Water Magician

Volume 1, Part 3, City of Rune

The next day, early in the morning they left the City of Kyradea.

They were both good walkers.

It would normally take an entire day but by noon, they were on a small hill overlooking the City of Rune.

“This is……”

The scenery seen from there was unimaginable.

The field of vision from the bottom of the hill to the corners of the eye was dyed golden.

Wheatfields that were about to be harvested.

And a huge city that sat in the center.

The scale was definitely a city rather than a town.

The walls surrounding the city were also tall and imposing.

Perhaps hundreds of thousands of people lived inside the walls alone.

In addition, outside the walls, he could see many houses, likely farmhouses.

“Some people live outside the city, right?”

“Yeah, because the farmlands are outside the city. Originally the farmers lived inside the walls but traveling to the farmland took a significant amount of time that they are now building houses outside the city. That’s why the City of Rune doesn’t close the gates even at night.”

That surprised Ryo as expected.

That was because it was common sense that the city gates would be closed at night in the Middle Ages, not to mention in many other worlds stories.

“What about crime prevention?”

“Well … there are more people on patrol compared to the other cities. That’s why I think public safety is not bad for a city of this size.”

After looking at the City of Rune for a while, they went down the hill to the south gate of the city.

Partly because it was afternoon, which was a rather awkward time to get in and out of the city, there was no one other than the guards at the south gate.

“Eh? Abel?”

The guard who seemed to know Abel was surprised.

“Oh, Nimuru. It’s been a long time.”

“Not just a long time … you were declared missing…”

“Yeah, well, I managed to come back alive.”

Abel said and laughed.

“And, who is your companion?”

Nimuru, the guard, turned to Ryo and asked.

“My lifesaver.”

“Is that so! Thank you for saving Abel.”

Nimuru exclaimed and grabbed Ryo’s hand before swinging it up and down.

“Nevertheless, you still have to pay the entrance tax…”

“Yeah, I’ll pay for that.”

Abel gave Nimuru his guild card and a silver coin for Ryo’s entry tax.

“Yes, certainly.”

Nimuru received it and said to Abel with a clear joyful smile.

“Welcome back, Abel.”

Ryo watched without saying a word but he was a little jealous of Abel.

He had a place to return to.

And there were people who would welcome him back.

That was something Ryo couldn’t identify with, as he had lived alone for a long time in the Rondo Forest.

He didn’t think much about it in particular until now but when he saw Nimuru welcoming Abel back, he did feel a little lonely.

(I’m happy for you, Abel.)

Yes, that was a good sight to mark the end of the journey.

Abel’s request for Ryo was to 『Escort him to the City of Rune』.

And they were at the City of Rune.

The moment they passed through the gate, the request was fulfilled.

“Ryo, let’s head to the guild now. You wish to register as an adventurer, right?”

“Yeah, it’s probably better to get it done quickly right?”

“Yes, since I’m here with you. You can register for a rank up.”

Ryo tilted his head.

“Rank up registration?”

“Oh, I didn’t talk about that? Adventurer guilds usually register you in F-rank at first, but if there is a recommendation from an adventurer of B-rank or higher, they can be registered in E-rank or D-rank. And I will be recommending Ryo so you should be able to register in D-rank.”

“Are there any benefits in registering at D-rank?”

“You can get higher-ranked requests. The higher the rank, the more rewards you can get, so I recommend it. That said, I don’t think Ryo will be lacking money.”

Abel said, looking at Ryo’s bag.

“Oh, the Wyvern magic stones? Are they that valuable?”

To be clear, Ryo had no clue at all.

In the first place, it only took two shots of Icicle Lances to hunt one.

There was no difficulty.

So even if he was told that the magic stone was a fairly expensive item, it was unavoidable that he couldn’t comprehend it.

But Abel nodded.

“You know, twenty people are needed to defeat one of them. It is a magic stone from such a troublesome monster … First of all, it usually can’t be found on the market, in other words, it’s priceless.”

“I see … but since we have quite a few, if they appear on the market, won’t they cause the price to collapse?”

Rarity was a very important value.

“Leave it to me. The guild is great in that area.”

As they talked, they arrived at their destination.

It was the Adventurers Guild in the City of Rune.

Rune was the largest city on the frontier.

It had the only dungeon in the central nations and even adventurers from other countries gather to dive into the dungeon.

The adventurers guild in such a city was also the largest in the frontier.

A three-story stone building with an extremely splendid appearance.

After passing through the huge entrance, they entered.

As it was an awkward timing, the inside was quiet.

In the morning when requests were taken and in the evening when requests were completed and when reports and cash were exchanged made those two timings crowded as if it were a battlefield but now it was just past noon.

However, an exclamation that echoed broke the silence of the place.

“Abel-san!”

It was a woman at the reception who called out.

She was about 20 years old, had brown hair in a ponytail, and was one head shorter than Ryo.

She had a slender figure and had good taste in clothes.

“Heys, Nina.”

In response to Nina’s voice, adventurers appeared from the adjacent dining room.

“Wow, it really is Abel?”

“Welcome back~ Abel~”

“You weren’t dead?”

There was a voice with some complicated emotions but more than a dozen adventurers came to Abel to celebrate his safe return.

All Rune adventurers knew that Abel had gone missing and were quite worried.

Even in a city as big as Rune, B-rank adventurers were extremely rare.

Among them, 『Crimson Sword』 with Abel as the party leader was a popular party.

Abel, a genius swordsman, was said to already be an A-rank.

Rihya, the priest of the Goddess of Light, was rumored to be capable of using Absolute Defense.

Warren, who was said to be the pinnacle of shield users in the Kingdom.

Rin, who was comparatively younger than the other three, but her ability was a match for court magicians.

It could be said that many adventurers admired them.

The leader of that party was back.

Adventurers crowded around him.

Ryo found the scene a little dazzling, just as he did at the castle gate.

(Abel is really popular. There may be some benefits if I get along well with him.)

Ryo was sometimes calculative.

Abel was surrounded by adventurers for a while, but at the right moment, he approached Ryo.

Then he stood beside Ryo and spoke.

“This is Ryo. My lifesaver. Without Ryo, I wouldn’t be able to return to the City of Rune. And Ryo will now be an adventurer of this city. Our companion. So everyone please get along with him.”

Ryo was surprised.

They didn’t agree on that in advance! After looking at Abel at his side with such eyes, he surveyed the front.

The other adventurers seemed to be waiting for Ryo to say something.

“Ah, I’m Ryo. I’ll be in your care.”

Ryo said so and bowed.

“Ooo, nice to meet you Ryo.”

“Thank you for helping Abel.”

Along with such replies, Ryo’s shoulder was struck violently.

Both were proof of their welcome to Ryo and their gratitude for helping Abel return.

“And so, Nina, please help with Ryo’s adventurer registration.”

Abel accompanied Ryo to stand in front of the reception.

Around that time, the adventurers who celebrated Abel’s return had also returned to the food they had left in the dining room.

And around the reception, there were only three people, the receptionist, Nina, along with Abel and Ryo.

“So, Nina. For Ryo’s registration, I wish to recommend him for D-rank.”

Nina was surprised to hear that.

Of course, there was a system in place for rank-up registration by recommendation.

Even in the City of Rune, it happened about once a year.

However, the members of 『Crimson Sword』 including Abel had never been recommended anyone.

“Of course, that’s fine, but if you wish to use this system, we must ask that you provide proof that he deserves to be recommended. What will it be?”

“Yeah, I know. Regarding that and another matter, I’d like to talk to the Guild Master for a moment … can I see him now?”

“I think it should be fine. It is noon so he’s probably groaning while wrestling with documents in his room.”

Nina smiled when she said that.

“I will call the Guild Master so please follow me to the reception room in the back.”

Nina first brought them to the reception room in the back before immediately heading for the Guild Master’s room.

Immediately after that, they heard a hoarse voice that reached the reception room.

“What did you say!?”

And the sound of rapid footsteps. The door was opened vigorously and a fierce-looking giant man came in.

“Abel … I’m glad …”

The giant exclaimed and collapsed to his knees.

“Guilmas, Sorry for worrying you. I somewhat managed to return home.” (TLN: Abel calls him Guild Master in a shortened form)

“Good grief … I didn’t feel like living when I heard that Abel went missing.”

The giant stood up and sat in a fairly large, sturdy chair that seemed to be solely meant for him.

“Oops, before that, who’s this … Magician?”

The giant turned to Ryo and asked.

“This is Ryo. My lifesaver.”

“I see, I’m Hugh McGrath, the Guild Master of the City of Rune. Thank you for helping Abel.”

Hugh commented before standing up and bowing to Ryo.

“Ah, no, I just happened to come across him. Don’t mention it.”

Ryo also stood up and bowed his head.

“Well, Guilmas, Ryo is registering as an adventurer in this city but I’m hoping to recommend him for a rank up.”

Hearing that, Hugh looked toward Nina standing near the door.

Nina nodded.

“Abel mentioned he had something to talk to Guild Master regarding that.”

Hugh started running before she was able to inform him properly so he didn’t know why Abel wanted to meet him.

“Oh, is that so? Well, it was probably conveyed to Ryo, but we need proof that he is worthy to register for a rank-up…”

After speaking until there, Hugh looked at Nina who was still near the door.

Nina understood that it was a gaze to clear people away.

“Then, I shall excuse myself. I will be at the reception so please call me if you need anything.”

After saying that, Nina left.

It was Abel who first started.

“First, Ryo is stronger than me.”

That claim surprised both Hugh and Ryo.

“Hey hey…”

“Abel … Did you hurt your stomach with the dried meat you ate during lunch?”

Abel sighed.

“Well, he’s a joker like this, but his strength is the real deal. Also, during my journey to return to Rune, we gathered these from the monsters that Ryo and I defeated.”

Abel took out the Wyvern magic stones from his bag and placed them on the desk.

It numbered 25.

“What are these magic stones … I know they are wind-attribute because of the green coloration but … they are staggeringly large and dark in color. Such magic stones … no way, are these from Wyverns?”

“Yes, they are Wyvern magic stones. And Ryo is carrying about as much as this too.”

When Abel said so, Ryo also put his bag on the desk.

“That’s impossible … where on earth did you meet these many Wyverns … no, this is a scale that would destroy the country if the country does not use everything in its power to face it …”

Hugh squeezed those words out. With a voice that was almost a whisper.

“Don’t worry about that. We hunted these Wyverns on the Devil’s Mountain to the south.”

“Devil’s Mountain? That Devil’s Mountain? Why were you in such a place?”

“The ship drifted … and shipwrecked in a land that extends further south of the Devil’s Mountain. So I came back by crossing the Devil’s Mountain but there were a huge number of Wyverns on the southern side of the Devil’s Mountain. Well, that’s the short story of it.”

Abel shrugged and explained. He had cut it short by quite a bit.

For the time being, it was important to explain that those Wyverns weren’t likely to attack humanity right now and that it would not be so simple to get that many Wyvern magic stones in the future.

“I see. We’ll never get these many Wyvern magic stones on this scale again and they will not attack us. So I can assume that you wish to use the guild network to sell these so that the market value wouldn’t plummet.”

“As expected, Guilmas, it’s a great help that you’re quick to understand.”

If they sold everything in the City of Rune, the market value would plummet.

Furthermore, it would be possible to find out where they came from.

But if they used the guild’s network to sell it as a trade item to another city, the royal capital, or even another country, they wouldn’t raise suspicion.

That was the gist of it.

“I understand. It will take some time, but I will sell it responsibly. Let’s have the royal family buy it too.”

For a brief moment, Abel frowned a little.

“I believe the feudal lord would quickly buy one so I’ll be able to deposit the proceeds in a few days. So should I split the profits?”

“No, four to six. Four for me, six for Ryo.”

“Abel, that’s no good. Five to five.”

Upon hearing that, Abel shook his head.

“Ryo, I have not even shown my gratitude to Ryo for your help. And this also counts as the reward for the request to escort me until here. Take it so that I can hold my head up.”

Abel said and bowed while sitting.

“Abel …”

“Ryo, Abel has insisted that much. Give in to him and take it.”

Hugh also supported Abel.

“I understand then. I’ll gratefully accept it.”