Chapter 527: Resuming Adventurer Activities
Since this was Tauro and his group’s first adventure in a year, they decided to operate for a while in the city of Mandek.
Before long, the team Black-Golden Wings became well known at the Mandek Adventurers’ Guild branch.
Tauro normally kept quiet about the insignia that proved his status as an honorary viscount, storing it away in his magic storage.
Even so, a top-tier adventurer team led by a child who had come from elsewhere was bound to stand out—trying not to attract attention was impossible.
On top of that, Tauro’s group completed B-rank quests on their own in a single day.
This left the other B-rank teams in the branch holding their breath in disbelief.
After all, most B-rank quests were difficult enough and require a lot of time to clear. It was common practice to hire C-rank and D-rank adventurer teams as assistants and clear them together as a team, since that was more efficient and significantly improved survival rates.
Yet Black-Golden Wings undertook B-rank monster subjugation quests solo, hired no assisting teams at all—aside from local guides on site—and returned after clearing them in a short period of time.
Naturally, they showed no signs of struggle. When their child leader said with a cool expression, “It was tough,” it wasn’t convincing in a different sense.
Some of the regular adventurers suspected they might be cheating, but B-rank adventurers knew all too well that B-rank quests were not something you could “cheat” your way through.
Furthermore, it was known—through the Mandek Branch’s quest reports, which only higher-ranked adventurers were allowed to view—that this was the team that had defeated the legendary monster, the basilisk, together with Fangs of the North Wind.
If it had been Black-Golden Wings alone, it might not have been so convincing.
But the report had been prepared by the branch’s famous team, “Fangs of the North Wind.”
Their leader, Kantaro, had clearly written that his own team had been helpless and nearly wiped out, and that they had been saved by Black-Golden Wings. At that point, it was practically the same as a defeating the monster on their own.
As for the details of the fight, the report contained only a single line from Black-Golden Wings’ leader Tauro: “The basilisk was strong, but we somehow managed to defeat it.”
Because of that, it was impossible to gauge the actual circumstances of the battle—something the higher-ranked adventurers who read the report found frustrating.
“Leader. That report—what it says—that was on purpose, wasn’t it?”
Ankh pointed this out, referring to the report that had become the talk of the branch:
> Basilisk Subjugation Quest Report
> Reported by: Kantaro of Fangs of the North Wind / Tauro of Black-Golden Wings
“Well, there wasn’t really any way to explain it beyond that. We have resistance to status ailments, so we can charge in without worrying about being petrified, but writing that won’t be of any help, right?”
Tauro couldn’t really be blamed for answering that way.
Quest reports are meant to serve as references for future adventurers facing similar monsters.
But recording circumstances that wouldn’t be helpful—and might instead encourage dangerous imitation—was far worse.
That was why Tauro had settled for wording that amounted to, This is the best a child’s vocabulary could offer.
The male receptionist had asked, Could you please write a bit more detail…?
But Tauro deliberately responded with lots of sound effects to answer, saying—“And then it went zwhap here, and stab to finish it off”—leaving the male receptionist at a loss.
He tried asking the other members to explain, but they all refused, insisting that they were leaving it to Tauro.
In the end, since they also had the actual basilisk remains as proof, the Adventurers’ Guild accepted the report as it was.
From the perspective of other adventurers, it was utterly useless as a reference document for basilisk subjugation.
“More importantly— it’s fun being an adventurer again after such a long time!”
Ragune said this as they stepped outside the guild.
It’s already been four days since we resumed activities.
In just those four days, Black-Golden Wings had already completed three quests.
That might have been possible to do if it were a C-rank or D-rank quest, but B-rank quests were on an entirely different scale—so their reputation in this new land was skyrocketing.
“The Olog-Hai we fought today was pretty tough, wasn’t it?” Zion said cheerfully.
“It seems to be a higher-class troll, but it was certainly tough and strong,” Ankh agreed with a nod.
“Yeah. There were a lot of them, too. In cases like that, it might be better to hire people,” Ragune said, recalling how the male receptionist had repeatedly suggested hiring assistants when they accepted the quest.
“This time couldn’t really be helped. The receptionist didn’t even know what an ‘Olog-Hai ’ was, and it didn’t seem like a naturally occurring monster either. If anything, I think they need someone to investigate the cause of its appearance,” Tauro said.
After the battle, Tauro also used his True Eye to examine the corpse of the Olog-Hai . The result had been: ‘Remains of an superior species of troll, artificially created.’
“There are a lot of rare monsters along this border. There are also several quests like ‘Investigate an unidentified monster, or subjugate it.’ Is that something unique to the B-rank quests at this branch?” Aeris asked Tauro curiously.
“I wonder? The fact that this Olog-Hai was artificially created is something that bothers me … There are plenty of powerful monsters in the unexplored Antas Mountain range near the dragon people’s village, but ‘artificial’ means it didn’t arise naturally. Doesn’t that sound suspicious?” Tauro replied, taking the True Eye appraisal into account.
“This is the border with the Northern Empire… so there’s probably a lot going on here,”
Aeris said, understanding his concern—but making a face that clearly said she’d rather not get involved.
Tl note:
Olog-Hai – soldier troll