Chapter 69 : Guild Master (Part 2)

Rebecca received Rei's quest report, she immediately ran off to somewhere. A few moments later, a man came out and walking towards them.

The man talked with Andrew and asked them to follow him to his room before turning around and walked away. Rei ended up following after the man, he went together with Andrew and his team.

******

After a few minutes of lengthy discussion about their quest, Andrew and the others left the room. However, the guild master specifically requested Rei to stay behind so he obediently complied.

The moment the door was closed, Rei could feel the pressure inside of this room and it's coming from the man who sat down on his office desk with a strange brown haired woman who stood beside him.

Rei looked at the man, he didn't know him but the person who lived inside his head recognized him.

'Do you know him, Houston.'

Ray could only nod his head at Rei's question while feeling sweat trickling down from his cheek.

'Yeah, I mean…who wouldn't know him, he's [The Guild Master, Hughes Farhill]'

'Hughes Farhill?' Rei asked.

'Yes...he's a former S-rank Adventurer who's well-known as [The Shield Crusher]. He retired long ago and taken the seat of the [Guild Master], but I would have never thought I would be meeting him face to face like this.'

'I see...so I guess he rarely goes out of his room to see someone, huh…'

'That's right, unless someone unexpected shows up, like you.' Ray explained as Rei returned to look at the man once again.

Hughes was looking at some sort of paper report. He was examining it one by one while giving small glances at Rei.

That was until he put the paper down,

"Nice meeting you Crimson...my name is Hughes Farhill, the Guild Master of this Adventurer Guild."

"Nice to meet you too sir."

"I'm sorry for calling you out like this even though you just got back from your quest, so forgive me." Hughes spoke while he sighed a bit, "I was also an Adventurer before, just like you so I can tell how you feel."

"No, it's fine sir...it makes sense that someone would be curious when they got to see what kind of monster that was just brought in."

"Indeed, I heard from our staff about an extraordinary man with full armor plate joining this guild. I was pleasantly surprised." The man said as he observed him, "I was wondering what kind of man you were but a skinny guy wasn't one of them."

"Well you can't trust rumors."

"Indeed. I received that you are still an E-rank, aren't you?"

"Correct."

"Since you already know our system, we cannot promote you to higher rank due to something that happened in the past, right?"

"I know and I heard it from Rebecca before." Rei replied.

"Then you must also know...we cannot let you jump rank even after you defeated a unique boss monster, all by yourself."

"I know."

"Good, do you know the reason why you were brought here then?"

Rei nodded curtly, "I kinda get the gist of it, somewhat." he answered while staring back at Hughes' eyes.

Hughes chuckled, "Well I don't know if we're having the same thought...but it seems you are mistaken, Crimson."

"Huh?" Rei blinked for a moment.

"I am calling you not because I want to scold you for hiding your strength but I am calling you because..." Suddenly he rose up from his seat and walked towards him.

Then...Rei widened his eyes when he saw...

The man in front of him now is bowing his head.

"I wanted to thank you for saving those kids."

"W-w-what?!"

'What?!'

The two person inside of his body were having similar reaction of shock but Ray was slightly worse than how he normally reacted.

'Eh-huh?? The man who was supposed to be the former S-rank is bowing his head?!'

'Is that even normal Houston?'

'No, I don't think so...I mean he was a prideful man with powerful strength, even I am confused right now.'

Rei blinked as he quickly snapped back to reality, coughing awkwardly as he tried to change the situation.

"P-please stop this, I didn't do anything much, those brats already thanked me enough."

Hughes lifted his head and suddenly laughed upon seeing his behavior. "Hahaha, just as I thought...you are such a humble and kind person, just as they said."

"T-they said?"

"Andrew and his team...their team is the most loudest of all in the Guild, especially since they are pretty much a super rookie who were able to raise up their rank to D-rank in a few months."

"And here you are, successfully straightened them up when they were in danger because of their carelessness. I also heard you even shared them your precious potion." Hughes explained.

Rei sighed, "Well like I said, I didn't do much...I was just aiming for that monster and nothing more."

"But the fact you saved them still remained. As you already know an Ogre is a monster that could only be defeated by A-rank and B-rank adventurers who are banded together.

"That's not all, that thing also evolved into a Unique boss monster, which could only be defeated by someone with S-rank like me or a group of A-rank Adventurers.

"But you, who just came into our guild and registered not too long ago, managed to defeat a giant monster like that...and with just one hit, no less." Hughes spoke and returned to his seat again.

This time he took out his cigarette and lightened it up with a match, "Hufff...would cause a trouble on yourself, do you know why I thanked you before?"

Rei shook his head as he just stared at him.

"It's because Adventurers...are greedy people who craves for fame and power." The moment Hughes spoke like that, silence filled the room.

"Some people would think being an Adventurer is just about making friends and going on exciting adventures, but that's only what fairy tales wanted you to think.

"In reality...there're some people who would do anything to gain power...they would even sacrifice their teammates just to be famous and take their things.

"So that's why you who joined that team, saved them regardless of their weaknesses has been exposed, makes amazed of how crazy you are.

"You only took the material from the Ogre and let the others took the loot, which is very humble to do but also foolish...because you will gain so much money from it."

Hughes explained and even complimented him, but somehow Rei could tell this is like a test or some sort.

'Kiritsuka...be careful he is...'

'I know.'

Ray warned him as the pressure from before came back once again.

"Even if I have thanked you...I still cannot trust you. We don't know what your goal is and we don't know what you are up to.

"So let me ask you this before it gets ugly...who are you?" Hughes spoke in threatening tone while releasing his intense aura.

The color of his aura was dark brown, while the intensity of his aura was enough to make Rei shudder.

However, Rei he remained firm and calm on his spot, "Well you already know me."

"Huh??"

"Like in the report...my name is Crimson." When Rei spoke his name, he released his red aura as well that was able to withstand his aura and even compete against him.

Hughes eyes glinted with interest, "Hooo? I was asking your real name, are you some sort of a former soldier."

"I have nothing to say for that. My real name is Crimson, and that's it."

*ZWOOONGG*

The pressure become even heavier in the room as both of them could feel the floor began to shake because of their intense aura.

Until...

*BUAGH*

Someone broke the atmosphere, by hitting Hughes' head.

"Ouch!"

Rei blinked for a moment when he noticed the woman who stood beside Hughes was the one who hit the guild master's head, breaking the atmosphere just like that.

"What was that for, Vice Guild Master!" Hughes complained.

'[Vice Guild Master]?' Rei thought while staring at the woman.

"Guild Master, I told you not to use your aura ever again, didn't I?"

"B-but he started–"

"Guild Master...I told. you. didn't I?~ you dare to talk back to me?"

"N-no."

Rei was caught in suprise upon seeing the Guild Master who showed his power that was strong enough to shake the room earlier, is now sulking down because of that brown haired woman.

'Houston, do you know the identity of this woman?'

'Uhhh...not particularly, I don't know about the Vice Guild Master, because this is the first time I meet her.' Ray explained.

The brunette sighed, she's wearing some sort of office uniform with sleeveless blazer, Rei just now noticing her presence in the room and actually looking at her.

"Ummmm, pardon me...may I ask who you are?" Rei finally asked her.

The woman glanced at him and gave him a service smile,

"Ahh, i'm sorry for the late introduction, my name is Miranda Farhill, and I am The Vice Guild Master of this dumbhead." Miranda introduced herself.

"M-miranda, aren't you too harsh–"

"Shut up."

"Yes."

Miranda immediately shot him down while Hughes bowed his head down a bit.

Rei chuckled seeing this weird behaviour of these two but he suddenly noticed something. "Farhill? Are you his daughter?" Rei asked her.

"Ara? Do I look that young?"

"Huh? What do you mean by that?"

"Fufufu~ I'm Hughes Farhill's wife~"

"Say what?!" Ray shouted internally, following with Rei who audibly expressed his surprise, because in their eyes, she still looked so young.

Then his stare fell on Hughes.

"S-sir...I think you need to turn yourself in."

"Oi! Aren't you quite rude for someone you just met!"

"But how can an old man like you having such a beautiful wife!"

"You–!! Listen here! This woman despite her look, she is–!"

"Ahem."

When Hughes was about to say something he would regret, a pressure coming from Miranda.

"Hughes darling~ I think you really need to shut your mouth or else I'm gonna stuck my arrow into that rude throat of yours."

"Yes....understood." Hughes quieted down again when she threatened him like that.

Miranda turned to Rei and threatened him with the same smile, "And you boy~ I'm thanking you for your compliments but make sure to not tell anyone~ or else you might not see the daylights ever again~"

"Y-yes, I understand." Rei answered quickly.

"So, let's go back to the topic...like my husband said here, we cannot fully trust you, we don't know what your aim was after doing…you know, all of that.

"We don't know your origin, what your real name and where exactly you have been. But we're not that foolish to not thank someone who have saved lives." Miranda explained.

"That's why, we are going to test you." Then she suggested that.

"A test?"

Afterwards Rei noticed a wide grin coming from the Guild Master.

'I got a bad feeling about this.' Rei thought.

"Heh, yes! and that is...we are gonna fight!" Hughes exclaimed with a wide grin.

Rei blinked for a moment upon hearing those words.

"Hah?"

******

The meeting with the Guild Master was finally over and Rei went back to the Guild hall along with Rebecca who was waiting for him.

"W-welcome back sir Crimson!"

"Yes, thank you Rebecca."

"M-mhm! Um...what were you talking about with the Guild Master?" Rebecca asked out of curiosity as they were walking together through the hall.

"Hmmmm, nothing much...he was thanking me for saving those kids and along the way, he also gave me a test."

"I-i see!" Rebecca sighed, "The Guild Master is such a kind person! But what is the test?"

"Hmmm, I will tell you about that later."

The moment Rei finally came out and returned to the Guild hall and receptionist, many people who were there were staring at him, including Andrew and his team.

They were sitting on the table and sharing it with someone else he didn't know.

"Oh! sir Crimson! Welcome back!" Andrew rose up from his seat and greeted him with relieved smile.

"Yes, I am back." Rei replied and glanced over to the people sitting with them.

A big man with full plate armor, an elf girl, a dwarf looking girl, and a man with wild look.

Before he's going to ask, Andrew quickly approached him.

"What did you talk with the Guild Master? Is there something wrong?" Andrew asked.

"It's okay, we can just discuss about it later and who are these guys by the way?" Rei pointed at them as they gave him a warm wave as their greeting.

The wild-looling man walked towards him. "So you are sir Crimson who they have been talking about." The man grinned, showing his sharp teeth like a fang.

Rei looked at him but the man raised both of his hands.

"Don't look at me like that man, we don't meant you or the others any harm, we're just curious about you."

"Curious?"

He smirked then went over to his side as he wrapped his right arm around Rei's shoulder. "Yep, the name is Fang, B-class Swordsman, nice to meet cha~"

Like an old friend who haven't seen each other for long is how he treated him. But Rei didn't mind it because he didn't feel any hostility coming from him.

"Crimson, E-class Warrior." Rei replied calmly while looking at him.

"Hooo~ that's a very cool introduction. Well I can't help but admire how you look, Crimson-san~" Fang spoke while letting him go then went to Andrew's side.

"Now come on! you must be tired! Sit down and enjoy your rest!" Fang said while walking back to his seat.

"Y-yes! Come on! Sir Crimson!" Andrew urged him as he walked to take his usual seat between Erika and Dahlia.

Rei kept quiet about this, since he felt slightly out of place and awkward. But he ended up taking that offer and sat together with them.

He's sitting between two girls this time, Lena who was the healer of Andrew's team and a little girl with all black clothing, Kagura who was the scout of Fang's team.

In front of them, the food was already dished out on the table. They were holding a feast but from the looks of it, the food haven't been touched by them.

'Are they waiting for me to come back?' Rei thought as he glanced at Andrew and his crew who went back to their usual thing, talking with each other. He just sighed and smiled behind that helmet. 'Foolish kids.'

Among them, Kagura noticed the change of his emotion.

'Did he just smiled?'

Even though he is wearing a helmet that completely hid his whole face.

Lena who sat beside him also noticed the same thing Kagura managed to pick up.

'Did sir crimson just smiled?'

The two of them who shared mutual feelings of admiration towards the same man, noticing things like that even though they just met for the first time.

Fang stood up while holding his cup, while the rest also followed suit, except for Rei who were confused but decided to go along with it.

"Now then! It's time to celebrate Andrew's team coming back alive! Cheers!"

"CHEERS!!" They all raised their cups together and then proceed to drink their drinks happily. Rei, still didn't really know what to do because this is his first time having such an occasion like this, especially doing so with a stranger.

Like usual he drank his cup through his helmet, and that was very unusual sight for Fang and the others to see, well...except for Andrew.

"Woah! You drink while wearing that?! Don't you need to take it off?" Fang asked him in surprise.

But before he was about to answer, Andrew talked in his stead.

"Sir Crimson has a scar on his face that he doesn't want to show, he is kinda sensitive on that part." Andrew explained with smile.

"Ohh! I see I see." Fang nodded.

Andrew chuckled as he noticed that Rei gave him a thumbs up for his nice cover. Andrew smiled happily happy from his praise.

Fang was about to eat his food but was interrupted with a slap to the back of his head.

"Ouch!"

The slap came from an Elf girl who sat beside him.

"W-what's wrong with you?!"

"Hmph! You stupid leader! Did you forgot to introduced us?!"

Indeed, Fang hasn't introduced his group to Rei yet while Rei who was about to eat his meal stopped for a moment.

"Ughhh, fine fine! You guys can introduce yourself!" Fang sulked, crossing his arms.

"Hmmph! Nice to meet you Crimson-san! my name is Ruru, B-class Ranger!~" Ruru introduced herself while showing him her cheerful smile.

"Nice to meet you, Ruru." Rei replied and nodded his head.

"And this big guy is Wise! a B-class Guardian!" Ruru introduced him next by pointing her finger to him.

The big man waved his hand towards him, "Nice to meet you, Crimson-san" Wise spoke with his gentle tone, despite his big stature.

"Mhm, Nice to meet you too" Rei replied to him.

"And finally! Our one and only, cutest member of the team! Kagura-chan! B-class Scout/Assassin!" Ruru introduced her with more passion this time while pointing at the girl who sat beside him.

"Kagura, Nice to meet you." She simply spoke as her introduction.

"Nice to meet you as well, Kagura." Rei called her name without honorofic.

Kagura widened her eyes upon hearing that, she somehow felt something different than usual so she looked away.

'Hm? Did she hate it?' Rei thought as he noticed her unexpected response.

But in reality, Kagura was just hiding her embarrassment since her cheeks has gotten red.

'S-so cool!!' Kagura thought whole heartedly, despite she's just met him for the very first time.

"Now then! Since we are done introducing ourself! I wanna ask Crimson-san some question!"

"Oi! Don't forget we still have food here!" Fang reminded her as the rest already began to eat their food.

But Ruru pouted, "Hmmph! What about it! You can eat first you know!"

"Tsk! Fine, do whatever you want!" Fang sighed and began to eat.

Rei blinked as he noticed that this team had some trouble on arguing, just like Andrew's but somehow it felt different. Maybe it's just him but...it felt like it was normal for them to argue like that.

"So so so! Crimson-san!"

"Yes?"

"Can you tell me about why you were called by the Guild Master?" Ruru asked as she began to take a bite of her food.

"Hmmm? About that? He's just thanking me about what happened in the quest."

"Ohhh! I heard about it from them that you all encountered some trouble in the quest, am I right?"

"Yeah indeed."

"But what kind of problem?" Ruru asked while staring at him.

Rei could feel the others are staring as well as he eat through his helmet, but right before he opened his mouth...

"Ohh! If it's about that, we encountered an Ogre."

Just right off the bat, Erika revealed it to them without even asking permission first while she's busy munching on her food.

Rei sighed.

"E-erika, didn't the Guild Master told us to keep it quiet!" Andrew hissed softly towards her.

Erika immediately gulped her food in one go as she realized that she just revealed something that wasn't supposed to be talked about to the other team.

Fang and the rest were dumbfounded to hear it of course, "E-eh? A-an Ogre?" Ruru blinked her eyes a few times to check if she was really hearing that right or something.

"W-wait are you sure it's an Ogre? Tell me!" Fang insisted.

Erika shrieked in panic and then shaking her head quickly. Dahlia and Andrew refused to answer too as they quickly looked away.

Lena on the other hang her head down and made herself look much smaller to hide.

But the only one who stayed calm was Rei who's still eating his food, though the answer was obvious that they did met an Ogre.

Fang sighed, "Woah, I'm suprised you managed to stay alive after meeting one."

"Indeed, for a D-rank team like you, you would end up in his belly for sure. Not only that, you also managed to get away from it." Wise joined in as well.

"Well it's a good thing you guys ran away–"

"W-we didn't ran away!" Lena shouted, cutting his words off.

"Huh? What do you mean Lena-chan?" Ruru asked while looking at her, careful not to spook the skittish girl.

"If you didn't ran away, then...all of you managed to defeat it?" Kagura asked this time as she was slowly munching on her food.

"You kidding! Them!?" Fang shouted at her.

"Quite impressive feat for sure, a D-rank team managed to defeat an Ogre like that." Kagura complimented.

But Andrew and the rest felt awkward as they stared at the man who remained unbothered and continued to eat by himself.

"That's quite unusual for Kagura-chan to compliment someone, so be proud y'all–!"

"U-umm, Ano..." Andrew raised his hand, all eyes fell on him.

"Actually we weren't the one who defeated it."

"Huh?? What do you mean by that?" Fang asked while raising both of his eyebrows.

Then their eyes shifted towards Rei who's silently smiling behind that helmet.

Fang and the rest of them widened their eyes then blinked for a few moment, until....

"W-WHAT?!" They simultaneously shouted in shock.

"Hm?"

******

In the Guild Master's Office, Hughes was smoking on his cigarettes and Miranda stood while looking at the window.

"Hughes...are you sure you gonna fight that guy?" Miranda asked.

"Well do i have any choice? You already knew what he is capable of...he even managed to withstand my pressure."

"Yeah...I know."

"The only person who managed to withstand it are only a handful in this world, and one of them is my old friend [Rowan]."

Miranda sighed and rubbed her forehead, "You and Rowan really are the same...no wonder you are non-blood related brothers."

Hughsed laughed, "Hahaha! I am just excited to find a new monster ever since [The Ice Princess] retirement!"

"Indeed, it was unfortunate that someone as capable as her would retire just to be a maid for some rich little girl."

"True true! But well Adventurers are free-spirited creature! So we cannot chain her down like those Nobles trash, huff...." Hughes spoke while letting out the smoke from his mouth.

"Hm...Indeed." Miranda returned her attention at the window again to look at the sky.

'Well i just hope that person is able to survive this, because Hughes is....

.

.

.

.

one of the members of the [Hero's Party] who subjugated the Demon Lord, Hughes Farhill.'

Hughes eventually stopped smoking by squishing the cigarettes butt against the ash tray. It was like a sign of yet another hurdle to come and block Rei's path.

To be continue...