by Hiro Ainana
He seemed to be a pretty friendly, helpful sort, so he knew a lot of people.
“Sumina! Hey, if it ain’t Sumina!”
This time, it was Dozon who called out to a passing explorer.
It was the Elder Sister who I’d rescued from the labyrinth.
“Sir Dozon! Good to see you again.”
“S’been so long, I thought ya might be dead!”
Dozon and Sumina exchanged warm greetings.
“Looks like ya got some pretty nice equipment there, though. What, ya workin’ for some noble now?”
“Yeah, right! Like they’d ever hire me.” Sumina laughed. “But I’m working for someone even better than that.”
“Yeah? Who?”
“It’s a secret. Maybe I’ll tell you once he gets famous, though. I got this armor and sword from him, too.”
Sumina patted the silver sword in its scabbard and grinned mischievously.
Then she edged it out of the sheath just enough that Dozon could catch a glimpse of what was inside.
“I’ll be damned! Is that—?”
“Yep, it’s the real thing—like in the legends!”
Sumina winked charmingly at the startled Mr. Dozon.
“Sumina…make sure you do right by a Magic Sword like that, yeah?”
“Of course!”
She nodded cheerfully, explaining that she’d just been to a knowledgeable friend to learn how to properly care for the silver sword.
“Sister Sumina!”
“Oops, gotta go. Let’s grab a drink sometime soon, Sir Dozon.”
With that, she ran off toward the friend who had called her name.
“Sure is rowdy in here. These your rookies, Sir Dozon?”
When Sumina left, a different explorer came in and walked over to Dozon.
“Hey, Jejeh. Yeah, they’re some kids from my rookie explorers’ class.”
The explorer talking to Dozon looked somehow familiar.
“Oh really? …Wait, what?! It’s you!”
The man seemed to recognize me, too.
“He’s from that bloodied party we helped the first time we went into the Celivera labyrinth,” Liza reminded me.
Thank goodness she’s so good at remembering faces.
“You really saved us that time! Let me pay you back with some drinks tonight.”
“Since when can the eternally broke Red Ice party pay for anything?”
“This man saved my comrade’s life, you know.”
“Would you like to join us? You can share your exploring expertise with the newbies.”
Mr. Jejeh said he would foot the bill, but I couldn’t have him spending several gold coins just for a few watered-down potions.
Instead, I asked him to share some funny incidents and horror stories with us and the rookie explorers.
After Jejeh, other explorers who were friends of Mr. Dozon continued to trickle in.
“My, it’s lively in here.”
“Have you finished your work for today, Guildmaster?”
“Who cares? Thanks to that white-haired hero-follower freak, I’ve had so much work that I haven’t been able to get good and drunk lately.”
“I’ve been telling you to stop getting so drunk all the time anyway.”
“Oh, quiet, Sebelkeya.”
It was the guildmaster and Miss Sebelkeya.
The former tried to order an ale, but the latter stopped her and asked for water and a few dishes for dinner instead.
The rookie explorers didn’t seem to know their faces, but some of the veterans like Jejeh and the Lovely Wings sat up at the arrival of two important people from the guild.
“Oh-ho-ho? Sir Pendragon’s drinking with the guildmaster all buddy-buddy-like!”
Hearing a joking voice from the door, I turned to see the labyrinth army captain and the foxfolk officer who often accompanied him, along with an incognito General Erthal.
“Captain, do you think we’ve been betrayed?”
“Well, I’m sure a drink will cure whatever ales us.”
“Oh, Captain, your awful jokes are killing me…”
In response to the foxfolk officer’s complaint, the captain bopped him on the head.
Clearly, these two were as close as ever.
“Would you like to join us as well? The food here is really quite good.”
“If a gourmet like you recommends it, Sir Pendragon, I’m sure we can’t go wrong.”
General Erthal sat down in an open chair behind me.
Sensing his aura of extreme importance, the other explorers at the table promptly dispersed to other seats.
“We’ve got the whole place reserved today, so order whatever you’d like.”
“Does that mean you’re footing the bill, Sir Knight?”
“Yes, it does.”
I nodded at the excited-looking foxfolk man.
“Whoo-hoo!” he roared, prompting another punch from his superior officer. As they played out their usual comedy routine, I asked the waitress to bring some food and alcohol to General Erthal’s table.
“Right away, sir. Here’s the food you ordered before.”
Our table was filled with several plates of meat and a big pot of stew.
There were several small bowls and ladles next to the pot for people to serve themselves.
“A foreign princess, the guildmaster, and the army general?”
“Who in the world is this guy?”
“Garnet-badge explorers are really something else.”
“You morons! No ordinary garnet-badge explorer has all those impressive connections.”
As Liza and Lulu politely handed out the food, I heard the explorers at the other tables gossiping.
I’d met Princess Meetia through sheer happenstance, but the latter two were just my drinking buddies…
“Here you are, master.”
“Thanks.”
I accepted the mead Lulu handed me.
“To Sir Pendragon and the future of the rookie explorers!”
“““Cheers!”””
General Erthal raised yet another toast, and we all clinked glasses for the umpteenth time that evening.
As the adults continued drinking, the younger kids tucked food away with endless appetites.
“It’s delicious.”
“Munchy-crunchyyy?”
“This meat is nice and chewy, sir.”
The beastfolk girls seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely, probably because of all the different meat dishes at this place.
I decided we should come back to eat here once in a while.
“Master, this seafood dish is delicious, too.”
“Mushroom stew.”
“Thanks, you two.”
Arisa and Mia offered me their plates, so I tried a few bites.
The seafood melted in my mouth, flooding it with flavor.
I was a little hesitant about the toadstool-looking mushrooms floating around in the stew, but they were delectable as well. The spice was addictive, a vastly different flavor from any chili pepper.
Both of them went better with wine or mead than ale.
I couldn’t think of anything more fun than enjoying tasty food and tasty drinks while chatting with friends old and new.
Looking up at the full moon in the sky, I raised my glass of mead.
Peace really was the best way to live, in this world or any other.
> Title Acquired: Coordinator
> Title Acquired: Banquet Boss
The Demon’s Offer
The name’s Ludaman. I was born the bastard son of a petty bandit and came to Labyrinth City to make a name for myself. It was all smooth sailing at first. They even started calling me the Plunderer King. But now…
“…I’m in a dungeon.”
As I sat grumbling on the dirty, stinkin’ floor, one o’ my henchmen stuck his ugly mug between the ceiling and me.
All of ’em have messed up their faces from using too much demonic potion.
&nbs
p; “What’re we gonna do, boss?”
“Gettin’ into Violet’s not much better than public execution or the coal mines. We’ll just be human shields for fancy-pants nobles and knights.”
“So let’s make a break for it before they put them enslavement collars on us!”
“I can bend these bars no problem with my superhuman strength!”
“Yeah, exactly. We can fight unarmed just fine.”
I’d thought o’ that, too, of course.
But this dungeon was rigged up with magic-sapping magic circles.
My “Body Strengthening” and “Desperation” skills wouldn’t work here.
Not that we’d stand much of a chance busting out of this well-like place even if I could use my skills.
And even if we could, that “Hero’s follower” bastard already took our hideout.
We could break into a shop and steal some weapons and money, but where would we go? There was only the desert to the west or the monster territory to the south.
I didn’t think either of those would be any better than Violet or the coal mines.
“Just wait for the right moment.”
“What the hell’s the ‘right moment’ supposed to mean anyway?”
Kurse, my self-proclaimed “right-hand man” who’s always calling me “boss,” was givin’ me the stink eye.
So I grabbed his head and slammed it into the ground.
He flopped around, begging for mercy.
“You’ll know it when it happens.” I glared at my goons, speaking slowly. “We’ll hear from ’im soon enough.”
“Who? You mean that yellow-robed bastard?”
“You think demons are gonna come?”
“You idiots,” I snapped. “No, the guy who was making demonic potion with the ingredients he bought from us. The mastermind behind Sokell.”
The guy I’d sent to follow him got himself killed. His head actually got left on display in front of our hideout.
When we’d tried to sell our own demonic potions in the royal capital or the crossroads city of Kelton, the merchants got killed, too. The only place we got away with it was the trade city at the southern end of the royal family’s territory.
I didn’t know if they still needed us, but either way, I figured they’d contact us sooner or later.
Even as I thought about it, I heard the sound of the dungeon door being unlatched.
I knew it.
Then I heard footsteps.
Only one set.
The guards always moved in groups of two or more.
“Been waiting for ya.”
“Oh my, you say that as if you knew I would be coming, indeed.”
It was the old noble in green clothes.
I’d met him once before I became a plunderer, when I was doing dirty jobs in Labyrinth City.
If I remembered right, he was the rotten bastard who controlled the dark side of the royal capital’s highest nobles…
“…Count Poputema.”
“My son is the head of the family now, so I’m a former count, indeed. Nowadays many people call me by the charming title of Counselor Poputema, indeed.”
Poputema spoke like a weirdo, creepily ending all his sentences the same way.
The Poputema I knew was a much better speaker, his tone sharp as a razor.
Who the hell are you?
The words almost slipped out, but I stopped myself just in time.
If I said that out loud, there was no doubt the conversation would be over.
“Gotcha. Let’s cut to the chase, then, yeah?”
“You small fry are always so hasty, indeed.”
My idiotic henchmen all bristled at his rudeness.
Their growling and rattling at the bars would have frightened a weaker man, but this one’s face remained calm.
“Don’t gimme that. You’re the one who told us that Pendragon brat was coming to the guild, aren’t ya?”
Poputema didn’t answer. He just kept wearing that crescent-moon smile.
“I hear you succeeded in being sent to Violet, indeed. Are you pleased to serve as the disposable pawns of royal capital nobles, indeed?”
That really set off my goons.
They were playing right into his hands by getting riled up.
“Shut up! I don’t wanna hear another damn word from you lot till this conversation is over!”
I kicked an iron bar and shouted, which shut ’em all right up.
My top brass hadn’t made a sound for a while. They were simply watching in silence, keeping a shrewd eye on Poputema’s position.
If he came within reach, they would probably grab him and use him as a hostage.
“I was hoping to enjoy your rage and fear a little longer, indeed.”
Poputema shook his head with an infuriating expression.
“So? Did ya come here to silence us? Or to make a deal?”
“You misunderstand, indeed.”
Poputema fished around in his enormous sleeves.
“I am not the demonic-potion manufacturer, indeed.”
The hell is he doing here, then?
“There’s been less miasma than usual in Labyrinth City lately, indeed.”
“The hell is miasma? Make some sense, will ya?”
I jerked my head at him impatiently.
“I do so despise uneducated scum—Ah, here it is, indeed.”
Poputema produced some kind of green stone from his sleeve.
What the hell is that?
“A Summoning Pearl, indeed.”
The green pearl hit the ground and broke, black liquid seeping out of it and drawing an ominous magic circle.
“Indeed, indeed, I am here, indeed.”
A grotesque green creature emerged, speaking in the same bizarre way as that Poputema bastard.
He was like a giant eyeball with limbs, wings, and a tail.
“A d-demon?”
One of my henchmen who could use “Analyze” spoke up.
For a demon, he didn’t have a very intimidating presence. Must be a lesser one, then.
Which meant…
“So yer a friend of Yellow Robes?”
“I suppose you could say that, indeed. We have been sworn allies since ancient times, or perhaps I should say we’ve been stuck with each other, indeed.”
The eyeball demon cackled at Poputema’s words.
Ignoring his odd behavior, Poputema walked closer to the demon.
“Were you able to borrow from the pink one, indeed?”
“Indeed, indeed, of course, indeed.”
A black hole appeared next to the eyeball demon, and he pulled out a strange pink clump.
As soon as I saw it, my whole body seized up with fear, like something had grabbed ahold of my heart.
Shit.
That thing’s bad news.
Way worse than any stupid eyeball demon.
“The hell is that?”
“It feels good, indeed.”
I forced down my fear and glared at Poputema.
“Sliiiime!”
Our resident slime-loving idiot in the cell across from us grabbed the bars and bellowed.
Dumbass. Does that really seem like a slime to you?
“Oh dear. Do you really want this sphere that badly, indeed?”
“Gimme it! Gimme that slime!”
Poputema nodded at the eyeball demon.
“Hurryyy!”
“Stop! You idiot!”
Heedless of my shout, the slime lover grabbed the pink ball from the eyeball demon.
“We’ll be together forever.”
As he always did with slimes, he opened his mouth and swallowed it whole.
“Guh, it’s a feisty one…”
His stomach began to swell.
“Oogh… It’s movin’… Nnngh—”
The slime lover’s body lost its shape, turning to transparent pink goop.
Then the slime spread, starting to swallow up the other henchmen in the same cell.
/> “Gaaaah!”
“H-heeeelp!”
“Boooss!”
My henchmen reached through the bars, begging for help.
“Indeed, indeed, fear, indeed.”
The eyeball demon flew about, clapping his hands in delight.
Having absorbed all the prisoners in one cell, the slime began reaching its tentacles toward the lower cells.
“Boss, they’re still alive in there…”
My self-proclaimed right-hand man, Kurse, was right: Even as their skin began to dissolve in the slime, my henchmen were still struggling desperately.
“Of course they are, indeed. The pink sphere exists to wring pain, fear, and hatred out of living things, indeed. It can’t do that if it kills them, indeed.”
“Indeed, indeed, extraction, indeed!”
The eyeball demon flapped around next to Poputema.
“B-but why us?” one of my men cried out.
It was a good question: He could’ve just gone to the slums instead of coming all the way to the guild dungeon.
“Normal humans are too fragile, indeed.”
From the sound of things, the bastard had already tested it out.
“Since you’ve turned yourselves into half-monster freaks with demonic potions, you’re much heartier, and your souls are nice and rotten from preying on your fellow man, indeed.”
“Indeed, indeed, perfect, indeed!”
Half monsters, huh…?
I touched my warped face unconsciously.
“As they struggle inside the pink sphere, they’ll pollute Labyrinth City with miasma, indeed.”
“Indeed, indeed, fertilizer, indeed.”
The eyeball demon nodded enthusiastically.
I didn’t know what miasma was, but I could tell by looking at those guys that it couldn’t be good.
If we didn’t get away, I had a feeling that a truly horrible death awaited us.
“What’re ya gatherin’ this miasma stuff for? We can probably help ya.”
While I searched for some way out of here, I kept up the conversation so that he wouldn’t turn his slime thing on us.
“To bring about His Majesty’s second coming, of course, indeed. But I do not need your help to—”
Then Poputema paused, sinking into thought.
I didn’t know what he was talking about, but “His Majesty” usually meant some big shot, like a king.