Cecil and Arisa were visiting the Crown Headquarters on the Fifth Floor.
They had come to report the completion of a request they had received very normally.
Recently, the two of them had registered with Crown’s Adventurer Division and taken on requests to utilize the Spirit Arts they had learned in practice.
However, they weren’t constantly taking on requests; their activities were split about half and half with managing the shrine.
As for the shrine management, the trio of Saki, Miki, and Eri were working hard, so Cecil and Arisa didn’t have to get involved much.
Instead, they had started receiving requests through Crown like this.
The requests they were taking were actually for things the Management Layer needed, and Cecil and Arisa were being specifically asked to acquire them.
It hadn’t been like this before, but recently they had been receiving requests for items that were needed regularly, so their adventurer activities and shrine management were now about fifty-fifty.
By the way, the items Kousuke and others requested were not urgent.
Kouhi and Mitsuki quickly retrieved anything urgently needed.
The requests they issued were for collecting materials for tool development and research that were needed regularly.
Incidentally, Kousuke and the others didn’t issue requests directly.
Kousuke and the others requested things from Schmidt, but Schmidt, in turn, requested them from the Adventurer Division, or rather, from Gazeran.
Gazeran then issued specific requests to Cecil and Arisa.
Of course, Cecil and Arisa were not always available for requests, so they couldn’t fulfill all the requests coming from the Management Layer.
They only accepted them as specific requests when their timing coincided.
Cecil and Arisa placed the collected materials and the request form on the counter.
The receptionist who received them began the confirmation process.
Before long, the results were in, and the receptionist returned immediately.
“Request completion confirmed. … Amazing.”
The woman at the reception this time was the same one who had been there when Cecil and Arisa were working at this headquarters.
They were in different departments, so they hadn’t spoken much, but they recognized each other from seeing each other around.
The receptionist was the first to notice them.
Cecil and Arisa hadn’t noticed her at all, but after receiving requests a few times, she spoke to them, and they remembered her.
After all, Cecil and Arisa hadn’t been in headquarters operations for long.
Shortly after starting their duties, they had moved to shrine management.
Surprised that the receptionist remembered them, even though they had only been there for a short time, Cecil casually asked about it. “Remembering faces is my job,” she replied nonchalantly.
Since then, when they received requests, they made an effort to go to this particular receptionist.
It wasn’t that there was a quota for reception work, but it was a matter of feeling.
“For this one, I was able to meet the target immediately next to the Teleport Gate. We were lucky.”
“Is that so. … By the way, with the completion of this request, you are now eligible for the Rank Up Exam. What will you do?”
At the receptionist’s words, the surrounding area buzzed.
Cecil and Arisa had become quite noticeable.
They had appeared suddenly one day, and as soon as they started taking requests, they had succeeded in most of them one after another, raising their ranks.
This time, it was a Rank Up Exam to C Rank.
At the Crown Headquarters, achieving C Rank, while not Top, meant joining the ranks of the high-tier adventurers.
With most adventurers languishing at D Rank, advancing to C Rank was considered a significant hurdle.
“Rank Up… What do you think?”
Cecil asked, looking at Arisa.
“Hmm. If it doesn’t take too much time, I think we can do it?”
Actually, neither Cecil nor Arisa were particularly concerned about rank.
They had started taking requests primarily to gain practical experience, and they had begun at Collete’s suggestion.
“Right. … How long does the exam take?”
“Let’s see. The Rank Up Exam to C Rank involves a skill test and an interview. There are other applicants, so it will take about a day each.”
“We’ll be tied up for two full days?”
“Ah, no. The tests are conducted on separate days, and we’ll provide you with the approximate times. You just need to be here during those times.”
Upon hearing the receptionist’s explanation, Cecil and Arisa exchanged glances and nodded.
“We’ll take the exam.”
If it had been an exam that tied them up for days, like their usual requests, they might have refused. However, since it would only take a maximum of two days, and only for a few hours at a time, they decided they could do it.
Of course, they intended to dedicate their remaining time to shrine management.
“Understood. Then, let me explain the details of the exam.”
The receptionist said so and began to explain the Rank Up Exam.
♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦♢♦
On the day of the Rank Up Exam.
Cecil and Arisa visited the headquarters at the appointed time.
The venue for the exam was different from the counter where they usually received requests.
It was one of the training grounds.
Unlike the training grounds usually open to adventurers, this was a training ground specifically for Rank Up Exams.
When they arrived, other individuals were already taking their skill tests.
Since the C Rank Rank Up Exams were being held all day, applicants were coming and going.
Naturally, the examiners were also on a rotation.
The moment Cecil and Arisa entered the exam hall, the applicants waiting for their turn buzzed.
Most of them were there for a re-examination for C Rank, so they had complex feelings about the two who had reached this point so quickly.
Incidentally, the C Rank skill test involved combat between applicants.
Winning or losing was not the objective; the goal was solely to assess their skills.
For healers like Silvia, however, their healing abilities were evaluated.
As the tests of the other applicants progressed, it was finally Cecil and Arisa’s turn.
The exam was conducted one person at a time, so Cecil’s turn came first.
As for his opponent…
“Yo.”
For some reason, Gazeran was standing before Cecil, raising his hand.
Seeing this, Cecil pressed his forehead with his hand.
“Why are you here, Division Head?”
“To be your exam opponent. If I left it to someone incompetent, someone might end up dead, wouldn’t they?”
Gazeran’s words caused the surrounding area to buzz again.
Some voices muttered that it was an exaggeration or that he was underestimating them, but Gazeran easily ignored them.
“Well, actions speak louder than words, right? Let’s get started.”
At Gazeran’s words, the examiner gave the signal.
After the combat with Gazeran ended, the complaints from the applicants who had witnessed Cecil’s test ceased.
Arisa’s test, which took place shortly after, yielded a similar result.
It clearly demonstrated that the two possessed sufficient skill.
Frankly, among the current applicants, no one could defeat them.
They had displayed overwhelming strength to that extent.
“Well, I suppose no one will complain now,” Gazeran said, observing the surroundings.
Gazeran’s deliberate appearance was partly to showcase this combat.
As a result, his intentions could be considered successful.
At least, those who had witnessed this battle up close today would not raise any objections regarding their combat abilities in the future.
Such was the level of combat demonstrated during the exam.
The next day, after their interviews, the two returned to the shrine without hearing the results immediately.
Ultimately, they would hear about their successful completion of the Rank Up Exam after some time had passed.
And so, this was a glimpse into Cecil and Arisa’s activities.
I wanted to write about what the two of them did normally after learning Spirit Arts, so I wrote this.
Incidentally, before Collete came to the tower, I was C Rank.
Since I was in a party of two with Silvia, and only one person could fight, it was difficult to meet the conditions, so my rank-up was slow.
I didn’t join other parties because they were all looking for people based on their faces or abilities, as per the template, and I couldn’t find a good party.
