Chapter 204: Fal (5)


    With steps leading up towards the entrance of the dungeon, Rie made his way forward as he exited out of the darkroom. Thereafter, from behind him, the woman who he had released from captivity followed from behind him.


    "..." Silent throughout the entire journey upstairs, as he exited out of the room, Rie noted that the guards that had been standing guard just a moment ago seemed to have left their post and, in ce of thema young green-haired man stood.


    "...h-huh?!" Upon noticing Rieing out from the dungeon, the young man hurriedly pointed his pike at him. With a nervous stance, he spoke out. "I-Intruder...!? Argh... On my first duty here too..." muttering out, he shook his head. "Don''t move!"


    "...a newbie knight?" Rie tilted his head with interest as he soon shook off. "Ahem... Don''t worry. I was in the dungeon with explicit permission from the Knight of the Ebony himself. So, you can be at ease."


    "A-Ah... E-Explicit permission from the Knight of the Ebony himself?" The man''s shoulder slightly rxed. "No one told me that you were visiting when it came to my shift..."


    "Hmm... Right," Rie nodded his head as he soon began to walk away. "In any case, I''ve only released one of the involved adventurers from the recent incident that urred. As for the other two, since they haven''t learnt their lessons yet, I''ll leave them be for about a day ande back for them. If possible; please inform this to Sir Wryn or the next guard on duty."


    "W-Will do!" The young knight firmly nodded his head.


    "Oh huh, a new knight?" The woman who soon exited out of the dungeon questioned. "Here I thought those two other guards would stay at their post forever."


    "U-Uh actually... We often change posts as it''s a part of our usual schedule" As the young knight muttered out, he soon slightly coughed. "Ahem... Sorry about that. I''m sprouting unnecessary things and should be going back to my duties. Please, carry on with your day."


    "It should be fine right? No one''s around besides us!" The woman stated as she patted the back of the knight. "So, rx a bit!"


    "...hey, you shouldn''t be disturbing the poor knight," Rie red at the woman.


    "Ah, right, right," the woman chuckled as she smiled at the knight. "Do your best!"


    "...t-thanks...?" The knight awkwardly stated.


    "..." Slightly annoyed by the sight of the woman whose demeanour had suddenly changed from the screamingdy in the dungeon to this, Rie sighed as he soon began walking away from the two.


    "Huh?" Taking note that Rie was leaving, the woman soon began to move as well. "Hey! Secretary of the guild, wait up!"


    ...


    Walking through the hallways of the castle, Rie and the woman slowly made their way over towards the lounge where the yers were designated to meet up upon arriving at the castle.


    "Hey, secretary of the guild!" However, during the journey therethe woman had persistently called out to Rie. "Earth to the secretary? Are you suddenly deaf?"


    "..." Throughout the entire journey, Rie''s eyebrow slightly twitched. However, he remained quiet.


    "Hey! Secretary of the guild! I''m talking to you here!" The woman cried out. "Answer me!"


    "..." Closing his eyes with a sigh, Rie soon turned towards the woman. "...what is it? It hasn''t been even for a moment since leaving the dungeon you hadn''t persistently called out to me. Is there something you need?"


    "Gosh, finally!" the woman rolled her eyes. "Here I thought you were deaf. But never mind that! You''re the secretary of the guild, right? Or have I been calling your title wrong all this time?"


    "...as if you haven''t been calling me that already," he frowned.


    "Yeah, yeah! So... I''m curious," the woman thought to herself. "Do you know what the big deal about the changes to the rankings is about? I heard Shinto'' disappeared off the chart. Will he make an appearance for this raid?"


    "...why do you think I would tell you?" Rie calmly stated. "This is private guild stuff, just because I released you from captivity over the two actual guild members doesn''t mean you have the right to ask for confidential info."


    "So that means Shinto will be at this raid?" her eyes glittered. "Damn! I can imagine all the buzz with his appearance, right now! Headlines: Shinto, the ex-first ced yer makes an appearance in the Bareht raidwhat does this mean?!"


    "Ugh... You''re somehow making me regret ever releasing you," Rie furrowed his brows as he continued along the hallway. "Before you end up making a name for yourself on my list of ''don''t talk to me'', please. Shut up."


    "Ack!?" The woman slightly stumbled back from Rie''s blunt voice. "Hey! I was just trying to make some small talk, nothing that big of a deal!"


    "Unnecessary small talk," Rie sighed. "If you want something like that, you should''ve stuck with the knight then. Or perhaps, you could have stayed in your cell arguing together with Wenzhou."


    "Eww, with that thick old man and bunny boy? Hell no! They caused a scene for nothing!" The woman stuck her tongue out in disgust. "I''d rather talk to a wall than listen to talk to a big heap of meat with no brain!"


    "There''s a wall in the cell, it is clearly calling for you," Rie stated nonchntly.


    "That is beside the point!" The woman cried out. "We''re way past that point and since you''re the only speaking human here, can''t I have a small talk with you?"


    "As I said... Unnecessary," Rie stated. "Don''t you have a guild or something? Just go to them instead of attempting to befriend me or get information out of me. Your attempts would be wasted."


    "Jeez..." the woman frowned. "At least keep up with the chat until we get to the longue? It''s freakishly long from here!"


    "Whispers exist for your benefit," Rie exined. "Whisper to your friends or something. Just because it''s a long journey doesn''t mean you have to chat to have a face-to-face chat with someone."


    "And if I say I don''t like chatting via whispers?" The woman asked.


    "Then this game isn''t for you," without any more to say, Rie walked further away from the woman. "Now... If you''ll excuse me, the lounge is just right up ahead."


    "What? Hey! Secretary!" The woman shouted out. However, there was no longer a single response from Rie. "Ugh... Are you serious? Just as I met the Qi Master Rie too..." she frowned. "Bah! Mashita will kill me!!"


    "I can hear you from your shout, you know that, right?" Rie listlessly spoke out. "It''s good to know that you''re with the Beast Master Mashita. I''ll be sure to inform my guild leader about it."


    "Wah?" The woman murmured dumbfoundedly. "Argh! Damn you, thick old man! Your stupid attitude got to me!"


    "...sigh," Rie sighed through his teeth as his footsteps finally stopped at the doors of the lounge. "Well... Now that that''s over... I can finally rx for just a" As the doors of the lounge opened, Rie was soon greeted by loud shouts which rang through the room.


    "Yoo!! Guys! I heard some news! I heard Shinto would being to Fal!" cries protruded out within the lounge.


    "What? Shinto? The Shinto!?" The yers cried out. "No way! He''s been off the radar these days!"


    "I''m serious! I''ve heard from a legit source!"


    "Being in a raid with Shinto... Is this... A dreame true?!"


    "What''s the big deal about Shinto? He''s got loads of problems. Arceus is go-to!"


    "Tch... Arceus has a lot of problems too, Kaisus is the one!"


    "Wasn''t this on the topic of Shinto? Stick with it!"


    "...???" Upon hearing the loud gossiping that had been resounding through the air as he entered the lounge, Rie''s expression grew confused. "...the hell? Grr... This woman..."


    "W-Woah there, secretary! Before you start a match with me over this, I didn''t start this!" The woman cried out. "I was just joking earlier when I was spouting those things out!"


    "...if you didn''t say it, then who did? You''ve caused an annoying mess over nothing," Rie pinched the bridge of his nose. "In just any moment now I''ll be..."


    "...hey, isn''t that Rie? Why don''t we ask him? Surely, keeping something like this as private info would be stupid!" The yers took notice of Rie as all eyes turned in his direction.


    "You''re right! Hey, Rie! O'' great Qi Master! Answer us!" The shameless yers were the first to rush forward over to Rie. "Is Shintoing or what?! Confirm please!"


    "Ugh..." Rie helplessly nced over to the crowd of lower-rank yers in front of him. "...this is annoying..."


    "Not my fault! I didn''t do this!" The woman spoke out with hands up in the air. "I''m innocent."


    "...hah, I''m leaving," Rie quickly turned around as he soon exited out of the lounge.


    "What? Hey! Rie! What is the meaning of this?!"


    "Come back here!" Although their cries were shouted out, none could even reach Rie.


    "Well okay..." The woman muttered out as she saw that Rie had left. "Ahem! Now everyone, calm down will ya?! You''re not gonna get any information if you''re gonna have this kind of attitude!"


    ...


    Whilst the raid against Bareth was in preparations, back within a dark cavernthe group which had set off to the catbs after a few days at the ins continued on through the stone grounds.


    "...are we there yet?" Yer stated. "This seems way longer than the time we went from the catbs to the cold ce..."


    "..." Rustly kept quiet throughout the journey as he finally stopped. "There. We''re here. The catbs."


    "...we''re finally here?!" With excitement, Frey''s eyes turned towards the front and, with the help of the light source given by Hikari, she noted that a giant door stood in front of the group. "We''re finally back!"