A Typhoon Is Coming
The reception room of the Orten Branch Hero Management Bureau.
Zick and his companions sat on plush sofas, waiting for the branch manager.
Freshly baked cookies, fruit, and warm tea were neatly arranged on the table.
"Please drink the tea before it cools."
Helen set down the teacups and bowed politely.
She was the senior receptionist who had rushed over from the neighboring desk on the day Mariel caused that massive incident, apologizing in her place.
At the time things had been too chaotic for Zick to even learn her name, but he still remembered that flustered face perfectly.
"You're the one I met back then, right?"
Helen's eyes widened at Zick's words.
"You remember me?"
"Of course. You even bowed your head for Mariel and cleaned up the mess."
"I'm truly sorry about that day."
When Helen tried to bow again, Zick waved her off.
"That's already water under the bridge. No need to apologize again."
"Thank you for saying so."
Only then did Helen lift her head with a look of relief.
"The branch manager will be here shortly. If you could wait just a little longer, I'd appreciate it."
"It's fine. Tell him to take his time."
Zick answered with an easy smile.
Helen bowed once more, yet for some reason she didn't leave the reception room right away.
She fidgeted carefully with the teapot handle as if something still lingered on her tongue.
When Zick looked at her with mild curiosity, Helen finally spoke with careful hesitation.
"Hero Zick. If it isn't too rude, may I ask one thing?"
"Of course."
"Is Mariel doing well?"
At the name he had half expected, Zick let out a small laugh.
Just from the way Helen had forced Mariel's head down and apologized for her that day, the nature of their relationship had been obvious.
Worry still filled Helen's expression.
It was the heart of a senior who knew better than anyone what her junior had done, and so could not simply take her side.
"I know that child made a serious mistake against you, Hero. She received disciplinary action for her own wrongdoing, so it isn't my place to make excuses. Even so, I can't erase the worry for a junior I trained myself."
Zick reached into his coat.
"Actually, Mariel asked me to deliver something to you, Helen."
"To me?"
What Zick held out was a single letter.
Helen's name was written on the front of the envelope in neat handwriting.
For someone usually so scatterbrained, the lettering itself was as tidy as any receptionist's should be.
Helen accepted the letter with a startled face.
"Mariel wrote it herself."
"May I read it now?"
"You don't need my permission for that."
Helen asked to be excused and carefully opened the envelope.
The moment she unfolded the paper, a familiar, lively hand filled her vision.
Dear Senior!
I'm doing perfectly fine and healthy!
Honestly, at first I was pretty depressed about the disciplinary action, but now I'm working hard as the dedicated supporter of Hero Zick's party.
I was the one at fault from the start, so please don't worry, Senior.
Hero Zick is a better person than I expected too.
He does have those annoying sides—making people weirdly mad sometimes, ordering me to clear the backlog of paperwork the second after he hands me a gift, and casually sipping tea right in front of someone stuck on overtime...
But still, he's a good person.
Please treat all the party members well for me.
Especially Reno-nim. I'm learning a lot about work and ledger management from him.
So I'm really okay!
Please stay healthy yourself, Senior, and don't overdo it.
When I come back to Orten later, buy me something delicious.
Especially the expensive kind.
— Mariel
P.S. Hero Zick might forget the letter, so if you never received it, make absolutely sure to give him a hard time about it.
A quiet smile spread across Helen's lips as she read.
By the final line she finally let out a soft laugh.
"She hasn't changed a bit."
"I completely forgot about it myself until we arrived in Orten."
"Mariel's prediction was spot on."
"I'm not going to admit that one."
Helen carefully folded the letter and returned it to the envelope.
The face that had been rigid with worry now looked far more at ease.
"I'm glad she seems to be adjusting well."
"She's doing fine. She's become someone we can't do without in the party."
"Hearing that puts my mind at rest."
Helen tucked the letter carefully against her chest.
"Please continue to look after my junior."
"I'm the one who should be asking you for favors."
Helen smiled gently at Zick's reply and left the reception room.
The door closed quietly.
After a brief silence, Drake tossed a cookie into his mouth.
"She sure frets a lot over her junior."
"Looks like Mariel was pretty well-liked back in Orten."
Zick took a sip of tea and leaned back against the sofa.
Gerard stood by the window scanning the outside, while Ainz and Noah quietly enjoyed their tea.
Only Reno rechecked the mission request form on the table.
"It seems the Typhoon Hero still hasn't arrived."
At those words Zick's gaze shifted to the empty sofa opposite them.
The Typhoon Hero's party, who would be carrying out this designated joint mission with them.
They were supposed to meet at the branch and hear the detailed mission briefing together, yet they still hadn't shown themselves.
Noah set down his teacup and asked quietly,
"Is this Typhoon Hero really that impressive?"
"He was."
Zick answered at once.
"Same 26th class Rookie Hero as me, but he was in a league of his own from the ranking evaluation onward."
Short-cropped grey hair and a scar at the left corner of his mouth.
Despite the rough looks, his actions had been careful and his speech polite.
What left the deepest impression, though, was his authority.
The storm that swept the entire testing ground in an instant had been on a completely different level from the other Rookie Heroes.
"He stood out the most in our class. Every examiner had their eyes only on the Typhoon Hero."
"If we're talking one-of-a-kind, you weren't exactly ordinary either, Hero."
Drake's mouth curved upward.
"A mere Rookie Hero who got the epithet 'Openmu Hero' the moment he finished the ranking evaluation."
"What?"
Zick set his teacup down.
"Hold on. You're saying I actually got an epithet like that?"
"You didn't know?"
"You're lying."
"I may tease you, Hero, but I don't invent things that aren't there."
"That's even worse!"
Zick looked desperately at Reno.
Normally Reno would have shut down Drake's teasing.
Instead Reno only covered his mouth, smiling.
"The truth is, Hero Zick was the only one who caused as much of a stir as the Typhoon Hero that day, so it isn't strange that an epithet stuck."
"Why Openmu of all things?! That was an accident!"
"Epithets don't always form according to the person's will, you know."
There was nothing to argue back with.
The most unfair part was that an embarrassing nickname had appeared first without any cool exploits to show for it.
Typhoon Hero.
Sword Hero.
Radiance Hero.
Heroes naturally received names based on the authority of the god they inherited.
Yet he was the Openmu Hero.
A name more suited to page three of a capital newspaper than to a hero.
"Just you wait."
Zick clenched his fist.
"I'll finish this designated mission perfectly and earn a brand-new epithet no matter what."
"What kind of epithet do you want?"
"Something so cool that anyone who hears it will be impressed."
Noah covered his mouth and laughed; Ainz's smile also showed beneath his beard.
Just as the stiff atmosphere in the reception room finally loosened—
Knock knock.
Accompanied by the sound of knocking, a middle-aged man entered the reception room.
Short, neat brown hair and a solid build.
The Orten Branch crest was pinned cleanly to his uniform.
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
The man stood in the center of the room and bowed courteously.
"I am Bruno, branch manager of the Orten Branch Hero Management Bureau. It is an honor to meet Hero Zick and your companions."
Zick rose from his seat and returned the greeting.
"Thank you for the warm welcome."
"It's only natural for those who have come such a long way."
Bruno sat on the opposite sofa.
A city map was in his hand.
"Then I will begin the mission briefing at once."
The moment Bruno started to unfold the map on the table, Zick pointed at the empty sofa.
"One moment. The Typhoon Hero doesn't seem to be here yet. Is it all right to start without him?"
Bruno's hands stopped.
A troubled look crossed the face that had been gentle until now.
"I believe I must apologize first regarding that matter."
"Apologize?"
"Hero Scar of the Typhoon Party has already departed for the site."
The air inside the reception room turned cold.
Gerard, who had been standing by the window, slowly turned his head.
"I was told this was a joint mission."
His voice was low and heavy.
Cold sweat beaded on Bruno's forehead.
"That is correct."
"Yet one party moved first without even hearing the mission briefing together?"
Gerard fixed Bruno with a direct stare.
"In that case, may we take it that the Typhoon Hero's side has decided our party's cooperation is unnecessary?"
"Absolutely not! At least as far as we can determine, that was not Hero Scar's own intention."
Bruno waved both hands frantically.
He pulled a handkerchief from his coat and wiped the sweat from his brow.
"Originally, Hero Scar should also have heard the mission briefing here with you. However, the dedicated supporter of the Typhoon Party strongly insisted on independent action, and everything went off track."
"Their dedicated supporter?"
Zick's brows drew together slightly.
"That person told Hero Scar they needed no help from other heroes and demanded the mission information. We tried several times to persuade them to wait because it was a joint mission, but they refused to listen."
Bruno swallowed a sigh with an awkward expression.
"In the end they took the necessary materials and headed to the site first. Failing to stop them is entirely the responsibility of our branch."
Zick quietly studied Bruno's face.
It was not the expression of someone fabricating a lie.
Rather, he looked like a man nervously gauging whether Zick would make an issue of this.
Mariel's blunder at the Orten Branch still hung over them as a burden.
If yet another problem reached headquarters, the branch manager would hardly be comfortable.
"I'd like to hear the mission details first."
Zick spoke calmly.
"Whoever went first, resolving the incident is the priority right now."
The tension drained from Bruno's shoulders.
"Thank you."
He bowed his head and spread the city map across the table.
"In addition to the request form, a new phenomenon has just been discovered."
Bruno pointed to the underground waterways connected to the city outskirts.
"Suspicious vibrations have begun occurring in Orten's sewers."
"Vibrations?"
"Yes. They continue even now at regular intervals."
Ainz narrowed his eyes.
"It isn't that the ground itself has become unstable, I take it?"
"We summoned the official who designed the city's water and sewage systems to confirm. The place where the vibrations started is an underground shelter zone built for disasters."
"There would be no reason for vibrations to occur in a shelter zone."
"The official said the same."
Bruno tapped a space marked on the lower part of the map with his finger.
A wide area constructed far deeper than the city sewers.
"Currently the passages leading to the shelter zone are under control by the city guards we dispatched. We've confirmed that the Typhoon Hero's party is also heading there."
Zick rose from his seat at once.
"Then we'll go right away as well."
His companions stood as if they had been waiting for the cue.
Bruno hurriedly followed them up and bowed toward Zick.
"I am truly sorry about this matter. Even though it is a joint mission, we failed to prevent the Typhoon Hero's party from acting independently."
"It's fine."
Zick smiled and waved a hand.
"We'll meet them once we reach the site. We can move together from that point on."
"Thank you for understanding."
Zick gathered the map and the necessary materials.
Soon afterward he left the reception room with his companions.
Only after the door closed and the footsteps faded did Bruno let out a long breath.
Not long after, Helen entered the reception room to clear the empty teacups.
She looked at the closed door, then spoke to Bruno.
"Hero Zick is a little different from the other heroes."
"Indeed."
Bruno nodded slowly.
It would not have been strange for someone to raise a fuss about being ignored.
If a protest had gone up to headquarters, the Orten Branch would have had a hard time escaping responsibility.
Yet Zick had not put his emotions first.
Rather than arguing over who was at fault, resolving the incident came first.
"It seems Mariel has met a good person."
Helen lightly pressed a hand over the letter tucked against her chest.
"Yes. It seems so."
Both of their gazes turned toward the door through which Zick's party had left.
Orten underground sewers.
The filthy water running along the damp walls suddenly surged upward.
KWA-AAAAANG!
A gale that filled the entire passage swept the bodies of the monsters away.
Monsters resembling rotting rats slammed into the walls without even time to scream.
The sound of bones shattering and flesh bursting.
Blades of wind that followed sliced the throats of the remaining monsters in a single stroke.
Once every monster nearby had been cleared away, the raging wind died down as if it had never existed.
"That's all of them!"
The man floating in midair slowly descended to the floor.
Grey hair cropped short enough that his scalp showed—a neat style.
A short scar remained at the left corner of his mouth.
A rough impression and a solidly built frame.
The Typhoon Hero, Scar.
Scar's boots touched the wet floor.
He scanned the surroundings, checking whether any monsters might still be alive.
"Evelyn. Are there any remaining monsters nearby?"
"One moment."
The mature-looking female mage Evelyn tapped the floor with the tip of her staff.
Faint light rippled outward, sweeping through the passage and even beyond the walls.
After closing her eyes briefly to sense the mana, Evelyn shook her head.
"There don't seem to be any monsters left in this area."
"That's a relief."
When Scar lightly brushed off his hands, the wind lingering in the passage scattered without a trace.
Nearby, his companions were also catching their breath after the battle.
The thief Roy wiped the blood from his dagger on a monster's fur, while the warrior Brock planted his large shield on the floor.
A little farther back, their dedicated supporter Linda was organizing the combat records.
Roy pinched his nose and grumbled.
"Do promising talents like us really have to be in a stinking sewer like this?"
"What we do matters more than where we do it."
Brock answered shortly.
There was no wavering in his solemn expression.
Roy frowned.
"Still, it'd be nicer if there was sunlight and less smell, right?"
Scar smiled and lightly patted Roy's shoulder.
"Even if it's a smelly place, if our moving makes the city's citizens safer, isn't that exactly what a hero should do?"
"Yes, yes. Our Hero's words are always right."
Roy answered half-heartedly yet stopped complaining further.
He sheathed his dagger and took the lead to check the passage.
Even if he grumbled with his mouth, Roy never went against the leader's judgment.
It was the look of a party that had coordinated for quite a long time around Scar.
Then Roy stopped after only a few steps.
"By the way..."
Everyone's gaze turned to him.
"Wasn't this mission supposed to be a joint one?"
"It was."
"Is it really okay for us to be moving alone like this? What if the Management Bureau hits us with disciplinary action later?"
Scar's expression hardened slightly.
It had been weighing on his mind the entire time as well.
"I'm worried about that too, but..."
Scar's gaze shifted to Linda behind them.
"Linda. If you hadn't insisted so strongly, we would have moved according to the original plan."
Linda flipped through her record sheets with an unbothered face.
"It's a mission our party can handle perfectly well on our own."
"Still, there are procedures."
Scar scratched his head.
"I also wanted to meet that Zick guy's party at least once."
Linda's lips jutted out a little.
"Do we really need to meet them? I heard he was just some hero who caused an accident during the ranking evaluation."
"Accidents and ability are separate things."
Scar recalled the Zick he had seen at the Rookie Hero ranking evaluation.
He hadn't displayed eye-catching skill, yet somehow he was a hero who stuck in the memory.
"If we talked once, he might turn out to be a good person."
"Scar-nim always sees people too kindly."
Linda muttered with a dissatisfied look.
Evelyn, who had been listening to their conversation, gave a small laugh.
"That's because Linda likes Scar-nim too much."
"Evelyn unnie!"
"You pushed hard because you wanted to raise his achievements even a little more, so don't scold her too much, Scar-nim."
Evelyn continued while examining the monster traces on the wall.
"Besides, now that we're actually here, there hasn't been any real problem so far."
Scar thought for a moment, then let the tension leave his face.
She wasn't wrong.
If a dangerous sign appeared, it wouldn't be too late to turn back then.
"You're right. For dirty work like this, the other party probably wouldn't want to handle it themselves either."
Scar nodded.
"We'll clear it first and share whatever information we find. We can write the report as if both parties cooperated."
Scar clapped his hands to gather his companions' attention.
A clear sound rang through the sewers.
"All right. According to the underground sewer blueprints we received from the Management Bureau, we'll reach the epicenter of the vibrations soon."
He looked into the depths of the passage.
A faint vibration could already be heard from beyond the darkness.
Hum.
The walls and floor trembled low.
The vibration was definitely closer than before.
The smile vanished from Scar's face.
"Everyone stay sharp. Let's go."
Brock raised his shield; Roy drew his dagger.
Blue mana gathered at the tip of Evelyn's staff.
Linda unfolded the blueprints and stuck close behind Scar.
The Typhoon Hero's party once again advanced deeper into the sewers.
The place they headed toward was the underground shelter zone built to prepare for disasters.
Beneath that vast, unused space, something of unknown nature was writhing to a steady rhythm.