I heard someone calling from far away.
(Wof. Wof... Wof)
Who?
(Wof... Wake up... It's time to wake up...)
"Huh, huh? Nngh, wh-what?"
When I opened my eyes, where was I? Some kind of pure white... space?
Wait, where? Was I dreaming?
(Wof. You've woken up.)
"Wh-who is it? Huh? Who?"
Sitting there all alone was — how should I put it.
There she was: some kind of mysterious beauty, like the ultimate culmination of... something.
Glittering hair. Silver eyes. She was draped in layer upon layer of strange garments.
They vaguely resembled blades. Only vaguely, though.
(Wof. I am the Goddess of Knives.)
"Huh. What?"
(I am the Goddess of Knives.)
"..."
Come again?
(I am the Goddess of Knives. I appear before those who have broken ten knives.)
"Wait — ten?"
Goddess of Knives, anyway — what even is that?
I mean, I'm sure gods exist in this world, but a Goddess of Knives? Isn't that way too sudden?
(Yes. Wof. You broke ten knives at the fastest pace on record.)
"Fastest...?"
(Many have broken ten knives over the years. But none have ever achieved it this quickly.)
"That fast?"
Wait, hold on. Did I really break that many?
(——Normally it takes about twenty or thirty years of use. And it's mostly assassins and knife-throwers whose job involves throwing knives. Others include hunters, thieves, and those thugs at the bar who, when told to wait, stick a knife into the wooden pillar right in front of the protagonist's nose for no reason, along with the thugs who practice doing that. After that, it was pretty much just people with a hobby of wanting to throw lots of knives.)
That second half got really sloppy.
What do you mean "protagonist"?
(——Wof. Why do you use knives? ——)
"Because they're, well, not as heavy as a sword."
Honestly, I like swords better than knives too.
The absolute king of kings in fantasy. That's the sword. The Sword. The Blade. And KATNA.
I always envy Axe and Agaro for that.
But the first time I held a sword, I was shocked by how heavy it was.
I had no idea they weighed that much. It hit me pretty hard — and that's why I use knives as my weapon.
(I see. But the fact remains that you broke ten knives.)
The Goddess of Knives said that and picked up a stone tablet.
There they were — all my broken knives lined up in a row... Wait, what?
"Um, Goddess?"
"Yes?"
"This ninth one here — the entry reads, 'Mineha destroys a troublesome knife with Spiral at the Junkyard' —
"...Does that count as my fault too?"
"...Huh?"
The Goddess of Knives looked at the stone tablet. She let out a small "Oh" and smiled at me.
A smile brimming
with pure benevolence —
the very image of a goddess.
(——Well then, shall we meet again when you've broken ten. Good my-knife.)
"W-wait!"
I bolted upright.
"...Hah... hah... hah... hah... A dream, huh."
What a dream. The Goddess of Knives... well, it was only a dream.
She can't possibly exist.
Gods once did exist in this world. Not "do" — "did." That's what I believe.
But many people in this world still believe that gods are here today.
"Still, there's no way the Goddess of Knives is real... ha ha ha."
Yeah, no way. Definitely just a dream. A dream. And nine knives?!
There's no way I broke that many. Haaah... what an awful dream.
Seriously, what a terrible dream. I ended up remembering why I used to carry knives. Swords, huh.
"...Swords, huh."
Swords. Yeah... it's been two years since then. Maybe it'd be fine to pick one up again.
Thinking about that, I let out a soft yawn.
It's still dark. I went back to sleep.
Morning.
I shuffle out of bed, wash my face, and start preparing breakfast.
"Nah?"
"Morning. Where's Mineha?"
Dagaa comes stumbling over, still half-asleep.
She lands on the desk next to the kitchen.
"Nah?"
When Mineha's around, Dagaa sleeps with her.
She probably uses her as a substitute for bedding.
When she's not here, she sleeps at my place.
"Could you go call her?"
"Nah!"
Dagaa wobbles off, flying toward the tower.
I strike the flint to get a fire going, set the frying pan on, and let it heat up.
A flint. A disposable Legacy known as a Fire Stone.
It's red. Since dungeons drop them in bulk, they're cheap and easy to get — the commoner's best friend.
Using a Fire Stone is simple.
Crack it, and the fragments become that element, then disappear. That's it.
And since it's a stone, it's not easily broken, which is a relief.
While I wait, I pull bacon out of the storage jar and slice off a few thin pieces.
I check the oil jar, but it's completely black. Oops. I forgot to replace it.
"This one's no good anymore."
I dispel the old oil with Banish and decide to use the bacon fat instead.
I start by rendering the bacon fat, then once the frying pan is warm, I toss in the bacon and two eggs.
A light shake is all it takes to make bacon and fried eggs. Next I take out the bread-beans and cut them up.
I throw them in the pan, tossing them in the bacon fat as they cook.
Once they've turned fox-brown, I pull them out.
I slice the bread-beans and sandwich them between the bacon and fried eggs.
I arrange two of these on a plate — Mineha still isn't up?
I fry up a thick-cut portion of bacon for Dagaa, and in the meantime I make tea.
There's a small shelf on the desk with a dedicated little jar for tea leaves.
Something I set up recently. I take out a few pinches and mix them, grinding them to powder.
Then I add water, pour it into a crescent-moon-shaped cup, and brew.
The tea leaves are either ones I've bought or received from the witch.
I take out some bacon for Dagaa and set it on his plate.
The finished tea goes into cups for me and Mineha.
Today it's black bean tea. I bought a mixed bean bag on sale.
Maybe I'll try coffee sometime soon.
"Morning... Smells nice..."
Mineha drifts in, still in her nightgown.
Dagaa follows behind her.
"Morning, Mineha."
Dagaa bites into the thick slice of bacon. Mineha eats her fried egg and bacon too.
As she eats, she asks me a question, now more awake.
"So. What are you up to today?"
"I'm thinking of heading to the guild, picking up a job or two."
FIRE did cross my mind. That much is true.
But thanks to everyone's help, and the witch's, I became a delver.
Wasting all that just isn't like me.
So I figured I might as well try the delver life for a while.
I am a guy, after all. Dungeon diving is every man's romance.
That said, the cost of FIRE — 1.45 million oro — still feels steep no matter how I look at it.
When I think about it calmly, it's not exactly a fortune that lets you goof off.
It's enough to get by without working and live simply. That's about it.
To be able to FIRE with peace of mind, you'd need about ten million oro — no, five million?
I get the feeling you'd need a bit more to actually live without working. So FIRE has been wiped from my mental whiteboard entirely.
Well, that's that, and I've become a delver.
So I decided to take on a simple request and go dungeon-diving.
That about sums it up.
"Huh. Sounds nice to me."
"What about you, Mineha?"
"Me? I think I'll take it a bit more easy. Oh, and if you're putting in a request for Grand Guild Master, you'd better call me. Got it?"
"Got it."
One down.
Yesterday, I went back and had a quiet little celebration with just the two of them and one beast.
Ideally I would have told Pakira and the others too.
But they said they'd be getting back late, so I'll let them know another time.
I haven't told Riv either.
Well, it's not like becoming a delver is that big a deal.
During that celebration, once I explained how it all happened, Mineha made an offer.
I had no reason to refuse, so I asked her to join me too. That leaves two more.
Well, I'm not planning to take on that request just yet anyway.
A request from the Grand Guild Master.
That's one that absolutely doesn't need to be rushed.
First off, this exploration request has absolutely no deadline. And he already failed at it.
I'm guessing Alhazard Abramirin didn't expect me to actually solve the exploration request.
I can kind of tell. This is a request meant to take years.
Or maybe it's one you could spend your whole life on and never solve.
I don't know when he failed.
But a First-Class Delver who became the Grand Guild Master couldn't do it.
Somewhere in this request, there must be something that's close to definitively impossible.
Something you can't crack in years, decades — no, something you couldn't crack in a lifetime.
Keeping that in mind, I'm not planning to clear it on the first attack for now.
But I'll do what I can.
So, preparations and finding companions.
But today, as a new delver, I'm heading out on my first request.
After eating, Mineha headed to the tower. I changed clothes.
"Na!"
"You staying behind?"
"Na!"
"Oh come on. Again?"
I sighed and drew out Agaro's modified knife.
The blade glowed with a blue, flame-like light. Dagaa pawed at the blade with its front foot.
Every time it pawed, the blade flared blue — or rather, ripples formed across it.
"......"
There's something about the sensation of making these ripples. It's like an LCD panel.
Well, it's obviously not an LCD panel.
Ever since I showed Dagaa this knife, it seems to have taken a liking to stepping on it — it does it all the time now.
I have no idea what's so fun about it. For that matter, I have no idea what this thing even is.
By the way, on the way back from the manor I was hungry, so I stopped by Cider Hall.
Agaro was there, so I immediately showed him the knife in question.
Agaro eyed it with great interest while nursing his drink.
I explained what had happened and apologized. Agaro burst out laughing.
Apparently, Flametongue had actually broken many times too, and each time it was repaired it became what it is now.
He told me this knife might end up like Flametongue someday, and I gave a wry smile.
Also, he tried to make me drink to celebrate becoming a delver, which was a problem.
But I was happy about it.
"Alright. I'm heading out — what about you?"
"Nah!"
Dagaa turned into a knife. Meaning it wanted to come along, I guess.
I stowed Agaro's modified knife and put away the Dagaa-knife.
Alright. I'm off.