By the Grace of the Gods (LN) - Volume 6 - Chapter 22

Chapter 4 Episode 22: The Guildmaster’s Decision

Thirty minutes after we departed, our carriages traveled down the mountain road surrounded by trees. The shade from the trees meant it was dim despite being daytime, and while I was a little cold, the wind was refreshing.

“Hey, Ryoma,” Roche said as I was enjoying the air. “Any interest in getting familiars other than slimes?” He looked at the healing slime sitting on my head. It was helping watch for threats.

“I have limour birds too, actually.”

“Really? I always thought you just collected slimes.”

“It’s mostly slimes, admittedly.”

“No interest in trying other types of familiars?”

“Well, it’s not like I refuse to accept anything but slimes, but there are so many types of slimes that are so fascinating. Focusing on slimes hasn’t caused me any problems either, so I haven’t thought much about obtaining other kinds of familiars.”

“I see. If you don’t want to work with people, I thought maybe utilizing more familiars would work too.” It sounded like he was suggesting that in place of a party.

“Roche, I know you’re worried about Ryoma, but you don’t need to rush him,” Lucy said.

“Guess so. I was just wondering.”

“Yeesh, I don’t think the guildmaster needed you to get this obsessed. Sorry, Ryoma, I’m sure he’s annoying you.”

“No, I know he’s just looking out for me.”

“You’re a good kid,” Lucy said with a smile. “There are a lot of nosy people out there, but you don’t have to listen to them. I don’t think you should do anything too dangerous or reckless either, but when it comes down to it, you shouldn’t have to give up on doing what you want to do.”

“Thank you.”

“It’s nothing. Oh, but I’ll at least say that sticking with just slimes would be a bit unfortunate. It’s fine if that’s what you want to do, but you’ve been blessed with the ability to use taming magic, so it might be worth your while to check out other monsters too. If you had a horse-type monster like a red horse or a battle horse, you could ride them around, for example. I think taming an animal you could travel on would be useful.”

“You have a point.”

Right now, my traveling was done either on foot or through space magic. I never had trouble traveling anyway, but a familiar I could ride on would help to conserve my magical energy and stamina. There was no way that slimes or limour birds could carry me, and even if they could, it would probably be slower than just moving myself. So if I wanted to put this idea into action, I would have to capture a new monster.

“If you’re not sure what to go for, why not ask the tamer’s guild?” Roche said. “I’m pretty sure they have a reception desk where you can ask questions like that. Actually, have they not given you any suggestions already?”

“Actually, well, I’m technically registered there, but I couldn’t take any jobs at first because all I had was slimes. Now I haven’t been to the tamer’s guild since I turned in some members of it to the city guards after they harassed my store. Not for any particular reason, but I find it kind of hard to visit when I have no need to.”

“Then maybe this is a good time for you to give them a visit,” Lucy said. “Sounds like you haven’t taken the familiar aptitude exam, either.”

“I haven’t. I’ve never even heard of it.”

“The tamer’s guild has you try to form contracts with a whole bunch of different monsters, then combine that data with your past results to narrow down your specialties, from what I hear.”

“Isn’t your first time free?” Roche asked.

“It is, if I’m remembering right. So it couldn’t hurt to give it a shot.”

She was right about that. I didn’t feel inconvenienced in any way at the moment, but it sounded like it could be worthwhile. I decided to pay them a visit before I forgot.

“What monsters would be helpful to have as an adventurer?” I asked.

“I’d just have to go with something you can ride,” Roche said. “I’ve always wanted a wyvern or something you could fly on.”

“I might like some type of fairy,” Lucy said. “They can use magic, and forming a contract with one is supposed to improve the effects of your own magic too. Even finding one and making it your familiar is apparently pretty hard, though.”

They both had ample experience, so talking to them was fascinating. But we eventually ran out of topics to discuss, and the time for silence arrived. The air in the carriage felt heavy.

When I looked at the students, they froze up. Ever since my match the other day it felt like some of the students were avoiding me, but the ones here looked up to me. However, they seemed to see me as so amazing that they felt some distance between us. They could speak with Roche and Lucy just fine, but the conversation ended when I tried to join in. In the end, I found myself in this situation. They looked at me with a sort of envy, but even that made things hard for me. Then again, it was better than riding with a boss everyone hates for a company trip, I guess.

■ ■ ■

It was quiet, aside from the cool wind and the rocking of the carriage. Between that and how late I stayed up last night, I felt a pleasant sleepiness.

“Just let me quit, please.”

“I’ve got PTSD thanks to you.”

“Give it a goddamn rest!”

“Stop expecting me to be like you. Just because you’re physically and mentally strong doesn’t mean everyone else is going to be the same.”

“Takebayashi, come on. You’re the one who’s supposed to teach them, and you have to cover for them better. Hiring new blood isn’t a cakewalk! And we’re not eager to have to retrain these people all over again! You know that, don’t you? Well?!”

“Have you heard? Takebayashi drove another newbie away.”

“Christ, again?! How many years has he been here now? Does he have any idea how to teach people?”

I tried to walk them through everything, but it just made them hate me. In the end, most of them quit. I never threatened them. I was even careful never to yell at them. I was always calm with them, and if they didn’t know something or did something wrong, I would teach them as many times as it took. I avoided giving them more work than they could handle. I assisted them all throughout work hours, only taking a break during break time. I tried many different approaches, but the end result was always the same. I didn’t know what I was doing wrong then, and I didn’t know what I was doing wrong in my new life, either.

■ ■ ■

“I see it!”

“Hm?”

I must have dozed off for a bit; I’d dreamed of when I was still young, and it reminded me of the concerns I had back then. Having a similar dream again made me feel decades younger. Of course, now I was younger, so it stood to reason.

At any rate, I was still feeling sleepy. I thought I must have been sleeping for a while, but the sun hadn’t changed its position too much. Regardless, the gate to Gimul was visible in the distance.

“Finally here...”

“We’re back!”

“Thank goodness.”

The students were relieved as well, and the mood in the carriage grew just a bit calmer.

“Oh? I see a lot of people outside town,” Lucy said. “Doesn’t look like they’re adventurers, though.”

“Yes, it looks like they’re surveying something,” I guessed.

“They were talking about expanding the city, so I’m sure it has something to do with that,” Roche said.

It was still in the planning stages, but the urban development was coming along decently. We passed by the workers and went straight to the guild from the southern gate.

“Welcome back!” The guildmaster greeted us as though he’d been waiting for our arrival. “Students, gather over here! Looks like you all made it back safely. So, did you learn anything on this trip?” The students got together in a corner of the guild and answered his question. “I see. In that case, Roche, you can give us the concluding speech now.”

“Got it! Listen up, everyone!”

Roche congratulated the students on making it through the five-day lesson, and expressed hope that they would find this experience useful in the future. After he finished speechifying, he told the students to go report the completion status of the jobs they’d taken, then declared the training meetup over and dismissed everyone.

“Welcome back, Ryoma.”

“Hello, Guildmaster.”

“How was your first training meetup?”

“Well, I learned a lot from the teachers.”

“That’s more what I would expect a student to say.”

“Still, there were quite a lot of things I managed to learn.”

“Well, I suppose you never stop learning, even in old age. Could you come with me for a bit?” The guildmaster beckoned me over in a solemn voice.

“Mind if I come along?”

“Roche? I see no issue. You’ll have to give your own report anyway, after all.”

We were taken to the guildmaster’s office. Firstly, Roche gave a rundown of what happened on the trip, then we got to talking about me. As I sort of expected, it was about what happened after my match.

“I always figured there was something up with Ryoma, but is that what it was?” The guildmaster rested his elbows on his desk and his head on his hands. looking distressed. “Roche, tell me a little more. How were the people who avoided Ryoma acting?”

“They were afraid at first, but some of them have adjusted their attitudes by now. Most of the students avoided Ryoma, while the older teachers who hadn’t already accepted him from the start came to an understanding with him that morning. Most of those who kept avoiding him are on the younger side, including Bosco and a few others as far as the teachers are concerned.”

“Bosco has some growing to do. I suppose the others would have panicked when they saw Ryoma’s strength as well.”

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“No need to apologize. You were just showing your skills to help the students. There’s nothing condemnable about that, even if the outcome was somewhat unfortunate. So, Roche, what do you make of Ryoma’s strength? Be honest.”

“Even if I were still in my prime, I wouldn’t want to go up against him. If I were Bosco’s age and weren’t already headed for my retirement, I might have felt the same way as him.”

“I heard he beat Howard. Howard can use energy meditation too, can’t he?”

“Yes, and I can assure you, he didn’t pull any punches.”

“I see, interesting. Ryoma.”

“Yes?”

The guildmaster took a piece of parchment out of his desk and wrote something down. “Guildmasters have the authority to place limitations on an adventurer’s activities, as well as remove certain limitations. One such limitation regards jobs involving bandits. You would have to fight human beings on these jobs, so they’re generally only made available to adventurers C-Rank and above. That means restrictions on those jobs are automatically removed when you reach C-Rank, but if you fulfill a few conditions and get the guildmaster’s approval, you can accept these jobs at a lower rank.”

“Guildmaster?! Are you serious?” Roche argued, but one look from the guildmaster silenced him.

“Roche, I understand how you feel. I agree with everything you’ve said to Ryoma. I was slightly unsure about what to do with him, but he knows how to take care of himself. I do fear that if he’s left to his own devices, eventually he may cross a line. But that would just be part of Ryoma’s life. You know that, don’t you? As long as parents do everything necessary to set the stage, their children can grow up safely. Conversely, growing up without parents can sometimes lead a child to become an incompetent adult. But as the guildmaster, I have no intention of taking such a role. From the moment he registered, Ryoma never needed protection. He was able to walk on his own two feet before he got here, and I wanted you to confirm this once and for all. I wanted someone else I trust to give me their opinion on Ryoma. The fact that our opinion is mutual just makes me all the more certain.”

“Was that the idea?”

“Yeah, and I want to help Ryoma, but I don’t want to get in his way,” the guildmaster declared, solemnly handing me a piece of paper. “Ryoma, by my authority as the guildmaster of Gimul’s adventurer’s guild, I permit you to accept requests to hunt bandits. On your way out, show this and your guild card to the receptionist. They’ll mark on your guild card that you’ve gotten my permission. If you use that, you should be able to climb to C-Rank that much faster. But remember that while this lets you fight bandits, I’m not giving you carte blanche to do everything on your own. So find party members if you can. And if you need anything, feel free to ask me. I want to be certain that there are no misunderstandings here.”

“Okay! Understood!” I said.

“Alright, good answer,” the guildmaster said, let go of the paper, and lowered his hand. “Oh, and as far as how some others are treating you, that’s inevitable in a way. The stronger you get, the more of that you’ll see from even the most ordinary people. I wouldn’t worry about it too much; just do what you want to do. As long as you’re not breaking the law, of course.”

I already knew what I wanted to do. “That’s fine, nothing will change with me. I’ll keep taking jobs here as usual,” I said. Whether people were going to avoid me after this or not, I didn’t plan on hiding away in the forest again. It would be impossible for every single person I met to like me, anyway. I’d been lucky enough to meet some great people during my time in this world, but now that I had more opportunities to mingle with a greater breadth of people, this was going to happen eventually. It wasn’t like any existing relationships had ended, so I could keep on living my usual carefree life.

“Nothing will change, eh? For better or worse, I imagine you’ll be proven right.”

“Oh, right, but I’ll think about finding party members.” Roche and the guildmaster were trying to look out for me, after all. I couldn’t say for sure that I’d actually find anyone though, unfortunately.

“Just don’t push yourself too hard,” the guildmaster said, then gave me permission to leave. He looked kind of exhausted.