Reborn as an Adventurer: I Gain a Skill From Every Monster I Eat

Chapter 67: Chapter 67 — Rising Reputation

Word of the timber camp job spread through Greyhaven’s guild hall faster than Arlen expected, the story growing modestly more dramatic with each retelling despite his own attempts to keep his account grounded and unremarkable.

”Heard you took down an Iron-Bark Treant,” said a Rank D adventurer Arlen only vaguely recognized, stopping by his table one evening with open curiosity. ”Those things are nasty. Good work.”

”Team effort,” Arlen said, the same careful deflection he’d practiced countless times before. ”Wouldn’t have managed it without Cass and Wren both.”

The recognition, modest as it remained, began translating into tangible opportunity within weeks. Mina mentioned, during one of his regular check-ins at the registration counter, that his name had come up more than once among guild staff discussing which adventurers might be trusted with increasingly demanding work.

”You’re building a reputation,” she told him. ”Not just for strength, though that’s part of it. For judgment. Knowing when to call for backup, when to adapt a plan mid-fight rather than forcing something that isn’t working. That matters more to the guild than raw power alone.”

”Didn’t realize that was being tracked so closely.”

”Everything’s tracked, remember? I told you that back when you first registered.” Mina’s smile carried genuine warmth beneath its usual professional composure. ”You’ve done well for yourself, Arlen. Better than most adventurers manage in twice the time.”

He found himself, in the weeks following the timber camp job, fielding more direct approaches than he’d experienced before — other adventurers seeking him out specifically for party formation, merchants offering preferential rates on supplies given his growing reliability, even a brief, formal inquiry from a minor noble’s household seeking discrete escort work for a family member’s travel through the outer forest.

He declined the noble’s request, the details feeling too far outside his current comfort and experience, but found the very fact of the offer settling into him with quiet, satisfied significance.

Lyra summoned him to her office not long after, and Arlen found himself, walking up the familiar stairs toward the second floor, wondering whether this particular meeting carried more weight than her usual practical business.

”Your quest record’s excellent,” she said, once he’d settled into the chair across from her desk. ”Confirmed Awakened, multiple successful engagements well above typical Rank E capability, and consistently sound judgment under pressure, if the accounts from your recent parties are accurate.”

”I’ve had good people alongside me,” Arlen said.

”Modesty’s admirable, but don’t let it obscure what’s actually true.” Lyra studied him with the same careful, evaluating attention she’d shown him since the wolf pack mobilization, months and what felt like a lifetime ago. ”I want to be direct with you about something, Arlen. I haven’t forgotten our conversation after Millbrook. The questions I had then about how you survived that engagement.”

Arlen felt the old, familiar tension rise, though considerably more manageable now than it had been during those raw, exhausted weeks following the crisis. ”I remember.”

”I’m not raising it to press you further,” Lyra continued, her tone carrying genuine, measured honesty rather than any accusatory edge. ”You’ve since confirmed Aura formally, developed real technique under Garrett’s instruction, and demonstrated exactly the kind of growth that explains most of what concerned me at the time. Whatever remains unexplained, I’ve decided isn’t worth pursuing, provided your conduct continues the way it has.”

”Thank you,” Arlen said, genuinely relieved.

”Don’t thank me yet. I’m telling you this because I want you to understand something plainly.” Lyra leaned forward slightly, her composed authority carrying an unusual weight of personal sincerity. ”The guild needs adventurers like you — capable, careful, willing to adapt rather than simply relying on brute strength. If you’re building toward something larger than what the Ashen Frontier can offer, I’d rather know that honestly than have you feel the need to hide your ambitions from me.”

Arlen considered his answer carefully, understanding the question’s real shape beneath its surface phrasing. ”I don’t know exactly what I’m building toward yet,” he said honestly. ”I know I want to see more of the world eventually. Not just this region. Everything, if I can manage it.”

Something in Lyra’s expression softened, genuine understanding replacing her usual composed evaluation. ”That’s not an unusual ambition, for someone with your growing capability. When the time comes, the guild can help facilitate that, if you handle your remaining time here properly. Transfer credentials, letters of recommendation to guild branches elsewhere, that sort of practical support.”

”I appreciate that.”

”For now, though, I’d encourage you to keep building your foundation here. The Ashen Frontier still has plenty left to teach you, whatever your eventual plans.” She sat back, the conversation settling into its more familiar, practical rhythm. ”There’s a posting I think might interest you, actually, given everything we’ve just discussed. Investigation work, not pure combat. Suited to someone with your particular strengths.”

She slid a folder across the desk, and Arlen accepted it with genuine curiosity, already turning over the possibility with the same careful, deliberate attention he gave every serious opportunity now.

He left her office that afternoon with the posting details tucked carefully away, and found himself, walking back through the guild hall’s familiar corridors, reflecting on how naturally this conversation had unfolded compared to the anxious uncertainty he’d carried through every previous exchange with Lyra since Millbrook.

He wrote about it that evening, the satisfaction of the day settling comfortably into his usual reflective rhythm.

Lyra’s letting go of her old suspicions, or close enough to it that I no longer feel the weight of them hanging over every conversation. She asked about my larger ambitions directly, and I answered honestly, without needing to hide the fact that I want to eventually leave the Ashen Frontier behind for a wider world.

I think that’s the real shift here. Not that my secret is somehow safer than before — I still carry plenty I haven’t revealed to anyone, including her. But the specific suspicion that’s followed me since Millbrook seems to have finally settled into something closer to trust, built on months of genuine, visible growth rather than any single dramatic revelation.

She’s offered me a new posting too, investigation work rather than pure combat. I’ll review the details properly tomorrow, but I find myself, more than almost any point since registering here, genuinely excited about what comes next.

Reputation, it turns out, isn’t just about strength. It’s about the accumulated weight of a hundred small, careful choices, each one building trust one quest at a time. I think I understand that now, better than I did even a few months ago.

He closed the journal, the guild hall’s evening rhythm settling comfortably around him, and found himself already looking forward, with quiet and genuine anticipation, to whatever new opportunity tomorrow’s careful review might reveal.