Hey bros, there's something I want to say before we start.
My second and final wave of exams is arriving, and I'll most likely reduce the weekly chapter releases to prepare and all.
This will probably go until the second or third week of August, hopefully, none of my teachers decide to do late exams... Unless I go to the finals... That would be pretty bad.
I just wanted to say this before we go.
Enjoy the rest.
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/A few minutes after he left the Manor…/
'A well-dressed Silver climbed the stairs and entered the Guild with a smile, looking around the place as he looked for his advisor and friend.'
'All around he could see people coming and going, rushing around the place to do their business…'
'Adventurers, workers from the Guild and other places… People carrying boxes, papers, swords, and more.'
"This place is as busy as always… No, more than usual..."
/Thud!/
"Nya?!"
'Due to the high traffic, and the fact Silver had stopped at the entrance of the Guild to look around, a small cat girl ended up bumping into him.'
'It wasn't her fault either, the poor thing was carrying a large wooden box almost her size, blocking her gaze…'
'She was definitely an adventurer since she was able to evade most of the people while carrying that heavy box.'
'She also seemed young as well...'
'Either that, or she simply had bad genetics and was short as a result… It didn't help that most cat girls were unusually cute, although it was much easier to differentiate a young cat girl from an adult one as compared to Pallums...'
'And adult Pallum is often indistinguishable from a teenager...'
'But to be honest, Silver is also very tall being almost 190Cm tall, for him, most of the people in Orario were dwarfs since the average height was that of about 155Cm.'
'He always found it funny that when he put on his heavy armor, becoming a bit taller, he would almost always be able to see the end of a crowd on the streets due to being relatively taller than them…'
'Even Hephaestus who was considered to be rather tall due to her high heels was only 175 Cm without them…'
'It was very hard to imagine that she was the same height as Loki, and 5 Cm smaller than Freya…'
"My apologies, I blocked your way, miss." Silver said with an apologetic expression as he bent down to help her up
"No no! It was my fault for… NYA?! THE PACKAGE!" She exclaimed as she looked around frantically
'But when she didn't find it no matter how much she looked, she became confused and lost, her tail moving in the air chaotically.'
"Are you looking for these?" Silver asked as he slowly lowered the box
"Nya?..." She said confused as the box was magically dropped from the air in front of her
'She quickly ignored this bizarre scene and opened the box to check its contents, a bunch of vials and potions with an unknown liquid inside, and seeing that nothing was broken, she let out a sigh of relief.'
"Don't worry, I made sure to grab it before it hit the ground, nor did I shake the contents." Silver replied with a smile
"Thank you Nya!" She said with a happy smile, completely forgetting about the magical scene that just happened
"If you don't mind, I noticed the emblem on the Box…" He said as he looked at the image printed on the lid of the box
'It was the emblem of the Loki Familia! Or one of the many they use… There are several variations of it after all.'
"Hm? Oh! It isn't a problem at all Nya!"
"..."
I still don't know why Cat girls say 'nya' at the end of their phrases… Is it some sort of gene memory? Passed down from the ancestral Cat people?
'The girl was about to say something when she noticed who Silver actually was, she had missed them at first, but when she raised her head high, she could notice his pair of Platinum eyes gazing at her from high above.'
"It's you! I saw you in the infirmary last time!" She said as she pointed at Silver, remembering the aftermath of his fight against a certain Elf a month ago…
"Haha… That is indeed me… Although I'm a bit embarrassed by the way you remember me…"
'The cat girl smiled awkwardly as well, before saying:'
"Oh... It's not like that, it's just that was the first time I saw you... I did see you in the War game as well! You were quite cool!" She said as she raised her thumb
"3 weeks ago we went on an expedition to the 44th floor and we recently came back, and although we failed to explore deeper, we still came back with a toooooon of things that now need to be disposed of." She said she stretched her arms wide
"Oh, so you all came back... I should've expected this..."
So they are already back?
I barely paid attention to it and now that I can, they're already back...
Perhaps this could be an excellent time to visit them again to fight... Spar once more, I imagine it will be quite some time until their next expedition...
"That's why I'm here Nya!" She said with a smile
"I see… In that case, I won't be in your way anymore." Silver said as he stepped aside
"Nyahaha! Don't worry about it." She said as she raised her hand and…
/SLAP!/
'She slapped his leg 'weakly' but the force behind it was massive… Almost making Silver bend his leg…'
'But he resisted it, and despite feeling quite a bit of pain, he smiled and let the hyperactive cat girl pass…'
"Make sure to visit us anytime, Loki-Sama talks about you every once in a while and she would be delighted to see you again nya!"
"Until next time!" She said excitedly as she ran around with her large box
"Goodbye..."
"..."
My leg… It's sore…
That's a reminder… A reminder to not underestimate my enemies… No matter their size.
She was very small, but the power behind that casual slap showed she was at the minimum, a Level 3.
"..."
This is the thing about adventurers, if you misjudged a kid and provoked him, he could very well be one of those rare Level 3 14-year-olds...
"Sigh…"
The Loki Familia is really something else, they are filled with high-Level adventurers and their average is Level 2…
Even this seemingly innocent cat girl is Level 3…
'With mixed emotions, Silver made his way to the counters…'
…
/3 Minutes later…/
/DING!/
'Silver was already used to this process, he went to one of the empty counters meant for less urgent matters and pressed on the call bell so a Guild personnel could come and help him.'
'Of course, before doing this, he tried looking around but he saw no sign of Loiju, meaning that today, he was probably doing some internal work and was out of sight.'
"Yes yes! I'll be there in a minute…" Said a guy as he got up from his desk deeper in the room behind the counters
"Sorry for the wait… Oh! Good morning Silver." Said the Dwarf man as he approached the counter, noticing Silver
'He grabbed a small box and got on top of it, but even so he was still smaller than Silver…'
"Sigh…" He said in disappointment
"Bad day?"
"No… Not that… Oh well, forget about it."
'He raised his head and looked at Silver before he pointed backward and said:'
"Loiju is on the archives doing his favorite job, sorting documents."
'Silver shrugged.'
"Is he ever not with his head in the middle of a pile of books?" He asked jokingly
"That's why he came to the Guild, although he always complains, he loves his job on his own... Loiju way..." The Dwarf said with a smile
"May I ask why you need to see him?... You know how it is, I need an excuse otherwise those…"
'He looked sneakily at the sides before saying:'
"... Those annoying people will get on my foot again." He said in a low tone
"..."
'But Silver did not reply, only silently smiling…'
"Silver? Oi, I need you to…"
"Who are you speaking of, Jorf?" Asked Eina, behind Jorf the Dwarf
'She had a very 'gentle' smile on her face as she asked the poor Dwarf.'
'But Jorf felt immeasurable pressure...'
"Miss Eina?! I… I was talking about Rehmer!" The Dwarf said with conviction
"..."
"..."
'Eina looked at the Dwarf with a poker face while Silver had the urge to chuckle… But he had no intention of attracting Eina's wrath...'
'And this wrath included minutes upon minutes of her talking... Eventually going to her complaining about her work...'
'Silver knows how she acts very well, he already went over that several times over the months...'
'From time to time, he would even willingly hear her out as a talking buddy, as a Guild worker, she knows a lot, so hearing her out and asking her questions can be quite informative.'
'There are things only the Guild can tell you...'
...
/At the same time, back in the same room, a few meters away from them…/
"... Sigh…"
'Rehmer let out an audible sigh as he heard what the Dwarf said before lowering his head and going back to his work…'
(If you forgot, here is Rehmer's image)
"Sigh, I understand, just be a bit more careful with what you say in public Jorf…" Eina said as she shook her head
"Yes, Ma'am... I mean, sir!... I mean Ma..." Jorf said nervously
"Just go..." Eina said with a frown
"Yes, Ma'am!" He said as he ran away
'After he ran away, Silver was left alone with Eina, something rather rare.'
"Good morning Eina, can I have your esteemed permission to go visit my friend Loiju?" Silver said in an overly formal tone
"Not you too…" Eina said with a smile
"I imagine this is about your Familia classification? It's been a month already… Time sure passes quickly." She said as she looked at the sky through the high windows
"Yes, but that also means that now the Hestia Familia has to pay taxes…" Silver said with a frown
"You talk as if paying taxes was bad." Said Misha from the side
"Hm?"
"Misha..." Said Eina as she turned around with a headache
'Upon noticing a certain running Dwarf, Misha, the pink-haired girl was attracted to the source of this event and saw Silver talking with Eina, and she immediately came to say hi.'
(Her image if you forgot)
"In what scenario would someone willingly pay taxes?" Silver asked with a frown
"You do have a point…" Misha said with a thinking expression
"Don't agree with him…" Eina said as she adjusted her glasses
'After chuckling a bit, Silver greeted Misha while Eina said:'
"Back to the matter at hand, I'll go call Loiju while Misha will lead you to a room so you can sort everything with him." Eina said calmly
"I will?" Misha asked confused
"Did I stutter?" Eina said with a serious look
"No! Come, follow me!" Misha said as she grabbed Silver in a hurry
"Oi! Calm down! I can't just jump the counter…"
…
/After this, Misha led silver to a private simple room with a few bookshelves, a single table, and two couches…/
'And it didn't take even a minute, but Loiju soon arrived with a book in his hands.'
"Hey man, how's everything?" Loiju asked as he sat down on the couch, putting his book on the table
"Quite well, can't say for the Familia though… How much tax will I have to pay?" Silver said, going straight to the task at hand
"No greetings huh? That works as well, I'm filled with work today so let's end this quickly." Loiju said with a smile as he scratched his head
'After a quick greeting, he fixed his glasses and opened the thick book in his hand, going directly to a page where the symbol of the Hestia Familia was printed…'
'It was one of the last pages…'
"Hestia Familia… Exploration type, 41 members, 3 Level 2 adventurers, 9 experienced Level 1 adventurers, and the rest are newbies…" Loiju said as he counted the Levels of the people within the Familia
"That is correct." Silver said with a nod
"I wasn't questioning you, just saying what is written here..." Loiju replied with a straight face
"Oh! Sorry." Silver said with a smile
"..."
You definitely know you are just being annoying...
'Loiju took a deep breath and continued:'
"Not many achievements due to the Familia being rather recent, not even half a year old."
"However, there are some rather 'explosive' achievements…"
'Silver raised an eyebrow, he was interested to see the Guild's perspective.'
"Participated in a War game against 2 Familias, one of them being E rank and the other one G… All with but a single member…"
"And it's important to say that the latter's classification was wrong as their adventurers' information was distorted, they should've been at the very least E if not D."
'But Silver interrupted him and said:'
"Alright, you can stop inflating my balls."
"It... It wasn't me who wrote this shit, now shut up before I give you a fine."
"..."
"As I was saying… With a single member, that at the time was Level 2."
"Your commission's history is pristine, and you did almost a hundred of them without fail, all completed perfectly, so your reliability is very high."
"There aren't that many more achievements, at least official ones, but unofficial ones don't count so I won't bother with them…"
"At last but not least, you saved both Goddess Loki and Artemis from a terrorist attack and you also saved the lives of many adventurers on the Upper and Middle floors of the Dungeon... Good job." He said with a small smile
"And we can even add here that you once felled the Goliath although that was never properly confirmed… Would you like to?"
"Nah, I can imagine that I would be forced to explain how?"
"That is correct... But it's okay… I already expected this."
Phew, that would've been a pain...
Most adventurers love to flaunt their achievements, I am so glad mine is a boring guy...
"Considering your current size, the strength of your Familia, its achievements, and the time it has been in operation, I can safely say your Familia is G rank."
"Remember that Familia Ranks go from I to S following the Status classification and that D is the rank where Exploration type Familias are required by the Guild to go in at least one expedition every 3-month period."
"Uhm…"
'Silver didn't say much, waiting for Loiju to continue.'
"Although I'll say it now, there is a bit of a chance the Hestia Familia could receive a higher rank after I send the report for the higher-ups to revise."
"If we remove you from the picture, the Hestia Familia is at most a G rank Familia, but that's mostly due to its Level 2 adventurers and its size."
"At the same time, I don't think your existence alone is enough to bring it to the next rank… At least from the perspective of the law."
"So you're either going to become G rank now, or in the close future…"
'Silver nodded and asked:'
"What about now? And how much will I probably pay?"
"I'll make a small file with what we discussed here and wait for Rehmer to revise, and once it's done, I'll hand it to you and you'll have about a month to pay for the taxes."
"As for the amount, considering everything I've said, your Familia size and achievements, I can safely say from experience that it's going to be something between 50 to 75K Valis in case your Familia receives a G rank."
"And between 150 to 300K Valis in case, your Familia receives an F Rank."
"..."
That's almost my monthly debt to Hephaestus...
Without even starting, the Hestia Familia monthly expenses alone could go as high as 1 million Vallis... That is not adding what I owe to Hephaestus and this.
'Noticing his expression, Loiju said:'
"Previously you weren't paying tax mostly because I couldn't bother to ask for them, they were so insignificant that the Guild wouldn't enforce it…"
"A recent Familia with a single member? Come on... The tax would go as high as 1 or 3K Valis... Of course, you'll still pay for them."
"This is more of a blind eye from the Guild so smaller Familias can grow without much pressure."
"Ha, you say it like that but weren't I already paying those taxes through the transactions?" Silver asked
There are taxes when I buy things, there are taxes when I exchange loot for money, there are taxes I have to pay every month...
How much of the actual money I make would last at the end of the month? 70%? 55%?
"True, you do have a point..."
"So many taxes…" Silver said as he rolled his eyes
"I wasn't the one who made them… But that is pretty much all for today, at most by tomorrow, or perhaps even today in the late evening the papers will be done."
"Aside from that… Will you go to the Dungeon today?"
'Silver smiled and said:'
"Of course!"
Starting from today, I'll grow at a never seen before speed…
That's the plan at least.
"But there is something I would like to say before I leave…" Silver said with an awkward smile
"Sure, just be quick…" Loiju said as he checked the time on the clock hanging on the wall
"I leveled up."
/BAM!/
'Loiju hit his head against the table…'
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