Here ya go,  The start of a 5 part companion story.  Might be a delay on next BFTG-NT release and end up a double release late, depends as 2 of 3 editors are extra busy atm.  We’ll, it’ll come eventually ^.^

~~Enjoy!

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Tl: SpecterZe

ED: Jun

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Companion Chapter 2 Adventures of Cloud, the adventurer (1/5)

 

 

 

[I see, so you’re taking the B rank adventurer’s examination tomorrow.]

 

[Yes. We have to leave this town for a while, because we will be doing a B rank mission as part of the B rank examination.]

 

[Understood. Do your best, okay?]

 

[Yes!]

 

I tell Master about tomorrow’s rank promotion examination. Even though we slaves of Master registered as adventurers not so long ago, we’re already going to take the B rank examination. Honestly, this is hard for us to believe. But all eight of us slaves are scheduled to take the rank promotion examination tomorrow.

 

 

This rank promotion examination requires you to succeed in three subjects.

 

The first subject is a written examination. It’s not something that can be considered particularly troublesome. It is just a thorough test about general common senses and the adventurer’s etiquette. Since there aren’t that many smart adventurers, this test isn’t that hard. It seems there is a past example where people failed this one after another when it was made too difficult. We are also taught by Lusia-sensei and now we’re able to do some simple reading and writing after all that.

 

The second subject is a practical skill examination. You pass if your abilities are recognized to be at a certain level by means of a mock battle with an A rank adventurer. Why A rank adventurers of all people? It’s because if they let B rank adventurers do a mock battle with us, a portion of them will have difficulty making normal judgment when in close combat. If the opponent is as far apart as rank A, there will hardly be any completely unexpected results after all.

 

 

The last subject is a field examination. This is actually an examination where you receive a B rank worthy request. Well, the reason is that it’s natural to be given a B rank request, since we are going to become B rank after all.

 

Though you can say it’s included in the examination, a reward is given since it’s a request after all. But it is slightly less than normal. Well, the reason is that we’re accepting the request as a C rank adventurer, since we don’t have the privileges of a B rank yet and there is a slightly lower chance of accomplishing the request.

 

The examiner also accompanies us during the examination. They are there to confirm that you’re at the level of not doing any injustice and you’re showing behaviour that is fitting of B rank adventurers. By the way, examiner won’t help with the request at all. Even if you failed, the examiner won’t finish it in your stead. Of course, they may help if your life is in danger but they don’t have the responsibility to do so. Basically the the examiner’s work is only to “watch” you while you take your own risk. At that time, they also let the client understand this in advance.

 

 

Since we are scheduled to take the written examination and practical skill examination tomorrow morning and the field examination in the afternoon, I want to do all the preparations I can do by today.

 

 

[Would it be better to get new weapons?]

 

We decide to have a final meeting before tomorrow’s examination. Adel was the one who asked. He used to be frightened and looking down all the time, but he seems to have gotten a lot of confident and he hardly looks down now.

 

 

[Give it up, Adel. We shouldn’t change weapons to ones we’re barely getting used to, you know.]

 

Knot is the one that answered. Right now, he is undergoing training by a master blacksmith. I heard he was liked by the master blacksmith he helped during his C rank request and he seems to have become half an apprentice or something. Of course, he is still working as adventurer, but the requests he accepted were few and it was barely enough to take part of the examination.

 

 

[Ah, that’s true…… Speaking of which, we came this far with just the weapons Master gave us…… The weapons don’t look that powerful though……]

 

[Geez, Adel! It’s not Master, but Jin-sama!]

 

[Ah, Coco-chan, sorry……]

 

Adel was warned by Coco. She is also there as a leader like existence for the female slaves in the adventurer’s party. I don’t know if it’s thanks to her nourishment getting better, but she says her breasts are steadily becoming bigger. I feel troubled even if you tell me this. As she is also considered a leader, if there is anything to consult about, she would usually go to me or Lusia-sensei. No, it’s obvious she would go to Lusia-sensei to consult about her breasts, right?

 

Why did Coco warn Adel? It’s because of the way of he calls Master. We are going to become B rank adventurers from now on. But a slave can’t become rank B or higher. B rank, or senior adventurers in other words, have rights and obligations they have to follow. But you can apply neither rights nor obligation to slaves, so they can’t become B rank.

 

So, there was no mention about canceling our slave contracts. It seems that a superior <Slavery technique> can conceal slave crests. The way the Adventurers guild checks whether or not one is a slave is only by checking the slavery collar and the slave crest. Of course, they will still take away your qualifications if the fact you’re a slave is exposed or if you become slave afterwards.

 

There are no methods to expose a high-rank <Slavery technique> either. Or at least, Master said there is no one who can do that. So, it’s decided that we would just conceal our slave crest and remain as slaves. When we heard that, there wasn’t even a single kid who said they wanted to be released. It’s because Master said he will make us become S rank adventurers as slaves and we’ve come to be able to expect it from the stories up until now. And we can’t do something like ruining Master’s mood.

 

Let’s return to the topic at hand. On the outside we’re not a slave anymore. Even so, we can’t call him “Master”. It’s because we were told to change our way of addressing him to “Jin-sama”. I too call him Jin-sama, but in my mind I still can’t get out of calling him Master. I think I have to cure this before I become careless and mess up.

 

 

[Now now, Coco-chan. I’m sure Adel-kun won’t make that mistake in front of others, you know~. Everything is all fine~]

 

[I, I’ll endure……]

 

[Geez, it can’t be helped.]

 

Sicily is trying to calm Coco down. As you can guess from her slow voice, she is quite a gentle girl. She’s together with Coco since she became aware of her as a childhood friend. She talks in a slow voice, but she only does that when she is emotionally composed. Also, she doesn’t do this in front of Master. In other words, she isn’t really emotionally composed in front of Master I guess.

 

 

[Oh, right. I’ll go back to the topic on weapons, but I don’t think the weapons I’ll make will be on time for this examination.]

 

Adel also said it, but the weapon we’ve been using were still the ones given by Master from the beginning. They are for C rank adventurers to be honest and not weapons for B rank adventurers. The main reason is that we’re unable to say that we want more expensive weapons as someone with a social status of a slave.

Knot says that he will eventually make our weapons as a master blacksmith. He is steadily growing and with a little more training, he will be able to make weapons at the level of those sold in the shop. So he may be able to make it in time before the rank B examinations if it goes well is what he said but regretfully, it doesn’t look like he will make it in time.

 

 

[Well, Knot is also working as an adventurer, so that is a bit difficult for him.]

 

[Do your best okay~]

 

[Yeah, I’ll make it in time before the A rank examination.]

 

[You’re a bit too hasty, you know……]

 

 

Knot answered in full spirits, but what Adel said is true. We aren’t even accepted as B rank yet……

 

 

[More importantly everyone, have you all prepared for the written exam?]

 

Yuria-san was the one who said that. She is an earnest girl who has strong sense of responsibility. Though I say that, it’s not that she has leadership, but she is a child who looks out over everything from a distance. We add “-san” to her name, because her dignity makes us hesitate in calling her without any honorifics. I don’t know the reason, but I feel something like elegance from her. She seems to have amnesia, but is there some reason in that past she lost that gave her that?

 

 

[I’m fine!]

 

[Me too……]

 

[Ugh, I’m not really confident……]

 

[Ufufu~]

 

This is about us not having much problems with it, but we are slaves; children who normally don’t study. There is probably a portion we’re slightly disadvantaged. Well, Lusia-sensei has taught us properly so we should be fine though……

 

 

[Then, let’s use the remaining time to prepare for a final lesson, especially the one who is uneasy with writing. It would make me happy if the kids who are fine remain here to teach them if possible.]

 

[Fufu~, Yuria-san said that, so none of us kids can go back~]

 

[She’s right… Besides, what if, we didn’t look after the kid who does poorly and only that kid fails, what will Mas…, what will Jin-sama say to us……?]

 

[Hii!]

 

Iris is the one who held her breath at the end. My first impression of her was a taciturn girl with a sleepy face. But I understood that was wrong from the time we were acting together. It’s not that she looked sleepy; her eyesight is just bad so she squints. And I know that it’s not that she is just taciturn; she thinks about a lot of things in her mind, but she is just poor at expressing them. When I talked about this with Lusia-san, she introduced us to an optician in the royal capital. We could afford to buy her something luxurious like glasses because at that time, our purses were well filled from the request rewards.

 

[I don’t want that! I absolutely don’t want that! Ruining Jin-sama’s mood is the one thing I’ll never allow after all. I won’t allow anyone to sleep until every one of us have all the required knowledge to pass the examination at the very least. Wait, but if we don’t sleep properly, we won’t be able to show our abilities, so if we don’t sleep enough, it will rather become a minus. What shall we do? Right, we can have you go in a deep sleep with a strong sleeping medicine, even if it’s a short time, it will be fine if we were given a highly effective sleep. I suppose continuing for too long will be a huge burden, but we will manage somehow if it is just for a day. If we have decided, then let’s go and purchase it immediately. But I’m worried about not studying then…, let’s ask one of the maid. But Lusia-sensei will become upset if we use the maids as we pleased, so let’s report to her before that. Also, we can’t forget to give them some money as pocket money……]

 

Iris prattled on in one go. I did say she is poor at expressing herself, but naturally there is also an exception. If she gets worked up to a certain extent, she will speak out the things she is thinking about as is. It’s “she thinks = she speaks” so it’s not a conversation and it won’t become more than what looks like a monologue though.

 

I think it’s her fear of Master what makes her get worked up about. All of us adventurer slaves are afraid of Master. Iris’ fear in particular, surpasses that of any of us. She seriously would rather die than oppose Master. Even if I asked for the reason, she didn’t tell me in detail. The one thing she told me was that “He could destroy the world without batting an eyelid”. No, no matter how out of norm our master is, that is unreasonable don’t you think…?

 

 

[It is fine, Iris-chan. Roro will put all the questions together that are expected on the examination, so we can study more efficiently with that.]

 

[Tha, thanks. But I will buy sleeping pills just in case, Roro-chan.]

 

[Err, that will take half of our money, won’t it?]

 

The one who spoke was Roro. Roro fell in love with master and she declared she will live for Master’s sake. She asserted she will do anything without hesitation if it’s for Master’s sake and she is also the first among us to kill a thief. She told me that she is aiming for a figure desired by Master and is drinks milk like crazy. So, why are they telling me this…?

 

Roro, Iris and Coco would move with “Master’s sake” as their top priority. The reason are loyalty for Coco, fear for Iris and love for Roro. Of course, even we follow master’s instructions, but we’re still allowed some degree of freedom from Master. Knot following a master blacksmith is a good example. The other kids hasn’t found anything special yet, but they said they wanted to discover something like a hobby. But only these three don’t seem to have such plans.

 

 

[Yeah, it is fine even if you don’t worry about it too much. In the worst case, we can always ask Alta to tell us the answer.]

 

[Oh really, Cloud? Please tell us right away if you knew about this. Ah, I was nervous. Especially from Iris’ hysteria.]

 

 

Knot spoke in a jokingly way.

 

[What do you mean hysteria!? You’re saying that because you’re not confident in studying aren’t you?! Besides, it won’t be your ability if you are relying on Alta-sama, you know!? In that case, Jin-sama may become disgusted with you, you know!? Well, in that case, I guess it’s only Knot Master will be disgusted with, so it doesn’t matter if you become a scapegoat if that doesn’t harm us though?]

 

If we use Alta’s help, we will pass for sure. But that isn’t our ability. It is more likely to displease Master. As far as we are concerned, we basically won’t chooses the options that might ruin Master’s mood.

 

 

[My, my bad……, that’s right. I have to consider going all out with my own ability first. Moreover, it will be extremely mortifying after all if we make Master feel disgusted and our treatment during training becomes worse……]

 

[You are right. We were told to use it as a last resort…, I strongly think it was implied that it was for the peace of our mind. And if we end up relying on it…, let’s stop thinking about that.]

 

[I guess. It will only get darker if we keep talking about that. For now, I’ll stop with the sleeping medicine.]

 

We decided to end this topic at once. The reason is……, I’d rather not say it, but Master won’t allow us to become arrogant and look down on others. For that reason Master decided to have a mock battle with us once in a while. In order to break our fighting spirit.

 

Master’s method is easy; anyone who stay conscious within 5m around Master passes. If you do, the next test will be a form of an exchange of blows with the weapons we carry. However, we couldn’t break through even one of his tests. It’s because the moment we took in Master’s killing intent, we would be at our wit’s end and crumble down. It was a miserable state where we won’t be able to forget to take a spare underwear and trousers even now (During that time we are banned from cleaning ourselves with magic). We also fought for our lives with thieves before, but compared to Master as our opponent, it can even be considered gentle.

 

 

[Speaking of which, how about you, Sicily? You didn’t say anything about studying earlier though?]

 

[Ufufu~, if it’s Coco-chan, shouldn’t you know~?]

 

[Oh, you’re not that smart aren’t you, Sicily…. Yuria-san, another student….]

 

[I understand. Roro-san, I want to try the expected questions from last time with everyone, but is that fine? Let’s think about everything with the results.]

 

[Yes, I have no problems with that. For the sake of everyone’s success, Roro will assist everyone with everything.]

 

As she says so, Roro handed over the questions to Yuria-san. After that, all of us were answering the expected questions. As expected, Knot and Sicily are somewhat worse and since they would barely pass like that, they will need supplementary lessons. It isn’t as bad as they thought, so it’s decided that only Yuria, Roro and Iris will accompany them.

 

 

In the next morning, we headed toward adventurer’s guild and we were about to receive the B rank test.

 

 

[Yo! Are you guys going to take the rank promotion examination today?]

 

[Ah, yes. That’s right. If everything goes well, we will be B rank the day after tomorrow.]

 

 

A familiar adventurer greets us.

 

 

[That’s fast ya know. You surpassed me in ranks in the blink of an eye and now you’re already going join those senior ranks? Ah shit! And I was willing to do anything to become one of your comrades from the beginning!]

 

[At least! Just one girl at least!]

 

We acted moderately in the royal capital, we’ve come to know a lot of adventurers, and our face has become quite well known. The ones who called us out were the adventurer party we saved from the attack of a stray orc during the time we just started working as adventurers at the royal capital. The orc was a formidable enemy, but we were somehow able to win because we had eight people in the party.

 

 

[Oh my, Cloud-kun. Won’t you go on a date with onee-san soon?]

 

[Err……]

 

[Hey! Can’t you see Cloud-kun is getting embarrassed? More importantly, I know of a good armor shop, won’t you go there with me?]

 

[ah, uhm…….]

 

Those receptionist ladies greeted us too. For some reason, there were a lot of ladies who tried to go out together with me. I saved the first receptionist lady who greeted us when she looked like she was going to be attacked by a random attacker. It feels like our sense of distance became randomly close from that. I saved the other receptionist when she looked like she was going to be attacked by a thief and since then she randomly invites me to equipment shops. I’ve properly received their gratitude, so it’s fine if they don’t worry about it though…

 

 

I somehow declined their invitations without sounding impolite and told them we are here the rank promotion exam. It’s not that I dislike going out with them, but right now the rank promotion examination is more important.

 

The guild leader turned up after we waited for a while. Even if he is called the head of the royal capital’s adventurer guild, he seems to be a former S rank adventurer. When we told Master this, he laughed scornfully. Did he have some unpleasant memories with S rank adventurers?

 

 

When I asked why “former”, it’s because it’s impossible to adapt to the traditional rules when you go from the side of receiving a request to the side of doing the mediating.

 

 

[Oh, you’re here.]

 

The guild leader. He is an elderly man with a gentle glint in his eyes, but he shows no openings at all in his movements. We know this because we more or less became stronger by Master’s power, but I don’t think the current us can take him on even if we bunch up with the eight of us. We can feel that much difference in strength. Well, I still consider him the better choice compared to Master, who we can’t even see the difference in strength, just because we can actually see the difference ……

 

 

[Yes, We will be in your care today.]

 

[We will be in your care!] x7

 

 

I greeted him first and the other members also followed up on their greetings. This is because we received thorough training on how to greet people from Lusia-sensei. She was formerly a knight, so her etiquette and such are quite severe.

 

 

[Hmm, as ever the polite children aren’t you all? You also have ability, ambition and a promising future. I felt anxious in the beginning with a party full of children, but that anxiety was all unnecessary!]

 

The guild leader provided various support after we started doing work in this city. Of course, it didn’t mean allowing injustices; it’s about knowledge like the know hows on subjugations, harvesting, etc. Well, when you get down to it, being taught directly by a former S rank adventurer is in itself unfair……

 

 

[Well then, as promised, we will have B rank examination today. I do think you’ll be all fine, but good luck.]

 

[Thank you, sir.] x8

 

 

With just a greeting, the guild leader heads back and one of the receptionist ladies started the explanation. Wait, what? The guild leader was only here to greet us?

 

The written examination started immediately. Us eight are all in the same room but it was done in a way we can’t see each other’s answers. I can’t judge from their faces, but it doesn’t look like any of us are struggling with it as far as I can see.

 

It’s because most of the questions we have to do are exactly like the list of expected questions Roro prepared for us. Looks like we can easily get at least an 80% mark with just that. By the way, the passing line is 60%. I had enough time to review the answer twice before the examinatiowas over. Yeah, I will get at least 90%.

 

 

The purpose of this test isn’t to drop the number of people who passed, so I guess it’s great that most of the questions aren’t unnatural trick question or questions where you can’t read the intention of the one who wrote the questions for the examination.

 

 

[We finished!]

 

 

Knot is lying face down on the desk. From the looks of his relieved face, I think he did fine.

 

 

[Cloud, there are a problem I’m not sure about……]

 

[Oh, that one is……]

 

[Eh, aah, I made a mistake~]

 

 

After we waited in the room while talking about our impressions, the receptionist lady came back and announced we all passed.

 

 

[Phew~……., with this I can face Jin-sama. Good work, Sicily.]

 

[Fufufu~ As expected from Coco-chan~]

 

[I’m glad the collection of expected questions weren’t pointless.]

 

[No, that seriously saved me! I can even say I passed thanks to that.]

 

 

By the way, Coco, Roro and Iris, the group whose highest priority is Master, got full marks. Yuria-san and I got the latter half of 90%. Adel is the only one who got 80%. Knot and Sicily got latter half of 70%. The group whose highest priority is Master seems to have a different kind of motivation as expected. Yuria and I missed the full marks because of some trivial mistake. Even though I reviewed it twice too…. We’ve only been together for a short time so I may not know, but she also seems to be feeling down. Her usual dignity has decreased by about 20% after all.