The Valdris guildmaster sent the note the next morning.
It said: "I need to speak with you about the Sector 7 report. This morning, if possible."
Kai read it while eating breakfast.
"Are you going?" asked Serah from across the table.
"After I eat."
---
The guildmaster's office was a small room on the second floor of the guild.
With a window facing the training yard and enough space for a desk, two chairs, and a bookshelf full of folders.
"The official Sector 7 report arrived last night," said Aldric, opening a folder on his desk. "Our scouts did a full area inspection early this morning."
"And?"
"The zone is clean." Aldric looked at him. "Not just the A-rank beast. All the corruption in the area. Four square kilometers of affected zone, completely neutralized."
"Yes."
"You knew?"
"That's what the other guild masters mentioned."
Aldric closed the folder. Opened it again. Closed it once more.
"The guild doesn't have a protocol for this," he said. "Neutralizing a corrupted beast alone is already an S-rank quest. Neutralizing the entire surrounding area…" He paused. "We don't have a classification for that."
Kai waited.
"There are two things I need to tell you," said Aldric. "The first is that the payment has been tripled. The original quest was for the beast alone. What happened with the full area has a separate fee."
"Good."
"The second is that the Regional Guild Council is going to want to classify you."
"Classify me?"
"You. Your rank. The F classification is…" Aldric chose his words carefully. "Administratively inconvenient given what happened in Sector 7."
---
[GarcíaFTW: 'administratively inconvenient' — that's the most diplomatic thing anyone has said about Kai after he dropped an A-rank in three hits]
[NocheEterna99: the guildmaster opened and closed the folder TWICE]
[StreamerHunter: viewers: 135,000. People know something important is happening when Kai's in an office.]
---
"We want to offer you an administrative promotion to S-rank," said Aldric. "No additional evaluation. Directly."
"No," said Kai.
Aldric blinked.
"No?"
"No."
"Mr. Reno, an S-rank would give you access to better quests, better base pay, guild facilities —"
"With F-rank, I have access to the quests no one wants," said Kai. "With S-rank, I'll be competing for quests that other streamers are already doing."
Aldric looked at him.
"The quests no one wants are the most dangerous ones."
"Yes."
"That's… deliberate."
"Yes."
Aldric processed this in silence for several seconds. Then he took the folder off the desk and placed it on the shelf with the precise movement of someone archiving a problem he didn't know how to solve.
"Alright," he said. "F-rank it is."
"Thanks."
"One last thing." Aldric pulled out a separate sheet. "Your stream system recorded an unusual transaction yesterday. Did you see it?"
Kai had seen it.
[Gift received: Interdimensional Gold Coin x500 — User: unknown]
[Origin: untraceable. Fifth identification attempt: failed.]
"I saw it," said Kai.
"The Guild Council saw it too. Someone with access to 500 interdimensional gold coins in a single gift isn't a casual viewer."
"I know."
"Do you know who it is?"
"No, and honestly, I don't really care."
Aldric nodded slowly.
"Be careful," he said, with a worried tone.
---
Serah was waiting at the guild door when Kai came out.
"Did you rank up?"
"No."
Serah's silver markings glowed faintly.
"Good," she said.
---
[StreamerHunter: HE TURNED DOWN AN S-RANK PROMOTION. I KNEW IT. I KNEW IT FROM THE START.]
[GarcíaFTW: 'with F-rank I have access to the quests no one wants' — SSS-level strategy with an F-rank]
[NocheEterna99: Serah said 'good' and her markings glowed. She's happy he's still technically a nobody. MAXIMUM PROTECTION.]
---
They were walking back to the inn when the system sent the notification.
[Gift received: Interdimensional Gold Coin x500 — User: Unknown]
Kai looked at the notification.
He read it completely.
He closed it.
"What was that?" asked Serah, who had learned to tell when the system sent him something by how his gaze briefly shifted direction.
"A gift."
"From the unknown viewer?"
"Yes."
"500 coins again?"
"Yes."
Serah said nothing for three steps.
"I know who it is," she finally said.
Kai looked at her.
"Who?"
Serah didn't answer immediately. She looked north — the same direction she'd been looking every time the system notified about the incoming SSS entity.
"Someone who's been watching you longer than you think," she said.
"Is she dangerous?"
Serah considered the question more carefully than usual, with a hint of jealousy.
"For me… yes. For you…" She paused. "It depends on your definition of dangerous."
---
[GarcíaFTW: THE UNKNOWN USER IS SOMEONE SERAH KNOWS]
[NocheEterna99: 'been watching you longer than you think' — BRO HOW LONG HAS SHE BEEN IN THE STREAM?]
[StreamerHunter: Serah said 'it depends on your definition of dangerous' — that's very unsettling]
[New viewers: +18,000 in 2 minutes]
[Current viewers: 153,000]
---
That afternoon, the system sent the distance update.
[ALERT — update]
[Additional SSS entity — current distance: 28 km]
[Speed: unchanged. Constant.]
[The system has stopped recommending actions regarding this.]
[The system merely reports.]
Kai read the distance.
Twenty-eight kilometers. Yesterday it was thirty-eight.
'Ten kilometers in one day. At that rate, three days.'
He processed it as data.
Then he opened the quest board they'd given him as part of the payment — an expanded list of unstable zones in the northern sector, all marked in red, all with the note: "Minimum recommended rank: S or above. No hunters available in this area."
He counted the quests.
Eight.
'Good.'
---
[NocheEterna99: HE COUNTED THE QUESTS WITH A SATISFIED FACE]
[GarcíaFTW: there are 8 impossible quests and Kai sees them as his weekly schedule]
[StreamerHunter: the SSS entity is 28km away. Kai is planning his week. Priorities correct.]
[Current balance: 2,140 Interdimensional Gold Coins]
[The system notes that the user has enough capital to equip himself with A-rank armor, a legendary sword, or three months of premium lodging.]
[The system also notes that the user is not going to do any of those things.]
[The system says… are you stupid or what?]
"Meh… kind of, honestly. After all, I died from slipping in a martial arts match."