'I've heard that our guild, The Tempest, has been gaining a reputation again lately.

　Only the candlelight flickered in the dark room.
　Inside the room I see three figures.

　An old man.
　A small man, but with an inexplicable fear.
　One good-looking man with a dagger at his hip.

"You've ruined your reputation to the bone, so why not?

　The old man had a low voice that matched his appearance.

''I'm guessing that it was because of the victory and runner-up finish from the guild members belonging to the 'Tempest' in the Flapperra Rookie Competition . With the fact that the final was very good, the attention should be quite high right now .

　The handsome man says.

"Well, that's a pretty good opinion of you, isn't it?

　The little man asked curiously.

"He was such a gem. He was more than worthy of the Guild Tempest.

So you're gonna ruin your reputation by killing these people.

　The small man lifted the corners of his mouth and smiled wryly .

''Don't do it . You may be new, but you're still very good. We don't want you to be consumed by the unintentional.

I'll be fine. You just have to come at these guys and attack them where they can't get away. Assassination is my specialty, okay?

No. You've only killed one person recently. The more you do it, the easier it is to get back on your feet if you do it too many times in a short period of time.

...... Yeah, that's right. All right, we'll kill those guys a little later.

What then?　Is there any way to ruin the reputation of The Tempest?

　The old man seemed to have no patience.
　Now that he was hearing his name again, his hatred for The Tempest was rekindling in him.

'Of course it's there. The root of this problem is the new adventurer who joined the Tempest. We'll deal with this later. But the way the old man said it, he can't just forgive the Tempest for being so popular. So all you have to do is find out who's accelerating that popularity.

Oh, wow.

I can't believe that the current guild master's skill has brought the guild back to this level. The only thing I can think of is that someone else is in charge of the guild as a surrogate. All we have to do is catch that guy first.

What are you going to do with him?

I'm gonna show you a few things. I'm gonna show you what happens when you cooperate with the Tempest. Then you just let him go. That's all it takes to make the man crippled.

"...... fffff. Good. Really good. This will put 'The Tempest' in dire straits again.



　◇



　I've finished the five C-rank quests, and now I'm finally able to take on the B-rank quests.
　However, now that I haven't been asked to do any B-rank quests, I can't do anything with them after all.

　Except for personal requests that come in, the quests requested by the League of Adventurer's Guilds come around.
　The quests are commensurate with your guild's achievements, so it's inevitable.

　This time can be spent training.
　We're just about to acquire some skills.


Hey, Revel.
Hello, Mr. Revell.


　I was about to head to the arena when I was approached by Ral and Fear.


'That combination is a bit unusual.'

That's not true. It's not natural for girls close in age to become friends.

And since it's lunchtime, we agreed to have dinner together.

　Is it that time already?

I'm hungry.

　Kyu on top of his head woke up hungry.

"Come eat with me, Livel.

Yeah. Do you mind if I come in?　Kyu looks hungry too.

'Kyu, Kyu-chan too?　I'm going to go get some almonds!

...... What's up with Fear?

She says cute and cuddly things about Kyu, and I think she wants to take care of him, don't you?

I see.

"Fear, my good man!

　Kyu was bragging to me about it.
　The guy's a real piece of work.


　Thanks to Fear getting some almonds for me, he's happy to see me.
　We were chatting and having lunch, too.




Sorry to bother you at dinner. Would you happen to be Mr. Revell?


　Someone spoke to me.
　A good-looking man with blond hair and a good-looking face.
　He's older than me and taller.


"Yes, sir.

'Oh, I knew it!　In fact, I'm an adventurer myself, and I wanted to talk to Revel, who I'm sure will be an adventurer in the future!

Oh, I see. So, I see you've been having a lot of meals at the house lately.

　Lal looks convinced.

'I'm ashamed to admit it. But the food itself was so good that I had to go there.

"I'm glad you like it. Our guild still has a bad reputation.

'Not at all!　I've been hearing the name 'The Tempest' a lot lately!

I'm glad to hear that.

　This man used to come to The Tempest a lot, it seems.
　Just to talk with me.
　I've been spending a lot of time completing quests lately, so I haven't been spending much time with the guild.
　I may have done some bad things.

'Excuse me, but may I ask your name and guild?

Of course. My name is Noah. I belong to a guild called the Nightmare. It's been around for a long time, but it's the kind of guild that doesn't get famous very often.

"Oh, I know the name of the guild. But I'm sorry, I don't know much about what kind of guild it is.

Ha-ha, okay. Don't mind me. ...... Oops, looks like it's getting late. I think I'll take my leave for today. Nice to meet you all.

　And with that, the man walked away.

...... Phew. You're finally going.

　Fear let out a sigh.

'Fia, you should never show that attitude in public.

'And of course you can: ......!　To tell the truth, I'm not very good with people like that because I'm the type of person who is shy, even though I look like this.

I know that much. Okay?　Revell?

Yeah. It's exactly how I imagined it would be, and that's not really surprising.

'Yeah, yeah ...... it's that bad ......'

　Feer with tears in his eyes and sadness in his eyes.
　Maybe this time she had it coming.



　...... Nevertheless, this man Noah .
　Although he made a good impression, his magic fluctuated several times during the conversation.
　In order to obtain a true/false statement, I have to use telepathic communication to sense the waves of magic, and this time it paid off.


　──────────────────── ...

　Skill "True/False
　You can't know when someone you designate will lie to you. You do not know if the other party is not lying and hiding the truth.
　If the specified person is aware of the truth, it is not a lie.

　Condition of acquisition
Have mastered telepathic communication.
　Sense the flickering waves of magic when a designated person tells a lie, and understand the changes in facial expressions and reactions.

　──────────────────── ...



　Is he hiding something or does he have an agenda?
　I don't know, but I have a bad feeling about this.


　I have acquired the skill Veracity.


　...... Did you get it at this time.
　If so, this hunch is likely to be true.


　Preventing threats from attacking us is more important than raising our ranks or acquiring skills.
　But this is not certain, and I can't talk to Ral and Fear about it.
　Without concrete evidence, it's not credible and will only add to your anxiety.

　I'll decide to do something about it.
　To do that, the first priority is to gather information.
　After lunch, you'll head into town.