Hidden Dungeon Chapter 8

Chapter 8 - The Ridiculing Senior Adventurers

LP 400 → LP 700

After receiving Lola's blessing I nonchalantly checked my LP. They went up by 300!? That's a surprising increase.

Well I can't deny there was some eroticism there; I guess Lola being a beauty also played a role? I wonder if my degree of excitement is also taken into calculation.

"Do you have any plans regarding guild quests?"

Lola, completely back to normal mode, inquired.

"My goal are 300,000 ria by next week. Is that doable?"

"...It's not impossible. There are D rank quests that pay to that extent."

D rank, that means one rank up is necessary. For that I'll first need to fulfill several E rank quests.

"Basically, all requests have points assigned to them. You rank up by completing them and passing a certain point threshold, but the points themselves are undisclosed data."

So while there are request flyers from E to S rank, even among E rank quests the number of points differs. Well, no way town cleaning and monster extermination would be ranked the same way.

"Hm, then if, let's say, E rank goes from 0 to 99 points and D rank from 100 to 199, if 100 points are required to gain D rank then completing two 50 point quests would be most efficient and have a decent success rate, whereas doing quests with ten points assigned to them would be safer but also more time consuming."

"My, that's a noble for you. Quick in both understanding and calculation."

Ohh, from Lola's look it seems like I gained some respect from her. Well, mother had me learning reading and counting since I was a child after all.
By the way, apparently all surplus points get reset on rank up.

"However, failing a job makes you lose a lot of points. Depending on the request there might also be a penalty fee."

Reason for that seems to be that there are a lot of adventurers who take on requests without actually planning on completing any or just abandon them on a whim.

You certainly do hear that a good portion of adventurers have that kind of rough personality. Due to that there are many cases of higher nobility looking down on adventurers unless they are considerably distinguished.

"If you let me take care of it we may be able to have you rank up in less than five days."

"Ohh!"

"But it's going to be tough."

"Still!"

I absolutely have to earn the 300,000 school entrance fee by next week. Thanks to my skill set it should work out one way or another so let's be optimistic here.

"Very well. Then first, please complete this quest here."

Lola showed me a request flyer. Looks like a reward of 8000 ria for delivering 6 goblin wrists. That amount of money isn't a whole lot, but I suppose it's one of the better deals among E rank.

I decided to go with Lola's suggestion and accepted it. Goblins show up in many areas and their reproduction rate is also high, so it's unlikely that I'll go home empty-handed without finding any.

"I recommend the Ahone grasslands. It has a high number of goblins wandering around solo and many of them are of the weaker kind."

"Thank you for the advice."

"The time limit is three days, no fee for failing. However, for you to reach D rank in time I'll need you to complete it today."

"I shall stake my life on it."

"Don't actually lose your life, yeah?"

"Of course."

Rather than that I'm actually a man known for getting the jitters. Not planning on taking risks to that extent.

"Good luck. I have high hopes for you, Noir."

"I'll work hard to go along with your expectations!"

After Lola went over all the paperwork for me I said my thanks and turned to leave the guild. That's when a paper taped to the wall next to the reception counters caught my attention. It had a bar chart on it and said 'standings.' Many names were written on it, including Lola's.

I wonder what this is about, are the rest of the names the other receptionists? Looks like they're competing by assigning points to something? Let's ask Lola about it when I get back.


Without delay I headed straight to the Ahone grasslands, which, leaving from the city's south gate, were a walk of a couple kilometers away. The Hidden Dungeon wasn't too far from here either, but it's already past noon. If I waste time I won't get done before nightfall.

Monsters have a tendency to become more ferocious at night, it's important not to lose track of the time.

Having arrived at the meadows I gazed at the grass swaying in the wind, stretching out my hands and taking in the tranquility.

"Ahh, today's warm breeze feels great."

But this isn't the time for that, I have to find some goblins, quick. I need six wrists so as long I defeat them normally I'll be done with three goblins. Let's wander around and search.

...I can't find any, at all.

However, instead of goblins I encountered a party of what seemed like adventurers. A group of four, two men and women. I analyzed them just in case and indeed, they were adventurers.

All of them were in their twenties and their levels weren't too different from my 30. I wonder if they're one of those groups consisting of couples? Or maybe just work partners.

"Hey there, you a new adventurer?"

Uwa, I was a little startled by their sudden approach. On top of that they were all smiling with a bright grin and acting really sociable. Their handsome big brother, kind big sister aura kind of made me want to rely on them.

"Yes, I came here for a goblin extermination quest."

"Thought so! They certainly show up a lot in this area. You find a lot of weak ones on these plains so lots of beginners come here."

"Did you happen to find any?"

"Before that, which guild do you happen to be part of?"

"That would be Odin."

Suddenly, all their smiles crumbled. Actually, not even crumbles remained. But it's not like they became expressionless, their stares turned entirely hostile.

"Pfeh."

One of them spat on the ground, then licked his blade as if to go "You wanna die?" while the two girls started jeering right away.

"No wayー, like we would tell an Odin~"

"I know, right? Nice job joining that trash heap~. You did seem like a weakling from the start."

What's with this party, isn't that a little too much of a personality shift?
If just hearing Odin is enough to make them react like that then I guess they're part of some rival guild.

"And which guild do you belong to?"

"Ramuh, obviously. The strongest guild and also the one that brought forth the adventurer of legends, Iris!"

Ahh, so it's about those cliques based around guilds. This is also a common topic among nobles. Our baronet doesn't really have to do with it, but your guild
affiliation plays a major role in life.
Even so.
Suddenly turning all hostile like that is just unreasonable.

"Even if we're from rivaling guilds, don't you think you're being a little rude?"

"This guy, getting cheeky despite being a rookie."

"Seeing how he came here all by himself maybe he's one of those airheads that think everything will go their way somehow."

"Probably one of Olivia's admirers, even though she's such a small fry."

"Do not badmouth master!"

A-, now I've done it. My tongue slipped and I said master.
The fact that I'm her disciple... obviously won't leak. Society has announced master dead a long time ago, after all.
As a result I just ended up giving them a good laugh.

"Master!, he just said masterrr! Oh nooo, this guy is living in delusions!"

"Ahahaha, that hurts, ahaha, come on, it hurts man!"

I'm getting seriously ticked off.
It must have been noticeable on my face because one of the guys proposed the following.

"Alright, alright, maybe we overdid it. We'll tell you the goblin's whereabouts, yeah? But let us tag along as well. We'd love to see one of Odin's knights in
action."

They guaranteed that they won't interfere unnecessarily, and that they'll save me if things go bad.
Yeah, this is one of those scenarios, isn't it.
They want to see me screw up and make some more fun of me. ...Sure, let's go along here.

"Well, alright then."

"Yay~! Come, come, this way."

Following them we really did encounter a goblin. Right in front of us there was one on its own, wandering around aimlessly.

"A group would be difficult to handle for a beginner, but if it's just one you can do it, right?"

I didn't reply right away, first I analyzed it. If it's some unnaturally strong one then an injury or even death might be inevitable. Compared to that I'd rather endure being mocked some more.
But hey, it was a weak one! Level 12 and its skills weren't a big deal either. Just as Lola said, there's a good number of weak ones around here. It's also one of the green sort, commonly considered the weakest among the goblin species.

"Yeah, I'll go for it."

"Just don't show us a bad fight now, alright, rookie of Odin?"

After giving the giggling girl a single glance I headed towards the goblin. It noticed me as well and came attacking.
I decided to use stone projectile, but turned the size up to three times the regular one - the 60 cm rock went pew! and crashed into the goblins face.

"Gruh!?"

Taking the hit dead on the goblin, who was mid sprint, toppled over backwards. 'Pain' doesn't suffice.
Zack.
I stabbed the goblin's heart with my sword.
Phew, I defeated my first goblin without particular problems. After cutting off its wrists I returned to the dumbfounded Ramuh adventurers.

"Was... wasn't that pretty huge?"

"Yeah... how? That was stone projectile, right...? What was with that size?"

"Whaaat!? No way, you guys don't know about the size increasing method for stone projectile!? Ehhh, even though you're my seniors in adventuring? Whoah, Whhhoaaahー"

Just for show I made some fun of them and pumped my fist in front of their sour faces. Payback for earlier.

From this point onward, making fun of Odin and master is prohibited.


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Thanks for reading. Next chapter sometime this week. Special thanks to everyone pointing out typos and mistakes.

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