Nightmare (1)
Her entire body was drenched in sweat and clammy.
The blanket she had clutched tightly all night lay crumpled beyond repair in her fists, and the sheets had twisted into a complete mess from how wildly she had struggled.
When she opened her eyes in the ruined living room, it was Er, her complexion unusually pale.
Still half-dreaming, her emerald eyes slowly regained focus as she dazedly scanned her surroundings.
The place she lay was the room she had grown so familiar with after months of long-term stay.
Gazing at the exact same interior she had left behind before falling asleep the night before, she murmured in a low voice.
“...Damn it.”
She rarely cursed aloud, so her shaking hand tried to grip the sheets tighter.
“S-Save me...!”
“I don’t want to die...!”
“Er...!!”
“...Damn it all.”
Biting her lip at the nightmare that resurfaced again, she had no choice but to whisper.
On that particular day, the metallic stench was especially strong.
Philanthropist skill active. Damage to living beings: 0. Support mode engaged.
“Ahin-nim.”
At the adventurer guild in the city center, where one might have expected some event but came out of habit to look around, Ahin turned at the call of his own name.
“Ah, so... Liz was it? Guild staff?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“Guild staff calling me... what for?”
Why would a guild staffer even speak directly to the lowest-ranked rookie like him?
Ahin, unable to think of any answer no matter how hard he racked his brain, let out a worried expression.
“I have something to deliver to Er-nim.”
“To Er? Why to me?”
“We’re in the same party, aren’t we?”
If that was the case, there was nothing more to say.
“Since Er-nim hasn’t been coming to the guild for a few days, we had no choice. The request has a deadline.”
“Ah, that... must be because my armor broke and I’ve been running around trying to get it fixed.”
“I see.”
After answering, Liz handed a single envelope to Ahin with a completely indifferent face.
After confirming Ahin had taken it, Liz bowed slightly and turned her back, disappearing into the depths of the guild.
With no reason or desire to chase after her, Ahin was still pondering whether he should go look for Er when...
“Ahin, there you are!”
“You... why are you already here?”
“I saw Ahin wasn’t around the park, so I thought I’d check!”
Er had rushed to the park on the city outskirts where Ahin usually camped during nights out.
Upon finding Ahin gone, Jina pointed at the envelope in his hand and explained.
“What’s that? It has the Carpe Adventurer Guild stamp?”
“I don’t know either— they said to deliver it to Er.”
“To Er?”
“So... I was thinking I’d go find Er right now—”
At that exact moment, someone walked over and spoke to them.
“Ahin, Jina, what are you all doing gathered here?”
“...Timing’s perfect.”
“What do you mean?”
Er, who had just stepped inside the guild wearing new armor and weapons, handed the envelope to Ahin.
“This was what the guild staff said to deliver.”
“The guild staff...?”
Er’s eyes widened as she took the envelope and carefully tore open the seal to peek inside.
Inside was a simple letter and a request form.
Er’s gaze shifted first to the letter. With a slightly stiff expression, she said, “Silver-rank adventurer promotion exam... It’s a promotion request.”
“A promotion request?”
“Yes, ever since moving from Scrap Iron to Bronze, a promotion review is required.”
Scrap Iron adventurers quit or died in large numbers, so passing a certain number of requests was enough for easy promotion to Bronze.
But starting from Bronze it wasn’t the same.
The guild treated Bronze-rank adventurers as useful forces and paid close attention.
They decided promotions by reviewing records, skill, and various other factors.
“Come to think of it, I vaguely remember hearing about a Silver-rank review last time...”
“What if you forget something important like that?”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
Silver-rank was a clear upper tier.
Requests in Silver were dangerous and difficult, but the rewards were generous too.
Especially from Silver onward, aristocratic requests sometimes appeared, so anyone aiming to climb higher would do anything to pass the exam.
“How many Silver-ranks are there in the Carpe Adventurer Guild again?”
“About five? And apparently there’s one Gold-rank... I don’t know for sure since I’ve never seen it myself.”
The Gold-rank adventurers in the Carpe Adventurer Guild were only talked about in rumors; no one had ever seen them.
They would suddenly appear when annoying, difficult requests lingered for a long time, complete them, and vanish like wind.
“The only thing known about that person is that she’s female.”
“...Well, what does it matter? As long as you keep climbing to Gold, it’s all good, right?”
“Gold-rank...”
Er said that with a slight glance at Ahin’s eyes, then chuckled.
“Yes, that would work.”
Even if she couldn’t do it alone, if Ahin helped, it would be possible.
Adventurers were supposed to work in parties to begin with, and leading a party would give her a small bonus.
And with Ahin’s help, even higher-difficulty requests could be cleared...
“You look exactly like him.”
“...”
“Er? Why are you suddenly looking like that?”
“...No, it’s nothing.”
She had just thought of something meaningless.
Whether his trust was directed at her or not.
Jina, overhearing their conversation, asked, “So what’s this promotion request about? What’s the content?”
“...What do you have to do with it?”
“I’m in the party too!”
“We haven’t accepted it yet.”
“It’s fine, no need to feel embarrassed...”
“No need to be embarrassed. We’ll just get hit with something weird and come running for a heal.”
“Ahin, why are you suddenly spouting nonsense again...”
“Nonsense? The worst part is the heal! You’re the main culprit for breaking the cycle!”
Ahin kept rambling about things no one could understand, and now he had nothing to say.
Er turned her gaze to the request form she was holding and slowly read the text written on it.
The request type was monster extermination.
No rank limit was listed,
location was a forest outside Carpe,
and the most important part of the content was...
Extermination of an orc encampment.
Her hand holding the request form trembled slightly, and her vision blurred.
Orcs, orcs.
Those pig-faced monsters.
The hell they created still haunted her eyes.
There was no strength left in her waist or knees.
Cold... so cold.
Like a corpse, a chunk of meat cooling down.
Just like this, forever...
“...Er, are you okay?”
At that moment, a man’s hand touched her body.
It was surprisingly warm.
The faint light emanating from his hand delivered warmth that pushed away the chill filling her body.
Only then did Er regain her sight, and what she saw was golden eyes like melted gold.
Two jewels filled with worry looked at her.
“...Ahin?”
“Are you okay? You look strange...”
Ahin had been pouring divine power into her because her state while reading the request seemed too concerning.
Even Jina, watching someone like Ahin, asked cautiously with a straight face, “What kind of request is it? Is it dangerous?”
“No, it’s not dangerous. But...”
“But...?”
Er bit her lip, unable to answer Jina’s question.
In that moment, the taste of blood returned to her split lip from that morning.
“Ahin, Jina. I’ll handle this request alone.”
“What?”
“What sudden words are these...”
“The target is an orc encampment.”
“Orc?”
Orcs were the general term for human-shaped monsters with faces similar to pigs.
Though their intelligence was low, they possessed strong physical abilities that balanced it out.
With their excellent reproductive rates, aggressive nature, and pack-habits, orcs were one of the most common monsters adventurers faced.
“The encampment seems quite large. Requests seem to have been issued to several other adventurers as well... they might be too dangerous for Scrap Iron ranks, so the two of you should withdraw—”
“Orcs, it’s been a while.”
“Yeah, it feels like we hunted them every day with the master.”
“...I only ever guarded the rear.”
Yet none of Er’s words reached them.
Already discussing estimates for the request, the two turned to Er, who spoke in a trembling voice, “Hey, both of you, are you listening to me?”
“Yeah, we heard. We’re supposed to withdraw, right?”
“Yes, it’s dangerous—”
“That can’t be.”
Saying that, Ahin half-forcibly took the request form from Er’s hand and looked at it while speaking.
“If we withdraw, you’re going alone? It doesn’t seem like a request a party-less adventurer can handle.”
“It is, but... it’s okay, if I get other adventurers to help...!”
“It’d be better to go with us. Why, we might just run into that bastard of a sword again.”
“...”
She thought the probability was almost zero, but there was still a small chance.
And besides, there was no guarantee their initial synergy with the newcomers would be good either, and finding new party members for Er was the first step.
“We already have a party. Could it be that there’s a rank limit on the request?”
“Ahin, idiot? What do party members have to do with the party leader being Bronze?”
“You never know.”
Ahin checked the request form anyway and smiled wryly, confirming there was no such limit.
“Well, it’s nothing special. I’ve faced plenty of orcs... when I was in the temple.”
“Damn old men... Thinking about it again, was it just to feed us scraps? Would it make sense to assign orcs like that to the master? And then later they’d complain, ‘Did you take a proper break?’ What nonsense...”
Ahin ignored Jina, who started stomping her foot in irritation, and said, “Or is there any reason we shouldn’t go together?”
“Th-that...”
There wasn’t.
Now that they were both stronger than Scrap Iron, they couldn’t be dismissed, and there were no insignificant ones to ignore either.
Jina was at least equal to her, and Ahin was a holder of a skill where rank didn’t matter.
Preventing them from participating in the request with the excuse of “skill” was meaningless.
“Then we’re going together. Don’t worry, this time we’ll do it properly.”
Why did Ahin’s words sound different?
Er knew the answer.
It was simply because of Er’s complicated heart.