Everyone downstairs had gone quiet. The boys who'd been crowding around the counter girl — silent. The ones gossiping with each other — silent. The guild felt empty even though it was packed.
Everyone stared at the stairs.
The girl at the counter was lost in thought too.
"How does that boy have that card? Impossible. That card can take you anywhere in the world." she thought to herself.
Shine had followed Jhed up.
"Maruls — you're the one who brought them here, right? Do you know them?" someone asked.
"No, we met them in the flower forest. But he's an S-Class adventurer." Everyone listened carefully to Maruls.
"What?" The whole room spoke at once.
"S-Class means he's seriously powerful," one man said.
"Right — only an S-Class adventurer could have that card." The man beside him agreed.
Conversation spread through the room.
Nobody quite understood what made the card so rare. The thing was — until it was registered at a local guild, you couldn't teleport to that location at all.
"When I was little and Linea was in the forest — she came to save me first, and faster than anyone. Even running full speed through a forest takes ten, fifteen minutes. But she was beside me in seconds. She must have had a teleportation card too." Jhed sat there turning over old memories.
"So — the Mariana guildmaster, Ro-Ro, gave you this as a gift," the Guild Master said, studying both their faces carefully.
"Are you telling the truth, or did you take it from somewhere?"
"No, no — we didn't steal it. Ro-Ro genuinely gave it to us," Shine said.
"What exactly did you do to earn a gift like this?" The Guild Master wasn't convinced.
"We can't tell you that," Jhed said.
"Well — you're probably telling the truth anyway. A stolen card doesn't work." The Guild Master laughed.
"I was testing you. Alright — I believe you. Now tell me, what rank are you?"
"I'm an S-Class adventurer. And he just became one recently." Shine gestured toward Jhed.
"S-Class—? Show me your ID." The Guild Master looked genuinely startled.
He examined Shine's ID. "You really are S-Class. But as far as I know — S-Class adventurers disappeared years ago. Not the ones who joined the Demon Lord — I mean the ones who were fighting against him. They all vanished." The Guild Master was around fifty, broad-shouldered, with hair beginning to go silver. An unusual locket hung around his neck.
"He's probably talking about the adventurers I saw in Animal's room — Animal enslaved all of them. I can't tell him that. It was in the contract terms." Jhed thought to himself.
"We don't know anything about that."
"Fair enough. I'll get your card registered. But keep it safe — people will go to great lengths to get something like this. It makes everything easier — teleport anywhere you've registered. Just remember, you have to register it at each location's guild first."
"Yes, we know," Shine said, taking the card back.
Jhed was dunking a biscuit into his tea and eating it.
"By the way — my name's Daichi."
"I'm Shine, and this is Jhed."
"Listen, Shine, Jhed — stay with me while you're in this town. Everyone downstairs knows about the card now. I'm not calling them thieves. But people's intentions can change. You'll be safer with me. I know you're S-Class — but still."
Daichi said.
Jhed and Shine agreed. They'd stay at Daichi's place.
They went back downstairs with him and got the card registered.