"No, I can't accept them." Roubaul told Team Ben.
Ben and his teammates were surprised to hear Roubaul refuse. They thought Roubaul would be happy to have some new guild members.
"Why can't they join, Master?" Wendy asked with tears in her eyes.
"That's right, Gramps. Isn't it good for our guild to get new members? We don't have young mages except the 4 of us here." Ben was confused.
"Ben-boy, our guild is located deep in the forest. How will they get here every day? You have a car, but they would have to walk every day." Roubaul said.
"I can build a car for them if that's the problem." Ben replied.
"A guild is a mage's second home, are they ready to leave their family and live on their own?" Roubaul asked the pair.
"Well..." Ben wasn't able to answer that question.
"It might be painful for you, but they still have their family and home. For you, this is your only home, but for them, it's just a place to get work. Besides, have you forgotten my rule regarding age?" Roubaul asked.
"The 12 year old rule?" Ben asked.
"Yes, I can only let you take real jobs after you turn 12 or are led by a strong 12 year old like your team. Except if you think that they're stronger than you, then I can't accept them." Roubaul said.
Roubaul had set a rule for Ben that he could only take jobs when he turned 12. It seemed to be a permanent rule as it also applied to Wendy. She could only take jobs with Ben who had turned 12 last year and they could only take easy jobs when they were together.
"Can't they take menial jobs like we did in the past?" Ben asked.
"Menial jobs from the guild don't have the monetary reward that they need. They don't need Guild Points, they need money more than it." Roubaul explained.
Ben kept quiet as he understood Roubaul's reasoning. Unless they're orphans and had nowhere to live, being a member of their guild wasn't profitable. Those kids still have their family even if some are poor. So they needed money more than guild points.
But even if he understood Roubaul's reasons, he still felt something was amiss. He doesn't know what it is, but he has a strong feeling that what Roubaul said wasn't the real reason.
"Then, do you have any recommendation for them? They have a hard time choosing a guild, so they chose ours because they know us?" Ben asked after shaking the thought out of his head.
"For now, they can join any legal guild that is close to their home and have easy access to it. Clover Town doesn't have a guild, so maybe Oshibana. They can use the train as transportation, it will be easier." Roubaul said.
"Alright then, I will tell them tomorrow." Ben let out a disappointed sigh.
"Sorry about this, Ben-boy." Roubaul said apologetically.
"It's fine. You're the Guild Master and you need to think about what's best for the guild. I also haven't thought about those problems you mentioned." Ben said with a smile.
Ben can accept Roubaul's decision easily, but the girls can't. They were rather sad and disappointed by the decision but they could understand Roubaul's reasons and accept them.
"Don't worry, we can still visit them if we have the time." Ben said, rubbing their heads.
"Yes." The girls replied with a sad tone.
The girls then left the guild hall and went to Wendy's house. Ben and Roubaul sighed because they knew the girls had gotten attached to the kids.
"Gramps, you should take responsibility." Ben said.
"I've become the bad guy, huh?" Roubaul asked, looking down.
"So you know it, Bad Gramps." Ben said jokingly.
Roubaul sweat dropped at Ben's joke, but he really is a bad gramps now. He had a important reason for refusing their request that he couldn't share with anyone, even Ben. Roubaul can only sigh and massage his temples.
Ben can easily accept Roubaul's decision, unlike the girls. After all, he is internally an adult so he won't be affected by this too much. He had gone through a lot more, so this was just a small problem for him.
"Gramps, I want to take the S-Class exam." Ben decided to move onto another topic.
"You've finally brought it up. Have you thought it through?" Roubaul asked.
"Yeah, my jobs have become easier lately and I didn't get a challenge from these jobs. I can't grow stronger if I continue taking jobs like that." Ben replied.
"Alright, I've seen your progress and you're qualified to take the exam. We'll hold the exam next week, so prepare yourself!" Roubaul said.
Ben nodded and left the guild hall to get some rest. He will start preparing for the exam tomorrow. Ben is confident that he can pass the exam, but he wouldn't become overconfident and prepared himself for it.
The next day, Ben went to Clover Town with the girls. They were going to inform the kids of Roubaul's decision. They went to each of the 5 kids houses and broke the bad news.
Ben told the kids and their parents about Roubaul's reasons for refusing to let them join the guild. The kids and their parents easily accepted it. They also realized the guild was located deep in the forest, so it would be a hassle getting there every day.
The kids are sad because they can no longer train with Ben and the girls. But they know they can still meet up in the future, so it wasn't a big deal.
Ben decided to meet all his ex-students and play together today. He also called for Raul to join them before they part ways for good. It will also cheer the girls up a little.
They spent the whole day playing before returning to their homes. Wendy, Bella and Carla felt better after playing with the kids. Ben also bought communication lacrima for all of them so they can call each other whenever they wanted.
The next day, Ben started his training for the S-Class exam. He had no idea what the exam will be, so he needs to prepare himself. Although he doesn't know much about the exam, he knew it would be difficult otherwise everyone would be a S-Class wizard.
Ben trained like usual because his training was quite effective. With A.I Chip's help, Ben could formulate his training and adjust it as he grew stronger. He never misses his training either, that's why he became this strong after 3 years since he arrived in this world.
For a whole week, Ben kept training all his power. Physical power, magic power, spells, battle skills and even supportive skills. All those things are important and Ben never forget about them while training.
Ben also still had his habit of buying and reading (scanning) new books every time he went on a job. Up to this day, Ben had scanned more than 2000 books. But not all of them were related to magic because it was getting harder to find books related to that subject in public book stores.
However, all of the books Ben bought were useful one way or another. Life isn't just about magic, so any knowledge was useful. Besides, this is a new world for him, so he needs to know a lot about it.
That's why Ben bought and scanned them. He never knew when he would need that knowledge. That's the reason his intelligence is the highest stat now.
Ben continued training for a week and even trained the girls while he rested. The girls have become more spirited to train and grow stronger. They've made a promise with the ex-students to get a lot stronger when they meet again.
Then after a week, the S-Class exam was about to begin. Ben and Roubaul went to the other side of the mountain behind their village. They went there after Roubaul erected a barrier to protect the village.
It didn't take long for them to reach the exam site. It's a wide open rocky field surrounded by mountains. Roubaul then took something that Ben knew very well out, the black knife that he found in the serpent's cave.