In the capital city of the kingdom of Mammon, in the Church of Goddess Athena, a girl with blond hair knelt down in prayer. "Oh, goddess, I pray for the prosperity and long life of your people and ask for strength to fight against the Demon King and his army."(Saintess). As she was praying, she felt the mana in the atmosphere rapidly increase, suffocating her, and she couldn't understand what was going on. Still in a daze, a man rushed into the church and told her that the pope had summoned her.
In the inner court of the cathedral
The saintess entered the inner court and knelt down, face down. In the room, the pope sat in a large chair, with three Supreme Elders on each side.
"You may rise, my child. How are you doing?" (Pope)
"I thank His Holiness for summoning me, and I have been doing well."(Saintess)
"I summoned you here today because the signs we've been expecting, the prophecy, has been fulfilled. The sky turned dark, and the heavens roared with thunder as the chosen one was selected by our goddess Athena. I am sure you also felt the signs, right?" (Pope)
"Yes, Your Holiness. I felt mana rapidly increasing in the atmosphere. However, I have not received a vision from the goddess about who the chosen one is, Your Holiness." (Saintess)
"You shall go and find the whereabouts of the chosen one and bring him back here. So he can be officially recognized as a national hero, and this will also help increase our influence. The royal family seems to be undermining us lately." (Pope)
"I understand, Your Holiness. What if the chosen one is from the royal family? How should I proceed?"(Saintess)
"We will come up with a plan if such a situation arises. I am sure the royal family also saw the signs, so make sure you investigate thoroughly and leave no stone unturned. You can go back." (Pope)
"I understand, Your Holiness. I shall depart in three days" (Saintess). The saintess left the court and the Pope started his meeting with the elders.
"Now that she is gone, can I receive a report on the movements of the royal family?" (Pope)
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
"Your Holiness, the royal family seems to be recruiting and expanding its military, as if they are preparing for something significant." (Unknown Ealder 1)
"Do you think they are planning to invade the neighboring county?" (Unknown Ealder 2)
"I don't think so, human countries created an alliance to unite and fight the demon King and since invading other countries will be breaking the rules of the alliance. Then I think" (unknown Ealder 1)
"Exactly. I believe they are planning to unite the noble houses in the country, and if they succeed, our influence will diminish. So, we must not allow them to achieve that." (Unknown Ealder 2)
"Enough. The two of you shouldn't jump to conclusions without evidence. What are your thoughts, Your Holiness?" (Unknown Ealder 3)
"I think we should investigate more. In the meantime, let's focus on finding the chosen one, bringing him here, and the meeting ends here."(Pope)
Back in the Adventurers Guild, Silvia started explaining about the ranks. The ranks range from F to SSS, with F being the lowest and SSS the highest. Zack will start as D rank since his mana is slightly above average, while Lady Diabolas and Angela will begin with B rank. From C rank and above, you can be hired by nobles or become a knight. If you reach a certain level, you may even be employed by royal families or dukedoms.
"The registration fee will be 1 gold coin per person. If you don't have it, that's fine. You'll need to take quests until the debt is fully paid." (Silvia). Zack thought to himself, "That's the reason why I couldn't register as an adventurer a few months ago."
"We have monster corpses, can we exchange with that?"(Zack)
"We will appraise the bodies and determine their value, then get back to you."(Silvia).
Angela used space magic, and a mountain of corpses emerged, ranging from big snakes to small leopards—monsters that perished while Zack was stabilizing his mana. Silvia and the present adventurers were shocked. High-ranking monsters of C to A rank were among the corpses. Angela asked if they could have at least five days for a full appraisal for the guild. After inspecting the corpses, Silvia provided them with their fully registered adventurer cards and 50 gold coins. The remaining funds would be collected after the five-day appraisal period. At the same time, the Adventurers Guild shook as if struck by an earthquake. A man rushed in, shouting, "We are doomed!"