Chapter 350: C-Rank Advancement Examination (5)

“S-Stop it, please!”

“Get away from Luna meow!!”

Merdie threw a punch towards the blond adventurer who kabe-donned Luna.

“Oopsie. Hey, that’s dangerous.”

Merdie restrained her speed, so that guy calmly dodged her attack.

“What a wild girl you are, suddenly punching me like that. That’s why adventurers — Ah? What the, you’re a beastkin?”

“Yeah, meow. Got a problem with that?”

“Nah, not really. It’s just that I don’t like dealing with rabid beastkin adventurers.”

“Merdie isn’t rabid! She’s a really good person!”

Luna and Merdie came with Halt and the others to the Adventurers’ Guild in the Royal Capital. Both of them entered first to go to the restroom, but this blonde man intercepted them.

“Luna, you don’t have to concern yourself with scum like this guy.”

Merdie pulled Luna’s hand and attempted to leave.

“I don’t have anything to do with a beastkin like you. But, that blue-haired girl is a different story.”

The guy stood as if blocking Luna’s way.

“You’re the adventurers’ set to take the advancement exam today, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right but… What does that have to do with you?”

“If you keep me company for a bit, I can definitely make you pass.”

“What?”

“And if you refuse, you absolutely won’t get promoted to C-rank.”

“No way that’ll happen! Why the heck are you the one deciding that, meow.”

“That’s something I can decide, yup. You pass or fail, that all depends on me.”

“W-What do you mean?”

Luna and Merdie didn’t get what the man was saying so confidently, but they felt a bit uneasy.

“I’m in charge of conducting the advancement exam this time. Unless I say you pass, you will never be promoted.”

This blonde guy was no other than Gad, the captain of the 12th squad of the Royal Knights. He was the proctor in charge of the C-rank advancement exam of Halt and the others this time.

“I decided just now that we're going to have a 1v1 battle. You won’t pass unless I acknowledge your strength.”

Gad smirked lecherously.

“My exam’s quite hard, alright?”

In the past, he also failed some of the adventurers who took his exam. He was in a bad mood because all of them had been males.

The adventurers who were defeated by Gad had been beaten beyond recovery, instilling deep fear into them. They all left as if trying to escape from Glendale.

“If you blue-haired gal agrees to play with me, then I’ll even let that beastkin pass. Everything depends on my whim, got it?”

Gad planned to fail them if Luna rejected him. Merdie felt relieved when she heard what Gad said.

“So, I just have to fight against you one on one and win, meow? That’s a piece of cake, then.”

All she needed to do was beat the pulp out of this scum guy and force him to acknowledge her win.

“Hey you. You seem a bit strong, but… Your level is just one single flaming knight, meow. You won’t win against anyone from Ernol at that rate, meow.”

“What!?”

Gad snapped at Merdie’s words.

He didn’t know what nonsense about flaming knights she was spouting, but he knew full well that he was being underestimated.

He directed his bloodlust towards Merdie in a pique of fury.

That bloodlust was so fierce that previously, adventurers who managed to climb to D-rank quaked in their boots while standing rooted to the spot. Merdie received that and —

“Let’s go, Luna meow.”

“Y-Yes… Then, please excuse us.”

Merdie and Luna remained calm.

Luna lightly bobbed her head towards Gad when Merdie pulled her, and they left that spot right after.

“Huh?”

Gad was dumbfounded.

If the adventurers could defeat D-rank monsters on their own, they were considered to have a bit of ability, and those who take the exam for C-rank advancement were of that level.

Luna and Merdie didn’t budge one bit, even though when he unleashed a fierce bloodlust that was enough to deter strong adventurers.

When it comes to women, Gad isn’t the type of guy who easily gives up when his advances are refused. He was that sort of person, but he didn’t go after the two of them. He must’ve thought that it would be better not to do that now.

“Tsk. What’s up with them… Oh well, it’s fine.”

Disregarding Luna, Gad planned to beat Merdie black and blue during the advancement exam.

“That beastkin hates losing, it seems. I’ll definitely make her regret looking down on me without knowing the gap between us.”

Gad smirked when he imagined Merdie pleading for forgiveness in tears as he made his way toward the exam venue.

──＊＊＊──

“Ah. Luna, Merdie. Thank goodness…”

Halt’s intuition told him that something bad was about to happen, so he was looking for Luna and Merdie. He felt relieved when he saw them emerge from the inner part of the guild.

“Halt, actually —”

“Luna got harassed!”

“...What?”

Luna was about to tell Halt that they might have left a bad impression on Gad, the supposed proctor of the exam.

However, Merdie didn’t care a bit about that.

“Is that true, Luna?”

“A-Ahm…”

“Yup, it’s true, meow. The guy who harassed her said that he’s the one in charge of our advancement exam, meow.”

“That’s what it seems. Sorry, Halt.”

“Why are you apologizing, Luna?”

“That’s… I, I rejected his advances, so he might fail us.”

“That scum who harassed Luna said that, meow. He coerced Luna, meow.”

Merdie was totally convinced that if she said that, Halt would get mad at them.

And she did hit the bull’s eye with that thought.

“I see. First, Luna, thanks for rejecting him.”

Halt pulled Luna closer to him and gently caressed her head.

“H-Halt…”

Even if there were no other people around them, they were still in a public place, so Luna blushed hard when Halt suddenly embraced her. She was embarrassed, but she also felt happy.

“By the way, that scum told us that the exam will be a 1v1 battle, and we just have to win that, meow. That guy’s probably the level of one flaming knight, meow.”

“In that case, everyone will win. But.. I don’t like letting Luna fight against a guy like that on her own.”

He put some strength into the arm encircling Luna.

“Alright! I’ll be the first one to take the exam, then.”

Halt started to consider that it’ll be fine should worse come to worst and they flunk the test. Even if they failed this time, they could always just do their best next time.

Rather than being troubled, it made him happy that his wife rejected the scum.

He couldn’t forgive the guy who made Luna feel guilty.

“Maybe I should make him regret a bit for trying to mess with my Ernol family.”