Chapter 36: The Hot New Rookie
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 36: The Hot New Rookie
At the Adventurer's Guild Slave Services Department.
We went to see the department head to settle Yernil’s remaining debt of 75 gold.
Normally, the process would be the same as at the Magic University—we’d each recount our adventures and take a share of the reward based on our contributions, but…
“We can skip the statements. Is there any point in evaluating contributions? I’m sure you did at least 75 gold worth of work.”
The department head waved that part off, looking annoyed by the thought of it.
It wasn’t that he was irresponsible; he was just being flexible for a perfectly valid reason.
“To pull off something this incredible, there’s no way you could have a freeloader in the party.”
The department head said, gesturing toward Back Attack with a look of wonder.
Right.
This was probably the first time he’d seen someone whose soul was captured by a Labyrinth Master, turned into an Exit Boss, died, became an undead, and then returned to life as a human.
“Still, we have to follow the formalities. Could I have a few magic stones?”
I handed over the magic stones from a few goblins we had dealt with during our adventure.
The department head weighed the stones, assessed their quality, then pulled a pouch of gold coins and a ledger from his drawer.
[Slaves Purchased by the Magic University]
…
Yernil: 75 gold
…
First, he drew a thick line through Yernil’s name in the ledger.
“Here’s 4 gold, the remainder from the magic stones after deducting the debt.”
He handed me four coins.
“I’m sure you have a lot more to sell, but do it outside, not here. Your party member is a freeman now, so there’s no need to liquidate everything here.”
He handed Yernil a freeman’s identification card.
“If you sell here, you only get the immediate purchase price, so you lose a little.”
“Thank you.”
Yernil’s face was flushed red as she accepted the freeman’s ID.
“Finally! I’m finally free, Caleb!”
She looked incredibly happy.
But, Yernil.
“You’re not quite free yet.”
Because the clothes and armor you’re wearing right now! Your shoes, your helmet, the food you ate in the labyrinth, the backpack you used for sleeping, and even the lotion you put on your face this morning!
I bought all of it!
“You haven’t forgotten it was all on credit, have you?”
I teased her, and she replied with a bashful smile.
“I don’t mind being a slave, as long as I’m yours, Caleb.”
No, Yernil.
I’m sure you meant you don’t mind because you feel safe, but the way you say that sounds a bit… It makes me sound like a scumbag.
“Hah, if I’d known you were a slave, I wouldn’t have even shared a table with you.”
Back Attack, who had been waiting for an opening, chimed in with a joke.
“And a 75-gold slave at that.”
“I was originally worth 3,000 gold!”
“Really? Whoa! You were one impressive slave!”
Yernil began to tremble with frustration.
But Attack… you’re not one to talk.
“Back Attack isn’t a freeman right now, either.”
“What?”
“Because you’re classified as an Exit Boss monster at City Hall. You’re not even considered a ‘person’…”
“Oh, come on…”
“On top of that, your records from when you were human have been expunged and marked as deceased. We should request a correction for that at City Hall later.”
On our way out of the Slave Services Department and back to the Adventurer’s Guild lobby.
“It’s Back Attack!”
Someone suddenly yelled.
Every adventurer’s head snapped in our direction.
*
Seriously, how do rumors spread so fast in this town?
“It’s really him!”
“He’s here!”
“He actually came back to life!”
“So what those guys from the Labyrinth Union said was true!”
“His soul must have really been preserved in the labyrinth!”
“My god!”
“Hey, hey! Look over here!”
Adventurers started swarming us from all directions. Most of them seemed to be from the 1st and 2nd floors, with a few 3rd-floor adventurers mixed in.
“Wh-what the…”
Back Attack seemed a little flustered by all the attention. Even though he had been a promising 1st-floor rookie, this must have been a first for him.
“Caleb!”
Someone pushed through the crowd and ran toward us.
It was the man who had interviewed for the tanker position. The swordsman from the East, Hijikata.
He was a 3rd-floor adventurer who had wanted to join our party even though the pay didn’t match his level. The reason was that his friend had also been captured by the Labyrinth Master.
“Where did you find the soul preservation site?”
“The Inter-floor Village.”
“The Inter-floor Village!”
Cries of shock and horror erupted from the adventurers.
“Does that mean they went to the 1.5th floor?”
“That place is a total ruin.”
“Wait, you can enter the Inter-floor Village and come out alive…?”
“Weren’t you chased by the guardians of the boundary?”
As it turned out, quite a few adventurers knew about the 1.5th floor.
It seemed there were even rumors circulating about the Caretaker of Rest.
“I heard the boss of those guardians is insanely strong.”
“They say he’s four meters tall.”
“And that he heals and resurrects all the guardians every fifteen seconds.”
“Damn it, then how are you supposed to kill it?”
Hijikata also knew a fair bit about the 1.5th floor.
“I once entered the 1.5th floor and nearly died myself. Back when I was a 2nd-floor adventurer,” he said.
“It must have been crawling with guardians. It’s amazing you managed to find Back Attack’s soul in there. Didn’t the guardians chase you?”
They did, but things got complicated because of the Lizard’s party.
“We fought our way out.”
“Caleb!”
Just as I was trying to wrap up the conversation, Birtanen and Jikal appeared.
“I heard from Emma! You went into the 1.5th floor and even met the boss!”
“What!”
Screams erupted from all around.
“And you were surrounded by the boss and hundreds of guardians!”
“Whaaat!”
“But you wiped them all out with a thundercloud and escaped!”
“Waaaaah!”
Birtanen… stop…
These low-floor adventurers are about to lose their minds.
“Just what kind of battle did you fight?!”
*
About an hour after turning the Adventurer’s Guild upside down.
This time, it was the Magic University’s turn to be flipped on its head. Or more accurately, Professor Isilof’s lab.
“What is this!”
Professor Isilof shot up from his seat in surprise at what Caleb had brought him.
“The staff of the Inter-floor Village boss?”
“Yes.”
“You mean you went into the Inter-floor Village?”
“That’s right.”
“Wh-what magic is contained in this staff?”
“It has Undead Restoration.”
“Undead Restoration!”
The professor was beyond shocked.
“That’s Tier 3 Necromancy!”
Normally, only Tier 1 magic could be imbued into wands or staves.
Items containing Tier 2 magic or higher were extremely rare, and Tier 3 was on another level entirely.
Treasure Grade.
In the Magic University’s appraisal system, which classified items into four grades—Normal, Magic, Treasure, and Legendary—a staff containing Tier 3 magic was Treasure Grade.
“Hah…”
Isilof slapped his forehead.
To be honest, he hadn’t expected Caleb to succeed in the mission to find Back Attack’s soul in one go.
There was simply too little information.
The professor’s idea—to cast a modified version of a lost-item tracking spell on an undead and have it track its own lost soul—was just a rough sketch.
“I thought it would take months, even if you succeeded.”
When professors assigned missions to club students, they rated the difficulty. Finding Back Attack’s soul was rated B-Difficulty.
The reason was that, while it took place on the 1st floor and had few dangerous elements, it required the investigative abilities of a researcher—gathering clues, tracking leads, and uncovering secrets as an adventurer.
A B-Difficulty mission wasn’t easy for a freshman, but Caleb was a smart rookie, so he had entrusted it to him.
But he even went into the 1.5th floor and fought the boss?
In that case, this was effectively an A-Rank mission.
It was unbelievable enough that he had succeeded on his first try, but to even bring back a Treasure Grade item…
“Just retrieving this staff would have been a mission I’d create separately and assign to upperclassmen, Caleb.”
Isilof handed the staff back to Caleb.
“In any case, it’s yours, so keep it safe and use it well. If you have to sell it and split the money with your party, I’d appreciate it if you sold it to the university rather than to outside adventurers, if possible.”
“Yes, I understand.”
“Anyway, I need to reward you for perfectly completing the mission to find Back Attack’s soul. Let me think about what would be good…”
Knock, knock, knock!
Someone knocked forcefully on Isilof’s lab door.
“Come in!”
The moment Isilof finished speaking, Professor Meldini threw the door open, a huge grin plastered on his face.
“Caleb!”
Meldini bounced into the room, ecstatic.
“I heard the news! You performed some truly incredible feats out there! I knew it! Didn’t I tell you? My expectations for you are enormous!”
“…”
“I was just talking with Bishop Azello at the Temple of Nathaniel, and he said the temple is in an absolute uproar!”
“Wait a moment, Professor. What are you talking about?”
Isilof hadn’t heard about this yet.
“Why the Temple of Nathaniel?”
“You don’t know yet? The place is in chaos right now.”
*
“Pfft!”
Cardinal Servan of the Temple of Nathaniel spat out the tea he was drinking.
It was because Bishop Azello had just laid out the most ridiculous story.
“What did you just say?”
“Exactly what I just told you, Your Eminence.”
“So, you’re saying a monk, dying from a Tier 3 Necromancy spell, was taken to the 1.5th floor, his soul was preserved in an ossuary, his necrotic corpse was turned into an undead, the necrotic tissue was restored with Undead Restoration, he was put to eternal rest again, and then resurrected with a scroll found in a treasure room?”
“Yes.”
“Is… is that even possible?”
Someone dying from a Tier 3 Necromancy curse could only be healed by a Tier 3 or higher priest.
And what if the window for treatment was missed and the heart necrotized, leading to death?
A body that damaged would lose its soul even if a preservation spell was cast, making it impossible for even a high priest to resurrect.
“But to think a first-year wizard saved someone like that… I… I just can’t…”
Hearing the process, it was logically sound, but it was still difficult to accept.
“To be honest, even if I had both the ossuary and the staff, I would have been too reluctant to use necromancy to attempt the treatment,” Bishop Azello said.
Cardinal Servan agreed.
“…That’s certainly true. The same goes for me. That is a method of healing only a wizard could perform, not a priest.”
There was only one reason the Temple of Nathaniel had supported Isilof’s project, swallowing its discomfort with the undead and willingly providing resurrection scrolls.
The temple was the core institution responsible for the preservation and resurrection of adventurers’ souls in the Labyrinth City.
But due to the shocking incident caused by a certain super rookie, the temple’s policies and procedures might have to change in the future.
“How is Bernard doing?”
The Lizard Paladin was also a promising rookie cherished by the temple. Cardinal Servan was worried about the shock and helplessness the paladin must be feeling.
“For a wizard to save a patient right in front of him, a patient he, a paladin, was powerless to help…”
“Not only that, but it seems one of Bernard’s party members fell behind and died on the 1.5th floor, and that wizard rescued and resurrected him as well.”
“He did what?”
The Cardinal was finding it a bit difficult to keep up with the wizard’s exploits.
“What do you mean by that?”
“It’s just as I said. The party’s dwarf fell behind and died, but the wizard sent his own party member to resurrect him and help him escape.”
“…”
“As a result, Bernard wrote in his mission completion report, under special notes, that he contributed nothing to the mission. He requested that the entire mission payment be given to Caleb’s party.”
“Hah.”
The Cardinal sighed.
It always pained him to see young, low-floor rookies, just starting to build their labyrinth careers, become so disheartened.
“Please do your best to console him, Bishop.”
“I will.”
Although the Cardinal felt sorry for Bernard, he also felt a sense of anticipation.
The temple and the Magic University were competitive, but also cooperative.
“What was that wizard’s name again?”
The Cardinal wanted to watch this genius wizard’s future exploits.
“His name is Caleb.”
*
Sigh.
Did I overdo it a little? I didn’t want to attract too much attention.
It seemed all three institutions—the Adventurer’s Guild, the Magic University, and the Temple of Nathaniel—were buzzing with stories about me.
The original plan was to quietly retrieve Back Attack’s ossuary and complete Isilof’s mission, but I ended up running wild.
‘Can’t be helped.’
Well, it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. And since it all happened on the lower floors, things would probably quiet down in a few days.
That aside…
“Caleb.”
As I was leaving the Magic University after finishing my report, Clorence fell into step beside me.
“This evening,” he said.
“Avison has recovered considerably. We’re holding a party at our estate tonight. Please, you must come.”
Avison’s family was a renowned magical lineage.
Clorence himself was the top student of the 5th-year department at the Magic University, receiving countless offers from various research labs.
Among his relatives were many high-tier wizards, and apparently, even a professor at the university.
“You are the one who saved Avison’s life, Caleb. You will be treated with the utmost hospitality.”
“Thank you, Clorence. But when I retrieved Avison’s body, there was a companion who fought alongside me in the exit room.”
“You mean Yernil?”
Clorence nodded as if he had expected it.
“Of course, we must thank her as well. Please bring her with you.”
Just then, I saw Yernil sitting on the edge of the fountain in front of the Magic University’s main gate, kicking her feet impatiently.
I said goodbye to Clorence and walked over to her.
“Where’s Back Attack?”
He had left first after meeting Isilof with us to confirm his resurrection, but I couldn’t see him.
“He said all the mages flocking to stare at him was too much, so he left. He said he’ll contact us later.”
“I see.”
He might have gone to see the Monk, or perhaps to the graves of his old party members who had died.
He acted like a goofball, but he seemed like a very loyal guy.
“Yernil.”
“Yes.”
“I’ve been invited to a party at Avison’s house tonight. You’ll come with me, right?”
“Yes! I’ll go!”
Yernil shot her hand into the air.