Pushing open the door, a wave of cozy warmth rushed over them from the lobby.
In the corner fireplace, firewood burned half a man high. Seven or eight adventurers were scattered about the lobby; some were organizing their gear, while others haggled over quest rewards with the receptionist behind the counter.
Rayne walked straight to the counter and placed the fragment of the Goblin Hero's magic core upon it.
“Elite-tier monster—the hunt for the Goblin Hero was a success.”
The receptionist was a middle-aged man wearing a monocle, his hair meticulously combed.
He was in the middle of organizing the documents before him. When he heard the word “Elite,” his fingers paused. He raised his head, looking first at the magic core fragment on the counter, and then at the six adventurers standing in front of him.
His gaze lingered on Rayne for a moment—a Silver Rank swordsman whom he recognized, though Rayne was hardly one of the prominent powerhouses in Rhode City's Adventurers' Guild.
Then his eyes swept over Balen, Gerak, Misha, and Elliot. All were familiar faces, ordinary adventurers still wearing bronze badges.
Finally, his gaze fell upon Lu Mao—a completely unfamiliar face.
“A Goblin Hero.”
He repeated the term. The look behind his monocle wasn't quite skeptical, but it certainly wasn't immediate belief either. “Where did you hunt it? I've never heard of an Elite-tier goblin appearing in this vicinity.”
“Is there a problem?”
Balen stood on his tiptoes and propped his elbows on the counter. “The magic core is right there. Why don't you just have the guild's appraiser check it and find out?”
The receptionist didn't argue.
He picked up the magic core fragment, brought it close to the oil lamp to inspect it closely for a moment, and then ran it through a small detection circle beneath the counter.
The magic circle glowed with a dull green light, printing several lines of text onto a card: Elite-tier magic core fragment. Time of death: within half a day. Magicule residue matches Goblin Hero characteristics at ninety-seven percent.
His expression finally changed.
“Please wait a moment, everyone.”
He placed the magic core fragment back on the counter, stood up, and headed toward the second floor. “I need to report this to the Vice Commander.”
The receptionist took longer to return from upstairs than expected.
The other adventurers in the lobby began to notice the commotion at the counter—
A few ordinary adventurers who had been organizing their gear whispered among themselves, and a one-eyed swordsman wearing an eyepatch, who had been dozing in the corner, opened his single eye.
An adventurer party capable of hunting down an Elite-tier monster was a rare sight.
Furthermore, since they had hunted down the notoriously infamous goblin, it meant one thing:
Aside from this Elite goblin, this party had to have dealt with at least a hundred other goblins of various types.
Elliot leaned against the side of the counter, shifting his staff to his other hand. He murmured,
“An Elite-tier monster killed by a party that hasn't even fully reached Silver Rank... Such a thing is a bit unbelievable no matter where you go. We might have to wait a while.”
“Let him make us wait. We took down an Elite-tier monster; if he dares deny us our rank upgrade, I'll tear this whole branch down!”
Balen pulled a piece of dried meat from his pocket, took a bite, and mumbled, “By the way, our party still doesn't have a name. I'll say it again—‘Balen and His Five Shield-Bearing Teammates.’”
“Six votes against.”
Gerak didn't even look back.
Over ten minutes later, a rapid succession of footsteps echoed from the stairway.
A short but stout old man with a thick grey beard quickly walked down the stairs, with the receptionist jogging close behind him.
The old man wore a faded guild uniform, and the gold badge on his chest was exceptionally striking under the oil lamps—
Branch President of Rhode City's Adventurers' Guild, Sixth Hall: Dowal Stonehammer, retired dwarven heavy warrior.
His gaze swept past Rayne, Balen, and Misha, before landing precisely on the magic core fragment on the counter.
He didn't touch the appraisal instrument. Instead, he simply leaned in close to look, using his thick fingers to trace the direction of the cracks on the magic core's surface.
“Traces of necromantic spells, scorch marks from dwarven explosives, the direction of sword-wound cracks, and... residual Holy Light mana. The appraisal report is correct.”
He straightened his back, his gaze sweeping across the six of them one by one before finally stopping on Rayne. “Kid, your party hadn't even attained Silver Rank before, and now you've taken down an Elite-tier monster in one go. I have two questions.”
“Ask whatever you like, sir.”
Rayne stood straight as a ramrod.
“First, how did you manage to get everyone out alive?”
“Information, tactics, teamwork, and most importantly, the spirit of an adventurer—never abandon a teammate.”
Rayne's reply was extremely crisp. “We had an abundant source of intelligence that allowed us to pinpoint the enemy's weaknesses and movement routes in advance. We had enough time to set up explosive traps and scroll spells. It was lured into the trap and then focused down.”
Dowal stared at him for a few seconds, then slowly nodded.
He didn't press on who the source of intelligence was—the Adventurers' Guild never asked for the source of information, only whether the information was reliable.
This was an unwritten rule of the guild.
“Second, your party's mage is too low-tier. He hasn't even mastered the most basic spells, so how could he possibly have the ability to cast necromancy?”
Elliot's hand, which had been flipping through his notebook, froze.
He closed the parchment. There was no shift in expression on his delicate face, but his fingers holding the staff tightened slightly for a split second.
A crackle echoed in the lobby as the firewood in the fireplace collapsed slightly, sparks splashing against the iron grate before dying out.
Balen opened his mouth to say something, but Gerak pressed him down with an extremely subtle gesture.
“A scroll passed down by a family elder. There's nothing more to say.”
Dowal knew very well that the main reason this Elite-tier goblin had been defeated was that necromantic spell.
And the number of necromancers with any reputation in the kingdom could be counted on one's fingers.
Ever since a necromancer's blood sacrifice ritual occurred in the kingdom a few years back, almost everyone in the realm kept their distance from "necromancy."
Dowal glanced at Elliot, whose emotions were slightly turbulent, and made a guess in his mind, but he didn't pry further.
Nobody wanted to provoke a powerful necromancer.
“Third.”
He turned his head to look at Lu Mao. “Who is this? I haven't seen this face in the guild's registration files.”
Everyone's gaze fell upon Lu Mao.
He stood at the very edge of the party. His cloak had several tears in it, and an unremarkable dagger was tucked into his waist. The youth looked like a complete rookie who had just run out of some remote village after hearing tales of a legendary adventurer.
Yet everyone present knew that without this "rookie's" intelligence and command, they wouldn't have walked out of the dungeon alive today.
“His name is Lu Mao, our party's newest member.”
Rate on N.U.
