Chapter 502: Celebrity

Black-Gold Wings had achieved an extraordinarily fast rise to the B-rank band after the party’s formation, and Tauro himself had become the youngest high-ranking adventurer on record.

The achievement caused a great stir among the adventurers at the Adventurers’ Guild Headquarters in the Royal Capital.

Black-Gold Wings had already earned considerable respect there, and their abilities were well known. The fact that the party’s leader was still a child only made them more conspicuous.

Adventurers who had worked alongside them spoke highly of their skills, so malicious rumors about the party had generally been dismissed as jealous slander.

That had been while they were still in the D-rank band.

Now Tauro had suddenly become an Honorary Viscount, the party had been promoted immediately to C+, and then they had advanced to B- after a single request. Adventurers who didn’t know the circumstances began speculating wildly.

“I heard they have some kind of leverage over the higher-ups at Guild Headquarters.”

“I bet they have dirt on the royal family. Otherwise, there’s no way they would’ve received a royal recommendation, right?”

“Well, their leader is the adopted son of Count Graunewald, so I suppose it’s possible.”

All sorts of rumors circulated.

Then more accurate information began to spread as well.

“You should recognize his new family name. Honorary Viscount Giro Sugar.”

“Giro Sugar? I feel like I’ve heard that name before…”

“Idiot! Giro Sugar is the famous inventor everyone in town knows about! Haven’t you ever used one of the lantern magic items he made? That Giro Sugar!”

“What?! Then the mysterious inventor Giro Sugar is…”

“That child adventurer?!”

The revelation spread rapidly, not only through Guild Headquarters but throughout the Royal Capital.

Tauro’s face itself wasn’t widely known among the general public, so strangers wouldn’t normally recognize him unless he introduced himself.

The name Tauro was also fairly common.

It was often given to eldest sons in both rural and urban families, so the name alone didn’t attract much attention.

Among adventurers, however, Tauro’s face was well known, and some who didn’t understand his true abilities envied him.

After all, their leader was only fourteen. Zion was the same age, Aeris was still in her teens, and Ragune also looked young. Ankh was the only member who looked like the sort of seasoned adventurer people expected to see in a high-ranking party.

Even so, no one confronted them directly.

No matter how young the party looked, Tauro was now an Honorary Viscount. People might whisper behind their backs, but few were willing to insult him to his face.

“An Honorary Viscount really carries more weight among adventurers than I expected. No one even tries to pick a fight with us.”

Tauro joked to Aeris as they sat together in a tavern restaurant frequented by adventurers.

“What are you talking about? You were already the eldest son of Count Graunewald’s family. It would’ve been strange for anyone to treat you rudely even before this.”

Aeris had a point.

“If you put it that way, you’re the daughter of Marquis Van Dyne, Aeris. You’ve never used that as an excuse either, have you?”

“That’s my father’s rank, not mine. Besides, I’m a woman, so I won’t inherit the title. I can brag a little, but I can’t throw my weight around because of it. Though I suppose if I became Tauro’s wife, I could brag about that…”

Aeris murmured the final sentence so quietly that Tauro didn’t catch it.

“Hm? What did you say at the end? Something about me?”

“Nothing! Anyway, now that we’re in the B-rank band, we can adventure at our own pace. So what do you want to do next?”

From the B-rank band onward, adventurers were no longer bound by minimum quest-frequency requirements, so they didn’t have to worry about penalties such as demotion simply for taking time away from requests.

“Haha… Right. What does everyone want to do? I’m glad we were promoted, but B-rank requests are much more dangerous. Jumping straight from D+ through C+ to B- could be risky, so I think we should do a few C-rank requests first and get used to the higher level.”

“I agree, Leader. Going straight into B-rank requests could be dangerous. When we fought the Northern Empire’s soldiers in Duke Barriera’s territory, I was injured because I wasn’t prepared for opponents that strong. Doing some C-rank work first sounds sensible.”

Ankh remembered his previous injury and agreed with Tauro’s proposal.

“I agree too. Also, can you use your honorary noble status to get the dragonfolk permission to enter the dungeon near the Royal Capital?”

Ragune reminded them of the plan they had discussed earlier.

“I agree as well. And about the dungeon, Tauro-sama, you said you had an idea. What were you thinking?”

Zion agreed with the plan for their requests, then prompted Tauro to explain himself.

“Then we’ll settle on C-rank requests for now. And good memory, Zion. There’s something related to the dungeon that I want to try. If it works, it could be very good news for the dragonfolk.”

Tauro answered mysteriously.

“Good news? Does it have something to do with the magic-circle research you’ve been staying up all night doing?”

Aeris immediately identified the likely connection.

“You really are perceptive, Aeris… Yes. I still have half of the magic stone from the two-headed holy beast that served as a floor guardian in the dragonfolk’s Dungeon of Beginnings. I’ve been researching whether I can process it into something useful.”

“Something useful?”

The others tilted their heads.

“Yes. I’ll explain properly once we finish the procedures required to enter Babylon, the dungeon near the Royal Capital.”

With that, Tauro stood and went to pay the bill.