The Greaves of the Landless Adventurer

"The request for ten kilograms of Sensory Stones has been verified! You've all worked incredibly hard. I will issue your reward as promised."

When we returned to the Adventurers' Guild after completing the quest and handed over the Sensory Stones, the receptionist greeted us with a warm smile.

Razvel didn't forget to pull the Radgit ears from her materials bag and present them.

"Oh, and we also happened to slay some Radgits..."

"R-Radgits?! Radgits appeared in the Sensory Stone cavern?!"

The receptionist slammed her hands on the counter and stood up, drawing the collective gaze of every adventurer in the lobby.

She scanned Razvel from head to toe, as if checking to make sure all her limbs were still intact.

"Y-you're lucky to be alive... Radgits are far too much for novice adventurers to handle. Your party must have grown quite a bit, Miss Razvel!"

"Oh, no. Doran here handled all of them. To be honest, we were just dead weight."

"Huh? H-him?"

The receptionist's eyes went wide as she stared at Doran.

Wasn't he the novice who had only just registered ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠as an adventurer earlier today?

Even if he had somehow managed to defeat a Goblin Shaman, his level was so low that slaughtering a pack of Radgits single-handedly should have been impossible...

And for some reason, he smelled rather... peculiar.

"Could you perhaps... tell me how you defeated them, Mr. Doran?"

"Pardon? Why do you ask?"

"When novices encounter Radgits in a cave, it usually ends in heavy casualties. If you know an effective way to deal with them, sharing it could save many lives."

"Well, about that..."

Strip naked, cover myself in mud and filth, mimic a monster to catch them off guard, and then beat them to death.

How the hell am I supposed to say that out loud?

"Oh, I can tell you! Doran suddenly stripped naked and—mmph!"

"...We just got lucky. I happened to have some experience fighting Radgits in the past."

Doran quickly clamped his hand over Razvel's mouth and glossed over the details, leaving the receptionist looking utterly bewildered.

"I-I see... Well, excellent work once again! Since Radgits are classified as harmful pests, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠we will issue an additional bounty of five copper coins for each right ear you've brought back."

"Five coppers each...?"

"Yes, the bounties were recently raised due to a sudden surge in harmful beasts. Strangely enough, even monsters we've never seen before have begun appearing near Verastin..."

The complete opening of the dungeon really isn't far off.

Two weeks at most. Perhaps even less than a week.

Receiving their coin pouches, Razvel's party stared with wide eyes.

"Look at this! It's so heavy! This is enough to put toward some new gear!"

"Right? I wish we could just do Sensory Stone quests from now on. Though, of course, assuming we don't run into any more Radgits."

"......."

Doran checked the contents of his own pouch.

Let's see... roughly four shillings.

Not bad for a first quest.

I secured the Sensory Stones I actually wanted, and earned enough to cover my immediate living expenses.

Slaying the Radgits had turned out to be quite lucrative.

But...

...A few cheap coins as the price of human lives.

Even in this relatively peaceful period before the great cataclysm, this harsh reality was classic Velheim.

As he pocketed his earnings with a self-deprecating smile, the receptionist spoke up warmly.

"Oh, I almost forgot. If you could all hand over your adventurer plates, I'll stamp them for you."

"...Stamps?"

"Ah, since this is your first quest with our guild, you might not know, Mr. Doran. We stamp your plate whenever you complete a quest of a certain difficulty or higher! There are even special kill marks for subjugating powerful monsters!"

"Ah... I see."

It was a system designed to foster a sense of achievement and serve as a metric of reliability.

After all, the more stamps on an adventurer's plate, the more quests they had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠successfully completed.

I'd forgotten about it since it's only relevant to newbies.

Once I reached a certain point in the game, my very name was more than enough identification.

After receiving their hot-iron stamps on their plates and leaving the guild, Razvel's party chattered excitedly.

"A day this good calls for a toast! Don't you guys agree?!"

"Mr. Doran, we're heading to the tavern for a drink. Would you like to join us? We'd really love it if you came!"

"......."

Though they looked at him with hopeful eyes, Doran bowed politely and declined.

"Thank you very much for the invitation, but I have some urgent business to attend to. My apologies."

"O-oh, no, don't worry about it! We can't force you to stay..."

"...Well, I plan to stay in this city for the time being, so we'll likely cross paths again."

"R-right?! Can we say hello if we see you next time?"

"Of course. In fact, I'd be hurt if you pretended not to know me."

I went to the trouble of keeping them alive; it would be a waste if they ignored me now.

Besides, given my background, I was bound to make plenty of enemies. Even minor connections like this could prove useful someday.

Doran smiled and gave a slight nod, and Razvel's party beamed, waving goodbye.

After purchasing some herbs and a few other materials, I returned to the inn where I had stayed the previous night. The innkeeper's young daughter greeted me warmly.

"Ah! The handsome mister is back! Did your adventurer registration go well?"

"It did. By the way, is your mother around?"

"Nope! She went to Windmill Hill to grind wheat for tomorrow morning. She said she'd be back a bit late today..."

"Really? That's a shame... I need to borrow a pot and a basin."

"I can lend them to you! Usually, we charge a copper coin, but... I'll let you use them for free! Just... don't tell Mommy!"

"Thank you. Now, let's see..."

I pulled a piece of candy from my pocket and placed it in her small hand.

"Here. It's a molasses candy I bought from the shop down the street. ...And this is our secret from your mother, okay?"

"R-really? Can I have it?"

"Of course. But only if you promise to brush your teeth before bed."

I patted the little girl's head as she nodded vigorously, then took the basin and pot to the quiet backyard of the inn, away from prying eyes.

There was only one reason I had gone to the trouble of gathering all these materials.

"Finally... it's time to awaken these greaves."

A common piece of junk with an item description that made me grimace.

It was doubtful whether a junk dealer would even pay for the scrap metal, but the true value of this item would only be revealed once certain conditions were met.

But to do that, I first had to remove the rust coating the metal.

It's been a while since I've done any alchemy...

Alchemy.

In most games, alchemy was nothing more than combining recipes to craft items. But Velheim's alchemy system was on an entirely different level.

Thanks to a highly realistic chemistry engine, there were even crazy players who crafted rockets out of sugar and fertilizer to bomb monster dens.

Now that I think about it, Velheim was full of absolute psychopaths.

Perhaps that was another reason why the reputation of "reincarnators" was so abysmal.

I poured vinegar, scavenged from a brewery's waste bin, and rock salt into the pot in a three-to-one ratio and began heating it.

Stirring with a twig to dissolve the salt, I turned off the heat just as the mixture grew hot to the touch, then poured it into the basin.

Submerging the greaves in this solution allowed the vinegar to dissolve the rust while the salt formed a chemical complex, easily stripping away the oxidation from the metal surface.

It was a simple application of a redox reaction.

"The rust should come off on its own now..."

I finely crushed the Sensory Stones I had secretly pocketed instead of handing them over to the guild, then tossed the powder into the basin.

This would allow the Sensory Stones to clear the blocked mana circuits, restoring the item's original power.

This was the real reason I had taken the Sensory Stone quest in the first place.

After about thirty minutes, the seemingly permanent rust began to flake off, gradually revealing a gleaming metallic surface ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠beneath.

As the greaves regained their former luster, I used a cloth sprinkled with crushed seashell powder instead of sandpaper to polish every nook and cranny.

Soon, a hidden inscription began to glow with a faint light.

"...It's complete."

I strapped the restored greaves onto my shins.

They still looked somewhat worn, and their durability wasn't great, but these greaves possessed a hidden feature.

...Is anyone watching?

After confirming there were no prying eyes nearby, I quietly spoke the activation word.

"Rapid Progress."

The moment I uttered the command, my body shot forward with explosive force, as if propelled by a sudden gale.

The sheer, reckless momentum only stopped when I slammed face-first into the backyard wall!

I waved to the innkeeper's daughter, who had poked her head out to investigate, assuring her that everything was fine. Then, wiping away a nosebleed, I muttered to myself.

"I-I shouldn't use this in tight spaces... I'm going to need some practice."

Still, there was no doubt it would be incredibly useful if mastered.

Accelerating instantly in battle to escape danger, or closing the distance in the blink of an eye to strike a vital point.

In Velheim, where a single split-second variable could mean the difference between life and death, one could never have too many tricks up their sleeve.

And there was one more thing to keep in mind.

...There are still things about this world that I don't know!

The existence of reincarnators, who had never existed in the game.

The variables arising from them, the intentions of the gods who summoned me here, and the countless disasters looming on the horizon.

And...

"Why does a magic item I crafted in the past exist here...?"

The crystal ball Razvel's party had retrieved from the cavern.

It had been so long that my memory was hazy, but it looked far too similar to an item I had once crafted.

Had the artifacts I created in the game been manifested in this world as well?

Or was someone who knew of my past deeds mimicking me?

It could just be a mere coincidence, but...

"Damn it... I don't know. Why does every mystery I dig into turn into a ghost story?"

I massaged my throbbing temples and stood up.

Though I desperately wanted to rest, I had to grow stronger to survive the crises that would inevitably come.

In this world, complacency was synonymous with death.

I practiced the skill a few more times in the backyard before returning to my room to sleep.

Once morning came, I spent my days hunting monsters outside the city walls.

A few days passed in this manner.

Then, a message from Malton arrived through the guild.