SIAW Vol. 1 Chapter 16
Chapter 16 – The Adventurer’s Baptism
The next morning, I woke up at seven…in a room reeking of alcohol. Ranga had come back very late, completely drunk. It smelled really terrible, so I went downstairs immediately.
In the dining hall, Jeet and Zlatan were already sitting at a table.
“You two are pretty early today, aren’t you?”
“Thinking about today’s exam, we felt pretty nervous…and both woke up at dawn.”
So replied Jeet. They hadn’t eaten breakfast yet: they were waiting for it to be served.
“If we start without Misha, she might resent it…I guess I’ll go call her.”
I thus went back upstairs and knocked on Misha’s door. She answered the door right away , though she was really sleepy. I told her what I came for and she said she was going to come down immediately and to wait for her. She really did change quickly, so we went down together.
In the dining hall, Jeet and Zlatan had started eating. We ordered breakfast too and all chatted together. I told them briefly about what happened the day before in the guild.
“Ranga drank until late last night, and the room smells horrible now. I couldn’t stand it, so I came down early.”
“I’ll tell my sister! Including what happened yesterday!”
Ranga, you are already dead.
“Our exam starts at nine, so we should leave so that we get there at around half past eight, I guess?”
So I proposed, and everyone agreed.
“Ranga needs to be there by ten, so we just need to wake him up before we leave.”
We then finished the meal and talked until it was time, drinking fruit juice. When it was time to prepare, we went back to our rooms to pick up weapons and armor. I had everything in the Item Box, so there was nothing I had to physically carry, but I went to wake Ranga up.
At least, I tried to, but he kept saying there was still time to sleep and refused to wake up. Ultimately I gave up and went back downstairs, where everyone was waiting. I asked Marissa to wake up Ranga at nine and we left for the Adventurers’ Guild
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
We arrived at the guild at about half past eight, as scheduled. Inside, we found a few adventurers lined up at the reception, so we stood in the queue too, but our turn arrived soon enough.
“We came to take the F rank exam.”
“The exam starts at nine. Please make the necessary preparations and wait in the training grounds in the back.”
The receptionist was the same lady who took care of our registrations the day before. She told us the way to the grounds, so we headed there. There wasn’t anyone else around, so we did some light training.
Eventually, the clock passed nine, but no one seemed to be coming. When the other three started to get concerned too, the receptionist and the guildmaster came in.
“I apologize for making you wait. The adventurer in charge of the exam is running late, it seems. I’m going to start the exam in his stead, are you ready?”
“Yes!!”
“Very well then. Pick a weapon from that crate.”
We went to check the weapons in the crate. Jeet picked a normal-sized wooden sword; Zlatan, since there weren’t wooden machetes, picked a wooden short sword like me.
～
Jeet was going to take the exam first.
As soon as the guildmaster gave the signal to start, Jeet closed in on him. When he came fairly close, the guildmaster suddenly rushed towards him, attacking from above.
Jeet dodged the attack and swung from the side, aiming at the man’s neck.
The guildmaster easily parried, stepped backwards and gave the signal the match was over.
“Not sharp enough, but to be able to dodge and strike like that makes you well worthy to be a F ranker. You pass!”
Jeet, overjoyed, thanked the guildmaster and came back.
Zlatan was next, with his shield at the ready.
The guildmaster gave the signal to start, and Zlatan advanced carefully. His role was a defensive one, so he normally waited for the enemy to strike, but since it was an exam, he decided to go forward.
The guildmaster went on the offensive earlier this time: Zlatan used his shield to deflect the slash to the left, then swung the wooden sword with his right hand. The guildmaster quickly retracted his blade, easily parried Zlatan’s strike, stepped back and gave the finish signal, just as before.
“Excellent performance, I’m looking forward to your future prospects as a shield user! You too are well worth the title of F ranker. Pass!”
As expected of a guildmaster: he made an attack that a F-rank adventurer was supposed to be able to deal with, gauged the examinee’s response and their ability. Zlatan seemed really happy too.
Misha stepped forward next. Thinking about it, it was my first time seeing her fight.
The guildmaster gave the signal, and she jumped forward with good momentum.
When she was close enough, she attacked before the guildmaster did. Even if he parried, she continued attacking.
Misha’s weapons of choice were speed and high frequency of attacks, apparently.
The guildmaster parried her attacks about ten more times, then stepped back and gave the signal: it was a routine at this point.
“Your movements and relentless attacks are pretty good, but I’m concerned about how light they are. I guess you can pass to rank F, but be very careful when you fight monsters.”
Misha was a bit frustrated, but she passed anyway, so it was all good.
～
Thinking my turn was coming up, I stepped forward, but someone came in the training grounds.
“Sorry, guildmaster, last night I had too much to drink and slept in. Is the exam over?”
“Yes, for three of them. There’s one left. You’re getting your due punishment later!”
The man who came in was Gust, the adventurer we met the day before. He saw that I was going forward and smiled.
“I’ll take care of the last exam, sir. I don’t need any compensation, so let’s say that’s my punishment. Is that all right?”
“Can you take over the exam, in your condition?”
“It’s just the F rank exam, no problem.”
Gust picked up a wooden sword.
“Is that so? I suppose I’ll let you off, but lunch is on you today. Are you both ready?”
I stepped forward and prepared to fight. Gust had a suspicious grin on his face: he was definitely plotting something.
I had used Appraisal on his stats already; he was stronger than Ranga, but still nothing special.
The real problem was that I couldn’t just go and defeat a C-ranker, even if he was hungover.
The guildmaster gave the signal: I approached Gust and tried a light diagonal strike. He whacked my sword away and used the momentum for a horizontal strike.
I stepped back and dodged it, and Gust aimed at my wrist next. I simply twisted my wrist to avoid it and stepped further backwards.
Gust seemed to be attacking seriously: he was not trying to scare me off, nor going easy. If someone other than me had been struck by the last attack, their wrist might have been fractured.
“You’ll never become an adventurer if you keep running away!!”
So shouted Gust, flashing a disgusting smile.
Was he using the exam to release the frustration of the night before?
I couldn’t be sure, but I decided I should keep concentrating on the exam instead. I moved one step forward and Gust aimed a thrust at my right shoulder.
I deflected the blade, then circled behind Gust and put my blade next to his neck.
“Exam over!!”
The guildmaster’s voice resounded in the grounds, and I realized I had gone and done it.
Crap, I ended up winning for real…
Reflecting on my mistake, I let my guard down for a moment.
“Not so fast!!”
Gust shouted, and swung his sword as he turned around, right in my stomach.
Because of my HP and Physical Resistance skill, however, the wooden sword shattered.
I felt no pain, but was pretty irritated. Still holding my wooden sword, I punched Gust in the face, making him fall backwards.
I imbued magic power in the sword and swung it down.
I couldn’t kill the man, so I thrust the sword in the ground, right next to his face. Half of the blade sank inside the ground.
The guildmaster then raised his voice again.
“It’s over!! What are you doing? I said it’s over!!”
I left my sword where it was and turned towards the guildmaster.
“To think that an exam instructor would do such a thing…Tenma, I’m truly sorry!”
I realized that the guildmaster wasn’t yelling at me and recovered my composure a bit.
“Gust! What in blazes were you thinking!!”
Gust, pale as a sheet, had a nosebleed. He got back on his feet, and spoke up.
“Guildmaster, it’s this brat’s fault!!”
“What are you saying? You ignored my signal and attacked! It is clearly yours!!”
“This little bastard talks down on Ranga, the man who takes care of him! He shows no respect to his superior, and treats him like a fool! He needs to be disciplined, from the ground up!”
“That has nothing to do with the F rank exam!!”
“That’s not all. Ranga, the guy who used to always do whatever he pleased, is now restraining himself and taking care of his juniors! He’s sacrificing himself for his village, I can’t stand to see him made fun of like that!!”
“And so you decided to use the exam to give the boy a beating? Even knowing what punishment you would receive for an act like that?”
“T-There’s more!! The boy also came up with some unbelievable nonsense!! A secret method to increase your magic power quantity. I’m one of Ranga’s old comrades, how can I stay back and do nothing, when all the efforts he made on his own are treated like this?”
“I see, so you’re saying you don’t mind even if your adventurer license gets revoked, if you do that?”
“What!?”
The guildmaster was clearly angry, so I became able to think calmly. Gust meant everything for Ranga’s sake. But would his actions really help Ranga?
I faced Gust.
“Mr. Gust, would your actions really benefit Ranga?”
“O-Of course!!”
“I honestly doubt it. Yesterday you made him drink, and when people came to the guild to inquire about the family they had lost, you told them to come back the next day, because you were drinking. Ranga was supposed to talk to them, as representative of his village. Do you think that reflected well on him?”
Gust looked even paler.
“The leader of the group gets drunk and fails to inform the other members. Is that acceptable? The meeting he has to attend is moved to the next day, because he was drinking, and now he has to take care of it hungover, his breath smelling horribly, to talk to people about their dead family member!! Imagine how well that must go!!”
“Besides, the secret method of increasing magic power quantity is something Tenma was teaching to Ranga!!”
Misha added her own contribution, and Gust looked like a ghost at this point.
I then spoke to the guildmaster.
“Guildmaster, Mr. Gust was acting for Ranga’s sake, and I wasn’t hurt. Please don’t expel him, just have him clean the toilets or something. I’m afraid that Ranga would be terribly shocked if he was expelled..so, please.”
“I-I see…Gust, you will be informed about your punishment later. Tenma might have taken a casual tone with Ranga, but he’s clearly thinking about what’s best for the man more than you. Don’t you agree?”
A closer look revealed that Gust started crying.
Thus making the guildmaster yell at him louder.
“Don’t you dare cry on me now!! It’s almost ten already…Tenma, could you please take care of the explanation to Soran’s family? As the guild representative, I can’t send someone hungover to do it.”
Ignoring the bawling Gust, we hurriedly left the premises.