Harem Sync: Divine Edition-Chapter 73: UNEXPECTED INSPECTION (3)

In the midst of the chaos, falling debris, rising smoke, and blaring alarms, Yukihime pointed to something shiny on the muddy sewer floor.

"Look, Inspector! It shines!"

Kira looked too, her ears twitching. "There’s something there..."

Haru walked to the spot without any disgust, bent down, and picked up a gold necklace with an emerald-green stone in the center, partially covered in mud but still gleaming.

"This is... valuable." Isabela recognized. "Very valuable."

Flavius noted: "They found treasure in the sewer. Luck or tracking skill?"

They climbed up from the sewer through the hole Haru had opened, easier than going back.

And they found city guards already waiting up there.

Five of them, in segmented black armor, with "extremely irritated" expressions, one holding a pre-filled fine scroll.

"WHO was responsible for this destruction of public property!?" the captain shouted.

Haru slowly raised his hand. "...Me."

"Registered adventurer?"

"Yes."

"Guild?"

"Null Horizon."

The captain angrily wrote it down. "Damages: 10 meters of street destroyed, sewer system compromised, magical alarms activated unnecessarily. Fine: 1 gold coin. Divided between the responsible adventurer and the employing guild."

He handed over the stamped paper.

"1 gold coin!?" Even without knowing how much that was in silver, Haru looked at the number and felt his soul leave his body.

They arrived at Null Horizon with the fine paper in hand.

The attendant, the same girl with blue hair, read the document, sighed wearily, and began to process it.

"Okay... so you blew up part of the Commercial District."

"Technically it was the sewer," Haru tried.

"Which is located beneath the Commercial District." She interrupted. "1000 silver. Half for you, half for the guild."

"So, one gold coin equals a thousand silver coins."

Isabela, with the ring, stamped the magic parchment. 500 silver coins debited from Valtherion House.

The attendant also stamped the guild’s share. Another 500 silver coins.

But she didn’t seem so bothered by how much she would pay. Just tired.

"Guilds have a lot of money," she explained, seeing Haru’s face. "High-Tier and High-Rank adventurers cause more damage than this every week. Yesterday, a guy with a blue belt destroyed an entire bridge fighting Drake. The fine was 800 silver coins."

She paused.

"You guys are amateurs compared to that."

"And the necklace?" Haru showed the jewel they had found.

The attendant picked it up, examined it, consulted a price list.

"Hmm... a gold necklace with an enchanted emerald. It’s worth about... 65 silver coins on the market."

Haru smiled. "So we’re positive!"

"But..." she continued, "...as a rule, items found during guild missions belong to the adventurers. However, you are not yet official adventurers, you are provisional members. And you caused significant damage."

She stamped the paper.

"So the necklace goes to the guild as partial payment for the damages."

STAMP.

"You’re at zero."

Haru felt like crying.

Kira lowered her ears.

Isabela just massaged her temples. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Flavius, who had been silently observing everything, took the paper that the attendant stamped confirming the mission was complete.

"Initiate Rank Tier II Adventurers..." He read aloud, his voice less elegant, more analytical. "They undertook an extermination mission and caused significant urban destruction."

He looked at Haru and Isabela. "Problems," he said directly. "Weak parents like that... how will they adequately protect their child?"

It was clearly a weak point in his report.

Kira stepped forward before thinking.

"With all due respect, Inspector..." her voice came out firm, "...it’s not about being strong or weak. It’s about love for Yukihime. My master would give his life for her. The redhead too. Doesn’t that count?"

Flavius looked at her for a long time, then smiled, not an elegant smile, but a genuine one.

"Tell me, little fox. But that’s not enough."

Flavius walked to a table in the center of the adjoining tavern, climbed onto it with agile movement, and clapped his hands to draw attention.

"ATTENTION, ADVENTURERS OF NULL HORIZON!"

Conversations stopped. Everyone looked.

"Quick question!" He pointed to the crowded hall. "Does anyone below Master Rank have children?!"

Silence.

Some laughed. Others exchanged glances.

Finally... three people raised their hands. Only three out of the fifty adventurers present.

"FREE DRINKS for those three!" Flavius shouted. "And for everyone else too, for the attention!"

Adventurers cheered loudly, rushing to the bar.

Flavius descended from the table elegantly and went to Haru and the group. "Did you see?" "Only three. Out of dozens," he said seriously now.

He looked Haru straight in the eyes. "The problem isn’t that you want to have a daughter. The problem is that you decided to be adventurers and have a daughter at the same time. It wouldn’t be a problem if you were mere civilians of another profession, blacksmiths, merchants, scribes. But you are adventurers. You chose this path."

He paused, letting it sink in. "So you need to be strong. Because if you die on a mission... who gets the child? Most here," he gestured to the hall, "only think about having children when they reach Tier I of the Master Rank. Do you know why?"

Haru didn’t answer.

"Because that’s when they become strong enough to survive consistently. Those three who stood up over there?" He pointed to the adventurers drinking happily. "They live with the sole purpose of supporting their families, knowing they could die at any moment... and being an adventurer was a late choice for them."

Flavius crossed his arms. "I understand statistics. And the statistics say that Beginner Rank adventurers have a 40% mortality rate in the first two years. You want me to approve adoption knowing that?"

"FUCK YOU!" Isabela exploded. "I’m going to use the ring and pay for us to take the official rank test right now! To prove that we’re not really Beginners!"

Haru placed his hand on her shoulder in a gesture of calm and turned to the inspector, his voice now lacking elegance, just raw determination. "Get us a mission."

Flavius raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"We just didn’t take the Rank test for personal reasons," Haru explained. "But we’re certainly not true Beginners. Let us prove it."

"Haru, he’s not even an official adventurer yet..." Isabela murmured.

The inspector smiled, that smile that meant "I planned this from the beginning."

He pulled a special license from the inside pocket of his suit, a golden parchment with an imperial seal.

He showed it to the attendant, whose eyes widened.

"Imperial Inspector’s License. Authorizes me to assign special missions during the evaluation process."

He turned to Haru. "For the sake of perfect adoption, we have rules. And many tricks. All to justify decisions that seem arbitrary but are meticulously planned," he said with genuine pride.

He didn’t even look at the mission board, he just held out his hand, and a yellow scroll flew from the board straight into his hand. He read aloud:

"Sacred Mission, Master Tier I: Capture fugitive spirits who escaped the Church’s purification ritual. Location: Ancient Cemetery of the West District. Danger: Unknown. Payment: 200 silver."

He looked at Haru. "Done. Prove it once and for all."

The attendant stamped it to signal the mission had begun, but looked worried. "Are you sure? This is Master Rank..."

"Yes." Haru took the paper.

As they were leaving, Haru pulled Isabela to slow down, letting the others go ahead.

"Isabela... quick." His voice was low. "The Master Rank offer... is it above or below Veteran? Actually, I don’t even know anything about ranks properly... can you explain the complete hierarchy to me?"

Isabela stopped, looking at him with an expression of utter disbelief. "You... you accepted a Master Rank mission... without knowing WHERE you stand in the hierarchy!?"

"...Yes?"

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" she yelled. "SHAMELESS GUY! YOU GOT US INTO ANOTHER MESS WITHOUT KNOWING ANYTHING!"

She hit him on the head, a fist punch striking the top of his skull.

"OW! But we can take it, right?" His voice was muffled by her hands.

"You’re going to die one day if you keep this up!"

"LET’S GO!" Flavius shouted from the moving carriage. "Cemeteries don’t clean themselves!"

Yukihime waved from the window. "Come on, Daddy!" "Mom!"

Haru and Isabela exchanged glances, he with a shameless smile, she with an expression of "why did I get myself into this?"

They ran to the carriage and off they went, towards the Old Cemetery. Tier I Rank Mission.

With an elegant gay inspector watching and Haru still not quite knowing what he had just agreed to.

[MISSION ACCEPTED]

◊ Sacred Mission: Capture Fugitive Spirits

◊ Rank: MASTER Tier

...

The carriage was traveling down the main street toward the West District when Flavius knocked on the inner wall, drawing the coachman’s (guard-butler’s) attention.

"WAIT! Before we go to the cemetery..."

The carriage stopped.

Flavius straightened his suit. "We need to go to the Sacred Ones first."

"Sacred Ones?" Haru asked.

"The Church," Isabela explained. "The mission came from them. Escaped spirits from a purification ritual... only they know exactly what happened and what needs to be done."

Flavius nodded. "Precisely! We can’t just invade the cemetery without adequate information. What kind of spirits? How many? Method of capture? The Sacred Ones must specify all of that."

He turned to the coachman. "Central Cathedral, please!"

Twenty minutes later they arrived.

The Central Cathedral of the Imperial Capital dominated the skyline of the Sacred District, a massive white marble structure that gleamed in the sun, twin towers rising fifty meters, enormous stained-glass windows on the sides depicting scenes of saints and miracles, perfectly maintained gardens surrounding the building, a fountain in the center with a statue of an angel pouring crystal-clear water.

Haru stepped down from the carriage and gasped.

"This is... bigger than the Academy..."