Chapter 15

When I arrived at the Adventurer's Guild, I was immediately led to the Guild Master's office.

The staff member knocked on the door of the Guild Master's room.

"Guild Master, Zeros is here."

"Please, come in."

With permission to enter, I opened the door and went inside.

To my surprise, the person there was unexpected.

First impression: a beautiful woman.

She had chestnut hair, almost blonde, cut neatly at her neck, exuding a calm and composed aura.

She looked to be in her mid-20s, quite young for a Guild Master.

She stood up gracefully, a soft smile on her face, and turned to me.

Her demeanor was dignified, almost like that of a noble.

"Nice to meet you, Zeros. I am Alisa, the Guild Master of the Sylphide branch of the Adventurer's Guild."

Her voice was clear and pleasant to the ear.

Her eyes, narrowed gently, sparkled with intelligence.

She moved slowly to stand before me and bowed deeply.

"I apologize for the inconvenience caused by the guild-affiliated adventurers this time."

Her apology was sincere.

However, it felt a bit uncomfortable to receive an apology from someone who hadn't committed any wrongdoing.

"Please raise your head. I know it's not your fault."

"…Thank you, Zeros."

Alisa expressed her gratitude with a soft smile, then immediately turned serious.

"The ones you captured have been found guilty of several other crimes and will be handed over to the lord as criminals. They will be sentenced to hard labor for the rest of their lives."

After saying this, Alisa took a bag of gold coins from her desk drawer and handed it to me.

It looked like it contained a large amount of gold.

"This is a token of our gratitude for this time."

"Thanks, but… isn't this a lot for a reward?"

When I asked this, Alisa began to explain, "Actually…"

"A while ago, Il came and refused the reward, saying he hadn't done anything. He asked if it could be given to you instead."

"…I see."

So that's what happened.

It seems Il had thought of me.

"Then, I'll gratefully accept it."

"Yes, it will be a great help to the guild."

I took the bag of gold coins from Alisa.

It was quite heavy. I had been doing this without any support from home, except for my short sword… but with this, I could probably get a good set of equipment and items.

As I was thinking this, Alisa suddenly spoke up.

"By the way, are you not a registered adventurer here? I checked, and there was no one with your name."

Curiosity was evident in Alisa's voice.

Her expression was bright, as if she had discovered new talent.

"No, I've been exploring dungeons without affiliation. But since I'm here, I was thinking of registering today."

"Really!? That's great! It's a huge help to the guild to have a skilled person join!"

Alisa's smile became even brighter.

She gracefully retrieved the registration forms and handed them to me.

"If there are no issues, please fill these out."

"Sure, I will."

I took the forms and read through them.

The terms and rules were fine.

The items to be filled out were name, level, and emblem name.

Name and emblem name were mandatory. Level was optional, but there was no particular reason to hide it.

Actually, what I wanted to hide was my name.

If it were known that I was a noble, specifically the son of a lord, I might get involved in troublesome situations.

As an adventurer, I preferred not to reveal my family name.

(I'll leave out my family name, just in case.)

While I was filling out the forms, Alisa spoke to avoid the silence.

"By the way, during the interrogation, they said something strange."

"Strange?"

When I looked up, I could see curiosity in Alisa's eyes.

"Yes. They said that despite Zeros having the [Void Emblem], he overwhelmed them using skills. Haha, that's quite a stretch, isn't it?"

"………"

It seems the situation Il had feared had indeed occurred.

But since it was being taken as a joke, there shouldn't be a problem.

I finished filling out the forms at that moment.

"I'm done."

"Thank you… Oh, so the [Void Emblem] is real."

Surprise was evident in Alisa's voice, but she seemed more intrigued.

"Will that be a problem for registration?"

The [Void Emblem] is apparently a sign of incompetence in this world, so I asked just to be sure.

However, Alisa shook her head immediately.

"No, it's not a problem. I was just surprised. Overwhelming them without any skills suggests that you must be quite skilled—"

Suddenly, Alisa froze.

I wondered what had happened.

After a moment, she slowly turned to face me.

Her expression was a mix of surprise and confusion.

"Um, you wrote that your level is 16…?"

"Yes, that's right."

As I nodded, Alisa stood up abruptly.

"Wait a minute! The party you captured yesterday had an average level of over 20 and was E-rank! It's hard to believe that a level 16 [Void Emblem] holder could defeat them alone! …Are you actually a seasoned warrior or something?"

"………"

A seasoned warrior, huh.

In Creon's time, maybe, but not now.

So, I decided to be honest.

"No, I'm not. I only got my emblem three days ago."

"Three!?"

Alisa seemed to reach her limit and lost her words.

Her expression froze, as if she had turned into a statue.

…Was it that shocking?

In Creon, this was quite normal.

Actually, considering I'm focusing on skill acquisition, I'm a bit late.

"………… (blankly)"

But it seems it was quite shocking for Alisa.

It might take her a while to come back to reality.

Watching Alisa's shock, I realized the gap between the common sense of this world and my own.

I need to be more careful from now on.

I thought this for a moment.

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