I got kicked out of the SSS Ranked Party for legitimate reasons but I'm still pissed about it

第1話

The paper crinkled in Alafax's gloved hand. He was resisting with every fiber of his being to not rip it to shreds and cause a scene.

The Guild Receptionist, a cute blonde girl with hair drills and a fang, had a look that straddled the line of sympathy and absolute terror on her face.

He had failed a mandatory exam, specifically a remake test to maintain his guild rank.

Alafax could feel water dripping from his face, but he didn't know if it was sweat or tears, nor did he know if it was sadness or anger at his situation he was feeling.

He knew the test, hell he had written the tests for the Aprrentice level adventurers, most of whom were now backing away slowly and whispering under their breaths.

"Wait hold on, I just took a maintenance test at the Rangers Guild for my SS rank and got 100%! Do you know how hard that is? For fucks sake the test uses special magic to find a language you can't possibly know to test your problem solving capacity and you can't even miss 5 out of 500. Your telling me I failed a test that I FUCKING WROTE?!?!"

Alafax slammed his fist and demotion notice firmly on the desk. Murmurs abounded inside the Guild Hall. He had a good reputation and knew that no one here would have anything negative about him to say. Aftee all, this was the first outburst he'd had sober in the 10 years since he walked into the Guild a fresh faced 15 year old.

Samah, the girl with the hair drills shakily responded "I'm sorry sir, but your test was triple checked, even the Guild master himself said that there was nothing he could do"

At that he slowly released his grip on the notice informing him that he had been demoted to E Rank. Slowly he readjusted his coat and fixed his red and gold hair.

Samah looked a bit relieved at this, and sighed deeply.

"If it makes you feel better, you can retest in 6 months and regain your S rank Adventurer Rank!"

She said such trying her hardest to make it look like a positive, but in all reality she knew it wouldn't amount to much.

Alafax looked at her with as blank an impression as he could. He knew she was one of his fans. There had been quite a few fans at this local guild and they all stared dumbfounded.

That felt like a knife in his throat, knowing that he had dissappinted so many of those gathered there for a chance to chat with him.

Calmly he stood having finished checking to make sure he maintained his heroic appearance in the reflection of the brass scales used to weigh small things brought in by adventurers.

"Must need a vacation! It's important to rest and relax. Must be letting the job get to me if a little test like this was a problem"

At that, most of those in the bar area began to laugh. Alafax smiled his usual "I need to keep appearances" smile as he jokingly smacked other adventurers on the back and bought a round for the bar as he stepped outside.

...

Now away from everyone he sat wide eyed and in complete bisbelief.

He had fallen a staggering 6 ranks in a year, something that usually only happened to those who committed serious crimes or atrocities.

Samah came out of the employee entrance into the alley way as Alafax lit up a pipe. She waved away his smoke as she approached him.

"Thankyou for that by the way"

He turned his head away from her, a little embarrassed as he responded "for what exactly?"

He knew that she had figured out that he was about to call the guild out. Something was fishy and with Alafax's reputation with the members of the Guild it could have seriously undermined their ability to control the Adventurers or worse, started a riot.

She leaned over the squatting Alafax and gave him a peck on the cheek. He had a habit of trying his hardest to see the girls in the guild as coworkers and not objects of desire but he had to admit that the way her particularly large breasts swayed under her uniform was quite the mood enhancer he needed.

As if reading his mind she sheepishly moved a hand to close her slightly unbuttoned blouse.

When she saw his pout it earned the reaction he was hoping for, a charming giggle

"So, 6 months huh?" He took a long drag on his pipe, the ember illuminating the alley way and both their faces.

He stood and stretched as Samah rested her head on an upheld hand, the other accorss her chest.

"Your in an SS Ranked party so you should still be able to take requests, besides all you need is to get caught up on your Dues payments and then retake a simple test after some rest and relaxation" she said joyfully, trying to help

He nodded for a bit and then froze "wait, wait did you say my dues are in arrears? I have set payments to come to the guild hall from my bank"

A look of terror crossed his face, those payments came out of his life savings and Rabgolds Banking firm was not known for screw-up of this magnitude.

Samah had a blank worried face on "Wait, you didn't know? Your passed due almost two years now"

...

Alafax slammed the door to his parties communal home. His face was dour to say the least.

Rabgolds had said that his account had been cashed out two years ago via a notarized account document and bank transfer form and that if it hadn't been him then the about 3 million gold he had saved up for his retirement had just disappeared! It would take time to go on a document hunt but as far as he knew, he had 6 months to come up with 300 gold, study for a new test that would be written, graded and have a proctor from the central headquarters infront of him and on top of that he could only take e rank requests on his own.

Fortunately he had some money hidden in a safe place that if push came to shove he could use to get caught up on the dues fees, but 2 years of SS rank fees was the yearly income for most minor nobles.

" Oh good, looks like the shit storm is here" he heard the slightly effeminate voice coming from the common room, and moaned deeply. That would be Zan, his best friend and the leader of his party. What made him realise this wasn't going to go in a good direction was that the rest of his party was there as well. 5 sets of terrifyingly angry eyes beemed back at him in the darkness

"Hey shit head! I'm sorry to do this to you Aniki, but your fired!"