Acre, the largest city in the south.
The three from Room 10 were requested by name by the Rune Adventurer’s Guild to come to this town.
It was pretty rare for a nomination request to be made for a party that had just been promoted to D-rank.
Of course, nomination requests gave more rewards and were seen as a greater contribution to the guild than regular requests.At the very least, after knowing that one successful nomination request would give the same points as two successful ordinary requests, anybody would be enthusiastic.
When they arrived in the city of Acre, they headed for the Acre Adventurer’s Guild first.
The brief details for the request were explained in Rune, but they were told that a detailed explanation would be given in Acre.
Since there was a possibility that they would be asked to ‘depart’ even after they just arrived, it was common sense as adventurers to visit the guild before finding an inn.
There was a certain Water-Attribute Magician in the world who did not know that common sense, but the three people from Room 10 have completed quite a number of requests and have become accustomed to them.
The importance of common sense could be seen once you go out into society ….
At the reception desk of the guild, they showed the letter of introduction from the Rune Adventurer’s Guild and their adventurer’s cards, and were directed to the reception room in the back.
They waited for about twenty seconds.
They didn’t have to wait for long before a man came in.
“Hey, thanks for coming. I’m Guildmaster Landenvia.”
The man had an intellectual atmosphere and seemed like he would definitely have been a Magician or a Priest during his active career.
“I am Niels from Room 10, and my party members Etho and Amon.”
“It’s been some time since the Kyradea request previously. Please take a seat.”
Landenvia used to be the vice guildmaster at Kyradea.
‘The Conscience of Kyradea’ as Goro, the Magistrate of Kona Village, put it.
Landenvia urged them to take a seat and at that moment the guild staff brought tea for four people.
“Have you been told about the content and details of the request?”
“We were informed briefly, but if possible, I would like to ask for a detailed explanation once more.”
Landenvia’s question was answered by the leader, Swordsman Niels, on behalf of the party.
In that aspect he has had a lot of experience, so he was tactful.
“I see. This began when our C-rank party ‘Six Petals’ found a small wayside shrine.”
“Small wayside shrine …”
Priest Etho muttered.
“Yes. It is reported as a ‘Small wayside shrine’ on the documents, but the priest of Six Petals said ‘It’s a hidden temple’. However, she said she has never seen a hidden temple before, so she asked for someone familiar with them.Right now, Acre does not have anybody with that knowledge, and it would take too long to request one from the Royal Capital, so when I consulted Rune’s Master McGrath, he introduced your party.”
Niels nodded and looked at Etho sitting next to him.
“That’s right. We did see a ‘hidden temple’ when performing the request from Kyradea …”
Etho nodded and said after noticing his gaze.
“Yes. I read the report. So, this time, there is a place about half a day from Azone Village that seems to be the ‘hidden temple’, but I would like all of you to head over first. There, Six Petals, who is currently working on another request, will join up with you and guide you to the temple.”
“Six Petals will guide us to the temple while working on another request …?”
Etho verified while feeling a little worried.
“Oh, I understand your concerns. You wouldn’t like to receive another request in the middle of a request. However, the request they are working on this time is related to the temple, so it’s okay. The guild will increase the rewards they will receive so … on the contrary, they were happy.”
Niels nodded and answered.
Next to him, Etho and Amon nodded too.
Two days later, an inn in Azone Village.
Although Azone was a ‘village’, it had established itself as a relay point for the supply of agricultural products to the largest city in the south, Acre, and was a fairly large ‘village’.
In addition, since many people, mainly merchants, stayed there, the village was also characterized by abundant accommodation facilities.
Six Petals and Room 10 met in a lounge-like place in one of them, the ‘Moon and Star Inn’.
“I’m the leader of ‘Six Petals’, Vandash, a Swordsman.”
“I’m Ash, a Fire-Attribute Magician, these are my sisters Nash, a Wind-Attribute Magician, and Cash, an Earth-Attribute Magician.”
“Priest Terence and Gorky, the Shield-bearer.”
Gorky gave just a small nod.
Warren from ‘Crimson Sword’ and Gorky, it seemed that many of the Shield-bearers were taciturn.
After the three from ‘Room 10’ introduced themselves as well, Etho added more.
“Terence, it’s been a long time.”
“I knew it! Etho, that Etho? It’s been five years? Sheesh! You could just call me Terence-neesan like in the past.”
Etho’s face was bright red.
Niels and Amon look on with interest, along with Six Petal’s Vandash.
“In the past, Terence was the first person to take care of me when I entered the Sanctum …”
“At that time, were you ten years old? Or was it nine? Etho was crying after being separated from his parents …”
Etho raised a voice to block Terence, who was reminiscing.
Amon watched Etho with interest at an aspect that was not usually seen.
“Anyone would be embarrassed listening to talks about when they were little.”
Vandash and Niels had such a conversation in whispers.
“But I’m glad that it was Etho’s party who came to verify the ‘Hidden Temple’. It would have been a hassle in a lot of ways if it was some people we didn’t know.”
Terence commented and Six Petal’s Swordsman, Vandash, answered with a nod.
“The party from Kyradea that you worked with previously … on second thought, let’s not go there. More importantly, the temple was reported to be half a day from here, but we asked the villagers to show us a shortcut. So we found that it would only take two hours one way.”
Niels, Etho, and Amon said the same thing.
‘Half a day’ became ‘two hours’.That would save a considerable amount of time.
“So, we will be setting off now … along the way we will cross the forest, but it seems that even Lesser Boars don’t appear there, so I don’t think there’ll be a problem.”
While traveling to the ‘Hidden Temple’, the three from Room 10 were listening to Six Petal’s request.
“That is, recently there had been frequent disappearances of cows and goats around the Azone Village.”
“Yeah. Well, usually, search requests of that kind don’t come to the guild. The villages wouldn’t want to spend that money either. So, ‘search’ requests are mostly put up by temples but they hardly pay any money but … this search request was a direct request from the lord.”
“Azone Village’s … lord?”
“To be exact, it seems to be from the Lord of the manor in the south of Azone Village. What was it again … Baron …”
Swordsman Vandash couldn’t recall and the Fire-Attribute Magician Ash supplemented the information.
“Well, to the guild, it’s okay as long as the money is paid properly. It was a request from a Baron, an aristocrat, so it was even more okay.”
As Vandash claimed, they arrived in two hours from Azone Village.
“Oh, this is certainly …”
Etho spoke after just a short walk from the entrance.
Unlike a shrine, there was something that seemed to be an altar in front of them.
When he looked around the altar, he found something like broken crystal fragments scattered about.
“Yes, it’s a broken one, isn’t it?”
Amon pointed out and Etho nodded and answered.
Etho judged that the fragments were similar to the fragments from the shattered crystal-like sphere in the ‘hidden temple’ in the village where Niels was born.
Then, when he looked around the altar further, he found an engraved coat of arms.
“In other words, this is a hidden temple of fire.”
Priest Terence commented.
Even Etho and Terence didn’t know why the Sanctum was rewarding the search for ‘Hidden Temples’.
That was because they have never heard any reports or announcements that something was found from such temples.
However, as adventurers, they were deliberating if it was okay to report it properly to the guild because they would get a reward … especially Terrence.
“And so Van, it is confirmed that this is a hidden temple of fire.”
“That’s great. With this, we and you folks from Room 10 are getting rewards.”
Terrence informed Vandash, and Vandash happily told the three from Room 10.
It was a win-win situation.
From there, the group returned to Azone Village through the two-hour one-way trip.
However, the village that they returned to … looked completely different from how it was four hours ago.