Chapter 9 (10): Reregistration

"Oh! Ye'r some new faces 'round these parts. How'd ya get 'ere? No ships've come in recently... so ya can't've come from the sea..." (Guard)

"Well, we actually flew here on a wyvern, from across the sea" (Ryuu)

"Oh, a tamed beastie, eh? Impressive feat for young chicks like yerselves. No men in yer group? That's gotta be harsh, gettin all those looks an' thugs invitin' ye for some 'fun' an' all, amiright?" (Guard)

"We get that a lot, but it's not like we mind too much. We can handle ourselves, and nobody messes with a wyvern if they can help it" (Ryuu)

"Well, come on in, lemme be the first t' welcome ye t' the Theocracy. Oh, hold on... yer gonna have t' free the slave. No slaves allowed on the land o' the saints, and ye can't leave 'er behind, that'd be too cruel, I'd 'ave t' arrest ya" (Guard)

Everyone was visibly confused, I more than the others, I think. After all, my father had worked hard to abolish slavery, save for the criminal slaves, and I've tried to continue his work. After a bit, Ver spoke up hesitantly.

"Slave? Who?" (Ver)

"Ye, o' course! Ye got the collar an' e'rythin'!" (Guard)

"I'm just wearing this to shade my neck... I'm no slave... well, unless you count being a slave to love" (Ver)

"Do not spout such cheesy lines in my presence, please... Though, I must agree with the sentiment" (Char)

"Just because you're the second wife-" (Ver)

"I'd rather not hear bickering from my wives, please. Especially not bickering over who's the more important one in the marital hierarchy, as everyone is equal on it... with the exception of those not married to me" (Ryuu)

"So, yer not a slave... what are ye then? This missy's wife? What else? Why a collar, and not a hat?" (Guard)

"I'd rather not say, but if the collar must go, I'll forgo it for now" (Ver)

With that, the collar disappeared. The guard blinked, but he let us past pretty quickly, giving us advice to get some form of identification as soon as we could, since what we had from our continent wasn't valid here. Off to the adventurer's guild we went, hoping we didn't have to start off as F ranks again. Of course, the clichéd pervert confrontation had to be gotten through first, but we had a plan to get through that quickly.

"Oh, a group of young girls, and new ones at that! Wanna come and play wi-" (Adventurer)

"Stow it" (Char)

"Don't make me tell you where to shove it" (Ryuu)

"Shut up" (Elise)

The three of us interrupted him almost at the same time, stunning the room into silence.

"..." (Everyone)

"That's new" (Haru)

"Indeed it is. I wouldn't've expected to have cute girls like you speak that way, especially to me" (Adventurer)

"No, I was talking about Elise speaking like that in general. Who's this narcissist?" (Haru)

"That's Gregor, also known as The Crusher, and he's an A rank. He has a bad temper, so I'd suggest you apologise-" (Receptionist)

"Oh, he's just an A rank. Okay. Not really worth our time, in other words. We're here to register as adventurers, register as a party, and request a shitton of promotion exams, after coming over from across the sea" (Ryuu)

A few minutes later, we'd had our cards made, starting us at F rank, and had registered as a party... again, under the name of The Demon Lord's Harem. After that, we went in back to receive the promotion exams... because apparently the way it works in the Theocracy is that you can take the exam at any time, and if you fail more than three times in a row, you start having to pay a fee each time. That's it.

"So, which of you girls want to become E ranks?" (Examiner)

"None of us. We're all going higher than that" (Ver)

"Fine... well, I'll do you one at a time, as high as you can go. Who's first? Eh, how about you, since you spoke up earlier... Ver, was it? Come into this circle. I'll have you face off against a goblin, unless you are a healer or archer, and if you can beat it without leaving the circle, you advance. Don't worry about me running out, by the way, as I have hundreds of them" (Examiner)

Ver stepped into the circle, the examiner stepped out, and a goblin was summoned. Ver punched it, and the goblin's head exploded into a red mist. The same thing happened for the wolf, the orc, the ogre, and the troll, bumping her to A rank.

"Well, I can't test higher than that, but with that much raw power, I'm going to guess you've got the strength of at least an SS rank, right?" (Examiner)

"Alongside Ryuu, I was estimated to be an SSS rank, but we were only SS ranks because of a lack of contribution to the guild. We'd only been adventurers for a short while, you see" (Ver)

"Which one of you is Ryuu again?" (Examiner)

I stepped forward, and he looked at me.

"Ah, the party leader. Of course. I'll skip you to the A rank test, sound good?" (Examiner)

"I mean, since I have taken down a dragon by myself... sure" (Ryuu)

"Scratch that. Lemme see your card for a minute... yep, dragonslayer's on there. Sadly, I can't make you be any higher, but you're an A rank, miss Maou" (Examiner)

"Which one of us are you talking about? We're all surnamed Maou, as of... recently" (Verene Maou)

"Woah, hold up, Maou? From across the western sea... the demon lands... the Demon Lord?" (Receptionist)

"Correct. We decided to honeymoon somewhere outside the continent. The party name is accurate" (Char)

"Then where is the Demon Lord himself?" (Adventurer)

"The Demon Lord HERself, is right in front of you. I'm the Demon Lord" (Ryuu)

The three men there all were surprised for a moment, then they blushed at that in quick succession. Looks like we have some yuri fans here... well, one of them snapped out of his fantasies quickly, and then began to warn us about something we already knew of.

"Well, you're probably not going to like this country! The priests hate demons-" (Adventurer)

"We're just passing through on our way to Elvengarde-" (Ver)

"Oh, tourists! I'm so sorry, I should be more hospitable... yeah, no. I loathe tourists. Always disrespecting the saints, going against their teachings, and they don't contribute anything at all most of the time" (Adventurer)

"Shut up. They all outrank you, and you just laze around here, not contributing anything yourself. Besides, you're disrespecting the leader of another country right now" (Examiner)

"It's not an official visit, so don't mind it" (Ryuu)

An hour of banter later, we all had new cards, or, in this continent, pendants. Stone was for F rank, Wood for E, Copper for D, Iron, Silver, and Gold for C, B, and A, followed by Mithril, Orichalcum, and Adamantite for S, SS, and SSS. Because they couldn't administer the S rank tests or higher, we all had Gold pendants hiding between our breasts, save for Ver, whose pendant was hidden in her storage magic so that it wouldn't be lost when she transformed. Well, also because it wouldn't always be hidden by her breasts, since she's the only one of us who doesn't have a fixed size she keeps them. Some days, she's flatter than a washboard, other days, she's more busty than Tuare... and sometimes, she's that busty while looking like she's six years old. Mostly if she wants to shock the world, or play around with us.