We trudge and limp our way to the gate, where we see Sampson standing with another guard.
"Are you kids okay?" I look around at the state of our clothes and see that we are in pretty poor condition. We're covered in splatters of blue blood and small wounds. My clothes, in particular, are torn to shreds, and I'm limping.
"We're alive," I say with a chuckle.
"What the hell happened?"
"We got in a fight with a Metapardus."
"And you survived?"
"It wasn't easy. We had some really good potions with us that made the difference."
"Damn, well, I'm just glad you're okay. I really wish you'd stop going into the forest. I almost have a heart attack any time you three show up late."
"Sorry, no can do. We've gotten a lot stronger in the last couple of months, and spending every day in those woods is what does it. Pretty soon, a monster like that won't even be a challenge."
"If you say so. Why don't you head to the guild; I don't want to hold you up any longer."
We say our goodbyes to Sampson and do that whole act all over again when we enter the guild. Shelly runs up to us in a panic as soon as we walk in the door. I calm her down and pour out the corpse of the Metapardus onto the counter. I've essentially stopped caring about drawing attention to our party at this point. It feels like we cause a commotion every day we come here. The murmurings of the peanut gallery are now just background noise that I can tune out.
"You stupid son of a bitch." Jezabel looks less than pleased at our extravagant show.
"Sorry."
"What the fuck do you mean, sorry? You have no business even looking at one of these things."
"It's not like we could outrun it."
"Why did I bother giving you a Monster's Bane if you're not even going to use it?"
"...Honestly, I completely forgot I had one." I pull the Monster's Bane out of my pocket and look at it. It had been with me that whole time, and I didn't think once to use it.
[I think she's definitely on to something when she calls me dumb.]
"I'm speechless." Jezabel covers her face with her hand and rubs her temples. "Hopefully, no one else was injured out there."
I know she's talking about Shinobu, but I don't want to give up the goose just yet. My team isn't strong enough to overturn the common sense of this world, so I need to avoid direct conflicts. I decide to take a vague approach.
"Everyone involved in the incident has survived." I'm standing between the kids, so I spread my arms to imply that I'm talking about them. I'm sure Jezabel knows that Shinobu is underlined in my statement, but I need to deceive anyone here that may be reporting to Shinobu's parents. I don't know if they're involved in her situation, so I can't be too careful.
"Very well. I don't really care as long as none of this comes back to me. That being said, taking down a Metapardus is enough to qualify your team as Iron rank. I can't promote you since you are still in the tutorial class and not technically adventurers. As long as you don't screw anything else up, I can set you up as Iron rank as soon as you finish.
"Wow, thanks."
"Don't thank me yet. You still need to survive for the next several months, and at the rate you're going, I don't think the odds are in your favor."
"That's fair." I ignore Jezabel's foreboding words and turn to my team.
"Did you hear that?" Sakura and Josh are both sporting smiles from ear to ear. I wasn't sure how they would take the news, so I'm glad they are excited.
"My dad never got passed Iron rank when he was an adventurer. I can't wait to tell him I'll be there in just a few months." Josh looks at his counterpart with a big goofy smile. He's always so serious that it's strange to see him grinning this much.
"Speaking of your father, we need to stock back up on potions."
"Okay, let's head there next."
"Sounds good." I turn back to Shelly. "So, what are these things worth anyway?"
Although I asked Shelly, Jezabel is the one to respond.
"There aren't very many uses for the ingredients provided by the Metapardus, and the meat isn't edible, but the guild offers a reward for removing mid-level monsters from participating territories. The meat can still be used to feed livestock, and they have a medium-sized magic stone, so the sale price comes to two thousand Denarii."
"Wow, we might have to fight these things more often."
"Nick!" Sakura shouts at me. I can hear the condemnation in her voice.
"I'm kidding; I'm kidding. We need to get a lot stronger before we can even consider doing that again."
"Idiot." Jezabel makes one last snide remark before leaving.
"Okay, thanks for the advice. Love you." She doesn't even bother turning around this time. I chuckle at my childish behavior as she disappears behind the door to the back rooms. "She hates it when I do that."
Shelly covers her mouth as she laughs lightly at my antics. "I'm just glad you're all alive. Please be more careful in the future."
"I'll do my best. Next time, I'll surely use the Monster's Bane." I place the small orb back in my pocket, and a thought comes to mind. "By the way, would it be cheaper for us to keep the medium-sized Monster Core from the Metapardus instead of buying smaller ones to charge our magic tools?"
"No, the price of the cores increases exponentially based on size. It's much cheaper to sell larger cores to buy smaller ones. Most of the adventurers in this guild hunt Slimes and other small monsters, so the supply of small cores is very high. We don't get medium-sized cores very often, and there are some things that need a fully formed core to work."
"That's kind of what I figured; I was just curious." I didn't think Josh would be making poor decisions, but it doesn't hurt to ask.
"Let me go get your reward." Shelly leaves us to our own devices while she goes to collect our reward. I am chatting with the kids about this new development when, suddenly, someone walks up to us.
"Hey there, I'm Scott. I've been watching how quickly the three of you have been developing, and I was wondering if you wanted to team up?"
[This parasitic douche is trying to take advantage of us.]
I get a sketchy feeling from Scott's attitude, but I hold my feelings in and turn to the kids.