Volume 1 Chapter 10 Counterattack
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
(I’m feeling good. Right now, I’m on fire!)
Kian, wearing glasses, looked around to get a sense of the situation.
The wide space in front of the guild’s reception was chaotic.
Serena and Funnelwings’ group were glaring at Kian, while other adventurers watched with keen interest.
Even the receptionists behind the counter started peeking out, curious about what was happening.
”Hey, move it, ‘garbage scavenger’!”
The delinquent priest, Rosen Pitt, was getting all worked up, veins popping on his temple as he reached out.
Kian, expecting him to shove, just shifted his body slightly, making Rosen Pitt miss.
”Ugh… Whoa!”
”S-Senior Rosen?!”
Kian glanced at the priest, who was stumbling forward, and called out to Sophia.
”Hey, Sophia.”
”Huh? W-what is it?”
Sophia snapped back at Kian, annoyed he called her without a title.
Kian pushed himself in front of Funnelwing and slammed his hand on the counter with a bang!
”My turn isn’t over yet.”
”Whoa, hold on! …Are you trying to scare me?”
”Scare you? Ha, who would do something so barbaric? I just want to confirm a few things with you. Very peacefully──”
”Hey, you! ‘Garbage scavenger’!”
Kian turned to the loud voice and saw the delinquent priest, now back on his feet, approaching with a scowl.
Kian snorted.
”Still trying to vent your frustrations through a fight, huh?”
”Huh?”
Kian looked up at the tall priest glaring down at him.
”You wanted to cause a ruckus, but you only had the talent for the rearguard, so you were always frustrated, right? Back when we were in a party, you often took it out on me. It’s understandable you can’t control your emotions well, but you should really stop bothering others. No matter how good you are as an adventurer, eventually, no one will want to deal with you.”
”…!”
”──Kian, just let it go already, will you? Move aside!”
As Kian tried to continue, a killing intent leaked from behind, accompanied by a voice.
Funnelwing must have channeled magic power into his arm to try and shove me again.
Since it wasn’t a conscious action, it was pretty rough, making it easy to sense.
”────.”
As Kian turned around, he dodged and avoided Funnelwing’s arm.
Being a vanguard swordsman, he seemed to notice he had been dodged.
Searching for Kian’s vanished body, when he realized he was standing right behind him, blood rushed to his calm face.
”You… ‘garbage scavenger’!”
Magic power surged from his body, and Funnelwing swung at him.
Normally, Kian would have apologized right away instead of fighting.
A cup full of magic power wouldn’t deal any damage to a vanguard swordsman armed to the teeth.
But this time was different.
Kian, without flinching, opened his eyes wide and stepped forward to meet Funnelwing, who was flexing his muscles like a bear and throwing punches.
(…, …, …!)
Kian quickly gathered his energy, pouring in the equivalent of three full buckets without hesitation—he could always replenish it later.
Without wasting a moment, he dove into his space, slipping past his own outstretched arm to press his palm firmly against Funnelwing’s stomach.
”Ha!”
”Gah!? Ah… ugh…”
He unleashed the basic technique ‘Impact’.
The shockwave released from his palm slammed into Funnelwing’s insides, breaking through his thick cloth armor and chainmail.
”Oh…”
(Did it hit his chest too?)
Not forgetting his focus, he let out a thin breath through his teeth.
The handsome swordsman with cat-like hair seemed to have temporarily stopped breathing, standing there clutching his chest.
With his mouth wide open, he fell backward without being able to brace himself.
”Y-You bastard!!!”
Rosen Pitt, the delinquent priest watching from the side, let out a furious roar.
He charged in the same way, but he was a rearguard specialist and didn’t have the speed or power of Funnelwing.
Kian swatted away the incoming fist with his hand and quickly jabbed the knuckle of his finger under the priest’s nose.
”Bu… ugh!?”
The delinquent priest staggered, not even realizing what had just happened as he instinctively covered his mouth.
Kian is just standing there, not even trying to chase after it.
A look of fear crossed his face at Rosen Pitt’s bad-boy look.
”Next time, I’ll poke your eyes out. If you don’t want that, at least follow the order.”
Funnelwing groaned from behind.
”This low-rank adventurer is so cocky!”
”Well, I hit you with 3 buckets of ‘impact,’ but this swordsman is tough, huh?”
(If I had a blade, could I have killed him?)
’Indeed. That same ploy will not work again. Though this handsome fellow is vexing, I must admit he has talent.’
Funnelwing, wobbling, got into a fighting stance.
He still seemed ready to go, like a bar brawl.
But Kian wasn’t in the mood to keep this up.
That’s why he just hit Rosen Pitt with a bucket full of ‘impact’ too.
…But it’s a secret that his magic power is completely drained now.
”I’ll break your teeth so you can’t eat!”
”Sorry to interrupt your fighting spirit, but aren’t you going to help your buddy?”
”What did you say?”
The cat-haired handsome guy turned to the deliquent priest.
Behind him, Rosen, who got hit in the nose by Kian, was lying on his back, mouth wide open, gasping weakly, “Hoo, hoo.”
Kian had destroyed the cells in his mouth and nose with ‘impact,’ and part of the surrounding muscles was paralyzed too.
He probably couldn’t even breathe, let alone chant a healing spell, with his own blood flowing in.
He should just lie face down, but he’s such a fool.
Maybe he’s in shock from losing to Kian.
”Fuh, Falfal. Senior Rosen…”
”Ugh, Rosen!? Are you okay!?”
”‘The healer from the Western Church will crush the throat. Don’t let the magician talk. They use words as weapons.’ You better find someone among those onlookers who can use healing magic quickly.”
Kian said that and turned his back on the ‘Falcon Brigade.’ Funnelwing, with his composed face now angry, shouted, “W-Wait!” but the laughter of the surrounding adventurers drowned him out.
”Hey, the ‘Falcon Brigade’ lost to a ‘garbage scavenger’ with 2 against one!”
”Ha ha, so they weren’t the hopeful one after all. Is that really a Rank 6 adventurer party?”
”I heard everyone’s individual rank is below Rank 7. They must be Rank 6 overall. Still, losing to the lowest rank is kinda rough.”
Low, crude laughter rises from the crowd of onlookers.
One person, Franciska, who clearly doesn’t get the vibe, frowns and looks around at the crowd.
”Um, is there anyone who can help Senior Rosen? P-please, he looks really in pain…”
”…! Damn…!”
Funnelwing’s face turns bright red as he clenches his fists at his sides.
He glares at Kian’s back, shoulders tense.
”Damn it. I’m definitely going to ruin you…! I’ll crush you for sure…!”
Ignoring the killing intent from behind, Kian turns back to the receptionist, Sophia.
The brown-haired receptionist covers her mouth, stunned.
”Sorry about that. I didn’t want to cause a scene in the guild, but I had to defend myself. I think everyone here saw them throw the first punch.”
”Uh… y-yeah…”
”Anyway, back to the point. I’m supposed to have my adventurer license revoked by the end of this month. Right?”
”…”
Sophia nods stiffly, like a broken doll.
”That’s because I broke the guild’s customary laws. The penalty for a low-ranked adventurer is a fine of ten silver coins, and for the lowest rank, it’s revocation of the adventurer license, right?”
”Y-yes!”
Sophia shakes her head and regains some confidence.
When Kian shoots her a cold glare from behind his glasses, she flinches back but manages to keep talking.
”Without gathering herbs, you can continue as an adventurer. After all, the guild decided that the lowest-ranked adventurers can’t do that, so they’re revoking Mr. Kian’s license to protect your lives!”
”So, if I can protect my own life, live as an adventurer, and remain useful to the guild──if I can meet those conditions, then the guild can keep me on, right? If you look beyond the strict rules, that’s what it means, right?”
”You beat a Rank 7 adventurer, so you want me to recognize your skills?”
”No way, I’ll show you in a way that’s crystal clear. The higher-ups in the guild, and you too, Sophia, will have to acknowledge it for sure.”
Sophia looked up at Kian, challenging him.
”W-What are you planning to do?”
”I just need to level up to a Rank 8 adventurer.”
”Huh…?”
Kian repeated himself.
”By the end of the month, I’ll gather contribution points, take the promotion exam, and if I pass, that’ll prove my worth, right? As long as I pay a fine of ten silver coins, I can stay in the guild.”
”That’s… impossible! Mr. Kian, you’re still 3,000 points short! How many Rank 9 requests do you think you need to take? The promotion exam is on the 26th!”
”Are you stupid? I just need to clear about 6 average Rank 7 requests. It’s way more efficient than taking almost 50 Rank 9 requests.”
”You’re the stupid one! You’ll die!”
”According to the rules! I can take requests up to Rank 2. Right?”
”…!”
Kian smirked slightly.
”There’s no problem. I can clear them solo without breaking a sweat. I won’t have a party, so I’ll have to give up the special points I get from teaming up, but…”
”…………”
Sophia sat down heavily in the chair behind her, speechless.
Kian handed her a few request flyers.
”After checking, these 5 seem to fit me best. If I get the best results, I won’t even need to take a 6th request for contribution points. Let’s go with these for now.”
”…No way, I don’t want to…”
”That’s not something a staff member should say, right? Just get my adventurer’s notebook and register these requests.”
”I can’t do that.”
”Why not?”
Sophia’s eyes started to well up with tears.
”I threw it away! Mr. Kian’s adventurer’s notebook! I thought you wouldn’t need it since you’re probably going to change jobs anyway!”
Now that she mentioned it, she had thrown away some papers before saying, “Next, please!” yesterday.
She’s still a rookie receptionist in her teens, so maybe it’s understandable, but her behavior is just unbelievable.
It’s like she’s not really thinking straight; she might be good at studying, but she’s lacking in common sense.
”I have to go apologize to my boss (Ms. Irina) right now!”
Kian smiled at the panicking receptionist.
”Not my problem.”
He said that and left the counter.
Once he was done, he didn’t want to stick around there any longer.
He needed to prepare for the Rank 7 quest as quickly as possible.
(One quest takes 3 days plus one day off. I planned to use the day off wisely to recover from fatigue and also relieve my s*xual urges while tackling the requests.)
All the requests were from places close to this East End, and he chose ones that weren’t combat quests as much as possible.
(If I perfectly completes 5 requests, I won’t need to do a 6th one, allowing me plenty of time to prepare before the promotion exam.)
’Well, that should pose no trouble for you.’
”Yeah, I can do it.”
He smirked.
In front of him stood a mountain of challenges.
But since all of them were there to showcase his abilities, he felt nothing but joy.
Kian let out a low, rumbling laugh as he passed through the guild entrance.
Then, he heard footsteps following him from behind.
This strong magic power belonged to Serena, the Wolfmen’s girl.
The footsteps stopped right behind him.
”Wait!”
”Do you need something from me?”
He slowly turned around.
Pushing up the bridge of his glasses with his finger, he looked at the silver-haired beauty.
Serena approached with her eyebrows raised.
”Were you hiding your skills?”
”What are you talking about?”
”Don’t play dumb. Your movements earlier were those of a warrior who has undergone combat training.”
”Is that so?”
”Yes. The moment you were attacked, you quickly gathered and unleashed your magic power… that was ‘Azrael’s Death Sword’.”
Kian shoved his hands into his pockets and stepped closer to Serena, thrusting his hips forward.
”Even if I’m using Azrael’s sword, it has nothing to do with you.”
”It does. My brother was killed by an ‘Azrael’s Death Sword user’.”
”I’m just a Rank 9 adventurer. I don’t know anything about your brother or the Apostle of Azrael.”
”That’s a lie.”
Her ears twitch, and she looks at Kian with her fiery light blue eyes.
”You just lied.”
”…”
’Hehe, she saw straight through you.’
(Why? Is it intuition?)
Anyway, he can’t waste time on unnecessary conversation.
Kian shrugs and starts to walk away from her.
”Wait! Who are you!?”
”Kian. No family name. Just Kian.”
With that, he steps outside the adventurer’s guild.
”Kian… I’ll remember your name and face.”
He feels her burning light blue gaze on his back.
Tip: If you fail a quest, you lose a lot of contribution points, so if you don’t have the skills, it’s tough to rank up.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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