The phone on the sideboard next to the bed begins to play Rossini's "William Tell Overture" on a high note.
　........It's loud. I should have thought of a better choice of music.

'Whew ... hello ...?'

　I woke up to the ringing of the phone, and answered it without checking who it was, still unconscious.

'You're born!　It's born!

　Sue's voice came in as fast as the march of the Swiss Independence Army in "William Tell Overture. I'm fine since early morning........

'Born.... what?'

　Still in a daze, I ask Sue, rubbing my eyelids as they close.

'It's got to be a baby!　'I have a brother born to me!

　The haze of consciousness is clearly awakened by that voice, as if Sue's happiness has exploded.
　Baby?　A baby is the Duke of Ortlinde's Sue's mother!

'Right!　A boy, congratulations!
"Mmm! '

　Apparently, Sue's mother, Ellen, went into labor after midnight and gave birth to a baby boy just a few minutes ago. Both mother and child seem to be in good health with no problems.
　So the Duke of Ortlinde's family now has an heir. I've heard that there was an idea that if a boy was not born, the child born to Sue and I would be the successor to the Ortlinde family.
　I don't know about the dukes, but since my children have an eight-in-nine chance of being girls, it would have been difficult for them to take over the dukes' house (at least the first child of each).
　I finally managed to get off the phone by calming an excited Soo down. I guess I can't blame her for wanting a little brother for a while now, but it's a bit excruciating to go along with that tension in the morning.
　A while later, as I was getting dressed, I received a picture of Sue holding the baby as an email attachment. Heh, his name is "Edward"? Edward Hernes Ortlinde. You're Ed?
　I heard that "Edward" is the name of Su's mother's father, or in other words, Su's grandfather, who died. It is said that he was able to use [Recovery] non-attribute magic.

I should give him something for the baby.

　What would you like? Granting a [Prison] or something to protect the baby from all kinds of things, like a pram?　No, no, too much. How about the celebratory set of baby bottles and cuddles I gave you when you were Prince Yamato....
　Oh, how about the simple printer I gave to the Princess Leafy's novelist princess? I'm sure there will be more opportunities to take photos in the future, and if you give it to her along with an album, it will become a sticky note for her memories. Yeah, that's a good idea.
　After I finished getting dressed, I left my room to invite Yumina to go to the Altlinde duke's house.




''Soo, you looked happy.
Usually with us, the only person younger than us is Rene. You're so glad your brother was born and became a big sister.

　We were relaxing on the balcony after returning from the Duke of Ortlinde's house, having an afternoon tea break.
　Suu, who has become an elder sister after the birth of her younger brother, is less frisky than her usual frenetic behavior and seems somehow more relaxed.
　It's nice to see her quiet, but I think it's better to see her as naive and innocent as always.
　I brought an album album book and a simple printer as a souvenir and she was very happy with them. I even took a family photo on the spot, including my butler, Raym.
　He printed them out and used them as the first photo in his album, and his life will be engraved in them. I'm glad I gave it to him.

'Yeah, yeah, it's hard to have a brother who's a handful of things.
It's hard to be a little brother when you have a sister who picks up cookies on her own before you know it, though!

　She's still a godsend and glares at Hanakoi's sister, who's sitting next to me, crunching down on my cookies.

'Don't worry about the details, or you will go bald in the future. Otherwise, you'll go bald in the future.
'You're not bald!　You'll never go bald!

　There's no way I'm going bald!　And even if you're bald, I'm pretty sure there was a hair growth potion in the 'Alchemy Building', so you'll be fine!
　As I was having an unimportant fight, the phone in my pocket notified me of an incoming call. Oh, it's Relisha-san from the Adventurer's Guild.

''Yes, hello. It's Winter Night.''
'This is Lelisha. I'm calling about that adventurer's academy thing.

　An adventurer academy is a teaching school that gives beginners some training and teaches them the basics of being an adventurer, such as preparation, skills and precautions.
　They've been planning it for a while now, but they finally have a template for it.
　They wanted to hear my opinion as an adventurer, so I decided to head to the guild. I felt bad for pushing Hanakoi's sister's partner to Yumina, but, well, I guess it's okay.
　It's been a long time since I've gone through the castle gates and walked around the castle grounds. Compared to when it was just established, it has become much more crowded.
　The smiling faces of the town's inhabitants make me happy too.
　Brunhild is located on a trade route between the Kingdom of Belfast and the Regulus Empire. It's not an inn town, but an inn country where many merchants and travelers visit.
　In fact, you can pass through Brunhild in a few hours, so those who are in a hurry to travel will pass through without staying overnight. However, there are many people who stay here.
　This is because there are many things that are hard to find in other countries, from the Aether Vehicle to the Strand Trading Company's capsule toy.
　Even the food is of many different nationalities, and you can have a wide variety of food here. You can even eat Yisheng's rice dishes.
　You can even go to the sea if you pay the toll to the dungeon island. There is no way I would have walked past such a place unless I was in a hurry. That's why we're making money.
　When we arrive at the adventurer's guild attached next to the tavern, I take a look at the tavern before entering the guild. This is because I thought I'd pick up the drunken flowers on the way home if they were there.
　Inside, that drunken little girl drinking god wasn't there. If she wasn't there, I'd be anxious to see where she was drinking....
　As soon as I entered the guild, the sister at the reception desk let me through to Relisha-san's room at the back of the guild.

''I'm sorry for taking the trouble to come here.
No, it's just that I had a free day.

　He sat down across from Relisha-san and quickly explained the academy.

''First of all, in addition to the ranks of gold > silver > red > red > blue > green > violet > black in the traditional guild cards, we will create a rank of white as the lowest level. Anyone who registers with the guild will first get this white rank.

　Hmmm. So the white rank is further below the black rank.

''The academy is a facility to give basic training to white ranks. However, there will be some people who have registered with the guild for the first time who already have a certain level of ability. Those people can take the academy's rank-up exam to raise their rank to the proper one. Of course, there is a fee for the exam.

　I see. Did you make it so that those with the ability can accept requests for higher ranks from the beginning?
　There have been times when I've gotten tangled up with stupid high-ranking adventurers just because I was low in rank, so that's nice to know. I won't have to beat them up every time to let them know their abilities.

''Who's the instructor at the academy?''
Several retired adventurers and other adventurers, as well as temporary active adventurers, will be assigned to this class. After about two weeks of training taught by this instructor, you will be automatically upgraded from the white rank to the black rank.
''White ranked people don't always have to join the academy, right?
'Of course not. You can start with the white rank and steadily complete requests and move up to the black rank. However, the white rank is mainly for miscellaneous and harvesting requests, and the defeating requests are only for single monsters which are quite low. It's the unicorn rabbit and the forest spider.

　Newly minted adventurers tend to only take requests to take down people. They don't realize that the repetition of impossible defeats is causing small fatigue to build up, and as a result, they make big mistakes.
　There are a lot of rookies who don't listen to me when I tell them about those things.
　If they are beaten into the academy by a veteran adventurer, they might indeed change their mindset.
　Well, in the end, it's your own fault where it hurts.

''What about the academy's entrance fee?''
'Of course, we keep the price reasonable. There will be several different classes taught by different instructors, but the price is the same.

　If you hit a Spartan instructor, it might be tough. Well, it reduces the risk of losing your life, I guess it's a small price to pay.

''The rank-up test, this will be judged by a few instructors. The rank-up test is a measure of the correct ability of a beginner registering in the guild for the first time, so it basically only applies to white ranks.

　Normally, rank ups are based on the difficulty of the requests you've completed, the success rate, whether or not there are any problems within the guild, and many other factors. All of these factors are added and subtracted as points to improve your rank.
　On the other hand, of course, there's also the rank drop.
　Failing a request all the time, getting into a lot of trouble with a client, not following the guild's instructions, committing a crime, etc. will lead to a downgrade, but it's usually more of a guild expulsion than a downgrade, because there is no benefit to the guild in having such adventurers.
　This is because it is not beneficial to the guild to have such adventurers. Rather, they think that downgrading in rank means that they still have room to recover.

''Wasn't the proposed site for the academy to be built near the southern plains?''
Yes, sir. It's already 70% complete. And apart from the academy, there is one other element of uncertainty for the Adventurer's Guild...

　Relisha-san raises her eyebrows a bit and opens her mouth. What is it, is there some problem?

''The fusion with another world that His Majesty the Duke said before.......If this becomes a reality, there is a possibility that the number of aspiring adventurers like Norn-san will increase. In this case, I wonder if we should measure it by the adventurer's own strength or by the strength of the golems that follow him...

　Ah, I see. Even if the adventurer himself is a novice, as long as he has high performance as long as the golems have high performance, he can handle high rank requests.

I think it's better to measure it by the adventurer's own abilities. You can take away a golem if you want to, and it's possible to break it and replace it with a new one. Every time you lose or replace a golem, your rank goes up or down, it's not good.
''Indeed. In the case of Mr. Norn, I allowed him to register because he is quite a user himself and because of that golem.......I see.

　I mean, I feel sorry for the adventurer who was beaten up by an apparent six-year-old. That kid seems to have some ability, but he's still at a physical disadvantage and I don't want him to be too reckless.

''The academy isn't just made in Brunhild, but in other countries as well, right?
'Yes, sir. In the meantime, we're working on plans in Belfast, Regulus, Rhodomea and Restia. This is the first one. So we'll be reviewing the terms and conditions as they arise.

　When I was talking with Relisha-san, I asked her what I suddenly wondered about.

''........Speaking of which, where is the headquarters of the Adventurer's Guild?　Is the greatest person in the guild there?
'I'm sorry. 'I can't tell outsiders where the headquarters are. Also, there is no one who is the greatest. If I had to say, there are several guild masters in the world, including myself, and this guild master is the president and manager of the guild.

　Hmm. Maybe there are long-lived species at the top, like elves like Relisha-san and fairy races like Lean. I think I heard from the Doctor once that there was already an adventurer's guild like existence in the ancient kingdom era.
　Maybe what they do now and in the past hasn't changed.

''And so. Your Majesty the Duke........no, as a gold-ranked adventurer, Mochizuki Fuyao-sama, I have one favor to ask.
...What is it?

　I didn't have a slightly bad feeling about it, but I decided to just ask anyway.

''I was wondering if you could be the examiner for the academy's first rank-up exam. Not every time, just this time, please.''
The examiner, sir?

　Ummm. To be honest, it's a pain in the ass. That's because I can at least measure my opponent's ability. Asking for a higher rank means you're confident in your own skills, you know. If you're a person with no qualms about it, there's no problem, but I'm afraid there will be people who will say that they've been unfairly evaluated or something like that.
　Well, since the guild has the right to make decisions, there's no way they'll be overruled even if they complain, and it's not like I'm the only one making decisions.
　I don't mind if you accept the job, but....

I don't mind if you don't mind if I hide my identity?　The point is, you just need to know what you're up against, right?　I don't have to tell them my status and rank, do I?
''Well........ I thought that if possible, having the title of a gold-ranked adventurer would make the test takers more convinced of that judgment. It may indeed be a clear example to teach them not to judge by appearances.......

　Still, Relisha-san was looking at me in thought. Well, I know what you mean. It's often said that you don't look strong.

''But even though you hide your identity, aren't there many people who know what His Majesty the King looks like?　You can often see them wandering around town in a normal way. Do you wear a mask?
''No, no, I'm not going to do that because I did it before and it was unpopular. It's not difficult to change your appearance with the illusion magic [Mirage]. See?

　In front of Relisha-san, I'll clad myself in an illusion of a random person I picked up on the internet. I can't deceive you up to the body shape and height because you can tell if you touch it or something, but other than that, you'll have some freedom.
　With this, you won't be able to tell that it's me, and explaining that I'm a silver or red-ranked adventurer instead of a gold-ranked one would be enough for an examiner.

''That's right. It's probably okay. In fact, I wanted to add some foil to the rank-up system by having a gold-ranked adventurer as an examiner.

　Relisha-san said that to me with a bitter smile. Ummm, did I do something bad? Ah.

''Then let's pull the gold-ranked adventurers other than me to the examiner too.
What?

　The voice of Relisha's dumbfounded voice overflowed into the reception room.