Having left the Adventurer’s Guild branch office, Hulim Heyerar followed the guidance of her map, pressing toward the Guild’s Central Headquarters in the heart of Bongisto.

After walking through the city’s streets for roughly an hour,

she finally reached the very center of the great fortress city.

“So this is the Central Headquarters of the Adventurer’s Guild…”

It bore the same insignia of the guild as every other branch, yet its scale dwarfed even the largest guild hall she had ever seen—those paled to a mere tenth of the structure before her eyes.

Most importantly of all,

she had not yet crossed the threshold, and already faint ripples of immense, awe-inspiring power washed over her from within its walls. She had sensed such formidable auras many times on her journey to Bongisto, yet nowhere had they gathered in such dense, unbroken waves as they did here.

And besides that…

“Was that an illusion?”

Hulim frowned softly, lifting her gaze toward the uppermost floors of the guild hall, her silver eyes narrowing slightly in confusion.

She could have sworn she felt a presence there—one so vast, so profound, that her senses could not pierce its veil, could not grasp its true form at all…

She lingered at the entrance for a brief moment, then stepped forward and pushed open the guild’s heavy stone doors.

Her gaze swept the hall beyond.

The layout of the Central Headquarters differed little from any other guild branch.

The Quest Hall stood connected to a tavern, its wooden tables and benches filling the side chamber, the air thick with the scent of ale and roasted meat.

It was safe to say—even the guild’s heart and soul retained the rough, unrefined charm of adventurers through and through.

And to her mild surprise, the Quest Hall of the Central Headquarters was not nearly as grand as she had imagined. It seemed the colossal scale of the building was devoted mostly to the guild’s internal affairs and administrative duties, not to the everyday comings and goings of adventurers.

She thought back to the words of the clerk at the city gate, who had spoken of guild branches scattered across every district of Bongisto.

It made perfect sense then, that the Central Headquarters’ Quest Hall would be modest in size.

“It seems I have arrived at a fortunate hour.”

It was still morning, well past the dawn rush of adventurers claiming quests, and long before the evening throng that came to collect their rewards. For that reason, the Quest Hall was sparsely populated, with only a handful of adventurers lingering at the counters.

The tavern beside it, however, buzzed with life—dozens of adventurers sat drinking ale from the break of dawn, laughing and carousing together, seizing the day in the way only seasoned adventurers could.

Hulim felt a quiet sense of relief at the lack of crowds, glad to avoid the endless queues that plagued the guild at peak hours.

She picked a nearby counter, its clerk unoccupied, and walked toward it without hesitation……

“Good day to you. How may I assist you?”

Behind the counter stood a young human woman, a guild clerk with a warm, polite smile. She greeted Hulim at once, her voice clear and professional.

“Hello. I have received this letter from the guild.”

Hulim handed over the sealed missive the guild had sent her, along with her polished Adventurer’s License, pressing both into the clerk’s outstretched hands.

“I sent a reply via my local branch some time ago. I trust the Central Headquarters has received word of my arrival.”

The clerk accepted the letter and license, her fingers brushing the smooth vellum of the parchment gently.

“Certainly, miss. Please wait just a moment while I verify the contents of your letter.”

She broke the seal and unfolded the parchment, her eyes scanning its lines quickly.

Hulim waited patiently, her gaze calm and unhurried, her silver wand Seven Luminaries held loosely in one hand, her obsidian sword resting against her back.

Then—a sharp, taunting voice cut through the quiet hum of the hall, ringing out from directly behind her.

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“Oi, oi. Just who’s this little brat wandering in here?”

It dripped with provocation, rough and slurred with the faint stench of ale, the drawl of a man with nothing better to do than pick fights.

“I’ll tell you this straight—this ain’t no playground for snot-nosed kids. Beat it, runt. Go run back to your mother’s skirts where you belong!”

“?”

Hulim turned around slowly, her silver eyes blinking in mild confusion.

Standing before her was a young man with shaggy straw-blond hair, his posture slouched, his clothes rumpled and unkempt, his entire bearing slovenly and insolent. Ale clung to him like a second skin, and his amber-brown eyes were dull and empty, glassy orbs with no spark of ambition, no glint of purpose—hollow as a dead fish’s stare.

Hmm…

She knew men like him.

In plainest terms, they were nothing more than petty thugs, street ruffians who lingered in the shadows of great cities, preying on the weak to feed their fragile egos.

Yet she had never met a ruffian whose aura fit the role so perfectly, so utterly, as this man did. Truly, this was the freest city in the world—Bongisto bred all manner of souls, even the most unrepentant of scoundrels.

“Ah? You little brat—what’re you starin’ at?! Did you not hear what I just said to you?!”

Her quiet, unblinking gaze seemed to prick at his fragile pride, stoking the embers of his petty anger into a flame. His face reddened with irritation, his jaw tightening as he snapped at her, his voice rising in volume.

“You’ve got some nerve, kid! Do you even know who I am?! You’re the first fool in all of Bongisto to dare look at me like that!”

“I apologize. Who exactly are you?”

Hulim asked calmly, her tone flat, devoid of any fear or deference.

Gulp——!

His words caught in his throat, his face turning a deeper shade of crimson, his rage boiling over in an instant.

“You—you arrogant little whelp! Are you mocking me?!”

“Haha! Russell’s at it again…”

Loud snorts of amusement and laughter drifted over from the tavern nearby. The adventurers gathered there had long since noticed the commotion, and now they leaned against the wooden railings, their eyes bright with mischief, watching the scene unfold with unabashed glee—they were more than happy to egg on the troublemaker.

“…So, how long do you reckon it’ll take him this time?”

“Three minutes, tops. I’ll wager my tab for tonight on it.”

“Cheapskate. I’ll bet three days’ worth of ale—two minutes flat.”

“Oi, oi! You lot are far too harsh on Russell! Five days’ ale, and I say he lasts a whole minute!”

“Right! This is Russell we’re talkin’ about! Give the man some dignity! I’ll put down half a minute!”

“Heh~! I’ll take ten seconds.”

The adventurers’ banter and wagers were spoken loud and clear, with no attempt to hide their mockery from the two standing in the Quest Hall.

The straw-blond ruffian—Russell, as they called him—heard every word. His face burned bright red with shame and fury, and he whipped around, screaming at the tavern crowd at the top of his lungs:

“Oi! You lot over there! I heard every single word of that rubbish—!”

“Russell! What in the world are you doing this time?!”

The guild clerk behind the counter snapped at him then, her polite smile vanishing in an instant, her voice sharp with unbridled frustration and anger.

“What’s it to you?! I ain’t botherin’ you none!”

Russell shot back defiantly, his chin jutting out, his posture stiff with petulant pride.

“Cease your nonsense at once and leave this hall! Now!”

“Ha?! And why the hell should I? I’m an adventurer too! I’ve got every right to be here!”

At his brazen, shameless retort, the clerk’s face twisted with exasperation—and then she laughed, a cold, bitter sound that held no humor at all.

“Very well. Stay if you wish. But I warn you—do not provoke this young lady any further. If you do, you will end up being carried out of here unconscious yet again, just like every other time you pick a fight with someone far stronger than yourself.”

“Ah??? Are you having me on?!”

Russell’s face contorted with outrage, his eyes blazing with disbelief and arrogance. He raised a finger, jabbing it down at Hulim from his slightly taller stature, his gaze dripping with contempt as he stared down at her.

“This sniveling little brat, still wet behind the ears—she’s the one who’d leave me carried out unconscious?!”

Hulim: “……”

Her silver eyes fixed on the finger that hovered mere inches from her forehead, her grip on her wand Seven Luminaries tightening imperceptibly, her knuckles whitening with the faint press of her fingers against its polished silver wood.

“Russell, you absolute fool……”

The clerk stared at him, her mouth agape, her eyes wide with a mix of shock and resignation—as if she could not believe he was truly this reckless, this blind to his own stupidity.

“You never learn, do you? You never know when to stop digging your own grave…… Do you even have the slightest idea who she is?”

“Tch~! Spare me your empty threats!”

Russell the rascal scoffed loudly, his lips curling into a sneer of pure disdain, his eyes still fixed on Hulim with unbridled arrogance.

“She’s clearly just a child, not even of age yet! Who could she possibly be? Some lost little girl who wandered in here looking for her mother, that’s who! Oi, brat—you lost your mama? I’m Russell, the great and infamous rogue of Bongisto, known by every soul in this city! I could help you find her, y’know~!”

“……”

“……”

The guild clerk fell silent.

She was not alone. Even the adventurers in the tavern, who had been laughing and jeering moments before, fell quiet, their grins fading into stunned disbelief, their eyes wide as they stared at the straw-blond fool standing before Hulim.

“Russell that idiot…… Is today his annual day of maximum stupidity?”

“It sure as hell looks like it…… I didn’t get a good look at her earlier, but now that I do—doesn’t she look a little familiar to you?”

“Now that you mention it… she does, doesn’t she?”

“Wait a minute. Could she possibly be—?! ”

Their hushed whispers did not reach Russell’s ears. He remained as arrogant and brazen as ever, his finger still hovering inches from Hulim’s forehead, his laughter loud and mocking.

“I’ll tell you what, Russell……”

The guild clerk spoke up again, her voice flat with a black streak of exasperation, her words slow and deliberate, as if speaking to a child who could not comprehend reason,

“The young lady standing before you is the youngest High-Rank Adventurer in the entire world.”

“Ha?”

Russell froze, his laughter dying on his lips, his eyes blinking in dumbfounded shock.

Then he stared at Hulim, his mouth falling open—and burst into raucous, hysterical laughter, pointing at her relentlessly as he cackled.

“Hahaha! Don’t make me laugh! That’s impossible! This little runt, a High-Rank Adventurer? Hahaha……!”

“……”

Hulim’s silver eyes turned frigid, her gaze sharp and cold as she stared at the finger waving wildly before her face, her expression empty and unfeeling—as if she were looking not at a man, but at a lifeless fish flopping about on the ground.

She said nothing.

She merely lifted her right hand, her fingers curling into a firm grip.

And then she clamped them down hard around Russell’s foolhardy, outstretched finger.

“Ah—huh???!”

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