magic test bead is broken!?” or “There’s no way you’re an S-class!” and fight the extras or the guild master will personally judge them.

Or, if the protagonist is weak, there is the romance of starting from the lowest rank, F-class or Cooper (copper), and slowly working your way up… Is it because it is a device that can clearly show the protagonist’s growth or strength?

After the competition began, we went to the guild with excited hearts, and the event that welcomed us was…! Of course, there was nothing.

In fact, it would be stranger if no one informed the people around them about a project that is being carried out in cooperation with the Academy on a large scale.

And even if you went to a regular guild, there would be almost no one who would bother to pick a fight with a cross-dressing woman (or man) guarded (or not) by a strange combination of a group of people wearing academy uniforms, a suspicious woman wearing a mask that covers half her face, a dual swordsman, and a servant who gave off a dangerous vibe.

After completing a simple registration, we spent several days receiving small tasks and gradually increasing the difficulty of the requests, before finally being given the task of carrying out this ‘top escort mission’ that was assigned only to our team.

“But it’s too bad. No matter how much I think about it, I should have done it with Peep.”

“Oh, no..! When I become a journalist who does my own work later, people will laugh at me if I use that kind of stage name..”

While deciding on a stage name, Ayla suddenly insisted on using something like “Changkong-ui-something-something” again, and there was an attempt to change Matias’ stage name to “Ppyak-i” at will, but the former was my desperate dissuasion, and the latter was changed appropriately because I felt a little sorry for Matias.

Of course, Mathias insisted on using names like Iron Wall or Flash, which were names of cool knights he knew, but since that was a no-brainer, he went with Golden Sand, which was a suitable name for his hair color.

I wrote “golden sand” on the application form, but I had a question: “Isn’t sand originally similar to gold?” There are many expressions, so why “sand?” But I decided not to worry about it since I wasn’t going to use it anyway. Mathias also seemed to like it.

When it comes to stage names, that wasn’t important. I felt the rattling, beggarly carriage ride and looked at Yugram in the corner. Yugram was reading a book even in these worst conditions. I wondered if he got motion sickness, but I decided to ask him about that later.

Although it was not my intention, after it was confirmed that my stage name was Mask Princess, Ayla was Maebaltalon, and Mathias was Golden Sand, the receptionist told Yugram that even if he was a servant, he could not accompany her on a request unless he registered with the guild for the procedure.

So while I was thinking about recommending Yugram’s activity name as something like glasses test or green juice, Yugram took out a card from his pocket and handed it to the receptionist. After checking the card, the receptionist said sorry and completed the procedure. From then on, our life as low-level adventurers began…

Judging from the circumstances, it is clear that Yugram has been active in a region other than this one, and that he has handed over some means of proof to the receptionist. He must have been a very high-ranking person, too. What on earth has he been doing around here? My suspicion and mystery about Yugram have increased even more in my head.

Rattling!

The carriage shook violently again. I was using my magic to cushion the impact, so I didn’t have to worry about my butt hurting like Ayla or Mathias, who couldn’t, but the ride was still fucking awful.

Actually, it wasn’t the carriage’s problem. They claim it’s well-paved, but here and there, there are fist-sized pebbles on the mountain road, and it was originally a wagon for transporting goods, so the owner of the merchant company who saw us asked us to ride it. There’s no need to use an expensive carriage just for the sake of carrying goods, right? Unless there’s a risk of it breaking or something.

Perhaps it wasn’t their intention to make things difficult for me, but since I look like a noble no matter where you look, they thought it would be disrespectful to make me walk alongside them. Even making me ride in this carriage seems disrespectful in itself.

Even though it was called an escort mission, we didn’t really have anything to do. The upper-level personnel were usually in charge of guarding the cargo, keeping watch, preparing meals, etc., and we would probably just help them out if they were unable to handle something on their own.

Also, for four whole days, that never happened even once. Because there were so many people, the normal wild animals didn’t come near in the first place, and even if they did encounter a group of monsters, there weren’t many of them, so there was no problem. After all, what on earth could happen in this mountainous area?

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The man, Grant, was what was called a bandit.

In fact, he wasn’t a bandit before. After all, how many people are born bandits?

Grants, who was an ordinary adventurer, once participated in a mission to escort a high-ranking party. Although Grants was not very skilled, he was able to go on that mission simply because he was piggybacked on other people’s parties to meet the minimum number of people required for the mission.

This party is made up of academy graduates, and although they are commoners, academy graduates are considered trustworthy and have basic skills. So the guild entrusts missions to rookies and lets Grant, who has been in the guild for a long time but is not very skilled, take care of their needs.

Grant also thought that he would be given the role of a porter, but he readily agreed to the receptionist’s offer because he thought that something good would come of it.

As an adventurer, I continued my boring march for a few days, teaching the ‘lords’ what I knew. But what blocked my way was a group of bandits.

At that moment, Grants felt like he was going to laugh. Graduating from the academy meant that even if their grades were different, they had received practical and professional combat training, and that they were skilled enough that thieves who couldn’t even use a single bit of magic power wouldn’t dare do anything about it.

What Grantz experienced while casually looking through the men he would strip after the battle, wondering if anyone was wearing anything expensive, was completely different from what he had imagined.

The ‘ladies’ were busy blocking the swords being swung recklessly by the opposing bandits, but soon after, they were hit in the side by a dagger thrown by someone, and were so shocked that they immediately had their necks half-cut by the sword. The rest of them had similar results.

Even though they were weak guys who could be dealt with without much difficulty, even though they had decent skills and were quite experienced swordsmen, the ‘young masters’ somehow died without even being able to swing their swords properly.

perhaps?

Grantz immediately blew off the heads of the remaining young masters who were still alive. Although it was very weak, it was easy for Grantz, who could strengthen himself using magic power, to cut down a defenseless human body.

Unlike the dumbfounded upper class, the bandits quickly realized that there was a connection between the bad guys and helped Grants easily sweep away the upper class.

That was the starting point of Grant’s becoming a bandit, and to this day he has not regretted that choice.

Because it was much easier to raid a moderately tasty looking merchant or collect tolls than to live off the guild’s shit and just eat food every day.

The delicious-looking upper deck meant that it was carrying valuables, and that meant that the escorts were also skilled, but Grant continued to prove that his judgment was not wrong.

Newbies who just graduated from the academy… in other words, rookies who have never properly killed a person before, are more than capable of dealing with mere thieves!

It was a fact that I had confirmed and was prepared to run away at any time, but it happened anyway.

Grant, who had risen to the rank of captain, thoroughly taught his subordinate bandits that it was worth a try if they wore the academy uniform or had young-looking escorts, and after repeated successes, everyone in the ‘Grantz Bandit Group’ agreed with this idea.

So, it would not be an illusion that the mood of the bandits suddenly changed when the kids in academy uniforms appeared at the very back of the group, blocking the road and forming a circle to collect the toll as usual.

The upper guards, who had noticed the sticky and gloomy murderous intent, unconsciously reached for their swords, and the heavy atmosphere that something was about to happen was eroded.

‘One tall gentleman, the rest are just little bastards who can’t even swing a sword properly. I guess I’ll just cut off one of their legs and sell them to a brothel.’

Grants approached the boy with snow-white skin, who seemed to have never done anything bad in his life, and swung his sword.

Blood spurted high into the sky.