“What?”
The sword that should have been sold off (tendered, offered up) came back to me.
Anemone, next to him, nodded and agreed.
“I wonder what you ask, Manager?”
“It is not necessary, isn’t that right?”
“Because it is not the fault of his equipment he can’t capture the third floor.”
“And, of course, it’s not a matter of determination. Your body is not inferior, and your daily determination has been proven to the point where you came to the Manager.”
“These things are not enough for you, it’s a more fundamental thing in dungeon exploration.”
“Fundamental thing…?”
Soarer had no clue.
So many thing it’d be endless mentioning them all.
“Manager, Mister Anemone, thank you. Please tell me what I’m not taking into consideration.”
★
Upon Soarer opening the door, voices and noise greeted him in a flood.
Sounds of tableware clacking with glass.
Customers giving orders.
Voices.
Sounds are overflowing in the Tavern as it buzzed, lively.
This is a tavern called “Underground House to Look At The Sun” (tl: if anyone who can speak the runes fluently sees this, leave a comment with a better translation of (太陽を見上げるモグラ亭). It was still before the sun had set but the Tavern seemed to be prospering.
Soarer, while uneasy to be here, remembered his master’s lessons and stories about pubs. For Seekers of Labyrinth City, the Tavern is somewhere you cannot avoid when searching to exchange information, it seems.
Naturally, in the case of his master the only topic was which waitress was the cutest or which Liquor brand tasted best.
Soarer arrived at the counter and spoke to the goodwife (mistress of/owner of an establishment) polishing the ale stein. Her hardiness was affirmed with her eye-patch and sharp, glaring eye a person couldn’t hide from.
“Ah,”
“My name is Soarer.”
“Beth, with that I-“
“This is a tavern. Order something first, eh?”
“Is that it?”
“This is from the manager of ‘The Good Old’.”
An order of some kind is written on the letter.
She said “Wait here while I prepare it,” and disappeared into the back of the kitchen.
What the hell could have been written there, Soarer wondered.
After the prior exchange, the Manager of “The Good Old Magician’s Shop” asked Soarer to go on a little errand.
Of course, they could be teasing him or using him for an errand, but with those people Soarer concluded it likely wasn’t such a thing.
Waiting for the order to be prepared, Soarer went to a nearby table and tried to shrink himself down and conceal his presence.
Soarer feared being humiliated if he was noticed by others, the novice he is.
The Ginger Ale he ordered had alcohol, although he didn’t know it, though it was thin enough it wasn’t hard to drink.
“…”
Soarer looked absentmindedly around the room.
Many people looked like investigators, most commonly Warriors wearing heavy armor or Magicians wearing comfortable robes, as expected by most.
Of course some really were just intently betting and racking up an alcohol bill.
The Seekers who visit here were likely all well-armed and those who can clear the third floor easily.
Soarer blankly thought about what was different between him and them.
Difference in equipment? No. Difference in experience? Yes. Difference in skills? Debatable.
Soarer, sadly, did not know what it was.
“Of… That… Don’t have that…”
He thought it was the Goodwife taking out the product, but it was a different person.
A girl with freckles and braids.
Looking down, he could see that they were holding a wooden cane. They seemed to be embarrassed and thus stuttering. Looking again, she was wearing something akin to a dunce’s hat and a little robe with a deep purple sooty color, so she seemed to be a witch.
“Eh, who?”
“Ah…You can call me Linne…”’
“Yes,”
“Yes, it is”
“Eh?”
“… Well… Uh, become my party member… My specialty is Flame Magic… It can knock down Metal Slime, if that’s the issue… It’s not too strong yet though…”
Soarer could not understand the conversation as the girl with braids who immediately began arbitrarily introducing herself.
“My favorite food… is a strawberry jam scone, and… don’t like skeletons or spiders…”
“Hold up, wait a minute.”
“?”
Companion, what kind do you mean?
Soarer first wondered, how did she know his name? He only knew a few people within Labyrinth City.
Soarer swallowed some words he was on the verge of saying.
He noticed that, behind the girl, was the hostess with crossed arms, watching the situation with a smile.
Soarer began to wonder about what was written on those notes.
Soarer began to ask himself a question he had never asked before. Why is this one asking for my company? Soarer had not considered this, since he had done everything by himself until now.
Suddenly, he thought of one of master’s reminiscences
In a town in the north ten years ago, there was a goblin thief raid and Soarer was left to be killed.
Master was at the time a wanderer, and he discovered Soarer as he was about to be attacked. He unsheathed his flame sword, swallowing the goblins in a vortex of flames and killing the boss with a single blow.
After this, he was hired as a swordmaster to teach in the town.
Soarer immediately became his pupil, and applied himself to his training, listening to storied of the original dungeon his master had explored.
Stories of horrible monsters in it.
The many Seekers who he had seen die in the many ventures he had made.
Unknowingly, Soarer had begun yearning for companions to explore with.
Finally Soarer realized what he was lacking.
“…What’s wrong?”
Soarer could heart the anxious voice, coming from the girl with braids. He had to say something. This was an important opportunity, he couldn’t just clam up and call himself a Seeker.
“Ye…”
“Yeu?”
“Yes, leave the skeletons to me!”
“Yeah! Be…st… Regards!”
★
“I wonder if that child did well.”
“Aah, we should go and secretly assist him or something.”
Anemone was still sweeping the same area as earlier, clearly anxious if Soarer was working it out or not.
“I’m just checking how it’s going”
They looked like parents who were worried over their child on their first time out of the house.
The suit of armor was rather suspicious, and hard to sneak around in. Rather, it could instead lead to trouble.
“Store Manager, you’re no good for Soarer, why are you coming along? A monster like you only cares about items, why would you be soft on others unless for an item. That must be it, this brute.”
“Aah, sorry to say that. I’m really truly sorry. I’m not thinking very straight.”
“Well, it’s just an unusual thing so I don’t mind it. Anemone-sab sure backs him up a lot!”
“No such thing, a child like this is the type to try to do everything on their own, so for some reason I feel the need to meddle.”
“Is that so?”
Fujiwara was the same way, though.
Before she found company she trusted, she tried not to depend on anyone, and she had a very sad time in her life.
“How did Anemone-San capture the third floor of the Dungeon, anyway?
“Aah? There are many capture methods. Metal Slimes can be slammed with a shield using muscle strength, and you can run away before it reforms.
“It does? Can you really call that a capture method?”
Her nickname is “Footsteps of Death” because of the steel echoes heard, leaving behind carcasses of monsters, still humming.
“By the way, manager?”
Anemone rose her face from the broomstick, looking towards Fujiwara
“…It is?”
“Soarer-kun is a girl.”
Fujiwara pretended to be calm, saying so. He focused on trying to drop his cup.
In fact, he hadn’t noticed at all. It was a thought, and he thought it was a boy, but they’re fairly androgynous.
It seems his training was not enough. Fujiwara vowed to have a more polished appraisal eye towards human beings, too.
Linne
◆
Discrimination Card “Fire Sword”
“Offer three hundred and twenty five drops of the descent of the people except unclean criminals with ashy eyes, an oxidization changing the world, like a bonfire in a traditional garden”
This is an imitation of an imitation, trying to mimic the Fire Drake’s ‘Tongue To Melt All’. Long ago, it was said things entangled by that tongue left nothing behind, not even ash, inspired by an anecdote in the “Era of Superior Mages” Cast by Housten Yodenheim, it’s a legendary fire blade. When used by a person, it’s said to give the blessing of the power of fire, cutting through rock and iron like butter. The blessings of Fire’s design process was lost however, so we can only use fire to strengthen swords. However, its ability to give us combustion on impact is good for enemies weak to fire like the undead, making it very effective. The market price is inexpensive at 20,000, and it’d displayed at a secondhand weapon store as ‘The First Giving Tool they seem to reach for when working hard’, an attracting target for novice investigators