Mert and Misato's reaction was a sight to behold.
They were first surprised at the carriage, then at its fast speed, and even raised their voice at the efficiency it was advancing by running over any monster at sight without slowing down.
This wasn't the end of their surprise however, as it continued even when we reached the final floor, before the boss room.
It would be a problem if anyone were to take notice of our boss farming so I requested that Pamela, who was equipped with ‹Guest Bracelet› today, keep a watch.
The party then challenged the boss ‹Fatty Ghost› under my command.
Then we did a Re-pop. Behold the ‹Official Hidden Tactic - Boss Grind›!
Well their reactions were divided into two. One person was hopping as if delighted at the surprise, chanting 'Amazing, Wonderful', while another person, 'fuuu~', exhaled a deep sigh as if he was tired. Needless to say, the former reaction came out from Misato, while later was Mert's reaction.
Fufu, this should have made their heart palpitate.
"Did you see, Misato? Eden is full of hidden surprises waiting for you to discover. Think about it, all of this will be for you to explore and take advantage of if you just formally join, hehehe."
"Gasp You're inviting me with an obvious treacherous scheme, you know, Zephyr-kun!"
First, I continued my attempt to bring Misato to join us formally. Her wavering eyes and unsettled ears were amusing.
Actually, Celestine also had asked me if it's alright to show the secret to Misato who has only joined for a short term, though I have full intention to bring her to our guild.
Besides, it's all right since she shouldn't be divulging it to others even if she didn't join in the end for some reasons. Main reason is there's no one on top as of now who have cleared the advanced dungeon, so it doesn't matter if the ‹Official Hidden Tactic - Boss Grind› gets leaked. It's fine as long as it remains a secret for now.
We didn't encounter anyone on the way to our today's boss ' farming session today, maybe because classes ended just a while ago.
I guess reaching the boss room right after classes must have been an impossible feat, no? Hmm, probably.
"It's not 'probably’. It's impossible."
"Don't be so blunt, Mert."
I received a jab from Mert, a boy rare in the girls dominated ‹Eden›. I mean, we are already buddies. We're already at a point where we can speak so frankly to each other.
"So Mert, what's your level?"
"...‹Wiseman Lv20›. My level increased by 2 in just one day."
"That's great."
"Sigh... Yeah."
It seemed 2 level-up was the limit under the time constraint after classes and the opponent being ‹Fatty Ghost›, which relatively takes more time to defeat than other bosses. Either way, he had breakthrough to the Lv20 at least, and unlocked his 2nd order skill tree.
However, his expression didn't look well. His eyebrows were drawn in a frown. I wonder why?
However, his expression wasn't great. There were still creases between his eyebrows. What might be the matter? Looking at Misato, she is so jubilant though.
"Hey, hey, Zephyr-kun. I reached Lv25! I was progressing at the turtle pace recently you know, but now, I levelled up twice at once!"
Misato also increased her level by two, going from Lv23 to ‹Sage Lv25› apparently. I assume her experience value might have been closer to reaching Lv24 so she managed to level up twice in such a short time.
"We'll be up against the ‹Battle Wolf› tomorrow. It's easier to fight than the 'Fatty Ghost,' so I guess you can earn more experience points."
"What? The ‹Battle Wolf› is a tough enemy. I heard a lot of students who challenged it during last dungeon week ended up in the care of the ‹Rescue Committee›."
"I have a strategy. It was easy today too, right?"
"...I see. Well then, I'll be under your care tomorrow as well"
"Sure thing, leave it to me."
I am not sure why but Mert bowed his head with his expression looking as if he had given up on something, anyway, I reassured him I can handle everything.
On the other hand, the glare from Sierra was in its full glory. Just as I was in my perfect form.
Lunch break on Wednesday.
I coordinated with the Saturn's guild to settle on terms.
After all, it's a ‹Duel Battle›.
In a ‹Duel Battle›, both guilds put up a reward and then wage a guild battle for that reward. The winning side takes all the rewards.
So, this meeting was about what to put at stake.
That’s where the problem poses itself.
‹Best of the Best, the Guild Star› is an E-rank guild. In other words, they have conquered beginner dungeons.
However, they haven't cleared intermediate dungeons. In short, they lacked enough worth of stake.
To begin with, it was all about ‹Best of the Best, the Great Star› who wants to let out all their jealousy on Brave against ‹Eden› who agreed to their ‹Duel Battle› out of exasperation to avoid any further entanglement from them.
If I were to wager myself as the Brave, the guards would intervene. So, the question was what to do now?
We decided to call the meeting off for today since it was apparent we are unlikely to reach any conclusion today.
Dungeon, after classes.
We entered the ‹Wolves of the Shallow Forest Dungeon› with the same lineup as yesterday and worked hard to hunt ‹Battle Wolf›.
Though I don't know if it is just my imagination, I seemed to have seen Battle Wolf's tail dropping feebly when its sight laid upon me.
As a result, Mert levelled up to ‹Wiseman Lv23› and Misato to ‹Sage Lv27›. Though Mert's eyebrows were once again creased in frown, everything was progressing at the scheduled pace.
Moving onwards, it was Thursday, after classes were over.
"Well then, Eden's demand is to ‘Cease pestering Brave for unnecessary reasons’. If you are found guilty of doing so, we will impose a penalty of around that much."
"H, Hold on. Isn't that tyranny!?"
The role of negotiator against the ‹Best of the Best, the Guild Star› was entrusted to Rina, ‹Eden› reliable strategist.
And the term Rina proposed was those words.
Terrific. If you are asking what was terrifying, it was the words ‹For unnecessary reason› Rina siad which held no specific criteria, which basically translate to we can accuse them for any excuse we want.
I see. So instead of just demanding any simple thing, she went the route of perpetually extorting them under the guise of penalty. It would be over with just one instance if rewards were offered as compensation. Rina, she's quite a scary girl in such aspects.
In fact, Rina even seems to be slightly angry? I feel like her attitude is quite harsh against Polish-kun in front of her.
"What are you saying? The root cause of all this is your unjust demand against ‹Eden› out of jealousy, no? Do you know how much it has caused inconvenience to ‹Eden›? Of course this is not something we can take lying down. All this is to avoid any further entanglement."
It's a lie. The intention here is just to make them cough money. Though, I didn't know they were also troubled by this farce.
"Gritting Teeth Kuhhh. A-A the least reduce the penalty amount. And please specify what you mean by 'unnecessary reason'."
"If this is the will of ‹Best of the Best, the Great Star›, then so be it. However, the rewards that you seek from ‹Eden› will be relatively lowered as well, will you be okay with this then?"
"T-That's..."
"Let's see. What do you think about that much?"
"......"
The reward Rina put forth was two items from the silver chest of Beginner Dungeon.
The reward ‹Best of the Best, the Great Star› can obtain if they win will be limited to the value of two items from the beginner dungeon's silver chest.
It's an insignificantly meagre reward for a ‹Duel Battle› of ‹15 Members›, that too when it's an ‹All-out War›.
"You can't expect any further reward than this if you don't show any sincerity from your side. It's by no means an unjust demand by ‹Eden›."
The whole situation was under Rina's control.
I felt like Polish-kun’s soul was coming out from the gap of his mouth.
In the end, the meeting was concluded on the terms that in exchange for clarifying what is count in 'unnecessary reason', penalty value will be increased, while reward from ‹Eden› was also upped to three items from beginner dungeon's gold chest.
To be honest, we have so many unusable items from the gold chest that it wouldn't even put a dent on our wallet.
Furthermore, we don't have the intention to lose so it's not like it matters. I am more worried if they can even pay that amount of penalty.
Well, they can avoid it by behaving well though, I wonder if this will calm down the commotion.
Rina's expression looked like she was cooking some sort of scheme. Hmm, should be my imagination I guess.
