The Blessed Dog Whistle
That day, there was an unusual person at the guild.
I’d met him face to face several times, and we’d had work-related conversations occasionally. That kind of person.
Since he rarely showed his face, his presence was inevitably thin. However, he was undoubtedly the person with the highest position in this guild.
His muscular, large frame was adorned in the finest clothes in the guild.
The wrinkles between his brows were deep, and he had a face that always seemed angry about something.
That man, who perfectly embodied the image of a difficult, important person, was Ramley-san.
He’s the person who serves as the guild master of the Legol branch.
“As those here know, we’re simply short-handed!”
The guild doesn’t have things like instruction sessions or morning assemblies, but when he speaks, you want to listen quietly. He has that kind of mysterious voice.
The men who had been noisily drinking in the tavern, the guys who had been worrying in front of the bulletin board, the beginners who had been polishing their equipment—they all stopped their hands and mouths to pay attention to the guild master.
“Last year we were particularly troubled by timber shortages. You all know the reason. Legol’s population surged! And this year will be even worse. Escorting logging operations, transportation, pioneering… we simply lack manpower!”
Raina and I exchanged glances like “what’s all this about?”
Even though he usually leaves the guild to Vice-Master Jeltna-san, why on earth has the guild master come here?
Ramley-san is always out in the noble district doing various things. It’s not like he came specifically to give us a principal-like speech.
“And when autumn comes again! The wheat harvest season will arrive! Many guildsmen from Legol will go out as escorts during that time, but to handle many jobs during the harvest season as well, we need to increase the number of mobile guildsmen!”
Having said that much, Ramley-san posted a piece of parchment on the bulletin board.
What, what is it?
“From now until before the autumn harvest period, we will increase the days when advancement exams are held, and discount the participation fees! Also, we have partially relaxed advancement restrictions for Bronze-rank and below! We simply lack manpower right now! Those with motivation should use this opportunity to work hard for exam success!”
After saying all that, Ramley-san hurriedly left the guild.
He’s still like a storm of a person. I’ve been here a long time, but I still don’t understand that man.
“…They’re making advancement exams cheaper, huh.”
“If Bronze advancement becomes easier, I’d like to try it. The escort request rewards will go up too, right?”
“Starting today? Then today’s exams too?”
“Awesome, the guild master is the best.”
I can’t help but think about whether condition relaxation is proper for exams, but it would be a welcome development for the guildsmen taking them.
The young rookie guildsmen are getting excited about this windfall of good fortune. Advancement from Iron to Bronze will become easier too, and that would increase their job options and stabilize their earnings.
“My promotion exam today is getting cheaper too, Yeah.”
“Oh, that’s a nice bonus. The exam from Bronze to Silver hasn’t been relaxed, but Raina should be fine.”
“Yeah… Sheena-senpai and Ulrika-senpai tell me that, but I wonder how it’ll go… But since I’m doing it, I’ll give it my all, Yeah!”
Right. Today is Raina’s promotion exam.
From Bronze 3 to Silver 1. It’s an important day for Raina, with her long-awaited Silver rank on the line.
“What, if it’s Raina, it’ll be a piece of cake. I guarantee it myself.”
“…A Bronze 3 is saying something, Yeah. Mongrel-senpai should take it together with me today too, Yeah.”
“Give it your all, Raina! I’ll be cheering you on while drinking ale!”
“Could you please stop having a drinking party using someone’s promotion exam as an appetizer!?”
And so, I decided to enjoy myself as a spectator today.
“What, I thought everyone would come to watch over her, but it’s just Sheena.”
“Everyone else is on missions. I was concerned, but it’s not an exam that requires worrying and watching over her. So just me for now.”
I thought all of Artemis would come out to cheer for Raina like protective guardians, but only Sheena was in the audience. Apparently, the promotion exam to Silver is more lenient than I thought. Or rather, with Raina’s skill, there’s nothing to worry about.
“Is that Alectra from ‘Harvest Sword’ watching over their rookies?”
“Yeah, well. Some of ours were at the right time too. Since Sheena was here, I was talking with her.”
Alectra, the vice-leader of “Harvest Sword,” was sitting next to Sheena.
She’s a caring, big-sister type. I see her watching exams like this pretty often.
“Geez, Mongrel is really pathetic. He’s already being overtaken by Raina, who was his junior two years ago. How long are you planning to play around in Bronze?”
“Yes, I’m pathetic~”
“This guy is still annoying as ever!”
“…It’s useless to try to provoke this man seriously.”
While we were going on like this, Raina’s exam began.
The content was target practice.
Multiple targets placed at a distance had numbers written on them, and she had to shoot them in the order they were called out.
This apparently also serves as a vision test, as it would be difficult if you couldn’t clearly recognize the distant numbers. Well, even if your archery skills are good, it would be meaningless if you misidentify targets. “I shot a human thinking it was a monster” wouldn’t be funny.
“Next, ‘7’!”
“Yeah.”
To me, it looks like an incredibly difficult exam, but for Raina, it seems like a piece of cake. She doesn’t even seem to be using “Star Sight.”
She was smoothly shooting through the targets as they were called out.
“The distance isn’t that big a deal, and the targets themselves are large.”
“The distance isn’t that big a deal?”
“Archers are amazing. Raina-chan really does well at her age.”
“She’s our pride, our new recruit. No, I can’t treat her as a new recruit anymore… fufu.”
Eventually, a board with what looked like monster illustrations was placed on the ground, and a different exam began.
This time, the exam content was to aim and shoot at the weak points of the monsters drawn on the board.
Looking at the illustration, the hypothetical enemy appears to be a Charge Deer, and targeting the eyes, neck, heart, etc. seems to result in high scores.
The shooting position was also moved a bit further away, so as expected, Raina became conscious of precision shooting and used “Star Sight” to suppress hand tremor.
“Oh my, she’s skilled.”
“She really does well even with stationary targets.”
“She could have passed a year ago if she wanted to.”
Seriously? If Artemis had been serious about it, she might have been Silver last year already.
“But being able to hit stationary targets doesn’t mean you can fight monsters. Besides, you need to get used to the tension and atmosphere of actually facing prey, or you’ll freeze up when it matters.”
“Ah, I understand that. Even if you’re strong in sparring practice, actual combat is different.”
“…Right. Newbies should get accustomed by gaining more experience suited to their level. The guild leader mentioned relaxing promotion requirements for Bronze and below earlier, but I have my doubts about that too.”
“That… it’s true we were incredibly busy during last year’s harvest season, but…”
“They were desperately wanting people they could mobilize.”
…Wanting to secure more Bronze and Silver ranks, huh.
Just hearing that… and it’s harvest season too. I get a strong feeling this is preparation for conscription.
But it’s still summer. Can you really catch signs of war this early? Surely Halperia isn’t planning to attack first. If so, the most likely scenario is they’ve detected Sunglaire’s invasion preparations, but what kind of preparation starts this early in the season?
This definitely isn’t preparation for a small-scale conflict.
“Sheena. If Raina ever gets conscripted, you’ll protect her, right?”
“You don’t need to tell me that?”
Sheena laughed through her nose.
“Even if we end up under an incompetent commander, we won’t be used up and discarded.”
“…You’re confident.”
“I could protect Mongrel along with her too, you know?”
“I can protect myself.”
“What’s this, what’s this? Is Artemis trying to recruit Mongrel too?”
“Isn’t Alectra’s group recruiting?”
“Some of them are, but I’m against it. We don’t need any more perverts like our leader in our party.”
“Fufu.”
“Hey now, stop treating me like a pervert.”
“Shut up. You get along with our leader anyway.”
No, I’d rather pass on that too… Alectra, could you tell Dick Vault for me…
“I smoothly got promoted, Yeah!”
“Congratulations, Raina! You did well…!”
“Yes! Man, it was easier than I thought and kind of anticlimactic, Yeah!”
Raina safely passed the exam and was promoted to Silver 1.
From now on, she’ll take on missions carrying a brand new silver plate. Kids grow up fast…
“From now on, should I stop calling Mongrel-senpai ‘senpai,’ Yeah? …Maybe change how I address you to Mongrel-san or something… Or maybe Mongrel-senpai should call me senpai…”
“Oh, that sounds interesting. Fufu.”
“Raina-senpai! Please treat me well! Please go easy on me!”
“…Let’s just keep things as they were, Yeah.”
She can’t get the actual Silver plate yet. It needs personal numbers and name engravings. The earliest she’ll receive it is tomorrow or later.
“Oh right, I’ve actually prepared a celebration gift for Raina’s passing.”
“Eh?”
“I figured you’d pass sooner or later. Here, take this.”
I pulled out a pale pink accessory from my pocket and placed it in Raina’s palm.
“It’s a pendant carved from an orca’s fang. You can remove the cord and attach it differently if you want.”
“Wow… h-how did you get this… amazing. Ah, it’s a dog, Yeah…!”
“I bought that fang when I was buying whale baleen at the market. Then I worked super hard filing it down to make this.”
The design is something I came up with – a stylized mongrel dog face.
I drilled holes in various convenient places, so it’s easy to thread cord, chain, or leather straps through. It would look good tied together with dog tags.
“By the way, that thing has a round ball inside, and if you remove the cord and blow hard into that hole there, it’ll make a whistle-like sound.”
“A whistle, Yeah?”
“If you ever get lost alone somewhere or can’t move in an emergency, blow it as hard as you can. If there are people nearby, they should come help you. If you’re lucky, anyway.”
So this is an accessory-type whistle. Honestly, I thought it might be a bit overprotective, but well, it’s like a good luck charm. Since it’s practical too, it gives me peace of mind if she carries it.
“You’re skillful at making things… You should become a craftsman.”
“Nah, even something this small took me several days. That’s impossible.”
“Heh, Mongrel can make stuff like this. It’s pretty cute.”
Raina is staring intently at the cheeky dog-faced accessory.
Was the design off?
“…I’m so. So very happy, Yeah. Mongrel-senpai, thank you!”
“O-oh. If you’re that happy about it, it makes me happy too. …Congratulations, Raina. Even as a Silver, keep safety first and do your best.”
“Yes!”
Apparently my handmade accessory will be put to use. Good, good. It looks like it won’t end up buried in a desk drawer or something, which is a relief.
“Ah, by the way Raina, if you fit an arrow shaft into that hole and then shoot, it becomes a whistling arrow that echoes with the whistle sound. I haven’t tested it, but try it when you have free time.”
“I don’t want to use it that way, Yeah!? I’d lose it, Yeah!”
“…You even add weird functions to gifts for other people.”
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