Published: July 3, 2025
The afternoon of the day after the four members of Room 10 returned to the City of Run after completing their request in Abali Village.
The adventurers' Guild Master, Hugh McGrath, was at the Lord's Manor.
After finishing his report to the Lord, he headed straight to the knight commander's office.
As usual, two knight order members were standing in front of the office.
"I wish to see Lord Neville. Is he available?"
"Yes, he is in."
Saying this, he knocked on the door.
"The adventurers' Guild Master, Hugh McGrath, has arrived."
"Let him in."
A gruff voice was heard from inside.
Hugh entered the office.
Inside, it was simply decorated, with space about twenty tatami mats large, a rather large desk, a seating set, and a cabinet lined with bottles of alcohol.
Neville Black, the knight commander of the Barony of Run, was seated in an executive chair, busy writing something.
"Sorry, could you wait there for a moment? I'll finish up soon."
With that, he returned to his writing.
Since this was a common occurrence, Hugh sat and waited without any concern.
After about three minutes, Neville seemed to finish writing, stood up, retrieved a bottle and two glasses from the cabinet, and sat across from Hugh.
The two raised their glasses and began discussing a few matters.
"Neville, is it really okay to add one more of those magic stones?"
Hugh began by confirming the pressing issue at hand.
The aforementioned magic stones were, of course, the wyvern magic stones that Ryo and Abel had brought to the Guild.
One had already been purchased by the Lord’s Manor, and initially, Hugh thought that the Lord would buy only one…
"Yeah, another one. It’s not like I’m going to use it. The guys at the 'workshop' who saw the first magic stone begged me to get another one. They even said they would lower their salaries to buy it themselves, so I couldn't refuse…"
Saying this, Neville forced a smile.
"There won't be anything like that for a while, will there? The perfect size, density, and above all, being a wind magic stone meets all the conditions."
"You mean the… ship?"
Hugh confirmed in a particularly quiet voice.
"Yes, that 'ship.' Seeing those who have been developing it for generations, I can't help but want to buy it, even if it means stretching the budget. Of course, the Lord was also actively in favor of it. So, we will buy one similar to the last one for six hundred million florins."
"Understood."
As they were almost done discussing the necessary details, Hugh stood up to leave when Neville unexpectedly brought up a name.
"Hugh, what do you know about that adventurer Ryo from your group? What is he?"
Hugh was surprised that Neville mentioned Ryo's name.
He couldn't believe Ryo had any connection to the knight order.
"How do you know Ryo's name?"
"Don't answer a question with a question."
Saying this, Neville laughed.
"Well, Ryo has been coming to our training ground a lot recently, so that’s how I know his name."
"Ryo at the knight order training ground? What on earth is he doing there…?"
"Well, what do you do at a training ground? It’s mock battles, right?"
Upon hearing Neville's answer, Hugh felt a chill.
He recalled Ryo's solo assault on the dungeon and defeating the demon prince.
However, there was something else he remembered.
Now that he thought about it, Ryo had mentioned something about a mock battle while in a carriage…
"Don't tell me he broke some equipment…"
"No, don’t worry, that won't happen. Our training ground has a constantly activated magic barrier."
"Then what exactly…"
"Well… it’s that…"
Neville hesitated to continue, which was quite rare for his straightforward personality.
"Actually, he’s been having mock battles with Lady Sera."
"…Huh?"
Hugh uttered a foolish-sounding voice at Neville's unexpected words.
(Ryo is having mock battles with Sera? Well, Sera is an adventurer, and Ryo is also an adventurer… so it shouldn't be a problem, but how do those two know each other? Plus, they’re having mock battles at the knight order training ground instead of the Guild's training ground? I guess it makes sense, as Neville said, because of the magic barrier…?)