The guild wasn't very far from the playground so they arrived quite quickly. Gumiho stepped out of the limousine, his white hair moving slightly due to the wind that had gotten a bit stronger. Seneos stepped out next and his eyes immediately went to the entrance of the Guild where Jeol stood.
Earlier that day, when they had been at the bar, he had been too drunk to take a good look at her. But now he realized, she had really planned the inspection ahead. She was always naturally beautiful, what's with her sharp face that looked as if she was a greek statue made to look absolutely stunning. Her long and thick blonde hair mixed with her red eyes and her black lips gave her a much more mature appearance than she had every right to possess. She was younger than Seneos after all.
Sadly, or at least Seneos thought it was a sad thing, she had matured faster than everyone around her. The need for it had arisen quite early in her life. That mature look of hers was even more pronounced due to the formal suits she wore all day and night. She would usually go for black suits, but Sen thought they made her look like she was always dressed for funerals. Today though, she was wearing a very strange attire.
She was wearing a long white skirt with a simple white shirt. She also had a blue cardigan with flower patterns on, something that Sen rarely saw her wearing. She abhorred casual dresses.
Gumiho noticed Sen's gaze lingering on Jeol and the tall man laughed.
"You must be surprised. Jeol went to great length to explain how much of a monster she was in your eyes when we discussed her daily life. I was the one who advised her to start wearing casual attires, though I doubt she will pick the habit of doing so that soon. Inspectors change their looks depending on what the person seeing them wants them to look like. Hunters want to imagine us as scary power-hungry sharks, hence we wear those....Suits." Gumiho had to almost spit the word out. He even glared at his sleeves as he lifted his left arm to examine his own state of dress. He seemed like he was the very opposite of Jeol.
The colorful man continued while he led Sen towards the entrance.
"Some powerful hunters though, and even some people who are in the hunter business, like to have casual talking partners. People who would listen to their problems and discuss normal topics. After all, some of them hate having to talk about dungeons, monsters, and magic all the time. I am not like them, but I am more than happy to oblige." He finished with a toothy smile that had Sen gulp. It seemed like more than a coincidence for the man to mention people seeing inspectors as sharks when he had actual shark fangs.
They reached Jeol who had started to talk to one of her colleagues while waiting for them. Said colleague was a fairly basic-looking man with such bags under his eyes, Sen doubted he had touched a pillow in the last week.
'Once again, I might need to check on the many rumors that I hear constantly. The one with the dungeons spawning in places where weak creatures are was true, and the one that says that the KHG's employees are overworked seems to be true too. I wonder if they are really forced to go see healers in order to continue working all the time without needing any sleep. ' Seneos thought as he gauged the man. It seemed weird though that Jeol didn't look even remotely tired. Perhaps it was because she was a healer herself. Buff spells were rumored to work better on the caster itself than on other targets.
Seneos was lost in his thoughts but still heard the end of the conversation Jeol had with the exhausted man.
"You need to get some sleep, otherwise you'll drop dead on your desk. I know this whole non-human treaty has most employees sweating bullets, but still...Look after yourself." Jeol said to the man, putting a hand over his shoulder. He nodded and went back to his never-ending work.
Jeol smiled at both Gumiho and Sen, before entering the building and leading them towards her new office. It was easy to see it was new since the door didn't have any names on it, contrarily to all the other doors Seneos passed by.
"You really got a promotion, huh? Congratulations." Seneos let out a smile that seemed a bit off. Jeol saw it and frowned.
"Thank you, but do try not to smile too much. I can never get used to those rare smiles of yours. "
The group of three entered the room and Seneos instantly saw that they had left in a hurry. Of course, they had, but given Jeol's personality, he hadn't expected cups of coffee and files spread all over the desk.
It seemed like it had been a real interrogation and not a simple interview.
"Sorry for the mess, I didn't want to move anything just to be sure. Things get lost way too easily in this place. "Jeol said, more to Gumiho than to Seneos who grabbed a chair and put it against the desk.
Gumiho sat at Jeol's chair while she sat beside Seneos. Of course, it wasn't really normal, but Gumiho was still in the middle of the interview, even though the girl had already received the news of her promotion.
"Now....We had already finished with the interview, but I wished to know more about your past. It's good that Seneos is here too...This way, I'll get to learn much more." Gumiho leaned back on the chair as Jeol slightly frowned. She understood something in those words, that Seneos didn't.
"Alright, let's start with the reason you became a hunter. After all, you did not just get a path Miss Jeol, you also registered as a Hunter...A B+ rank at that. On that topic, I cannot help but be amazed that Seneos here was not jealous of you. You became a high rank hunter, nearing the A rank, while he is at the lowest...The F rank. Now the A rank isn't the highest one and you both know that, but well, had Miss Jeol been an S rank, I wouldn't even be the one talking to her now. However, it is still quite awe-inspiring. Many hunters get easily jealous of things like ranks or rare paths. " Gumiho pressed, seemingly trying to get a reaction out of Seneos. It was Jeol who answered, trying to prevent her friend from saying anything unnecessary.
"As a B+ Rank, I always had people get jealous of me. Seneos was never one who cared about such things. That is all. Plus I have a fairly simple path. The healing mage is one of the most common paths there is in this world, so no one was jealous of that. I do not possess any rare equipment too. So basically only the most insecure people got jealous of me, simply because I became a high ranking hunter at such a young age." Jeol responded. Gumiho hummed as he looked over his files, while Seneos wondered why he was even here. If Jeol was going to answer for him all the time, it was pretty pointless. But he was still self-conscious enough to know he would tell the inspector a bit too much about his personal life if he was pressured into it. Gumiho stopped his humming and returned to question the two.
"Ah yes, I see here that you reached that rank at the age of 16. Though that is not really surprising. Contrarily to the vast majority of hunters, you had the 'innate core' as some like to call this phenomenon. You had a foundation to build upon. You didn't have to train that hard to reach those heights, not that you wouldn't have been able to do it. Not only did you have this condition, but you also have the talent to grow. Most hunters do not have that talent, that room to go beyond their initial rank." As soon as Gumiho finished, Seneos was left wondering what they were talking about.....And feeling quite proud for Jeol, though he wasn't entirely sure why that was. Perhaps the instinct of an obsessively overprotective friend.
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