Congratulations!

　When I visited the guild to talk to her, Natalie greeted me with a smile.
　It's the kind of smile that makes me feel happy to see.

　Did something good happen to her?
　But congratulations.........
　What does that mean?

'Hey, hey, what's up?　What are you celebrating?
Do you think you'll get paid for the other day's incident?

　Kanade and Tania asked such a question.

'No, no, that's not what we're doing today. Oh, we'll be paid, though.'
Is that so?
'Of course. Arresting a rogue lord and defeating a demon tribe. If you've achieved all of these feats and you've done nothing, then the guild's very existence is at stake.
Hey, hey, Rain. Do I get a lot of money?　Can I have enough fish to eat?
I'll give you 30 gold pieces!

　It was quite a lot of money.
　It was nice to have an unexpected income, but since it was so sudden, it didn't feel like much.

''Is that why you were called to the guild?''
Oh, I'm sorry. I got off track.

　Natalie moved to the back of the room once.
　A little later, she comes back with the papers in her hand.

'Err, kohen.'
Yeah?
Congratulations!

　Natalie repeats the same line.
　As we all look around in awe, she smiles and tells us, showing us a document with what appears to be a guild master's signature on it, "I'm pleased to announce that your adventurer rank has been upgraded to C!

We are pleased to announce that Rain's adventurer rank has been upgraded to C!
What?

　Everyone gets a look of surprise.
　I probably have a similar look on my face.

"Yeah, I'm going to rank up....

　I can't help but ask the same question back.

'I think I just got an E grade just a few days ago... I mean, what about a D grade?'
Nah, you're skipping one.
Are you skipping grades?

　Kanade and Sola speculate about this and that.
　Natalie smiles, as if to say that's right.

''Normally this would not be possible, but.......this time, an exception was granted.
Why again?
''Not only are you involved in the arrest of the lord, but you have defeated a demon race that is equivalent to an A-rank. As a result, we were upgraded from a D to a C as a special case.
'Oooh, I don't know about you, Lane, but that's great!
Mmm. You're my master. I'm very proud of you.
'Why don't we celebrate,' suggests Thora.
"Hot dog party!
Congratulations Rain.

　Everyone celebrates in their own way.
　That's the best thing I've ever heard.

"Thank you. It's all thanks to you.
Meow-ha-ha!

　I'm so glad I got to meet everyone.
　What if I was the only one?
　What if I don't get to meet everyone?

　........It's horrible just to think about it.
　I might not even be able to stand here now.

''.........''
Yeah?

　I suddenly realized that Natalie was staring at Nina.
　I notice her gaze and Nina hides behind me.
　She seems to have a shyness about her.

'What's wrong?'
There's another new kid on the block...
Hmm?　Oh that's Nina who joined us just a few days ago. Here.

　He brings Nina forward and encourages her to say hello.
　I feel a bit like a father.

''Well ... hello ... it's Nina...''
Oh, my God, you're so cute.
Huh....

　Nina blushes when she is told she is cute.
　Such a gesture seems to intrigue her again, and Natalie becomes even more smiling.

''I mean........if you look closely, is this girl a divine race.......?
Hmmm.
"Seriously........wow, I've treated you like a child. Don't you get angry...?
No, it's not...
Whew.

　Natalie looked ecstatic.

'Ka, it's so cute I want to hug you...'
I want to hug you too...
Uggh you're foul-mouthed cute.

　Even Kanade and Tania said something weird.
　Is this another of Nina's special abilities?
　........no?

'Nina-chan is still too young to be ... no, but if she's this cute ... Miss Lane.
Yeah?
Do you like the little ones, Miss Lane?
What are you talking about?

　Natalie's broken.

'Oh, my God. I didn't mean to ... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ask you that.
'No, well, it's fine, but...'

　Come to think of it, I didn't visit the guild just to talk about this.
　I also remembered our errand.

''By the way, Natalie. What did you find out about the demon tribe the other day?

　Suddenly, Edgar mutated into a demon race.
　I thought that the guild might have some clue as to the cause of this...

I'm sorry but I'm not going to talk about it.
I see...
Due to the nature of the matter, we are doing our best to investigate in conjunction with the Order, but it's difficult to do so because the suspect is insane and we can't get a word in edgewise.

　I found out later that....
　Edgar survived, but he was branded a criminal and apparently became mentally ill because of his depravity.
　He had it coming, so I have no sympathy for him at all.

　However, it hurts to not be able to listen to him.
　Where did he get that ring?
　I've reported it to them, but they haven't been able to get a clue.
　I thought if I could just hear it, I could get the whole case.

''However, I'm not sure that such an incident would happen that often. We've raised the alert level in the guild, and you can rest assured that it's not going to happen.
I hope you're right.

　Natalie is right.
　It's not very often that I'm involved with a demon race.
　It's not supposed to be, but...

　The same thing could happen again.
　We might be hit by a similar threat.
　I had such a feeling.

''And yet........Rain-san's party has grown to a good number of people.
Kana.

　Me, Kanade, Tania, Sola, Luna, and Nina.
　There were six of us in total.

　Natalie was right, we were quite a large group.
　We should start thinking about our accommodations.
　Might as well.
　I'll ask Natalie.

I want to ask you a few questions, okay?
Yes, can I help you?
'As you can see, we've got a good number of them, don't we?　I'm trying to figure out a place to stay, and I was wondering if there's a better way.
I see.

　Natalie made a thoughtful gesture and...
　After a bit, he opened his mouth.

'Then why don't you buy a house?'
The house?
To some extent, the party is buying a house as their base of operations.
But it's expensive.　I've saved some money, but as expected....
I don't think there's a problem if you're renting it out. If you have a base of operations, the guild will subsidize it and if you combine that with the rewards of the earlier incident, I think you can rent it for a long time.

　Adventurer parties above a certain rank often leave the city and go away.
　Sometimes they just end up settling in other places.
　In order to prevent such a situation, the Adventurer's Guild seems to have decided to offer a grant to keep adventurers around.

　........I heard the explanation.

''What do you think?''

　I can't make these decisions on my own.
　I'll look at everyone.

'Home?　Our home?
On the condition that you use the city as a base.
I think it's a good idea. I like this town and I'm looking forward to a house with Rain....
As for me, well, I don't really care if I'm with Rain or not but I'm sure I'll be more comfortable than at the inn. I'm all for it.
'I agree with Thora. I think having a base of operations would help in a lot of ways.
Yes. I don't disagree with that. In fact, I do. Choose a castle that suits you!

　Unanimous decision.
　So......

Then we'll look for a home.

'Oh ... oh ...'

　Kanade and Tania and Sola and Luna shouted cheerfully...
　Nina followed suit, looking a little embarrassed.