The meeting had ended, and the dukes had left the room, but Vandalieu and his group remained, continuing their conversation.

“Well, now Vandalieu and Pauvina are S-rank adventurers. Amid has four, Orbaume has one, and Vidal has seven. It’s overwhelming,” Schneider said cheerfully, casually counting himself and the others as adventurers of the Vidal Empire, as he gave Vandalieu a friendly pat on the shoulder… even though, strictly speaking, there was no adventurers’ guild in the Vidal Empire yet.

Randolph, without pointing out the oversight, simply frowned.

“By the numbers, it seems I’m the only one on the losing side here.”

“You should have trained some successors while you were still active. If you had, you might have been able to retire,” Vandalieu replied. Indeed, Randolph had never been able to retire because he was the only S-rank adventurer in the region. If he’d had a successor or trustworthy allies, the dukes and the adventurers' guild would not have insisted on keeping him around so fervently.

“Well, it’s easier said than done.”

“That’s right. I’m no mentor like you, and back then, I wasn’t the kind of person who could take on apprentices. Even now, being a part-time instructor is about all I can manage,” Randolph sighed, conceding honestly. For once, he seemed to have no intention of trading barbs with Schneider.