An ordinary profession creates the world's strongest

"...We need to let those around us know that we are not princesses to be protected."

"Ah, I see. So, you're trying to show that we have the strength to fight back fiercely, right?"

"...Well, this is a rare opportunity. Let's use this person as a warning to others."

After Yue finished speaking, he pointed at Leganido, whose expression was different from before and was looking at this place with a stern look.

"I understand what you mean. Indeed, thinking you've got a princess, but she's actually a ferocious beast, is no joke. Luckily, there are plenty of witnesses here... Well, why not?"

"...You actually called us beasts? That's too much."

Hajime agreed with Yue's proposal, seemed to find it amusing, and took a step back with a smile.

After confirming that Hajime had left, Yue winked at Shia, who was standing beside her, telling her to go first. Shia understood her meaning and reached out to Drukken, who was lying on her back. She spun around as if completely weightless, and then held Drukken in her hand.

"Hey, what can a little girl from the Bunny Clan do? I have to consider my employer's requirements. I hope you can behave yourself, okay?"

Reganido stared at Yue and said to Shia. Shia seemed to ignore Reganido's words and gave him advice instead:

"Will you not draw the sword from your waist? I'll show some mercy, but it's dangerous to be unarmed, you know?"

"Ha, you little bunny are so arrogant, Master! I'm sorry, I might have hurt them a little!"

Reganido paid little attention to Shia. He watched Yue's movements while alerting the fat man who was still lying nearby. He seemed to have determined that subduing Yue without injuring her would be extremely difficult.

However, Reganido should have noticed. Common sense suggests that the Bunnymen, generally considered pet slaves, would actually be wielding warhammers. Furthermore, Hajime and Yue had both shown considerable strength, yet Shia was left to lead the charge. What did this mean?

Shia understood there was no need for further explanation. She placed Druken across her waist and took a single step forward. The next moment, she appeared before Leganido.

「!?」

“Ahhh!!”

Contrary to the cute cry, the massive hammer, accompanied by a strong wind, swung towards the shocked Leganido's chest. Just before it was about to hit, Leganido barely crossed his arms in an attempt to defend himself, but...

(Isn’t the force too strong!?)

He couldn't stand still at all and instantly wanted to jump back to relieve the force of the impact. However, because the speed of the attack was too fast, it was almost ineffective.

Then, with a sharp, crisp sound, Reganido flew out like a kite with its string cut, its back slamming heavily against the guild wall. With a resounding thud, Reganido expelled all the air from his lungs. In his shaky vision, he saw Shia's disappointed expression. It seemed she had expected Reganido to offer some resistance.

Even with a Black Rank adventurer, he had fallen prey to the Bunny Girl's mercy, even disappointing her. Reganido could only smile at this fact. But the pain made the smile look like a painful frown. He tried to stand up with his hands on the ground, but collapsed in agony. He turned his gaze towards the source of the pain, only to see his arm crushed.

Fortunately, only one of his hands seemed to be crushed. He endured the pain and struggled to stand with his other hand. Although his vision was shaky, he was able to stand firmly. Even though it was almost useless, if he hadn't jumped back in time, he might not have been able to stand up.

However, is standing up really a good thing...?

Although Leganido stood up with a gamble, he couldn't help complaining in his heart when he saw Yue Lu's cold eyes and stretched out his right hand:

(Master, this deal is too bad...)

Afterwards, Reganido experienced "dancing in the air" for the first time in his life, which became a precious yet cruel experience in his life.

"Scattered flowers, shatter in the embrace of the wind—'Wind Flower'."

——The second magic created by Yue, the gravity and wind attribute compound magic "Wind Explosion".

It's a combination of wind cannonball magic and gravity magic. Multiple wind cannonballs can be freely manipulated, relying on the gravity field imbued within them to swirl around the target, "continuously falling" in all directions, pinning the opponent to the air. And then, once hit, there's no escape, leaving them suspended in the air like a punching bag. Such is the ferocity of this magic. Incidentally, the incantation remains the same as before, simply played at random.

After the unilaterally guided dance in the air ended, Reganido fell to the ground with a disgusting sound and remained motionless.

He'd already lost consciousness after the first few blows, but Yue, whether she understood or not, continued to attack without mercy, focusing her attacks on the crotch, causing the crotches of the surrounding men to tremble. Seeing such a fierce and vicious attack, even Hajime, who was watching from behind, couldn't help but let out a distressed "Ouch!"

Two unbelievable sights, two merciless scenes of brutality, shrouded the guild in silence. Everyone remained motionless, staring at Hajime. A closer look revealed that some of the guild staff, perhaps attempting to break up the fight, had reached out toward Hajime and his companions on their way to the café, then froze in place. Even for adventurers who had seen all sorts of things, the sight seemed quite shocking.

When everyone was frozen in place, Hajime slowly broke the silence and walked to the front of everyone. Everyone in the guild focused their attention on him. The place Hajime was walking to was... where that fat pig man was.

“Eh! D-don’t come over here! Who do you think I am?! I’m Pum Ming! Do you want to rebel against the Ming Baron family?!”

"...Apologize to every mascot fan on Earth, you pig!"

The piggy man's name reminded Hajime of Earth's mascot. Hajime frowned and stomped hard on the piggy man's face as he sat on the ground.

“Puhuh!?”

Poom let out a pig-like squeal, his face trapped between the shoe sole and the floor, his skull making an ominous squeezing sound, and Poom wailed in fear.

Then, as if the sound was too loud, Hajime screamed even harder. His face was grotesquely flattened, his eyes and nose sunk into the flesh of his cheeks. Soon, Poom realized the louder he screamed, the more pain he felt, and he quieted down, though perhaps it was simply exhaustion.

"Hey, fat pig, don't ever come into my sight again, whether directly or indirectly... If you do it again, I won't let you off."

Despite being crushed by Hajime's shoe sole, Poom still tried desperately to nod, his head trembling. He seemed to no longer have the energy to even pretend to be brave, his spirit completely broken.

However, Hajime wasn't so naive as to forgive him so easily. As the saying goes, "He doesn't learn from his mistakes." Simply giving him a temporary shock wasn't enough. Since killing him wasn't the best option, he had to imprint this shock on him, making sure he couldn't forget it.

So Hajime lifted his foot slightly, used the training to grow spikes on the sole of his shoe, and stepped on it hard.

“Aa ...

The spiked shoes pierced into Poom's face, leaving countless holes. Poom screamed, but immediately lost consciousness. Hajime pulled his foot away and saw a horrible sight... No, his face was already horrible to begin with, so it didn't make any difference. In short, his face was covered in blood.

Hajime walked towards Yue and the others with a cheerful expression. Yue and Shia also greeted Hajime with smiles. The atmosphere between them was very bright and cheerful, not at all like a tragedy scene. Li Xi stood aside in confusion. Hajime also smiled at the introducer and said:

"Ms. Introducer, let's continue our conversation somewhere else."

“What~! No, no, I, um, how should I put this…”

Perhaps because she found Hajime's smile terrifying, Lizzy stuttered, her expression clearly indicating that she didn't want to have anything to do with them. Because lying next to them was a fat, bloody man and a giant man covered in wounds, Hajime and the others gave off such an eerie feeling.

Although Hajime could vaguely understand Lizzie's feelings, he didn't intend to let her go because finding a new introducer would be troublesome after the commotion. Realizing Hajime's intentions, Yue and Shia nonchalantly flanked Lizzie from both sides.

Realizing that Hajime and the others were not going to let her go, Lizzy let out a wimpy cry of "Eeh~!"

At this time, the guild staff who was like a savior to her finally arrived.

"Um, excuse me, please go over there and help us understand the case."

A male staff member said this, and three other staff members came closer to surround them, but they all looked frightened. Several of them went to check on the injuries of Poom and Leganido.

"Well, that pig tried to take my companion away. When I refused, they got angry and attacked us, so I fought back. There's not much else to say. The introducer and the men around were all witnesses, especially those at a nearby table, who seemed to have been listening to our conversation."

Hajime glared at the men around him as he spoke. Seeing Hajime's gaze, the men immediately nodded their heads vigorously, as if they were about to break their necks.

"I understand that, but according to the rules, any issues that arise within the guild must be heard first, and then a fair judgment must be made... Because it's a rule, adventurers must abide by it..."

"Both parties involved..."

Hajime glanced at Poom and Reganido. They seemed to be unable to wake up for the time being. Although the guild staff had already gone to call for a healer, they probably wouldn't wake up for two or three days.

"You want us to stay here until they wake up, even though we're the ones who'll be harmed... That's really troublesome. Why not just tie them up and kill them outside the city?"

Hajime glared at the guild staff with a blaming look. Faced with a typical customer complaint, the male guild staff member's expression of self-resignation seemed to say, "Stop glaring at me like that. This is work. I can't help it." Hearing Hajime's final muttering, he quickly tried to dissuade him.

Hajime had no choice but to walk over and try to use the intense pain to force Poom and Reganido to regain consciousness. The staff tried to stop Hajime from doing so and started arguing with him. Suddenly, a cold voice rang out:

"What are you doing? What the hell is going on?"

Looking in that direction, a thin man wearing glasses, who gave the impression of rationality, was looking at them with a stern gaze.

"Secretary General Det! You've arrived just in time! This is what happened..."

The staff gathered around the man known as Secretary General Det as if they had seen a savior. After listening to the staff's reports, Det looked at Hajime and the others with sharp eyes.

It seems that there is no way to escape for the time being - Hajime and the others sighed inwardly.

The man known as Secretary Det pushed his glasses up with his middle finger and spoke calmly to Hajime and the others:

"I've heard the general outline of what happened, and there were many witnesses at the scene. What you say is likely true, though a bit excessive... But since no one was killed, let's consider it within acceptable limits. Anyway, until they regain consciousness and I hear their side of the story, I'll ask you to stay in Fren and provide proof of identity and contact information... You wouldn't even think of refusing such a request, would you?"

The implication was "Don't expect me to give in again, okay?" Hajime shrugged and replied:

"Okay, that's fine. If that fat pig over there still has any complaints, I'd rather you contact me. I'll try to convince him more carefully next time."

After saying this, Hajime handed the status board to Det, who looked helpless.

"As for the contact address, since we haven't found a hotel yet... you can ask the introducer there. We should stay at the hotel she recommends."

Hajime turned his gaze towards Lizzie, who shuddered, thinking, "So I have to be the one to introduce you...", and lowered her shoulders, revealing an expression of giving up resistance.

"Hmm, alright... 'Blue' and the others. The one lying over there is 'Black' and the others... Where are the status boards for the other two?"

Seeing Hajime's status board showing him at the lowest adventurer level, "Blue," Det was slightly surprised. However, having just heard that two women had defeated Reganido, he assumed Yue and Shia were stronger, and asked them to show their status boards.

"No, Yue and Shia... their status boards have been lost, and they haven't been replaced yet. You know how expensive it is to replace them, right?"

Hajime lied casually. Although after the two showed their unusually high strength, there might be no point in hiding it, even so, Hajime still wanted to avoid letting others know the details of his strength.

"But if we can't prove your identity, we'll have to keep a record. If you frequently cause trouble within the guild, regardless of whether you're the perpetrator or the victim, you'll be blacklisted. If you don't mind, the guild can cover the cost of reissuing your ID."

According to Det, proof of identity must be submitted no matter what.

However, if the guild created a status board, their unique magic would be clearly displayed in the skill bar before they went into hiding. Furthermore, it would probably also display items from the Age of Gods, which would definitely cause a stir. Even if there was a stir, they could just defeat those who wanted to harm them, but then they wouldn't be able to stay in this city.

Hajime was thinking this in a corner of his mind, becoming increasingly impatient. Yue seemed to see through his thoughts and said:

"…Hajime, Nobu."

“? Ahh, that letter…”

Hearing Yue say that, Hajime remembered that when he left Brook Town, Catherine from the Brook branch gave him a letter with unclear contents, and said that if there was any dispute related to the guild, as long as he showed the letter to the higher-ups, they might be able to help.

Thinking he might as well give it a try, if it didn't work, he'd just leave. He took the letter out of his pocket and handed it to Det. He had only listened to half of what Catherine was saying, so he didn't know what it said. He couldn't help but feel a little regretful. If he had known this would happen, he should have read the letter first.

"I'm not sure if this can be used as proof of identity, but a guild official I know said to give this letter to the higher-ups if you run into trouble."

"? Is it a guild staff member you know... Let me see."

Judging from the quality of their clothing, Det didn't think they were short of money, so he was puzzled by their resistance to reissuing their status plates. However, after opening the letter they had handed over as a substitute for identification and quickly reading its contents, a look of surprise gradually crossed his face.

Then, he looked back and forth between Hajime and the others' faces and the letter, reading it over and over again. From the way he read the letter with wide eyes, it seemed that he was trying to judge its authenticity.

Soon, Det folded the letter and carefully put it into the envelope. He looked at Hajime and the others again and said:

"If this letter is genuine, it can indeed prove your identity. However... I alone cannot confirm whether the person who wrote it is you. I will confirm with the branch manager. Please wait in the other room. It won't take much of your time; ten or fifteen minutes will be enough."

Seeing Det's unexpected reaction, they were a little surprised and wondered, "Who on earth is Catherine?"

"Well, if it's just that little bit of time, it's okay. I understand. We can wait."

"I'll ask the staff to show you the way. See you later."

Det called over a nearby staff member and instructed him to lead Shi and the others to the room. He then walked briskly into the depths of the guild, carrying the letter. The designated staff member asked Shi and the others to move. As they followed the instructions, a voice suddenly spoke, both confused and somewhat expectant:

"Um~ what should I do?"

It was Lizzy. Her eyes seemed to say, "Since you guys are going to discuss things in the guild, it has nothing to do with me, right?" It was obvious that she wanted to say goodbye to these problematic people like Hajime as soon as possible.

Hajime nodded as if it was a matter of course and answered clearly:

"Wait here... Don't run away, okay? You're a professional, right?"

"……yes."

Lizzy slumped her shoulders in disappointment and walked towards her seat in the cafe. Her back exuded the sadness of a working person who had to take a job she hated.

Ten minutes had passed since Hajime and the others were led to the reception room. There was a knock on the door. Hajime answered it, and a second later, the door opened. A man with slicked-back blond hair and sharp eyes, probably under forty, entered the room, along with Det, who had just appeared.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Irva Kangtani, the branch manager of the Adventurer's Guild's Fren branch. Mr. Hajime, Ms. Yue, Ms. Shia...may I address you as such?"

After briefly introducing himself, the branch manager, Ilva, called out the names of Hajime and the others with the intention of confirming them, and asked for a handshake, to which Hajime responded with a handshake.

"Okay, that's fine. Did the letter mention our names?"

"Yes, the teacher wrote in her letter that she thinks highly of you... or rather, you're very much in the spotlight. The gist of the letter is that you're young people with great potential, but you're naturally prone to getting into trouble, so if possible, she hopes to take good care of you."

"We're naturally prone to getting into trouble... We certainly got into trouble a lot back in Brook. But regardless of that, the important thing is, what about our identification? Will that clear us up?"

"Yes, because the teacher's letter says you're not a problem person. She's very good at judging people, and she specifically asked you to bring the letter. This letter can serve as proof of your identity."

It seemed that Catherine's letter was indeed useful to the guild's higher-ups, and they were quite trusted. Judging by the fact that they addressed Catherine as "teacher," their friendship must be quite deep. Shia, who was sitting next to Hajime, seemed particularly close to Catherine and seemed very curious about what he had said, so she asked timidly:

"Excuse me, who is Miss Catherine?"

"Hmm? Didn't she tell you? She used to be the guildmaster's secretary general at the guild headquarters in the royal capital. After that, she became an instructor teaching guild operations. Currently, 50-60% of the branch managers assigned to various towns are her students."

Upon hearing Catherine's unexpected identity, Hajime and the others looked surprised. Ilva gave them a wry smile and continued:

"I was one of them. I couldn't even hold my head up in her presence. Her beauty and good nature made her like a goddess to us back then, or rather, like an older sister we admired. After she got married, she transferred to the guild branch in Brook Town, believing that raising children in the countryside was better. Her announcement of her marriage was a bolt from the blue for us all. Not only the guild, but even the capital itself was shaken."

"So she's such a remarkable person~"

"...Yeah, Catherine is amazing."

"Although I knew she wasn't just an ordinary person... I didn't expect her to be such a key figure. She used to be so popular... but now... No, let's not talk about it."

Yue and Shia admired Catherine after learning her identity, but Hajime thought about the cruelty of time and couldn't help but look into the distance.

"Let's not worry about that for now. Since there's no problem now, can we go now?"