"Hey, you, do something!" (Old man)
"Well, even if you say someting..." (Guild master)
The guild master looked confused after being yelled at by the old man in charge of purchasing.
"No matter how you look at it, the deliveries of horned rabbits, orcs, ogres, and medicinal herbs are far too much!
While it's a good way to thin out the increasing number of monsters, it has caused the prices of meat, fur, and other materials to plummet!
Even though the prices have gone down, the volume of goods being handled has increased, so it's not a problem for the guild's profits, but for the guys at the dismantling yard who've had a drastic increase in their workload while their pay hasn't changed, it's unbearable!
...But still, it's fine for the guys at the dismantling site, as their income hasn't decreased.
However, due to the price collapse of monster materials and harvested items, the earnings of mid-level and below hunters have plummeted!
There are already a lot of people quitting being a Hunter, so what are you going to do, eh? What are you going to do?!" (Old man)
"Ugh..." (Guild Master)
He had a vague idea.
However, he couldn't tell the beautiful and talented girl party, including the girl with the large storage capacity who came all the way from a faraway country, "You've caught too much, so don't work anymore this week." Their livelihood depended on it, too, and the guild didn't have the authority to give such orders to the hunters.
"That's not the only problem. If this abnormal hunting method continues, no matter how reproductive the monsters are, the number of monsters being hunted will exceed the number of monsters they reproduce, except for the horned rabbits, and the population around here will decrease.
If that happens..." (Old man)
"If that happens?" (Guild Master)
"When the number of preys falls below a certain level and earnings decrease, those people will move to other areas. What will be left behind are the Hunter Guild branches with only a few remaining hunters, as many of them had gone out of business due to a sharp decline in earnings. And then..." (Old man)
"There's still some left!" (Guild Master)
They had heard enough bad stories.
However, the guild master looked annoyed as the old man in charge of purchasing continued talking.
"With them gone, the numbers of monsters will start to increase. There are only a few Hunters left around this town..." (Old man)
"..." (Guild Master)
"......" (Old man)
"............" (Both of them)
"What are you going to do?" (Guild master)
The Guild Master roared.
"No, that's my line!!" (Old man)
The old man in charge of purchasing yelled back.
"......" (Both of them)
"Raise their rank..." (Old man)
"Eh?" (Guild master)
The guild master looked confused at the words of the old man in charge of purchasing.
"Raise the ranks of them!
The reason they bring in large amounts of prey and collected material every day is because they are F-rank, the lowest rank of hunters.
If you're F rank, the only normal requests you can take on are gathering medicinal herbs or hunting horned rabbits.
There's no way anyone with any skill would take on a job like that!
That's why those guys don't take on requests, and only do regular requests where they can make money with meat and materials!
If you raise their rank and give them the opportunity to take on escort requests, big game hunts, and extremely difficult impossible missions, those young people will jump at the chance." (Old man)
"Oh, I see!" (Guild master)
"I see, but that's not the case, you idiot! That's something you should have thought about and discussed at the meeting a long time ago! Huh?"
"...I'm sorry.... I intend to take responsibility." (Guild master)
"So, even though it's a high risk for you as the Guild Master, the Guild Master Authority Exception Measure A-3, 'Exercise of Guild Master Authority in Cases Where Many Lives Are at Risk,' are you going to use it?? If that's the case, you could advance the F-rank guys by two ranks, to D-rank, right?" (Old man)
The Guild Master shook his head at the words of the old man in charge of purchasing.
"No, I plan to use the special measure A-2 to promote them three ranks in one go to C rank.
If they are D rank, the requests they can accept by themselves are limited. Caravans that don't know them well won't hire guards, so caravans from other towns will be a no-go. So we'll raise them to C rank right away." (Guild master)
"Wha… Special Measure A-2 is the authority that can be exercised in the event of a crisis that threatens the survival of the town!
If you do something like that and it is judged as inappropriate behavior at the Guild Master meeting in the Royal Capital, your position will be..." (Old man)
Hearing those words, the Guild Master smiled slightly.
"I may be an idiot, but I think I understand my responsibilities as the Guild Master..." (Guild Master)
"Y-you..." (Old man)
Little did they both knew at the time that later, at the Guild Master meeting in the Royal Capital, this decision would be highly praised, and their Guild Master rank would rose.
This was not strange.
What if someone who was prepared to lose everything in order to protect the town was punished?
After that, the number of Guild Masters willing to take action for the sake of the town even at risk themselves decreased dramatically.
This was something that could only be praised, even if it meant turning a blind eye to some minor things.
Especially if it's the logical thing to do and no one was losing out.
"Eh?! We got promoted?"
"We did it! All the hard work we put into hunting monsters and gathering materials was worth it!"
"Just as planned!" (Mile)
Mile nodded in agreement as everyone listened.
"With this, we've finally reached E rank. If we work harder and reach D rank, we'll be able to receive extermination requests, although there will be restrictions, and if we join with another party, we'll even be able to receive escort requests!
All we need to do is keep on delivering materials at the same time..." (Mile)
Mile said happily, but...
I can’t stand the effort of hunting and gathering materials anymore!! (Mile's mind)
The Guild Master called Crimson Vow to his room to inform them of their promotion and felt poisoned in his heart.
And…….
"No, it's not E rank that will be promoted, it's C rank." (Guild master)
"Whaaaaaaaat!!" (All CV)
They were shocked by the Guild Master's words, but...
Is that not Merazoma (メラゾーマ), but Mera (メラ)? (Mile's mind)
As usual, Mile was thinking about something that didn't make sense.
"Wh-w-what do you mean?!"
"Well, well, well, that's probably impossible..."
"Wha-wha-what? There's something going on behind the scenes..."
"I-i-it-it's a trap! It must be!!"
Crimson Vow had worked as a C-rank hunter and later achieved the rank of S, but even though they had a lot of experience as a C-rank, they were still surprised and shaken to be promoted three ranks.
The skip system was fine. It's a system that's mainly targeted at "Those who were originally very strong," such as retired hunters returning, soldiers, mercenaries, or former royal court magicians who had fallen from grace, and "Incredibly talented newcomers" to allow them to join the rank.
So, it's not strange if someone suddenly registered with a D or C rank.
…But, in a place where there was no skip system, a party of teenage girls, some of whom are minors, would not be promoted three ranks straight away, no matter how much they showed some interpersonal combat ability.
No matter how much they had been aiming for early promotion, it was no wonder that everyone was suspicious.
"...What on earth are you planning?"
"You can't tell us, you forced us to become C rank, made us the target of an emergency summons from the guild, and then gave us a dangerous request that any local hunter wouldn't want to take on..."
"That's it!!" (3 of CV)
"That's not true! It's because you guys hunt too much that the purchase prices of monsters and harvested materials have plummeted, making it difficult for other hunters to make a living! So, in order to get you guys to do work other than hunting and gathering materials, I've exercised my authority and applied special measures, even at the risk of being fired, you damn brats!" (Guild Master)
"..." (1 of CV)
"......" (2 of CV)
"............" (3 of CV)
"Sorry……" (All CV)