A Wild Final Boss Appeared

The Adventurer's Guild was easy enough to find.

It was the largest structure in the commercial district, surrounded by many temporary shops. People dressed in unique equipment came in and out at irregular, frequent intervals. Though there wasn't a label on the doors, a large insignia hung on a wooden board of a crossed sword and staff on the second floor of the building.

Standing in front of the plain double door to the building, Matthias couldn't help but get cold feet. Though he had repeatedly imagined himself on that fateful day, it was completely different when he was experiencing it in real life.

"Dude, are you okay?"

Manna nudged him with her elbow. She did it with enough force to knock him slightly out of balance. After he came back to his senses, he stammered and laughed nervously.

"I'm fine. Let's go in?"

Though Manna's doubt was obvious, he nevertheless found some courage when he remembered that he wasn't entering alone.

The interior layout of the guild was as Matthias expected. Directly ahead of the door was a wide receptionist counter manned by five guild employees. Next to the window was a large bulletin board where the quests should be posted. There was ample empty space to his right, with a few tables and chairs; it was probably the waiting area. Beyond it was an entrance to the guild's own bar and restaurant.

There were many people inside wearing various kinds of equipment. He could see warriors, archers, mages, and scouts from a glance. There were probably more professions there that Matthias couldn't immediately specify. He did notice that most of the armed people there were older than they were. Thankfully, they didn't attract anybody's attention.

"Oops! Sorry, kid!"

He was suddenly bumped into from behind by a tall man with a spear on his back. The latter quickly apologized with a gentle smile and left, which gave him a positive first impression. However, he was extremely handsome, so Matthias immediately didn't like him.

"Come on, Matt. Let's go register!"

There was a burning excitement in Manna's voice. She held onto his shoulders and pulled him close. As he stared at her long eyelashes and caught her scent, he couldn't stop himself from blushing furiously. He immediately turned his head away so she wouldn't see and pushed her away gently.

"Oh, you two are registering?" the tall guy from before approached them. "The one in charge of new recruits would be that girl on the counter with the blonde hair to the far right. She'll take care of everything for you."

He smiled like the dazzling sun. "Not good," Matthias thought. The guy was almost as good-looking as he was. Though he didn't look like a playboy, those kinds of men were typically even more admired among women than those who were.

"Matt! Come on!"

Manna was already at the reception counter, waving her hand to him. It looked like she didn't even care about the guy who helped them. He sighed in relief.

"You should get going. Your girlfriend's waiting."

With those words, he finally noticed that most of the adventurers in the room were looking at them with warm eyes. The blush that he had finally managed to repress came back again. He hung his head, trying to hide his embarrassment, despite being aware that it was only making it more obvious. Of course, some didn't look at them all too kindly or even had annoyed expressions, but they made up the small minority of the people there.

"Guess we'll be working in the same profession starting today. Good luck!"

As he walked to Manna, he looked back and saw the guy giving him a thumbs up. Behind him was what looked to be his party; a female mage with a really impatient expression, a female cleric, a male archer, and a male scout.

Matthias smiled and replied with his own thumbs-up.

"Greetings. Welcome to the Rosen Elk branch of the Adventurer's Guild."

The orientation by the receptionist was as he had expected it to be. The main points of her spiel could be summarized thus:

Membership entitled them to a guild identification seal, which allowed them to bypass the regular fee taken from any city gate.

Individuals are assigned ranks as they start.

No specific number of jobs is required to advance a rank. Any individual can apply for the test, which includes a test on his fighting ability and academic knowledge.

Due to guild regulations, a party should have at least three members.

The first two items were expected. As for the third item, it started as a move by the guild to require its members to be literate. In that era, the literacy rate was understandably low. However, for its members to not be able to read was disastrous. Sometimes other adventurers would make notes on the walls or the ground warning others about hazards or strong monsters, but those who couldn't read would ignore it and face the consequences. Furthermore, most jobs were posted in bulletins, so the guild could save money by not hiring additional staff to read them. On top of that, the management had noticed long ago that educated adventurers were more likely to last longer and mature.

The main issue was the fourth item. According to the receptionist, it alleviated the chances of complete party wipes. After all, there was safety in numbers. The number required was decided in consideration of those who applied alone. They could be grouped with a pair or two other solo registrants.

"If you don't have a third member, the guild can assign one for you. Unfortunately... there's only one without a party right now, so you can't have your pick now." She said with a softer voice, "If you'd like, you can come back when you've managed to invite a third person or when the guild gets another registrant."

He didn't expect that rule at all. He thought that he and Manna would have been enough to start with. It wasn't in the books he had read, so it must have been a recently-implemented policy. Since Matthias still had quite some money, buying potions to replicate the benefits of having a cleric would have sufficed for some time, so one wasn't needed urgently. Manna was excellent at detecting traps and navigation, so they didn't need a scout either. Plus, he could fulfill both the role of a vanguard and a mage. The expectation was that they would be able to connect with other groups down the line to slowly expand the number of members in the party.

"I don't know the specifics, but the three-party minimum had been enforced just a year ago."

It looked like he wouldn't get any answers to it either. Anyway, since it was a requirement, there was no other way around it. Though they could always just wait until there were some people to choose between, both were too eager to start already.

"Have there been people who refused? I mean, people who insisted on going solo or as a pair?"

"Yes. But in their case, we still need to find them additional members. The guild doesn't restrict them on what they decide to do afterward, so they can act by themselves or however they want," the receptionist replied awkwardly. True enough, it was difficult to intervene on those matters unless the guild hired people to watch everybody like hawks. But what was surprising to Matthias was that she readily advised him on the subject, despite what the guild aimed to do.

"Honestly, it's common knowledge by now. I don't recommend it, though. So, will you still proceed with the registration?"

Well, they had no choice.

"That's okay. Can we check out who you have?"

The receptionist girl called out to a young man and told him to fetch the individual in question. When he realized who it was, he had a stupefied expression, which gave Matthias some uncertainty. The guy entered the restaurant area and soon returned with a girl.

Because her body was hidden underneath a tattered cloak, he couldn't see what equipment she was using. There was no way to properly assess her face either, as it was dirty with dust and mud. What did leave an impression on him was her long, dull gray hair and golden slit eyes.

That... seems familiar.

"Wait, aren't you—"

Before he could finish, a giant man barged into the guild. Matthias immediately recognized who it was; the angry guy from earlier who shook the poor old cleric almost to the afterlife.

Granted, he no longer looked angry, just annoyed.

The man scanned the area while ignoring all the attention he had attracted to himself. And soon, he locked eyes with his target.

"Ah, right. Gray hair and slit eyes. That girl may be the one who took the holy water for free earlier," Manna muttered what Matthias had meant to say earlier.

Matthias subconsciously got between them as the man marched up to the girl just over half his height. But because of their size and build difference, he was quickly shoved away with surprising force. Though he immediately caught himself, the confrontation started before he could respond.

"Were you the idiot who begged for alms from the priest earlier?"

He questioned the beastkin in front of him. Because of their height, how he looked down on the girl made it seem like he was doing so literally and figuratively. The other adventurers from behind didn't move, as if they were already expecting the events. The receptionists, in contrast, were in a state of panic, fiddling their hands and hiding behind the large desk. One even ran to the second floor, perhaps to get someone with higher authority to manage the situation.

The beastkin girl met the man's eyes with an indignant look.

"I needed it," she said, stressing every word.

A tense moment of silence followed. Matthias and Manna, suddenly overcome by their curiosity, found themselves unable to move as their attention focused on the two.

The man suddenly shoved a large bag in front of the beastkin girl's face.

"… What is this?" she asked. The man snorted.

"Holy water. You need it, right?"

"How did you know it was me?"

"You're the only beastkin with gray hair here."

What the hell was happening? Matthias thought a fight would break out between them, and he was prepared to take a punch or two.

"Adventurers don't beg," the man said as he pulled her right arm forcefully and placed the heavy bag on it. He then turned to the receptionist and shouted.

"This girl doesn't have a party until now?!"

His loud voice made the girl flinch.

"T-there's two new kids over there. They can... I mean, they've asked to see her," she answered meekly, pointing towards Matthias and Manna. The man grunted in acknowledgment.

"Go get registered with them. I don't want to hear you begging for things again."

Despite his kind words, his face and attitude were anything but. It was easy to misunderstand him, given the way he acted. As he turned to leave, he gave one "advise" to her.

"And take a bath. Don't shame your profession."

********************

"Let me confirm. You're registering as a party of three, correct?"

Matthias, Manna, and their new companion were lined up in front of her with uneasy expressions. There were three tags in front of them that were half the size of their palms. The insignia of the guild was etched into them. The receptionist lady gave them an awkward smile.

"Yes, we are."

At the back of Matthias' mind, he asked himself, "is this okay?"

They still needed to get to know their third member. There was doubt in his mind about whether or not they would be able to work well together or whether they should at all. Of course, Matthias still appreciated her being there. It allowed him and Manna to immediately register. Sure, it was an unexpected twist that they would have a third member forced onto them, but...

"Isn't that nice?" Manna suddenly whispered. "You have two girls in your party, and you're the only guy."

"Oh, shut it."

Was the guild fine with such an arrangement? It seemed counterintuitive to emphasize safety repeatedly yet tolerate such a haphazard arrangement, especially since the girl they recommended did seem to be questionable.

She was going to have some sort of quirk to her, Matthias was sure.

"Well then, please place your right hand on the tag and recite your name and profession. The plate will record your data and make it accessible for identification. You can make up a profession, but it would make things easier if you state something easily determinable."

The tag itself was made of bronze, which corresponded to their rank. Though the formal names used letters, from E to beginner to A for seasoned veterans, the material the tags were made of also changed correspondingly, from bronze for E ranks to platinum for A. There was also a special rank for adventurers in the realm of heroes, aptly termed the "Hero" rank, with the magical metal mithril from the land of dwarves as the tag material. That rank was his target.

"Matthias. Swordsman."

He purposely didn't give his family name in his effort to remain low-key; he would only bring it up when absolutely needed.

A ghostly light was released from the engraving on the tag. After a short while, it dimmed, signaling that the process was over.

"Manna. Archer."

His partner finished quickly and without issue as well. But then...

"... Do I have to do this? I already registered."

The receptionist had a look of anxiety on her face. Her expression made Matthias more suspicious. Had there been a problem with her registration? Why did she need to go through the procedure again?

"Uhh, yes, we do have your documents, but... This is just for the new tag. Your previous tag couldn't be fixed because of what happened, so..." she murmured, her voice trailing into silence.

"Alright. That's fine."

"Huh? What happened?" Manna whispered. Of course, Matthias couldn't answer. He was just as baffled as she was.

The beastkin girl with long gray hair and golden eyes reached out with her right hand and touched the surface of the tag. Her voice, confident and steady, announced her name and profession.

"Soleil. Demon Lord"

Matthias choked.