"We've exhausted most of our supplies after ranking up, so we're restocking."
"Ah! I heard you guys ranked up! Congratulations!"
Erika and I continued from where we left off in our conversation. We were comfortably sitting on the side of the fountain in the middle of the street. With the two of us appearing like innocent girls on our day-off, there were some men who keeps looking at our direction, wanting to approach. Fortunately, the three boys in our group were keeping them off. As if they were our own henchmen, they were just silently listen in on us as we talk.
"But instead of looking for supplies, shouldn't you be celebrating and resting?" I suggested.
"We can't do that when Kai is our leader. He's a stickler for working hard, he won't let us celebrate or take a rest when we have this kind of momentum," Erika replied while deliberately taking glances at Kai.
"B-but that's not a bad thing, right? I just want our team to get stronger!" Kai hurriedly explained.
"Hmph! You just want to get popular so the ladies will pay you more attention!"
"That's not it at all! Anyway, this time is an exception," Kai discretely said, seemingly wanting to put off the conversation right away.
"Tsk! I know!" Erika reluctantly nodded.
The quest they were going for this time must be pretty rewarding, considering that they needed to make an exception for it.
"What kind of quest is it?" I was curious, so I asked.
The trio looked baffled by my question at first, but they soon showed an expression of understanding. It seems to me that they were actually expecting me to know what it was they were talking about, only to realize that I was ignorant and didn't know anything. I felt betrayed, but that was only me.
"I forgot, you weren't in the guild this morning..."
"Umu, I'll explain..."
And so, Kai crosses his arms and begins to explain...
There was apparently a big commotion in the guild earlier this morning. There was a report informing the adventurers that the town Lord's soldiers who were sent to subjugate a horde of monsters near the territory boundaries has been brutally defeated. Many of them died in battle, while most of the few ones who came back had been gravely injured.
After the report, an announcement was made. The Lord's son, Nolan Muro, has sent an official request to the guild for all the C rank adventurers and above to help subjugate the same monsters who defeated his father's soldiers. They will be joined by the knights who survived and the soldiers who will be sent by the other Lord's of the nearby territories.
The adventurers were surprised with how big the scale of the army they were forming was, but when it was revealed that the enemies might potentially be a part of the Dark army, they immediately understood why that was.
"If it's an official request by the Lord's son, then that means..." I quietly muttered.
An official request made by the Lord's representative would be a big deal. The adventurers the request was particularly directed to won't easily be able to refuse it, in this case, were the adventurers ranked C and above.
With that said, I won't actually be affected by it. A rank and S rank adventurers have a certain level of freedom. They can't simply force us like any C and B rank adventurers to accept it. We can choose which request to take, even if it's from nobility. It would still be considered honorable to take them, and sometimes it's necessary to build connections, but it will not be a set-to-stone thing.
Now that I think about it, it wasn't that too long since I last accepted an official request from a noble. Baron Heldrick sent a request to me just recently to train his knights. I accepted it because I wanted to get acquainted with him, but also because I was curious of the knights I was asked to train.
"It's a rare opportunity, so we'll be joining the army that Lord's son's forming," Kai finished his story with that revelation.
I thought as much. It's not like they would only exclusively ask for C rank adventurers and above to come. They were low in number in the first place. They will surely also be asking for other lower-ranking adventurers to participate.
"I won't miss this opportunity if the enemy really is the Dark army!" Kai declared.
It doesn't seem like any in their group has a personal grudge against the Dark army. Most likely, they will only be going for the glory of it. It's true, it will boost their fame and prestige as adventurers if they fought against the deplorable monsters of the Dark army, but even so...
"Will they accept E rank adventurers?" I asked.
"Guh! N-no, not really..." Kai dissapointedly said.
"Th-the expedition will happen in a month from now, so we still have time to rank up! If we take enough quests...!" Erika explained.
I can see that even she believes that won't be possible. Obviously, the higher the rank is, the more difficult it would be to reach. At the very least, they would need another half a year to become D ranks.
"We need to work hard! We can do it!" Harry confidently declared, showing no doubt in his eyes, unlike Kai and Erika.
"Kukuku! Good luck!" Log sarcastically said.
Log usually don't pay attention to things that are not related to me or himself, so I'm surprised that he can actually perceive their team's situation enough to sarcastically wish them good luck.
"Ho-how about you, Eria? The guild might personally ask for your participation later, with you being an A rank adventurer and all..." Kai awkwardly asked after taking a bitter glance at Log.
"Hm... I'll think about it..."