Chapter 225: 120. Aihrance’s Underground Labyrinth -1 (Part One)
Chapter 225: 120. Aihrance’s Underground Labyrinth -1 (Part One)
**
The Orichalcon rank.
To an adventurer, reaching that rank would be like a dream come true. One who achieved this rank would be considered as an existence at the peak of their profession.
Only twenty people in the entire continent were known to possess this glorious rank, which was only granted to those who had achieved feats as notable as saving a nation from the brink of destruction.
But now, an adventurer had achieved the unprecedented accomplishment of reaching that very rank in only about one month.
“See? I told you, didn’t I? They’re important nobles from a forgotten kingdom!”
The adventurers were discussing this topic with much fanfare.
The tales of an adventurer named ‘Allen Rufus’ were quickly propagating within the halls of Elusha’s adventurer guild.
But that was obvious when considering the rank of Orichalcon being the object of their admiration, and the person who had acquired that rank happened to be the hero responsible for protecting their fiefdom.
“Lady Alice is surely a princess, while Sir Allen Rufus is her escorting knight and Mister Hans is the chamberlain! I’m telling you!”
These sorts of rumours had now become almost facts among those who talked about it. Although everyone initially had a hard time trusting such a rumour, they no longer had a choice now but to believe it.
After all, the Big Eyes was involved in this matter.
That was a scary demon capable of trapping a dragon in its belly and slowly digesting it. Yet, the Paladin killed off such a demon and even proceeded to utterly crush a large faction of Necromancers.
Was that all? No, he alone stood against the flood of thousands of undead that no one knew where they had come from and managed to defeat them.
There were far too many witnesses who had seen the aftermath in the audience chamber to call it a baseless rumour at this point.
Such a hero wouldn’t just suddenly fall from the heavens without warning, so rather unsurprisingly, people began spreading the rumour that the trio were actually members of a ruined kingdom’s royal family, and they were on a journey to revive their fallen nation.
That sure was an amazing level of imagination befitting adventurers.
“If that’s true, then wow, were we actually fighting alongside a royalty?”
“What do you mean by we fought alongside? He alone sorted everything out, didn’t he?”
“Oh hey, I heard that remunerations will be handed out soon. It’s gonna be a lot of moolah, right?”
The entire adventurer guild was currently in a hive of activity.
The invasion of the Big Eyes, monsters, and the undead had left the guild without its roof, and one of its walls had also collapsed as well, allowing plenty of fresh air to enter its hallways.
It wasn’t just the adventurer guild though, but many places throughout the fiefdom of Elusha were currently going through reconstruction efforts.
It was around this time that someone paid a visit to the adventurer guild.
All he did was walk forward.
Even then, his entrance in the building attracted the gazes of everyone, and their expressions instantly hardened.
The adventurers quietly stood up from their seats. With deeply tense faces, they bowed their heads at the Paladin in silver-white armour to express their respect.
This Paladin didn’t pay any attention to the adventurers and stood before the guild’s receptionist.
“A-ah, hello there. Y-you’ve come, sir?”
The nervous receptionist stuttered due to how stiff he was. He was inwardly telling himself that dealing with nobles was far easier than this.
“I’ve come here after hearing that my reward payout is now ready.”
The receptionist shed cold sweat at the Paladin’s uncaring tone of speech. He quickly began rummaging below the shelf. Then, he began placing the reward money paid out by the kingdom of Aihrance on the table.
The eyes of the adventurers watching on grew larger and larger. Pouches containing coins were gradually piling up on the table’s surface.
“J-just how much is that...?”
The receptionist was grunting out of breath as he placed the rest of the money. While wiping his sweat away, he addressed Allen, the Orichalcon-ranked adventurer. “This is your reward handed out by the queendom of Aihrance, sir.”
Allen reached out and grabbed the money pouches. Since he had his item window, he didn’t even have to bother carrying all these bulky things around.
And when all those piles of coin pouches filling up the counter suddenly vanished without a trace, the adventurers watching on began whispering to each other once more.
They thought that magic was involved, considering the sudden vanishing act of all those pouches.
But before the imaginations of the adventurers could spiral out of control, other guests also paid a visit to the adventurer guild.
The upper Iron-ranked adventurer, Adolf, was currently leading a contingent of knights and magicians dispatched by the royal court of Aihrance.
Adolf walked over in front of Allen, and knelt down on one knee just as the latter was getting ready to leave.
The eyes of the other adventurers who were watching on nearly popped out of their sockets at that.
It was a matter of course for an Iron-rank adventurer to show respect towards an Orichalcon-rank. However, what took these adventurers by surprise wasn’t Adolf’s actions.
No, it had to do with the royal court knights and magicians also kneeling in front of the Paladin in silver-white armour.
In fact, their gestures were both cautious and courteous, almost as if they were now speaking to someone of royalty.
“This lowly adventurer, Adolf, pays his respect to Lord Allen, and...” Adolf cautiously raised his head and looked up at Allen. “...The royal court of Aihrance wishes to extend their invitation to you, sir. Will you accept it, my lord?”
When Allen heard that, a grin floated up on the lips hidden underneath his helm.
**
(TL: In 1st person POV.)
I returned to the inn.
Adolf and the escort party sent by the royal court of Aihrance were on standby outside the establishment, having formed a ‘protective’ cordon around the entrance.
I observed that sight from my room’s window for a bit before turning around to look at Alice and Hans.
I spoke to them, “The royal court of Aihrance sent us an invitation. Since they are inviting us, we should go and say hello. Besides, I also have business to attend to in their royal palace’s basement, anyways.”
I pulled out several coin pouches from my item window and placed them on the table.
“And these are our remuneration from the Big Eyes incident. Even though no one lodged a request for it, the royal court still saw fit to pay out these rewards nonetheless.”
Honestly speaking, I didn’t need the money. I had the necessary authority to utilise the Theocratic Empire’s funds in any way I deem appropriate, so I was basically swimming in wealth right now.
Not to forget, I was a part of a group that ‘raided’ the ancient Aslan tomb, so you could say that I didn’t feel much temptation towards money at this point in time.
Even Hans, a man who was obsessed with acquiring wealth, showed practically no reaction to the coin pouches.
Instead, he was growling out. “I’ll definitely decipher you! You sons of b*tches, my family line has been researching warp gate magic for generations! Just how did those bastards come to acquire this level of technology?!”
His brows were furrowed in concentration while he glared murderously at the rune letters. He was in the middle of deciphering the rune letters left behind by Nemesis – or more correctly, the Vampires’ warp gate.
I shifted my gaze over to Alice. She was staring at the pouches in an obvious daze.
I spoke to her, “You can use them in any way you want.”
“R-really, your highness?”
Her eyes opened real wide. She then reached out and embraced the small bags filled with gold coins .
A gentle smile floated up on her lips. “This is perfect timing. The church’s building Sister Evelyn has been looking after has partly collapsed recently. This amount should be more than enough to fully rebuild the church.”
She certainly had a good heart, didn’t she? She wanted to use the money not for herself, but for other people, eh?
Not that surprising, considering that she was the granddaughter of an archbishop. Money probably held very little meaning to her.
Now that I thought about it, Yuria was living there, wasn’t she?
Right, I needed to carefully observe what’s happening to that girl, too... Such as, her growth speed and the types of powers she could use. Stuff like that.
Alice took the coin pouches away, but then, she formed a somewhat intrigued expression in the next moment. She looked back at me and asked, “By the way, your highness? When you said that the royal court invited us...?”
“They probably wanted to treat us well since we are now Orichalcon-ranked adventurers. If it’s not that, then well...” I shifted my gaze outside the window and looked at the escort party sent by the royal court before continuing on, “They invited us knowing that I’m the Imperial Prince.”
The royal court of Aihrance had extended this invitation to us and I was planning to accept it.
After all, that ‘item’ I wanted to get my hands on was waiting for me in the ‘basement’ of Aihrance’s capital, Irion.