“This is Rimhold, Sir Evan!!”
Rafi ran ahead, swinging her staff wildly.
“Oh. Even the entrance has changed.”
The border city of Rimhold, after fifty years, was completely different from what I had imagined.
Perhaps because enough time had passed for mountains and rivers to change five times over, there was no trace left of its old countryside appearance; instead, a massive city gate greeted us.
“It used to be such a backward place.”
“Huh...? Rimhold was a wealthy city. Aren’t you mistaken?”
“It’s a thing.”
I ignored the bewildered Rafi.
I put off my worries about the Nether King, Haze.
There was one lesson I had learned while suffering like a dog all those years to prevent the dark fantasy ending.
Don’t dwell on what’s already passed. Prepare for what comes next.
Countless plans I had cobbled together from scraps of future information that had turned into useless trash had fallen apart.
And each time, if I got angry, stopped, or panicked, I usually ended up getting smacked by the approaching threat.
Besides, the grand sight of the border city Rimhold made me feel a little better.
An intact city meant Haze was all right.
If he had become a dark fantasy boss just like the name Nether King suggested, Rimhold would already have been reduced to ashes.
So. This was not the worst-case scenario.
Not yet.
As I walked, sorting out my thoughts, we had already arrived at Rimhold’s entrance.
“Hello..!”
Rafi greeted them cheerfully.
The two guards in light armor gave Rafi a slight nod in return.
The guards’ armor was in good condition. The swords at their waists did not look poor in quality. No, they actually looked good.
The items placed at the checkpoint were also well maintained, without rust. Just as Rafi had said, Rimhold had become a wealthy city.
“Miss Mage, you went out this morning, and you’re back already. Did you finish the request?”
One of the guards asked Rafi kindly.
“Of course! I’m a future archmage, after all. Here’s my medal!”
Rafi answered triumphantly. She took a blue medal from her pocket and handed it to the guard.
“As expected, someone from the Academy really is different. Adventurers’ Guild token confirmed.”
The guard stepped aside for Rafi. So the medal acted as a pass.
“Then what about this one?”
Unlike the way he had treated Rafi, the guard sent a sharp look at me.
I had no pass to prove my identity.
So I had no choice but to rely on the help of Rafi, who was smiling brightly.
“Don’t glare at me like that, guard. I’m with Rafi. We completed the request together. Right, Rafi?”
“Yes!! Sir Evan helped me.”
Rafi nodded. The guard looked back and forth between Rafi and me.
“Understood. If Miss Mage vouches for your identity, it should be fine.”
“... Huh? V-vouches?”
The guard nodded.
“Still, we need to know your name and purpose of visit.”
“Evan. I came to Rimhold to take on a subjugation request.”
I gave a rough excuse.
“Confirmed. You may enter.”
Contrary to his words, the guard only let Rafi through and raised his arm to block my path.
Now what.
“You said your name was Evan? What are you doing, seducing an innocent Solarion Academy student?”
“Sorry, but I didn’t seduce her.”
I only helped her because she was crying, bawling, and fainting.
“Tsk. Keep this in mind. If anything happens to Miss Mage, it won’t end with just your hands.”
“Oh..”
At the guard’s light threat, I looked at Rafi, who had gone on ahead.
Even the spell-slingers of the Floating Island Archipelago probably had not received treatment like this.
Was being from the Academy that impressive, or was Rafi’s identity impressive?
“Hehehe!! We made it to the city! Once I turn in the request, I’m eating something delicious!”
“...”
It seemed the Academy was pretty impressive.
Once we passed through the checkpoint, the developed cityscape came into view.
Rimhold after fifty years was completely different from its early appearance.
The border city that had seemed like a backward countryside was nowhere to be seen, replaced by advanced buildings and crowds of people.
Seeing the developed city naturally brought back memories of the hardships I had gone through with Rimhold’s lord.
‘Gyaaaaaaah!!! Sir Evan!! Please stop!! Hey!! I said stop!! The budget we finally got in support!! No—ooo!!!’
“It was pretty fun, in its own way..”
The operation where I burned down the Great Forest with the young lord, Count Amon Cornen, had been quite enjoyable.
To think that guy would develop the city this much. It really was worth putting him through all that suffering.
“I’m going to the Adventurers’ Guild. Where are you going, Sir Evan?”
“Good question...”
I had to decide where to go from here.
I considered meeting Rimhold’s lord, but gave up on the idea.
Even so, after fifty years, Amon must have handed his position over to his successor by now.
Thanks to the drift, my stats were a mess, so even infiltrating the place blindly would obviously be difficult. What should I do?
I saw a staff swaying at the edge of my vision.
Rafi had said she’d heard rumors about the Nether King. Just in case, I decided to ask her.
“I want to get information about the Nether King. Rafi, where did you hear news about him?”
“Uh.. that was just a simple rumor.. I only remembered people spreading talk at the Adventurers’ Guild, hehe..”
Rafi gave an awkward laugh.
“Then I guess I should go to the Adventurers’ Guild too. Let’s go together, Rafi.”
“Uh..! Yes!! Let’s go together, Sir Evan. It’s this way!”
Excited now that we were in the city, Rafi hopped as she called me.
“Ah! Sir Evan, may I ask you something? What adventurer rank are you? You seem really strong, so at least red rank!?”
“Not sure. I don’t really know.”
“Huuuh??”
There had been an Adventurers’ Guild and ranks fifty years ago too, but I didn’t know how things worked by the current standards.
“To begin with, I’m not interested in the Adventurers’ Guild.”
Before I found my companions, I had been comfortable traveling alone, and above all, there had been no useful guys in the Adventurers’ Guild.
Despite that, they were a pack of jackals always asking for money, so they were only an annoying guild.
Still, I remembered doing a few requests for them and receiving a useless black medal as compensation.
“Huh..? Why!? The Adventurers’ Guild’s ranks are recognized as a standard even within the Empire..? Solarion Academy has also partnered with the Adventurers’ Guild!”
Rafi, looking puzzled, took a blue medal from her pocket and showed it to me.
“Look. Academy students are given blue medals!”
“Is blue rank good?”
“Yes!!”
Rafi nodded vigorously.
“If it’s a rank for someone like Rafi, who was bawling in front of an orc, then blue doesn’t seem that impressive.”
“Hueeeeeeng.. I-! I’m a Solarion Academy student, sniff-! And Professor Ariel’s disciple, toooo.”
What I had thought to myself ended up coming out of my mouth. For her tear ducts to burst immediately, Rafi really was too much of a crybaby.
“Fine, I get it. I get it, so let’s go to the Adventurers’ Guild.”
“... Sniff.”
Rafi stopped walking. She turned her snot-bubbled face away. She was clearly sulking.
It felt like soothing an annoying niece. For now, should I try coaxing her with some light praise?
“Smart Rafi. Could you tell me about adventurer ranks again?”
“... Hmph. I don’t want to.”
Even as she said that, it was obvious she had flinched at the word smart.
“Hmm.. Is there no smart mage around? I’m curious about adventurer ranks..”
“...”
“If there were a future archmage and the most talented promising student at the Academy, maybe she’d tell me.. Hmm.. I wonder if there’s no one like that in Rimhold.”
“Ahem.. Ahem..”
Rafi cleared her throat and glanced sideways at me.
“Phew.. Ah, I don’t know, I really don’t know. If only some smart person would guide me.. Haa..”
I sighed and shook my head. When I glanced at Rafi, she was grinning.
“Ahem..! Sir Evan!! Especially for you!! I, Rafi Bael! None other than I, who am clearly a future archmage! Shall explain it to you!”
This kid is easy.
“Adventurer ranks are divided into five ranks: white, blue, red, silver, and gold! White is for new adventurers! Not even worth looking at, trash! Garbage rank! And blue rank is the rank where those with the greatest potential are!”
This brat was rating her own rank highly.
“And in terms of strength?”
“Uh.. um.. Academy students are blue, and graduates are around red.”
That didn’t help me understand.
“Tell me in terms of knights.”
“Uh.. If it’s a knight from a city like Rimhold, then they’d be around red rank.. I think.”
A knight was someone who could properly handle mana. So red rank and above were the useful ones.
“Then the current me is probably about red rank.”
Because of the restrictions on my stats and traits, I had problems operating mana. Still, it wasn’t as if I couldn’t use mana at all.
When I met Rafi, I had been able to use minor techniques that employed mana without any issue, so I was probably around red.
“Wow!! My instincts really weren’t wrong!!”
“Yeah. Our promising? blue-ranked Miss Rafi. Let’s go to the Adventurers’ Guild.”
“Yes!”
Rafi nodded vigorously. She went ahead, swinging her staff. As I slowly followed, a strangely shaped building came into view.
“Do you see it over there? The building with the big entrance! That’s Rimhold’s Adventurers’ Guild!”
“It looks pretty unusual. What kind of combination is a bear head with fox ears?”
Above the entrance of the guild building, there was a strangely shaped head sculpture. It was a bear head with fox ears.
The aesthetic sense of the world fifty years later had become quite avant-garde.
“Uh.. that sculpture is Rimhold— Hieeek!”
Bang—!
Suddenly, the entrance of the Adventurers’ Guild building burst open. A figure came flying out along with the wooden door.
The person who flew out hit the wall and collapsed. He didn’t move, as if he had fainted.
The light armor over the man’s chest was dented in as though it had taken a direct hit from a hammer.
Seeing his fingers twitch, he wasn’t dead yet.
“Is this daily life in Rimhold?”
Even when I looked around, people were only murmuring. None of them seemed particularly flustered.
“Uh.. daily life...? Not quite.. but I’ve seen it a few times too.”
“Smells like alcohol, so I guess they got drunk and fought each other.”
Unlike the changed aesthetic sense, adventurers hadn’t changed at all even after fifty years.
“Uh.. I don’t think so? Rather than fighting.. the branch guildmaster called it education!”
“Education?”
She was calling something powerful enough to cave in light armor education.
Was the guild branch master from some tribe of barbarians?
Bang—!
“Another one’s coming flying out. Careful, Rafi.”
“Yes!”
I lightly dodged the man who came flying out and entered the building with Rafi.
We stepped over the broken entrance. The ringleader who had caused the commotion was standing inside.
“... It’s a bear.”
There was a bear in a straight-punch stance. The bear snorted forcefully, then sharply withdrew from the stance.
As if noticing my gaze, the bear looked at me.
“What? First time seeing a bear throw a straight punch?”
Wow. After fifty years, bears could talk too.