“No, no, S-Rank… I heard it requires the approval of three guild masters?”

Recalling the conditions I had heard from Linford, I directed my question at Lowell. One of them was undoubtedly the guild master here, but where did the other two come from?

“Of course, we have the approval of three guild masters.”

“For real?”

“Yes. One is the guild master of the Reblos branch. The other two are from the Aresgüte Commercial Nation branch.”

“Huh?”

When I think of an adventurer’s guild master in the commercial nation, what comes to mind is a petite elf woman and a bald musclehead who got treated like a toy by Nir…

“It’s Frances-dono from the Raven branch and Jared-dono from the Trade Capital branch.”

Ah—yeah, I think those were their names. They were also the ones who knew that Nir was an S-Rank monster.

“Since when…?”

Apparently, the two guild masters had their eyes on us ever since we tamed an S-Rank monster. Also, whether for good or bad reasons, guilds share information on noteworthy adventurers. By the time we arrived at the Reblos branch, they had already received a notice that we had the approval of two guild masters for S-Rank promotion.

“So that’s why the guild master directly commissioned us for the Sea Emperor Turtle attack operation?”

“Exactly. Of course, Kant-san’s appraisal results also played a part.”

“And this mithril tag is proof that Nir is an S-Rank familiar…?”

The previous tag had already been collected by the guild, so I attached the new one around Nir’s neck.

The adventurers, who had been screaming earlier, were now cautiously inching forward, trying to resume their fluffy petting.

“Also, about your adventurer certificates—ordinarily, they would be exchanged for the new ones. However, our guild doesn’t have the magic tool needed to engrave text onto mithril.”

They suggested that we have the official adventurer certificates made at a major city’s guild. The nearest one from here was the Imperial Capital’s adventurer guild. If we flew there, it wouldn’t take long.

“Understood.”

“And one more thing.”

“What is it?”

“There’s a direct request for you from the Imperial Army stationed in this town.”

“Huh?”

A certain someone—Dogesha—flashed through my mind, but a request from him? I really didn’t feel like taking it. What should I do…?

“They want you to deliver two of the Sea Emperor Turtle’s heads to the royal castle in the capital.”

Oh, it was a more reasonable request than I expected.

“It seems the country is buying the Sea Emperor Turtle, but they want to deliver the heads as soon as possible.”

“Oh, I see. If it’s just that, I guess it’s fine.”

Rio and I exchanged glances, and she didn’t seem to have any objections.

“Yeah, I don’t see a problem with that.”

“However, the request was made while you were still C-Rank, so the reward will be at a C-Rank level.”

“That’s fine. I don’t mind.”

We already had more money than we could spend.

“Understood. When you deliver it, they’ll discuss the purchasing price of the Sea Emperor Turtle and the rewards from the country, so please handle that as well.”

“Ah—yeah, got it.”

Perhaps sensing my lack of enthusiasm, Lowell gave me a wry smile.

“For the sake of other adventurers, make sure to accept the proper rewards. We don’t want them thinking they can issue requests for free.”

“Haha… Of course.”

Originally, it had been a joint operation between the Imperial Army and us, arranged through the guild. The military might have wanted us integrated into their operation, but they told us to stay out of it—so we went ahead and took it down on our own. It smelled like a hassle waiting to happen.

“By the way, how much does a direct commission for an S-Rank adventurer typically cost?”

Knowing the market price wasn’t a bad idea. I had no clue how much a behemoth like the Sea Emperor Turtle would sell for, so I figured I’d ask about high-level request prices.

“Let’s see… The minimum is around ten million flons. The highest recorded price I’ve heard of exceeds one billion.”

“Huh.”

I studied the mithril adventurer certificate in my hand. So this thing was worth that much, huh?

“Additionally, the value of the target or collected materials is added to that.”

“I see. Thanks.”

Maybe the Earth Dragon we auctioned in the Merchant City could be a reference?

“Alright, we’ll head to the Imperial Capital right away.”

“Yes, please take care.”

We planned to make a slight detour to the forest where Phonia was, but it wouldn’t take too long.

After slipping the new adventurer certificate onto the chain around my neck and tucking it into my chest, we left the guild and headed for the port. The turtle’s heads were still on display there. The onlookers seemed disappointed as we retrieved them, but we reassured them that it was part of our job. The festival atmosphere was still in full swing, which surprised me.

Once we left town and reached a secluded spot, we confirmed there were no people in the teleportation area and teleported in one go.

The recorded coordinates for the hideout placed us between the second-floor building and the cliffside. We descended to the first floor and approached the entrance, knocking on the door.

“Hey, Ivan, you there?”

We waited for a while, but there was no response.

“Phonia-chan?”

Rio also called out, but again, no reply.

We exchanged puzzled glances. Were they both asleep?

Using presence detection—

“—They’re not here?”

“Huh? …Oh, you’re right.”

Neither of them was anywhere nearby. Ivan had mentioned going out to hunt, but it was strange that Phonia wasn’t here either.

We tried the door. It was unlocked and opened easily. Slowly stepping inside, we noticed a pile of firewood stacked neatly in the shoe rack area.

Then, upon entering the living room—

“It’s been ransacked…”

“Shu! What about upstairs!?”

“Let’s check it out!”

We dashed up the stairs and rushed into the second floor.

What we found were slashed furs, a wall shattered as if something had been slammed into it, and a small amount of bloodstains.