Chapter LIII - Office Master (part 1)

Somehow, the outside of the arena is already quite crowded. 

The press and adventurers are waiting outside, asking for answers. Luckily, there was Jonus, who was known for being the White ranked adventurer. He is handling them pretty well.

His self centered behavior eases the whole process and takes claim for the explosions. He said it was an accident and said he was trying to teach some foolish newbie adventurers. He looked back and glared at me with his ugly face.

Veins by veins popped on my head, but Klane pulled me away from the reporters and people towards the side.

After leaving the arena, we headed straight to the Office. We have to go and see the Office master for some reason, and I might have to apologize or something.

"The master is currently inside his room, on the second floor."

Keila said to us when Klane asked her at the receptionist desk. Klane then nodded firmly and walked upstairs.

Keila looked at me and cupped her palms together while closing her eyes, as if praying for me. I simply stiffened up and worriedly followed Klane upstairs.

I remembered that the second room after the stairs was the room I stayed on for a week back at the beginning. But this time, we went through the hall even further. We kept on going through the hall and arrived at a room with a different door than the rest.

Klane knocked the door with caution.

"Enter!"

A shout can be heard from inside. Klane turned to me and glared with a smile. I was so confused as to what she meant as she slowly opened the door and showed me what's inside.

It was a madman's lab, but it was clean.

Papers and books are piled up properly at the end of the rooms. A single bedroom on one edge is cleanly made. The light on top of the room is shining bright, so that one can read easily.

The table at the end of the room is facing towards the door. On top of the table are books, a bottle of beer, and a tint.

Behind the table is the same middle aged man I once saw before, holding the quill and a paper on the table. It looks like he was writing.

On his head is what looks to be round glasses. It looks a little bit lowered. If it were me, I would have pushed that back up, the moment it went down even by a millimeter, because lowered glasses are uncomfortable.

He glared at us as if judging us. His expression isn't quite what you call friendly, but something tells me that's just his usual face.

"Is she the one causing the explosions?"

He asked as if he didn't care. But after my experiences with cold and bloodthirsty teachers during my twelve years of school experience, I know better that he is asking so that he could have something to be pissed about. Just like any killer teacher.

"Yes. But it was because she is sparring with Jonus, sir."

Klane is somewhat polite. I recalled how she was very scared of him during the first time I saw him.

She is also surprisingly defensive. From her words, she is clearly trying to cover for me.

He looked back at me and studied me. I feel attacked and studied, somehow.

"Rize, isn't it? Rize Violet?"

He suddenly got interested in me. He puts down his quill back to the tint and puts down his glasses.

"Yes. I'm… surprised you remembered."

He stood up while I was talking. Just like I remembered, he had a very big posture.

He wasn't wearing the colorful tropical shirt that I saw at the first time. This time, he is wearing a noble casual outfit, but quite the old and shabby one.

The sleeves of the hand were pulled all the way to the shoulder. Some of the top buttons were undone, and his gray pants look like they have seen a little bit of fallen coffee before.

He looks more like a dirty commoner than a noble. However, he noticed my eyes studying him and chuckled a little.

"Apologize for the dirty look. I haven't left this room for a day already."

The Office Master said so easily, which shocked Klane.

"S-Sir! You should really take care of yourself! Your wife and son-"

"Is doing fine at home, thank you for worrying. I already told them that I'll be working harder, so it's fine."

"Is that really fine...?"

Klane said a little concerned, and I guess it is by her nature to worry about other people. The Office Master simply stood right next to his desk, and he turned his gaze back at me.

"And as to what caused me to work harder… I'm pretty much looking at her."

He seemed to think that I was the problem. I mean, I am a troublemaker, but he probably has no idea how little that narrows it down. Or does he?

He turned around and walked to a pile of paper on the table. He had his shoulder facing us, and he began reading the contents of the paper.

"Two months ago, a Red ranked adventurer killed a demonized bear in a single whoop. That started quite a news story in the press, and the villagers were quite thrilled. But they had no idea who to ask, so they went to me."

He picked up a piece of paper from a single pile that was separated from the others. He showed me the paper, and I read it.

It was the report for the mission when I killed the demonized bear. I remembered that the demon bear was actually a Purple rank, and it was certainly very dangerous for a newbie.

... Dang. This guy was the one handling all the press. I always wondered how it became so famous and no one actually came to me.

"A few days after that, corpses of demon wolves were found by a high ranked adventurer. They counted that the five demonized wolves should be at least a Purple ranked, each. And that one of them had activated its demon mode, which supposedly raised the danger level into Green rank."

He picked up another paper and gave it to me. It's my gathering mission, where I encountered the demon wolves.

"Now…"

He then turned his front to me again and rested his butt at the table. His hands were folded, and he nodded his chin to me.

"What can you tell me from these two reports?"

He asked me while waiting for my answer, and I only turned to Klane. Klane did say that she will stay silent during the whole process, so I can't really rely on her.

However... 

"This conversation seems to be a lot more than a simple apology."

I said to Klane, but she could only shake her head. She seemed to be staying silent, and I can only guess why. I turned my gaze to the Master who was waiting, and I calmed myself before answering.

"It was me. These two reports."

I gave the papers back to him, and he took it from my hands.

"And that was you being a Red ranked adventurer?"

"Correct."

He nodded firmly at me as he put the papers back at the pile, and he rested his butt on the table again.

"So... you're telling me that as a Red ranked adventurer, you managed to kill a Purple ranked demonized bear in one swoop, as well as a Green ranked demon wolf?"

Why... is he still asking? He isn't stupid, so he doesn't need to confirm such a thing twice.

"Yes. That is true."

"I see. I just wanted to confirm with you."

He took a deep breath and walked to the pile again. This time, he pulled one from the top.

He didn't read this one aloud. Instead, he gave me the paper, and I read it right away. It was the report about the mission at the Yellow ranked dungeon, with Hod and Valey.

"Two Blue rankers, and one Purple ranked. That was two weeks ago, wasn't it?"

I glared at him in silence, but I continued reading.

"According to a witness, the Swordsaint, those three managed to conquer the entire dungeon on their own. And they have also checked that the dungeon boss…"

The Master did not continue, but instead let me read first. My eyes arrived at the point of the report where it talks about the dungeon boss. My eyes widened as my breathing went uncontrolled.

Klane is confused as to what's with the sudden change in my breathing. She didn't know about the truth, and it was intended to keep it that way.

I looked back at the master, but the look on his face shows me that he seemed to know about it.

They... knew about it this whole time.

"The boss of the dungeon… is a Black ranked monster."

The Office Master stated after seeing my expression, and Klane only turned widely shocked.

My hands are holding the paper harder, as sweat started to come out from my head. Klane turned her gaze to me with a really shocked look, and she could only stare at my face in silence.

However, my eyes are locked to the Master. Pondering... concerned.

Now that I realized they knew... this whole time...

What will he do about it?

"I asked Fran to report to me. She said that you and your team were lying when asked about the boss."

The Office Master revealed to me, and I tried my best to stay calm. Instead, I just wore a calm smile to show him that nothing is wrong.

"Is that so...? I did not know the boss was a Black rank. It was strong, but..."

"I think there is no reason for you to lie, Rize. I understand that you were only trying to protect yourself."

My eyes shot back at the master. This time, I cannot afford to make mistakes anymore.

"You avoided attention, so that you will not be bothered with responsibilities. Even though you could've reaped so much benefits from killing and defeating such a difficult monster... you didn't want the world to know about it."

He turned his back and grabbed a piece of paper from a different pile. This time, the pile is on a bookshelf. 

And it wasn't just any pile, it was a very short pile of papers, consisting of only two or three papers. The thin and tiny pile was placed on a single block for itself, while the other blocks were piled to even hundreds of pages.

I counted the amount of blocks, and my guess was correct. There were 8 blocks in total, where he put all those piles of papers. The first bottom pile had the most papers, so I'm guessing that's where the Red rank is at. And the top of the pile where he pulled the paper… must be for the Black rank.

"I see you have guessed what the piles are."

As if he read my mind, he pulled the paper out of the pile for the Black rank and handed the paper to me. I slowly took it from his hand while still staring at his face, then I turned my eyes to the paper on my hands.

But the more I read the paper, the more shocked I became.

"That was the only info that we have regarding the Black ranked monster that was found in the dungeon. We couldn't really pull much, but that much info is really precious."

Some of the info written here is extremely accurate, like how his body is extremely strong and uncuttable with normal metal. It also mentions the presence of earth magic, which was indeed something he was capable of.

Yes. This is the data of Galar, the God of Orcs.

They were able to extract this much information... with just his burned ashes. The magic technology of this world is so much more advanced than I thought.

"I am asking you for it."

I turned my cold eyes back at him, but he only pointed at the paper.

"If you can tell me everything that you know about that monster, we could have avoided another confrontation with it."

He said as if he wants to avoid any issues when confronting this monster. But sadly, this isn't that easy.

"I can tell you. Anything you want to know about this monster, I can give you.

But... why should I?"

I said with a grin on my face, and the Office Master's face only curled. Klane turned to me with a surprised look, and the Office Master let out a sigh.

"All I wanted was to know the danger. That thing is a Black ranked monster. It can threaten the existence of the entire continent."

"Is that what you really wanted to know? Are you not even slightly curious about the person who killed such a thing?"

I asked the hidden intentions that this old guy is having inside his thoughts, and he only chuckles hearing such words.

"You were only two months old as an adventurer. Maybe less. You're not exactly a big problem to me--"

"And if I am?"

I quickly cut him off while lowering the paper, and the Master smiled at me.

"You're not. Because I trust Klane."

The Office Master said while pointing to Klane, and she only looked so confused as to why she got brought up. I only let out a sigh after realizing he even used Klane as his argument.

"Even if you are Klane's dad, if you were to do anything like harassing me, I will still spare no mercy--"

"I am not an enemy, Rize. Please calm down--"

"Then, burn it. Everything that you have regarding Galar. You can't, can you?"

I said with a wide grin to him, but the Office Master only lowered his gaze. Klane held my arm, and I quickly turned to find her worried expression.

"Rize... calm down."

She pleaded to me, and I realized that Klane is also here. She definitely does not see her employer as a bad person, and I might've been in the wrong.

I began to calm myself down, and I turned my gaze back to the Office Master. He looked quite surprised as well, but he only laughed it off.

"Apologies if this felt more like an interrogation than an interview. I just wanted to know about any potential danger that might threaten our kingdom."

The Office Master said while waving his hand around, but I only folded my hands.

"I'm very worried about how you even interviewed your employees."

I said freely, not even caring that Klane is right next to me. Klane quickly looked concerned, but the Office Master didn't mind my words.

"My intentions are pure. I am only seeing as to whether or not you are a threat to the kingdom. However..."

He turned his gaze to Klane, and from that one glare alone, I can already tell he must've told the truth.

We both cared about Klane. And if Klane cares about either of us, then that should've already been the answer to our suspicions.

"You got your answer, then. I still didn't get mine."

I said to him, and he only folded his arms back just like me.