Episode 22: My level has gone up

Defeating a 1000 Red Wolfs raised my level, if you need this much to go from Lv1 to Lv5, the experience given by monsters in this world is quite pathetic.

Apart from an increase in my HP and MP, there's no significant change.

However, the main benefit of leveling up is the ability to raise skill levels.

I'll check it later.

We return to the royal capital to report the quest completion to the guild.

There's proof because the guild card automatically records how many monsters you have killed.

"Oh, Yuki-san, What outrageous thing did you do this time !?"

Before I knew it, I was getting known as an outrageous person, I haven't done anything special since a while ago

…"It's normal today. It's a quest to subdue Red Wolves. As you can see, nothing special."

The receptionist who received the guild card confirms the quest details and the number of subjugations.

"How is this not ridiculous !? What 1000! That's an unbelievable amount. It's normally in the range of 2 digits!"

"Huh? Is that so?"

Certainly, it was troublesome to defeat them one by one, so I proceeded efficiently with the help of Sui, I thought I'd need at least three digits to save time.

"That's right! This is definitely record-breaking for Red Wolves defeated in one quest!"

"Is that so? sorry, I was naive."

" Do you finally see the anomaly? Then, please wait so we can process it …, wait, isn't this enough to rank up !?"

"The numbers match so yes."

"I see, that's why it's 1000 …"

It seems the receptionist understood my intention.

"Then, both of you will receive a D rank guild card, so please give me your old ones, Miss Aleria?"

The receptionist asks Aleria to return her old guild card.

However--

"No, I didn't defeat any monsters … I'm sorry."

For some reason, she didn't accept it.

"Eh …? Then what should I do …"

The receptionist seems troubled. She probably didn't think she'd be refused when offering a rank-up.

"According to guild regulations, old guild cards are to be collected when ranking up."

"I haven't defeated any monsters, so I don't need to raise my rank! I can stay D."

"… Huh? It's the first time I've been refused when giving a chance to rank up …"

"What happens in this case?"

"If the adventurer refuses, in principle, the current rank will be maintained. However, there are no previous cases of refusal. Requests by lower ranks can still be accepted …"

"I see …. Is this our only chance to rank up? Can we have some time to think about it?"

"You don't have to make a decision right away, but If you don't rank up within three days, your rank up rights will expire. If you want to raise it again next time, you'll have to meet the conditions again from scratch …"

"I see. Three days is enough. Please put our rank up on hold."

"I understand … what in the world…!?"

Rank up is a great thing for any adventurer party, Even so, if only I rank up, I wouldn't be happy.

"Aleria, let's have a change of pace"

**

Once outside the guild building, I asked her.

"Why don't you want to rank up?"

"I didn't want to bother Yuki. I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize, I'm not blaming you. I just want to know why."

Thinking normally, you don't lose anything by ranking up, you can receive higher-level quests, and still receive quests for lower ranks. If she thinks it's too early for her, we can still take D rank quests.

"Yuki is different from me. It's not like I'm trying to win…. But I think it's strange to rank up with a quest that Yuki did alone. Even if there's such a method …… "

"….Is that so …"

I wanted to raise my rank as soon as possible for Aleria and receive quests with as high a reward as possible, so we can leave the capital as soon as possible, but I guess I was being hasty.

Because of that, it is undeniable that the previous Red Wolf subjugation ended up being solo. I thought it was a good idea, but I ended up hurting Aleria.

"In other words you don't think you're strong enough to be a C rank. Then, if you find out you can handle C rank missions normally, it's okay to increase your rank?"

"… I guess so?"

"Because if you have the power to handle C-rank quests, you can be confident even if you suddenly start being a C rank right?"

"That may be the case. But I'm still trying to sort out my feelings …"

"You're stronger than you think. For now, let's go fight some C-rank monsters."

"Eh, but our ranks are …"

"It doesn't matter. We're just going out to defeat monsters."

"But In that case, even if we defeat them, we won't make money, right?"

"The money isn't important, what's important is Aleria's feelings? I'll prepare quickly."