"Oi. Let us in! Old man, you're being too obstinate!!! Come out already!"

Renora had said all that to prep his men up for the battle to their deaths, but he had been stuck outside for 3 minutes now. In front of this establishment that looked like some sort of bank house that was 4-storeys high, the white-stoned doors remained shut.

Renora knew, that this would happen. But he couldn't afford to wait anymore, because the though that at the very least, the Guildmaster would compromise with him in this situation and send out a few adventurers.

After another round of shouting which went past the ears of a person who was clearly inside, a vein bulged out from his forehead. Since he had already sensed that person with his Presence Awareness LV2, he knew this inaction was deliberate.

The squire who was ordered to follow him here was looking nervously at the situation without an idea of what to do.

"...You leave me no choice. I will break this door open if I have to. It is not my fault if you are unwilling to cooperate-"

-Just as he was about to unsheath the sword around his waist, the door suddenly made a creaking sound as if giving way.

Renora immediately withdrew his sword and stepped back from the front. The door was fully swung wide open in an instant, revealing the person behind it.

It was a bald and elderly man, who almost seemed as if he was just skin and bones. Wrinkles decorated his face like Christmas lightings, as it made his eyes bagged but full of wisdom. He was draped around a pearl white robe which covered his toes like a magician, with a metal staff adorned with glowing pink-red gems at the tip of it.

Name Barbaros Glenth Level 35 Rank 3 Race Human Gender Male Occupation Guild Master Alignment Lawful Neutral Class Flame Archwizard Health 2,145 Mana 4,980 Strength 600 Dexterity 364 Luck 3,984 Intelligence 5,705 (+500)(+80)(+80)(+65) Defense 490 Magic Defense 1,900 (+200)(+80)(+80) Equipment Qwaser Robe, Lavaiathan, Soles of Anti-Magic, Dark Bracelet, Guild Crest , Tome of Advanced Flames IV, Magic Dagger [Living Flame] Passive Skills Leadership LV3

As expected of one of the country's Ace card. One of the 4 S-Rank adventurers that possessed immeasurable strength akin to a direct apostle of the Gods. They were people who stood at the peak of power, but since there was no baseline to reference their strength with, "Gods" were the only answer to their 'god-like' abilities. There were commoners who genuinely revered these individuals.

Barbaros Glenth, the strongest human mage. This was the old man that took over the knight captain of the Silver Pegasus, who was supposed fifth on the rankings for the strongest in the Luna Empire.

However, the head of the Eschtalier family had already long passed on its mantle over to their remaining daughter, Soma de Eschtalier. There were controversies over the sudden disappearance of that person and the remains of the village which they retired in, and it sparked even more discussion with the fact that she had instead taken the crude path of an adventurer despite being the Sword Saint.

However successful she is at her current career, Soma would never live up to the expectations that the nobles had already established with the name of "Eschtalier" with a scrappy job like adventuring. The reasons for turning down the Emperor's offer to become a Royal Guard was unknown, but that only made people more aware of the fact that Soma was indeed fighting to satisfy her own desires. There were no stakes involved, no honor, flags, factions or sides to be taken by being a mercenary-like existence as an adventurer.

But despite the noisy side of the country's politics, the nobles didn't dare to touch her if they didn't feel the need to since her strength as the renowned Sword Saint was the real deal. Her war potential was extremely poisonous towards the nobles who only wanted gains for their own lands if they suffered the consequences from stepping on her tail accidentally, so they tried to maintain a friendly relationship with the walking time-bomb through lucrative quest applications that could only be taken up by her.

That way, they thought that they could slowly poach her to their sides through monetary incentives which mercenaries would flock towards. Of course, Soma had an entirely different reason for being an adventurer, but they would have never guessed it.

And for the recognition of these powerful individuals who were invited by Emperor Edwin to become 'mercenaries' that would protect the country from external harm, or a Royal elite guard whenever they were called to service, Barbaros had received one of the 8 Imperial Arms of the Empire.

Lavaiathan. The metallic staff imbued with potent magical enhancement abilities that boosted the intensity of Barbaros' relentless Flame magic as a Flame Archwizard. Even if Barbaros was weak with his stats that wasn't related to a mage's, the staff was a bag of tricks that no one had yet to reveal to its full capabilities. They more than fully made up for his physical weaknesses, as he was more commonly known as the "Walking Hell" due to the ashes and flames he leaves in his wake after exerting his uncontested magical influence unto the world.

And because Barbaros wielded such a powerful weapon, it was easy for Renora to assume that he had made measures to protect and fabricate his own status beforehand. Many clauses like Active Skills were missing, so he knew that Barbaros was stronger than he looked.

As he assessed the unassumingly elderly man in front of him, Renora sighed. Even Status Check, a skill that not everyone in this world possessed, could measure the full extent of Barbaros' powers.

"...Old man Barbaros. Is it not the Adventurer's code to defend humanity against monsters? Why do you falter now, ...are you perhaps afraid of dying-"

Suddenly, killing intent was emitted from the body of the old man.

"...You dare?"

Contrary to his sagely appearance, a thick smell of booze was emanating out of his breath.

Renora, who was used to such directed murderous thoughts, reacted instantly and drew out his sword in a flash. He didn't want to underestimate the temper and reaction speed of an S-Rank adventurer like him. While he himself was an A-Rank by the Guild's standards, Renora knew he wouldn't be able to defeat Barbaros in a one-on-one fight. He wondered momentarily if such precautions were necessary as Barbaros was contractually obligated to serve the country and not fight it instead, but he decided to go along with it just to make sure that nothing foolish would happen out of this.

He wouldn't lose anything just to be safe. Gripping his trusty sword tightly, he stayed still for a few moments just like this. When he had confirmed that Barbaros had no intentions to become hostile in combat suddenly, Renora slowly opened his mouth to speak.

"...I merely want to know the reason why you're being this stubborn. Is this not the time the guild should step in and help?! Don't mess with me, we don't have much time until the goddamn monsters reach our city walls and tear them down without breaking a sweat!"

But his indirect pleas for assistance went unanswered, as if Barbaros didn't care about the well-being of the country at all. The old man just snorted, and turned his back around without a care.

"...Leave. I don't wish to converse with you anymore, boy-"

"!"

Renora reacted heavily to that derogatory remark of Barbaros, as his face twitched and became even more tense when he realized that Barbaros truly intended to ignore him and leave.

Just as Renora was about to succumb to his frustration and move forward to stop him from leaving, a knuckle flew past Barbaros' face mercilessly.

"-GUOOO!!!"

Without retaliating at all, the old man fell down comically onto the floor with his face taking the full brunt of the hit. Saliva splashed onto the ground nearby, and he quickly turned docile just like that.

Renora was surprised for a moment there, and the squire beside him the entire time was even more so, but Renora quickly settled down when he turned his head to see who it was. He noticed that those green eyes were staring back at him.

Lowering his sword and careful stance, he nodded thankfully.

"...You're as brutal as usual, May."

A receptionist-attired woman with light brown hair in her 30s stepped over Barbaros' body with her high heels, with a stack of papers pressed against her chest with both hands. She was the person called May, who exuded an aura of professionalism even in the way she walked and postured herself. May's hair curled at its ends, reaching her hips which accentuated the mature curves on her body and created the feeling of a cold and emotionless superior in the office.

Bending her head down to her waist as a greeting and an apology, May replied.

"I'm sorry Captain Renora for such an unsightly behaviour coming from the representative of the Hiomi Branch of the Adventurer's Guild. Please allow me to formerly apologize for this inconvenience, I should have been the one to attend to you originally, but I had been caught up with some paperwork. The doors must have been closed by the senile Guildmaster as well while I was absent."

"Y-you dare- GUOHHHH...!"

The old man was being stepped on again, as his eyes widened painfully.

Renora liked to get straight to the point, so he was scratching his head as he listened impatiently to the deadpan voice of May. It wasn't as if this was the first time the two had met, nor do they have bad feelings towards each other, but Renora still felt extremely uncomfortable and incompatible with her when conversing.

Coughing once awkwardly as the squire beside him continued to watch in silence, Renora decided to set the course of the talk by stating his reason for coming first.

"...Ahem, it's fine. More importantly, t-"

"Yes, thank you very much for understanding. As you should have heard already from the rumors, but the fact that Adventurer Soma hadn't returned for such a long time was making him cranky. This is not the first time the Guildmaster had displayed such childish tendencies before towards Adventurer Soma since he had been calling her his daughter for a long time now. About 11 months, I believe."

Honestly, this was news to him. But he didn't care about it at all if it didn't give him information about potential help he would be getting, or some sort of leverage that would put the soldiers in the city at an advantage over the incoming horde of Blueskin Crawlers.

Attempting to gloss over this redundant topic without being disrespectful, Renora answered curtly with a nod and replied.

"A-ah, I see... then let's discuss-"

"-So what is your purpose for this visit today to the Adventurer's Guild?"

He was cut off again as May answered in his place.

Renora knew that talking to May was like talking through a wall. It was difficult to get through to her since she liked to cut people off. But as he remembered the seriousness of the situation at hand, Renora was undeterred and quickly corrected his mindset before continuing to talk.

"...Yes, I would like to borrow the strength of the Adventurer's Guild. Would that be a problem if they were required to be stationed before the gate as soon as possible? And how many are ready for duty right now?"

Of course, May would ask for the reason as it seemed that the Guild was unaware of the situation outside. Renora's men had not arrived here yet since they had probably cut corners due to the bad blood between the country's soldiers and the Guild in Hiomi specifically. So Renora quickly relayed the situation to May as she quietly listened this time.

Once she had digested the information rather quickly, May pondered for a moment before answering back.

"I understand. The Guild is currently empty because today is the Waterfly Festival and everyone's out to celebrate. Have Captain Renora sent your men out to issue evacuation orders?"

Renora quickly realized, that today was indeed a celebratory day since he had been out with his daughter since a moment ago, but he had forgotten under the pressure. So it was very likely that the adventurers had been spread around like ants, and it would be difficult to gather them again.

"I see... ...We are surrounded, there is no way out except by hiding in the shelters. ...But I doubt it can hold everyone inside and that it is durable enough to protect against the monsters. We'd just be patching up a flooding ship with sheets of paper."

"I understand. In that case, there might have been deserters amongst our ranks. Don't worry and leave this to us, Captain Renora. I will round up the battle-ready adventurers around with the Guildmaster and report before the gates as fast as possible."

"Oi, I hav-UOOOOOOHHHHAAHHHH GIVE GIVE!"

Renora was pleasantly surprised that it was actually possible to gather hands still. He was incredibly thankful that May was here to take over the situation. He nodded with gratitude and quickly left with his squire on horses for the gates.

Now that the extra hands had been secured, all that's left was to prepare a speech for the people who had begun to gather under him.

Muttering to no one in particular as if praying, the squire heard his words from behind him as they rode their horses towards their gathering point. It had showed him how desperate the knight captain was, since he never believed in borrowing strength from the gods.

"...Goddess of War, Maiea... please lend us your strength..."