The Academy’s Ankle Reaper – Chapter 214

I thought I must have seen it wrong.

What Atlas showed the guide was a small identification tag.

It seemed he had done some adventuring before.

But the color was strange.

It shone with a white light, yet it wasn’t platinum.

It was whiter than that… right, it was like the color of mithril.

Identification tags given to adventurers typically come in four grades: Copper, Silver, Gold, and Platinum.

Anyone with good skills at least at the Expert intermediate level could earn a Gold tag, while Platinum and above…

The mithril grade could only be awarded for achieving great feats that surpassed mere skill.

Great achievements are… generally seen as something impossible to accomplish.

An adventurer must undertake ridiculous challenges like clearing a dungeon deemed unconquerable or defeating an adult dragon on their own.

“I’ll guide you upstairs.”

“Then I’ll be right back, so just wait a bit.”

As another guide appeared to escort Atlas to the upper floor, he left those words behind.

Once he was gone, Perda was the first to speak up, staring at the empty space.

“Did you see that?”

“Are you talking about the identification tag that was just on the table?”

“It was white… must be platinum, right?”

“Must be platinum… I think.”

“It looked whiter than that, though.”

The ones who directly broached the subject were the men.

With skeptical looks, they thought back to what they had seen one by one.

“… Is it bad if it’s whiter?”

“It’s not bad, it’s just nonsense.”

Lucia found their attitude strange and spoke up, causing Lemnos to frown.

“The whiteness means it was mithril… that’s a bit special. Having a mithril plate means you’re like the main character in a fairy tale.”

“A fairy tale’s main character? What do you mean?”

“Have you never heard the story? A knight who bravely charged a tower to save a princess and slayed the evil dragon? They say that was a real-life feat decades ago, achieved with mithril plates. Receiving an identification tag made of mithril from the Adventurer’s Guild means you accomplished something worthy of being praised as a story in later generations…”

“What…? So you’re saying that guy is a dragon slayer?”

Gemma understood it differently.

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The branch manager’s office was on the second floor.

As soon as I entered, a middle-aged man who looked like he’d rolled around too much sprang to his feet and bowed.

“Greetings, Mithril.”

“Cut the nonsense and get to the point.”

Even the branch manager could only be at most platinum.

Given their administrative abilities are prioritized in selection, they at least showed some courtesy in front of a mithril.

It was also so they wouldn’t be ignored, which was why they had to kneel to the mithril.

I wasn’t there to tell a grand story.

Getting the mithril plate means I could use many benefits within the Adventurer’s Guild, and that’s what I came for.

“I want to rent a carriage. I have to get to the capital quickly.”

“A carriage, you mean… that one?”

“Is there something else?”

The so-called ‘carriage’ refers to the type available for adventurers of platinum rank or higher in urgent situations.

Each branch had at least one, and what they referred to as a carriage could also be called a dragon wagon, considering it’s pulled by drakes, which are dragons that crawl on the ground.

Aside from its grumpy nature and its large appetite, its strengths were that it was sturdy and fast.

“We’ll properly prepare it. When do you need it ready?”

“I’ll depart today. Should reach the capital by tomorrow.”

Since I need to guide Gemma to the imperial palace and there’s a lot of promises made during the break, I can’t delay too much.

“It feels like it’s been a while since I’ve seen a mithril.”

“Everyone’s stuck in the backwoods, so it’s hard to see.”

In this era, there were hardly five people who owned mithril plates.

While far more people could be capable of earning mithril, those with such skills usually had no need to take on the unstable freelance profession of an adventurer.

“By the way… you recently accomplished the feat of single-handedly slaying the evil dragon and conquering the Snow Country, right? I was so excited like a little kid when the relics from the Snow Country were released in the capital.”

“That’s right.”

Though I hadn’t explicitly mentioned it, a branch manager is presumably aware of who the few mithrils of the same era are.

“Are you perhaps interested in this kind of story?”

The branch manager handed me a piece of parchment.

The request’s grade wasn’t very high.

It was a request to investigate the circumstances surrounding a specific location, worried about the appearance of an evil dragon.

“‘It seems the evil dragon has appeared again?’ What do you mean by seems to have appeared?”

“There are damages that appear to be caused by an evil dragon, but we haven’t found the actual dragon responsible.”

Dragons that mercilessly attack humans while disregarding agreements are called evil dragons.

There’s no separate species called evil dragons; it applies to anyone who goes astray.

When it came to damage, the first person who came to mind was Gemma.

She had mentioned two attacks before I met her; I couldn’t help but think if it had anything to do with her.

“A village near the capital was completely burned down and all the animals and people inside vanished.”

If it was not mere thievery but a whole village being set ablaze, then Gemma probably wasn’t behind it.

If it were her, she would have caused a ruckus demanding the gold and treasures of the village rather than burning it down.

However, the location was extremely concerning.

To think such a thing had happened so close to the capital?

“If it’s near the capital… the royal family must have sent an investigation team.”

The emperor resides in the capital.

If an entire village disappears in such vicinity, the royal family would be the first to worry.

“Yes. But even though the royal family sent investigators, they haven’t found out who did it. They’re still investigating how the people and livestock vanished.”

“If the royal family is investigating, does that mean this request came from elsewhere?”

“Yes. It was a personal request made by the lord of Eridin, close to that village. He seems quite scared that such an incident occurred right in his backyard.”

It’s understandable.

If something happened right in front of him, he would think that similar events could happen in his own territory without any reason.

“Do you have a reason to suspect it’s an evil dragon? A mere village incineration could be done by a magician too.”

“There have been reports of dragon roars and sightings of a great shadow flying in the sky in the nearby village at night. That’s why we suspect it could be the work of an evil dragon.”

Hearing that statement, I felt that it probably wasn’t an evil dragon.

The sound of a dragon’s roar would be something ordinary people would rarely hear in their entire lives.

And the notion of a giant shadow flying in the sky… it could also just be an airship or another monster.

Yet, the assumption that an evil dragon could be hiding near the capital was quite intriguing.

That said, I had my own priorities to handle first.

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“That conversation wrapped up nicely, and I’m leaving here in two hours.”

“….”

As I finished talking with the branch manager and stepped out, everyone looked at me as if I were suspicious.

“Why? Did I do something wrong?”

“Can I see your identification tag?”

“This? Go ahead.”

I pulled off my adventurer’s identification tag and handed it to River.

“Wow… it’s really mithril.”

“Y-You were… a dragon slayer?”

Everyone was muttering as they gawked at my mithril identification tag.

It was such a rare sight that it was fascinating to them.

“Why did you look again? If you knew I was an amazing person, you’d better recognize that.”

“There’s no way… you’re mithril…”

Among the five pillars who still didn’t know I was the Master, my mithril plate seemed impressive.

Especially, Edgar showed a reaction like a child whose illusions had been shattered.

“Edgar used to admire mithril-ranked adventurers when he was young~ You know that fairy tale? Daewon and the dragon.”

“Stop with the nonsense, okay?”

Why was it a big deal that I was mithril?

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While getting ready, everyone contacted their families to see what was going on.

Originally, they were supposed to be dropped off one by one by airship, but now they had to say the schedule had changed due to teleportation or separate carriages from the capital.

Since everyone went to communicate, only Gemma and I remained in the Adventurer’s Guild building.

Gemma had been watching me and shaking ever since earlier.

“… If you have something to say, just say it.”

“Ugh?!”

I wondered why she was acting like that, and she made a scared expression again.

“D-Dragon Slayer… p-please don’t eat me… I still have lots I want to do…”

“Me? Eat you?”

I was baffled, and a slight flick of my finger caused Gemma to tremble and approach me.

“Hiik??”

I wrapped my arms around her waist and growled in her ear.

“Who would eat you? There’s not even anything to eat. Stop talking nonsense. And who the heck is a dragon slayer?”

“I heard that if you have a mithril plate, you’re called a dragon slayer…”

Thinking back, since I had defeated the evil dragon, it was technically correct to say I’m a dragon slayer.

But calling me a slayer made me sound like a crazy butcher.