Clad in new armours and wielding better equipment, the group of heroes triumphantly enter the Guild Hall. Over at the bar, from different tables, teams of adventurers turn their gazes towards the heroes; their eyes burn with pride as they observe the heroes walking towards the Head Receptionist’s desk. One adventurer makes a comment to a teammate next to him, “They actually did it, huh. It only took them one month, are they a group of monsters?”.

Cale leads the group, the others following behind him. He approaches Rebecca’s desk and says, “Here you go, a Draski flower, freshly picked from the forest interior.”. “Impressive,” she comments, accepting the flower and storing it in a special container. She smiles widely and says with excitement, “Congratulations, your team has qualified for your silver promotion. I knew you could do it!”.

Looks of satisfaction surface on the heroes’ faces, their hard work finally paying off. Rebecca reaches down and opens a drawer under her desk. She takes out four silver guild cards and hands them to the group members. “I was anticipating your arrival, so I had these prepared beforehand. If you keep this up, you might just reach the platinum rank,” she says, giving them their reward.

Accepting his card, Cale asks in confusion, “Platinum rank, I thought the highest rank was gold?”. Rebecca lets out a small laugh and says, “The misconception is understandable, there hasn’t been a platinum rank from planet Lucina in over a hundred years. Gold rank is already very impressive and can be considered top of the food chain.”.

“Well, I hope we don’t disappoint,” Cale says, his ambition growing with each success. The group heads towards a table, different adventurers congratulating them along the way, “Welcome to silver rank, now the real fun starts.”. The group reaches a table and sits down, Emily looks towards the bar and says, “Since we’re silver rank, I’ll wonder what new information we can learn?”.

She stands up and heads towards the bar. Sam greets her as she arrives, “What can I do for you?”. Emily smiles and says, “Some information would be nice, preferably anything related to the demonic beasts' origin.”. Sam gently shakes his head and says, “I’ve already told you this before, sensitive information about demonic beasts are restricted to gold ranks and above. This is a necessary safety precaution; we don’t want our clients dying needless deaths.”

Emily frowns in response, but Sam quickly continues, trying to ease the mood, “Say, you’ve just been promoted to silver rank, right? I’ve got some information you might be interested in, it’s not about the demonic beasts' origin, but it’s related to it.”. Emily’s frown softens as she asks, “What’s the information and how much does it cost?”

“Free of charge, a gift for your new promotion,” Sam says, “Recently, the King has begun planning a huge offensive at the border. The exact details are unclear, but the King is committing a massive amount of resources to it. We might see an end to the demonic scourge sooner than we thought.”. Hearing this, she contemplates the new information, “I guess this is what the King was planning when he abandoned us.”. “Thanks,” she says, returning to her table.

At the bar, next to where Emily was talking, Centum calmly listens to their conversation, no one can detect his presence. The leather-bound book is open in his hands; he carefully studies the tens of pages that he’s written—his thoughts drifting back towards his time in training.

Years ago, at an empty room in the Library, Novem looked towards the small boy and says, “Centum, today your training starts. Every day, I’ll teach you martial arts and magic, you must grow strong so that none will dare to stand in the way of our mission. For one month, I’ll also teach you to read and write, but I dare not go any further.”.

Novem’s gaze turns serious as he says, “Each of the books housed in this Library is your mentors and guides; you must form your own understanding of their teachings. We will only be together for a short time; you cannot rely on me. We have a creed passed on by each successor, ‘By reading the legends of old, you’ll understand how to write the legends untold’. You must never forget this, Centum.”.

At the bar, Centum reminisces, “I swiftly grew strong under Teacher’s lessons, but we rarely spoke outside of training. He was cold and distant. Fortunately, I found company in the books lining the countless halls. Tales of faultless heroes and legendary battles inspired me as I grew older; I vowed to emulate the Librarians before me and properly record legendary tales as they are meant to be retold.”.

His gaze drifts over towards the group of heroes, and he says to himself, “I’ve recorded their tale as it is meant to be retold, I haven’t neglected my duties.”. Centum strengthens his resolve, his conviction to record legendary tales, although sometimes embellished, justified in his heart. They are the recorders of history, but facts are subject to their will.

Over at the heroes’ table, Cale suggests, “Since we’ve been promoted, let’s accept a difficult quest and hasten our gold promotion.”. The group members nod in response, their goal of reaching gold rank drawing closer. Cale stands up and walks towards Rebecca’s desk, he says, “What’s the most difficult quest that we can accept?”.

Rebecca scans the list of available quests; her eyes are drawn to a one in particular. A smile creeps on her face as she says, “This one has been lying around for over a month, it’s near the border, so the other teams have been avoiding it.”. Cale’s eyes shine as he reads the quest, “Near the border, I like it. So, we must survey a nearby mountain range, it doesn’t sound too difficult, and the reward is generous. Okay, we’ll accept it.”.

“Great, I’ll add it to your cards. Good luck,” she says, confirming his quest acceptance. Cale nods and returns to his group. Signalling for their attention, he says, “Our new quest is near the border, so it’ll require a lot of travelling. We’ll gather some travelling supplies today and set off tomorrow morning.”. The group stand up and returns to the Inn. They begin to gather their gear, preparing for their next grand quest.