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 …