"Mc pov"
"..."
Hajime asked, "So what is the request".
Ilwa straightened up and started to explain "This is a quest to find some missing persons. Recently a group of adventurers were dispatched to the northern mountains, and they haven't returned in their allotted time."
"Specifically, you are to find 'Will Cudeta'. The third son of the 'Cudeta family'. Since he was little 'Will' had been enamoured by adventurers, and when he came of age, he wanted to go on an adventure in the northern mountains, which is quite a dangerous place."
"I informed him about the danger of that place, where normal adventurers will not survive, but he was still stubborn. So, taking this chance I wanted to teach him the harshness of this work. Then I prepared a strong party to protect him consisting of black rank or above, and handed them a quest of finding some rare mineral which they could find there."
Hearing that Hajime interjected, "Oi, oi… wait a minute. Don't you misunderstand something? We are a mere blue-rank party you know. How do you think we will able to handle strong monsters."
Ilwa after listening to Hajime's response smiled, "A mere Blue rank party huh… if I heard correctly one of your party members defeated a black rank with a flick of a finger." At the same time, Ilwa glanced at me with a side-eye.
"So, spare me with that bad acting." Hearing that Hajime clicked his tongue "tsk".
"Now that you heard my story will you accept" Ilwa looked at us with serious eyes.
While Ilwa and Hajime were talking, I was racking my head remembering about the upcoming plot. [If I remember correctly in this quest Hajime met that perverted heroine. Just thinking about her perverted antics in the series fills me with disgust. 'I will stay the fuck away from her.' let Hajime deal with her.] I nodded to myself.
"If you bring 'Will' back I will grant you all Black rank after completing this quest. A blue rank gets promoted to the black rank after a single quest, that's something that never happened in the whole history of Guild."
[Black rank Huh? It will be very useful when we have to work with human denizens of this world] I thought to myself. I was about to use my telepathy, but Hajime beat me to it, and ask [What do you guys think.]
Yue [I am fine with anything Hajime decide]
Shea [Me too, I will go where Rihito goes]
After thinking about the pros and cons I said [let's accept it, but before that, we should ask for the guild's support which we might need after the church finds out about us]
[That might be useful] Hajime responded.
Yue [How about we ask for the status plate that Shea and I are missing]
Hajime [Got it]
Finishing our mental conversation Hajime spoke "We will accept, but we have two conditions. First, on top of getting the black rank you will make status plates of these two. The results displayed are to be kept secret."
"Second, guild or not. I want access to all the connections you hold for our purposes".
Ilwa at first when he heard that they would accept sighed in relief. But then he heard they have 2 conditions, which is to be expected. If tables are to be flipped, Ilwa himself will do the same. Their first condition is black rank on top of 2 status plates which is acceptable. But listening to their second condition, Ilwa was startled and said, "Th… that's too much…"
Hajime hearing Ilwa's reply said in a nonchalant voice "Is that so, then this conversation ends here."
Then we rose up and started to walk towards the door about to leave.
"Wait" Ilwa voiced in a helpless tone.
He took a breath and asked, "Wha…what is it you guys need my connections for"
But this time instead of Hajime I spoke up "Let's say the church will not like what we doing. I can say this with certainty in future you will find our name on the Church's wanted list for sure, as for your connection it's just insurance after the church has declared us Heretics"
Hearing my response Ilwa noticed that I said it as a statement, and seeing none of us were flustered. Ilwa's mind started to come up with many conjectures.
Todd who was silently standing behind Ilwa unable to handle the news spoke up in fluster "N-no way! To go against the church is madness."
Before Todd could say more Ilwa said "...Alright I will accept these conditions".
Todd seeing Ilwa accepting the conditions spoke "Chief…"
But Ilwa's glaer silenced him. Ilwa then spoke "Master Catherine has acknowledged these people. There must be reason for that."
Ilwa then looked at us with resolute eyes "I accept both conditions. Your reward shall be given after you have completed your Quest." Saying that Ilwa Stood up to Shake hands.
"I think you already know this but we cannot support any potential criminal endeavours."
While Ilwa shook my hand I replied "Don't worry about that, we will not do something that will make you distrust us. Our hands are already full dealing with the church. We don't want a second organization on our ass".
Ilwa smiled upon hearing that. After he shook hands with both Yue and Shea.
Ilwa then went to his guild master mode and said "I want you to bring the boy 'Will Cudeta' back or at least his remains, if worst has happened."
Hajime "We will".
"I will leave it to you guys" After he said that we left the VIP room.
"..."
"Third pov"
Ilwa seeing them leave the VIP room plopped down on the sofa and sighed.
Todd, who didn't speak much till this point spoke to Ilwa "Chief was it okay to accept such conditions?"
"It was the only choice we currently have, and you also felt it right, they were strong probably on the same level as a gold rank. And it's been 2 days already since Will went missing, we can't wait any longer. They are the best shot we have to find Will."
Todd seeing the grim mood adjusted his glasses and asked another question, "I am curious about their secret. I wonder what is it they want to hide on their status plate…"
Ilwa hearing that thought of something and spoke, "Todd did you hear about how the heroes summoned in the Heiligh kingdom had ridiculous stats?"
Todd getting the hint gasped "Don't tell me. Are you saying those boys are one of the 'Apostles of the god'? If it is true then why do they seem to going against the church?"
Ilwa stood up and stood beside the window peering through the window at the recently left party of four.
"You see Todd about 3 months ago two of the summoned heroes were said to have died. One fell into the abyss and the other seemed to vanish without any trace."
"So, if I understood correctly …you are saying those two survived? But from what I heard they were novices 3 months ago. There is no way two kids could survive that…" Todd said with slight scepticism.
"True," Ilwa was staring at the kid with black hair. Suddenly, the kid looked back in his direction, and their eyes met for a second. Then he started to walk as if nothing had happened.
"..."
Ilwa curled his lips and continued to listen to Todd "But if by any chance they survived. Why wouldn't they return to their comrades?"
Ilwa responds "Perhaps at the bottom of the abyss. They saw something, a knowledge potent enough to shake the world. If it is, then the church would definitely not sit around."
…
"Mc pov"
Before we left, we gathered some information. I heard that our destination is called 'Ul,' a coastal city near a lake. 'Ul' is known as the gateway to the northern mountains where our target went missing. They also mentioned that the city's food speciality is rice and fish, which immediately captured the attention of both Hajime and me. After confirming that it was indeed rice we were thinking about, we left Fuhren at full throttle.
. . .
It took us 6 hours of journey by bike to finally reach 'Ul'. From what we heard it takes about a day by carriage with a few pitstops to reach 'Ul'. But with our bike's speed, it took us only a quarter of that time.
Looking at the sky it was already getting dark and we were hungry. "Oii… let's go find the restaurant with rice, I am really getting hungry", I said to Hajime and others. We then started to walk to find a restaurant.
While walking Shea curiously looked at me and asked "Is rice that tasty".
"Rice in itself is not that tasty, what makes it taste good is the varieties of ingredients you eat it with".
From there, Hajime spoke, "In our world, it's a staple food".
Yue "So it's food from Hajime's world".
Hajime "I don't think it's the same as our world".
"Look I found it", I called out to others.
Hajime looked at me and asked, "Which one". To his inquiry, I pointed my finger straight "That one it is called 'Water's Fairy Inn'".
"You see while you guys were talking, I was asking the locals about the best restaurant with rice here, and they recommended that one", I said.
"Let's go what are we waiting for", Hajime said.
We entered the restaurant, and inside a waiter was standing. We asked him to show us a private room for 4, to which he escorted us there. On our way, Shea talked with enthusiasm "Yeah~ I will be eating the same food as Rihito's previous world~"
"Indeed, I am quite curious as to what food from Hajime's world tastes like." Yue agreed with Shea's sentiments.
Then suddenly from the nearest private room, a feminine voice called out to us "Ex-excuse me!! What did you say?"
…
"Chapter end"