Taking Stock of the Situation, Part 1
Staring blankly at the stream of comments scrolling by, I felt a rabbit suddenly bound into my arms and settle there.
Right.
Even with such an easy method in front of them, they had chosen not to take it.
They had remained here for centuries.
Well.
Did they really choose to spend all that time here for a reason as small as that?
No. It was too small a reason for that. Too trivial to keep them from going home.
Yeah.
That was probably more fitting.
The Demon Realm is a good place. Not only from the brief encounter I’d had there, but from the records as well.
Perhaps a society even more human than humans themselves.
A society where, at the very least, someone could raise a banner and call it justice without being immediately crushed for it.
If they wanted to go back, they would have to trample that place flat. Not mere conquest, but the annihilation of everyone living there.
“...”
Of course. They probably didn’t want to stay here either.
They surely had homes waiting for them, families they missed, landscapes they longed to see again, and everyday lives they wanted to return to.
It was the same for me. Even if no one was waiting for me.
Even if that place was a shithole, a life that was still alive was better. Hadn’t my life been threatened twice already right here?
But.
If I asked myself whether I wanted to return by falling all the way down, and then further still into the bottom of the bottom...
Well.
“I don’t know.”
Whether I wanted to go back that badly.
Whether I wanted to live here for a long time either.
I didn’t know. Neither of them had become desperate enough for me to cling to yet.
So at the very least.
Maybe I should struggle, no matter which way I went.
I was sure of it.
I wasn’t some person with great moral depth.
The courage to save someone in trouble from danger had long since vanished from me years ago.
But.
At the very least, I didn’t want to make the choice that would disappoint the people who had helped me.
Letting myself collapse before even reaching for a distant goal was something I never wanted to do again.
If that much was enough, then I wanted to do it.
Maybe that was too much to ask of someone who hadn’t even had a choice all this time.
“...C-rank.”
Compared to being F-rank now, that still felt impossibly far away. I had only just climbed one step.
Still, it seemed doable.
My dungeon had already fended off invaders three times. That was data I could trust, in its own way.
“It’s not nearly as hard as I thought.”
Even if stronger enemies could show up at my level, most of them I could still hold off. That was enough.
And I had that vacation voucher Hotplace had given me, so if things got bad, I could use it.
There was still no room to relax if I wanted to raise my rank as soon as possible.
Of course.
“Beep!”
“Chirp...”
“...Um. Sorry. You two probably want to rest too.”
I felt a lot of guilt toward my puppets.
Just the fact that they were protecting me with bodies this small was enough to make me hesitate. Their only attacks were cute ones, after all.
“I-I’ll make it up to you later. If there’s anything you want, I’ll listen, okay?”
“Beep!”
“Chirp!”
I’d have to properly repay them later.
After all, they were my lifesavers.
When the conversation I wasn’t sure they’d even understood came to an end, Rabbity1 and Jjaekjjaeki nestled into my arms.
More precisely, one wrapped itself around my hair, while the other climbed back onto my head.
Honestly.
They really liked my head for some reason.
Was there something special about it?
In the northeastern reaches of the Alderich Empire stood Winterbell, a small city tucked deep between layers of mountains.
There, from some point onward, a strange rumor began to circulate.
“Hmm, come to think of it, have you seen David? He hasn’t been around at all lately.”
“Now that you mention it, it has been quiet. One drunkard really did disappear, huh? Think he died?”
David.
It all started with his disappearance.
He was a fairly well-known adventurer in Winterbell, a strong fighter in his own right and the leader of a mercenary company with considerable size. The influence he held over the city was by no means small.
“Not likely, they say his adventurer plate is still fine. You know, that thing the church made—used to verify life and death for adventurers above silver rank.”
“The plate’s still fine, but he’s nowhere to be seen in Winterbell? Did that bastard run off to another city or something?”
Even though his survival had been confirmed, he was nowhere to be found. That fact alone was enough to stir up a number of aftershocks.
First came the rumors.
Then, naturally.
“...Well. Where he went isn’t really the point.”
“Right. The important part is that he’s left his post, isn’t it?”
Power struggles.
After all, David wasn’t the only name that carried weight in the area.
“Hk!”
“Kk, kuuu... p-please...”
Kill those who resisted. Absorb those who surrendered into your own faction.
At least, that was how things worked in the world of adventurers.
“Oh? Felix? Heh, you heard the rumor too, I see?”
“...You sure sniffed that out and crawled over fast. Celine.”
For a faction that had lost its center, collapse could happen in an instant.
And once that happened, it wasn’t strange for other powers to unite in the scramble for what remained.
Celine and Felix were among those other powers.
Strongmen who, together with David, had made names for themselves in Winterbell.
“Still, isn’t it amazing? That cautious bear who used to sleep hugging his axe could just vanish overnight.”
“Whatever. He probably got nicked by some blade and died. More important, are you going to kill the one you’ve got pinned down now?”
“Oh my, why? Have you developed an interest?”
“Hmm, though you don’t look like the type I’d be into.”
“Don’t go making me into some pervert on your own. If you don’t want to die.”
Celine’s eyes curved into crescent moons. Unlike her softly swaying blue hair, her green gaze was smiling in a way that made the skin crawl.
Felix answered by tightening his grip on the greatsword in his hand. Unlike her, he had stripped the amusement from his face and was glaring with brown eyes full of hostility.
To be precise, he couldn’t smile. Celine had been one step faster and taken all the core businesses once handled by David’s mercenary company.
“Heh. Fine. I’ll let it slide this time. I’ve already taken plenty on my side anyway.”
Celine casually loosened her grip on the mercenary’s throat. The man, white as death and looking as if he might expire any second, crumpled to the ground.
“See you next time. I do hope we can talk with our eyes locked like this again then.”
She led her subordinates away and disappeared. Felix glared after her, then grabbed the mercenary by the collar as he lay on the ground.
This couldn’t go on.
He’d acted too late. At this rate, Celine’s faction would only grow stronger.
He had to get something out of this.
“Hey. Wake up.”
“T-thank you for saving me. Thank yo—”
“Shut up and answer only what I ask. You, you know where that bastard David went, don’t you?”
“Ghk—!”
“He was at least smart enough to think on his feet, wasn’t he? There’s no way you don’t know. Or are you pretending not to?”
Felix’s gaze pierced the mercenary like a spear. Under that pressure, the other man’s body began to tremble of its own accord.
In any case, among the three of them, the one whose raw force was the strongest.
Was Felix.
“Th-the dungeon! He went to an F-rank dungeon right before he disappeared!”
The mercenary spat out the information as though vomiting it up. Felix narrowed his eyes for a moment, suspicion rising.
“...Lies have their limits. That bastard disappeared in a place like that? A silver-rank adventurer?”
“I-it’s true! D-David’s younger brother disappeared there, so he went to search for him, and then until now—”
Crack!
Felix’s greatsword pierced the mercenary’s head.
“...What are you yelling and making such a racket for?”
Of course, it wasn’t only because he’d been noisy. The information was already in hand, and a loose-lipped fool was a liability if left alive.
Still...
Missing in an F-rank dungeon. David, of all people?
Even so, the information itself wasn’t particularly enticing. At first glance, it was the kind of thing that was hard to believe at all.
Felix slowly pulled the greatsword free and fell into thought. Even so, there was still reason enough to go and see for himself.
David was undeniably alive for now. If Felix could wring information from him, then kill him for good afterward—or break him and take him in weakened—there was plenty to gain.
Of course.
The fact that a silver-rank adventurer had gone missing in an F-rank dungeon meant something else as well.
“Hey. James.”
“Yes, boss.”
“Go buy some escape spell scrolls and recording tools from the nearby magic tower.”
“Those things are expensive, you know.”
He would need to go in thoroughly prepared.
Without losing anything.
“If I can just bring back that bastard David, I’ll break even. Stop talking and go buy them.”
“Yes, sir.”
To gain more.