Prologue

  With July soon to come, the summer season was finally entering full swing in Darion, a city where newbie adventurers gathered. But despite the blazing sun, it was common to see the city’s adventurers dressed thickly, with hardly any of their skin exposed to the outside air. Those who wore metal armor would cover it in cloth so it didn’t absorb too much heat.

  This was a natural choice for any adventurer who was out to fight monsters to make—the more skin they left exposed, the more unguarded flesh there was for an enemy to target.

  That being said, you would think that some of this protective layer could be shed once they entered the city. But to an adventurer, weapons and armor were valuable tools of the trade—those items served as their lifelines. If an adventurer’s gear was stolen or left behind, that could very well put an end to their career.

  And so, our sordid group trudged through the streets of Darion, enveloped in the sweltering heat.

  I—Lyle Walt, that is—was headed off on a monster hunt. I was already sweaty because I’d been armored up since early that morning, and my blue hair was practically glued to my brow with perspiration.

  “Ugh,” I moaned to the other four members of my party. “It’s so hot...”

  I was handed a canteen by Novem Fuchs, our magician. Her fox-colored hair was pulled up in its characteristic side ponytail, and her navy robe was pulled up over the crown of her head. Her silver rarium staff, which was a family heirloom, glistened from within the cloth she’d wrapped it in.

  “You must remember to hydrate frequently, milord,” Novem reminded me. “And to take in some salt as well.”

  Beyond being my party’s magician, Novem was also my former fiancée. Even after I’d been driven from my home, she’d chosen to remain by my side and diligently take care of me. She was what my ancestors would refer to as a “splendid woman.”

  I took in a mouthful of water.

  “Don’t drink too much at once,” cautioned our instructor, Zelphy. “And make sure you moisten your whole mouth before you swallow.”

  Zelphy was one of Darion’s few veteran adventurers. Her purple hair was cut short, and her body was currently clad in leather armor. Her preferred fighting style was using a sword and shield.

  We’d paid Zelphy a small fortune to make first-rate adventurers out of us—a fortune which had come from Novem selling off her dowry.

  She’s so devoted, I thought despairingly. I can barely look her in the eye.

  No matter how ashamed her dedication made me, though, there was one part of Novem’s ideology that I simply couldn’t agree with. For some reason, Novem had a desire to surround me with other women. I couldn’t comprehend why Novem had this desire, but I could perhaps come up with a name for it.

  “Harem-creation objective” might suffice... I could call it H.C.O. for short...

  I glanced over my shoulder, noting the other two female adventurers in our party. It hadn’t been too long since they’d joined.

  The first of the two girls was Aria Lockwood, whose red hair curled out at odd angles at the bottom. She’d hidden her toned body beneath a hefty robe, and hooked her spear over her shoulder. She walked energetically down the road, eyes locked onto a fruit stall hovering at the roadside.

  The heat doesn’t seem to bother her, I mused.

  “Hey, what about fruit, then?” Aria asked, pointing toward the goods. “Shouldn’t they hydrate you too?”

  My eyes followed her gesture, and I caught sight of a fair few adventurers among the stall’s clientele. From what I could tell, the stall’s owner appeared to be selling red-colored fruits floating in a tub of ice water. They looked simply delectable under the beaming light of the summer sun.

  I watched as Sophia Laurie, the second of our two new female adventurers, gave the stall a slightly tormented look. She wore a black robe and had a cloth-wrapped battle-axe on her back; she, too, had a clear desire to eat one of the stall’s fruits.

  “I-If we buy some now and wait to eat them on our break, the heat will get to them, won’t it?” she asked earnestly. “They won’t be tasty anymore at that point. It feels like kind of a waste.”

  “Then we can just eat them here and now,” Aria rebutted. “You can consider it a contribution toward our health. We’ll save water, and it’ll replenish some of the nutrients we’re bleeding out in this heat.”

  It is important to eat and build stamina when we have the chance, I thought consideringly. Plus, it’s so hot that when we eat lunch outside sometimes, I even have trouble swallowing my food.

  I felt Zelphy tap on my back. She’d done it discreetly, so no one else would notice.

  When I turned, I saw she was sending a signal to me with her eyes.

  Ah, so I’m supposed to be the one paying, huh...?

  I produced my wallet and bought enough of the fruit for everyone in my party.

  The old lady running the stall wiped the water off the red fruit before handing it over with a smile. I pressed one against my cheek, allowing the chilled fruit to stave off some of the heat that had built up under my skin.

  “Standing while eating is bad manners,” Sophia declared, looking hesitant and a bit troubled.

  Aria ignored her and began to nibble on her fruit as though eating while standing was perfectly normal. Spurred on by the sight, Sophia took a small bite of the fruit herself.

  The fruit wasn’t particularly large, and it hardly had any edible flesh. When I took a bite, its slightly sour flavor permeated my mouth and seemed to seep through my body.

  I watched as Aria tossed her fruit’s seed into a bin by the side of the stall, then turned to face Novem.

  Something about the way Aria’s biting down on that fruit feels strangely graphic...

  “Hey, Novem, can’t you whip up some ice and throw it in the canteen?” Aria asked. “Then we can have cold drinks whenever we want.”

  Novem looked a little disturbed by the question. Zelphy, meanwhile, looked astounded—at least, judging by the look she sent Aria.

  Sophia wiped her mouth and threw her seed away as she explained, “Didn’t anyone ever tell you that you can’t drink water made with magic? It makes a mess of your stomach.”

  The statement surprised me. “Really?” I exclaimed.

  Suddenly, Aria and I were the targets of pitying eyes.

  Is the question really that absurd?

  The Jewel hanging around my neck, which was a House Walt family heirloom, came alive with the sounds of voices only I could hear.

  The Jewel contained the revived memories of seven—no, six—of my ancestors. They all saw fit to give me their rather frustrated opinions.

  “You didn’t even know that?!” cried Crassel, the second head of House Walt. My lack of common sense seemed to set off alarm bells for him. “If you end up falling ill in the middle of battle, that’ll be a huge deal!”

  Sley, the third head of House Walt, let out a carefree laugh, but he seemed just as troubled as the second head. “That’s terrible,” he agreed, “But it’s good we found out before he tried it. I’m not even kidding when I say that could be a matter of life or death.”

  “You’ll be dead weight if you drink magic water,” chastised Marcus Walt, the bespectacled fourth head. “Lyle, the girls would literally have to clean up after your mess.”

  Even the fifth head, Fredriks Walt, who only spoke up when necessary, couldn’t stay silent at my hopelessness. “I’ve snuck into an enemy camp and replaced their water with magic water before. It was...terrible. Lyle, don’t drink it. No matter what you do. Don’t.”

  So... I thought consideringly. The fifth head’s the sort to sneak behind enemy lines, huh?

  “One slipup, and you’ll understand whether you like it or not,” remarked Fiennes Walt, the sixth head. “Let’s all be thankful that you won’t have to experience it to learn your lesson, Lyle.”

  He’s right, I thought. If I never learned that it made you sick, I may have tried to magic up some water once I ran out.

  Brod Walt, the seventh head, cleared his throat. “Magic is not omnipotent. Lyle, you would do well to remember that.”

  Ah, what a fine day, I thought sarcastically, my shoulders drooping. A fine time to put my ignorance on full display yet again.

  Zelphy walked to the front of our group. “Let’s get going already,” she called over her shoulder. “We need to be back by evening.”

  Our schedule as of late was to leave through the city’s gate in the morning and spend most of the day hunting throughout the surrounding area. We kept close enough to the city that we could return before night fell.

  Unfortunately, it seemed we’d hit the cap of what we could earn from nearby monsters. We didn’t have that much time to work each day, and the monsters around Darion were not particularly profitable.

  Zelphy had come to me recently with plans to head out farther. We’d all have to camp outside the city since we were hunting further afield. I wasn’t sure when we were going to enact these plans, but Zelphy had told me doing so would allow us to earn more money.

  I could hear the fourth head sighing from his place within the Jewel. “You don’t have the ability to be leisurely about your finances right now. You’ll run into trouble if you continue at this rate. Hunting in Darion doesn’t earn you much. It’s just enough to maintain your current status quo.”

  The reason the monster hunting in Darion paid so little was that Lord Bentler assertively dispatched knights and soldiers to deal with monsters in the area. He was careful to make sure
the public order of Darion was well maintained. Thus, while adventurers could be assured of their safety within the city’s walls, they could also be assured that their pockets remained relatively empty.

  This wasn’t to say that there was a lack of work to be had within the city—instead of monster hunts, adventurers could take on odd jobs, or work in various establishments. Unfortunately, none of those occupations paid as much as a successful hunter could earn elsewhere.

  Darion was certainly kind to newcomers, but there was a reason it was called a city for beginners. Once newbie adventurers became more experienced, the city began to appear more and more lacking.

  “Lyle, your instruction period will end soon,” the sixth head weighed in. “It’s about time you start thinking about what you’re going to do after that. You should decide whether you want to stay in Darion for a while or if there’s some place in particular you want to go next.”

  The initial instruction period had been three months, but we’d extended it by two weeks. Now there was only a month remaining.

  Have I become first-rate over the last two and a half months? I wondered, then immediately scoffed at myself. Yeah, I’m not even going to entertain that thought.

  If nothing else, at least I’d learned what I needed to put bread on the table.

  I lifted my head a bit to look up at the sky.

  “What should I do after this...? Hmm...”

  I wiped sweat from my brow as I considered what I’d do next.

  ***

  Three receptionists sat in a row on the second floor of Darion’s Adventurers’ Guild, busily working on paperwork.

  The most conspicuous one was, of course, the blonde, blue-eyed, beautiful Santoire Maillet, who—actually no, Hawkins definitely overshadowed her a bit.

  Hawkins was a muscular, bald-headed goliath who typically wore a vest over his dress shirt. Despite what appearances would suggest, he was quite cordial with the adventurers he spoke with, and was an incredibly diligent worker. He was the favorite of many of the veterans of the Darion Adventurers’ Guild. His intimidating outer appearance, however, made it so the newer adventurers tended to avoid him. He was mindful of it, but there was little he could do.

  Owing to this, Hawkins found himself with a bit more free time than his two coworkers. He began to organize his workspace when a staff member rushed out of the room behind the counter in a hurry. The staff member—a young man—spotted Hawkins and rushed over to him.

  “What’s wrong?” Hawkins asked him.

  “An envoy came from the lord,” the young man explained, handing several files over to Hawkins. “You’ve been ordered to attend a discussion, Mister Hawkins.”

  A wrinkle settled into Hawkins’s bow as he scanned through the documents.

  This...has been happening a lot lately, he thought.

  The papers he’d been given were a report on a new dungeon that had formed near Darion. Hawkins immediately headed to the Guild conference room, allowing the young man to take his place at the receptionist desk.

  He checked through the papers as he walked, making sure to memorize the dungeon’s size and characteristics.

  They don’t know much of the details yet, I see.

  It seemed this dungeon had only just been discovered, so they hadn’t yet conducted a proper investigation. Despite this, they had enough information to know that it seemed to be smaller than the other ones that had appeared recently. The report estimated that it would take somewhere between two to four weeks to conquer it.

  But therein lay the problem.

  The lord’s soldiers have only just returned, Hawkins thought worriedly. It will be difficult to dispatch them again.

  Until recently, there had only been two dungeons near Darion. The first was being handled by Lord Bentler’s army, while the second was being treated as a joint operation between the army and the Adventurers’ Guild. The first dungeon had been cleared not long ago, so there had been only one dungeon remaining before this new one had appeared.

  With Lord Bentler’s soldiers having only just returned from dealing with all kinds of trials and tribulations, it was hard to imagine he would send them out once more...

  The skilled adventurers and the larger parties are all off clearing the other dungeon, Hawkins thought. If they want the remaining adventurers to deal with it...this might be trouble.

  Hawkins considered which remaining adventurers would be capable of conquering the dungeon. Few in Darion had the necessary experience. There would be no choice but to send lower-quality combatants.

  As he mulled over what to do, he suddenly recalled the party that Zelphy was managing.

  There’s Lyle’s party...but they’re just not going to cut it. They’re still in their instructional period, so I certainly wouldn’t call them experienced. If this dungeon’s an urgent matter, I should keep them out of it.

  Even if their combat strength was up to par, there was no telling what might happen in a dungeon. And newly formed dungeons like this, which hadn’t been sufficiently investigated, were the most dangerous of all.

  Hawkins reached the conference room door. He straightened his posture before he knocked.

  Regardless, it’s going to get busy around here.

  As Hawkins took part in the meeting with Lord Bentler’s envoy, he made a decision.

  ***

  By the time the five of us returned to Darion, we’d been covered in sweat, sand, and monster fluids. Despite the grime, we’d made our way to the Guild, and now we were on the first floor, selling our materials and handing over our Demonic Stones to Guild personnel.

  “Hey, Zelphy,” one of the staff members called. “You think you can stop by the second floor after you’re done with that? We’ve run into a bit of a problem, and we’d like to discuss some things with you.”

  Zelphy gave the staff member a troubled look, clearly catching on to the fact that yet another thorny issue was headed her way.

  “Now look here,” she said, irritated. “I’m in the middle of instructing. You can’t just keep pulling me off the job. What is it this time?”

  First a bandit problem, second a territorial dispute, and now this, I mused. Zelphy sure gets summoned often for extraneous issues like this... And she’s supposed to be exclusive to us for this instruction period too!

  “Well...” the staff member said reluctantly, “the thing is, it looks like there’s another dungeon. And even if we wanted to scrounge up a force to go conquer it, we’re still in the middle of subjugating the other one. We’re short-staffed.”

  The mention of a dungeon immediately invoked a clamor from inside the Jewel. Apparently, they thought that if Zelphy was going to participate, the rest of my party would as well.

  “A dungeon!” the second head cheered. “Nice. And we might even have a chance at it...”

  “It’s always a possibility,” the third head said in a considering tone.

  “Hmm, then we’ll need to start preparing,” the fourth head said thoughtfully.

  The fifth head crossed his arms over his chest. “They could at least let us take this one.”

  “Oh, I can’t wait!” the sixth head cried.

  The seventh head nodded. “It really is exhilarating.”

  As far as I’d heard, dungeons were a real headache for whichever lord’s territory they popped up in. But not for heads of House Walt—for them, a dungeon appearance was a cause for celebration. They sounded like they simply couldn’t wait to take a crack at it.

  To be honest... I thought reluctantly, I think I’ve started to agree with them. If we could clear that dungeon in a timely fashion, it could be a really lucrative venture.

  “Come on, Lyle! Get in on it,” the third head urged me.

  Guess they’re not going to waste any time listening to my opinion on the matter, I thought ruefully.

  “Umm.” I reached out to Zelphy, trying to get her attention. “Can I take part in those discussions? It sounds kinda fun.”

  The staff member and Zelphy both turned to me, their faces etched with complete disbelief. Zelphy covered her face with her hand.

  “Well,” she said, sounding thoroughly fed up, “you might want to sit in, seeing as how you’re my client and all. If I’m going to be forced to take part, it would save me the trouble of explaining it to you later. But fun...? Fun?! Dungeons are not a game.”

  “I-I’m sorry...” I stammered, not really understanding what had made her so mad. I hadn’t expected her to respond like that since my ancestors made dungeons sound like such a blast.