The Maneater Bass had looked like it was completely frozen, but it was in fact, still alive.
It was quite tough.
âItâs coming towards us!â
âHelp!â
After being freed from the block of ice, the Maneater Bass did not return to the water. Instead, it used its tail to kick itself into the air and jump towards us.
It was a fish who could fight on land. No wonder it was called the Maneater Bass.
However, a fish is still a fish.
What could it do once it had been barbecued?
âMagic TransferâFireball.â
I used all of the surrounding slimes to attack it with a barrage of fireballs.
The dozen or so fireballs hit their target at the same time, and the Maneater Bass went up into flames.
âKiiâŠâ
Unlike land monsters, the Maneater Bass could not let out its voice in the open air. And so there was no death cry as it fell to the ground.
While it could come back from an ice attack, it could not do the same from a fire attack.
âPut the Maneater Bass into storage.â
âOkay!â
The slimes said as they put it in their storage.
It just looked like the slime was eating some grilled fish.
âAll right, letâs go back.â
âTime to rank up!â
âBut what is a ârank upâ?â
And so we made our way back to town.
â
âIâd like to report the completion of a quest.â
I said at the desk, once I had returned to the guild. She looked at me with a puzzled expression.
âSurely⊠Youâre not going to tell me that you already killed the Maneater Bass?â
âUh, but I did. The slimes worked really hard.â
I said as I passed her my guild card.
She took the card and looked at the crystal ballâher face was filled with surprise.
âYou-you really did do it then⊠Which method did you use this time?â
âWell, since we had trouble finding it, I used a monster corpse.â
She looked at me with a look of dissatisfaction.
Apparently, it was not the answer she had been expecting.
âUh⊠You do realize that Maneater Bass are not exactly difficult to find?â
âWhat? No, it took us a long time to find it. âŠIt was hiding at the bottom of the river and wouldnât come out.â
âHuh? They are meat-eaters and should be lurking near the surface where they wait for their preyâŠâ
âŠDid they really?
In any case, she seemed to want to know how I killed it, not how I found it.
âAs for how I killed it, it was with fire magicâŠâ
âIn other words, there really werenât many of them in the river right now?â
She said, interrupting me.
It seemed like an important point.
I saw how serious she looked and replied.
âThe slimes and I searched for 3 hours without finding a single one.â
ââŠThank you for this information.â
She said as she began to hurriedly scribble on a piece of paper. Then she handed it to a different guild worker.
I couldnât read what it said from where I was, but the paper was red and it seemed like it was urgent.
âPlease pass this on.â
ââŠUnderstood!â
The guild worker said as they accepted it and then ran off. Then the receptionist looked back at me.
âWell then, you have completed the quest. âŠHere is your reward.â
She said as she handed me a few coins.
âIâll also raise your rank as well. âŠAre you fine with it being raised up to D?â
ââŠIs there a reason why I wouldnât want to raise it that much?â
âWell⊠There arenât really any demerits, but you wonât be able to accept any beginner quests anymore. But as youâre a B-Rank Scout, you shouldnât have trouble finding any work.â
Beginner quests, huhâŠ
I did remember seeing that there were quests that had restrictions in terms of your rank.
So I wouldnât be able to accept quests like that anymore⊠Well, there wasnât much point in stealing quests that had been prepared for lower-ranking Adventurers.
While I wasnât sure I wanted to tackle the high-ranking ones, surely I would be able to complete D-Rank quests just fine.
âThatâs fine. Raise it to D.â
âGood. Then here is your new guild card!â
She said as she pulled out the new guild card from her desk.
Up until now, the guild cards had been made of something like tin, but this one was made of copper.
By the wayâŠ
âYou can receive your new guild card so soon after ranking up?â
âWell, in your case, we had discussed it with the other guilds. And they assured me that you would indeed complete the quest, and that we should make the card in advance. âŠIt turned out that they were right.â
So rumors were spreading about me.
I didnât know which worker at which guild it was⊠But I was at least thankful to have been able to receive the card so early.
âŠBut now that I think about it, there was something that had been bothering me.
âWhat were you writing on that red paper?â
âRed paper?â
âWhen I made the report about the Maneater Bass. You wrote on a red sheet of paper.â
âOh, you mean the emergency survey slip. âŠYes, we are supposed to send those in when monsters have been acting strangely.â
I see.
So it was strange that the Maneater Bass were not near the surface.
âBut is some fish being a little shy really a matter of emergency?â
âYes. âŠWell, usually itâs 1 out of 10 cases where it turns out to be serious.â
âŠ1 out of 10.
It seemed low, but it was actually quite high.
âIf it needs to be investigated, I could help as long itâs part of a quest. I am a B-Rank Scout, after all.â
As for abnormal activity from monsters, it reminded me of the Blue Moon of Salvation and the incident with the magic stones.
It might be easier to deal with it if I joined the investigation teamâŠ
âNo, we have professionals to deal with it. I think we will leave it to them. âŠBut a request may be put out. It would depend on several factors.â
So they had professionals.
Well, I guess there was no point in tagging along then.
If it turned out that they would launch a large scale attack, then they would probably put out a request.
âOkay. âŠI really hope that itâs nothing.â
I said before leaving the guild.
âŠFrom today on, I was a D-Rank Adventurer.
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