As mentioned in my activity report, I've combined the two prologues into one.
"Come on, don't be so wary. We just happened to see your duel in Gunjou City, that's all."
To explain the backstory, Jin and the others had stopped by Gunjou City on their way back from a commission and happened to witness my duel with Legil there.
"That was a profitable day for us... I got a little on edge when the other side showed up in a group, I'll admit. But thanks to that, I remembered the kid."
Just as he was saying that,
"Jiiiiin! Menaaaaace! Garaaaat! Where are youuuu!"
A strangely listless, drawn-out voice drifted over to us.
"Over here, Lina!"
When Menace called out, a small, gentle-looking woman appeared.
Name: Lina
Age: 21
Race: Human
Title: Apprentice Nun / Viscount's Daughter
HP: 6,000
MP: 15,000
Strength: C-
Defense: C+
Speed: C+
Magic Power: A+
Mental Power... B-
Growth Power: A+
Luck: A+
So, the magic-related stats were high, but everything else was pretty average.
Just to be thorough, I checked the Skills section too—
Skills: Light Magic 8, Water Magic 7, Wind Magic 6, Staff Techniques 6, Cooking 6, Magic Manipulation 4, Fire Magic 5, Endurance 5, Lightning Magic 5, Magic Boost 5, Abnormal Status Resistance 5, Instant Death Resistance 5, Recovery Boost 4, All Magic Attributes 3, Technical Skill Enhancement 2, Growth Power Boost 2
Blessings: Blessing of the Goddess of Life, Blessing of the Goddess of Love
Those were some seriously impressive stats—an outstanding backline support build with tremendous potential. You really shouldn't judge a book by its cover! Yeah.
"Ah, there you are finally! Where have you been?!"
She was fuming, practically radiating anger. Then, noticing me standing behind Jin and the others—
"Ahhh! Primera's friend... what was your name again?"
It seemed she and Primera were kindred spirits—both hopeless airheads.
"Oh, you know Primera? Nice to meet you—I'm Tenma."
She nodded to herself as if saying, "Right, right, that was the name." I ignored that and—
"Now that I think about it, Jin—why are you guys here?"
"Just Jin is fine. Well, the reason I'm here—I was heading to the tavern when I saw those two running like the world was ending, so I got curious and followed them."
It looked like she'd been worried about me...
"It was a close call! A little more and those two would've been out for good!"
...That didn't seem to be the case.
"No, nothing like that. I was just going to have a polite little chat with them, that's all."
"Oh, I heard you had quite a lot to talk about in Gunjou City as well."
…Denying it wasn't possible, but,
"Isn't it better than being dead?"
At my words, Jin and the others nodded in agreement, saying, "That's true, we are adventurers after all."
"Well, joke's aside, if I put even guys like that out of commission for good, the military police would haul me in for interrogation. What a pain, right?"
"Yes, that's right... Thank you."
While I was talking with Jin,
"Um..."
A young girl tugged on the hem of my clothes from behind.
"Ah, sorry about that. Where do you live? I'll walk you home. Well then, see you later, Jin."
"Yeah, see ya!"
Since she said it was fine to call her by her name, I tried it, but it didn't feel particularly odd. I think I'll ask her to let me use that from now on.
Thinking that, I grabbed the bundle of firewood the girl had been trying to carry.
"No, really! I can't let you go that far..."
The girl tried to decline, but,
"You got caught up in this because of me, so the least I can do is this."
Saying that and refusing to take no for an answer, I headed towards her house while letting her guide the way.
After Tenma left, Jin and the others huddled together to talk.
"Hey, Jin. Was that really okay? Letting a kid like that call you by your first name?"
Garat asked Jin that, but
"You already know Tenma's no ordinary person, don't you, Garat? If he were weak, I'd have a problem with it, but if he's strong, I don't mind."
"How strong do you think he is?"
In response to Menace's question, Jin thought for a moment, and then—
"I can't say for sure, but if he brought out that equipment or whatever from the duel, it'd be dangerous unless we all got serious. Without that, I'd say we'd be about even one-on-one?"
he said, but—
"Oh, Jin. Primera said Tenma seems to be better at magic! And apparently he can control dozens of Golems at once. She also said that match wasn't him going all out."
"No way!"
At Lina's words, all three of them spoke in unison.
"...Sorry, Menace. I was wrong... Forget one-on-one—I wouldn't even want to face him as a whole party..."
"...Yeah, you treating him as an equal and stopping those idiots—that might have been the best call we could've made..."
"Right... Let's make sure he doesn't end up as an enemy... We should probably warn our acquaintances too..."
Yeah, the three of them agreed, and then murmured together... What a monster...
Meanwhile, unaware that he'd been deemed a monster by one of Seigen's top-tier parties, Tenma was heading for the girl's home.
As for where he was heading—the girl's place... Amy, was it? Her home was apparently nearby.
Less than a ten-minute walk from where the altercation had taken place,
"Here we are. This is my home."
she said, introducing—
"An apartment?"
It looked like what you'd call an apartment in his previous life.
As he stared in surprise at the first apartment he'd seen in this world,
"It's a bit of an unusual building, but this is an inn."
According to Amy's explanation, many adventurers who come to the Dungeon City stay for long periods, and quite a few of them wanted to use a room like it was their own home, so they rent out individual apartments. Basically, it's a rental that's fine even for short stays.
The advantages were that you didn't have to worry much about taking care of guests' meals, and since most guests were long-term, you could expect stable income.
The downside was that the rooms were only big enough for two or three people, so adventurers traveling in parties tended to avoid them — apparently, only about four or five places in Seigen used this kind of business model.
Next to the apartment was a two-story house, and that was where Amy's family lived.
"What have you been up to, Amy? You're late!"
As they approached Amy's house, a woman who had just stepped out of the door noticed them and came over.
"So, Mom, you see, down the street ahead—"
Amy explained the situation to her mother.
When she finished, the woman stepped forward and bowed.
"My daughter troubled you, and on top of that you even healed her injuries…"
But Tenma bowed in return.
"No, we were partly at fault too. I'm sorry for putting her in danger."
He felt honestly troubled by the gratitude, since in his own mind, while they were partially to blame, Amy had done nothing wrong.
As they were discussing this—
"That's enough. How is it helping anyone to keep pestering him like that!"
An elderly woman who seemed to be Amy's grandmother appeared from the house and stopped the mother.
"I'm sorry about all this. I'm Amy's grandmother, Alié. And this is her mother…"
"Karina. I'm sorry — I got a bit flustered…"
"I'm Tenma. I'm an adventurer. I'm sorry for dragging Amy into all of this."
And with that, I bowed my head again. But then, Lady Karina said,
"Oh, that's quite all right. If Amy had been more careful herself, she wouldn't have gotten caught up in it."
As she spoke, something came to mind.
"Um... I know this is a strange time to ask, but... is there a room available?"
With those words, I explained how I'd been searching for lodging and hadn't found any.
"Yes, we do have rooms available, but our contracts are month-to-month. Is that acceptable?"
"That's fine. Also, I do have other companions with me..."
I said, pulling Shiromaru and Slarin out of my bag.
"Whoa! You startled me~"
I supposed it was only natural for an ordinary person to be surprised when a wolf and a slime popped out of a bag.
"That's no problem, but... any damage or necessary repairs will incur additional charges. Is that still acceptable?"
"That's fine! And how much will the total be?"
"The room costs 7,000 G per month. Payment is required in advance, and if over a week passes after the contract period ends without renewal, you forfeit all rights to any personal belongings left in the room."
"Very well. For now, I'd like to book it for two months."
"Then I'll fetch the contract."
Even called a contract, it was simple enough—just show my guild card, have my name and the paid amount written down, and listen to the terms.
"Here is your key. Tenma-san, your room is the first one on the ground floor."
I went ahead and entered the room, and thought,
"Hmm, seems pretty livable."
The room consisted of one six-tatami-mat bedroom, plus a kitchen, toilet, and a closet... It was practically identical to my apartment from my previous life.
"It's a rare style, right? But,
around here,
this is the standard!"
Amy, who had been showing me around, explained as much.
"For meals and baths, there are restaurants and bathhouses nearby, so you're all set."
Taking her at her word, I promptly went to check out the bathhouse. Incidentally, Shiromaru was being petted by Amy and looked perfectly content, so I left him with her.
When I returned from the bathhouse, Shiromaru and Amy were waiting in front of my room.
"Welcome back, Tenma. You know, I tried giving Shiromaru some snacks, but he won't eat them..."
"Ah, that's because I taught Shiromaru not to take food from anyone but me when I'm not around... Shiromaru, it's okay to accept food from Amy."
When I said that, Shiromaru let out a "Woof" in response.
"That's so nice~ I want a Familiar too..."
Amy gazed at me enviously, but—
"It's just a guess, but you might be able to create
a
Familiar too."
It was more intuition than anything, but since it's rare for Shiromaru to take to someone this quickly upon first meeting, I told her so—
"Really?! Really really?!"
—she pressed me with overwhelming enthusiasm.
"It's not a certainty, but it's rare for Shiromaru to let his guard down with someone he just met, so there's a possibility... I think."
I said with a touch of uncertainty, but Amy didn't seem to mind that in the slightest,
"Then when I grow up, I'm going to be an adventurer!"
she declared with great enthusiasm.
"Hahaha, well, you should discuss that with your moms..."
I worried for a moment that I'd put strange ideas in her head, but from what I heard later, Amy's father was actually an adventurer, currently away exploring a dungeon.
After returning from the bathhouse, I set about preparing preserved food and other easy-to-eat provisions for tomorrow's dungeon dive.
First up were biscuits—simply mix flour and sugar with crushed nuts and walnuts, toss in a few kinds of dried fruit chopped into small pieces, and bake. Done.
Next came meat, and I prepared several varieties. First, dried meat—season chunks of meat with salt and other seasonings, then dehydrate them with magic. Done.
After that was grilled meat. You could question whether this really counts as cooking, but all you do is grill the meat, divide it into portions of a few slices each, and bag them up. That way, you can easily enjoy a hot meal on the go. Long live the Magic Bag!
Then I just needed to slice up the bacon I'd bought nearby, and the meat side of things would be good to go.
Now for vegetables and fruits! Though really, I just tossed them into the bag whole. Anything that's hard to eat raw, I'd just boil or grill beforehand.
As for drinks... since I can produce water with magic, two or three canteens should be enough.
Next came assorted seasonings—homemade miso and soy sauce, spices and herbs, and last but certainly not least, salt and sugar.
With salt, sugar, and water, you could survive for several days at worst... probably! For the salt, I prepared crushed rock salt ground into a powder. For the sugar, I made both compressed blocks of brown and white sugar hardened with magic and loose powdered versions.
There wasn't much else I needed to stock up on, but I did buy a large quantity of cloth... it would surely come in handy for something.
That was about it—I couldn't think of anything else to do, so to kill time, I decided to clean the Adamantine gauntlets and armor I'd previously purchased in Gunjou City.
The gauntlets weren't rusted on the inside, so I lightly scraped and rubbed off the surface rust with a knife, then finished by polishing them with an oil-soaked cloth. While I was at it, something unsavory caught my eye, but I ignored it.
The armor was a torso piece with attached shoulder guards—it had probably been a full suit at some point, but for whatever reason, the head, arms, and lower body sections were missing. Even so, this alone seemed like it would be useful.
This piece had rust all the way to the inside, so I disassembled what I could and carefully cleaned it using the same process as the gauntlets.
"As I thought, it's no mistake or misperception..."
I said this because, just like the gauntlets, this armor also bore something unsavory. It was,
"This... is a noble family's crest, isn't it?"
Carved there was
a crest depicting
a lion and a dragon.
"It's a little different from the royal family's crest I saw before. Which means it belongs to the Grand Duke's household..."
If I took this directly to the Grand Duke's family, it would only lead to trouble. If the chance came up, I could just hand it off to the King or one of the guards from that time... but only if the chance came up, of course.
I was planning to visit the Royal Capital eventually, so there would probably be an opportunity... I'd keep that in mind.
I resolved not to show these two pieces of armor to anyone and sealed them away in my bag.
Fortunately, none of the other items bore any crests, so even if I treated them as my own, nobody would notice. And even if someone did, I could smooth it over.
Even if someone showed up claiming to be the rightful owner, without official proof, there should be no problem with me keeping them.
As I mused over these things, I went through the rest of my equipment.
For tomorrow's expedition, I'd go with the leather armor (modified) I'd picked up at the nearby weapon shop, my usual boots, the mithril dagger, and the orichalcum knife. That should do it.
I intended to push as far as I could go, but at first I'd keep things moderate and just get a feel for things, so I decided not to overdo it today and took the rest of the day off.
Now then, a new morning had arrived. I wasn't sure if it was a morning of hope, but for me, it was a day worth remembering!
As I looked outside with these thoughts in mind,
"............"
It was pouring rain out there. The weather seemed determined to crush my motivation before I'd even started, and I nearly retreated back into my futon.
"No, the dungeon's interior doesn't depend on the weather... it shouldn't, at least!"
With renewed resolve, I folded up my futon and steeled myself. First up was breakfast, though that just meant reheating the food I'd prepared the night before.
Having filled my stomach for now, I grabbed an umbrella and headed for the dungeon.
Surprisingly, quite a number of adventurers and merchants were walking around near the dungeon.
As I headed for the entrance, ignoring them all,
"Oh, hey, isn't that Tenma? Why don't you team up with us?"
I was called out to by the one party I knew in this city.
"Sorry, Jin. Since today's my debut, I want to try going solo."
When I turned Jin and his party down, the surrounding adventurers started murmuring.
"I see... that's a shame. I figured with you on the team, we could push through one or two floors today."
At those words, the murmuring around us grew even louder.
"Well then, I'll be heading off... Oh, right. Just for reference, how far down have you gotten so far?"
"We're at floor 64 now. It took us eight years to get this far, though we weren't exactly diving every day."
Those words drew murmurs of admiration from those around us.
"Huh, so that's how it is."
Those words drew laughter from the surrounding crowd, as if to say I had no idea what I was talking about.
"'So that's how it is,' he says — the record for this dungeon is floor 78, and it took them fifteen years to get there."
"But if you guys were really diving every day, couldn't you have set a new record?"
When I said that, Jin gave me a slightly exasperated look,
"It's not that easy. Besides, our party's a bit unbalanced."
He started spouting things like that — whether it was modesty or genuine, I couldn't tell — along with complaints about his party members,
"Oh, I should probably get going."
I raised my hand in farewell and quickly made my escape.
Jin looked like he wanted to say something, but I ignored him and headed for the dungeon entrance.
The dungeon entrance was sealed by a thick door, with burly men standing on either side.
Showing my guild card to one of them, the man opened the door without a word.
The interior of the first dungeon I'd ever entered was dim, the air feeling slightly damp, carrying a unique smell.
Beyond the door, there were stairs, and descending them led to another door. The men weren't there this time, so I opened it myself, only to find yet another door and more stairs beyond it.
In the end, after passing through four doors and descending stairs four times, a passageway finally came into view.
"This must be to make it harder for monsters to appear... what a pain."
With such thoughts, my first-ever dungeon conquest began.
Titles can be granted directly by a god, determined automatically, or bestowed based on what others call you.