Chapter 42-At the Guild

[Luna POV]

I looked around where we were after exiting Velvet’s home.

“So, you live in the nobles’ district.”

“Yeah, but this is the part of it that is closest to the common district.  Our organization has a deal with the king, though I’ve never personally met him.”

“What is this deal?”

“Basically, we search for and give information about corrupt or malicious nobles and merchants to the king, and we get a place in the nobles’ district, the right to freely move about the country exempt from searches, and the right to drain the blood of convicts.”

“So, you’re basically like a black ops organization that helps keep the country from tearing itself apart from the inside?”

“To put it simply, yes.”

“Speaking of blood, is there any special meaning to it?”

“For us, blood is like a required food.  We can eat normally, but we need to have blood at least once every two months or so if we want to stay healthy.  If we don’t, we get extremely sick.  As for special meaning, it depends.  To get what we need we usually drain it from animals or deserving people.”

“In my old world, the vampires in most stories bite the neck and drink.”

“That act is reserved solely for our partner.  We call it sharing blood.  Two individuals bite each other and take a small amount of the other’s blood into their body to symbolize the two of them sharing their lives.”

“If one of the individuals isn’t a vampire, will doing that turn them into one?”

“No, that is a different ritual.  That one requires a vampire to sacrifice all their mana and some life force and bestow it onto the other.  It can only be done once, and it will leave both individuals extremely weak for some time.  That ritual is rarely ever done.”

“Hmm.”

While we were discussing this, we made it to the exit of the nobles’ district.  We entered the common district in the east.  While walking we could hear the people around us talking about yesterday’s events.  The speculations on what the cause was were entertaining to hear.

They ranged from simple to outrageous.  One speculation was that a litch with a grudge on the country appeared.  Another one was that the animals and monsters of the forest got tired of being hunted, so they taught themselves necromancy and attacked the city in revenge.

“That last speculation was funny, wasn’t it?”

“It was, though I wish it was as simple as that.”

“It’s been taken care anyway, so we shouldn’t worry about that.”

‘We don’t have to worry about that, right?’

{No, the God of War and Nature would never let that happen.}

‘That’s a strange combination to have.’

{Is it?  The way he describes it makes it seem like those two go together.}

‘How does he describe it?’

{The only way to survive in nature is to go to war with all things around you, if you don’t you will be killed instead, and the rest of your race will as well.  It makes sense, nature is like a war to become the top in order not to get hunted down and eaten after all.}

‘I guess that is an interesting way to see survival of the fittest.  So, wait, does that make all things in nature a follower of the God of War?  Do the gods even need believers to maintain themselves anyway?’

{To answer you in order: No and not really.  Most animals, plants, insects, and monsters don’t have enough intelligence to believe in him.  As for the other, the number of believers we have makes it easier to maintain the concepts we have an Authority over.  It’s like a morale boost, like people telling you good going on a job well done.}

‘What about concepts that don’t have gods maintaining them?’

{They are maintained by spirits and their leaders until a suitable god or goddess is either born or ascends to take up the role.  But you don’t need to worry about this stuff just yet, Luna.  You’ll have all the time you could ever want to learn this stuff later.}

‘Alright.’

“You done with your conversation?”

“Yeah, I was just making sure we don’t have to actually worry about necromancer animals.”

We arrived at the guild while Velvet was giving me a strange look.  We entered and walked up to the desk.  I didn’t see Shuten or Ibaraki around, so we went up to an unoccupied receptionist.

“Welcome to the guild today, how can I help?”

I was about to state our business when Velvet handed over a letter.  The receptionist looked at it and her face turned serious.

“I see, please follow me, the guild master has been expecting the both of you.”

As we followed the receptionist, I quietly asked Velvet about that letter.

“What was that?  Couldn’t we just ask to report to the guild master like we have before?”

“Luna, you’re already weird enough that you meet the guild master so much while being the rank you’re at.  That letter was given to me by my mother before you woke up.  She said it has all the information that her subordinates could find about any stragglers.  Even if the guild master is expecting us, we need to have something to prove it.”

“I have an introduction letter that can let me meet him, you know.”

“I didn’t know that; you never told me before.”

“Oh.”

We made it to the now familiar door and were let in.  The guild master was sitting at his desk while surrounded by a mountain of papers.

“It’s good to see that the two of you are all right.  I heard you fell unconscious due to mana depletion, Miss Luna, are you sure you should be walking around?”

“I’m better now, thank you for your concern.”

“Now, on to business.  Miss Velvet, you have something from the Belmont clan to give to me, yes?”

“I do, my mother told me to only show it to the receptionist and you.”

“Wait, you’re a part of the Belmont Clan?”

“I am the head’s daughter.  I apologize for never taking the time to meet you before, or introducing myself fully the last few times we have met.”

“It’s fine, I assume there were circumstances that caused this.”

“Your clan also has ties to the adventurer’s guild?”

“It’s the same kind of deal as with the country.”

“OK.”

“While I am curious about why the two of you are in a party together, I’ll leave it alone.  What can you tell me about your battle yesterday?”

“Depends on what you already know.  I assume you spoke with the knight leader that took charge in the south?”

“I did, he told me that the two of you held off a big part of the horde and killed a curse wolf and the necromancer in charge of that area.”

“Those are the general points covered.  What specifics do you want to know?”

“Why you were able to fight a curse wolf and, if possible, the identity of the necromancer you fought.  I was told by Mister Steward that the two of you have more information regarding him.”

“I can tell you about the fight, but Velvet knows more about the guy we fought.”

“For the reason we could fight the curse wolf, I have a unique skill that can counteract curses, remember.  So, it was only logical for me to fight it.  As for Velvet helping me, I’m a good enough healer to be able to help her if she got hit.  I haven’t cured a curse before, but it shouldn’t pose that much of a problem, I think.”

“I do remember about the unique skill, but why were you… No, you clearly gave off a stronger impression when you teleported into my office at that time, so it makes sense that you could handle a curse wolf.  Now, what about the necromancer?”

“He was the leader of the Cult of R’lyeh.”

“And you’re certain of this?”

“As certain as the moon will rise at night.”

“And your source?”

“I am not allowed to say.  Just know that it’s just as credible as the person themselves saying it.”

“Hmm.  Can we be sure he’s actually dead this time?  I still remember what happened at the coastal city.”

“I appraised him before he died.  He was afflicted with a curse from the God of Death.”

“Then he is more than dead.”

“Is there anything else you need from us?”

“Hmm.  No, though I do need to reward the two of you for reporting to me and giving us a small amount of time to prepare as well as taking out the leader of the incident.  I’ll raise your ranks to D and exempt you from the exam since the both of you have already shown you can kill a person.  You will also be able to rank up to rank C immediately after taking the required quests.”

“Which quests are those?”

“At least one successful escort quest and a delivery quest to someplace outside of the capital.”

“Ok.  I guess we’ll go and find one of those quests then.”

“Take this note to the receptionist that brought you here and she’ll take care of your rank up, have a good day you two.”

“Same to you, guild master.”

We left the office and went back down the stairs and to the counter.  I handed over the note and we completed the rank up procedure.  We were now officially D rank adventurers.

“Hey Velvet, is it normal to rank up this fast?”

“No, but this time is an exception.  If I had to guess, any low rank adventurer that participated and survived yesterday ranked up or is close to it.  Emergency quests like that don’t happen very often, but when they do, it causes a lot of fast rank ups.”

“It seems like that could be exploited by people.”

“I don’t know how, but in the event of emergency quests, guild cards track the participation of every individual, so anyone that doesn’t participate but say they did can be checked.”

“Well, that’s convenient.”

“So, what kind of quest do you want to take, escort or delivery?”

“Let’s check what’s available first.”

Going over the D rank delivery and escort quests, a few caught my eye.  They seemed easy enough to complete.  I was going to suggest one to Velvet when I saw a delivery quest that was interesting.

“Hey Velvet, what do you think of this one?”

“Hmm.  Delivery of supplies for the annual Vanquishing Festival.  Location  Shrine Village.”

“You want to take it and visit your home?”

“I mean, I’ve been away for a month now.”

“And real reason?”

“I want to show off my second tail to my parents.  But it will also be extremely easy.  Since it’s my home and all, we could get the supplies and I could teleport us there.  No need for two weeks travel, and we could take part in the festival.  ‘Plus, I can introduce you to Soleil and get the two of you used to each other.’”

“While I feel like you still have some hidden motive, I agree that this should be an easy quest for us.  Especially with your inventory skill, with that we won’t even need a cart to bring the supplies.”

“Then let’s go and accept this quest.”

We headed to the counter for the third time today and accepted the quest.

“I can’t wait to see their faces when I tell them about everything that’s happened.”

“But don’t you send letters almost every day?”

“Yeah, but nothing beats a live reaction.”

Author's Note:

Soon the little sister will meet the vampire.  What will happen?  Find out soon.  Thanks for reading.