Adventurer's Guild Café: I Was Wrongfully Exiled by the Saint, So I Will Enjoy My Second Life with My Fluffy Friends-Chapter 4.2 - S-Ranked Adventurers

Despite the traveler’s warning, my life remained relatively peaceful.

This guild has plenty of good-natured folks, after all.

Today, the café Silver Ribbon was running smoothly as always.

There were a few customers scattered around the shop.

“Ugh, it’s no use!”

As I polished a cup, the bald-headed man sitting in front of me—Gant-san the Rockbreaker—who had his notebook and textbook spread out on the table, slumped over with frustration.

“Damn it, no matter how many times I read this, I just can’t remember it! Help me out, Kuna!”

Apparently, Gant was currently studying for the S-Rank promotion exam.

It seems adventurers need to meet various conditions to rank up.

For example: request success rate, task completion rate, physical ability, and even written tests.

The decision to promote someone’s rank is based on a comprehensive evaluation of these factors.

Gant always seemed to struggle with the written exam.

I set down the cup I was wiping and gave him a sympathetic look.

“Thank you for your hard work. Want to take a break?”

“Yeah, maybe I should. Give me something sweet!”

“Alright, how about some hot chocolate? Adding marshmallows makes it delicious.”

“Sounds great—get me that!”

As I reached for the jar of chocolate, a voice called out from next to Gant’s seat.

“Oh, Kuna-chan! Make one for me too! My brain’s running low on sugar.”

The voice belonged to a young woman with round glasses and a face speckled with freckles.

“Ugh, I’m getting absolutely nowhere with this manuscript! Don’t you have any interesting stories I can use!?”

Messing up her hair in frustration, she let out a groan.

This was Lizzy, an adventurer-turned-novelist.

Apparently, Lizzy published accounts of her various adventures as memoirs and made a living off them.

“I want to end it with a bang—like a really cool line, and then, I dunno, something explodes!”

“Uh... huh? Lizzy-san, aren’t you writing about your actual experiences...?”

I couldn’t help but ask, and she shook her head vigorously.

“No, no, no! Just writing about my experiences would be so boring! You need something that grabs you, that sparks excitement—a real man’s adventure, you know?”

“Wait, doesn’t that make it... not a memoir...?”

Lizzy wagged her finger at me, making a tsk-tsk sound.

“What are you saying, Kuna-chan? A little exaggeration is totally necessary! Just a little exaggeration!”

Listening to our exchange, Gant burst out laughing.

“A little exaggeration? Lady, all you do is exaggerate!”

“Well, what choice do I have? My character is supposed to be an S-Rank adventurer, after all!”

“Kuna-chan, get this—this woman’s actually a C-Rank adventurer. And yet she’s out here calling herself S-Rank and selling novels like that.”

What?! Seriously!?

Lizzy stuck out her tongue and laughed playfully.

“A fierce battle with the final boss in the deepest part of the labyrinth! A clash with a kraken in the raging seas! ‘What will fate decide?!’—isn’t that way more exciting? I mean, no one wants to read about, ‘I defeated some slimes!’ Bigger is always better, don’t you think?”

“How... how have you not been caught yet...?”

Gant was utterly dumbfounded.

From what he said, he’d once rescued Lizzy in a labyrinth.

...From a swarm of mini-slimes.

“I’m fully committed to writing as if I am an S-Rank adventurer. Besides, if it’s entertaining, that’s all that matters!”

“Well, I’ll admit, her descriptions are weirdly realistic. Like how she explains disarming traps.”

“That’s because I researched the heck out of S-Rank adventurers!”

Listening to their conversation, an idea clicked in my mind.

I poured the chocolate and milk I had been stirring into cups, topped them with marshmallows toasted over a flame, and handed the hot chocolate to the two of them.

Then, I made a suggestion.

“In that case, how about Lizzy-san teaches Gant-san about S-Rank adventurers, and Gant-san shares his past adventure stories with Lizzy-san?”

The two of them froze for a moment, then exchanged glances.

“You think you know enough about the exam to help me?”

“I’ve researched it every year, so yeah, I do. And you? Got any stories worth sharing?”

“Oh, I’ve got a ton. Never thought to turn them into memoirs, though.”

“…”

The two stared at each other for a while before mumbling.

“Well, if Kuna-chan says so, I guess we could give it a shot.”

“Yeah, it is Kuna-chan’s idea, after all.”

I’m not really sure why they’re dragging me into the middle of this, but…

It seems like at least one problem has been solved.

Lately, I’ve been getting better at communicating smoothly with everyone like this.

◆

“Hey, Kuna. Got anything sweet for me too?”

“Oh, Kiril-san!”

Just as the two were grumbling while starting their mutual lessons, Kiril walked in.

He glanced at the textbook Gant was holding and muttered nostalgically, “Man, I’ve already forgotten all about this.”

“Now that you mention it, you’re an S-Rank too, Kiril-san, aren’t you?”

“Now that you mention it? Come on…”

“Oh, sorry, it’s just... you’re so familiar, it slipped my mind.”

I poured the remaining hot milk into a cup and handed it to him.

Standing there with the cup in hand, he watched the two exchanging lessons and murmured,

“Getting promoted to S-Rank is pretty tough, you know.”

“Yes. Gant-san said it’s very difficult as well.”

“Yeah. Turns out, only 3% of all adventurers make it to S-Rank.”

“Eh?! It was that low?”

“Yep.”

I was shocked…

I didn’t know that.

Becoming an S-Rank is that hard.

“If you’re talking about around here, it’s me, Gier, and then that guy Aldrud…”

Ah…

“That’s right, Gier-sama was an S-Rank too.”

He had been an adventurer before becoming a knight, according to Ruri.

Kiril snorted and said,

“I was the one who taught him how to clear the labyrinth, you know.”

“Wait, really?”

“Yeah. I teamed up with him for a long time.”

This content is taken from fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm.

So that’s why Gier seemed so familiar with Kiril during the explosion incident…

But why did they break up their partnership?

Kiril muttered absentmindedly,

“He’s not from this country. He faced terrible discrimination and…”

“Huh?”

Kiril suddenly fell silent, as if he had realized something.

“No, it’s nothing. Both of us just went our separate ways because we had different directions, that’s all.”

“That’s... that’s talking like you were musician’s breaking up the band…”

Kiril laughed and took a sip from his cup.

Then, his eyes suddenly widened.

“Kuna. You… again…”

“?”

“…Nah, if Simon’s not saying anything, maybe it’s better if I don’t speak up.”

Just as I was about to ask what he meant, Lizzy, who had been chatting at the counter, screamed.

“Gyaa?!? So what happened?! What about the octopus?!?!”

“You idiot, if you’re not gonna help me with the problem here, I’m not telling you!”

“Tell me, you fool!!”

And so, once again, the café was lively today.