As the nighttime arrived at the capital of Ashendar Kingdom. Inside the guildhall.
All the adventurers inside shifted their gazes to the wooden gate as it opened and a group of people steeped in.
"We're home, fellas!" Derus shouted while raising his right hand.
On his back, Levy peeked her head with a big smile on her face. "How're your days without us?"
However, they did not receive the usual cheering they were expecting. Instead, the adventurers remained silent as they looked down at their tables.
Derus walked towards them. "What happened in here? Why the gloomy faces? You looked like someone just died."
To answer him, one of the adventurers slowly nodded that instantly putting Derus in great awe.
Kito stepped in and walked towards the adventurers. "What happened?"
Roshan came inside and walked directly to the desk clerk.
"The Noble party finally came back from the Fairy dungeon quest."
Kito nodded. "Then that's good, so what's the problem?"
"Randall was not with them." One of the adventurers answered with audible resentment in his voice. "Nothing, not even his body."
Upon hearing it, Derus's shoulder instantly dropped, even Levy beside him instantly covered her own mouth using her hand while her eyes were in great shock.
While shaking his head, Derus sat on one of the wooden chairs and rubbed his head using his hands.
The entire guildhall shrouded in silence as none of them tried to speak. They were just looking at each other and conversing using their eyes.
"Randall is a very good guy, it's saddening but that is part of the dangers of being an adventurer," Mayumi spoke inside her section with audible gloom in her voice.
Roshan silently stared at them and finally shifted his gaze to Mayumi and slowly nodded.
"I see."
***
And another morning arrived at the capital of Ashendar kingdom.
After a few days of deafening silence inside the guildhall, the spirits of the adventurers slowly returned to normal. They did not dwell on the loss and moved on to live for another day.
Derus raised his wooden cup filled with booze. "This one is for our lad Randall, he will forever remain in our hearts!"
"Cheers!" The adventurers sitting beside him shouted as once and gulped the cup they were holding.
Derus rubbed off the leftovers of the booze on his lips. "And now, for the main event, I'll let you try my favorite booze, this mad lass is called the Mind breaker."
"Oh, yeah!"
On the other hand. Inside the office of the guild master Rudwick.
Rudwick put 2 pouches over his table. "This is your rewards from the Wyvern extermination quest, Levy and Roshan. As said by Kito, you will receive 40,000 Sierra by just completing the quest, and all the rewards from killing the monsters will be equally divided to all the adventurers who participated in the quest. Even though we all know that you literally one-shotted the Class S monster to smithereens, Roshan."
Roshan looked down while scratching his head.
"The 500,000 Sierra for killing the Sky king Wyvern is already added to the overall price of the rewards, minus the payments for 50 carriages your caravan used which is 250,000 Sierra. There you have it, each one of 39 participants will receive 110,000 Sierra."
Roshan and levy grabbed their reward from the table and just silently gazed at it.
Rudwick exhaled as he stood up. "And about your promotions, the 2 of you are giving me a huge problem."
Levy looked down to dodge his gaze.
Rudwick turned his gaze at them. "First of all, Levy, please get your promotion to Class B before your identification card rot in here, and Roshan, I do not know where to put you anymore. Keep it easy, young man, you're still young."
"I'll accept it now," Levy said with a subtle smile on her lips.
"You know you cannot. For the both of you to get promoted to Class B, it's not all about strength. To reach Class B, you need to show me that you are capable of working with others. Even though you can kill a Class S monster by just waving your hand, if you aren't capable of performing teamwork, you cannot be a class B adventurer. This guild is an organization built by the unity of each of the members after all."
Roshan nodded. "What do I need to do?"
"You need to join a party and I'm not referring to just a bunch of people you randomly picked up in the street just to get promoted. Your teamwork capabilities will decide if you deserve climbing up to Class A or not, regardless of how powerful you are."
Roshan shrugged. "I see. So it's alright if I don't take my promotion? I don't think I need a party."
Rudwick grinned. "Yes, it is indeed fine, if you want to get left out of the richest that you could get from Class B rank. If you want to settle for coins it is indeed fine."
Roshan slowly nodded. "Maybe, I should think through about it."
Levy leaned her back on the sofa and placed the money pouch on her knees. "But, it's very hard to find a decent party you know, especially that once you are finally registered as a member of a party, you need to stick with them until you reach Class A or else you will pay a fine for breaking the rules."
Rudwick sat back and pushed his glasses and repeatedly shifted his gaze on both of them. "So you know, you only need 3 people to form a party."
Roshan paused for a second and shrugged. "Where I could find 2 decent party members that I can get along with? Now I think about it, It's a hard job. Anyone is fine, as long as they are not extremely talkative and oozing with unnecessary energy."
Levy chuckled while clapping. "I agree, I could not come up with 2 people I can go with. However, anyone is fine, as long as they would never rub my face to the ground when angered."
Rudwick stared at them with great disbelief in his eyes then massages his forehead and exhaled. "Both of you, you can go now and think about it."
The 2 of them stood up.
"Thanks for the reward guild master," Levy said as she walked towards the door.
Rudwick waved his finger. "Just go."
Levy walked out of the door and Roshan followed her.
"Lightborne Roshan."
Roshan stopped and stared at him.
"Think through about this."
Roshan nodded. "I will."
Roshan came out and stared at the scenery Levy looking at.
Almost all of the adventurers were lying on the floor holding a cup in their hands, some of them were struggling to move but could not stand anymore.
"Water!"
Mayumi peeked her head from her desk and shook her head while narrowing her eyes.
"What happened here?" Levy asked in shock.
Roshan stood beside her. "I think they are all dead."
"What guild master Rudwick told you?" Derus stood up from his chair and walked past through the drunk adventurers lying on the floor.
"The usual, about the promotion," Levy answered.
Derus raised the wooden cup he was holding towards them. "Then why not join my party, my lad and lass? We're going on adventures together. Isn't the thought of it fascinating?"
Roshan instantly shook his head.
"Nope, I'm good."