The Devil Does Not Need to Be Defeated

The sudden voice and situation made everyone there stop all of a sudden.

Shien also raised an eyebrow, turned his head, and looked at the person whose hand took that bag of money.

It was a girl of a similar age as Vivian who showed up in the main hall and got next to Vivian at some point.

The person wore military uniform-like clothes, and she wore a pair of glasses. She gave off a knowledgeable and competent impression.

"Leili?"

Seeing this person, Vivian was stunned for a moment before she called out her name.

That person was indeed Leili

The guild workers and adventurers in the surroundings all stood up.

"""""Guildmaster!"""""

Everyone there greeted Leili like that.

That includes Diere, Lumia and Melika.

"Guildmaster?"

Shien was momentarily stunned too.

"You're Shien right?" Leili focused on Shien. She first narrowed her eyes behind her glasses and then smiled, "This is our first meeting. I'm Leili Latrard, the guildmaster of the Lamdrion adventurer's guild. Please to meet you."

This is the first time that Shien has heard someone give out a last name.

Plus, the person in question is the guildmaster of the Lamdrion adventurer's guild.

"Why'd you come down?"

Vivian spoke with both happiness and surprise. From her attitude, tt was obvious that the two of them were old acquaintances.

The reality was so as well.

"I heard you guys came back, and I just so happened to have finished my work, so I came down to take a look." Leili gave a scan across the members of Vivian's party and the bag they had set on the counter before giving off a laugh, "It looks like you had a pretty successful run this time."

"Hn. It was quite successful. Basically nothing unexpected happened." Vivian nodded and spoke as if she found something funny, "What? Were you worried?"

"Do I look like someone so coldblooded?" Leili rolled her eyes at that, "Since I'm the one who forcibly pushed an outside task on your party, if I didn't properly watch over you guys, wouldn't it be like I'm just trying to escape my own responsibilities?"

"I didn't quite mean it to that degree." Vivian's smile turned from finding it funny to embarrassed laughter.

The conversation between the two of them appeared quite natural and familiar, which told everyone around just what their relationship was like.

The adventurers around and the guild staff also didn't find it strange at all, so it was quite obvious that they knew as well.

"What's going on here?"

Shien retreated like he's trying to dodge an attack and returned to Diere's side, lowered his voice, and asked in a whisper.

"As you can see, Vivian and guildmaster Leili are long time friends." Diere spoke unaffected, "They've known each other since before Vivian became an adventurer and before guildmaster Leili had become the guildmaster of the adventurer's guild. They've known each other for at least ten years, and supposedly, the reason that Vivian chose to come to Lamdrion to be an adventurer in the first place is because guildmaster Leili was appointed guildmaster here."

That is to say, they were basically childhood friends?

"The one to appoint you to our party was actually guildmaster Leili. She's just like Vivian, they're both famed for being big shots who are super considerate of newcomers. Speaking of, you need to properly thank her. Otherwise, given your situation, you might already have become a target of bullying here in the adventurer's guild."

Diere gave Shien a glance and said that.

"Also, I think you've already noticed, but guildmaster Leili's status isn't normal. She's not simply the guildmaster of Lamdrion's adventurer's guild. She's also the lone daughter of a famed major noble family. Not even the lord of this territory would dare to be impolite before guildmaster Leili, so you should pay attention too."

No wonder why the adventurers around them had become so obedient and polite when Leili arrived.

"Major nobility huh?"

Shien lightly muttered to himself.

It looks like, in this world, only nobility would have last names.

As Shien was considering that kind of stuff, Vivian had started questioning Leilie.

"Speaking of, it's one thing for you to come down, but why did you take Shien's share of the reward?" Vivian spoke in a dissatisfied tone, "That's quite rude you know?"

"Indeed so." Leili didn't deny it and instead openly admitted without same, but then her voice sharply turned toward Shien asked meaningfully, "What do you think then? Newbie?"

This intelligent and competent guildmaster just directly threw the question over at Shien.

Shien wasn't shaken.

That's because, Shien had already realized why they did as they did.

"I think the guildmaster's words are pretty logical." Shien spoke honestly, "As a newbie adventurer, taking so much reward is indeed a bit problematic."

As a newbie who just entered the party, and being only level 10 and with not a single skill to his name. For someone like that to enter Vivian's party was already enough to give rise to all sorts of objections. If he also took an even split of the rewards as the other longtime members of the party, then that would definitely be no good, right?

At the very least, from others' point of view, Shien basically just accompanied Vivian's party on a trip. Given his levels, there's no way that he could complete a silver or gold grade quest.

If Shien ended up accepting that reward just now, it's likely that by this time tomorrow, he would end up the target of the entire adventurer's guild's criticism.

Not only would that be bad for Shien, but it would end up adversely affect Vivian's party too.

(That's why this lady guildmaster came here, right?)

Since she's Vivian's childhood friend and has been with her for over 10 years, of course Leili would have a good understanding of Vivian's nature and attitude. She knew that Vivian wouldn't hold back on Shien, so she came down to stop her.

In other words, Leili was here to help Shien and Vivian deal with the possibility of criticism.

"I didn't exactly do much to help in this quest. It's everyone else who ended up contributing, and all I did was watch from the side." Shien spoke with self-awareness, "For the reward, it's enough for me to just shamelessly take a single gold."

That was something that can't be helped.

After all, the vampire vines were cleared by Melika's magic. The spring water was also collected by Melika. Even dealing with the demonic beasts and dissecting the materials were done by Diere and Lumia. From start to en, Shien just subjugated a single golem, and that was something that had nothing to do with their quest too. Therefore, it really wasn't suitable for him to take too much of the reward.

If not for the fact that he thought that Vivian wouldn't accept it, Shien wouldn't have even wanted to take any of it in the first place.

No matter what, Shien at least has some pride as a man. He's already receiving Vivian's care all this time, so he can't just leave this be.

He didn't quite think of this a bit ago, but now that Leili reminded him, of course Shien wouldn't accept this portion of the reward.

"But..."

Vivian wrinkled her brow. She seemed like she couldn't accept this.

"Alright, even he's saying that, so don't be so stubborn." Leili patted Vivian on the shoulders, "You should keep in mind the circumstances even when it comes to being gentle. Not being able to keep public and private matters apart is one of your few weaknesses after all. It's not like this is your first time teaching a newbie, so you should have realized this from before. This time, properly reflect on it."

With that, Leili took a single gold coin out from the bag she grabbed and handed it towards Shien.

"You've got quite the potential. Big sis here has quite the expectations for you."

Leili extended her hand, brought Shien's hand up, and placed that gold coin in it with an appreciative smile.

"Thank you for the praise."

Shien returned the smile and while looking at this generous yet mindful beauty of a guildmaster while thinking in his mind.

(What an interesting woman.)