“Now, we shall begin the S-Rank certification ceremony.”
After the promotion exam ended, what they called the certification ceremony was held.
“President of the Adventurers’ Guild Association, we are in your care.”
“Yessss~♡”
At Randia’s call, a booming voice echoed from seemingly nowhere. Then, a massive silhouette appeared near the ceiling of the training hall.
“I’m Maribel, the Guild President. Nice to meet you~”
Slowly descending while floating in midair was a woman of about 165 centimeters tall, though her weight must have been close to 150 kilograms. Her entire body was covered in soft, flabby flesh, a kind of corpulence very different from Goritia’s.
『So something like this one has been hiding huh. That’s some high-level stealth magic.』
(Indeed. Even my detection spells didn’t catch her.)
Though she was mostly buried under her enormous posterior, a closer look revealed that she was straddling a staff.
(Poor staff… having to bear such a heavy body…)
『Ha! I dare say I’m in similar straits, having to carry a certain lecherous old baby myself.』
The woman, Maribel, who claimed to be the president of the Adventurers’ Guild Association, beamed a delighted smile as she praised the two successful candidates.
“I’ve been watching both of your battles the whole time, of course—from the first stage itself. It’s rare to have two people promoted at once, but both of you have the strength to deserve S-Rank status, so I suppose it’s only fair.”
Then, two card-like objects fell gently in front of Fana and Anje.
“Huh? …Rainbow-colored?”
“I know right. The A-Rank ones were gold, and now it’s rainbow-colored.”
It seemed they were the guild certificates for S-Rank adventurers.
“They’re special cards made of orichalcum. If you lose one, reissuing it costs an absolute fortune, so make sure you never misplace it, okay?”
““Orichalcum…””
Maribel nodded, clearly satisfied, then she announced,
“All right, it’s time for our traditional exhibition match!”
““Exhibition match?””
Fana and Anje tilted their heads in confusion at the unfamiliar term. Suddenly, Maribel’s body began to swell with magical energy.
“‘!?’”
Fana and Anje instinctively stepped back, bracing themselves.
“…Whoa. What kind of magical power is that?”
“Incredible… I never thought a mage of this caliber could exist in our age.”
Even Lindwurm and I gasped at the sheer magnitude of her magic. Honestly, it far surpassed even Deophrastus, who once ruled over the Magic City.
“Hehe… such a good reaction. Adventurers who reach S-Rank get to face me, you see. Of course, the promotion exam is already over, so this has nothing to do with that—it’s just a little harmless fun of mine. That’s what we call an exhibition match.”
In the stands, Goritia and Bazara exchanged wry smiles. It seemed they had both been through the same experience before.
“If you get all cocky just because you’ve reached S-Rank, the Guild President will crush you with overwhelming power, fufu~”
“It really drives home the fact that no matter how high you climb, there’s always someone above you—and it forces you to tighten up your focus.”
It seemed they couldn’t even land a single hit.
“Wait… you’re telling me even S-Rank adventurers can’t win against her?”
“That’s because she’s practically a living legend, the Guild President.”
“I heard someone even called her SS-Rank.”
The other adventurers whispered among themselves, a mix of awe and apprehension in their voices.
“Usually it’s one-on-one, but since there are two of you, I don’t mind taking both at the same time~”
As she spoke, Maribel conjured countless fireballs in her right hand and an endless volley of ice arrows in her left.
“All right, the exhibition match begins~!”
A torrential storm of fireballs and ice arrows rained down on Fana and Anje. Fana swung her twin swords to knock them aside, while Anje summoned walls of earth to shield herself.
“Hehe… as expected, you can handle this little bit with ease. But how about this?”
The moment more fireballs and ice arrows appeared, the floor of the training hall itself began to writhe. Spears of earth erupted one after another, surging toward the two adventurers.
“‘!?’”
From above, fireballs and ice arrows rained down, a relentless magical assault that seemed designed to crush them from both directions.
Fana evaded it by moving at incredible speed, darting and weaving through the onslaught, while Anje endured it, clad in thick armor of earth that absorbed blow after blow.
“Hah!”
Fana kicked off the wall of the training hall, launching herself toward Maribel in a single, swift leap.
“Oh my, you’re already this close? How frightening~”
Despite her words, Maribel remained perfectly composed, effortlessly raising her altitude to put distance between herself and Fana.
Fana gave chase relentlessly, but no matter how fast she ran, she couldn’t quite close the gap.
“…Fast.”
Despite the sheer weight of her body, Maribel’s flying ability was astonishingly high.
Seeing that the distance between them refused to close, Fana swung her twin swords.
Her blades tore through the air, streaking toward Maribel—but before they could reach her, they struck something invisible and bounced back.
“A barrier?”
Maribel had erected a magical shield around herself—a barrier so strong that ordinary attacks would be unlikely to break it.
“To destroy that barrier, you’d have to strike it directly. But if you can’t catch up, that’s easier said than done.”
“How are we supposed to overcome this, then?”
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
At that moment, walls of earth rose up, encircling Maribel. She came to an abrupt stop.
Even if she tried to escape upward, Fana was already waiting, ready to intercept.
“Hehe, quite the impressive teamwork.”
But instead of trying to break through Fana, Maribel turned straight toward Anje’s earthen wall. With a strike of her staff, charged with magical energy, the wall melted and collapsed, forming a gaping hole. Through it, she calmly stepped out, as if nothing had happened.
“What did she just do?”
“That earthen wall is solidified by her magic. By striking it with her own power, she broke it down. When it comes to magic, the gap between the two of them and that woman is just too wide—there’s no stopping her directly with spells.”
It was a tactic that had worked against the dungeon bosses of Vegaltia, but here, it was useless.
“Even so… facing both of you at once is quite the challenge you know~?”
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.
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