Vol 7 Chapter 3 (1/2)

“Haah… Haah…”

I’loom My breath pools before ht layer of frost A Slight cracking noise resound every ti behind a pleasant sensation Casually taking in the sight of the town flashi+ng past

“Haaah…”

I finally stop after arriving in front of my inn

“What’d you think of today’s run?”

As I take a deep breath I hear that voice co, Tindalos; , Baskerville I na hounds in the hopes that they would becoile as them

“Fufu, you did well Good job”

I petand then head inside the inn It’s ie that coic is forbidden for this Sure, you could get rid of all the aches in your muscles with it, but that doesn’t show the same level of love

“You did good today”

I always fondle s with love after my runs The more you love your muscles, the more they’ll love you in return They’ll never betray you They’re so that always reward effort with results On the other hand, if you neglect them, or push them too hard, they’ll turn away from you That’s why you have to treat them well, so when the time comes, they’ll be there to save you

“Oops, aluys Can’t have that now, can we”

Once I finish ht arm, Hulk, and my left arm, Heracles The two ar as their nae, I don’t really need th, but that doesn’t mean it won’t come in handy soht have to use their two hands If you don’t train the them Arms are a very jealous creature On top of that they’re the primary body part that connects with the world and trans if you tell them they’re not needed

“Alright, let’s start with a set of 100 push-ups”

I lie down on the floor and slowly but steadily start working through oal isn’t to increase the total number I can do, but instead, to trainHulk and Heracles, and continuetoo This shared pain will eventually bind us together, turning into strength

“Haaah… Good work guys”

While thanking theuntil we hit that point where it starts feeling good to exercise again We worked up a good sweat today too

“Thanks for today, guys”

After washi+ng myself with hot water, I offer a prayer to the shrine that I erected in a corner of the room I take out the holy relic stored within, carefully fold it, and place it inthat should ever be taken out of its altar, but I’et stolen if I just leave it here, so I don’t really have a choice Everyone knows you take your valuables with you when you’re staying at an inn

“I hope there’s soood requests today”

While e into my robe and head out of the inn

It’s been a few ain taken up ed adventurer here

“Thanks for your help last timire!”

“You really are reliable”

“There’s a lot I can learn froic”

I’ve ood start as an adventurer

“Oh no, the one who’s thankful for the help is ave a little assistance It was thanks to everyone else’s strength that we succeeded”

“So humble! Someone as skilled as you should be a bit more proud of yourself!”

“Hey, interested in joining my party?”

“Thank you, but no”

“Hey, did you forget? Party invitations are a taboo subject”

“Oh, yeah Sorry…”

“Ahaha…”

Technically I’m a solo adventurer, but in reality, I basically offer assistance to parties ant to take on more difficult requests but are uncertain of their ability to complete them Kind of like an adventurer mercenary, I help out others In return, I take a portion of the request reward In addition, I et fro the way Not joining a party, but instead h mercenary work isn’t exactly considered respectable to the Adventurer’s Guild, but since it’s not technically a violation of the rules, they let it slide The guild here also knows that my old party was destroyed, and that even then I’ desperately for h, I’ll have to find myself a party to enter, even if it’s only te another party

“At any rate, I’ difficult pops up”

I treat everyone with polite courtesy, but in battle I try to show off ths Thanks to that, the name Rudeus Greyrat is quite well known in this city

“Hey, Quagmire!”

“Quagmire! Come help us out for this request! We’re just about to leave!”

“Sorry, but I’ve already got a request that I plan to take today”

Thougharound here Probably because I callin battle Thanks to the tricks I learned from Timothy, almost all the adventurers suild ‘Course, that’s ” and “skilled but doesn’t charge much”

“Doesn’t seem to understand the value of money”, and so on Everyone smiles at someone that’s useful to theotten all the regulars of the guild here to remember me At this rate, h

“Hey, Quag about your mom, I’ll let you know”

“Oh, thank you very much”

I ran into a party that’s planning to ot them to help oing well It’s only a matter of time until Zenith hears about me Well, that’s only if she’s actually around here of course The odds of that are astronomically low, but even then, I don’t want to believe that what I’e to make oing fro h to the Eastern part of the Northern Frontier Eventually, I’ll have to run into where Zenith is It takes about threeAbout a year for otten all I can in a place This will take an awfully long tiht, Roxy-sensei?

“Hey look, he’s praying again!”

“Leave hi on the road the other day too”

Oh, whoops I’d started unconsciously praying to ot this, I’ as Roxy-sensei is watching over me, I’ machine

“Tch—”

“Quagmire, huh?”

“Just look at how full of himself he is”

As with anything, there’s still people that don’t like h At the very least, they haven’t tried to directly interfere withas I act hu her Most people don’t want to lose soet involved with the people who don’t like me Honestly, it’d be nice if they’d help out too, but no point in trying for the i with everyone I meet I just have to work to find my mom in the most efficient manner possible is all

“Ah…”

While lost in thought, I headed towards the exit of the Adventurer’s Guild At that moment, a familiar face entered the room It was Sara

“Mu—”

Upon seeing my face, her expression turned to a scowl It does feel a bit unpleasant

“What are you looking at?”

“Nothin’”

My relationshi+p with her hasn’t changed at all Ever since that first request she’s hated me Even now, all these months later, she still talks to me curtly

“Were you about to go back?”

“Yeah, I just finished a difficult request so I was going to go back to my inn”

“Hmm… We’re just about to take a new request, wanna come with us?”

“Umm… Well…”

I guess we’re connected by fate or so I’d teamed up with the first party I met here, Counter Arrow, a number of times now It was the party I’d tea about it in ter up with one party wasn’t the et to know a party decently well and they learn about th, it doesn’tup with them anymore

“Uh— Are you guys planning on leaving tomorrow?”

That being said, I never turn them down for some reason I don’t really understand itbefore With all that inain

“You always start out with those half-assed questions If you don’t want to go you can just say no, you know It’s not like we need you or anything”

As always, Sara’s speaking to h it feels like her attitude towardsa little better recently There’s no real sting behind her words anymore like there used to be

I can’t really say we’ve started getting along, but…

Well, whatever It’s not like I want to be liked any more than necessary for my objective

“Sorry for being so indecisive, but it takes me time to make a decision”

“And, can you please stop acting so polite? It’s disgusting” Sara said, casually

She wasn’t trying to bethis tih even if you tellAfter all, I’d decided to keep acting polite and humble to everyone

“Step off, Sara”

The other irl with dreadlocks, Suzanne After her came the red-robed Timothy, then Mimiru and Patris All the members of Counter Arrow

“Fiiiine”

At Suzanne’s words Sara began sulking and turned away

“So, Rudeus You co?” she asked

I’d said earlier that it takes time for me to come to a decision, but I’d already decided from the start I just like to

“Yeah, sure I’ll co me”

“Alright, let’s pick our request then”

“Alright”

Sara’s hostility aside, the rest of Counter Arroere all very nice people There’s Suzanne, who’s very kind, caring, and slightly nosy; and Tiuys are all rather tight-lipped They have pretty good balance for a party, and even when I’hting go quite set more experience so they’re still rather strict about not lettingout, it feels ether

I guess in a sense you could say we’re… friends

“Alright, which one should we take this tiot Rudeus with us now too”

“What do you think about this one, Ane-san?”

“Hmm, an A-rank collection request, eh? Collection of snow drake scales… Hmm… Don’t you think that’s a bit above our level?”

“We’ve got Rudeus with us this ti one while we have the chance”

Watching them debate about which request to take in front of the bulletin board brings ue about that a lot too Even though I was the one who ended up deciding in the end anyway…

“What do you think, Rudeus?”

“Eh? Yeah, I think that one’s fine”

Now I’ asked an opinion of instead of the one deciding We didn’t really do that back in Dead End I’m not the leader, or even the vice leader I’roup, really I state et to let others decide It’s kind of nice, to be honest

“Alright then, it’s decided Let’s take this one”

At Suzanne’s declaration, our request was decided It’s si up experience like this that results start to show

I’ll do my best

★☆★

The Next Day

After finishi+ng my preparations, I went out to meet up with the ether Our destination was to the south Apparently the ruins we need to go are two days south of Rozenburg I’ve never been there before I did a bit of research on our request though Snow drake scale collecting Around these parts, the only place snow drakes can be found is the aforeests, they have scales as white as snow and are a race of lesser dragons They’re usually three to four s, they can’t fly Which is why they usually build their nests in caves or labyrinths They tend to live in flocks and are known to be pretty strong, so they’re classified as an S-class o outside, and have a relatively gentle personality Unless you attack their nest, they probably won’t attack you so they’re not very dangerous Which is why even at worst, this request won’t get a rating higher than upper A-rank Our plan this tiau Ruins where they live and search the place for any loose scales that they dropped Snow drake scales ood insulation, so they’re used a lot in buildings around here There’s a nuion, but snow drake scales are a and on top of that, the pure white transparent scales give off a dazzlingly brilliant blue shi+ne when light is reflected off the for the homes of nobles and the like

They’re also used in uards all wear armor made from snow drake scales Only a few adventurers are able to afford such equipainst the monsters in this area, there are a few S-rank adventurers who have snow drake arest in fights against other ainst other estto be heading towards the territory of said strongest et near their nest, but there arein those ruins Even if they are supposed to be gentle, you never know if one ht come attack us for so a little nervous So before we enter the ruins, we’re having a bitsession than usual at camp

“I brought fire drake arrowheads just in case, but they ht not even work”

“You think poison would work?”

“If they hate light, wouldn’t fire scare them off?”

“If that was all it took to beat them, then this wouldn’t be anywhere near an S-rank request”

They’re all pretty serious Everyone’s pooling their collective infor to find out how best to be able to utilize their abilities for the upcohts If everyone in this party’s abilities were ather seven people for a full party, these guys could easily s is too serious for h, so they’d probably have a hard ti Most adventurers just ad-lib most of their requests

“You haven’t said anything at all You sure you’re not gonna slow us down?”

“Yes, I’ll be fine”

“You better be It’s bad enough that e to ht not be able to back you up”

Even Sara’s nervous She’s got unparalleled accuracy, but against opponents with scales as tough as theirs, she can’t do much Places such the eyes or e the fact that she’s at a disadvantage Unfortunately, there are a lot of A-class e Sara’s arrows The snow drake is just one of the in the snow drakes’ territory aren’t too hard to deal with, but if we run into anything A-class or higher, Sara’ll be practically useless It’s pretty frustrating to think about, especially for an adventurer

There isn’t much one can do with their power alone Even I can’t do everthing bythey can handle everything, then find themselves completely destroyed by a powerful enemy, or taken down by a surprise attack This is why you have to live hu, so she probably hasn’t experienced failure too , “Hoill the party e without me?”

So long as we support each other, we should be fine If we still can’t e e have to cross it

“There’s no need to get so worked up, guys At the end of the day, our request is to collect their scales, not fight the up after them”

“Yeah, let’s just try our best not to get into any fights in the first place”

“If we find ourselves in trouble we can just run away”

“You guys are fast at running, that’s for sure”

“Mimiru, you’re the one who runs away the fastest out of all of us, you know?”

At Tihed, and some of the tension dissipated He’s usually pretty quiet, but he always knohat to say at the right times I should learn from him

“Alright, let’s go guys”

Suzanne slapped her fist into her palot serious as they stood up The entrance to the ruins were past adown the stream, past the cliff into the valley A cave entrance waited just ahead of the streae pillars of it covered the roof like eaves,it hard to see inside from above It honestly looked more like a bear’s cave than ancient ruins So ht place or not Though, it’s been said that the entrance to Gargau Ruins, which had been discovered by accident by an adventurer 10 years ago, was indeed supposed to look like this There’s not h

“This is the right place, right?” Suzanne

“I can see footprints, so most likely”

There were indeed footprints where Sara was pointing The exact amount was hard to tell, but it was obvious a fair number of people had passed in and out

“Uh oh… Does that mean someone else took this request too?”

“No These footprints are five or six days old, so I don’t think so”

“But it is possible we’ll have company”

“There’s footprints leading out of the cave too, they one back”

While listening to Suzanne and Sara’s conversation, I beganpreparations to enter the cave I take out the torch I’d bought beforehand and light the tip If you’re going to be searching a cave, light is a necessity A lamp works too, but the torch’s fire itself can be used as a weapon, and you can be a lot rougher with a torch without it breaking In a fight you can throw it and still have it work as a light source as well It’s true that it’s possible there’s gas spread throughout the cave, so bringing a torch would get you in big trouble Using too en within, suffocating you, but if you’re worried about those kinds of things you’re better off not going into caves in the first place I do wish there was soh, like a LED lantern or so

“The ground’s frozen over in places, so watch your step”

Suzanne, as at the head of the party, called back to us

Apparently there’s sonate a specificlabyrinths, but in our case, everyone had a torch None of us have good night vision Plus, we have an archer with us, so the brighter the better in our case With all six of us holding torches it was pretty bright Maybe not quite as bright as it was outside, but still plenty bright

All idle chatter stopped once we entered the cave We silently walk forward on the slightly doard sloping path There aren’t very many monsters Every so often, some centipede like monster comes out, but they’re so weak that Suzanne takes them out with ease on her own, so we haven’t really been in a battle yet Well, if a bunch of monsters showed up on this narrow cavern path, we’d be in trouble so it’s probably better this way If it looks like the relative nuo deeper, weEven if the very inner parts are devoid of monsters, if the path is full of theround have frozen over, so you need to watch your step if you don’t want to trip and fall We’ve put spikes on our boots just in case, but you can still always slip

“Ah—”

“Whoa!”

Sara, who’s right in front of me, started to fall backwards, so I quickly shot out an arht eye comes in handy at times like this Actually, it comes in handy most times I haven’t really run into a situation where it hasn’t

“Hey, where do you think you’re grabbing?”

“Nowhere in particular?”

I put her back down on dry land, and Sara turned back to glare atdown her chest

“……”

Her face was couess she’s h, I only re somewhere hard I didn’t even actually feel her boobs, just the hard breastplate There’s no real need to getso trivial Maybe in the past in anymore

“Sorry”

Well, I still apologize anyway This path really is narrow, so it’s only natural that the distance between us is going to get suard, Mimiru and Sara in the middle, with me and Timothy at the rear Basically, double file columns In front ofshe’s a bit shorter than rown Patris She probably can’t see anything at all It’d be better if the front row moved a bit to the side so the ht, but unfortunately there just isn’t enough space We just gotta keep going like this Worst case, I can always just uard if needed

“Oh…”

As I was thinking that, the cave suddenly cah that you’d think we’re back outside, and our visibility ireatly

“Ooooh…”

Looking up at the ceiling, you could see a countless nuht I can’t tell if it’s some kind of jewel, oroff enough light that we’ll be fine without our torches The path’s gotten a lot wider too You could barely fit two people side by side before, but now there’s enough room for five people to ith space to spare Further in, you could see one side of the road ended at a cliff The bottom of the cliff is a lot darker so it’s harder to make out, but it seems like a lake or river of soround one There’s definitely huge fish and stuff living at the bottom so I certainly don’t want to fall in The path ahead runs parallel to the cliff, ending at our destination It’s old and cruiant fortress That’s Gargau Ruins

“Gargau Ruins are the re the first great human-deon Haagon, as feared as one of the five great demon lords at the time”

Timothy uy would su breath

“The deic, so he created a fortress where humans could never hope to reach Then he constructed an intricate network of underground roads to launch surprise attacks on the human forces”

“Wow… you sure know a lot Timothy-san”

“The area around here used to be the round between the subterranean deends of the battles have been passed down since then I used to hear about it a lot, is all”

Stories passed down through the generations, huh?

Well, there is a giant underground fortress right here, so the stories are probably true I guess they made a bunch of roads and forts like this, and launched surprise attacks fro their walls were useless, always afraid of when and where the next attack will coed to win that war considering who they were up against

“You were born in Ranoa, right, Ti around

“Yes I was born in a naic University in Sharia, drea an adventurer and headed off to Asura, found out how harsh reality really is, and now I’m here”

Ranoa, eh I’ll findthere eventually

“Enemy Attack!”

As I was spacing out thinking about the future, Sara suddenly shouted, thren her torch, and unslung her bow Ahead of us was a one ht at us Pretty fast too

“Giant bats!”

“Battle for on you!”

At Sara’s shout, Suzanne began calling out orders, and Patris stood in front of me like a wall Suzanne, Patris, and Miuard me, Timothy, and Sara Even if the space had opened up to becoht next to us, it would be hard to go up against flying eneuard would ed members of the party

“Hya!”

With a s arrows one after the other The arrows all fleards the fast ht to theiant bats spiralled down and fell off the cliff Each shot was beautiful It’s almost like art

“S all! Flamethrower!”

Timothy went for the less artistic approach With both hands pointing upwards, he siic An instant later, two more bats fell into the lake

“Blast Wave!”

I was even less artistic than that I just raised both of ure for bats of this size, this should be enough And as I expected, the re the theiant bats lose altitude, I let out a relieved sigh And all of a sudden, so appeared from the lake

“Ah—”

“Uwaa…”

The usted squeal overlap What had coiant bats whole was an even larger frog With that poisonous-looking blue and black speckling, it looks just like a poison dart frog That guy’s gotta be poisonous I can’t tell how big it is from up here, but it sed that oneIt’s at least fiveback and forth energetically, probably wondering if there won’t be any h it’s winter, I guess because it’s a demon

“I really don’t want to fall down there…”

At Suzanne’s orously Looks like she doesn’t like frogs

“Let’s get going Be careful not to fall in”

At Ti down the cliff path The Gargau Ruins were so huge that looking at them up close overwhelmed you It was five stories tall, and as wide as a oes, but considering how it’s buried in boulders, it est buildings I’ve seen in this world, but… considering soround, I can’t help but be aic too The entrance wasn’t a grand front gate, butReally just a hole in the wall The view in there was spectacular as well To the left there’s the cliff road we caiant cavity, and the lake spreading out beneath it Even in my old world you would’ve been hard pressed to find a view like this At best, you’d be able to see it in a gaht now–seeing it in person–I feel so I’d never be able to feel from just a picture The s surfacing, sending ripples along the lake; they all gave this a true sense of reality I just kept staring blankly at the viehile idle thoughts like [What would it be like to swim in there?] crossed my mind

“How long are you going to stare?”

“Ah, sorry, I’”

At Sara’s words, I shook roup