Chapter 72: Chapter 70: Debut

Tess was sitting down with the rest of her party and the Rumors in their private room in the guild, a magical television of sorts in front of them. Displayed on the screen was Gramps, standing behind a podium, a myriad of microphones arrayed in front of him.

He cleared his throat, and the faint buzz from his audience faded. “As you are all well aware, the guild’s expedition leaves tomorrow, and with it, we are officially changing our ranking system. As such, I have called this meeting to lay out how exactly we will be handling this change, and what this means for those of you that aren’t in the guild.

“For a while now, those towards the higher ranks have noticed that rank ten is far too broad a categorization, and, unlike other ranks, the strength of those within varies drastically. So, from here on out, we will be moving to a twenty rank system. Those at rank ten will not be automatically promoted. Their performance in the upcoming expedition and a series of tests will determine their new rank.

“That being said, we are endeavoring to not make rank twenty the new rank ten, at least for a while. It is inevitable that, as people grow stronger, the highest rank will become as crowded and diverse as it currently is, but we wish to avoid that for as long as possible. As such, the requirements for reaching the higher ranks will be far more stringent than they are for lower ranks.

“In fact, we don’t expect anyone to reach rank twenty for a long time; the highest we are expecting people to reach after the expedition is fifteen. Now, for those of you who aren’t active freelancers, this has a few ramifications…”

He talked for a while longer on how civilians would be affected by this change, before, eventually, opening the floor up for questions.

“Where will the Titans be placed in this new ranking?” A reporter asked.

“My party will have to meet the same requirements as everyone else.” Gramps said calmly. “We will not be automatically promoted, nor will we receive special treatment during the tests. I understand that it’s a bit of a difficult situation, with me being the head of the guild and all, but I will be making sure there are impartial judges and that the tests are recorded, so anyone who suspects foul play can check for themselves.

“Of course, when I said that we do not expect anyone to reach higher than rank fifteen, that includes my party, so do not be surprised when we aren’t an exception.”

“As if.” Alice snorted. “If they’re not rank twenty material, I don’t know who is.”

“Didn’t he basically say no one is?” Ellie said. “At least, not now?”

“Yes, but he’s lying.” Alice said. “The fact that all four of them are Appointed instantly bumps them up a few ranks, at least in terms of raw power. They can’t even use their strongest stuff openly, and they’re still better than everyone else.”

“She…has a point there.” Ker mused. “While ranks are not a perfect indicator of how strong someone is, a party almost never loses to one of a lower rank, not unless one of those parties is ranked incorrectly. While the exact mechanics of Descents are pretty guarded, it’s usually considered they make someone effectively invincible. If that’s not worth bumping them up a few ranks, then they’ve really tightened up the rank requirements.”

“Wait, do we have a rank?” Tess asked. “I don’t know if we’ve like…officially made a party or anything.”

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“The Guildmaster put the two of you in a party when he registered you, I checked your paperwork.” Jin said. “But even if you weren’t in a party, everyone that’s registered with the guild has a rank. You haven’t taken any tests or anything, so you should still be rank one, but don’t let that get to you. You’re still learning, and once you’re done training, you’ll probably be able to get to rank four or five, easy.”

“When are we finished training?” Ellie asked. “It’s been…well, a while.”

“Honestly, you’re getting pretty close.” Jin said. “We were thinking that, depending on how the expedition goes, we’d have you “graduate” after it’s over. If it goes poorly…well, it depends on how poorly it goes, but you’ll be with us a little longer. But, given your performance in the Jagged Cliffs, I’m confident you’ll be fine.”

“That’s…going to be lonely.” Tess said. “It’ll feel weird not having you guys around.”

“We’ll still be about.” Alice said, throwing an arm around Tess and pulling her into a side-hug. “You can come see us any time you want. In fact, I’d be offended if you didn’t.”

“I’m sure the gods would have something to say about it, too.” Ker said, smiling faintly. “The Guildmaster told us what they said about your social conduct as of late.”

“Does everyone know about that?” Ellie groaned.

“I’m afraid so.” Maven said. “The Guildmaster said that both he and the gods were very concerned.”

“Hey, you’re a princess, right? Surely you understand getting caught up in your work, right?” Ellie asked, a desperate edge to her tone.

“Not in the slightest.” Maven replied. “I make an effort to avoid that work whenever possible.”

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