An Old Man from the Countryside Becomes a Swords Saint: I Was Just a Rural Sword Teacher, But My Successful Students Won’t Leave Me Alone!

 31 – The Old Man From The Countryside Resigns

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The return trip was the same as when we were going.

We stayed overnight on the road, using the carriage we left waiting at the exit of Azalamia Forest.
And the next day, we rode till we could see the walls of Baltrain.

“Thank you very much, Ms.
Lysandera and Mr.
Gardenant!” Porta cried gratefully.

“It’s fine, that was our job,” I said.

When we saw the walls, I received the nth thank you from Porta.

He woke up just as we were setting up camp for the night and after Nedley and Salkatz briefed him on what happened, he couldn’t stop bowing in gratitude to me and Selena.

Now, a day later, he’s managed to recover enough to walk by himself.

Well, above all, there were no lingering injuries.
Or perhaps they were but that may have also been what made the magical potion so great.

As a swordsman, Porta is still developing.
However, his straightforward sight and attitude could be taken as his character to face the way of the sword head-on.

In that sense, I got the feeling he’d make a good swordsman.
How much talent is sleeping is another matter entirely.

“First of all, take some time off to heal your wounds,” I said.

“Yes! I can’t overdo it,” Porta said.

“That’s good.
Make sure to get some good rest.”

Hmm, his straightforwardness was also one of his good points.

As Porta said, he couldn’t possibly force himself.
I want him to be in perfect condition to make the next leap forward.

Many adventurers live bloody lives.
That’s because everyone is aiming to make a lot of money, so they’re the ones diving head-first into danger.

Conversely, you could say that you couldn’t make any money as an adventurer without that sort of attitude.

Desire, self-confidence, and risk.

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Those who continue to make this compromise will survive and grow.
If you die, everything will be gone.

“We’ve arrived at Baltrain,” Selena said as she acts as our coachman this time.
“We’re going straight to the Adventurer’s Guild to report.
Would that be alright, Master?”

“Yeah, it’s fine,” I said.

For Nedley and Salkatz’s sake, Selena was our coachman on our return.

When we asked, this is what she said:

It would be a ridiculous thing for the group to have a Black Rank Adventurer handle the carriage, but Selena is still an Adventurer that could take care of this much.

Nowadays, it seems she’s quite courageous and brash, but she must have a gentle heart.

I just stand watching over her like a guardian.
No, I used to be her guardian.

“… Is something the matter, Master?” Selena asked.

“Aah, no, nothing,” I replied.

I was just staring at Selena.

However, she’s become a fine woman.
The most I could say was that I took care of her when she was a child but I still feel warm inside.

We park our carriage at the usual stop then walk to the Adventurer’s Guild.

Salkatz lends his shoulder to Porta.
We’d like him to take it easy soon, but we still have to bear the pain of reporting to the Guild first.
We ask Porta to do his best.

“I’d like to ask for the Guild Master,” Selena said, going from the front door to the counter.

“Y-Yes,” the receptionist said.
“Right away.”

The receptionist also saw Porta and seemed to feel it wasn’t just the usual business.
Even so, she doesn’t seem bothered which is pretty impressive.

“Sorry to have kept you waiting..
did something happen?”

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After a while, Nidas, the Guild Master with the prominent head of white hair, and his assistant, Meigen, arrived at the front desk.
It seems they’ve also guessed that something had happened, glancing at the state Porta and the party was in.

I’ve been thinking about it since the first time I met him, but I think that Nidas has a lot of courage or something like that.
There seem to be some aspects of him that I can’t explain through seniority alone.

“The training itself was completed successfully in Azalamia Forest.
but then, we encountered a Named, Xeno Glaive,” Selena explained.
“We’ve defeated it, so we’ve come to report that, too.”

“What the…?!” Nidas gasped.

The lobby of the Adventurer’s Guild becomes noisy.

I knew about Named but I never knew about how threatening they could be.
Well, I didn’t have much of a chance to listen deeply because it was business that had nothing to do with me.

“We’ve brought back proof,” Selena said, putting Xeno Glaive’s mane and nails on the counter with a clatter.

“… Hmm,” Nidas hummed.
“They seem to be the real thing…”

Before I knew it, the other Adventurers rubbernecking suddenly had distant looks.

“Did you do it alone, Ms.
Lysandera?” Meigen asked.

“No, Mas… I mean, I did it with Mr.
Gardenant,” Lysandera said.
“I just stabbed it in the end.”

Stop talking so casually.

“I see…” Nidas said.
“My thanks to you, Mr.
Gardenant,” he said, bowing deeply.

“No, no,” I said, “no need to bow your head…”

I want him to stop.
It’s true I helped subdue it but it was Selena who did most of the work.
Most of the time it was me running circles around it and doing little ineffective damage.
I was basically just a pest that made it itch.

“You three also got thrown into a disaster and I’m sorry you had to experience that,” Nidas said to the trio of Adventurers behind me.
“But, I’m glad you’re all alive and well.”

Since Nidas is the Guild Master, he’s probably the top of this branch of the Adventurer’s Guild.
It seems unlikely that such an important figure would care about a bunch of Bronze Ranks.

I also felt that Nidas’s good nature shows off here.

“Now then, let’s form a collection team immediately and dispatch them,” Nidas said.

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“Ooh,” Selena said.
“I should have stayed behind but… we had the newcomers and Mr.
Gardenant, so we gave priority to returning.”

“It’s not a bad call,” Nidas said.
“If you’d be kind enough to tell me the location, we’ll do the rest here.”

Nidas and Selena continue talking.

Hmm, will the corpses of Xeno Glaive and the other monsters be recovered? Well, regarding what Selena said about monster materials, I wonder if they’ll be put to good use.

“If one of the Named has been defeated, we have to get the word out and celebrate it,” Selena said.

“”

“Yes,” Nidas said, looking pleased.
“Let’s hurry and make the arrangements.”

Celebrate? Is the death of a Named really such a big deal?

“Umm,” I said, “I’d like to ask you about something I don’t know…”

“What is it, Mr.
Gardenant?” Nidas asked.

Let’s get a detailed explanation about killing Named monsters.
I fought it without knowing anything about them and won without knowing anything about them.

“I’ve heard about Named hunts, but… if you don’t mind sparing a few minutes, I’d like to know about the details, I’m ignorant about them…”

“Hahaha,” Nidas said, amused, “Sir No-Nothing, aren’t we?”

The question is not without embarrassment.
I didn’t even know what was going on because I was suddenly thrust into the situation.

However, being lectured is a temporary shame, never hearing it is a lifetime shame.
I don’t know if the current situation applies, though.

“Meigen, explain it to him,” Nidas said.

“Sir,” Meigen replied.

Ooops, it seems that the lecturer’s going to change.

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But can someone like me take up so much time from the Heads of the Adventurer’s Guild? This all seems so strange.

“Named monsters generally refer to unique individuals of interest to the Adventure’s Guild,” Meigen said.
“Currently, there are 14 Named whose presence has been confirmed in the Kingdom of Revelis.
One of those was Xeno Glaive.”

“14 of them…?” I asked.

I had a hunch but I didn’t think there would be as many as 14 of them.

And Selena has killed one of them.
That’s incredible.

“Of course, the numbers will vary depending on the success of subjugation quests and the discovery of new species…” Meigen continued.
“But at its most basic, quests related to Named can only be accepted by Adventurers of Platinum Rank or Higher.
They will be able to appropriately assess the target’s threat level.”

“I see… thank you,” I said.

Meigen finishes his lecture, a moment of silence dominates the lobby.

Platinum Rank or higher, huh? Speaking of which, Landrid who’s currently at Bidden Village was definitely a Platinum Rank… ah, to be exact, was that his old rank?1

That Selena could take down such a threat without a scratch was probably exceptional.

“–A minute, Mr.
Gardenant,” Meigen said, staring straight at me.

“Yes, what is it?” I asked.

I could see the intense determination and passion in his eyes.

“Are you interested in becoming an Adventurer?” Meigen asked.

“No, I’m good,” I said.

I refuse in a second.

No one seems to realize I’m just an old man!

Footnotes

For those that don’t remember him, Landrid is Beryl’s replacement as the master of his family dojo.
He was an Adventurer before he retired to start a family with his wife.