Chapter 3
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: Guard
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Having become Ellie's last customer of the day, I set off down the familiar path I walked every day.
I encountered the guard who always stood watch at the entrance to the Damp Forest.
"I was wondering if you weren't coming today."
"I was late, huh? Got a bit busy."
"Yeah, I'm insanely busy myself."
Koon was exhausted down to his bones.
His throat sounded like grinding metal from all the talking he'd done.
"Not sure if there are any slimes left in the forest."
"There'll be a few if you go deeper. It'll take quite a bit longer than usual."
Even estimating conservatively at five slimes per adventurer, hundreds had been hunted in a single day.
If you factored in those who'd hunted extras for experience beyond the requests, there wouldn't even be any to glimpse near the entrance.
They'd repopulate by tomorrow as if nothing had happened, but to complete today's request right now would require a lot of walking.
"Is it just me at this hour?"
"There are still a few adventurers who haven't come out yet. They'll probably be back soon."
I asked Koon, whose eyes kept drifting shut and whose voice was completely hoarse.
"You enjoying it?"
"Pardon?"
"The village is buzzing for once. How's it feel from a guard's perspective?"
Koon scratched his cheek for a moment.
"Well... it feels nice, I guess."
"That's a pretty soulless answer—the first of its kind."
Feeling his response lacking, Koon belatedly added more.
"I'm tired, sure, but it's rewarding."
"Rewarding, huh."
"Being this busy is a blessing in itself, isn't it?"
I'd expected something like being glad to have more people to protect as a guard, or annoyed at having more to watch out for.
It was a vague answer, but enough to understand.
"Well, no matter how many people are in the village, my job doesn't change."
"Right. Keep up the good work, Koon."
"Safe hunting."
I headed into the forest.
As I'd feared, not a single slime was in sight.
Ominous hunches are never wrong.
"The newbies really cleaned them all out."
Not a trace of that clear shine-muskete color anywhere.
Just the gloomy hues of the trees everywhere.
I couldn't afford to waste time searching for slimes.
Ellie couldn't finish up and head home until I completed my request.
"Can't keep her waiting too long."
I kept running until slimes came into view.
Only after passing dozens of trees and trampling hundreds of blades of grass underfoot did a squishy lifeform appear.
"Oh, five of them clustered together even."
Lucky break.
Slimes usually traveled in groups of two or three.
Rarely alone, or sometimes in larger packs than average.
These five meant no need to hunt around for more.
Swish!
As always, I drew my sword to take down the slimes.
Just one stab and—
"Ah, no! I finally found them!"
A woman's voice called from behind.
Any villager would recognize it instantly, and it wasn't one I'd never heard before.
"Rien?"
"Eek, Earthbound Spirit Senior!"
"You don't need to add weird nicknames in front."
"Got it! Senior!"
Strictly speaking, there were no such things as seniors and juniors in the tower.
But if I forbade "senior," she'd probably start calling me Earthbound Spirit like Raymond, so I let it slide.
"Senior's hunting slimes too..."
"You still haven't finished your request?"
"I've been wandering forever, but the other adventurers dried them up... These were hard enough to find..."
Her dejection was plain as day on her face and body.
I hadn't expected any other adventurers besides me—the last to take the request—to still be short even one slime.
She might've come back from completing hers only to find Ellie had already closed up shop.
"We can hunt them together."
"Huh? Is that allowed?"
"Just attack them without killing them."
Quest monster kills could be shared among parties.
As long as damage was dealt, everyone got credit regardless of who landed the finishing blow.
Of course, if I attacked—even lightly—they'd die in one hit, so Rien had to go first.
"Like this?"
"Yeah, that's enough."
All five got lightly nicked by Rien's sword.
I stabbed one of them.
Pfsh!
Target: Slime Kills (1/5), Slime Cores (926/5)
Rewards: 500 Coins, 200 EXP
"Whoa! It says I got one kill too!"
"Do that for all five."
Pfsh! Pfsh! Pfsh! Pfsh!
Target complete.
"Slime kills done, but what about the cores? There are two of us, but only five cores."
"Nah, slime cores are overflowing. No issue."
"Whoaaa!"
Rien gaped at the mountain of cores piled in my palm.
"Hard to pick just five. Take what you need."
"Th-thank you."
"Got the cores too. Let's head back."
The sun had set, dyeing the sky dark.
This was why the forest was dangerous at night.
Nothing but trees, so novice adventurers couldn't easily gauge how deep they'd gone.
Didn't apply to me, who'd been in and out countless times.
I even remembered the path I'd taken running around for slimes.
I retraced our steps with Rien.
Koon was still standing at the Damp Forest entrance in the same pose.
"You're out earlier than I thought."
"If this is early, how long were you expecting?"
"I figured you might come back empty-handed without finding the last ones."
It felt like it'd taken twice as long as usual.
Ellie was still waiting.
Gotta hurry.
"And who's this...?"
"Ran into her in the forest."
Rien bowed ninety degrees to Koon.
"I'm Rien, one of the new adventurers who entered the tower this time!"
"Sorry. With so many new faces today, hard to remember them all."
"No, it's fine!"
Koon couldn't hold back a chuckle at her tense posture.
"Haha, you're a spirited adventurer."
"...You can say stuff like that?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Thought you only spoke like a machine."
Hanging out with him for years, this side was downright unfamiliar.
He was treating Rien like a kid.
She was a bit short, but didn't look that young.
"I'm always gentle with adventurers."
"I'm an adventurer too."
"You're not the airheaded type, Earthbound Spirit. You're more rotten than callous. And you don't even adventure, so calling yourself one without shame?"
"...Can't argue, which pisses me off weirdly."
Basically, he just found newbies cute.
"You had your cute phase too, Earthbound Spirit. Wandering the forest all day 'cause you couldn't catch one slime—"
"Hey, hey! Ancient history. And boring."
"Sounds fun to me! Tell me more!"
The conversation kept veering weird.
I grabbed Rien's shoulder and spun us toward the request office.
"Guard Koon, I'll sneak by tomorrow. Tell me then."
"Got it."
"I can hear that whisper."
"Ack, busted!"
Rien replied in a playful tone and dashed off toward Ellie's request office.
"Shouldn't you chase her?"
"A newbie like her won't get far. How much longer till you're off?"
"Shift change in an hour for me. Night shift's Delion's job."
Only after Rien left did Koon unload his backlog.
No room for me to speak.
My questions weren't even meant to get answers.
"Earthbound Spirit, know how many adventurers I dealt with today?"
"..."
"How many didn't cut me off, you think?"
"..."
"How many even greeted me? Let alone used my name..."
So it wasn't just her airheadedness that made him like Rien.
The more time passed, the more adventurers treated tower residents like game NPCs.
Especially this batch.
A couple floors up, they'd realize this was no game.
No tough monsters, just peaceful first floor—they wouldn't learn till later.
"Felt like talking to a wall. Treated like a doll."
"I get it."
"Wasn't like this when you entered the tower."
The guard who stood at the same spot every day, watching the forest entrance, looked worn out.
But he was smiling.
"You asked earlier if I was enjoying it."
"..."
"Yes. I am. But not because the village is bustling."
Koon gazed wistfully in the direction Rien had run.
"What makes me happy is watching eyes that bright. That's why today was good. Standing here every day, you don't get chances like that."
"I don't have eyes like that. Rotten through and through."
"...Wasn't what I meant."
Without days like today, I was the only adventurer visiting the forest, so Koon's days dragged on boringly.
"Sometimes my fate of never leaving the first floor feels pathetic."
"..."
"I want to see how adventurers with eyes like that fare up above."
"..."
"If I were an adventurer instead of a guard, I'd go with them..."
That was Koon's wish, his dream.
Unlike adventurers, native residents couldn't move between floors.
"Getting late. See you tomorrow, Koon."
"Ah, I talked too much. Safe travels."
Koon.
You said being busy was a blessing.
You're right. Nothing beats a fulfilling day.
But blessings aren't just that.
Ignorance is a blessing too.
I shoved down the fact that countless bright-eyed adventurers passing through the first floor died like bugs as they climbed.
Those dreaming of hopeful futures and heading up mostly ended up as fodder for conquering the next floor.
A truth a guard stuck in the tutorial village could never know.
All he saw were first-floor newbies stepping into the tower for the first time, catching a few small slimes.
To aim higher, you needed the most rotten eyes of all.
"Guess he never looks in the mirror."
I hope Koon's bright eyes never dull.
I hope his dreams never shatter.
I'll gladly be
his eternal enabler.