The Legendary Rookie's Arrival!
“Fufu~”
After an intense brain battle, the cunning butler had finally struck a deal.
He wouldn’t hand over the real Excalibur, but promised I could pick a sword from the manor’s weapon collection. The lord of Cromwell had gathered a fine collection, so surely there would be something decent. At the very least, it would be sharper than what I had now, and the monsters would fall even easier.
Thinking about slaughtering the monsters with Excalibur (No. 3) made me hum a tune all on my own.
“…The butler’s gaze felt a little weird.”
I glanced at the wet clothes stuck to my body and the decent steel at my waist, feeling a little pathetic. The whole thing left a strangely unsettled feeling, like I was receiving something. Still, the negotiation had gone well.
The Excalibur (fake) from the lord and the System quest reward were separate matters anyway.
Yeah. The quest reward was still waiting.
Feeling on top of the world after the deal, I gladly accepted the butler’s offer to wash the blood off my body.
The lord’s private bath was definitely better than any single inn. Medieval-style or not, it had its own bathing room and even shampoo-like stuff.
“Oh my.”
Honestly, I wanted to keep living here, but I remembered I couldn’t let myself be swayed by the cunning salesman’s pitch and quickly finished washing.
“I’ll be going!”
After greeting the cunning butler, I enjoyed the soapy feeling and slipped out of the manor.
I took a wrong turn and accidentally wandered into the garden, but oh well. I figured I’d just wander out slowly.
“Hey, beautiful lady?”
“?”
I ran into an odd guy.
A muscular brute covered head to toe in bulging muscles and a square jaw that screamed “macho.”
His words were what really got to me.
“What? Beautiful lady?”
My pride took a nosedive.
I could understand it now. My current body was still technically female, even if it had taken three hours of careful design.
If anything, the guy saying I looked handsome and manly was the crazy one.
I decided to forgive the clueless fool with a big heart.
“Would you like a date with me?!”
Watching his thick lips quiver while he blushed made my manly pride crack with a loud “CRACK!”
“Eh, should I kill him?”
At least I was a true man in spirit and had no interest in chatting or dating another guy.
Of course, there were ways to deal with him.
**[Immovable Mind activated.]**
The trait tried to calm me, but with a smile I asked,
“What’s your name?”
“…Jason! Jason! I’m an explorer who made it to the tenth floor of the tower!”
“Oh, I see?”
Good. At least I wouldn’t be killed.
Since I hadn’t drawn my sword yet, I grinned and cracked my knuckles.
Jason the muscle pig looked unsettled and blinked, but then…
**[Do you want to challenge Jason to a duel?]**
The law was clear. If you didn’t know, you got hit.
“Guh!”
Guys usually shouted when they were fighting, right?
Our gender chromosomes were different, but I figured our hearts would match at least.
I couldn’t read Jason’s mind with the punch on his jaw, but I was sure that was what happened.
**BOOM!**
The perfect uppercut sent him flying into the garden.
I nodded in satisfaction.
**[Duel victory achieved!]**
Nice fight.
I hadn’t taken a single hit, but since I hadn’t been hit either, it was actually a perfect match.
If the internet existed, I would have posted it on MadMovie. That was the only thing that sucked about it.
“Haah. That felt refreshing.”
My murderous intent had cooled, so I headed back to the manor with a lighter step.
*Thud.*
If I hadn’t sensed someone nearby, I would have.
“…Was there a witness?!”
I whipped my head around. A burly middle-aged man in the same muscular build as the guy I just knocked out was kneeling, staring blankly into space.
Next to him, a noble-looking guy was staring at my face in shock before bursting out laughing and clutching his belly.
What the heck was the context here?
…Ugh. These people were strange.
It seemed the lord’s manor was full of weirdos, so I hurried out.
Luckily, the witnesses didn’t report anything, or they didn’t know my name, so no city guards came looking later.
***
Since the quest location was on the ninth floor, the next day I entered the tower right at dawn and cleared the eighth floor.
The mission was to assassinate the orc chieftain guarding a strict outpost.
I just charged in through the front gate and slaughtered everyone.
Why did others drag out this easy quest for days?
If I just killed everyone, it would be over in an hour.
I rested, thinking how people would throw stones if they heard.
I was skipping a beat by racing through the eighth floor so fast, but the reward wasn’t based on how fast you cleared lower floors.
(I remembered playing this game before and the reward didn’t seem tied to that.)
I spent the time focusing on the special quest I’d received last time.
I learned the exact conditions for Heavenly Slaughter Star to activate and how to adapt to the new body stats right after.
It was a necessary break, even if it wasn’t strictly required.
Character stats were as important as polishing my inner self, after all.
If asked whether it was worth waiting, I would say without hesitation, “One hundred percent YES!”
**[Special Quest: Investigate and remove the tunnel that appeared in the forgotten shrine on the ninth floor.]**
**[Reward – Random Skill]**
“Even if it’s random, it has to be worth eating.”
Skill rewards were rare. You either leveled up, took a special quest, or found a master to pass one down.
All of them were precious and difficult.
This time, the reward was even more rare.
“I’ve never seen a dungeon pop up on a lower floor.”
This was a first even in the game.
The quest said “tunnel,” but it was basically a “dungeon.”
The concept appeared as an event in the game, where an experience-boosted hunting ground suddenly appeared right next to you.
The mobs were already grouped up and most had bosses, so items would drop.
I even knew some dungeons gave special quests that made people’s pockets warm.
“If a dungeon appeared while I was farming the floor I just cleared, I’d have gotten a chill.”
Dungeons appeared in everyone’s hunting grounds, but they were one-time only and vanished the moment you cleared the boss.
This time, though, the timing was perfect.
It was said the lord’s son, the head of the adventurer guild, had stumbled upon it while exploring and pulled out because it looked dangerous.
If he were a real man, he would have charged in. Coward.
“Well, since I got the benefit, I’ll let it slide.”
I might not meet the guild head’s son, but if I did, I’d pat his shoulder.
Thanks to you, I looted the lord’s weapon collection and got a skill.
With this kind of stats from the start, I could call it an all-time record rookie.
Since almost no one knew about this lower-floor dungeon, I almost went alone to monopolize it, but I held back.
Even the best equipment and rewards from lower-floor dungeons couldn’t beat a skill, and were probably worse than the lord’s weapons anyway.
Only goblins, orcs, and ogres would show up on the tenth floor.
It was only because of that pathetic floor that a dungeon and a quest appeared together, making it even more surprising.
Well, it was a good thing for me. But how did the lord of Cromwell know me, a three-day newbie?
That was the question.
The big-chested receptionist at the guild explained it while hugging me.
“With the lord’s power, he can probably check someone’s potential and honor hall!”
“Hee…”
I thought about it with my face buried in the receptionists’ super-premium bust.
Did the lord really have a function like that?
Then I definitely wanted to see the face of the guy who had climbed eight floors in a row.
While I was thinking, the receptionist rubbed her face against my head and whispered sadly,
“Ugh, it would be nice if we could see each other longer, Liz. How did you climb to the eighth floor in just a few days? Don’t leave me behind!”
If anyone heard, they’d think we were a couple.
We’d only crossed paths when I reported clearing a floor.
…Still, I didn’t deny it as I got lost in the receptionist’s enormous chest.
“Since you gave me a second name, we’re not exactly strangers.”
The tower was labeled “Undertaker,” but in daily life I couldn’t be called Taker, Taker, Taker. So I needed a nickname.
As a manly warrior, I thought of “Nord” or “Horde,” but the receptionist instantly shot it down.
It didn’t sound girly at all.
No, people could want to be called manly, but she was rejecting it outright.
I tried to deny it too, but the overwhelming bust made me surrender.
In the end, the receptionist’s name was “Alice,” and she said she wanted a brother.
Her blonde and black hair were already different, but she gave me the name “Liz.”
“Hmm, so from now on my days will be Liz days.”
Well, that was fine. Since it was a nickname, I could just make a new one if it stuck.
The busty receptionist Alice would probably pout, but there was no helping it.
If you don’t like it, go chase me up the tower yourself.
Of course I didn’t say that out loud, even though I really meant it.
While I was enjoying Alice’s chest, I finally remembered my original business and asked,
“So, when are they coming?”
The receptionist Alice explained the lord’s power, but the real reason she was so eager was because she was a communist trying to overthrow the city.
No. The reason was that the lord had picked all the party members for this dungeon and quest himself.
Yeah. This time it was a party quest.
Everyone was a promising, talented explorer.
Honestly, lower-floor dungeons weren’t that hard, but that was how the adults decided.
The adult Alice, whose chest was crushing my back, seemed to be thinking when she suddenly smiled and shouted,
“Oh, I forgot to mention! They’re all already in the reception room!”
“…Oh no.”
I felt like I’d accidentally become late.