Chapter 6 (8): Field trip report
Several hours passed, and we got back to the school. We were actually the first group back, and they weren't expecting us or anyone else to return until the next day at the earliest.
"So, mind if I hear your reports now? Anything unusual happen?" (HM)
"Define unusual. Remember, Ryuu was involved" (Ninya)
"Fair enough. Did you meet any monsters you shouldn't have met were you traveling without her party, come across some bandits, or something like that?" (HM)
"Well, going sequentially, we encountered a blade stag, which was really tasty after Charlotte and Elise took it down, then we got to the village, to find it surrounded by... how many goblins was it again? Nine hundred and... something... combining all the different kinds" (Van)
"922 goblins, split into 607 goblins, 314 hobgoblins, and a goblin king. Would you like the exact division of the different classes they could be subdivided into?" (Ryuu)
"Uh... No thanks... How did you dispose of the corpses? Did you burn them, bury th-" (HM)
"I brought them all with me, including their equipment, the average quality and rarity of which was astonishingly high, even considering they had a king and that many hobgoblins. All of them were wearing some kind of well-worked armor, be it leather or metal, and holding manufactured weaponry of at least the same quality as iron weapons" (Ryuu)
"I assume this means you wiped them all out?" (HM)
"Yes, it does. The count of monsters killed by Van and his party was 23 goblins and 5 hobgoblins, most of which were the ones that had gotten inside the village. We made the choice to send the ones who were more suited to combat in residential areas to protect the villagers, while the ones with large area-of-effect magic handled the large groups of goblins outside the village. As such, we managed to end it with zero dead or seriously hurt people, and all of the minor injuries were healed by Elise after the battle. If you wish for a more detailed report of how the battle played out exactly, I could give that to you. However, that was not the end of the anomalous encounters" (Ryuu)
"What next... a dragon?" (HM)
"No, just a wyvern and her two hatchlings. The adult flew off after a negotiation with Verene, while leaving us to raise her hatchlings to be much stronger than they could be were she to do so. In short, Charlotte and I gained a wyvern of our own, and have them with us in our respective summoner's subspaces, though they are not ones that would become wyvern lords, I think... I hope. One Ver is more than enough for me to handle, I don't need or want more. I think Charlotte feels the same way that I do" (Ninya)
"Correct. By the way, my wyvern's name is Sky, and Ninya's is named Arelstiar, or Arel" (Char)
"Understood. Anything else that I should know about?" (HM)
She looked genuinely interested, her fingers pressed together in the air in front of her chest as she leaned forwards.
"In terms of events, no, not really. However, I must say that the cooperation and coordination of the four of them is, quite frankly, on a level entirely separate from anything I've seen before, and that includes the Tsuchikami Triplets. It's as if they... well, as if their minds were combined into one mind, one able to process all of the information the four of them took in, all of their memories, and then able to control all four of them as easily as you could control your two hands, but thinking at a speed that one could only call impossible. For instance, Elise shot an arrow that went over Mae's shoulder and under her sword swing, was slightly deflected by the wind created by Charlotte's spell, and went in between three of Ryuu's weapons to hit a mage that was about to cast a spell in Ryuu's blind spot. Later, Mae used magic to drop the earth out from underneath Ryuu's feet to make her dodge below Charlotte's spell while still remaining balanced and thus able to attack a hobgoblin heavy knight's leg unexpectedly. I could go on and on, but it was a sight I will never forget. All of that was done when they were also fighting their own fights several dozen meters from one another, and well over a hundred meters away in the case of Elise" (Shion)
When did she have the skills to see all of that, and the time to observe it while we were fighting? Also, when was the last time I heard her say so much at once?
"With all that I have seen, I would estimate their individual ranks as between B and SS, and their party rank as A, at the minimum. Elise, on her own, is upper B rank, considering that she was able to take down several magical beasts of C rank on her own, and her skill in healing. Mae is in the middle or upper portions of A rank, without a doubt, and Charlotte is on the upper edge of A rank. Meanwhile, Ryuu... considering that she was able to casually take out two adult greater wyverns at once, with a single spell, no less, and that was while holding back... I would say that she's SS rank without a doubt. She might be on par with the great hero-king of old, as an SSS rank. Then, there's Ver... She's still maturing, but she's already able to kill a goblin king with a single bite, and able to scare off an adult wyvern. She'd be a minimum of the upper edge of A rank, if she were an adventurer. I know that tamed beasts can't be registered as adventurers, however, she has a humanoid form, the ability to communicate with us vocally, and has the knowledge and mindset of a person like us... well, a bit younger, but still, she deserves to be treated the same as a humanoid, like a beastkin or something" (Van)
That'd be nice, actually. If... well, I mean, she could probably pass off as a human if she tried, and had a bit more practice. As it is, well, it'd take us another few months to really register as full adventurers, so there's the time to have her learn how to do so and to practice.
"I know what you are thinking, you're thinking that you have time to train her so she can pass as human, so that's not needed, because it'll take time to have you register as actual adventurers. However... this school can't have you start out higher than a C rank, even with this recommendation. However, we can make you be able to register and then have this quest's results go on your record. Considering that your party killed nine hundred goblins, including several hundred hobgoblins and a goblin king, without any real problems, you would instantly be made into B ranks, I'm almost certain of that. You might be made into A ranks, but I doubt it. So, if you consider that, you'd want to have Ver be part of the party at that time, meaning that she'd need to either be able to pass as human, or have her identity revealed at that time. I have quite a bit of pull with the guildmaster, so I think I could make that happen without it getting revealed to anyone else, but... well, we'll see" (HM)
The day after next, we greeted one of the other groups, who had a hard time with a D ranked request for elimination of a small group of horned wolves. Not because they were outmatched, but simply because none of the boys there were any good at finding them. The day after that, we greeted the other party of girls, who were delayed due to helping someone get to the capital after their guards turned out to be bandits. Two days after that, we met with the guildmaster, an old man with thick glasses and a thin body.
"Considering you four have this kind of glowing recommendation from both an SS rank and our recent up-and-coming talk of the town adventurer team, I would be happy to have you join, even without having graduated. However, we will need to discuss a few matters first... to start, I would like to meet this mysterious 'Verene' with special circumstances, who isn't with you, it seems" (Guildmaster)
"If you will keep what is said and shown in here a secret, it will be fine to do so" (Ryuu)
"That's the whole point of meeting behind closed doors, so yes, I will" (GM)
I silently summoned Ver in her wyvern form, armor on, and she shifted into her human form before putting on some more normal clothes to cover up the large amount of skin that her armor and collar didn't. At that, the guildmaster dropped his pen at the same time his jaw dropped.
"Uh... what just happened? I was expecting her to come in through the window or something, not... that" (GM)
"My name's Verene, or Ver. As you just saw, I'm not human, nor an elf, dwarf, beastkin, high elf, demon, nor a Demon Lord. I'm the eleventh divine beast, and technically Ryuu's summon. It's nice to meet you" (Ver)
"So... a little girl... tamed a divine beast... and one who evolved from a A rank lesser wyvern at that?" (GM)
"Nope" (Ryuu)
"Wait, what?" (GM)
"First, I raised her, not tamed her. I found her before she hatched. Second, she wasn't a divine beast at that point in time, I think. She began to change as she grew up. Third, she didn't evolve from a lesser wyvern, but a greater wyvern, so that'd be SS rank, the same rank as a dragon" (Ryuu)
"And you're saying... you want her to be registered as an adventurer, not a summon?" (GM)
"Well, yes. I feel more like a person than a wyvern, so I'd like to be able to work and live like one, and that includes being an adventurer. After all, if Ryuu's party were to be working with another party on some quest, I'd rather be able to fight, eat, and talk in this form rather than be stuck as a massive wyvern, or be a random stranger who isn't an adventurer in a party of C, B, and A ranks, for instance" (Ver)
"I... I guess that makes sense. Well, if you four... five... can prove yourselves on a quest, I'll allow it" (GM)
"You mean, like exterminating a large number of goblins and hobgoblins?" (Ryuu)
"It'd have to be several hundred of them. I was thinking about subjugation of an earth dragon, which has appeared in the mountains a few days walk east of here" (GM)
An earth dragon is basically a large, tough lizard, not one that can breathe fire or fly. It's an A rank monster, like a lesser wyvern. They are also quite fast, far more so than you'd expect for something their size, so they're tricky opponents for most parties, though Mae would find one easier than a lesser wyvern, since those attack from the sky.
"Would nine hundred goblins be enough, if over three hundred of them were hobgoblins?" (Ryuu)
Exasperation was written all over his face, and he set his hands down on his desk.
"With numbers that specific, that could only mean that you either know of such a group and didn't report it, or you killed such a group and didn't report that. The first would exclude you from becoming adventurers, the second would just be crazy" (GM)
"If you'd like, I could show you the corpses. We killed them less than a week ago, and were planning on having that subjugation go on our record" (Ryuu)
"Let's... head over to the dismantling chambers. We have enough space underground to handle a few greater wyverns or dragons, so it should be enough space" (GM)
We did just that, I handed over all of the corpses, and he set people to count them, even though I gave him the counts myself. I also said that they could buy them and their equipment from us, and he registered us as adventurers. Char, Elise, and Mae were easy enough for him to do, but I caused him some issues by shocking him with my mana and elements, and then there was Ver. Ver was a nightmare for him. He measured her mana, which broke the slate that could handle 50000 mana, and she, like me, had every element. It took a while for him to deal with that, and then...