The scuffling in the alleyways is a well-known trope that Benny is familiar with from the shows he watched. Often this would entail a chance meeting with someone important to the character.

However, Benny wasn’t those hot-headed main characters who would jump into the fight. (That’s completely in Tenryu’s department.)

Nor was he someone who’d want to stand out deliberately.

Making sure nobody was looking, Benny casted Invisibility. It was very handy Light-Element Magic that distorts perception of light and allowed one to turn invisible.

“Alright…now for a better view.”

With that, he mounted his staff and flew his way into the alleyway. He made sure to be at the level of the rooftops and out of whatever’s way was in there.

And as expected, he found the all trope situation.

A group of typical thuggish delinquents that were probably of the same age group as he was were ganging up on their victim: a mouse.

To be precise, he was a Beastman boy of with an anthropomorphic mouse appearance. He was probably a year or so younger than Benny. His outfit was somewhat a little peculiar. He was wearing what looked like an academic robe and a scholastic cap, although they were slightly ruffled in places. He reminded Benny of the mascot of the university one of his cousins attended too.

He literally looked like a cornered mouse but was trying to put up a brave face.

“Like we’re telling ya! The Adventurer’s Exam is next week! So that’s why ya gotta help us out~”

(Exam? Are they test-takers too? Aspiring Adventurers? Or rather…)

Benny could tell that this was no study group. They were even having menacing grins that said otherwise.

“I-I told you! I can’t!”

“Ha~? Why can’t ya?!”

One of the delinquents even made that threatening “haaaaa?” sound. To think Benny only saw this in a T.V. show.

“Yeah! All ya need to do is put in a good word for us and we’ll be a shoe in to get higher marks and get higher ranks!”

The boy was looking a little frightened but he still stood his ground.

“M-My words can’t influence their evaluation!”

“How useless can ya get? Alright, just tell us what’s coming in the Ranking Exam!”

Benny’s eyes turned cold at the sight.

(Hmph…a bunch of cheaters...nothing good will come out of cheating your way to the top spot.)

“I wouldn’t know that!”

“Ya stinking little liar! Ya live in her house doncha? Surely ya must’ve heard something!”

“I don’t! B-Besides the Ranking Exam is supposed to test your Skills and Abilities as Adventurers!”

“Who needs that? We’ve got Skills and Abilities! We just want a rank that matches us!”

“That’s right!”

“Ya said it!”

Those delinquents look smugly confident for some reason and were practically laughing it out.

“T-Then just do your best in the exam! That exam is supposed to ensure you’re classified to the best of your abilities! What are you trying to get by cheating your way in! You’re just gonna get yourselves into trouble!” The boy shouted back at them.

Benny took a glimpse of the boy’s Aura. He had been practicing with the Aura Sight ability for a long time now and he was able to at least grasp how it works.

He could tell from this kid’s reddish-violet Aura was a sincere, hard-worker and albeit of a stickler for rules but with a good moral compass. That’s probably why he was against something dishonest as cheating.

The delinquents, however, had a rather negative Aura. They each had a high amount of proud and a sense of superiority. But it seems they aren’t the hard-working type and like the easy way out.

“Ah~? Whatcha doing lecturing us?!”

“Oh? So ya think yer better than us huh?!”

“Since ya want proof…I’ll give it to ya!”

The huge delinquent, who was surely their leader, grabbed the boy by the front of his shirt and made stance as though he was about to swung his fist at the boy’s face. The boy could only look away.

(I don’t think so, fatso!)

Benny landed on the edge of the rooftop and pointed his staff at the bullied boy.

“Bubble Shield”

A large bubble of surrounded the boy’s face and the delinquent’s fist impacted on bubble like airbag and the recoil from it pushed him back.

“W-What the-”

The delinquents were surprised at the sudden appearance of the bubble and began to look for the source.

Benny reached into his satchel and pulled out a bottle containing sleeping powder at them. He then threw it down the alley.

“Here’s a little gift for you…”

Crash*

Boom!

The shattered bottle released a cloud of smoke that engulfed them.

“Uwaah!”

“What the~”

“Cough* Cough*!!!”

The three delinquents fell to their knees and passed out. The boy was protected from the powder’s effects due to the bubble around his head.

“W-What?”

The boy was looking around frantically, completely bewildered by the sudden chain of the events. But he seemed to gather his wits very quickly and ran out of the alley.

Benny watched him ran away until he was out back in the main street. Ah, he still had the bubble on his head so that would be weird. He snapped his fingers and the bubble popped, further bewildering the boy.

(Good job standing up for what’s right.)

Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong!

The bells of Milagros Cathedral were ringing loudly to signal evening hours have begun.

(Geh! It’s almost time for my shift again! Gotta go!)

Benny, still invisible, used Transposition to leave the scene.

What Benny didn’t notice is that when he pulled out the bottle, a single piece of paper had been pulled out with it. Ironically, being invisible meant that he was unable to catch a glimpse on his own person and that paper was also invisible.

And that very same paper fluttered into the street bellow. With the caster now gone, the Magic making it invisible had also disappeared.

The paper fluttered and it flew right into the boy’s direction. His face in particular!

“Uwah?! W-What’s this?”

He took the paper off his face and saw it was full of notes and inscriptions of a certain Magic Sigil that he was very familiar with.

“A Magic Formula for the Alchemic Transmutation Sigil 43…?”

***

Benny had just barely made it in time for the next shift. He was in the hallway leading to the upstairs apartment.

“Okay. Barely made it....”

There was some loud laughter.

“Ah, the first throng of customers has already arrived.”

Benny peeked behind the sliding doors separating the shop from the residential area.

Tenryu was having a good laugh with some of the early regulars.

“Heh? How would you know that Tenryu-boy? You sure it wasn’t by chance?”

“Nah? I’ve seen a couple of those things before. If you poke them in the activation crystal they’ll start to move.”

“I’ve heard you wrecked the place as a result.”

“Yeah, it turns out that thing was a little more tough than we thought.”

“Oi… Wasn’t Benny with you at that time? He could’ve been seriously hurt.”

“He chose that job because he wanted to take it easy from all the big jobs we’ve been doing. The moment I saw that golem I thought it would give him a little excitement. He needs to know that things don’t always go as plan. Besides, he should consider it bit of training not to be complacent.”

“Training is it, Tenryu?”

Tenryu felt a cold shiver run up his spine.

Like a badly oiled machine, he turned look behind him and saw…Benny smiling. But that smile didn’t reach into his eyes.

“Eh…B-Benny…Y-you’re back…”

“I’m back. But it seems I’ve heard something rather interesting. Care to explain what you’re talking about just now?”

Benny continued smiling but he was leaking a dark Aura.

The customers felt silent.

When they first met Benny, they were rather shocked by the similar appearance between him and the more well known Tenryu. But it was soon evident that they very different from each other especially in their personalities.

They were more or less used to the smiling and welcoming personality of Benny’s but there were occasions where some rowdy and impolite customers (usually those from outside the city) would cause trouble in the shop and in those instances they would see the more frightening side of Benny.

They quickly began to distance themselves upon seeing the danger signs.

“Ah? Well, I was…y-you know…e-e-explaining about…you know…what happened…at the ruins…”

“Ho~? What was that that happened in ruins without me noticing?”

Tenryu was fumbling. And from the empty, dark stare he began to blab about everything.

“So when you poked that golem, you knew it would activate huh?” Benny simply smiled further but behind him was a figure of Acala popping out.

“Ah, well…I…”

“Do you know how much trouble we went through at that time?”

“Y-yeah…but you know, it’s kind of part of the training…”

“Tenryu?”

“Y-Yes?!”

“I really respect you, you know?”

“Eh?”

“I know you are quite a strong person and you want to show that.”

“Oh?! Really, that’s a little…” Tenryu looked a tad embarrassed at being praised.

“That’s why I know you’re going to survive this…”

Still smiling, Benny raises his cane up high. It was emitting blue bolts of electricity and forming a large blue ball of lightning!

“Eh? W-Wait a-”

Benny pointed his cane right at Tenryu’s face.

“BALL LIGHTNING”

“UWAAAAAHAHHNBZZBZBZBZBZTZBZTTZBZBBBZTTZTZTZTTZBBBZTZBBZTTZT?!!!!”

Tenryu collapsed to the ground like a burnt charcoal. His hair puffed up like an afro.

There was a moment of silence.

“Dear customers?”

““““Yes?!””””

“I’m truly sorry for this incident but rest assured we will try our best to serve you better. So please excuses and if possible delete what you’ve just seen just now.”

The customers nodded profusely. Though forgetting what they saw is another thing entirely. It pretty much solidified that there was another person who could reel Tenryu in.

Aunt Magma and Flare, however, were completely unperturbed by what just happened. Rather, they just leave the severe disciplining to Benny nowadays.

After that little episode. The restaurant became lively.

The dinner guests were already filling up the tables. Flare and Tenryu (after he had recovered) were already serving customers while Benny and Aunt Magma were busy at the bar cooking.

It was more hectic than usual as there were several merchant ships that were docked from the Principality of Ptolemy. And due to word of mouth, they wanted to try out the new dishes. Benny saw this as an opportunity to market their meals to another country while gathering some information about Ptolemy.

Benny had planned that in the long run, he’d like to visit other countries as well.

***

It was already late in the evening when they closed up shop for the night and had a late dinner of their own.

“Hmm…I see so that’s what happened earlier.” Aunt Magma nodded with an unusually dark expression.

Flare had a nasty look in her face she gave whenever she encountered a rowdy customer in the shop. “What do they think they’re getting on by cheating and threatening their way into higher ranks! Don’t they know the purpose of the Exams in the first place?!”

The purpose of the Adventurer’s Qualification and Ranking Exams is to test if you have the capabilities of being an Adventurer’s and to rate your Magic Abilities and Skills.

The Exams have two parts.

First was the Qualification Exams which tests whether you have what it takes to become an Adventurer and the respective Classes you are aiming for. Second was the Ranking Exams which tests the Magic Abilities and/or Skills in a practical situation and rate the applicants’ strengths accordingly.

Depending on the results, having a highly ranked Magic Abilities or Skills can determine whether you are fit to partake a particular Job Request that requires more on ability over Adventurer Rank.

On a related note, an Adventurer would have two ranks: the Adventurer Rank and the Class Skills and Abilities Rank.

The Adventurer Rank is one’s ranking as an Adventurer and everyone starts out a Rank F. With every completed Job Request there is a corresponding points added and when collected enough one is promoted in rank but this applies until D-Rank. After that one can take Rank Promotion for Rank C, B and A Exams to increase their rank. Only in special circumstances that and Adventurers is given a special treatment and can be allowed to be promoted without the exams. And if one is especially exceptional, they can be given the S-Rank which is the highest of the ranks.

The other rank, the Class Skills and Abilities Rank, although one can be promoted by the same method as the Adventurer Rank it is slightly different in how one starts. It is dependent on the exams where the Skills and Abilities are measure and determined one’s ability as an Adventurer of that particular class.

This whole thing is important as it determines the capabilities of an Adventurer and whether they are fit to partake a Job Request or Expedition.

Benny can see why Aunt Magma and Ate Flare were so disapproving at that sneaky method those delinquents earlier were trying to pull. Not only would it would really bring down the dignity of an Adventurer but they be endangering themselves and related parties in the process.

“Blistering Blazes! Those bunch of cheats! Let me at em! I’ll teach them the meaning of hard work!” Tenryu was getting himself worked up again. He looked like he would probably fly out the door to give those brats a lesson.

“““Sit down and eat your meal!”””

Benny, Ate Flare and Aunt Magma all said that to him at the same time.

“Y-Yes…”

Tenryu sat down and ate.

“And bullying a kid too… I wonder what kind of a kid who would have connections to the Exams.”

“He must be related to the examiners or something. Speaking of which do the Ranking Exams differ every time?” asks Benny.

“They’re basically the same thing. Use your Abilities and Skills in this kind of situation, that sort of thing. But what kind of situation is that is completely random. Those brats must’ve thought they could get a head start.”

She says looking very disgusted as she says this.

“But it’s completely random and there are a ton of situations that can be done for a Class and with a week left it’d be foolish to think they can prepare for it all. Sometimes it’s easy, sometimes it’s not. You need to learn to adapt.”

“I see…”

“Still good job helping him out!” says Flare. “But why did you do it without showing yourself? If that kid is connected to the exams he could give a good impression for you.”

“That’s no better than what those guys are aiming for. I don’t like to draw unnecessary attention to myself.”

“If it were me-” began Tenryu.

“You’d probably destroy the alley and the whole neighborhood.” says Flare.

“Guh~”

Tenryu looked a little dejected.

“Well, as long as the neighborhood happens to be filled with bad guys then I probably think it’d be okay if Tenryu did that.”

Benny adds nonchalantly. Tenryu beamed at that.

“Oi, don’t encourage him-”

“Would you like some more Caldereta Stew?”

Benny had introduced another one of his hometown’s dishes with a twist: Swine-Buffalo Caldereta. He managed to find some herbs and spices in the stores that are basically as the same as the one’s used at home. Although he had to make the Caldereta sauce by hand, it turned out great.

“So this Stew is another one of those delicacies from your hometown?”

Benny nodded.

He still hasn’t told Aunt Magma and Flare about the truth about his situation and there hasn’t been an opportunity to do so. He felt slightly guilty though.

***

It was already very late in the evening.

“ZZZZZzzzzzz…” Tenryu was snoring loudly in his futon.

He wasn’t sleeping loudly out of exhaustion but rather he had that tendency to snore like a bullhorn. He was also an early sleeper so as soon as they were done with the shop and took a bath (Benny now forces him to take a bath at least once a day) he was out like a light before his head hit the pillow.

Meanwhile, Benny was busy perusing some of the new books he was borrowing from the library under the light of the Magic Lamp. While at the same time, he had his Spellbook opened right next to his work. Or at least, that’s what it looked. Benny flipped several pages but wasn’t really looking in them.

He was a little more distracted than usual.

What was on his mind was what happened earlier. He had been distracted by work to think about it but now that he had free time he began to reflect on the things that happened.

He made a mental note to avoid those guys if they were to appear in the exam.

Or if push comes to shove, just cast a powerful Wind Spell like Tempest to blow them away.

(No good! I’m starting to take Tenryu’s more violent approach to things.)

Benny smacked himself in the forehead with the book.

“H-Huh? Benny you still up?” Tenryu mumbled sleepily, turning on his futon to face him.

“Ah! Sorry! Did I wake you up?”

“Hmm…Is something wrong?”

“Eh? Wha-?”

“You look like you have something on your mind.”

“I’m studying, Tenryu.”

“…you look a little distracted. Not the usual serious face when studying.”

There were times when Tenryu was more perceptive than he looks.

“N-Nothing. Nothing at all. It’s getting late so go back to bed. I better tuck in for the night too.”

He puts the book on the table and switched the lamp off. By the time he was about to lie in bed too, Tenryu had gone back snoring.

As Benny looked at the starry night sky through the window, his thoughts filtered to what he should be expecting from the exam to whether he was ready enough for it.

It was the typical pre-exam nervousness.

***

Meanwhile, at that same moment in time.

In another part of Amber City was fairly large Victorian-style home. One can easily acquaint this house as the home of someone influential in town. Which just so happens, that house is just that.

Due to the lateness of the hour, the lights of the home were naturally off apart from a single window of a certain room.

The mouse Beastman boy from earlier was peering over the notes that flew into his face.

At that time he didn’t think much of it. But now that he took a closer look at it, he was astounded beyond belief.

“This is…No way! Such a thing…it’s a bit unorthodox…but I don’t see faults at this!”

The paper in front of him contained notes about a certain Magic Formula.

“This is something…incredible! But who made these notes?”

The boy thought carefully.

It fluttered from above that alley. He remembered very well there wasn’t a wind there so a wind couldn’t have carried it. That only meant that whoever it came from him had probably been in the rooftop.

He then remembered the Bubble Shield that appeared in his head. He was too shocked at the time of the strange events happening one after another to actually put even more thought about it.

That person who made this may have also been the one who saved him.

The boy made a resolve.

“I’m gonna look for that person if it’s the last thing I do!”