[ Then, please enter here. ] After just a few seconds of walking, Shiro and his companions have finally reached their destination.
And there stood in front of them is a door made of dark wood that"s carved with a figure of what seemed to be a man with a large sword on his waist, riding a horse.
( This is the guild master"s room, huh? )
Shiro muttered inside his head as Diana has finally opened the door for them and entered. And as the person in front, Shiro was the first to enter after Diana.
( ...! )
Entering the room, Shiro"s eyes were pierced by the bright light inside, forcing him to close them.
...
...
Soon, just a blink later, Shiro opened his eyes again and what was revealed to him were neither light bulbs nor candles that can produce the bright light that had just pierced his eyes, but instead were sets of armors and different kinds of weapons that are all plated with gold and some unknown materials that reflected the light of the sun that was coming out from the large window at the edge of the room. Looking around the room further, other than the weapons and the set of armors hanging beside the walls, the only other furniture inside were two soft-looking sofas and a single gla.s.s table that separates the two sofas in the middle of the room... Besides them, there was nothing more notable thing or furniture that can be seen inside.
After a.n.a.lyzing the room, Shiro finally turned his head to the old man that was sitting on the sofa in the other corner of the room.
( He"s the guild master, huh? ) Shiro thought as he looked at him.
In the game Shiro had played, the term "Guild Master" is one of the names the leader or the person who created a "Group" or a "Guild" is called. In his time in the game, he never experienced being the leader of other players, that"s why he doesn"t know how the guild master was supposed to work, especially here in this new world where it might resemble a few things in the game, is still very different from it.
[ Welcome, Vlad-san... sama... ] with his husky and deep voice, he welcomed Shiro with respect while also looking straight at his eyes.
Even though his face was that of an old man, with a very long beard, a mustache, and lots wrinkles on his face, the structure of his body was completely different from any old person Shiro has seen. He was tall, his chest was large and his muscles are well built, his skin has the texture of an old tree, climbing with roots; rough and full of veins that are about to pop out.
[ Please sit. ] saying so, he held a hand towards the soft-sofa just in front of Shiro.
And so, Shiro followed and sat on the sofa. Instantly, he felt the softness of the cotton the sofa was made of. It may not match the softness of his own sofa, but it still managed to make him comfortable.
Feeling comfortable, soon, all of the people that followed Shiro were now also inside, standing only behind him.
Shiro is already used to seeing his trio do this, but seeing Caiden and Alicia also stand behind him while he sat on the comfortable seat made Shiro felt a little distressed. But of course, he immediately brushed off that thought and he turned his eyes to the guild master.
[ It"s nice to meet you, guild master...? ] Shiro made his most casual greeting while also trying to intentionally ask the name of the person in front of him at the same time.
[ Victor. Call me Victor. As you already know, I"m the guild master of this guild. I handle whatever things and events that happen in this guild and I decide what actions the guild should take. ] he introduced himself as such.
[ Then, it"s nice to meet you, Victor-san. I"m Vlad Alucard, I"m still new in this city but I hope you treat me well. ]
Shiro replied, reaching a hand to the old man, Victor, for a handshake. Seeing this, the guild master, Victor, turned a little surprised. And so with a surprised look on his face, he leaned his old body towards Shiro, took his hand, and shook it.
As a j.a.panese worker, the words and action Shiro took was the normal thing to initiate to both people who have a lot more experience than him and is a lot older than him. But to the guild master, his words and action only surprised him.
From the words that the guild master had received from his people, the words they described Shiro were "Arrogant", "Rude", and "Has no respect". But those thoughts about him were immediately crushed by the respect he had received from Shiro just now.
[ U-Un... Anyway, Vlad-sama. It seems like you want to join the guild... There is no reason for me to disagree with that but... I just can"t help but get curious about what your reason might be... ]
[ My reason...? ]
...
...
( Should I say it... ) muttering those words at the back of his head, Shiro turned his head to the two people that were standing behind him: Caiden and Alicia.
( The two of them are here... Tsk, if they didn"t come I would"ve been able to say it without any hesitation... It"s very hard to say while the two of them are here... )
[ Vlad-sama...? ] seeing the weird expression Shiro was making, the guild master interrupted.
[ Haah... ] looking at the guild master, Shiro sighed in defeat.
( But I guess I still have to say it if I want to achieve my goal... )
[ Victor-san... Also, Caiden-san and... Alicia...san? The real reason why I wanted to join here in the guild was to get permission to subjugate the Vampire in the said ruins myself. It may be rude to for me to take the subjugation you"ve been planning to finish yourselves, but I will be selfish and ask to subjugate it myself. ] Shiro answered with a very serious look on his face.
Shiro could go and subjugate the said "Vampire" in the ruins by himself, but as he gathered information by asking and using his slaves, he found out that it wouldn"t be that easy. There are just too many reasons why it would be very dangerous and stupid if he goes to that place by himself without the permission of the guild.
First of all, the location of the ruins was now private and only a few selected people from the guild knows its location. Second, it was said that the old ruins is constantly being monitored by magic to prevent people from accidentally going inside; in Shiro"s guess, they"re using detection magic to detect any kind of changes that happens in the ruins. If they"re using some kind of special items to use such magic, even Shiro"s invisibility might be detected. And lastly, even if the chance is only small, once they detect him, they might even consider Shiro as an enemy and it will completely destroy his reputation now that he"s also being treated as some kind of threat by the people; his only logical choice is to ask permission from the guild.
And so his plan is to safely get permission from the guild to meet with the Vampire himself. Of course, once he meets the said "Vampire", Shiro doesn"t have any plans of immediately killing him, he might get a lot of information from him now that he"s also a Vampire. Shiro wants to see the difference between him, and an actual vampire who was naturally born in this world. He might fake the vampire"s death or if he"s dangerous and will not cooperate with him, he"ll be left with no other choice but to kill him.
And now that he has revealed his intention, he looked at the face of the two people behind him. And as he guessed it, they were surprised and angered by what he said.
[ Is that so...? ] hearing Shiro"s answer, the guild master in front of Shiro suddenly turned serious.
[ Vlad-sama... This may be rude of me to ask, but did you leave Arthur in the condition he is in now because of this reason? Was your plan to stop the hero"s party from their subjugation and to steal it by yourself? ]
Hearing this, the expression on Alicia"s face suddenly turned sour and he looked at Shiro again with blood-shed eyes. Shiro was able to feel the gaze in her eyes but he ignored it and continued to answer the guild master.
[ No, that was not my intention at all. It"s merely a coincidence. ] Shiro answered without any hesitation.
( Right. It was merely a coincidence. A good one. )
If it wasn"t for that extremely lucky coincidence, the vampire Shiro was so eager to meet might already get killed by the hero"s party.
[ Is that so...? ]
[ Yes. ] Shiro nodded.
[ Then lastly... May I ask what is the reason why you want to subjugate the vampire? ]
[ I"m sorry, but I won"t answer that question. ]
[ Hmm... Fine... I will not ask any further... I will accept you as an adventurer without any examination. I"m sure there"s no examiner here in this guild who will be able to match with you so we will leave that be. ] he said to Shiro as he crossed his arms and leaned his back on the sofa.
( So there"s supposed to be some kind of examination, huh? )
[ But for your three other companions... ] he muttering those words as he looked at the trio behind Shiro.
[ We will still need to examine their strengths... ]
[ Is that so? I wouldn"t mind. ]
[ Un, then, about the subjugation... Caiden-sama, Alicisama, I"m sorry but I think I would have to accept Vlad-sama"s request... ]
[ [ ThThat"s! ] ] Caiden and Alicia exclaimed at the same time.
Of course, they have come to this city to subjugate the said vampire in the ruins, they would not simply allow someone to take their task away from them.
[ Of course, but since Vlad-sama"s rank is still F... I will need people with higher ranks to accompany him... It"s not that I don"t understand how strong you and your companions are, Vlad-sama, but a group of rank-F going alone in such a hard dangerous task is forbidden in the guild. I hope you understand, Vlad-sama. ]
[ But that"s... ]
( It would be very troublesome if my real intentions are revealed... ) Shiro muttered inside his head as his expression suddenly turned worried.
[ That"s why, as veterans, I want Alicisama and Caiden-sama to accompany you and your group... ]
[ ... ]
( ... )
As they all heard what the guild master has said, all the expressions on their faces went blank.
( This... This is not what I"m expecting to happen in the least...! )