Ruler Vol 4 Chapter 14
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Author: Anit666
Editor: Weasalopes
【Sam’s POV】
“This is a lie detector. It’ll glow red the moment you lie. Using this, I’ll be asking you a few questions to determine your initial rank.”
She suddenly got serious and took out a magic globe like thing from behind the desk.
“Questions?”
But why would they need to ask questions to determine someone’s rank? It would have made sense if it was a physical test like fighting an examiner or something.
“Yes. This was a reform that was recently introduced in this city by the third princess. More about that later. For now, please pay the fee of 2 silver coins.”
The third princess? So the country can interfere with the Guild?
I took out two silver coins from the coin pouch and passed them to the receptionist. She checked them to make sure that they were authentic and put them in the drawer.
However, for just a moment, her eyes had widened as she had scrutinised the coins. Did she perhaps realise that those coins were stolen? Is that even possible? Perhaps if they produced the coins in such a way that the coin could register its holder until it was used to buy something. And then the seller would be registered as a new user. So, since I got these coins after killing those bandits, I’m not their rightful owner, and the receptionist somehow realised that?
Nah, I’m overthinking.
“Please follow me.”
The receptionist got up and opened the door behind her. After circumventing around the desk, we reached her.
“Only one at a time.”
She said as soon as we were about to step inside the room. After exchanging glances, it was decided that I would go first.
“All right.”
And so, I entered along with the receptionist, leaving Phiria outside.
“Please sit here.”
She pointed to a chair that was situated at some distance from a desk placed on the opposite side of the door. Two chairs were also there, and a man with a large build was sitting on one of the chairs.
With muscles popping from under his clothes, his large body, bald head, tanned skin and sharp glare gave him an intimidating look. He had been following my movements the moment I had entered the room. Most probably, he was something like a guard to make sure no one caused any trouble during the questioning.
“Do not mind him; he’s also a receptionist.” The female receptionist reassured me and she seated herself on the chair besides his. “Well, should we start.”
“Sure.”
The gentleness in her vanished as soon as I said that. With a smile that didn’t reach her eyes, she asked her first question.
“Are you a demon?”
Heeeeh.
“Nope.”
Both of them looked at the magic globe placed at the desk, but it didn’t glow red. In other words, I was speaking the truth (obviously). I’m a human after all.
The tension in the air slackened a bit when it was reaffirmed that I was a human.
“I see. Then, have you ever met a demon?”
Welp.
“Yes.”
The man’s brows furrowed on my answer. The tension went up a notch again.
“What happened then?”
“We met, fought a bit, and then went our way.”
Well, I have met a lot of demons, so I’m confident that something like that would have happened. The fact that the globe didn’t glow red only reaffirmed my hypothesis.
“Wha?!”
The man, on the other hand, seemed genuinely distressed upon hearing that. But before he could say anything else, the woman raised her hand to silence him, which actually worked. Maybe the woman has a higher standing than the man.
“I see. What are your views on demons?”
Hmm?
“What exactly do you mean by that question?”
Depending on her intent behind that question, I may be forced to say that demons are actually my subordinates.
They’ll instantly brand me as a traitor and launch a crusade to kill me if that happened……………
“I’m simply asking how you see demonkind; as friends, enemies or something else.”
“Ah, I see.” I made a show of thinking about the answer. “Personally speaking, for me demons are nothing more than another race living on this planet.”
As the globe remained colourless, even the woman raised her eyebrows.
“Care to elaborate?”
“I don’t think there’s anything to elaborate though.” I scratched my head to appear troubled. “In the simplest terms, hmmmm, what I mean is that I won’t actively attack the demons, but I won’t hesitate to kill them if they get in my way.”
Well, that’s my policy for everyone. Anyone who gets in my way is an enemy, and I have only one rule for enemies; mercy, does not exist. Be it Chloe, Jack, Phiria, or even Maxwell. Anyone who stands in my way shall perish.
⟦Oi.⟧
Maxwell grunted in displeasure.
⟦Yes?⟧
⟦Don’t you think it’s pretty heartless of you to think like that about me?⟧
⟦What are you talking about? We started off as enemies, if you don’t remember.⟧
It was only circumstances that forced us to be comrades.
⟦I won’t deny that, but that was in the past.⟧
⟦And what I’m talking about is in the future; a future that would come to pass only on your actions. I said it, didn’t I? We’ll be enemies only if you stand against me.⟧
⟦Hmph.⟧ He snorted. ⟦What a convenient way to twist your words.⟧
He went silent after that. What a pointless conversation.
Unless Maxwell was confirming something.
Good grief.
Meanwhile, the globe once again remained colourless as it had determined that I was speaking the truth. Seeing this, the man almost stood up as if he couldn’t handle whatever bullshit I was spouting, but before he could say anything to me, the woman spoke up.
“Barge. Sit down.”
“But Selica-!”
“Sit down.”
Not paying any mind to Barge’s protest, Selica ordered him to sit down again. Barge glared at her for a moment, but quietly sat down. After confirming that he won’t be making any ruckus, with an amused looking smile, Selica turned to me.
“I see, Samael.” She called me by my name for the first time, which caused Barge to flinch. “This is the last question. Have you ever killed someone?”
“Yes.”
As the globe didn’t glow red, Selica clapped her hands to garner our attention.
“Alright!” She exclaimed. “With this, your test is over. Please send your partner in on your way out. The results will be declared after her test.”
“Okay.”
I stood up and headed towards the door. Upon opening it, I found Phiria waiting for me with a smile, but the atmosphere behind her………. was a bit cold. She seemed to be angry about something.
As I looked behind her, the few adventurers that were still there averted their eyes. I wonder what happened.
“How did your test go?”
“I can’t say. Selica- ah, that’s the receptionist- said that she’ll announce the result after your test. She’s waiting for you inside.”
“I see. I should quickly go inside then.”
“Yepp. All the best.”
After giving her my best wishes and seeing her off, I turned towards the adventurers once again, to which they averted their eyes again. Most probably, one, or perhaps more of them approached Phiria with ulterior motives and were ruthlessly shot down by her.
Of course, that’s a given. Phiria would never associate herself with a lowly human (except me, apparently).
But now that I think about it, Selica didn’t ask about my mask, did she? Why? Was she respecting my privacy? Looking at it like that, none of her questions were too personal. More like, she deliberately avoided asking anything private. Like, in the first question, instead of asking whether I really was a human or not, she chose to ask whether or not I was a demon. In other words, it wouldn’t matter as long as I wasn’t a demon.
Hmm, I guess that fits with the image of the Adventurer’s Guild of respecting freedom. In essence, the Guild should be an organisation that brings together the various Adventurers by introducing a system which allows easy access to quests and fair evaluation. Aside from the basic rules required to run an organisation, the Guild mustn’t impose any other limitation on the adventurers, and that fact was shown by the test today.
While I was thinking such things, including how to appease Phiria’s anger later, the door opened and Phiria peeked outside.
“Samael, they’re calling us inside.”
And so, I followed her inside the room. Different from before, Barge and Selica were standing in front of the desk, with the former seeming a bit exhausted.
“The results for the tests are in. After careful consideration based on your answers……………”
Selica went silent for a moment, perhaps enjoying how we were eagerly(?) waiting for her to continue.
“Congratulations, Mr. Samael and Ms. Mary! You’ve been registered as steel ranked adventurers!”
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