Reincarnated as the Strongest Dragon

Chapter 25: Ranks And Nicknames

I entered the guildhall and noticed a considerable decrease in people compared to earlier. I saw that Saria was talking to another guild staff member next to the reception, so I did something cheeky and walked up to her instead of getting in a queue at the reception.

“Excuse me, Saria,” I called out, waving casually. “I’m done with that little errand you gave me.”

She turned around and stared at me without saying a word. I tilted my head, waved again, and glanced at the other staff member. “I hope I didn’t interrupt something important.”

“Oh, nothing important,” She replied before nudging Saria with her shoulder. “Hey, what are you doing?”

Saria regained her composure and cleared her throat. “Ahem, did I hear that correctly? Are you already done?”

“That’s right.”

Saria, looking like she just gave up thinking about it, sighed. “Please follow me to the guildmaster’s office.”

“Shouldn’t you check if he has time first?”

"He's probably slacking off anyway," She muttered.

I thought about this earlier, but isn’t Saria rude to what should be her boss?

Saria led me back up the stairs to the guildmaster’s office and let herself in without knocking. I followed, taking a seat on the couch.

“Back again? Did you need something else before you go?” He asked.

“I just came back, so I thought I should report.”

“But… How… Didn’t you leave earlier today? Am I finally going senile?” The guildmaster scratched his head.

“I work fast,” I said and smiled. “Anyway, here’s the dungeon core.” I pulled out the core and put it on the table in front of me.

He walked over, picked it up, and turned it around a few times. “It’s actually a dungeon core…”

“Speaking of cores, what are they used for? My friend said they are extremely valuable.”

“They are used in making the magitech devices we use to make guild cards.”

Oh? Now THAT is interesting. If they are used for a device that lets you display someone's status it should technically be possible to study it to perfect the [Inspect] spell or, at the very least, make a portable device that can do it. I will have to find another dungeon core to snatch.

“I see. Then I can understand that they are valuable, especially considering the limited supply.”

“Now, back to the dungeon. What did you find down there?”

“There were only five floors and they were pretty small. The fifth one only had a boss.”

“That sounds small for a dungeon. How strong were the monsters you encountered?”

I don’t know, weak? I should have tried to find a monster encyclopedia and looked up the ranks of monsters.

“There were a few stronger ones, I guess? There was a frost wyrm.”

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“The boss was a frost wyrm?”

“Ah, no. The frost wyrm was on the fourth floor. The boss was a prismatic hydra.”

Grahl raised an eyebrow. “A what hydra?”

“A prismatic hydra.”

“Can I see your guild card?”

I gave him my guild card and the same explanation about prismatic hydras as I gave Liz. I then pulled out all eight magic stones and put them on the table in front of me. “These are the magic stones from the hydra, so you can see it was quite big.”

Both the guildmaster and Saria stared at the magic stones in amazement. “How did you even defeat something that big?”

“Ripped out the magic stones and cut off the heads,” I shrugged.

He looked at me doubtfully. “… Aren’t you a mage?”

“I am, but I didn’t want to destroy the magic stones or cause the cave to collapse down on me, so I had to do it that way.”

He walked over to his desk and sat down, exhaling deeply as he leaned back. “Saria, that will be all.”

“Certainly,” She said and left the room.

He didn’t tell her to wait outside this time.

The guildmaster looked back down on the dungeon core and sighed. ”Who are you?”

I looked at him and tilted my head. ”... I’m Luna?”

He glanced at my guild card and then back at me with a stern expression. “You aren’t human, are you?”

I pretty much expected that after I told him about the prismatic hydra. I doubt there has ever been a human that could kill a prismatic hydra of that size alone. Guess I should tell him the truth? Chloe did say that he was trustworthy, and the guildmaster of the guild in the capital is probably a good guy to be on friendly terms with.

“Would that be a problem?”

“Not by itself. We have non-human adventurers. The problem is your card says that you are human.”

“Chloe changed it for me.”

Grahl looked at me like he was studying my expression. “And why did she do that?”

“Because it would be troublesome to have a guild card that said I was a dragon,” I said while giving him an innocent smile.

“I see,” He said calmly as he relaxed his gaze.

I see? That’s it? I built up this whole reveal, and this is what you give me? I feel robbed.

“I expected a bigger reaction,” I pouted.

“I don’t think it has sunk in yet, or maybe I just don’t believe it.”

“Chloe was the one that said it was okay to tell you. If you want to blame someone that you now have to deal with a dangerous dragon, you know who,” I said and grinned.

Grahl looked at me with a hint of reluctance. “How dangerous are you?”

“I wouldn’t say I’m that dangerous as long as I’m left to my own business. As for how strong I am… Very.”

He closed his eyes and sighed. “So, how can a dragon look like a human?”

“I created a spell so I could walk among humans and see what you were up to,” I said, holding up my shifted arm. “I usually travel around from time to time.”

“Fascinating,” He said, looking at my arm. “So your true form is a dragon?”

“Yeah, I could show it if you want to remodel the guild building afterward,” I said with a smirk and canceled my shift.

“I think I will pass on that,” He laughed. “But why work as an adventurer?”

“Restaurants and bars don't accept smiles as payment. Since I’m most suited for slaying monsters, I usually register, earn some money, travel the world for a while, and then go back to sleep.”

“Any reason why you want to get max rank?”

“Mostly because it can be convenient.”

“Convenient?”

“Yeah, I don’t know about now, but in the past, some areas and dungeons were off-limits unless you were a certain rank. I don’t want to be refused entry if I go out to gather materials, for example,” I grinned. “Also, because an orichalcum card sounds cool.”

“Sounds cool…” He muttered. “This will probably lead to some trouble, but I will promote you to SSS. Someone who kills that kind of monster with their bare hands has no business being anything lower. In truth, you could probably use a few more S’s.”

“Trouble?”

“Do you think the other adventurers, especially the S ranks, will stay silent when some rookie strolls in and gets SSS rank in a few days? It’s not like I can tell them the truth.”

“I guess I can understand that. You did say it was difficult to even get to SS rank. How long did it take for you?”

“For me?”

“Aren’t you SS rank?”

“What makes you think that?”

“Just a guess. A friend said this country had an SS rank unless he retired. Also, because you tried that intimidation on me earlier. Not just anyone could exude that much bloodlust.”

“How perceptive,” He grinned. “Should I take that as a compliment?”

“Coming from me? I think so,” I smirked.

Grahl let out a small laugh. “I spent over a decade as an S rank before I got promoted. I retired a few years ago.”

“It takes that long? Might experience some backlash then. I can punch anyone that tries to give me trouble, right?” I said with an innocent smile as I batted my eyelashes.

Grahl rubbed his forehead. “I would appreciate it if you didn’t go and kill our S ranks. This country doesn’t have that many of them.”

“They wouldn’t die… Probably. But it sounds like it would be in both our interests if you didn’t make a big deal out of the promotion.”

“It’s the first time someone gets promoted to SSS rank, and you don’t want it to be a big deal?”

“It will come out eventually, so I would prefer a few days of peace and quiet. Countries tend to be ever so quick to try and bind you down with a title, and nobles come running trying to gain favor or, God forbid, offer engagements. You will also face less trouble in the immediate future, at least.”

“I understand. Usually, a promotion of this magnitude would probably be given a parade through town and a festival. I guess you aren’t interested in that?”

“I’m happy just getting the card. Did you also get a parade? From the sounds of it, SS rank is already an insane achievement.”

“They tried,” He grinned. “You aren’t the only one who likes to be free. Long before my promotion, I had already been given the nickname The Elusive since I had a habit of skipping town whenever something bothersome arose. I can only imagine what they will call you.”

“Call me?”

“Adventurers will usually get a nickname when they are S rank. The more pretentious ones even introduce themselves with it.”

“And who comes up with the nicknames?”

“There is nothing official if that’s what you are asking. The other adventurers usually coin something fitting over time.”

Considering I came out of nowhere and got promoted, people might start calling me The Fraud. They better not come up with something that involves a jab at me being short unless they want me to burn down the guild. Maybe they will call me The Otherworldly Beauty after seeing me walk by? Otherworldly, get it? Damn, I’m hilarious. 

“I guess I have something to look forward to then,” I pondered. “Still, isn’t this an odd job for someone called The Elusive?”

“Time catches up to everyone,” He shrugged. “I guess it was time to stop running around the world.”

I would prefer not to be reminded of that.

“Speaking of time, I need to get going.”

“Well, let’s get your promotion handled then,” He said and stood up to leave.

“You’re doing it yourself?”.

“Of course, I have never seen an orichalcum card before,” He said with a grin.

“Sure you aren’t just skipping out on work?”

“Pssh, don’t listen to Saria, I take my work seriously… Most of the time. But you need my card to promote someone above A. That's why I have to come along.”

“Oh right, Chloe did mention it could only be done here. So that’s why.”

We walked back down to the main area, and after a few minutes, he gave me my brand-new card. A shining deep red with speckles of black, the black text had changed to white.

“This looks amazing,” I said as I studied my card with a huge grin.

“Truly,“ He whistled. “I doubt I will ever see another one in my lifetime.” 

“Anyway, thanks for this. I have some business to take care of so I might be gone for a day or two. I will be back for the business with the materials sometime after that. If you have any quests you have trouble with, I can do them as thanks unless it involves something tedious. I can slay anything, just don’t expect me to escort a noble.”

“I don’t think we have anything for now, but I will have a look.”

After saying my goodbyes, I left the guild and flew back to our camp to check up on Liz.