Lowest-Rank Adventurers?
As the conversation drew to a close, we stepped out from the iron bars and looked over the other cells.
We decided to free them.
According to Arnen, the Dark Guild had not even been selling them as legal slaves, so there was little hesitation in letting them go. It might have seemed strange to quibble over such things after we had already killed every last member of the organization, but still.
There were eight people locked in the cells in total. For some reason, the moment we pulled them free, they lined up in a neat row before me and stared, as if waiting for my orders.
At their feet lay the handcuffs I had split cleanly in half.
“…You may go.”
Even so, no one moved first.
“What do you mean by ‘you may go’… If you could tell us what we ought to do……”
The one who spoke up first was the person I had been watching the entire time. Or rather—was it even right to call him a person?
He had the appearance of a young boy, yet animal-like ears rose from the top of his head, and a black-furred tail emerged from around his waist.
The tips of those ears twitched with tension, far closer to a beast’s reaction than a human’s.
Perhaps because I had fixed my gaze on him so blatantly, he seemed to feel he had to step forward first and spoke while carefully reading the room.
Arnen explained from beside me that he was a beastman. She added a brief note that he was a mixed-blood race of wolf and human, as if knowing I would not understand otherwise.
As expected of a world with magic……
I never imagined there would be demi-humans as well.
At the same time, I felt a twinge of guilt. Had I stared too openly?
“It means you can go wherever you wish. …For now, let’s leave together.”
Since they showed no sign of moving first, I took the lead and walked out of the prison.
Only then did the careful sounds of footsteps follow behind me.
Climbing the stairs, the thick stench of blood filled my nostrils.
Headless corpses lay sprawled in pools of blood.
Arnen scanned each of those bodies one by one before turning her gaze to me.
“Come to think of it, Bell. Did you deal with someone named Bendel as well?”
“Bendel? I don’t know the name.”
“He’s the man who acts as the leader here. Black hair, with deep dark circles under his eyes.”
I thought for a moment whether I had seen anyone like that, then shook my head.
“Never seen him. I took care of the vice-leader at the entrance, though.”
“Hmm, then he probably wasn’t here.”
“Is that guy the boss?”
“Yes… It might prove a bit troublesome. He has connections with the Black Snow Society.”
Arnen added that the Black Snow Society was a far larger organization than the Dark Guild—mostly made up of rather unsavory criminals, dark mages, or the illegitimate children of banished nobles.
“The money they took from me is probably with him as well.”
“…Still, I think it’s best we leave this place for now.”
I felt no need to wait around just to deal with this Bendel. The corpses at the door had been lying there for quite some time already; plenty of people must have seen them while passing by. It was far too late for any cleanup.
At this point, I no longer needed the money that had been meant to repay the debt either.
Getting out of here quickly was the far more rational choice.
“Yes, that’s right. If Bendel finds out… there might be a pursuit.”
“Don’t worry about that.”
“Yes.”
Arnen nodded as if she had not a single doubt.
We crossed the first floor, which had been decorated like a tavern, and stepped outside. I told the eight people we had rescued that they were free to leave as they were. They hesitated at first, but soon offered brief words of thanks and quietly set off in their own directions.
One of them—the beastman boy—remained until the end and approached me. Then he carefully held out his palm.
On it rested a rather large fang. Three thin lines were carved into its surface.
“This is a sort of token that allows entry into our village. It’s nothing grand… but if the chance arises, please visit our village once. It’s a place called Lugarion at the northernmost edge.”
“Alright.”
I readily accepted the fang and put it away. Beastmen. I was definitely interested.
He still looked like a child on the outside, but his solid build suggested real talent. I was also curious just how strong the fully grown ones might be.
Just then, Elia tugged at my sleeve from the side. She was glaring at the beastman with a pouty expression. Whether he failed to notice that gaze or was deliberately ignoring it, he kept his eyes fixed solely on me and continued.
“I am Raikar.”
“I’m Bell.”
“Hoping for a chance to repay my benefactor… I’ll take my leave now.”
Raikar offered a polite bow, then immediately turned and vanished swiftly between the buildings. Arnen spoke while watching his retreating figure.
“Beastmen face discrimination, so he’ll probably try to travel while hiding himself. Especially in rural towns like this, that discrimination runs deeper.”
Just as I was about to nod at her words, Elia muttered softly beside me.
“…I don’t like him.”
“Why?”
“He’s trying to steal Bell away.”
“Isn’t he just inviting us to the village because he wants to repay the favor?”
“Bell, you’re so naive. After inviting you to the village, what do you think he’ll do? He’ll try to make you settle down somehow. Get you attached, feed you, go hunting together, and then steal your heart too……”
I couldn’t relate in the slightest, but there was no need to argue. Elia had always been a bit imaginative and peculiar that way.
And so only the familiar three of us remained. We carefully slipped out through the city gates without drawing attention and headed quickly for the mountains.
On the way home, I picked up Arnen and Elia and returned to the front of the house in an instant. In less than a few minutes we were back at the house midway up the mountain; Arnen looked around with a bewildered expression. It was much the same look she had worn when I first brought Elia down from the mountain.
Elia put her hands on her hips and boasted at the sight.
“No need to make that face. Something like this is a breeze for Bell.”
“…Why are you the one saying that?”
“Ahem, well, I’ve already experienced it.”
Once inside the house, we immediately began packing our things. The three of us had already shared our respective goals, so there was no reason to hesitate any longer.
Each of us shouldered our packs and left the house. Arnen and Elia paused for a moment, looking back at the house with wistful expressions, then turned away again.
Arnen said we needed to head for the central continent near the capital in order to reach the Adventurers’ Guild headquarters. It was quite far from here.
Instead of carrying them and moving at full speed, I joined them on the journey. There was no particular reason to hurry, and more importantly, the two of them could not handle the pace of my full sprint.
Thus began a month-long journey.
From a certain point onward we spent most of our time inside a carriage, but the sisters adapted well to the outdoor stretches in between thanks to their experience living in the mountains.
And finally we arrived at the city. It belonged to the central continent yet lay quite a distance from the capital.
Though not on the scale of the capital itself, it was a large city bustling with people, as befitting a central hub. The Adventurers’ Guild headquarters stood right in the middle of the city’s busiest street.
Stepping inside the building, we found dozens of adventurers gathered.
Some were diligently examining the posts on the request board, while groups sat at various tables in front of the guild bar.
These people really love their alcohol.
The gazes that had briefly turned our way soon scattered. A sturdy man and two girls of similar appearance were apparently nothing unusual to them.
Not knowing where to go, we hesitated for a moment, then noticed several people tearing parchment from the board and approaching a man inside the bar, so we followed suit.
He was dressed far more neatly than the surrounding adventurers.
The man with long brown hair tied neatly looked up when it was our turn.
“You look like you’ve come to register as new adventurers.”
A faint smile rose on his lips after he quickly scanned us.
“It’s so obvious it’s hard not to notice.”
It was a joking remark, but Arnen asked with a calm face that did not so much as twitch.
“What do we need to do to register as adventurers?”
“It’s not difficult. …May I ask what field of adventurer you intend to become?”
“Dungeon exploration.”
“….”
The face of the man who had been smiling flexibly until then stiffened slightly.
A short silence fell.
“…You’re aiming for a difficult path. Few things offer the chance for a fortune overnight like dungeon conquest. But you must understand that it is equally high-risk.”
“I know.”
“Hmm…”
Arnen was becoming an adventurer solely to pursue her father’s last trail, so it was hard to say she fully grasped the man’s cautionary words.
He seemed to read that as well. After staring at Arnen’s face for a moment, he eventually shrugged.
“Well, what adventurers stand for is freedom, so it’s not my place to say more.”
He took out a thin piece of parchment from behind the counter and continued.
“To become a dungeon-conquest adventurer, you must first clear a practice dungeon. If you have some skill you’re proud of, it shouldn’t be too hard. Will you do it?”
Arnen glanced at me for a moment. I nodded silently, and she looked forward again and said,
“I will.”