When The Cute Godkiller Opens A Tavern [Stubbed]

Chapter 91 - Student Exchange

”There are a lot of things that can be learned simply by changing environments.” ~Coraline, Vice Guildmaster of The Gaiamaxims Guild

Grace finished the obstacle course provided for them. She was the third one to do so in the group. Out of fifteen people who were supposed to be joining the sub-raid, it was Ren who had finished first, followed by Tayin. The rest of the group, all high-level Advanced Class holders, were still a quarter away from finishing the course.

“And that’s everyone from the Shalliesters Party,” Coraline said, who was standing with them at the finish line. “As expected.”

“The name’s still weird,” Ren said, cringing at their party name.

“You’ll get used to it,” Tayin interjected. “I prefer it to ‘Tavern-goers’ Party.”

“Or the Grace, Ren, and Tayin Party,” Grace added. “Seriously, why can’t we come up with good names?”

“I think it’s just you guys,” Coraline said last. “Personally, I kind of like Shalliesters Party.”

“Says the one with the guild named after its Guildmaster,” the halfling countered. “We basically took the idea from you guys, you know?”

Coraline shrugged. “Now that you mention it, I guess so. Anyway, just wait here until the others finish their run.”

“I seriously thought we wouldn’t be the first to finish,” Grace said, surprised by the results. “What’s going on?”

“The people you see before you are new recruits,” Coraline explained. “Including you three, we’re here to gauge their abilities to see if they need to work on themselves a bit more before we let them join the sub-raid.”

“I’m guessing they’re not passing, then?” Tayin asked with a smug look on her face.

The Vice Guildmaster smiled in return. “You three might be exceptional for your current Levels and Class, but what you’re looking at right now is the expected above average performance of an Advanced Class Adventurer. This obstacle was meant to be finished within ten minutes by the average adventurer. You three finished in five, they’re finishing somewhere around eight to nine.”

“So there won’t be any veterans joining the sub-raid?” Ren inquired.

“Not in the fight,” Coraline answered. She nudged her head towards a figure, who was observing the obstacle course not too far away. “You’ll be guided by one of our most veteran members. His name is Damascus Vensteel. His responsibilities will include building up your teamwork as a raid group, and introducing you to our raid strategies. He’ll be supervising your formations during the actual raid as well, so make sure you listen to him properly.”

The man that the Vice Guildmaster gestured to was looking at them, Grace noticed. A human that had had most of his hair move away from his scalp and transfer to the rest of his face. The white hue was an obvious indicator of his age, but the rest of his bulky body was determined to tell otherwise.

His black eyes were fierce, much like his Scan. When most people tried to be subtle with the Skill, he was outright obvious with it, to the point that he was challenging them to block him.

Grace attempted to meet that challenge. She had never rejected anybody’s Scan before, but she knew it could be done. Unlike Shallies, she wasn’t choosing which information to let through, but instead, she wanted to outright reject the attempt.

She turned to see her friends realizing the same thing.

“How do you reject a Scan?” Tayin asked, to no one in particular.

“Meet the mana with yours,” Coraline said. “You have to catch it and push it away.”

They tapped into their Mana-Affinity, identifying the trace of mana coming from Damascus. Grace was surprised to see a web of mana wrapping around her, as she had only expected at most a few lines.

Controlling her panic, the half-orc projected her mana, meeting the web as much as she could. She already expected to be overwhelmed by such a practiced person. And they were taken by surprise to boot. But she wanted to let him know that they’d received his message.

When the bald man smirked, she knew they had failed to repel him. Within a single leap, he managed to cover the distance between them.

“So these are that Chef’s students, eh?” he started, laughing to his heart’s content. “They sure are a feisty bunch.”

“Ren Salvatur,” the Shield Knight began, extending a hand to greet their new instructor.

“Tayin Laughlap,” the Chronospark followed.

“Grace Allturia,” the Mana-Edge Sentinel said last.

Damascus went from one hand to the next, accepting their handshakes. He was laughing and smiling the entire time.

“Good! Good! You have very good manners. Very good!” He kept nodding and smiling, then pointed to the other members who were almost at the finish line. “When they’re all done, you’ll all go through the second course. But this time, you’ll all complete it at the same time. The Door is over there.”

He pointed towards a Door standing near one of the buildings. Only after it was pointed out did Grace notice it wasn’t attached to the building at all. Instead, it was standing on its own, including the intricate frame that came with it. None of the guild members seemed bothered by it, but neither was approaching it either.

“That’s a Door to Somewhere!” Tayin said aloud. “I heard they’re pretty expensive!”

“Aren’t you the informed one?” Damascus mused. “They’re way more expensive than a Door to Anywhere, because we can specify the locations it can go to. This one will go to one of our specialized Dungeons.”

“I didn’t know we’re going in a Dungeon,” Ren started. “Isn’t that breaking protocol?”

Grace felt apprehensive with that notion as well, but she didn’t dare let it show.

“It’s a specialized one, kid,” Damascus said. “It was synthesized with a fake core, which we anchored to an inanimate object. Therefore, there are no monsters inside. Instead, we can shape it however we want, which in this case will include fake monsters.

“Now, we’re letting you three know that they’re fake, because you deserve some sort of reward for breaking this course’s record. Whether you tell the others or not is up to you. Regardless, the entire point of that Dungeon will be to increase your cooperation with the others, so it doesn’t really matter whether you know that little tidbit or not. I expect you to finish the course today, though.”

With that, the old man left.

“I thought he’d be more scary,” Tayin commented.

“That’s what most people say,” Coraline said. She had been on the sideline the entire time, watching the others instead. “In any case, I’ll leave you to finish the course he requested. After I finish tallying their time, I’ll have to address other matters. So you’ll all be on your own in there.”

“No problem,” Grace said. “One question, though.”

“Go for it.”

“Is the specialized Dungeon dangerous or not?”

“Of course it is,” Coraline answered with a smile. “Nothing that will kill you, that’s for sure, but there are things that can definitely hurt you in there. Damascus will be watching over you, to make sure that no one gets severely injured, but that doesn’t mean you should take the course lightly.”

“Thanks, I think we can handle that.”

“You three can, that’s for sure,” said the Vice Guildmaster. “I’ve seen how you three work. But there are fifteen of you now. If all that you’ll take care of is just yourselves, then you don’t deserve to join this sub-raid. Understood?”

Ren scratched his head. “I think that’s a bigger problem than the Dungeon course itself.”

---

“So, did you know they called themselves the Shalliesters Party?”

“I seriously forgot to check this one…” Shallies replied to Yoshelle. “Eh, it could’ve been worse.”

After lunch, the Elemental Archmage’s group went back to their headquarters, but she decided to stay behind. Shallies understood what her agenda was, and she didn’t actually mind entertaining the idea.

She didn’t mind helping people, as long as they asked first. But Yoshelle was being roundabout with what she wanted to ask. And Shallies was being patient enough to not jump into conclusions.

“So, umm…” Yoshelle started, scratching the back of her head. “Did Godkiller Bernadette contact you about Grace?”

“Not just Grace,” Shallies replied, smiling. “Ren and Tayin as well. And since I quit early, this is the best thing I can do to give back what she did for me.”

“Umm… Did she mention anything about me?”

Still smiling, Shallies served the Elemental Archmage some tea, before beginning with cleaning up the plates. Yoshelle, after talking with Valor’el, had attempted to pray. The Godkiller had heard it, of course. It had been a rather formal prayer, with less of the hesitation than what she was displaying now.

“Nope,” Shallies answered. And just as expected, this resulted in Yoshelle’s disappointment. “She doesn’t exactly go around sending a message without a tremendous reason. Now, for you, gaining a god, or a Godkiller’s favor in this case, might be a tremendous reason, but you’ll have to compare that to Divine Wars.”

“Yeah, I figured,” Yoshelle said, sighing. “I just thought she might, well… You know.”

“Well, what are you going to do now?”

“Keep praying and keep fighting, I guess.” Yoshelle smiled. “Since I know someone who has Godkiller Bernadette’s favor, it wouldn’t be right for me to just give up on my dreams. Maybe when Grace surpasses me, then I’ll give up.”

“That’s the spirit!” Shallies gave a firm nod. She stopped herself from going further and proclaiming her true identity. But she wanted to give the Guild Princess more encouragement. “I’m sure she’ll notice your efforts as long as you keep going!”

“Thanks.”

Silence embraced them for a couple of moments. And after spinning her teacup a couple of times, Yoshelle started the conversation again.

“So, umm… Now that your students are busy training in our guild, what are your plans for the rest of the day?”

Shallies kept her knowing smile to herself.

For such a rich kid, you sure can be pretty shy.

“Nothing much,” she started. “If I get any customers, then I’ll serve them. But at this time of year, pretty much any beginning adventurer has either already gone past our borders, or went the opposite direction. I’ll have to wait until the next generation graduates to entice any potential customers.”

If I mention anything about examining my ingredients, or practicing new recipes, she might choose to back away…

“Umm… Then, do you mind if you help me with…” Yoshelle turned away and sighed. “Actually, never mind.”

At that, Shallies stopped doing the dishes and wiped her hands with a towel. Then she poured some of the coffee she made that morning, before joining the Guild Princess at the bar.

“Alright, Yoshelle, what is it?” she said, taking a sip. “I’m not going to bite. If it’s something I can do, then I want to know what it is. And if I can’t do it for one reason or another, then I’ll let you know without getting angry or something like that.”

“No, it’s nothing like that.” The Elemental Archmage stared at her teacup. “It’s just, you already have three students. And I can’t exactly be your mentee either, since I’m already past that point. But I was just wondering… I was wondering if you can teach me more about The Perpetual Method in your spare time.

“I’ll bring in people everyday!” she added quickly. “New people, high-level people. I know you don’t want bits, but they can give you your levels fast, right?”

“That was already part of the deal when I lent you a portion of my land, remember?” Shallies said, smiling.

By the looks of her reaction, the pushback gave Yoshelle the wrong conclusion. Shock turned to further disappointment. And usually, Shallies would let that brew for a little while. Not for torture or entertainment, nothing that sinister. It was more to let the opposite have a bigger impact than without the pause.

“But—” Yoshelle started.

“But I didn’t say no, either,” Shallies concluded. “Of course, Yoshelle. I have nothing better to do, so I don’t mind helping you out. You only have less than a week, so don’t expect much. But we’ll see what we can do.”

As expected, it took the Guild Princess a second or two to register what she had just heard. She literally leapt out of her chair after the realization sunk in.

“Yes! Thank you, Shallies! Oh, gods! That was such a huge weight off my chest!”

“You know, I thought you would be more assertive given your position and status.”

“When I’m demanding something, sure,” Yoshelle agreed. “But requesting is another matter entirely!”

“Huh…” Shallies stared at her. “When you put it that way, I suppose that makes sense.”

“Anyway! Can we start today?”

“Finish your tea, then we can go.”

Yoshelle almost swallowed everything, including the teacup.