I May Be a Guild Receptionist, But I'll Solo Any Boss to Clock Out on Time (ギルドの受付嬢ですが、残業は嫌なのでボスをソロ討伐しようと思います, Guild no Uketsukejou desu ga, Zangyou wa Iya nanode Boss wo Solo Toubatsu Shiyou to Omoimasu), is a series of Light Novels written by Kousaka Mato and illustrated by Gaou, which began publication in 2021 under the Dengeki Bunko imprint. It received a Manga adaptation illustrated by Yuuki Suzu, which began serialization in Dengeki Daioh starting in June 28, 2021. Both the novels and the manga are licensed in English by Yen Press.
In a fantasy world, there are adventurers who do the usual: clearing dungeons, subjugating monsters, and so on. But for one particular woman, Alina Clover, a receptionist in the local guild...it means endless paperwork and stupid quest petitions. Although she's fine with working at the guild forever due to being a stable paying job, she still wants to leave her work early every day so she can relax in peace. However, some local monster is starting to cause trouble and even the strongest adventurers can't defeat it, and if nobody defeats it, the monsters will keep coming, the subjugation quests will be piled up, and more paperwork will be sent to Alina (it doesn't help that her seniors are sending their work to her).
In fact, when one of the strongest parties is in serious trouble with a powerful dragon in the bottom of a dungeon...a mysterious solo adventurer enters the battle and proceeds to slaughter the dragon with a giant hammer drop. Multiple times. It turns out that Alina has taken a hidden mysterious identity as the Solo Adventurer nicknamed "The Executioner", who always comes to defeat a powerful monster that even full parties can defeat on their own. But she doesn't do it out of kindness or heroism...she only wants to return home early so she can laze all the rest of the day out!
However, it turns out that the leader of the party she just saved has been interested in the mysterious Executioner and started to seek her out, will Alina's "peaceful" receptionist working days come to an end?
An Anime adaptation by CloverWorks was confirmed and it will begin airing sometime in 2024. Rie Takahashi will voice the main protagonist Alina.
This Light Novel provides examples of:
- Advanced Ancient Humans: The ancestors of the continent were said to possess Divine Skills and have left Lost Technology scattered around in the form of "relics" that are far more advanced than anything produced by the current civilization. Nobody knows what happened to them, aside from the fact that they disappeared one day, which people believe was due to provoking "the wrath of the Gods" due to their curiosity. It turns out that it's Metaphorically True. The ancestors, in their insatiable curiosity, created the Demon Gods, which Turned Against Their Masters and devoured the ancestors.
- Amazon Chaser: Jade becomes infatuated with Alina after seeing her in action as "The Executioner."
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Jade wants Alina to join his party very much. When she temporarily joins under a "Cooperation", he is naturally very happy to adventure with her. Only to be somewhat dismayed at the fact that her strength means that he and his party have little to nothing to do.
- Berserk Button: Anything that disrupts Alina's "peaceful life", such as overtime or her house being destroyed, will set her off. However, it turns out that the biggest item on the list is the idea of her loved ones not coming home alive.
- Chick Magnet:
- Due to his fame as the leader of the Silver Sword, Jade is very popular with the ladies.
- Alina or rather The Executioner also becomes this after saving Ifur with everyone assuming that the person under the hood is a handsome guy.
- Cynicism Catalyst: Alina's fixation on keeping her receptionist job and not becoming a full-time adventurer stems from her childhood idol Shroud being killed in an accident while on the job. The last thing they talked about was of Alina becoming a receptionist rather than risking her life pursuing uncertain dreams as an adventurer.
- Determinator: Jade is very determined (or very stupid) to get Alina in his party after seeing firsthand her massive strength (even though she would crush him like a worm if he does reveal her identity as the Executioner, which would cause her to get fired).
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Jade is in awe when Alina is able to draw out enough power to brutally destroy the Demon God, when just before her attacks failed to seriously harm him.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Slay Ghost tries to destroy Ifur and kill everyone within it with a raid boss simply because he felt he was being disrespected by the receptionist Alina, who showed no fear against him when he forcefully tried to obtain a "secret quest", which doesn't even exist in the first place and is only just a mere rumor.
- Evil Is Not a Toy: Rufus believed that as its summoner, the Demon God would not harm him, only for said being to kill him the moment they meet again.
- Experienced Protagonist: By the start of the story, Alina's exploits have already inspired rumors about "The Executioner", while the Silver Swords are known as the top ranked party.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: While at work after the initial exploration of the Chalk Tower, Alina and her coworker notice something glowing in her desk. It turns out to be the Silver Swords' Guiding Crystal Shard, which Alina forgot to return. Alina at first just thinks about how her cover was nearly blown and how she'll give it back later when she remembers that the crystal only glows when the owner of another shard is on the brink of death.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Rufus' party is made of adventurers that while skilled were rejected to be a part of the Silver Swords. As a result, they arrogantly believe themselves to be superior to them and any other adventurer including The Executioner.
- Heroic Resolve: When the demon god is about to finish off Alina and Jade, Alina thinks on how this monster is threatening her peaceful days, all but ensuring adventurers won't come back, that those she likes won't come back. This allows her to draw out far more power than ever before to the point she is now able to do serious, and lethal harm to the demon god.
- Humble Goal: While as The Executioner, Alina could live a very rich and luxurious life as an adventurer. She only wants to work as a guild receptionist for a stable life and income that doesn't need to work overtime.
- In the Hood: Alina hides her identity as "The Executioner" by wearing a hood that conceals her head and shadows her face. However, this does not work against Jade, who is used to seeing in the dark, and Guild Master Glenn, who uses his Time Observer skill to take a peek behind her hood.
- Invincible Hero: With her Divine Skill, Alina is an unstoppable force capable of one-shotting even raid bosses by herself.
- It Has Only Just Begun: After defeating the Demon God, he boasts that he's not the only one and that there's at least two more before Alina finishes him off.
- Karmic Death: Rufus sacrificed his own party members to awaken a demon god to get himself a Divine Skill. He then traps the Silver Sword to get them killed by said god only for it to kill him instead much to his disbelief.
- Kidnapped by the Call: Defied to avoid a deconstruction. Jade is unwilling to use his connections to get Alina into his party as the Silver Swords would then be weakened by the lack of team cohesion. Alina's immense strength, the reason the call would want to kidnap her, also means that she would destroy Jade for costing Alina her receptionist job. So he keeps trying to convince her.
- Again defied when Glenn learns of Alina being "The Executioner." He also knows that nothing good can come out of forcing Alina into helping explore the Chalk Tower, so he instead offers to use his influence to add more staff to Ifur's guild counter if she helps out.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: Guildmaster Glenn surrenders his duel against Alina upon seeing she truly does have a Divine Skill since she was able to break through his powerful Super Skill.
- Laborious Laziness: In order to reduce the amount of paperwork and thus work overtime, Alina goes to the dungeon to kill the boss by herself.
- Lost Technology: In this world, there are lost artifacts known as "Relics", whose power is vastly superior to the modern materials or weapons of the time. Most of the weapons found in dungeons are made of (or are) Relics. Those are classified as Normal Relics and Super Relics (and there are also Divine Relics, but those are considered lost and forgotten).
- Nominal Hero: Alina only fights against bosses to reduce her workload and when a raid boss rampage through the city, she only fights against it due to her house becoming collateral.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Discussed and defied. While it is forbidden for guild receptionists to have a secondary job, Alina as "The Executioner" did nothing wrong since she defeats bosses other adventurers cannot defeat and has saved Ifur from destruction. Luluri even outright states it is unreasonable and cruel to repay kindness with betrayal by forcing her to join the Silver Swords or firing her from her receptionist job. Guildmaster Glenn eventually negotiates to make Alina an exception to the rules.
- No-Sell: Higher grade skills are capable of nullifying the effects of lower grade skills. Alina, being the only living person with a Divine Skill, is capable of breaking even the strongest adventurers. After her Heroic Second Wind, Alina's Divine Skill is capable of nullifying the Demon God's multiple Divine Skills.
- Office Lady: Being a guild receptionist, Alina is essentially a fantasy version of of this trope. She deals with much of the same trials and tribulations of a typical office lady, including extended work hours and huge loads of paperwork. She prefers to stay working as one, since she has a stable income and less risks of being fired.
- One-Man Army: The norm is that adventurers form a balanced party of four people due to the danger inside a dungeon, but Alina is strong enough to not only explore dungeons by herself, but also easily defeat bosses that even the most skilled parties have trouble with.
- Real After All: It turns out "secret quests" do in fact exist despite supposedly just being mere rumors created by adventurers. However, they are not issued by the guild like adventurers thought, but are given through the very unconventional method of breaking certain relics.
- Red Baron: Alina's exploits as an illegal adventurer have earned her the moniker of "The Executioner", a mysterious solo adventurer who shows up and clears dungeons that take too long to clear.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Rufus leaves his party to die (literally backstabbing at least one of them), and feeds their souls to the Demon God, then does the same to the Silver Swords under the deluded belief that he'll be granted a Divine Skill. The Demon God instead kills him and devours his soul.
- Samus Is a Girl: Due to Alina's fake name as an adventurer being male, everyone believes that The Executioner is a guy.
- Schmuck Bait: At the time of the story, rumors are spreading that there are "secret quests" which allow access to hidden dungeons where at the end there is a Divine Relic that can grant Divine Skills. The secret quests are real, but the Divine Relic of the rumor is the Demon God, a humanoid superweapon that wiped out the ancestors that created them. While it is possible that they could grant Divine Skills due to having multiple, they're more likely to kill you and devour your soul. The Silver Swords and Guildmaster Glenn realize that someone is spreading these rumors in order to trick adventures into walking to their deaths to revive the Demon Gods.
- Shrouded in Myth: The Executioner essentially lives as a rumored adventurer that no one has seen, but always clears dungeons whenever it takes other adventurers too long to clear themselves with many wondering if they are a reaper, an old adventurer or even doubting their existence until saving Ifur.
- Simple Solution Won't Work: Alina attempts to ask Guildmaster Glenn to use his Time Stands Still skill to give her time to finish her paperwork so that she'll have time to attend the upcoming festival. Unfortunately, Glenn explains that time stops for everything except the user, so Alina wouldn't be able to move her pen.
- Soul-Crushing Desk Job: Played with. Alina's job as a guild receptionist means that she has to deal with unreasonable adventurers and periods of overwhelming paperwork, but she fights tooth and nail to keep her job since it's a stable position.
- Stalker with a Crush: After meeting the Executioner and finding out her identity, Jade follows her everywhere and attempts to recruit her to his party, but the real reason is due to his crush on her.
- Stone Wall: Jade Skrade, the leader of the Silver Sword party, uses a giant shield in combat that can tank even a powerful raid boss for a few moments.
- Superpower Lottery: Everyone is born with innate skills, which go through three tiers. Normal Skills stay within the limits of human capabilities, while Super Skills are capable of doing things that surpass normal human limits. Divine skills, however, far surpass the capabilities of even super skills and are viewed as "a blessing from god." However, the only living person to have a Divine Skill in the present day is Alina. The keyword here being living, as the Demon Gods are sentient Divine Relics capable of using multiple Divine Skills.
- Super-Senses: One of Jade's skills, Hundred-Eyes Beastmaster, enhances all five of his senses. It allows him to, among other things, recognize Alina's face from beneath a hood in low-light conditions, make out tiny text on a small object a few feet away from him, and detect monsters in a wide radius around himself.
- Talking Is a Free Action: Subverted, Guildmaster Glenn explains the strength of his skill and how Alina doesn't stand a chance against him. Mid-talk Alina sends him flying with her hammer.
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Alina can control her temper pretty well due to her job. But when she's pissed off she doesn't pull any punches. The hellfire dragon in the first chapter ended with a clear hole where its neck was!
- Underestimating Badassery: Despite seeing Alina smashing the arm of the raid boss with a single blow, Jade tries to have her cooperate with the other adventurers under the belief that even she can't defeat a raid boss alone. Alina promptly ignores him and smashes the boss to pieces by herself as revenge for destroying her house. Similarly, Glenn also believes, he can defeat her in a duel despite knowing said aforementioned event.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Alina saved Rufus' life from the boss that killed his party yet he calls her a monster due to possessing a divine skill like the floor boss and threatens to reveal her identity unless he becomes a member of the Silver Sword. Somewhat subverted since he was the one that summoned said boss and was under the belief it would not kill him.
- Unstoppable Rage: Alina almost always fights in this mode, unleashing all of her frustrations on some unlucky enemy.
- Wake-Up Call Boss: The Demon God capable of using multiple Divine Skills, does not suffer from fatigue since he's not a living being, and is capable of tanking attacks from Alina without even taking a scratch. It takes a Heroic Second Wind for Alina to be able to defeat him.
- When All You Have Is a Hammer…: Literally! Alina simply powers through a dungeon by attacking everything with her hammer ranging from enemies in sight to closed doors.
