So, how is he?" Diana asked Elaine.
"Hmm? What are you talking about?" Elaine replied.
"Him, this Nine we are literally talking about. Out of the five of us here, you met him the most since the two of you meet each morning." Diana said, curiosity in her voice.
"Nothing much really. Just this morning he was muttering how he can't escape the guild or something like that."
"What? What are you talking about? Can't escape the guild? How does that make sense?" Diana was filled with questions, not understanding Elaine's words.
"I don't know. We don't even talk that much when we meet. Just every single morning, he'll just be there. And when we're done setting the quest on the board, he'll take on a herb collecting quest and leave. That's it. That's how our morning goes."
Diana was disappointed with her words. Out of the five of them, herself, Elaine, and Alexander were the only ones not married.
Unlike Beatrix and Catherine, who are already married and have children of their own. Still, she continued on asking Elaine about their daily meet-ups in the morning. In the end, Elaine said:
"This morning, the additional reward money for his first quest arrived. I think the total amount he received was around 20 gold coins and 60 silver coins... I think that's the highest amount of money I've seen someone get in their first quest."
"Wait? 20 gold coins!? How? I understand why he got those gold coins before, since the quest did say you'll receive a gold coin for every two manholes you open, but how did he get that much?" Diana asked. Her words made the other two curious about how Nine received such a large amount of money.
"Slayer."
"Slayer?" Diana repeated. "Slayer, what? What does that have to do with the amount of money he got today?"
"The mutated rat he killed a few weeks ago gives you a Slayer title if you kill it. It was because of it, he received such an amount of money."
"Okay, okay, continue on." Diana encouraged Elaine to continue her story.
"So, you know how the temple is part of the clean-up crew of the sewage system?" Elaine asked Diana.
"Yes, this is literally part of their job."
"Well, the clean-up crew this time isn't just the temple. Because he opened half of the manholes, the temple was able to purify more area than they could, allowing them to move deeper than ever. Because of this, the temple had to ask for help from the other guilds, such as the Valkyries, Whirlwind, and Mountain King guild."
Hearing the names of the guilds, the three listening to Elaine suddenly had their curiosity rise higher than before. The named guilds are all in the top 10 guilds within the continent, so having them involved in cleaning up the sewage system was a wild thing to hear.
"When the clean-up crew found the mutated rat body, a necromancer was with them. At that time, the three guild masters were also there. When the necromancer was about to turn the rat into his summon, he paused and said:
~ This rat gives you a Slayer title. ~
"Because of those words, the guild masters started fighting over the body—"
"Wait, I get that killing it would give you the title, but why would it matter if it's already dead?" Diana said, cutting Elaine's story.
"...." "Wait, will you. I was just about to go there." Elaine said, her tone filled with disgust.
"Sorry. Please continue on." Diana replied, begging for forgiveness.
"In that debate on which one will get the ownership of the mutated rat, the Valkyries guild master won. Then, the necromancer used a force summon skill, somewhat reviving the rat, allowing her to kill it and receive a Rat Slayer title."
Elaine didn't need to continue with her story to explain the next part. The three sisters already knew what happened after that.
The Valkyries guild master was a well-known figure for all the women of this world due to her reputation and her tragic past. Just like any adventurer, she too was once a low-ranking adventurer, taking on a quest with her team, helping each other.
In her autobiography, she tells how she was drugged by her own team and kept in a room for two months, where she was used as a way for them to relieve themselves. In her story, she escaped after biting off their manhood and killed them without hesitation.
This wasn't the reason for her reputation, but instead because of her unique skill: [Sisterhood]. A unique skill that allows her to share her Title effects with other women who she considers as her sisters.
With this skill, she is able to give others her own Title effects, with a small penalty of only being half of their original strength. This means that if she had a Title that increases her defense by 40%, then those who follow her will have 20% of its effects.
After escaping from that place, her story later spread among the other women who shared the same story as hers. And two weeks after killing those people, she established a guild that only accepted women.
Maybe because of that horrible chapter of her life, later on after making her guild she obtained a God-rank full-body armor within a dungeon, along with a skill: [Duplicate].
With her unique skill and the skill she got from the dungeon, she gave those who followed her a duplicate of her armor and Titles, allowing them to be stronger than before.
Though there was a bit of struggle with how the armor penalty of being infertile the moment you used it. Those who shared the same story as her didn't hesitate to put the armor on.
Creating this guild filled with over 9,000 women having the same armor, along with receiving her Title effects that improved their overall stats.
"So, the Valkyries guild master paid 18 gold coins for the mutated rat body. I think the Slayer title effect gives her a damage increase of 50% on rat-type beings. I can't remember it completely though." Elaine said, trying to remember the full details.
"Anyway, I'm done with my part of the story. So Beatrix... Tell me more about this quest he made?" Elaine said, staring into her eyes across the table.
She couldn't believe how Nine didn't bother to tell her about this quest, even though they had been meeting each other every morning without a miss.
"Oh, that. Don't bother with it. A week ago he asked to take it down because of the continuous bad takers of it. I think he told me back then that he found someone that will help him with his problem. So he's probably been spending his free time in the library with this person all this time."
In the end, the conversation about Nine stopped with how he's been spending his free time in the library with this person he met.
Elaine is simply disappointed at how she, the closest with him, didn't even know that he made a quest all this time.
Beatrix having her curiosity about Nine and Alexander's future meet-up.
Catherine, simply being reminded about the Valkyries guild master story.
Diana, expecting more about the development of Nine's relationship with both her younger sister and brother.
While Alexander is still cursing, thanking, and seeking Nine from his point of view, still ignorant of him being the same person.
"Oh, I forgot to say, he also received an experience gem that allows him to break 1 level." Elaine said out loud, remembering the other details of her interaction with Nine this morning.
*****
End of chapter 15.