TBAGM Vol. 3 Chapter 1 Part 1

Chapter 1 – The Most Formidable Witch

I, Lloyd, was an Advisor and the guildmaster of the adventurer guild Veiled Moonrise.

An Advisor was, just as the name implied, someone who gave advice. It was a profession I had created myself, one no one else possessed. Using my skill 【Appraisal】 and its superior version, 【Insight】, my job was to discern the numerical status of others and help train them.

I had originally served as an Advisor in a top guild called Incarnation of the Sun, but after incurring the displeasure of its guildmaster, Kyros, I had been cast out. Then a single mage, Ellis, invited me in, and the two of us founded Veiled Moonrise together.

Veiled Moonrise operated under the following principles: To help and nurture those whose talents had gone unnoticed and who had been treated unfairly.

People sometimes failed to recognize their true talents. Those were precisely the people who needed advice, and there was nothing more stirring than a dramatic comeback by the underdog.

—

Ellis and I had gathered companions with the goal of defeating Incarnation of the Sun, and by now we had reached the point where it was fair to say that all 26 adventurer guilds had their eyes on us.

Two of those guilds were now about to hold a major event called a Guild Showdown.

One was Greenpeak, a group led by the genius mage Mint, currently ranked 7th among the adventurer guilds. Mint had recognized Ellis’s talent early on and had become our ally faster than anyone else.

The other was the 3rd-ranked Azure Sea Whitecaps, a powerhouse guild made up of adventurers who specialized in the water element.

And at the center of the conflict between these two major guilds was, of course, us.

The guild that won the Guild Showdown could demand any one thing from the losing side. Apparently, Azure Sea Whitecaps intended to claim victory, force Greenpeak to break off its alliance with Veiled Moonrise, and take that position for themselves.

But I had no intention of sitting back and silently watching Greenpeak lose. I gave advice to the members who would be participating in the Guild Showdown and brought about astonishing level-ups.

Whether that would prove a blessing or a disaster was finally about to be revealed.

†

The day after the corruption scandal at the Adventurer’s Association, the day of the Guild Showdown arrived.

That scandal referred to the exposure of staff bribery and embezzlement carried out by my former guild, Incarnation of the Sun.

All 26 adventurer guilds were placed under the supervision of an organization known as the Adventurer’s Association. Incarnation of the Sun, ranked first among the guilds, might have been overbearing, but even they still had to obey the wishes of Orgus, the chairman of the Association.

Kyros resented that, so he manipulated staff members loyal to him and had them falsify records, embezzle funds, and the like. You could dismiss it as petty-mindedness, but the obsession he showed in trying to keep Incarnation of the Sun at the top was astonishing.

As someone who had known him well for a long time, I had mixed feelings about it… but that aside, we had managed to secure proof of the corruption. The time to expose it would come eventually.

I was grateful that one source of anxiety had disappeared before the day of the Guild Showdown arrived.

This Guild Showdown was being held at the National Stadium of our kingdom, Fereia.

For some reason, the royal family had granted permission for the National Stadium to be used this time.

Until now, the National Stadium had only ever been used for state functions, so using it for a Guild Showdown was unprecedented.

Just to be safe, I had Ellis, who was secretly a member of the royal family, look into the reason, and as expected, it turned out to be due to the king’s personal wishes.

“I want to watch the battle right in front of me too.”

That was apparently the reason. According to Ellis, the king had long admired the adventures of his younger brother. That younger brother was Ellis’s father, which made the king her uncle.

Perhaps people really did think alike when they were related by blood.

Since the king could not enter dungeons himself, watching adventurers battle each other had become something of a hobby for him. Up until now, he had apparently watched through live broadcasts using broadcast magic, but it seemed he had grown tired of that as well. In a way, he really was a bold and larger-than-life king.

—

I was in the waiting room of the National Stadium, encouraging the members of Greenpeak, but…

“I never heard this was going to be held at the National Stadium. My stomach’s starting to hurt.”

“Yeah… I’m not sure I can fight properly either.”

The two executives who would be competing, Marcus and Alterna, seemed nervous, and their expressions were stiffer than usual.

It was normal for footage of the Guild Showdown to be broadcast nationwide, so that part was nothing new.

The real reason they were so tense was probably because the king himself was among the honored guests.

People rarely ever had the chance to lay eyes on the king. If you were told that someone like that would be watching your fight, it would be stranger not to feel nervous.

“At last, I get to fight! I’m going to make Loren eat her words!”

Yes. In a situation where anyone would have been nervous, Mint alone was calmly waiting for the battle.

Was she trying not to make us worry? Or was she simply looking forward from the bottom of her heart to unleashing her new magic?

Either way, the important thing was that she was not nervous. I believed she could defeat Loren, the guildmaster of Azure Sea Whitecaps.

The Guild Showdown was a best-of-three series of one-on-one matches. Each side selected three representatives to fight. It was obvious that the third match would come down to Mint versus Loren. Both of them were the type to follow that sort of convention.

Which left the order of the other two.

“I want Alterna to go first.”

“Understood. Am I allowed to use the mana handgun?”

“Yes. They’ll probably inspect the weapons first, so you won’t be able to catch them off guard with it, though.”

Before the Guild Showdown began, the weapons would be inspected in advance.

They did that to check whether anything had been tampered with and whether any weapon was too dangerous. The combatants would also be fighting with reduced lethality compared to normal.

The mana handgun developed specifically for this Guild Showdown had already received the king’s approval and even been patented. Since that information had not yet been made public, the work of Veiled Moonrise’s dependable blacksmith, Nick, would be unveiled to the entire nation through this battle.

For Nick’s first creation, it was as perfect a debut as one could ask for.

“Well then, I’m off.”

“Yeah. Good luck. You can absolutely win.”

I spoke in a way meant to reassure him and raise his spirits.

Alterna nodded, then left the waiting room together with Marcus, both of them wearing grave expressions.

That left only Mint and me in the room.

“Mint, there’s something I’d like to ask you.”

“Hm? Why are you suddenly being so formal?”

“Alterna and Marcus will probably overwhelm their opponents.”

“Huh?”

“If that happens, then Greenpeak will win with two victories out of three matches, which means you won’t get your turn. But since you worked so hard to master Fusion Magic, I want you to propose a match to Loren anyway.”

“W-Wait a second! They’re up against a top-tier B-rank and an A-rank adventurer, you know? Sure, our two executives worked hard in your training too, Lloyd, but I don’t think they’ll win by that much.”

It seemed Mint found what I was saying hard to believe.

From the roster submitted in advance, we already knew who the two combatants besides Loren were. Alterna and Marcus were excellent B-rank adventurers, but if you compared their specs alone, their odds of victory looked slim.

But that had only been true a little while ago. The two of them had overcome my training, and their current title of B-rank adventurer no longer suited them.

“Well, if it really comes to that, I’ll think about it.”

Still, since Mint did not know the details of their training, she merely ended the conversation with a wry smile.

—

And then, ten minutes later.

“Wha—!?”

“See? It turned out exactly like I said, didn’t it?”

Alterna and Marcus stood before us, both completely unharmed after finishing their matches.

Mint froze with her mouth hanging open.

“So, how was it for you two? Were they satisfying matches?”

I asked while looking at the two of them, both of whom seemed rather proud of themselves.

“Satisfying? There wasn’t even time for that. One shot from the mana handgun blew my opponent away, so I didn’t understand a thing.”

“Same here. I’d braced myself when I heard I was up against an A-rank adventurer, but I never expected him to go down after just a few punches.”

It seemed Alterna and Marcus had not been able to get much of a sense of accomplishment from how absurdly anticlimactic the matches had been.

First was Alterna. His opponent had been Leone, the strongest female Guardian and leader of the Third Unit of Azure Sea Whitecaps. I had heard that her greatshield could block any attack and keep every last one of her unit members from suffering so much as a scratch.

And yet Alterna pierced that greatshield with his mana handgun one second after the match began. Then, before he even needed to fire a second shot, he knocked her unconscious.

Next was Marcus. He was an Arcane Pugilist. Put simply, his style was to strike his enemies with fists infused with mana. Marcus’s opponent was the A-rank adventurer Luce. He was a spellblade who fought by wrapping magic around his sword.

Ordinarily, Marcus should have struggled against him. Instead, within seconds of the start, Marcus smashed Luce’s sword apart, then kept pummeling him like a sandbag until he lost consciousness.

The audience could do nothing but stare in stunned silence. And so, with both matches being decided almost as soon as they started, the Guild Showdown ended at an unprecedented speed.

“You two are going to have a hard time after this.”

A Mana Shooter and an Arcane Pugilist had appeared out of nowhere. They were the kind of existences that overturned the common sense of magic from the ground up. Nick, who had created the mana handgun, would of course draw attention too, but for the time being, those two would likely become the center of attention.

“Why are you acting like this has nothing to do with you? You’re the one who raised us like this, Mr. Lloyd. You’d better stand out right alongside us.”

“Exactly. And take responsibility for continuing to train us from here on out too.”

The two of them answered in a way that sounded exasperated, yet somehow pleased as well. I had never imagined that the two who had once detested me so strongly would open their hearts to me this much.

Moments like this, when I was thanked like this, were probably when I felt the most fulfilled as an Advisor.

But it was still too early to indulge in that sentiment.

“Now then, Mint. Do you remember what I told you earlier?”

“Y-Yes. Something about how I wouldn’t get my turn, so I should persuade Loren to fight anyway?”

“Yes. Our victory has already been decided. But neither our opponents nor the audience will be satisfied with such an abrupt conclusion. So I want you to propose a third match.”

“And then demand even more as the prize?”

“Yes, exactly. And what you should ask for is…”

After that, I gave Mint detailed advice on how things should unfold from here.

†

A short while later, Mint and Loren, the two guildmasters, stood atop the stage. Lloyd was nowhere to be seen. He was watching the battle from the waiting room.

“Hey, Loren. I have a proposal for you.”

“O-Oh! Mint negotiating with someone? That’s a rare sight!”

The two stood at the center of the stage, their gazes crossing.

Greenpeak’s victory had already been decided. Even so, Mint had called Loren out onto the stage.

Loren was acting cheerful as usual, but his fists were twitching and the corners of his eyes were red. He must not have been able to accept it. The match had been decided before he even had the chance to step forward, and in a way that should have been impossible by any normal standard.

Taking those feelings into account, Mint made her proposal.

“Why don’t we fight too? If I lose, you can count it as a win for Azure Sea Whitecaps.”

“!? And what happens if you win, Mint?”

At those utterly unexpected words, Loren’s brow twitched.

If things ended here, Greenpeak would be able to claim third place in the guild rankings with no risk at all. And yet she was prepared to cast that aside without hesitation. Loren’s shock was only natural.

“If we win, then Azure Sea Whitecaps will have to… cut ties with Incarnation of the Sun.”

“What, is that all?”

“‘Is that all’? Weren’t Azure Sea Whitecaps pretty closely connected to Incarnation of the Sun?”

It was common knowledge that Azure Sea Whitecaps and Incarnation of the Sun had a close relationship.

That relationship had deepened around their shared goal of bringing down Fairy Garden, the second-ranked guild. It could not quite be called an alliance, but they were close enough to carry out joint operations together.

“Yeah, that’s true. That condition would hurt us quite a bit. But I’ve been thinking it’s about time I got in on the latest trend too.”

“Latest trend?”

Seeing how calm he was compared to usual, Mint tilted her head.

Lowering his voice, he said:

“The trend started by a man named Lloyd. If you ask me, Incarnation of the Sun will crash to the ground within two years.”

“Huh. Loren, so you were supposed to be the smart type? Are you trying to win people over with the gap?”

Mint was delighted that Lloyd’s ability had been recognized, almost as if it had been praise directed at herself.

Seeing that reaction, Loren became convinced of something and firmly took her hand.

“Well, something like that! All right, I’m in!”

“In that case, Mr. Referee, please let us have the third match too.”

And so, a third round was suddenly arranged.

—