Chapter 11
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 11
Chapter Title: Beginner - 4
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Rien had walked endlessly.
Her soles ached now, her mind weary and drowsy.
If she could just catch the five slimes that were her quest targets, she wanted to head straight to the inn's bed and pass out.
"Oh! Th-that's them!"
Slimes.
The five she had been hoping for were all gathered in one spot!
As if rewarding her for all her past struggles, luck had finally come late but sure.
If she took down that group, the quest would be complete.
Rien summoned what little stamina she had left and charged toward the slimes.
Five wobbling blobs.
"Wh-what?"
Not luck after all, but misfortune.
There was a human figure beside them.
The half-darkened sky and obstructing tree branches made it hard to make out the shape.
'There was definitely no one there before—when did he...!'
The sword in his hand was already swinging toward the slimes.
"N-no! I finally found them!"
A desperate cry escaped her lips unbidden.
The man turned his head toward Rien.
At that moment, a familiar number appeared above his head.
"Rien?"
"Huh, Earthbound Spirit Senior!"
It was someone who didn't fit with slimes at all.
Fortunately, with her senior's help, she managed to complete the quest.
She hadn't known that just inflicting damage on a slime would count as a kill.
The number of slime cores each person needed to gather was fixed, so it wasn't a method other adventurers could exploit.
If it had been some other adventurer trying to claim the slimes she barely found, peaceful cooperation like this wouldn't have been possible.
Someone might have stabbed another over a single quest.
'Do you even gain experience from layer 1 monsters?'
She couldn't help but be shocked seeing the mountain of slime cores in her senior's hands, not knowing how many he'd hunted so far.
On the way back to the Request Office for the quest reward, she peppered her senior with questions.
There weren't any particularly meaningful gains.
He wouldn't even tell her his level.
No guild affiliation either.
That bold number over 700 was right there, yet he insisted he'd always stayed on layer 1.
'If it's awkward to share, just say so. How disappointing.'
She wasn't close enough to him yet to receive advanced info.
She couldn't demand he spill his secrets, nor did she have the right.
"Then just one! Let me ask just one last thing."
"What?"
"Your name. Your real name, please."
Little by little.
"I'll just call you Earthbound Spirit Senior. It suits you better."
"No, I was finally about to answer."
For now, getting a little closer was enough.
Late at night, the Request Office she returned to was quiet, unlike before.
Her senior and the receptionist were exchanging friendly chatter.
Rien just watched their daily routine from behind.
'They look really close.'
More than ordinary friends... they seemed even closer.
Like a relationship spanning a very long time.
'As I thought, there's something special about that receptionist!'
Working alongside her, their closeness—it was all proof.
Definite evidence of a special quest.
Otherwise, there'd be no reason for a non-beginner adventurer to stick around layer 1.
This place had neither monsters worth hunting for someone who'd reached layer 714 nor quests worth doing.
Rien's conclusion after this line of thinking was simple.
'I need to get friendly with the receptionist too!'
Her traits were sorely lacking in rank and performance.
Her growth speed was already falling behind.
The one way to turn things around was to follow her senior's actions and uncover hidden growth elements.
Rien pondered ways to quickly befriend the receptionist.
The receptionist was close with her senior.
She had a bit of camaraderie with her senior. Probably?
The way to befriend a friend's friend was simple.
Use the fact that she was a friend of a friend to naturally build rapport.
Senior-junior wasn't exactly the same as friends, but as acquaintances, it could apply similarly.
"We're fellow adventurers, right? Earthbound Spirit Senior came first, I'm the junior who came later."
"You two look close...?"
"Ahaha, we hunted slimes together."
"I-is that so...?"
Strictly speaking, they weren't close enough to flaunt camaraderie, but it wasn't a lie.
They were fellow adventurers—that was true. They hunted slimes together—that was true.
The "senior" title was something she unilaterally called him, and "hunting together" was mostly just receiving his help, but words could be interpreted flexibly.
She'd even gotten the receptionist to say they looked close—mission success.
"I didn't know Earthbound Spirit did party hunts. He comes to my Request Office every day, so I know well, but he always goes alone."
"Really? He suggested we hunt together first, so I didn't know."
"He helped with my work for hours again today. Earthbound Spirit really is so considerate."
See?
The walls were already crumbling; personal small talk was flowing freely.
At this rate, befriending the receptionist would be quick.
Along with small talk, she gathered important info too.
'He comes to the Request Office every day—my guess was right!'
At this rate, finding the hidden piece was only a matter of time.
A day passed.
The inn's quality was better than expected.
The bed was decently fluffy, and no bugs crawled out in the room.
Today, she was supposed to go to the training grounds with her senior.
But she slipped out of the inn much earlier than planned.
Because there was something to do before meeting her senior.
"Earthbound Spirit? You're early today...?"
"Ahaha... Hello."
Her senior really did visit the Request Office every day—it wasn't a lie.
The receptionist mistook her for someone else just from the door opening sound.
It was a bit awkward, but it was fine.
Today was perfect for a long chat.
There wouldn't be adventurers swarming like yesterday.
Adventurers following guild guides had no reason to come for requests on day two.
Only her senior, who took Slime Extermination daily, and Rien following him would be the rare customers.
"What brings you here?"
"Why come to the Request Office? Obviously to take a request!"
"..."
The response was cold.
'Was I too casual?'
The receptionist seemed much more introverted than Rien.
She kept a businesslike attitude during work, but drawing out casual talk didn't seem easy.
Forcing friendliness on an introvert would backfire.
She decided to steer the conversation naturally with a topic to ease the awkwardness.
"Good thing it's quiet today. Yesterday the Request Office was so packed I couldn't think straight."
"Did you come to tease me about having no customers?"
"N-no! I really came for a request!"
Oh no, mistake.
From the receptionist's view, it was a situation where foot traffic had dropped for efficiency reasons; bringing up the topic hastily seemed insensitive.
Had she already offended her?
"You're Ellie, right? I'm Rien."
"Yes, I see."
She'd pulled the name from what her senior called her, but the reaction was still stiff.
Ellie quietly prepared the Slime Extermination request.
'It didn't feel like this yesterday...'
When visiting with her senior, Ellie hadn't seemed lacking in eloquence.
Without the senior as a bridge, her affinity dropped sharply?
Coming alone wasn't the right move.
She'd have to visit with her senior next time.
"Didn't you plan to go to the training grounds with Earthbound Spirit?"
"Uh, y-yeah."
Just as she was about to give up and go slime-hunting, Ellie belatedly started the conversation.
"I was going to finish the request first and head to swordsmanship training together."
"..."
She seemed like she had more to ask, but Ellie fell silent again.
"Um... Anything you're curious about?"
"No. Sorry for interrupting. Be careful on your request."
It felt like they'd grown even more distant than yesterday.
I need a hidden quest too.
Whatever.
In just a day, the damp forest was overflowing with slimes.
Yesterday she'd wandered forever to hunt these squishy things, but now they were everywhere she turned.
On the way back, she heard from Koon about her senior's past she hadn't caught last time.
She couldn't imagine her senior, who popped slimes like balloons, struggling as a beginner unable to take down even one.
"Earthbound Spirit Senior stayed on layer 1 the whole time?"
"Yes. He never used the gate to layer 2."
"He could have slipped through when no one was looking."
"I don't think so."
Koon stated it with conviction, as if he had solid proof.
"Why?"
"Earthbound Spirit never cleared layer 1."
"N-no way..."
Each layer had clear conditions.
Meeting them meant you'ded that layer.
Layer 1's clear condition was—
"Just get the proof from the village head, and it's cleared? He didn't?"
"I don't know why, but unlike other adventurers, he refused the proof."
The proof was basically just notifying the village head you were heading to layer 2.
The head had neither the power nor reason to stop an adventurer set on leaving.
"So he's never left layer 1."
Without clearing layer 1, you couldn't go to layer 2.
Without clearing layer 1, naturally you couldn't clear layer 714 either.
There was still so much to figure out.