Astraea: The Journey of Magic

Kuroki's group had finally entered the forest. Unlike the forests they knew however, this one had a far greater tree density than normal. In the truly thick areas, it could serve as a barrier that was impossible to get through, at least without the branches stealing every last thread of their clothes and getting some cuts and scars. That was how thick it was, and how thorny the branches could be. Many of them had leaves, but some appeared dead or corrupted.

"I hear this is an effect of monster blood. It can wither some plants and trees. No one is sure why its only some and not others however" Kuroki muttered. "It's probably a sign that plenty of monsters have died here, but a lot of this looks recent".

"Yeah. Most of this has to be recent" Riku muttered, "However, it looks like there is some really old stuff too".

He directed everyone's gaze to an old cobblestone road. It appeared to be some sort of ancient road, one that led deeper into the forest.

"I heard rumors that an ancient city used to exist out here, and that the old ruins actually surrounded the city of Azralia in various directions".

"I actually saw the ruins, there are tons by the west gate" Kaede added. Kuroki had entered the city through the south gate, but Kaede had entered from the west gate. As for this operation, it was mainly out of the north and eastern gates, as that is where all the goblin sightings have been. "I heard the ruins had an underground system, which is actually what the city's sewer system was based off of. Supposedly its some fallen kingdom".

Kuroki nodded. "I read in a book in master's library that this area is considered the frontier, and has a lot of unknowns to it. Supposedly there was a kingdom here, and its capital might have been here, but no one really knows much about it. It supposedly predates the Great Demon King, which means that it's apparently been lost to time".

"Why is that?" Ryuu asked.

"Because the Great Demon King nearly wiped out the world's population. Supposedly, only about ten thousand or so people survived, and they eventually spread out and repopulated the world. But a lot of history was lost, which resulted in many kingdoms and secrets being lost with them".

As Kuroki explained, they made it deeper into the woods. They found the landmark they were looking for was well, a large red boulder.

"Alright, we just need to hold this area, and we should be fine".

"What if something already got past this area?"

"Then hopefully the others deal with it. We cant move from this spot because we can't let anything, or at least anything else, get passed. Everyone still has their whistles, right?"

Each of them pulled on a piece of string around their necks, revealing a whistle connected to it. Using whistles, this was how they signaled to other groups. Kuroki blew into his whistle three times, signaling that they are okay here. Soon after, they heard three more whistles come from the north, another three to the east, and a faint one from the south east. The goblin force seemed to be mainly coming from the northeast, and holding fortified positions would help. In their case, the region they were currently assigned had a lot of ruins. This Forest Ruins region was expansive too, with plenty of trees and ruined structures blocking sightlines.

"This isn't very good" Kuroki mentioned. "Sight lines are terrible. We could run into ambushes easily, and we could end up fighting multiple Goblin groups at once".

"We don't know what foliage here might be safe either. I would recommend we watch from the buildings then the treetops".

Ryuu looked at him questioningly. "What, what do you mean by safe foliage?"

Kuroki took out a book from his bag. Even though it was precious bag space, since they were only making day trips into the wilds, he had deemed it okay. Things like bags of infinite holdings didn't exist, and there was no such thing as inventory magic either. The largest storage capacity possible were bags made specifically for corpses or wood, and apparently both were specific enough to include parasites and bugs as potentially invalidating them. In terms of general capacity bags, the largest would be up to doubling the interior storage of a bag, but those were the most expensive, especially on larger bags. Typically, adventurers their rank didn't even have expanded capacity bags at all, or if they did, they were small and only increased it by about twenty percent. Then again, given that they hunted things like Rabbits and Goblins on average, they probably didn't need that much space.

Furthermore, it wasn't like adventurers on average defeated hundreds or even dozens of monsters a day. In fact, it was generally just about a dozen or so monsters of their rank. At first, Kuroki thought that seemed a bit low, considering the battle they had in the Guild Hall, but after actually fighting monsters, Kuroki came to understand why. It wasn't just the fights themselves, they had to constantly stay alert and on guard. They had to walk all the way to these locations, and keep enough stamina in reserve to make it all the way back, as well as deal with any encounters they had on the way home. That was why a number of parties from this area alone had to pull back or needed relief or supplies, and why Amyris had told them to take a break after every battle. Especially consume sugary things, since it would help the most. He was the one who got them their juice, and their bags, except for Ryuu's. Ryuu had been supplied by Riza, and in fact Ellie had helped equip Kaede.

Incidentally, Kaede was wearing her field gear right now. There was no skirt or dress, she was wearing shorts like the rest of them that looked different from the first pair Kuroki saw, as they appeared more padded and were green, a short sleeve shirt that was a darker brown, black boots with a purple unicorn stitched into the side, and a padded short sleeve jacket that had a hood and was more of a leaf green color. It blended in well with the forest, and seemed to have enchantments to help reduce heat accumulation, reduce negative effects of standing in the sun for too long, and the boots were designed to help cushion the feet in addition to the socks and make it so they were better for long trips through the forest. It even blended into the forest rather well.

Incidentally, in the last few days, Kuroki and Riku had recieved some more clothes as well. Some were simple shorts and shirts, for practicing indoors or lounging around, some were simple clothes for quick in-city errands, and then there was spare underwear. That said, that was about all Amyris got for them, so laundry would still need to be done every few days. Incidentally, partially because it was hot and partially because they had compliantly gotten used to it, but they still slept in the nude. It was the norm for growing children to not get sleepwear since this world saw it pointless to get clothes just for sleeping that they would quickly grow out of. Clothes were very expensive after all, and they had only gotten this much so fast thanks to Ellie. However, apparently Amyris had gone beyond budget, and mentioned they would have to pay him back for all of this in the future as well as any future clothes needed. As such, Kuroki and Riku were fine with not getting any sleepwear. Especially when they saw the price tags for Ellie's clothes, they visibly paled.

Apparently, they were about fifty times as expensive as the average commoner clothes at least, with additional enchantment work driving the price up more. Amyris hadn't set a specific date they had to pay them back, and noted that doing chores around the house and helping with his research would help just a bit. That said, if they wanted an allowance, it would take even longer, which was yet another reason to earn money at the guild.

In truth, it was actually even more expensive then what they were shown, but Amyris wasn't cruel enough to make them pay him back completely. He knew their situation, and wanted to support them, so he wasn't even charging them for rent or for food, despite the latter being a serious concern for his wallet. At least Kaede and Ryuu's food situation and shelter were taken care of Ellie and Riza respectively, but Kuroki and Riku were two growing(?) boys, so servings were always big. Not to mention when his other apprentices came over. But at the same time, he knew he would do them no favors if he just gave them everything for free and let them forget about the common sense of this world, so he had to make them endure some embarrassing things and things they were not used to.

That said, Kuroki and Riku had figured something out some time ago. While Kaede and Ryuu scouted out some buildings, the two boys went over to a corner.

"So, what do you think, given the way they are acting as well?"

"Yeah. Its more then just mental fortitude that apparently every Starfallen gets. When I mentioned to Amyris, he said it was well known part of the Starfall made it so we would be able to adapt to this world better...but given everything, I think there is a secondary effect stacked up with it. If I had to give a word for it...Compliance, for sure".

"We don't have any real proof, but it explains a lot. We thought it over the past few days, and I think it fits. I mean, we became able to read, speak, and listen to the common language of this world as well".

They had roughly figured out they were under some sort of low level Compliance effect. But Kuroki took it a step further then Reiji and Juno did. He identified that it was actually two different things. Adaptation, something that Amyris said had been noticed of all Starfallen and summoned heroes, but also something else. A Compliance Effect.

It had influenced them ever so slightly back in the headquarters camp. Against the nobles, who seemed to use authoritive voices and who they knew had status and power, they felt like they it would be a bad idea if they didn't obey. It was still a rather vague feeling, not too strong, but it was the strongest they had ever felt before.

"I think our Mental Fortitude actually weakened the Compliance too" Kuroki noted. "It felt like it might have overwhelmed me normally".

"Same. So then...doesn't that mean the Mental Fortitude and the Compliance are not totally in sync then? Even though we gained it from the same effect?"

Kuroki pondered for a moment.

"...I think we cant assume we gained both from the Starfall. We already know the storm was abnormal, and that there was no reason for a whole city to become Starfallen. Apparently the cut off of gravity was a normal part of it, but not the storm. Which makes me wonder, if perhaps while the storm triggered the Starfall, it was actually...something else? Honestly, that's just a very loose theory. I have nothing to back it up, we don't have enough information".

"Yeah...I don't see how it could be something else and still trigger the Starfall. But what you are trying to say is...you think two different forces were at work?"

"Yes. One gave Compliance, and the other gave Adaptability and Mental Fortitude".

"We still lack enough information, but I think that's the best theory we have so far. It explains why they seem to be conflicting. Still have no idea why or what happened though".

Riku summed it up, they suddenly heard running footsteps. They came out from the alley, and saw Kaede and Ryuu engaged in combat with four goblins. They were hideous green humanoids, and were about .7 to .8 Kurokis tall. Once again, an opponent smaller than Kuroki. He wouldn't be able to test out ideas the Martial Artist Rabbit gave him here. Instead, he quickly manipulated mana to form an unstructured magic attack.

"Tsk. Fly, Stormbird!"

Kuroki used mana manipulation to send out a bird made of lightning, which went after some of the Goblins. One seemed to dodge the attack, while another got hit full force and was fried. Ryuu blocked and parried a Goblin with a club, while Kaede blocked other with her daggers.

Riku quickly used Brilliant Flash to get next to Kaede and behead the Goblin in an instant. In their old world, the technique wasn't this strong, but thanks to their enhanced physical abilities, Riku was able to go much faster when he used it, although apparently the recoil was a bit stronger as well. Maybe even more than a bit.

The Goblins were now down to two. Kuroki froze the ground under them, which allowed Kaede and Ryuu to each get a kill. And just like that, they were done for.

These things were weaker, slower, and easier to hit then the Martial Artist Rabbit. In other words...

"...so that Rabbit must have been F...no, E-Ranked?"

"Seems likely. Also I think I hesitate less against Goblins" Kaede admitted as she responded to Kuroki's theory.

"Rabbits are supposed to be H or G Ranked...would one of them suddenly shoot up to E?"

"I think its feesible...although I think Rabbits are still a poor matchup for us unless Kuroki uses wide area of effect magic".

"That would be a real big waste of mana...we need to get better at reading their escape and movement patterns".

Riku looked back at the Goblins. "At least we should be fine against humanoids. Thats something, right?"

"Well, Goblins anyways. Orcs are even tougher. They are considered Rank D. And thats just base Orcs. Higher Ranking Orcs are C, and there are some threats among them that can reach B. Occasionally, an A-Rank threat can even emerge".

"Yeah, but given how we have more trouble with rabbits then Goblins, I feel like we can't rely on the ranking system that much".

"But I don't think we should drop our guards against Goblins either. For now, let's rest and then see about a good position to keep watch from. This looks like a residential area that was overgrown, so we should rest inside one of the buildings".

The group headed into one of the ruined buildings, and proceeded to sip on more juice. They also took out their lunch boxes and proceeded to have a bit of a late lunch, since it had passed noon about two or three hours ago.

Each of them was a rather basic preserved food admittedly. A sandwich, some fruit, as well as some eggs. These lunch boxes were made by Amyris and Ellie, was well as thanks to a craftsman they knew. That said, since they were rush jobs, they were limited in scope. They would only preserve the temperature of food put into it for ten hours, and it wasn't a perfect preservation. The eggs had gone in freshly hot, but now they were just decently warm. The meat in the sandwich was the same, and the fruits had only been partially chilled. Of course, part of this was due to the size of the lunchbox itself. Preservation spells were tricky. It couldn't apply to the food itself, or else it would cause mana sickness from eating them. As such, it was the container that was enchanted to keep them preserved. As it was an indirect method, the efficiency depended on a lot, including the size of the spell. Since these were lunchboxes, naturally that meant that the effect was also small. Amyris' pantry was much larger, so the effect was about a hundred times more significant.

Of course, this meant that a single lunchbox would only last for one day basically before depleting its power, so it wasn't good for long trips. On long trips, they would have to use preserved food the entire way. Dried food, salt, the whole shebang. Something about food made it impossible to make a specialized bag for it, perhaps because of its variety, but even just for a single type of fruit was difficult. Some thought it might be due to the seeds and the juices, or perhaps because it was some other factor.

That said, despite all these limitations, these lunchboxes were still completely a luxury item, proof they were being spoiled still. Normal F-Ranks would never have access to these lunchboxes, and would have to always eat normal preserved food. That or anything they hunted and gathered in the field, but cooking outside was dangerous since it could attract monsters. You had to set up a special cooking tent to avoid the smell getting out, and either do it around foul-smelling plants that would keep the monsters away or put up some sort of repellant of your own. Gathering fruits were far easier and better, especially since there was always fruit all year round somehow.

It seemed there were many fruit trees that had evolved and adapted differently. They would produce fruit multiple times a year, and would even produce it in winter. There was also some fruit, such as Icybells, a fruit unique to this world, that only became ready to pick and eat in the winter, while others were spring, summer, or fall. This meant there were options all year round.

Considering their clothes were also high quality that protected them far better then normal adventurers their rank, they were really having it easier in those aspects then other F-Rankers. That said, perhaps in exchange, they were having difficulty when it came to the experience gap. They had power, but they were only decently skilled at handling humanoid opponents. As they practiced more, they would be able to use their power better, but if they got too cocky and conceited, they would probably suffer casualties.

As they finished up with lunch, Ryuu suddenly looked sad.

"...I miss my parents".

"...same".

Unlike Kuroki, whose mom disappeared long ago and whose dad was someone he hated, and Riku, who had lost and grieved his parents long ago, Kaede and Ryuu had only recently been separated from their parents. Furthermore, since their parents' fates were unknown and they could still be alive, they couldn't just give up those thoughts or hope. The two were faced with such pain, and they would need to settle up with those emotions regularly since they lacked the closure or knowledge they needed.

"Don't worry. I am sure they will be fine" Kuroki said, knowing his words were hollow and baseless but trying to be sincere.

"Frankly, the odds aren't all that terrible for us. We have our mysterious Guardian Angel after all".

"Ah, you mean whoever organized the two of you to no longer be cursed?"

Kuroki nodded. "We would probably still be stuck in bed, in pain and shitting and peeing constantly if it wasn't for whoever led Akano through the spirit realm to remove our curse".

"What a nasty curse, being able to spread its aftereffects to anyone who got affected" Riku muttered. Both he and Kuroki had nearly suffocated to death, and its possible had Amyris not weakened it that they would have shit themselves to death or something. And then, Akano finished off the lingering curse fragments that Amyris was unable to, since the curse had adapted to his magic.

This had allowed them to make progress the last few days. Its unlikely Kaede would have used Amyris' simulation alone, so provided Kuroki and Riku recovered by today, they would have only started their emergency training.

In truth, simulator training wasn't as useful the more actual experience you got. It was best for getting people started, but the growth needed for higher rank adventurers would not occur without experience in the real world. One could think of it as also having diminishing returns as well, at least from how Amyris explained it.

But it was true that if they had not had their curse broken, they would have probably just been recovering now, or maybe not even then. Amyris said at worst it would have taken a week. It was only day five.

"Based on the theory, whoever set all that up may have set other things up as well. But Master thinks their biggest goal...was to make it so we would be able to take part in this mass subjugation".

"So they are saying our presence will be important?"

Kaede nodded. "I doubt I would have done this without the two of you here".

"Riza said it was a good opportunity since the three of you were doing it, so maybe me too!"

"Exactly. I don't see how we would provide a major contribution, but...it might be a butterfly effect thing. Perhaps, by providing support here for after Devil's Bane had to pull back, it stops Goblins from pressing damage elsewhere, causing us to have more people pull back or at worst, die. Which then snowballs further".

"So your saying, it might be that we don't have to do something big and flashy? Whew".

Kaede was relieved, but Ryuu looked dissatisfied.

"But it would be way cooler if we did something big and flashy!"

"Coolness means nothing compared to good health" chided Kaede. Kuroki agreed with her. However, then she went a step further. "Besides, isn't Riku the really cool one for remaining calm and being so reliable rather then focusing on flashy things?"

"Hmmm? U-uh, yeah. Thanks, Kaede".

"I wonder if we should have you both sitting in a tree" Kuroki mused, but Riku and Kaede didn't get the reference.

Once that was done, and they were fueled up, they each took a position on a different rooftop. They had practiced hand signals the day before when they first got assigned an area, so they had something to use for them, since the whistles were for party to party communication.

One finger up meant Kuroki. Two meant Riku. Three meant Kaede. Four meant Ryuu. One finger sideways meant attack, two meant pull back, three meant hide or reposition into a new hiding spot, and four meant they all should group up. When it was down, it meant the number of enemies one had spotted. In addition, each one had a small mirror to use to flash at the others to gain their attention. This was how Kuroki organized it so they could communicate nonverbally. If it was an emergency, one was to flash their eyes once for a long period of time. Otherwise, the flashes were there to get attention mainly, since its possible they might accidentally slip or something and flash an extra time then they meant to.

That said, the mirrors were also good for checking corners, which they did a lot in these ruins. This let them spot a rather large group of goblins first for a change.

Kuroki saw them from behind an old belltower, signaling the others to look at him with flashes. He put both his hands with all his fingers stretched out down twice. Since it was hard for them to see if the thumb was down or not, they only used the other four fingers. Since he did it twice, that meant a major problem. Sixteen goblins in total. Significantly larger then any other group they had encountered.

That said, not a single one was a hob. They were all base goblins, and all of them seemed to be around a fire, cooking meat. Thankfully, Kuroki could clearly tell from where he was that this was not human meat, but some beast. It became clear rather then being organized into a large team, the Goblins were just all here for food, not some larger organization. In fact, based on their movements and spacing, it appeared to be two groups of four, one group of three, and one group of five. They had heard about a five goblin group sighting, and that it was very rare, so that meant they just plainly got unlucky. This would make the sixth confirmed case out of over a hundred that Kuroki knew of.

As the leader, Kuroki made the decision not to attack. The goblins had higher numbers, and there wasn't enough cover to get close. Kuroki's Water Puppetry was limited in its range, being a close-range technique. He couldn't use his magic to reach that far yet, and they would undoubtedly see the attacks coming and dodge or attack with that big a group. Freezing the ground underneath them again required him to get closer then he was, and they were cooking in an open courtyard so they would again see him. Even Riku couldn't reach it without using two Brilliant Flashes in a row, which would mean wasting one of them and risking serious strain.

He signaled to everyone that they would be pulling out and gain some distance, and then they would do two long whistles. Two long whistles were what you did when you wanted to make a report, different from two shorter and higher whistles. This would have a group that's working as a mobile force, such as the E-Rank Party Deep Dashers, to come to them to receive that report and relay it as necessary.

That said, they had to wait until they were far enough away from the Goblins. Too close, and the Goblins would surely come to investigate. Just the right distance, and they might get curious, but they wouldn't automatically go towards the noise.

Once they made their distance, Kuroki used the whistle, and they held their ground. A goblin group must have been closer then they realized, because they emerged from a back alley to attack a few minutes later. Kuroki was charged at, so he used his Water Puppetry Technique to dance around them and then skewer them, in an admittedly brutal fashion. He took two down just like that, and Riku used his Flare Enchant Incendia to get through another. Ryuu tried to take one down, but he got a bit too overeager and overdid it, letting the Goblin dodge him. Kaede however got around behind the Goblin and assassinated it, taking them down instantly.

"Nicely done, you guys" a familiar voice said. Kuroki turned around, and the leader of Deep Dashers was there, along with his brothers.

"Ah. Thanks for responding. I am Kuroki, leader of the Silver Storm".

"My name is Dia, leader of the Deep Dashers. These are my brothers Kia, Ria, Mia, and Lia".

The others nodded politely as they were introduced. Aside from their rabbit tails and ears, they seemed rather normal. They actually were decently close to Kuroki in height, even though they were all fifteen like him, which made Kuroki feel just a bit more comfortable.

"So, what is the report?"

"We encountered a gathering of what appeared to be four groups of goblins having a meal break over there. There was a group of five, a group of three, and two groups of four, for sixteen in total".

"Sixteen huh...but they looked like they were staying within their own groups, rather then totally unified?"

"Based on the spacing I observed between them, their body language suggested that".

"I see. It is worrying that so many gathered together, but I suppose if they are cooking food it can't be helped. They probably wanted the extra numbers to discourage predators who might want to get them normally, and also in these ruins there should be less natural predators so it probably is why they did it here".

"What should we do about it?"

Dia looked at the sun. It was getting close to setting, which meant it was soon time to pull back.

"With nine of us, we would have to almost take two goblins each. It should be possible, but do you have the stamina for it and to deal with any attacks as we head back? I think once we take this sixteen down, you should head back immediately. Its likely thats all the goblins in this area for today, or at least it would thin them enough that the other parties should be fine, and we will cover for everyone else as they pull back after you anyways".

"In that case, I think we should be fine. It would be best not to worry they might think about grouping up like this tomorrow".

"I agree. Can you show us the area you spotted them in?"

Kuroki nodded, and they led them back towards the plaza. Kuroki and Dia climbed an old tower to get a good view of the courtyard or plaza the Goblins were in. Dia eyed them all, confirming what he saw.

"No hobs, no archers, no mages or shamans. Just a whole lot of basic goblins".

"So, what do you think?" Kuroki asked.

"We stick with the plan. We will divide ourselves as we arranged on the way here. The two of us stick together. Kia will go with Kaede. Ria will go with Riku. Mia and Lia will go with Ryuu. This is based on my estimated skill levels and also party composition".

"Yes, that should work. I will signal the others we plan to attack".

"Yes. Very nice on the signals by the way. Me and my brothers use similar approaches" he said, taking out his own mirror. "Its nice to see you are not rushing off into danger just because you reached F-Rank so fast. That is how a lot of newbies die after all".

"Yeah...I mean, the guys we fought were both high and drunk. I suspect if they had been sober, it would have been rough for us".

"Indeed. I was actually there and saw the fight myself. You have skill and power, but you need more experience. You could have taken those thugs down much faster if you were more used to fighting with magic".

"I would like to hear some details on that".

"Well, admittedly I only have a theory on your magic technique, but I don't think you were using it as effectively as you could have. You often did only one motion at a time, but since it was linked to your body movement, had you done simultaneous actions, I think you could have performed a multitude of attacks at once and defeated them faster".

"I see...that's a bit hard to do, but its certainly something I could learn soon. I didn't think of that at all, thanks for the tip".

"No problem. I am happy to help my fellow adventurers and juniors learn and become better".

Dia gave off serious warm big brother energy. Apparently they were all twins, or rather quintuplets, although there were some differences with each of their faces or heights, if only by a bit. But Kuroki figured it was possible Dia might have been born first. Or he could be wrong, he could be the youngest but best capable of leadership. Age didn't always mean wisdom or good leadership ability, so letting someone with the best leadership skill was always the best. And Dia definitely did have that.

The four groups surrounded the goblins, and then Kuroki gave the signal for everyone to attack. That was Dia rushing forward with Kuroki right behind him. Two goblins immediately attacked them, but Dia drew his sword while using magic to cause spikes of earth to shoot out of the ground at one of the goblins. It killed it instantly, as he cut through the other one. Kuroki meanwhile was already incanting, using his poetic sounding incanting style.

"A frozen field of icey death. Fear creeps up through your breath. Prevent them from resisting death's cold touch. Bring them down upon the floor. Frozen Field!"

Ice shot out from beneath Kuroki's feet, stretching out and coating the entire ground underneath them with ice. Kuroki had already cast a spell on all their shoes earlier to prevent slipping, which meant that while they had good footing, the goblins did not. Several of them slipped from surprise, as Kuroki had made it close to the middle of the plaza and was able to coat the entire battlefield in ice. One goblin used a sling to launch a rock at Kuroki's head, but he was able to dodge it, falling backwards in the process. He tried to get up, but he had difficulty.

Shit! I only put the spell on our shoes!

He realized his mistake, and called out to the others as they began their attack. "Don't fall down!"

One goblin launched another sling at Kuroki, but he was able to use a barrier to block it in time. Dia managed to cut the head off of another one, while Kuroki made an ice spike shoot up from the ground right into a Goblin using his mana. Everyone else jumped in as well, surprising Goblins on all sides with many being cut through. Kaede got around and assassinated one, and Riku managed to get two. Ryuu tried to get two, but only managed to get one and cut the arm off another, which Mia then finished off with a firebolt spell. Lia meanwhile got a Goblin that tried to get Ryuu from the side.

Soon enough, all of the goblins were completely decimated by the ambush, and they had successfully taken them all down. That said, Kuroki's group in the end only managed about seven kills, while Dia's party got nine. Almost every kill after the initial ambush was done by Dia's party, who was able to follow through with their next attacks better. A learning experience for Kuroki's group to be sure.

"Nicely done. You fight very well for F-Rankers".

"Thanks, but we couldn't hold a candle to you" Kuroki said as Dia helped him up, and Kuroki dismissed the frozen floor.

"Well, it can't be helped. In truth, me and my party are almost D-Rankers now. We will probably hit D-Rank after this large scale quest".

"Oh wow. I heard Soaring Shields were almost E-Rankers as well, so it seems like there is a chance for quite a few promotions".

"Yeah. Everyone is working hard. To be honest, my biggest concern right now is interference from jealous adventurers or those who are currently underperforming, like the party that was here before, Devil's Bane".

"What kind of party are they anyways?"

"They are an E-Rank party with potential for D-Rank depending on their ability. However, they have a bad attitude and are not diligent like you guys are. Furthermore, they are absurdly arrogant and prideful. I mean, they called themselves Devil's Bane. Honestly when I first heard they named themselves that, I was really worried if we would be okay. After all, that seems like you are just asking for the Devils to come and attack you".

"Thats a fair point".

"Honestly, adding Devils, Demons, Dragons, Krakens, or Leviathan to your name is a major taboo. At least while your low ranked and if you do it yourself. Now if someone else proclaims that for high ranking adventurers who earned it, like Ozlo the "Dragon Caller", that is different. He absolutely earned that name of his, as did his grandfather, Dragon Vanquisher. In those times its okay because they both earned it".

"Right, makes sense".

"There are some other taboos too regarding naming. Naming your party after a Demon King for instance is asking for trouble, and trying to use the name of a prince or a king without permission from the royal family is also super dangerous. In fact, using any royal terms like Kings or princes can go badly, although there are some cases where it got allowed. But a lot of arrogant people will probably target you to put you down and lift themselves up, so again, you should avoid it. Also, Gold. You should avoid Gold. Silver is passable though, especially given your connection to the Magician of the Silver Hour, most people should be fine with that".

Kuroki was happy to hear this. He got worried when he learned Gold could be seen as gaudy or arrogant as well. Although apparently, there was a party who was named Golden Dawn that was okay, because their magic was a sort of gold colored fire and the leader had golden colored hair. They continued their discussion for awhile, but it was mostly just smalltalk. Of course, Kuroki avoided any talk about their origins.

After obtaining the magic cores and the proofs of subjugations, Deep Dashers made sure to escort Kuroki's party to the forest's edge just to be safe, before returning to their duties.

And just like that, their first day of the Large-Scale Hunt concluded with some mixed results and some successes.