One hour earlier.
Delvers' Guild Hydrangea branch.
"Anemos. I'm expelling you from the party!"
"Wha!? Wait, what's that supposed to mean—"
"There's no two ways about it."
Being suddenly told by the party leader left Anemos bewildered.
"What about the others?"
"Let me make it clear—this is a decided matter. You lack the talent to be a delver."
"…Th-That can't be…"
"Go back home. This is your severance pay."
A small leather pouch was tossed over.
Anemos caught it and realized it was over.
"Thank you for everything."
He gave a slight bow before leaving the Delvers' Guild.
"Haa…"
After walking for a while, he stopped and let out a helpless sigh.
It had been about three months since Anemos came to Hydrangea from the countryside.
He'd been working hard every day in a party he'd joined as a sixth-rank delver.
He'd done his best with odd jobs like carrying luggage.
And yet, without so much as an explanation, I'd been kicked out.
"Ugh… what am I supposed to do?"
I let out a sigh and checked my severance pay.
Inside a rough leather pouch were… two assorted silver coins, one silver coin, five copper coins.
One small copper coin, six assorted copper coins. A grand total of 2,556 oro.
"…I guess it's enough to eat at Cidre's and stay at an inn for a bit."
I transferred the money from the pouch into my own wallet.
I still had enough to cover a few more days of lodging.
"So I'm solo for a while, huh?"
I mused gloomily, turning the future over in my head.
I'd keep delving as a solo delver while looking for a party or companions.
And once I'd saved up enough rank-up points, I could make it to the fifth rank — a rank where I could actually earn a decent living.
That should be enough to get by, more or less.
It wasn't like I was aiming for first rank.
I was the same as most people. I'd become a delver just to make a living.
"But still… what did I do wrong?"
I tried to think about what had gotten me thrown out.
If I didn't figure that out, it would just happen again — that was what I thought.
"Today… did anything out of the ordinary happen?"
It seemed something had come to mind.
"I only used the Relic just this one time."
Normally he just did odd jobs and never joined the fights.
But today had been dangerous, so he couldn't help reaching for the Relic.
That was how he managed to defeat the monster. But Anemos tilted his head.
"Why did I get kicked out just for using a Relic? It's just a [Wind] Relic... Well, it is a bit unusual—"
a
red
wind
blows, but—"
Still, it should be no different from any other wind. He tilted his head, puzzled.
He had no idea that the red wind was the reason for his expulsion.
Anemos was hungry, so he headed to the "Seedle Hall" for the time being.
The ginger pork set meal was his absolute favorite. He used to eat it a lot back at his parents' place too.
Anemos came from a typical farming family.
Though he felt like hunting had been more common than tilling the fields back home.
As the second son, he couldn't inherit the family.
Once he came of age, he left home. That was common enough, and he became a delver in the city just like that.
A thoroughly ordinary life path — and Anemos was walking it.
But life offers countless paths to everyone.
And it is not at all uncommon for a rough, difficult path to lie right next to the flat, straight one.
And paths in life often cross and connect.
So sometimes people go astray without even noticing.
"Auditions, now open!"
"Come on, why not give it a try? You can join easy-peasy!"
Anemos stopped at the voice that drifted over to him.
"Audition?"
Wondering what it was, Anemos looked for where the voice was coming from.
Soon enough, he spotted a crier in front of the alleyway on the opposite side.
"Your life — is it fine the way it is? Are you satisfied as things stand?"
"…………"
"For you, we're holding auditions for the Wind King of Death!"
T- The Wind King of Death…?!
Anemos was stunned. And well he might be. Anyone would be.
Sure enough, the reactions of the people around him were no different from his own.
Truth be told, the King of Death didn't have that much name recognition. But the words "King of Death" carried heavy weight.
In this world, the undead were feared monsters.
The first word that came to mind when you heard "undead" was "death."
Even in a world that placed such importance on the soul, "death" was a burden, a terror.
And when people thought of the King of Death, they thought of a lich. Liches existed in this world too.
Hear "King of Death," and most people would picture a lich.
So even though it involved Wind, because it was the King of Death, plenty of people assumed it had to be a lich.
Which is why most of them expected the following.
That this was just a part in a play.
At the audition, Narcissus — the chief judge — had been grumbling that nobody decent was showing up.
In other words, many people had assumed the Wind King of Death audition was for a theatrical role.
Because not a single one of them actually expected them to choose a real Wind King of Death.
That's why nobody decent had shown up.
Though, well, there were a few who were "no good" in an entirely different sense of the word.
Anemos was one of them.
She felt relieved — it was just an audition for a play.
Normally, that would have been enough for her to leave.
Because that sort of spotlight-grabbing wasn't her style.
But this time, she stopped and watched.
"Your life — is it fine the way it is? Are you satisfied with it as it is?"
"........."
Probably because she'd been exiled, too.
Those words echoed deep in her heart.
Before she knew it, Anemos had made her way to the audition venue.
At the reception desk, a stunningly beautiful girl dressed head-to-toe in white asked whether she could use a Wind Relic.
She answered that she could, and Anemos headed off to the first audition of her life.
Entry number 34.
"Th-then, may I come in…?"
The one who bowed politely and entered was a girl — an elf.
Her light-green hair was cut in a neat short style that framed the nape of her neck, and her pale green eyes were wide and attentive.
She had a cute face with long, pointed ears that stood straight up.
She looked rather earnest. About as tall as Pakira, maybe.
She wore the unmistakable plate of a delver.
Her slender, willowy build was plain to see.
"Name?"
"Ah, I'm Anemos. Nice to meet you."
"Oh my. A girl."
"Shiro and the King of Water's Death are as well."
"So they are."
"So there shouldn't be any problem."
"Hmm. And compared to the lot so far, she's considerably more composed."
"That too."
"……"
The Sword's sword was nodding as well.
The fact that she'd greeted them properly before entering already earned her high marks.
None of the previous bunch had even bothered with a greeting.
I wasn't sure if that alone was enough for a high evaluation.
"U-Um!"
Anemos called out.
"What is it?"
"I—I'm a man!"
"Huh?"
"What?"
"Oh my."
"Well, well. Even though you're so cute."
I was surprised. Sure, elves were known for their beauty, but you could still tell male from female.
No matter how you looked at it, the Anemos before me looked like nothing other than a beautiful elven girl.
And yet he was a man... While everyone was still stunned, Narcissus let out a soft laugh.
"How interesting. Very well. You pass."
The first successful candidate appeared at number thirty-four.
At the same time.
The Seedle Pavilion.
Several male delvers were drinking at table seats.
"Hey. Is it true they banished Anemos?"
"It's true."
"What a waste. The errands aside, the guy's got a body like that."
"That's right. Not right away, but that green of a kid? Coulda made him mine easy."
"Hey. Why'd they kick him out?"
"…Because he's dangerous."
"Dangerous?"
"Yeah. His Relic. That red wind… that's a Tempest."
Saying that, the leader quietly set his drink down on the table.
"If you don't want to die, stay away from him."
With that, he let out a small sigh.