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Translator: Kazumi
Editor: Kabur & Silavin
Cecil and Arisa were visiting the Crown Headquarters on the Fifth Floor.
They had come to report to the counter to complete an ordinary request they had received.
Recently, the two of them had registered with Crown’s adventurer department to take on requests so that they could use the spiritual arts they had learned in practice.
However, they weren’t taking on requests all the time, but rather, half of their time was spent working with the Shrine Administration instead.
As shrine administrators, Cecil and Arisa don’t have to do much since Saki, Miki, and Eri were doing their best.
However, they have been receiving requests from Crown.
The requests that they received were for Cecil and Arisa to handle things on the Administration Floor.
This was not the case in the past, but recently, requests for urgent items had been coming in regularly. Thus, for them, adventurer activities and shrine administration had taken a 50/50 split.
Though, the things Kousuke and the others were requesting, were not urgent.
Kouhi and Mitsuki quickly collected the urgently needed items.
They sent out requests to develop tools and research materials that could be collected via normal means.
Incidentally, Kousuke and the others were not the ones making the requests directly.
Kousuke and the others send their requests to Schmidt, who in turn sends them to the adventurer division, or rather, Gazeran.
Gazeran in turn issued nomination requests to Cecil and Arisa.
Of course, Cecil and Arisa were not always called. So, they did not handle all the requests that came in from the Administration Floor.
Only when the time was right, would they receive such nomination requests.
***
They placed the collected materials and the request list on the counter.
The receptionist took them and started to check.
The receptionist came back soon after, with the results.
“I’ve confirmed that your request has been fulfilled… great.”
The woman at the reception desk this time was the one who had been around when Cecil and Arisa had been working at headquarters.
Since they were in different departments, they did not have long conversations, but they recognized each other.
It was the receptionist who noticed them first.
Cecil and Arisa didn’t notice her at all, but remembered her when she spoke to them after they had received several requests.
To begin with, Cecil and Arisa didn’t have a very long history of working at headquarters.
Not long after they started their work, they had been transferred to Temple Management.
Cecil was surprised that the receptionist remembered them even though they had only been there for a short time and asked her about it, but she simply stated, “It’s my job to remember faces.
Since then, whenever the two of them received a request, they would try to go to this receptionist, as much as possible.
It was not like there was a quota for the receptionist to fulfill. It was just a matter of mood.
“This time, I was able to meet the target right by the transfer gate. We were lucky.”
“I see… By the way, you can now take the rank up test after completing this request. What do you want to do?”
The receptionist’s words caused a buzz around them.
Cecil and Arisa had become the focus of a lot of attention.
As soon as they suddenly arrived one day and started doing requests, they succeeded in almost all of them, one after another, raising their ranks.
This time, their rank was raised to C rank.
In Crown, a C rank would place them among the top ranks, if not the top class.
While most adventurers are stuck at D rank, ranking up to C rank was a barrier.
“Rank up… What do we do now?”
Cecil asked, looking at Arisa.
“Hmm. If it doesn’t take too long, I guess we can take it?”
The truth was that neither Cecil nor Arisa were very particular about their rank.
The reason they started taking requests in the first place was to get some practice, and they started taking them because Collete recommended it.
“Right, well… How long does the exam take?”
“Well, to rank up to C, you will need to take a competency test and an interview. There are others who will be taking it as well, so it will take about a day each.”
“Does it take up two full days?”
“Oh, no. We’ll let you know the scheduled time, so you just need to show up at that time.”
Cecil and Arisa looked at each other and nodded at the receptionist’s explanation.
“”We will take the test.””
If this had been a test that would have kept them busy for a few days or so, like a normal request, they might have refused. However, they figured that they could take it if it was going to keep them busy for up to two days, with a few hours in between each test.
Of course, they were going to spend the rest of the time on managing the Shrine.
“Okay, I understand. Then, let me inform you about the test.”
The receptionist said and began to explain about the rank up exam.
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The day of the rank up exam.
Cecil and Arisa had visited the headquarters at the time they were called.
The exam was to be held in a different location. Somewhere other than the counter where they usually received requests was located.
It was one of the training grounds.
It was not the kind of place that was often open to adventurers, but one that was used for rank-up examinations.
When the two of them arrived, others were already taking their ability tests.
Since the rank up test to C rank was being held for the whole day, the examinees came and went as they pleased.
Naturally, the examinees also took turns.
The moment Cecil and Arisa entered the exam room, those who were waiting for their turn to take the exam, started buzzing.
Most of them had come for a C-rank re-test, so they had mixed feelings about the two who had managed to take the exam so quickly.
Also, in the C rank ability test, the examinees would fight each other.
It didn’t matter if they won or lost, the purpose of the test was to see their skills.
For those who were healers like Sylvia, their abilities as healers would be tested instead of a battle.
***
While the examinations of the others were going on, it was finally Cecil and Arisa’s turn.
The test was done one person at a time, so it was Cecil’s turn first.
Her opponent was…
“Yo!”
For some reason, Gazeran raised his hand in front of Cecil.
When Cecil saw him, she pressed her hand on her forehead.
“Why is the department head here?”
“As your test partner, I guess. If you leave it to someone who isn’t good at it, it could result in death, right?”
Gazeran’s words caused the people around them to become noisy again.
Some of them said that he was exaggerating and that he should not be lambasted. However, Gazeran brushed them aside.
“Well, the proof is in the details, right? Let’s get on with it.”
At Gazeran’s words, the examiner gave the signal.
***
After the battle with Gazeran was over, there was no more complaining from the examinees who had seen Cecil fight.
Arisa’s test, held shortly after, had the same result.
It showed that both of them were more than competent enough.
To put it bluntly, there would be no one who could beat the two of them in the current exam.
That’s how overwhelmingly strong they were.
“Well, I guess there won’t be anyone who will complain about this.”
It was Gazeran who said that after looking at the surroundings.
The reason why Gazeran had come all the way out here was to show off this battle.
As it turned out, his plan had worked.
At the very least, no one who saw this battle up close today would complain about their fighting prowess in the future.
That was the extent of the battle that took place during the test.
***
The next day, the two of them had their interviews and returned to the shrine without hearing the results.
After all, it would take some time before they would hear the results of the exam.
Author’s notes:
And so, that was what happened to Cecil and Arisa.
These two had learned Spiritual Arts, and I wanted to write about what they usually do. So, I made this chapter.
Do note that, when Collete joined the tower, she was C rank.
She and Sylvia were in a two-person party, and since there was only one person who could fight, it was hard to meet the requirements. Thus, they had to work their way slowly up the ranks.
The reason why they didn’t join other parties was because they were expecting people competent enough to match them, and beautiful enough to match them. Naturally, they couldn’t find any decent parties with their expectations…
