Guilds are organizations that connect people who can solve problems with those who need help. When trouble strikes—like "there's a powerful monster near our village that looks ready to attack" or "we can't gather the medicinal plants we need because the area is crawling with dangerous creatures"—people can submit requests to guilds, and the guild will find someone capable of handling the situation.
Those who accept and complete requests receive payment that the client paid to the guild in advance, with the guild taking a cut as their fee.
By the way, even if you're not affiliated with a guild or belong to a different one, as long as you have a guild card, you can take on requests from any guild.
There are many guilds out there, but Moonlight is the largest and most famous of them all. Among those who belong to Moonlight, the elite squads numbered 0 through 7 are considered the strongest of all guild squads.
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After finishing a job, the Grand Emperor returned to his private quarters at Moonlight guild headquarters via teleportation.
The guild building was protected by what's called an anti-teleportation barrier, which prevents teleportation without proper authorization.
But the Grand Emperor had teleported directly inside despite lacking authorization. He'd slipped through a gap in the barrier—something only he could pull off.
His monochrome, austere room had zero personality. A semi-double bed, a wardrobe, a large bookshelf, and a small built-in shelf—that was it. Next door was his office, connected by a door, but this room was just for sleeping. Another door led straight to the hallway, though hardly anyone besides him ever set foot in his bedroom.
The Grand Emperor let out a quiet sigh, pulled back his hood, and flopped onto the bed, closing his eyes. He was tired but not sleepy. His sleep schedule was brutal—he never went to bed before midnight at the earliest.
I messed up again.
Making the potion that girl needed required special knowledge. He doubted anyone in that run-down village had it, and even though he knew it was none of his business, he'd followed her anyway.
He'd screwed up. He should've just given the girl one of his pre-made potions and teleported her straight back to the village.
He sat up with a heavy exhale. There was no point in regrets or feeling sorry for himself. If he was going to do anything, it should be planning for the next time something like this happened.
Someone's coming.
He started to reach for his hood, then realized he didn't need it. The owner of this magical presence knew his real face.
Heavy footsteps echoed from the hallway. Without even a knock, the door burst open and something red came flying in.
"Sakika!"
If that momentum carried into a hug, it was definitely going to hurt. He shifted slightly to the right, dodging the red blur's embrace.
The red thing hit the bed with a soft thud that made it shake. Dust somehow got kicked up, and he caught whiffs of blood and sweat. The door slammed shut behind it.
The red thing's hood fell back, revealing a handsome face underneath. It was a mess of sweat and dirt, but the features were undeniably well-formed. The owner's vibrant red hair swayed as he furrowed his brow slightly, and tears were welling up in his matching red eyes.
"Wh-what's wrong, Gaia?"
The Grand Emperor—Sakika—peered at Gaia's face. What the hell had happened?
The next second, he was pulled into a tight hug, and Sakika had to brace himself with his left hand to keep from falling over.
"What about school?"
"New semester hasn't started yet. I just had this feeling something happened to you and rushed over."
Sakika tilted his head. Nothing had happened that should've worried him.
After thinking for a moment, something came back to him.
"Right, I did run into some mid-grade demons."
For Sakika, they weren't threatening at all, but mid-grade demons were normally feared creatures. In this country, only about fifteen hundred people held A-rank or higher in the guild ranking system—a universal classification where F was the lowest, followed by E, D, and so on up to A, then AA, AAA, S, SS, SSS, and finally EX at the top. A mid-grade demon was strong enough that an A-rank adventurer would barely manage to win in a one-on-one fight.
But for the Grand Emperor, who was called the world's strongest, they were weaklings. His rank was EX, the highest rank that only one person in the world possessed.
"Mid-grade demons?! Why were there demons there?"
"There were five of them, so maybe they were planning something. I'll look into it."
Demons normally lived in the demon realm, a world that existed just slightly offset from the human world. They were ranked from low-grade up through mid-grade, high-grade, and supreme-grade.
The demon realm was supposedly home to creatures even more violent than the monsters that plagued the human world.
Monsters were said to have originally come from the demon realm too, though only the gods knew for sure. The spirit realm, where spirit beasts and familiars lived, apparently had monsters as well.
Actually, familiars, spirit beasts, and monsters were all basically the same thing. Creatures with low intelligence and violent magical power were called monsters. Those that were relatively smart or docile were called spirit beasts. And monsters or spirit beasts that formed familiar contracts with humans became familiars. So the distinction between monsters and spirit beasts was pretty fuzzy.
Most magical creatures in the human world were monsters, while most in the spirit realm were spirit beasts.
By the way, technically speaking, the general term "monster" covered magical plants (magic herbs), magical beasts, and humanoid creatures with rough black skin different from humans (demons). Non-magical beasts were just called animals. And if you want to get really technical, since human-type races including regular humans have magical power, they're classified as monsters too from a biological standpoint.
But normally when people said "monsters," they meant magical beasts, which were ranked from low-grade to supreme-grade just like demons.
Fungi like mushrooms were classified as plants. Anything too small to see without magically enhancing your vision was just lumped together as microorganisms, but I'll skip the detailed explanation.
"So what's the real reason you're here?"
When he switched to a more formal tone, Gaia turned serious too. He couldn't believe Gaia had come all this way just for that. Well, he didn't want to believe Gaia would rush over just because of a bad feeling.
"Master wants to see you."
The Master—meaning the leader of Moonlight guild.
"You could've led with that."
What if it had been urgent? But Gaia didn't look apologetic at all when he shot back:
"She didn't seem in any hurry."
The subject being "Master," presumably.
Sakika let out a big sigh at his response, pushed the still-clinging Gaia away, and stood up.
"Fine, let's go."
He pulled his hood back up and headed for the hallway, but sensing Gaia following behind him, he stopped trying to close the door and turned around.
"You're coming too?"
"I was told to listen in on the conversation as well."
"I see."
What could this be about?
The Guild Master's office was on the same floor as his room. He reached the door without having to go up or down any stairs and knocked three times with his knuckle.
"Guild Master, Silver Blade Wielder and Crimson Destroyer are here."
Crimson Destroyer was Gaia's epithet. When he'd received that title, he'd been half-pleased, half-dismayed at getting such a terrifying name.
Gaia was also the Fire Emperor and was said to be the world's third strongest. The second strongest was the king of the Central Nation.
"Come in."
A young woman's voice answered.
"Excuse us," Sakika called out as he opened the door. Gaia followed him into the room.
"Saki~~~~"
The moment the door closed, something soft enveloped him. The impact knocked his hood off, and his silver hair swayed and tickled his cheeks and neck.
The thing wrapping around him was a beautiful woman. Her long blonde hair was tied high in a ponytail, and her large, double-lidded golden eyes with long lashes had an almost bewitching quality. Her bright red lips gave her a provocative look.
Her well-developed body and glamorous appearance combined to give her the appeal of a mature woman.
"Guild Master..."