Bonus Short Stories

The Guildmaster’s Premonition

“Hey, is this for real?” asked Wolf Hermann, the guildmaster of Maalt, as he held up some papers for a member of his staff.

“It must be true,” replied the staff member. “Rentt Faina was confirmed to have entered the Water Moon Dungeon a few days ago, but his whereabouts since then are unknown. In other words, there’s no doubt he got himself into some sort of trouble. To be more specific, I believe he may no longer be alive.”

The staff member had a grave expression on his face, but a moment later, he brightened up. “But he was only a Bronze-class adventurer. There are plenty more to replace him, so I wouldn’t be too bothered by―”

The staff member shut his mouth. The man at the desk before him was noticeably displeased. The staff member knew well enough his words were to blame. He wasn’t even serious about what he said in the first place.

“Are you honestly saying that? You think we can just replace him?” Wolf asked.

“No, no, certainly not.”

“Tell me, then.”

“What?”

“Tell me why we can’t replace him, in your own words.”

“Well, he contributes quite a bit to our guild, clearly. He teaches new adventurers, introduces adventurers looking to form a party, prioritizes jobs nobody else wants to take, and more. I could go on, but then I’d never finish.”

“Right. None of these things take a lot of strength, but they’re all important jobs. Other people could do them, yeah, but he was always the one who took the initiative. He even inspired other folks to follow his example. Our guild’s now got a lower-than-average death rate, and everything runs efficiently. You know that, right?”

“Of course! But we can’t assume he’s still alive, as I’m sure you agree! I’m not saying we shouldn’t acknowledge his accomplishments, but replacing him is a necessary part of our job. I know I didn’t put it well, but it had to be said.”

With those words, Wolf realized the staff member wasn’t looking down on Rentt. He simply wanted to get past the situation without making a big deal out of it.

It was a normal way to feel. Rentt was just that significant, even if he didn’t recognize it himself. Rather, he probably didn’t care one way or another about how he was evaluated. It didn’t change his goal of becoming a Mithril-class adventurer. It was a pipe dream, and no matter how excellent he was, there was no telling whether he could achieve it. Regardless, he kept trying. Even if he could never make it, the guild cheered him on. This staff member likely didn’t think it was possible, and yet he supported Rentt too. A lot of people felt that way about him.

But now Rentt had gone missing in the Water Moon Dungeon. It was all too sad. As a guildmaster, Wolf saw many adventurers come and go, but this incident struck him particularly hard.

“Enough. I got it. You can go now,” Wolf said.

The staff member bowed. “Excuse me,” he mumbled and left the room.

“Damn, Rentt, did you really die?” Wolf asked, though he didn’t doubt it was true. The lives of adventurers were fleeting.

◆◇◆◇◆

Wolf was overjoyed the instant he figured out where Rentt was. Rentt Vivie the Bronze-class adventurer wasn’t anyone he’d ever heard of. He knew people by the name of Rentt or Vivie, but no Rentt Vivie. But now a person using that name had come to meet with him.

Wolf had heard the name on numerous other occasions as of late and looked into data on this adventurer. If the evidence was to be believed, there were plenty of reasons to suspect this was Rentt Faina. And the moment he arrived, Wolf knew it was him.

He wore a skull mask and eerie robes, menacing in a way he never was before. It had been mere weeks, not enough time to so thoroughly change a person. A lot must have happened to him in the interim, seemingly something beyond comprehension. However, that didn’t change the heart of the matter; this was Rentt Faina. Wolf was convinced.

“Good to meet you, Bronze-class adventurer Rentt Vivie,” he said, knowing Rentt would pick up on his sarcasm if it was indeed him. Then their conversation began.

It was looking to be an interesting meeting, Wolf thought.

How To Use Snails

“Hey, what are we supposed to do about this?” I grumbled, referring to a small village near Maalt. Tons of disgusting creatures were crawling about, but thanks to Lorriane and myself, they were all on the verge of death.

Yesterday, we took a job at this village. Their farms were swarmed by gigantic monsters every night, and they wanted these pests exterminated. While Lorraine might occasionally take jobs to exterminate large monsters, I generally didn’t. That’s not because I didn’t care for them. I just knew I wasn’t strong enough. Becoming a monster myself had given me a fair bit of power, but it was nothing compared to better adventurers. I was well aware of that. Rather than push myself too far, I wanted to go at a steady pace. I wasn’t fit to kill big monsters, so I avoided those jobs as much as possible.

But for some reason, Lorraine wanted to take this job before anyone else did. And she said she needed me for it. I didn’t know why I was necessary, but I owed her for a lot. Any request short of a massive risk to my life was something I’d accept from her. That’s what led to this job.

Once we actually got started, it turned out to be trivial enough. For me, at least. Ordinary humans might have found it difficult. The reason was all these monsters now lying on the ground.

“Mega cochleases, eh? I’m surprised they were thriving so much. They won’t be causing any further harm to the crops, at least. But why did you want to take this job so badly?” I asked Lorraine.

The monsters were a group of giant snails. Every night, they ate all of the village’s crops and did immense damage, but they didn’t attack humans. All they did was eat leaves and vegetables, making them relatively peaceful monsters. Still, the snails were a nuisance. And when villagers tried to do away with them, the monsters went berserk and attacked. Regular citizens couldn’t do anything about them.

To make matters worse, they often had parasites attached to their bodies, so touching them was dangerous. That wasn’t a problem for me, however, since I was already dead. The parasites seemed to realize this as well because they let go moments after trying to leech off me. Lorraine demonstrated this phenomenon through an experiment, but I still didn’t understand why she wanted to take this job.

“Why, you ask?” Lorraine said, finally answering my question. “For my favorite clients, obviously. Anyway, Rentt, collect the slime from those mega cochleases! And watch out for the parasites. You can exterminate them with this magic item. I don’t particularly want them, just the slime.”

Then she demanded I gather up materials for her. Given no opportunity to refuse, I did as told and scooped up liters of gunk.

◆◇◆◇◆

“This is that new moisturizing cream I heard so much about! I finally got some!”

“It’s so smooth! It’s like it’s rejuvenating my skin!”

Lorraine used her alchemy to create an ointment and put it on sale. The store was full of ladies speaking of it favorably. All of them were holding moisturizing cream and facial lotion. They were absurdly overpriced, but the women didn’t complain. In fact, they were overjoyed when they bought it. I was awestruck. It felt like I was seeing women’s obsessions firsthand. The ingredients for these cosmetics, of course, came from those snails.

“I knew those materials would be worth something,” Lorraine said contentedly.

“For cosmetics?” I asked. “I don’t know how you came up with this. Using snail gunk for lotion? Really?”

“Well, did you look at those villagers’ hands?”

“Not really. I guess they were smoother than you’d expect from peasants. Normally working in the water and dirt roughs you up.”

Lorraine nodded like I had said what she was thinking. “Indeed. I tried to find out what caused that and discovered that when the mega cochleases appeared in the village, the villagers picked up the damaged crops to dispose of them and got tons of the slime on their hands. Then I confirmed its effects and realized alchemy could make it even more effective. The problem was the parasites on the snails, but I concluded it would be easy as long as I asked you. That’s why I took this job.”

At least now I knew why she asked me. Lorraine could have killed the monsters easily enough on her own, but she wanted me to capture them alive if at all feasible. That would assure she could get as much slime as possible.

“I always felt you could be rich if you opened a cosmetics store,” I said.

“I know, but I’m a scholar. This is a side gig,” she replied. That sounded like a terrible waste, but then Lorraine continued. “What about you? If you quit being an adventurer, you could get plenty of business elsewhere. But you have your reasons for staying an adventurer.”

I couldn’t argue with that. Lorraine was apparently the same way, so we were in the same boat. When we noticed we had reached that same conclusion, we looked at each other and laughed.

Lorraine promised to use the revenue from the cosmetic sales to go to a bar and celebrate later.

To The Old Couple’s Home

This is where we part ways, then,” the old couple said, to my surprise. Lorraine felt similarly. We were traveling together on the carriage from Maalt to Hathara, and they were about to get off. Hathara was the final stop, so it was no surprise they were departing, but the location in question was odd.

“You’re getting off here? Where’s your village?” I asked. They had said they were returning to their village, but there was nothing but trees as far as I could see.

The old man, Al, answered. “After you walk through the forest for a while, you’ll come across a bridge. Crossing that brings you to our village. Usually our son and his wife come to get us, but our daughter-in-law is pregnant at the moment. They say she’s about ready to give birth, so I said there was no need for them to come get us in that state. We decided not to mention which day we would return. So we’ll be walking for a while.”

“If we had told them we were coming, they might have asked the other villagers to come get us,” the wife, Char, said with a nod. “We would never want to put them through that sort of trouble.”

Lorraine and I looked at each other. This seemed to be the first the coachman heard of this too because he looked at us with concern. His expression implied that he wanted us to take care of this old couple. His job was only to bring them this far, but leaving them to return home on their own was too dangerous. The coachman knew this well. Even so, he couldn’t leave the carriage. If he did, thieves could attack while it was unattended. That meant he could only ask me and Lorraine.

“Lorraine, about those two,” I whispered.

Before I could say more, she seemed to get it. “You want us to take them home, right? I know. Well, we should be able to get it done quickly enough. Even I can carry old people like this on my back.”

“Right. Thanks.”

“It’s nothing. To be honest, I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night just letting them go on their own. How do we tell them, though?”

These two didn’t even want to ask their fellow villagers for help. They felt their age was reason enough to loathe being a burden to others. That meant we had to convince them.

The coachman gave us a helping hand. “Whoa! Dang thing,” he exclaimed in a deliberately loud voice.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, going along with it.

“Well, something’s a bit wrong with a wheel on this carriage. I can repair it, but it’ll take a bit. You mind waiting?”

He was giving us time to take care of it. Lorraine and I nodded.

“That will be fine. In the meantime, do you mind if we attend these two?” I said. “I haven’t really been to any villages around here, so I’m curious.”

“Me neither,” Lorraine added. “The terrain in this region is fascinating. I’d like to check out the local cuisine and religion too.”

“Yeah, go ahead,” the coachman said with a smile, and then he quietly thanked us.

After that, Lorraine turned to the old couple. “Would you allow us to go to your village with you?” she requested.

“Yes, in fact, that would be appreciated. It would be a bit unsafe to go by ourselves, wouldn’t it? Having some young people along will be reassuring.”

“There’s plenty of great food at the village. We can give you some to take back with you, if you like.”

The plan had worked. Lorraine, the coachman, and I nodded to each other, and then we headed to the old couple’s village.

◆◇◆◇◆

“Looks like we’re here.”

“Yes, so it seems. Isn’t it beautiful, Lorraine?”

The two of us―well, four of us, I guess―crossed the bridge and came to the entrance of a small but cozy village. Once we confirmed the path there was flat, we let the old couple off of our backs. We had carried them the whole way there. Thankfully, no monsters showed up, but it was a fairly rough road that likely would have tired the old couple out before they got there. I was deeply glad we attended them.

“Mom! Pops!” a strapping young man shouted as the old couple approached the village.

Behind him was a young woman holding her large stomach. “Mom! Dad!” she said similarly and slowly came closer.

The old couple smiled at them. “Ah, it’s Ragis and Rindt. We just got back.”

“Looks like you’re about ready to have the baby. I’m glad we made it back before we missed it.”

“I said we’d come get you when you got off the carriage!” Ragis cried. “Why did you come all this way alone?! That’s dangerous!” He sounded angry, but it was only because he was concerned.

The old couple likely realized that. “Well, we didn’t want to worry you.”

“But look, these two came with us. They’re strong adventurers, see?” they said and pointed to us. That was the first time Ragis noticed we were there.

He frantically ran up to us and groveled. “I’m so sorry my parents bothered you! But thank you! There have been a lot of monsters around here lately. I don’t know what would’ve happened if they came on their own. How can I ever repay you?”

“Don’t worry about it. We just wanted to check out this village. Right, Lorraine?”

“Yes, and if there’s anything this village is famous for, we’d love if you’d introduce us to it. We’d also like to hear about any legends or folktales you have.”

“That’s a small price to pay for your generosity. This way, please.”

After that, Lorraine and I were welcomed by the whole village. Out of concern for Lindt’s health, though, we asked them not to do anything too exhausting. The old couple cooked for us and told us some folklore, and that was the end of it.

When we were ready to leave, we gave Lindt some potions. They significantly reduced the chance of death during childbirth. Ragis thanked us for this, but Lorraine shook her head and said it was nothing.

“You’ve done so much for us,” Al said. “Thank you. You helped us when we didn’t even ask.”

“We knew it would be hard to make it back to the village alone,” Char added. “But with our daughter-in-law so close to giving birth, we didn’t want to give them more to worry about. We owe you our lives. Not only us, but our son and his wife are indebted to you. We’ll never forget it.”

The old couple realized they were in the wrong, and now it looked like they would rethink their choices. It was fine in the end, and Lorraine and I enjoyed ourselves. We got to learn about the local geography and traditions, some pretty big gains for us.

“Just don’t do anything crazy from now on,” I said.

“Yes, and treat us to something if we ever visit again. Right, Rentt?”

“Sounds good to me, Lorraine.”

With that finished, we returned to the carriage. By the looks on our faces, the coachman figured the old couple made it home in one piece.

“All right, let’s move on,” he said, not asking us about it. As soon as we got on the carriage, he whipped the giant tortoise forward.

On Sorcerers, Magic Gunners, And Their Loved Ones

I had no idea where I was. Rentt Faina and I had entered the New Moon Dungeon, but now it seemed I was in a different dungeon entirely. Of course, scholar that I am, I knew of this phenomenon. It was a teleporter trap. Not only that, it was a rare variety that sent you to another dungeon entirely. Most ordinary teleporter traps were connected to another location in the same dungeon, but, every once in a while, they would take you somewhere else. However, the New Moon Dungeon was a little dungeon in the middle of nowhere, and we weren’t especially deep inside it. No such trap should have been present, and yet I had to conclude otherwise.

In any case, this wasn’t that big of a problem. Most inter-dungeon teleporters were said to go both ways, so a teleporter back to my previous location would appear somewhere on this same floor. Dungeons were by no means fully understood, though. I couldn’t say this for certain, but there always seemed to be ways to escape from traps with your life. Dungeons were oddly fair and balanced in that way, so this theory about teleporters was highly likely to be correct. Even if I was wrong, I could simply find my way to this dungeon’s exit. I could use my magic vision to see the flow of mana, which would show me where the exit was located. I’d make it out somehow.

If there was a problem in all of this, it was the likelihood that Rentt got caught in the teleporter trap at the same time. But he had a magic item called the Map of Akasha that could map out any dungeon. He would probably be fine. For a moment, I thought he might be worried about me, but when I thought back to when I got caught in the trap, he seemed to disappear first. He was walking a bit ahead of me, so he likely assumed I missed the trap. He must have thought I was still in the New Moon Dungeon and wasn’t worth worrying about, unfortunately.

“You there. Do you have some business with me?” I called out past the corner up ahead, but not because I was losing my mind and talking to myself. Somebody had to be there because I could sense their mana. They were otherwise fully hidden, so I could tell they were fairly competent. They could conceal their mana decently well too, but not well enough to escape my sight. If they intended to attack me, though, there was a high chance I couldn’t win.

Thankfully, they didn’t seem hostile, so I tried speaking to them. I stood there for three whole minutes, but they did nothing. I had to assume I was safe. They were probably just watching me after my sudden appearance in the dungeon.

“Strange, I thought I had a knack for hiding.” A person with turquoise hair appeared holding a magic gun in each hand.

They approached me with caution, and now that I could see them in person, I confirmed they were quite powerful. Also, surprisingly, they were female. She was slender and had the air of a noble, but she dressed like an adventurer. Her armor was easy to move in, and I could imagine she was quick on her feet in battle. I thought she looked gallant.

“I certainly couldn’t see or hear you, but mana is my specialty. No matter how you try to hide it, if there’s mana present, I will sense it,” I said.

“It sounds like I need to train more. But it doesn’t seem I need to be too wary of you, thankfully. I’m Katia Chorale, an A-class adventurer. Who are you?”

“I’m Lorraine Vivie, a Silver-class adventurer and scholar. A-class, though? That means I’m on a whole other continent. I didn’t know inter-dungeon teleporters could send you so far,” I pondered to myself, fascinated and shocked from a scholarly perspective.

“Is that right?” Katia nodded, understanding the situation. “Fell into a teleporter trap, did you? That’s unfortunate. There’s no way to sense them, so it happens to the best of us.”

“I’m glad I ran into an A-class. Saves time when I don’t have to explain things. Have you been caught in one of these traps before?”

A-class was equivalent to the better Gold-class adventurers, in terms of Yaaran’s ranking system. A young woman would find it hard to reach that level based on strength alone, but this woman certainly had enough power. She likely had experience with all manner of rare traps.

“Yes, but I ended up in a dungeon I was familiar with, at least. I assume you’re looking for a teleporter that’ll bring you back. Do you need help?”

“I’d appreciate some assistance, if you’re willing. I don’t have much in the way of money or materials to pay you back with, though. I was only prepared to explore the early areas of an unremarkable dungeon, you see.”

“I make enough money regardless, so it’s fine. Now let’s go,” Katia said and walked off.

I followed after her.

◆◇◆◇◆

“Maybe it’s not my place to say this, but that doesn’t sound like a man who’ll fall for you easily,” I said as we walked through the dungeon.

“Right?!” Katia agreed. “It’s like he’s been through so much in life, and it doesn’t seem like any sort of seduction will work. But if I just told him directly, I’m sure he’d dance around it somehow. What should I do? I’ve never felt this way before.”

We ended up talking about love. I never imagined this was the conversation I’d have after being flung into another dungeon, but at the same time, we were still doing the job we needed to do. Every time monsters attacked, my sorcery or Katia’s magic guns blasted them away.

Katia was talking about an adventurer she was interested in, a man named Georg. She wanted to draw his attention, but she didn’t know how and wanted to vent about it. I didn’t exactly have much experience with love myself, though, and I didn’t know what to do about it in my own life. I couldn’t come up with any good advice.

“It seems like you have someone who loves you back. I’m jealous,” she said. It was clear who she meant. A certain undead man.

“Oh, really? Neither of us have said anything of the sort to each other.”

“You don’t have to say it out loud as long as there’s a mutual understanding. Aw, I wish I had that in my life.”

“I’m sure you’ll be fine. You’re beautiful and strong. Men like the one you’re after should have a soft spot for women like you.”

“You think so? I hope you’re right. Oh, here we are!” Katia said and pointed to the teleporter trap back to the New Moon Dungeon. The magic circle had a dull glow, but it looked far more complex than most. This had to be it.

“So it seems,” I said. “This is where we part ways, I suppose. I would have liked to chat more, but there’s no telling when this teleporter might disappear. There’s no time to waste.”

“Yes, you’re right,” Katia acknowledged. “Well, just because you live on a distant continent doesn’t mean we’ll never see each other again. I’ll definitely come see you eventually. Hopefully we will have both gotten what we want by then.”

“Hopefully, yes. Goodbye now,” I said and stepped into the magic circle. Black mist rose up from below and blinded me.

The last I saw of Katia, she had a smile as pretty as a flower. I didn’t know what kind of man could resist the advances of such a beauty.

A Letter From The Capital

Dear Rentt,

How are you? I’m doing great. It’s been two years since I came to the capital, but I never forgot what you told me in Maalt. I should be able to send an invitation to come down to the capital soon, something I greatly look forward to. I hope life is going well for you too.

Lily

◆◇◆◇◆

“What is this?” I asked when I found this letter in Rentt’s room. It was my storage room before he moved in with me, and I had never cleaned the place up, so I often came to grab things I needed. Rentt knew this too. Of course, usually I found nothing worth noting, but today was different. There was a letter on the desk from someone who wanted to invite Rentt to the capital. Not only that, but they had a woman’s name. I couldn’t believe Rentt had a significant other. He never told me about it. Not that we were in any sort of official relationship, though. Whether she was a friend or a girlfriend, I had no place to complain.

But for some reason, I couldn’t get over it. The more I thought about the tremors in my heart, the worse it got. I wanted to grab him by the collar and demand he explain this. Maybe I could do that when he got back.

“I’m home,” Rentt said just after that thought occurred to me. I ran down the stairs to confront him. Then I just stared at him in silence.

“What?” Rentt asked, confused. “Did something happen?”

Well, I went to your room and found this letter. I couldn’t help but read it, sorry.”

“Oh! The one Lily sent? Said something about inviting her parents to the capital? She really cares about her parents, huh?”

“Hm? Her parents?” I asked. Now that he mentioned it, the letter didn’t say who she was inviting.

“You were away from Maalt at the time,” Rentt continued. “A lot of stuff happened. There was a carriage accident on the road, during which I saved this merchant girl named Lily. Her parents are merchants too, but they suffered some heavy injuries. They would’ve had a hard time running their store in the capital, or even leaving Maalt for that matter, so Lily’s been running the store by herself. Her parents have been staying in Maalt to recover, and Lily’s planning to set things up for them to travel back when she’s ready. Only took her two years, too, so she must have a talent for business.”

Wondering why I was so jealous over this, I held my head in my hands.

“Lorraine, what’s with the weird look? You feeling alright?” Rentt asked.

“Oh, it’s nothing. You should message her back soon, that’s all.”

“Uh, sure,” Rentt said, at a total loss.

I left him and returned to my room.

“Well, I guess he’d never leave without telling me,” I muttered to myself.

Hide-And-Seek With The Reaper

The moon shone high in the sky. A boy stared at it until a shadow suddenly appeared and descended toward him. He reached out his arm and waited for it to arrive. A flapping sound approached, and a hawk landed on his leather gauntlet.

“All right, looks like you got it,” the boy said. He tried to take the leather bag in one of the hawk’s talons.

“Stop right there,” someone said from behind him. Surprised, he turned around and saw the Reaper. He was a skeleton man in a black robe. His very presence was foreboding, and his eye sockets were dark and sunken.

“What?! Stay away!” the boy shouted. “I’m not ready to die yet! I’m not dying!”

A split second later, the boy fled like a rabbit. All around him were the alleyways of Maalt. They were intricately interconnected, so even your average city-dweller could get lost there for hours. The boy, however, was familiar with the place. He spent every day in the slums and knew all the hiding places. It was like his personal hunting ground. Together with his hawk, Tora, this was where he stole his daily food. Not even the Reaper could catch him here. Or so he thought.

“Give up,” the Reaper said as he appeared again at the first corner of the alleyway. There was another back alley just ahead, so the boy frantically turned and ran at full speed once again. But the Reaper was waiting at the next corner. He tried a few more times until he finally gave in and fell to the ground.

The Reaper peered down at him. “Well, you did all right for a kid. You’re Ett, and this is your hawk, Tora. Is that right?” he asked.

Wondering why the Reaper knew this, the boy gave him a suspicious look.

“I’m Rentt, an adventurer. Someone wanted you captured, and I’m the one who took the job. I hope you’re ready.”

It was a relief to know this was an adventurer and not, in fact, the Grim Reaper. But now the boy was confused as to why he was a target, a thought that left him in despair.

“You’re wanted for theft. Normally that’d come with a very severe penalty.”

“A p-penalty?” the boy stammered. That could mean a dozen whippings, a hundred canings, or even death in some cases. Ett thought he was doomed.

“But after a thorough investigation, it was found that you need money to buy medicine for your sick mother, so you’re using the hawk-taming skills your deceased father taught you in order to commit theft. The people of Maalt are lenient with kids like you. All the charges against you have been rescinded. But we had to do something about you, so here I am.”

Rentt handed Ett a bottle. “First, take this. That’s medicine for your mother. It’s effective enough that she should fully recover once she drinks it. In return, you’ll have to do community service around town for the next year. Got it?”

One bottle of medicine cost a crazy number of gold coins, from what the boy had heard. Now that he was given one so easily, Ett wept and accepted Rentt’s demands.

◆◇◆◇◆

After he saw Ett back to his house, Lorraine appeared from the shadow. She was helping with the job, mostly by investigating Ett.

“Shouldn’t you have told him that you had to explain his situation to all the victims and that you urged they be understanding?” she asked.

“It’s fine. He felt bad enough already. Besides, if he does something again, I’ll hold myself responsible.”

His words sounded kind, but they were actually harsh. One day, the boy might learn about everything that happened and thank Rentt for it. If he instead begrudged Rentt and tried to get back at him, Rentt would show no mercy. But he wasn’t worried about that. He had faith the kind boy had a good future ahead of him.

“Should we go back home now, Lorraine?”

“Sounds like a plan, Rentt.”