“Shining Star has been promoted to B1 rank!”
Will, excited, also picked up his wine glass and took a sip. He hadn’t lied. He was genuinely happy when he said those words. Although the name “Shining Star” came from the original work. Although the other members of Shining Star were still waiting in Nov. But… Shuna was someone “outside of fate.” He met her through his own genuine efforts, and while Shuna’s help contributed to two of the achievements, he himself had also participated significantly. The small red business card on the table indicated that B1 was the starting point for an adventuring team seriously exploring dungeons.
Will couldn’t quite recall if the original work mentioned the final rank of Shining Star. That’s because the original work didn’t place much importance on the existence of this “tool” team. It was merely a setting to facilitate the protagonist’s departure from the team, someone he could discard whenever he pleased. But judging from Will’s current perspective… before “Young Master Will” died, that team would absolutely not have reached the B1 level they were at now! He had accomplished it. In his hands, Shining Star was a proud B1, just one step away from A-rank!
However… perhaps it was precisely because the original work didn’t rigidly define this setting that he was able to achieve it – a sad irony. Thinking about this, Will put down the wine glass he had just sipped from.
“Good, cheers!”
“Wait, why are you leaning over like that?”
Just then, Shuna didn’t sit properly across the table. She quickly moved her chair and pulled it next to Will. The distance between them instantly closed. Sitting side-by-side was actually similar to what other “Dungeon Couples” in the tavern were doing… If someone saw them, they might misunderstand… But Shuna showed no intention of avoiding suspicion. Her shoulder brushed against Will’s as she reached out with her wine glass, lightly clinking it against Will’s.
“Celebrating such a good thing face-to-face is so boring, isn’t it?” After saying this, Shuna smiled and picked up the wine glass she had just clinked. Without waiting for Will’s agreement, she raised the glass to his mouth and poured the wine into it.
“…Huh?! Gulp, gulp…”
Shuna seemed to have anticipated his preparedness. She deliberately slowed her movements as the glass touched his lips, forcing him to drink but also allowing him to swallow without choking. After a while, Shuna finally put down the empty wine glass. Will wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
“Okay, okay, I… I also rarely drink this much in big gulps.” He had a feeling… if she poured wine into his mouth this time, he didn’t dare to imagine what Shuna might do when she was half-drunk next time! It was best not to give her a chance to touch alcohol again!
“Because it’s a happy occasion worth celebrating.” As she spoke, Shuna also finished the wine in her own glass. “There are far more dungeons you can freely enter at B1 than at B5. And… it proves that you, Little Will, manage the team effectively~”
“I’m clearly being carried by you…”
“I’m a member of Shining Star too, and it’s officially registered!” Shuna said, pulling out her ID card from her pocket, seemingly quite confident about this fact. “You always forget!”
“…Right.”
Hmm… Wait, meaning, Shining Star team has now gathered… five people?! Isn’t that the same number of people as in the original work? Wait… Will felt like he had indeed drunk a bit too much. This reminded Will. In the letter he sent to Nov, he had specifically instructed those three people to remember to send over the information of the newly joined logistics personnel, and that it should be before the end of this month. The “one-month promise” from the original work had already passed. Will was looking forward to the letter from Nov. What kind of person was the protagonist? More importantly… Hehehe, how would those yanderes he personally nurtured brutally bully him in the early stages!
“Little Will, let’s… have another glass… Although it can’t compare to Chaos Alpha in Nov, it tastes pretty good too.”
“No, your alcohol tolerance is too low. I need to control your alcohol intake!”
“Alcohol tolerance… Alcohol tolerance can also be trained, just like training you.”
“Who would believe such a thing?!” Will directly took the wine glass from Shuna’s hand. Suddenly… As dull as he was, he seemed to feel a very, very familiar gaze behind him. In that instant, it felt like a sharp bow and arrow shot out, piercing through the crowd and aiming directly at him.
“Hmm?” He suddenly looked up, towards the street. Then he glanced around the vicinity. Was… was it his imagination? This gaze… It was exactly the same as Teacher Liya’s sharp gaze when she caught him zoning out during class and stared intently at him from under her large hat. No… It was even fiercer than that. It made Will, who had just escaped his student days, break out in a cold sweat. Liya? Teacher Liya, could it be…?
However, people came and went on the street, but there was no particularly distinctive witch’s large hat. Yet, Will had a strong premonition… She was indeed nearby. Could she be across the street? But that shouldn’t be the case. The Adventurer’s Guild opposite had already closed for the day, and staff in uniform were locking and closing the doors. A hallucination… After all, Liya… She should be in Nov right now. She should… wouldn’t she?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The security at the Adventurer’s Guild was very poor. After locking up, there were basically no other security measures. Many Adventurer’s Guilds that offered late-night and dinner services didn’t even lock up. The dining area was on the ground floor, and important items were kept directly upstairs. The reason… One was that the Adventurer’s Guild developed as a merchant association and didn’t have the sensitive nerves that the Royal Family, which had been targeted many times, possessed. Another was that the Adventurer’s Guild really didn’t have much worth stealing. Most of it was documentation. Important materials and equipment were managed by the Hysterm Family market and wouldn’t be stored at the Adventurer’s Guild.
If anything was worth stealing at the Adventurer’s Guild… it was probably the “keys.” Because they were important for accessing any ten floors of the local dungeon, and for the final floor, they could even “directly reach” it. With a key, one could significantly reduce the time spent exploring the early stages of a dungeon, and those with ability could even quickly move a large amount of supplies out of it. But… who, without “strength,” would steal a “key”? Stealing it would require enough power to defeat anyone. Otherwise, it would be seeking one’s own death… But, there was indeed someone who was very confident that she definitely had this strength.
On the second floor of the Adventurer’s Guild, which was now dark, Liya, wearing a large hat, emerged from the teleportation circle she had drawn. A witch’s teleportation circle was very convenient; marking the spot in advance made landing easy. The only drawback was probably the cost of chalk, but Liya, having obtained sufficient funds, was no longer as stingy as before.
“I arrived here so easily…”
