TBAGM Vol. 2 Chapter 3 Part 2

News of Ellis and the others’ promotion exams reached the other guild masters that very night.

Kyros, of course, blew his top like a volcano from the crown of his head. He’d just been told the First Unit’s push through the Forest Dungeon was on pace, so it must have felt like his hard-won good mood got smashed to bits. Even so, with Allen newly promoted to A-rank, he didn’t show any real panic.

—

Among the guild masters who heard the results, though, the one most shaken wasn’t Kyros.

“Man! I want that girl Ellis so bad!”

At the headquarters of Azure Sea Whitecaps, guild master Loren had just received the report on the top floor, and he was practically writhing as he shouted.

‘That water magic! That swagger! That cuteness! She’s peak!”

“Absolutely right!”

Kneeling before Loren were the three executives of Azure Sea Whitecaps, all present despite the late-night summons, proof of their fervent loyalty.

On the right stood Luce, leader of the First Unit: an A-rank spellblade, one of only three in the kingdom. The cleaving arcs released from his one-handed sword, infused with water magic, had broken through even the stoutest guardians.

Beside him was Lilia, who led the Second Unit. Despite her musclebound jock vibe, she was actually the B-rank healer who propped up the guild. Her restorative magic ranked among the top five in the nation.

Last was Leone, commander of the Third Unit, the strongest guardian among the women, and a main pillar of Azure Sea Whitecaps. Wielding potent defensive skills, she had shielded her allies from countless monstrosities.

And the man who commanded these three was the ever-buoyant Loren.

“I want her in the family no matter what! That water magic is what Azure Sea Whitecaps is all about!!”

True to the guild’s name, Loren had a habit of scouting adventurers specialized in water. To him, Ellis was the very talent he’d been hunting. Even so, Luce raised his voice with a frown.

“But, Lord Loren! “Veiled Moonrise” is still in the lower group!”

Of the twenty-six adventurer guilds, standings are split into upper, middle, and lower groups by rank. Azure Sea Whitecaps sat at rank three, a certified upper-group heavyweight.

In guild showdowns, the winner could force the loser to “do anything”—poaching talent included—but you could only challenge within the same tier. The system existed to stop powerhouses from strip-mining lower guilds.

And Ellis clearly owed Mr. Lloyd; no matter how sweet the offer, she was unlikely to leave on her own. Poaching her looked close to impossible.

“We’re not aiming at Veiled Moonrise! We’re aiming at Greenpeak!”

““What!?””

All three snapped their eyes wide.

“Greenpeak is allied with Veiled Moonrise! That’s our target!”

Greenpeak sat at rank seven, also upper group, like Azure Sea Whitecaps. That meant Loren could, in fact, challenge Mint to a duel.

“We’ll prove we’re stronger than Greenpeak and force Veiled Moonrise into an alliance with us! Then their ranking shot up overnight!”

““That’s right!””

“Once they’re in the upper group, we’ve won—then we break their old alliance and steal Ellis!”

Loren’s plan was outrageously hairbrained, downright incoherent, even. And yet… coming from Loren, it carried a strange, convincing gravity. In truth, he’d clawed his way to rank three by pulling off schemes this reckless.

“Mint will never turn down a Guild Showdown! Our chance to snatch Ellis is right there!”

““Ooooooh!””

The trio roared in kind.

Greenpeak was a guild composed solely of mages. On paper, such lopsided composition should be a liability in duels but in practice, it wasn’t.

Guild rankings were normally set once a year by overall performance, with dungeon progress—how many floors cleared, or deepest floor reached—weighted most heavily, and once fixed, a rank stayed put for the year.

Guild Showdowns, however, were the lone exception: an upset let the lower-ranked winner take the loser’s spot, bumping the loser down and flipping the table.

In short, Greenpeak had climbed by challenging higher-ranked foes and stealing their standing.

But facing Azure Sea Whitecaps was another matter. Between rank three and rank seven lay a yawning gulf. As they were, Greenpeak had absolutely no chance.

(Heh heh heh, Mint—your guild’s about to be the sacrifice for our plan!)

While Mint and her mages blissfully pursued magical perfection, Azure Sea Whitecaps quietly moved to set their duel in motion.

†

The morning after the extraordinary promotion exams dawned.

Members of Veiled Moonrise gathered in the conference room at daybreak to meet Rii and Mii.

“I’m sorry. I got home late last night.”

Nick, dark circles under his eyes, bowed first to everyone.

“Abaddon and I got carried away, and before we knew it, it was morning.”

It seemed Nick had pulled an all-nighter working with Abaddon. Once that man got hooked, he never stopped, and Nick was the same, so no one had been around to rein them in.

“Did you have a good experience?”

“Yeah! It was super fulfilling.”

Nick answered with clear satisfaction.

Working alongside an A-rank smith had given him exactly the spark he needed. I could feel his drive to aim higher instead of settling at B-rank, and it showed in his stats.

.

Stamina B → A

Intellect C → B

.

Abaddon hadn’t boosted Nick’s techniques so much as his fundamental attributes. Base attributes don’t grow quickly like discrete skills, they demand overwhelming experience. With no smithing background, any advice from me wouldn’t move the needle much. Abaddon must have hammered years of knowledge and craft straight into him.

Honestly, I’d rather not be enemies with Abaddon. But he has his position too, a master to hundreds of smiths. It’s only natural he sided with Incarnation of the Sun. I can’t drag personal feelings into this.

“Alright, let’s introduce Veiled Moonrise’s new members.”

Everyone was present, including the two maids.

I had the two little girls—Rii and Mii—who were perched on their chairs, step to the front.

“Starting today, these two will be part of our guild. Think you can introduce yourselves?”

I asked like a schoolteacher.

They both bobbed their small heads.

“I-I’m Rii of the Ogre tribe. Nice to meet you.”

“I am Mii of the Ogre tribe! Pleased to meet you!”

Rii finished, still stiff with nerves; Mii chirped her greeting bright and bold.

The others were still trying to process the situation, so I added context.

“You remember the Guild Showdown with Oni’s Fang. We welcomed these two because of that.”

The loser of a Showdown must pay a price, one way or another.

Had we lost, we would have had to hand over Nero, just as they declared beforehand.

They hadn’t even considered the possibility they might lose. About a week after the Showdown, I visited Oni’s Fang and met Nike. He answered me cleanly:

“We will grant you any one request.”

So I asked for the two I’d noticed there doing odd jobs: Rii and Mii.

My request baffled Nike. He’d apparently braced himself for demands like disbanding Oni’s Fang or making them our subordinate guild.

“Are you sure that’s all? Those two are called failures, their abilities are extremely low.”

The moment I heard that, I knew I had to take them.

No matter how little someone has achieved, no matter how often they’ve failed, no one else gets to decide their worth, especially not for children whose identities aren’t even formed yet. Slap on a label, and it sticks for life.

“Two useless girls… no, that was foolish of me.”

Nike caught himself mid-sentence.

He’d realized how I would treat Rii and Mii, how I would involve myself with them.

“Mr. Lloyd… please, take good care of the two of them.”

He bowed deeply, sincere and formal.

That was how Rii and Mii came to us.

“W-We’re failures.”

“We only have one horn. We aren’t strong like normal Ogres.”

They spoke in small voices, apologetic before Ellis and the others.

Where two horns should have grown, they had only one.

Among Ogres, horn size is how strength is judged. With just a single horn, they were dismissed out of hand.

In practice, nothing had gone right for them; by Nike’s mercy they’d been allowed to do menial chores.

“S-So we’ll just be a burden to this guild.”

“Because we’re failures, we can only do chores.”

New environment, old fear.

They didn’t want to disappoint anyone, so they tried to devalue themselves first; a classic mindset born of hardship.

But that kind of self-abasement has no place here.

“What are you two talking about? We’re not making such adorable girls do chores.”

“Right. Mr. Lloyd brought you here. You’ll be pulling your weight with us.”

Ellis and Nero smiled at the two, coaxing them out of their shells.

“I wanna play with them.”

“Doesn’t look like they’re the artisan type. Mr. Lloyd’s combat training is brutal, so steel yourselves now.”

Elna and Nick tried to settle their nerves.

“Leave the chores to us.”

“Yes, service is our department.”

Serina and Rei added warm smiles.

Maybe they’d never felt this much kindness. Past confusion, tears welled in their eyes.

“You’re not failures.”

I said it as I patted their heads.

No one here would brand them with that word, because everyone in this room had been an underdog once.

“So… will you lend us your hands? We’ll give everything we have for you, too.”

I held both hands out to them with a smile.

Behind me, my comrades nodded as one.

Seeing us, perhaps realizing it was safe to lean on someone at last, the tension left their little shoulders—

—and tears overflowed like a breaking dam.

“Uu… p-please take care of us.”

“P-Please… take care of us!”

Their small hands gripped mine tight.

The tears wouldn’t stop, rolling down their cheeks again and again.

Watching them, I swore: these girls would grow into full-fledged Ogres under our roof.

And so, Rii and Mii officially joined Veiled Moonrise.

—