Madman’s Retirement

Normally, adventurer's who happened to bring evidence of a lurking monster are thanked, but for the most part, given a small reward, and then that act is added to their record to fulfill the requirements for ranking up.

No big deal.

Even when they bring evidence of a high ranking monster like a wyvern, the result is about the same. No reaction. Outlier monsters are common to an environment after all, serving as the alpha until they die, move into higher density environments, or sneak into/join human society.

Unless they outright cause a commotion too close to human zones, such as roads, or come into conflict with something the guild deems a priority to deal with, a blind eye is turned to them. Killing too many of them will result in the environment being turned upside down, and that's more trouble than it's worth, in spite of the occasional victim.

And perhaps the wyvern scales would've been treated as a normal sighting.

But they were all undamaged.

No, that's not quite true.

Some were damaged.

The damage however, was far too artificial.

Seemingly bent intentionally, hit in certain spots and being dented for sure, but it did seem just a bit too fake.

Suspicious.

And when investigators were sent to investigate, evidence of a fight was discovered, but the evidence was found to be lacking.

A "fight" would be generous. There was only evidence of one impact, and that was it. No evidence of a clear struggle, but rather, a simple capture and release.

The mana was murky too, making it hard for the investigators to determine what happened exactly, and spirits summoned were unable to recount what happened.

Unwilling at least.

And like that, Grant was determined to be suspicious, especially once sightings of a new dragon emerged from higher ups, showing similar color to a previous wyvern documented in this locale.

Perhaps that was a coincidence.

Not.

Coincidence is never a good excuse.

Perhaps the wyvern evolved naturally, and yet investigations must be made.

So, the giant guild master decided to send out his son-in-law to investigate the recently administered adventurer, to gauge if he was lucky in finding such scales, or if there was something... more to him.

And they seemed to have found the cause of the wyvern's defeat.

"I can confirm adventurer Grant has at least 3, maybe four different artifacts of an unknown level, of an unknown level, with 3 being sighted, and an assumed fourth, given how quickly he has demonstrated the ability to construct gear"

Mmm, more like 389, all at the epic level of quality at bare minimum, but who's counting?

"And what are these 3 you can confirm?"

"The mask he's currently wearing, confirmed by multiple adventurer's who heard directly from the target while drinking that he claimed it from a dungeon."

"On the high end then. Any guesses what the mask itself could be derived from?"

"No clue. There are a number of notable raven sages who could've been the cause of the generation of such an artifact, but unfortunately, the mask's design does not match any particularly notable raven sages I could find."

Probably because it's a raven sage's mask mixed with a plague doctor's mask. Then again, even if it wasn't, who in their right mind would think that I claimed the artifact derived from the rise of the raven sages? At most, they rank me within the A-S rank, low balling either.

munch munch munch

"Neither does it match any of mine. How annoying. Label it unknown for now. He might've been bluffing."

Lol, maybe

"The second I can confirm is a golden chain he summoned to protect himself, and then later used it to bind his foes. It demonstrated the ability to shift size and move independently from Grant's own movement, seemingly moving at his command"

"A golden chain you say? Seems like that'll require some serious research. Any guesses?"

"None. I can recall no chain in any legend off the top of my head."

"Alright then. It could be a localized legend, and if that's the case, we may be able to trace the mask back to its origin."

Probably. Of course, if you could trace that back to another universe, I'd be damned impressed.

Slurrrp

"The third artifact seemed to be a sword capable of changing into multiple shapes."

The guildmaster frowned at that statement. "Are you sure that's an artifact, and not just a unique weapon?"

To this, the minotaur shook his head. "Ignoring my instincts, the weapons has too many unique quantities to merely be a magical tool"

The guildmaster sighed as he rubbed his forehead. "I'm starting to regret not filing for an artifact detection tool to check if he had artifacts. I didn't think he would have 3 to 4 of them."

Who wants to tell him that I would've lit that thing up like a Christmas tree?

"Oh well" the guildmaster shrugged. "4 is rare for sure, but I doubt that's the only thing that would have you judge him as a madman."

"Well..."

The two continued in conversation, but eventually, around the time they began discussing the paladin in an hour or two, Grant was already getting bored. He stood up, stretched, and left. Onde can only be ego stroked so much before it began getting boring.

Hey, that honey slime should've finished evolving by now, right?

"I'll be sending you back to Lily." the guild master had come to his final decision.

Granite wasn't exactly happy about this. "Father-in-law, with all due respect, I understand my importance in this situation, but that does not simply mean I should just turn tail and run. You and I both know this place has become a volatile spot, and if left alone, could very well be the starting point for worse."

"Perhaps, and usually I believe you should be allowed to make your own choices regardless of risk, but now that the paladin has become involved, it's not a matter of just simple risks. This situation has become extremely dangerous, and not even I could protect you from the paladin."

The guildmaster tapped on the table, clearly anxious and frustrated by this new piece of news.

True, the fact that the paladin had chosen to come to a new outpost in the middle of nowhere was a bit odd, but ultimately, it was just that. Weird.

Clearly, it was more than the guild had thought.

Unfortunately, thanks to Grant's efforts, there was no evidence, and thus the guild would not actively move against the paladin without evidence.

The minotaur furrowed his brow. "You've worked with him before father-in-law. What do you think of paladin Peter?"

"Unstable, much like this Grant character. The man is crazily devoted to his ideals. If you clash with his ideals, then he has no hesitation in reminding you where he stands. It doesn't get out much thanks to the efforts of his church, but there was an incident where a noble challenged the church of Isis' ideals and spat on a priest in front of him."

"And?"

"He beat that man to an inch of his life, using the shield repeatedly to bludgeon the man to near death, using the healing touch of Isis to constantly bring that man back to full health, before continuing."

He paused.

"That man hasn't been anywhere near that church for the last decade or so but dares not withdraw his funding lest Paladin peter storms over there and continues his personal "crusade"."

The minotaur winced, imagining the trauma the stupid noble had went through, as one does not get classified above S rank for no reason.

"Based off the way you're speaking, I'm guessing..."

"He's too strong for me, unfortunately." sighed the guild master. "Should he eventually "break", I can't guarantee your safety, nor what will happen to the village in his path"

Arriving at the giant pot he had Ursa Major and his little helpers stirring, he walked over to the very tired looking group, who had been stirring 7 days and 7 nights.

Putting his finger into the pot, he smacked his tongue in appreciation.

"Delicious." he announced, much to the mild applause of the very tired crew.

Calling the shroom father, he asked it to pour the pot out onto the ground.

plop

A sticky viscous milky white liquid plopped onto the ground, and with it came the deliciously mild smell of milk.

"Behold!" announced Grant.

"Condensed milk slime!"