“Whoa, this is a disaster.”

After retreating from the never-ending festival and returning to the inn, we found it in a state of utter chaos. It seemed that the waves from the Sea Emperor Turtle’s defeat had hit the building, flooding the first floor and leaving the basement in complete disarray.

“Dear guests, I sincerely apologize. We are in the process of cleaning up, but it’s taking longer than expected…”

Labiris, a staff member with rabbit ears sprouting from her head and a black choker around her neck, bowed her head deeply.

“No, no, please don’t worry about it. You don’t have to bow to us.”

Being apologized to like this made me feel incredibly awkward.

“It was our magic that caused the waves, so if anything, we should be the ones apologizing.”

“That’s right, we’re the ones at fault here.”

Following Rio’s lead as she bowed her head, I also tried to get Labiris to lift hers.

“Huh? The waves… were your doing…?”

Labiris finally raised her head, albeit looking confused. Watching her rabbit ears twitching perkily made me feel oddly warm inside.

“Ah, um, my magic caused the waves to form…”

As Rio confessed with an awkward expression, Labiris’s ears suddenly stood straight up.

“Wait, don’t tell me—you were the ones who defeated the Sea Emperor Turtle!?”

“Ah, yes. So… I’m really sorry for the state of the inn.”

Rio bowed her head once more, but Labiris grabbed both of her shoulders and forcibly lifted her up.

“No, no! You’re not at fault at all! Rather, thank you so much for saving the city. If that Sea Emperor Turtle had made landfall, this inn, being so close to the sea, would have been one of the first to be destroyed…”

“Ah… yeah… that’s true…”

Compared to that, the damage was minimal… probably. Though I couldn’t shake the feeling that we could have handled things better, there was no point dwelling on it now.

“So please, don’t worry about it at all.”

“Understood.”

There was no use in endlessly apologizing to each other. In times like these, it was best to secretly pay a little extra when settling the bill.

“Everything above the second floor is unaffected, so please rest in your rooms.”

Guided by Labiris’s smile, we headed up to the second floor and immediately dove onto the bed.

It had been a long day, and I was completely exhausted.

Before I knew it, I had lost consciousness, waking up refreshed the next morning.

After having breakfast, we bought daily necessities for Phonia and the others before heading to the Adventurers’ Guild. The Guild Master had called for us, but I wasn’t sure what for.

“Ah, Shu, Rio, you came.”

“The Guild Master told us to come.”

As soon as we went up to the second floor, Lowell spotted us.

“Then let’s proceed with the paperwork. Please come to the counter.”

“Huh? Paperwork for what?”

Though puzzled, we lined up at an open counter. It wasn’t too crowded now that the morning rush had passed.

“It’s for your rank-up, of course. May I have your adventurer cards?”

“Wait, we’re already ranking up?”

It didn’t feel like that long ago that we had reached C-rank.

“Of course. Defeating the Sea Emperor Turtle is a tremendous achievement.”

“If that’s the case…”

I removed the chain from my neck and handed it to Lowell.

“Oh, and your familiar’s tag as well. We’ll be replacing it with a new one.”

After receiving Rio’s adventurer card, Lowell gestured toward Nir.

“Oh, really?”

It made sense for us to rank up, but even Nir’s tag was getting an upgrade?

Calling Nir over, I removed his tag and handed it to Lowell. The adventurers watching us began to murmur amongst themselves. Some even started petting Nir, fluffing his fur. When did he become this popular? And why were more and more people gathering?

When Lowell returned from the back of the counter, he held a metal plate in his hands.

“Here you go.”

Our adventurer cards remained the same, but now an additional metal plate was threaded onto the chain. The new plate shimmered with a silver-green hue that changed to a rainbow-like glint depending on the angle. Its surface was smooth, with no engravings or markings.

Appraising it, I found that it was made of mithril. No wonder it looked familiar—it was the same material as the ten-billion-fron coin.

“What’s this?”

Unsure, I looked to Lowell, who straightened his posture and gave a broad smile.

“Shu, Rio, congratulations. Your adventurer rank has been promoted to S-rank. This mithril adventurer card is proof of your new status.”

“…Huh?”

Before I could ask why, the adventurers around us erupted into cheers.

“And as for your familiar’s tag—since its master has reached S-rank, there’s no longer any need to pretend it’s just a Silver Wolf pup. We’ll be replacing it with a tag appropriate for an S-rank familiar.”

“““What!?”””

The adventurers who had been petting Nir froze in shock.

“From now on, you may proudly call him by his true name—Frozvitnir.”

The moment they registered Lowell’s words, the previously frozen adventurers broke into horrified screams.