Chapter LV - Meeting (part 1)

After waiting in silence for the next few minutes, people are starting to come one by one. 

Most of them I don't recognize at all, but there is actually one person that I recognize.

The elder nun is here, from the church.

She was surprised when she saw me when she arrived, but she didn't say anything. I waved my hand at her, but she acted as if she ignored me, so it seems the situation is more serious than I thought. She sat three chairs to my left, and she had been silent since then.

The last person comes. She had a giant hat that looked like a magician's hat. She sat right next to the elder nun.

Aside from them, there are 4 other nobles in the table. 2 are women, and 2 are men. One of the ladies had this yellow golden hair like Valon, the one I assumed was royalty.

The Office Master looked around to make sure everyone was here, and spoke loudly.

"Now that everyone is here, let's begin."

The entire room turned silent when the Master spoke. The nobles quickly went silent when Valon spoke. 

Valon stood up and raised a stack of paper. He passed the paper to his left and right. I passed the paper to the noble on my left, and he looked quite surprised when he saw the content.

"What is this, Valon?"

Valon stayed silent. He waited until everyone had received the paper. And once everyone received, he started explaining.

"What you see in the paper is the report regarding the Black ranked monster that has been discovered recently."

"What?"

"Black... Ranked??"

The room turned into havoc as the nobles panicked. Only a few people actually remained silent, including the elder nun and the woman with a magician hat.

Master Valon raised one hand and faced the palm forward, signalling to stay silent. The nobles saw this and slowly stopped talking.

"This is the first Black ranked monster that we have found in years. We don't know how many there are, but for now we can confirm that there is only one of them. Fortunately, the monster has already been executed."

Valon explained to them everything regarding Galar that I told him, starting from how he was able to communicate and the fact that he is very good at using swords.

The nobles were shocked when they heard that a monster can speak, moreover when they heard it can fight with multiple swords. But the more they read the report, the more unsettling they become.

The lady noble on the right quickly asked.

"Who? Who had executed the black ranked monster? Was it Master Jonus?"

Jonus quickly questioned himself when his name got mentioned. He had never been called master before, especially not from a noble. He let out a breath from his nose.

"The monster had been executed by a Purple ranked adventurer. And she is present with us today."

Valon turned to look at me. The other nobles followed his gaze and looked at me in confusion.

"Rize. Would you like to introduce yourself?"

Valon asked me silently. So I nodded and stood up.

"Greetings. My name is Rize Violet. Purple ranked adventurer."

"P-Purple ranked??"

The room turned into havoc again. A mere Purple rank dared to be here with high nobles such as them? Is Valon insane?

Valon lifted his hand again and the room fell into silence once more. He really has the power in this room, and not because he is a royalty. But because he owns that power, and he uses them freely.

I might need to learn from him. His charisma as the Office Master is truly something commendable.

"Even though currently she is still a Purple ranked adventurer, Rize has received the offer to be promoted into a White ranked adventurer. But she denied, because she is worried about her own privacy.

However, that doesn't hide the fact that her strength is no less than that of a White ranked. Just yesterday, Sir Jonus here had her strength tested on his own, and the fight came out as a draw."

The whole room turned into awe very quickly. Even the elder nun and the magician woman.

Everyone must have heard about the havoc yesterday, at the adventurer's arena. So what Valon is saying could be the truth. And they all must've recognized how powerful Jonus is, which makes it easier for Valon to convince them.

I also recognized it, but I just hated his attitude.

"I can confirm. She has the power and ability as powerful as a White ranked. Probably more, who knows. But she can definitely grow a lot stronger than her current level."

Jonus said as he grinned at me. I tried to stay calm, but in the end, the annoyed expression came out.

The nobles quickly nod, and Jonus doesn't look surprised. I guess he already knew about everything before we even went to a spar.

Something tells me that this whole thing was a setup between Jonus, Klane, and the Master himself. I don't like how this meeting was set up so suddenly, as well. Was this a trap?

"Was it yesterday, when I heard explosions in the arena? I read the news, and it says that Mister Jonus is punishing some adventurers."

One of the male nobles spoke out. He seemed to be reading the newspapers a lot, which is where all the news is shared in this kingdom. 

Hearing those words, Valon nodded and confirmed it.

"Yes. Sir Jonus was taking the blame so that we can hide Miss Rize's identity. And I believe it is necessary to keep her identity disclosed to support what I am about to suggest to all of you."

I... do not like where this is heading. However, he does mention to keep everything a secret, so let's stay put for now.

Valon turned to Klane and nodded. Klane lifted another pile of papers that was in front of her, and she passed them to the right and left. When I passed to my left, I had a glimpse of what was written on the paper.

I... quickly started reading it.

"Hey, pass the paper."

The nobleman at my left demanded. I continued to pass the paper to my left, while my mind went crazy.

This whole thing was a setup... I need to fight back.

Once everyone had received the paper, they all started reading it. And while they were reading, Valon went ahead and explained it verbally.

"This is what I am suggesting. We can send Rize on a secret mission. To--"

"To secretly send her to White ranked missions. All on her own, while being anonymous."

Jonus cuts off Valon in the middle and read the paper on his own. Valon turned his gaze at him and Jonus replied with a disbelieving expression.

"I'm sorry, but this is not what I was expecting, Master."

"Me too..."

Klane mumbles, and everyone turns to her. She seemed to be already aware, but she didn't say anything. However, deep down, she is against the idea.

The nobles realized that this plan was not communicated properly between Valon and his underlings. They were about to say something, but Valon spoke first.

"Allow me to explain. If every White ranked mission were done by a White ranked adventurer, naturally there will be issues that the kingdom will face. And for this mission specifically... it will be much harder for the kingdom to solve this issue. 

For context, recently Sir Jonus was sent on a mission to apprehend a White ranked monster on the south-west. But the battle went a little too far from expectations, and the damage it caused even destroyed a small area of another kingdom."

All the nobles were shocked when they heard the news, but Jonus nodded at that.

"Sir Jonus, as well as the kingdom, had to go into a lot of trouble apologizing to the other kingdom for what happened and making up for it. Which is why doing high ranking missions like a White rank can be quite beneficial if done anonymously. 

Especially on missions that require us to betray the other kingdom's trust. Which is... what this mission will be about."

Valon said while lifting the paper, and everyone understood his plan. However, one of the two noblewomen lifted her hand. It's the lady with golden hair, like Valon.

"But, how can it be anonymous?

From what I know, the missions that adventurers take are issued by a certain party. If the party knew that the issue had been solved, then wouldn't they know exactly who solved that problem?

If the mission issuer knows where the mission is being issued, they know exactly who is responsible for doing the work."

Her question does make sense. The mission issuer will know which kingdom did the mission. Then, what is the point of being anonymous?

"That is the case 'If' we are betraying the mission issuers themselves. However in this case, we're not betraying the mission issuer.

Sure, they will know exactly who solved the problem. However, the ones who will be disappointed or disadvantaged aren't the mission issuer.

This mission was issued by a third party, not by another kingdom. They know that they have asked us for assistance, and certainly the result of this mission will for sure cause enmity from the kingdom that they are from."

"I see... the adventurer is doing the dirty work, and the kingdom covers it up. Sounds like bad news. I like it."

Jonus commented, and Valon nodded. He turned his gaze back to the golden haired noblewoman, but the lady only nods.

"Any other questions?"

"What about the mission payment? If Miss Rize did the mission, will she receive the money?"

The other female noble next to the golden haired one asked, and I felt weird that she cares for my reward.

"She will. Rize, as the anonymous third party, received the mission not from the kingdom, but straight from the Office. Hence, she will be the one to receive the payment from the Office."

Everyone continued discussing. This whole idea seems like a good way to avoid any international controversy. 

However... they seem to miss one tiny detail that is just equally important as everything else.

I lifted my hand, and all the eyes in the room turned at me. Klane, who is right next to me, immediately panicked.

"Rize!? What are you...?"

I didn't reply to her and simply stayed silent. Valon turned to me, and he let out a sigh. It would seem that he had already predicted this.

He didn't even say my name since he knew how I stood, so I went ahead and spoke.

"I am... against this."

In that instant, every individual present turned confused. All the nobles and meeting attendants became widely surprised, even Jonus did not expect that out of me.

Everyone... was confused. When this meeting was called, everyone simply assumed that I was agreeing to join in the mission.

However, this mission has never been mentioned to anyone. This whole plan was kept a secret even from a high ranking adventurer like Jonus.

And so... everyone can only turn to the source of the confusion.

Valon, who was closing his eyes, only stayed silent.