Episode 7 - Junior Adventurer Promotion Examination II
「My, so you've been in the East End for fourteen years, Kian-sama?」
「Yes, after leaving Azrair, I spent a year traveling by boat and land ......, and I registered as an adventurer in this city to earn enough money for the journey, and before I knew it, I was settled in the city.」
「I see.」
While conversing with the carefree Manon, they descended through the narrow and dimly lit catacombs.
The brick catacombs look like they are on the verge of collapse, but the guild takes good care of them, so their durability is not a problem.
As he recalls, the staff of magicians regularly treats the catacombs for germs, so sanitation should not be a problem.
Kian's mind was drawing a map of the winding, up-and-down path as he continued to make his way along.
There are two lights.
The lantern hanging from his waist and the torch in his hand.
So far they have not encountered any monsters, but if they encounter one, he can use the torch as a weapon. The flames are very effective against the ghostly monsters.
「――――」
The dark-haired female magician ― Christy ― is walking behind Kian, but she is all mousy and doesn't try to speak. She doesn't seem to be paying attention to her surroundings, and at this rate, she probably won't even try to intercept an enemy if she encounters one.
As expected, if Manon is in danger, she will use magic, but until then, it is unlikely that Kian will expect any backup from her.
『Kian, it's about time you put on your earrings.』
(Right.)
Nodding at Glasses' words, Kian took out an earring in the shape of a crescent moon from his coat of "Twilight". This is one of the ancient equipment he found when he was searching in the "Rose Labyrinth".
It was hidden together with the dress skirt set for the anti-magician, and just by wearing it on his ear, he could absorb and nullify charms and curses from his enemies.
Note that earth magic, wind magic, and other mass-associated magic can only be nullified by wearing fancy equipment modified by Kian.
(But if you are equipped with this "Moon Earring," you can completely nullify wraith-type attacks that suck out your life force on contact.)
At the very least, Kian will be invincible against the wraiths that spring up like small fry in these catacombs.
As for the boss monsters prepared by the guild, they may not work so well, since they may be other than ghosts.
「――Hey, we've been moving on since a while ago, though」
Behind Kian, Christy opened her mouth for the first time in more than ten minutes.
「I didn't draw a map. Do you know how to get back?」
「Oh my, Christy. Oswalt is here, so you won't have to worry. Right, Oswalt?」
「...... I certainly remember the way, but wouldn't you be disqualified if I interfered?」
The young man with shaved blond hair glanced back behind him and said so.
Kian and the three others were followed closely behind by three martial arts guild staff.
Manon put her hand over her masked mouth.
「I see, that makes sense. Then shall we mark the path now?」
「Oh, it's okay, I remember all the paths.」
Kian said as he bent down to the ground, restraining Christy with his hand.
He'll creep along and quickly disarm the traps at his feet.
When he was done, he stood up and threw a pebble forward.
Of course, the trap was disarmed and would not activate.
「You remember?」
Oswalt repeated suspiciously.
He continued, fiddling with his earring, which resembles a sun.
「You were busy disarming the trap earlier, and it doesn't look like you're taking notes on the map.」
「It's in my head. I can tell the structural shortcuts and such. For example――」
Kian kneads his chi and blows off the brick wall at the back left with his 'Shoot'.
The back is dark, and below is a pit.
But if you use a rope to go down the pit, you can take a shortcut at once.
「My!」
「............. Did you learn it in your fourteen years as an adventurer?」
Kian faked Oswalt's question with a wry smile.
「Well, something like that.」
The truth is, he also studied architecture at a monastery.
He thinks he has learned at least the bare minimum because it was necessary to use gunpowder to destroy buildings and kill targets. The rest was just practiced over the past 14 years.
Kian's brain projected a three-dimensional map of the labyrinth's structure, with detailed notes on the traps he encountered.
Since he had no friends or companions for a long time, he had no choice but to make maps like this on his own. It was also a way to pass the time when he had no one to talk to.
「Well, if you can remember it, isn't it fine?」
Christy said, looking as unmotivated as ever.
Every word in her voice suggests that she wants to go home quickly.
Kian looked at Manon and passed the shortcut pit.
「Let's go straight ahead. We don't want to rush and get hurt, so we'll go steady.」
「Cautious! Right!」
Manon said as she leaped over the rubble.
× × ×
Then it was an hour of walking in the dark――
The party had reached the lowest level of the labyrinth without once engaging in battle with the monsters.
Kian had instantly found a route that did not involve any fighting, and he continued to guide the party to a safe path.
The guild staff who was following behind them clicked their tongue.
They were probably a former scout.
Kian had already decided to pay it no mind since his colleagues who had worked with him on the labyrinth attack usually reacted this way.
『The scouts basically think that anyone who can map better than them should die. Just like the bards who spin interesting tales. He hates his peers as if they were scorpions.』
(I'm just doing the usual, though ......)
Kian held up a torch in the darkened corridor of the lower level, which had been widened.
There was no sign of life.
It seems that none of the adventurers who entered the labyrinth from different entrances at once have reached the lowest level yet.
(I wonder if Serena will be okay. It didn't seem like her group had anyone who could map, let alone fight.)
Despite his concern, Kian moved forward ahead of the party.
The boots of "Twilight" made a slight sound.
「Ho ....... Phew. The road is getting wider.」
「True.」
「Perhaps we've reached the bottom level. ――Right? Let's see.」
「Kian.」
Kian looked back at the beautiful blonde young man with the sun earring.
The beautiful young man ― Oswalt turned his golden eyes to Kian, which seemed to glow with phosphorescence even in the darkness.
「Kian. Kian, huh. I remember it.」
「Haha, it's a name you can forget tomorrow.」
「Is that so? By the way, my name is Oswalt. Though you may already know, since you've been calling me that for a while now.」
「Yes」
「I'd be honored if you'd remember it.」
「Of course, Oswalt-san. I know it's only for a short time until the exam is over, but I'm looking forward to working with you.」
「Yeah. However ...... even so that was brilliant, Kian. We did not have to fight a single battle in the dark and you cleared all the traps in the least amount of time. I've never seen a scout do his job so well. ...... you deserve all the praise」
「Hahaha, thanks.」
Kian searches for forward awareness while returning it appropriately.
Then, he felt an indescribable presence coming from Oswalt's direction.
But that too soon fades into the shadows.
「There is a large room ahead. Probably, it is structurally larger than the first large square. It must be the space where the bosses prepared by the guild are located.」
「It's a battle, right!? My arm is ringing!」
「Manon, you must not fight. Stay behind me.」
「I'll be the vanguard. Though I need you to cover me with magic, Christy-san, can you do that?」
「It's a boat I've boarded, so I'm going to help you. In return, you must protect yourself.」
「Haha ....... I'll do my best not to cause you any trouble then. Thank you.」
Kian then pulled his club from his waist.
『Do you want to wear me?』
(No, when I wear you, the effect of the vision change slows me down slightly. I'll be fighting at close quarters, so I'm fine as is.)
They stopped in front of the archway leading to the innermost room.
The archway was a transfer gate, through which the adventurers would be taken to the boss's room.
This is probably a countermeasure in case more than one party of adventurers reach the room at the same time.
Well, basically, if you encounter another party in the dark, it will be a three-on-three battle.
(I sense several large rooms in the back. And the breathing of the monsters waiting there. It seems to be lucky to decide which room you will be sent to and which boss monster you will fight.)
It is a test with a strong element of luck, like the combination of the party.
In a sense, the test is a faithful reproduction of the fact that adventurers must be lucky to survive.
「We're going to enter. Are you ready?」
「Yes, yes. You don't need to ask every time. Quickly, get in, get in」
Encouraged by Christy's voice, Kian immediately jumped into the gate using his "Blink".
The color of the gate changed to orange, perhaps in response to the examination slip he was holding.
Around the time he saw the change, Kian had landed on the floor of the large, dusty room.
He quickly stepped aside and Christy, who had followed him in from behind, suddenly appeared.
Kian did not turn around to look at Christy.
It is because he can see his "enemy" right in front of him.
「――――」
He steps forward with his club at the ready.
Then all the lamps on the walls of the large room lit up at once.
The boss's room was dimly lit.
A black fog was gathering in the back of the room.
It swirled around and around in the light of the lamps, forming a humanoid shadow.
Behind him, Christy muttered,
「Shield Cain. The lowest class of blood-sucking species. However, a blood-sucking species is a blood-sucking species, so it is quite powerful. As I recall, the appropriate party rank for defeating it is ......」
「7th. 7th-class in a party.」
Before Kian could answer, the black shadow became a monster with mouse-colored skin.
Its overall silhouette resembles a praying mantis.
Its head is heart-shaped, and hard bones like shields protrude from its arms and legs.
The overall image was flat and large, and despite being a praying mantis, it seemed to have a strong defense.
The monster opened its jagged, toothy mouth wide with a gaping gap at the bottom of its heart-shaped head ― below its small eyes and nose.
「......!」
「Tsk, it's noisy」
Thin and high――
An unpleasant roar, like scraping metal together, tingled through the space.
Manon, who had just transferred, gasped in response to the howling Shield Cain, and Christy let out a small curse.
『Are you going to kill it?』
「That's what the test is all about.」
The hard armor of its limbs layered on top of each other and he look at the mouse-colored monster piling on top of each other.
Kian, without stopping, quickly raised the club in his hand horizontally.
「―――」
Behind him, he heard Christy begin to chant a spell.
As if overshadowing her translucent voice, the monster, which seemed to be clad in a shield, let out another roar. This time it was not a threatening roar, but the kind of roar an excited creature makes before attacking.
The guild staff had forcibly captured it and brought it here, and put it to sleep in such a dark place.
It must have awakened to the presence of the intruder and is in a state of mild panic.
The monster puts all its strength into its fists, which it thrusts into the fragile stone floor
Then, with a thud and a thud, it kicked the fragile stone floor with its hind legs.
It was a preliminary move for a rush.
The mouse-colored shield creature, with its proudly armored limbs, held up like a great shield, seemed to intend to charge forward to run over Kian.
(Shield Cain specializes in attacks in which it combines its hard limb armor and holds it forward like a shield, crushing the enemy to death. In a struggle between males, it would be a contest of armored hardness and size of the force. But...)
「......, ......, ......!」
Kian quickly kneads his magic power.
Being able to handle a large amount of magic power, the technique of "Impulse" has improved dramatically in the past few weeks.
(Behind the shield――Its back is unprotected.)
Therefore, in a party fight, the usual tactic is for the vanguard warrior to attract the Shield Cain and the magician who has gone behind it to strike the softback with powerful magic to slay it out at once.
『You're going to go around using the "Blink"?』
(That's a good idea too, but this time we have a noble here)
Kian dropped his center of gravity and faced the shield monster, which was making a preliminary move to rush forward.
Kiiiii, the monster bared its black fangs and let out a third roar.
Then it retracted its tiny head to hide behind its proud shield and kicked the stone floor with its hind legs in one swift motion. With an earth-shaking roar, the great mouse-colored shield rushed forward.
「.......!」
It is as fast as an adult male running at full speed.
It is slow, but it is a rush of such great power that it wobbles on its feet.
The difference in height between the monster and Kian was about twice as tall.
A large amount of dust flew up in the air, and there was a smell of burning air.
「――Hmph!」
At the moment of contact.
Kian's body shakes.
A swordsman with good eyesight would have seen the seven orange lines of sparks that instantly appeared on the large rat-colored shield that was coming at him.
The monster that had lunged at Kian sprawled and rolled on the stone floor, shattering the armor on its hands and feet.
A beat later, a large spear of rock generated by Christy dashed through the insect-breathing monster's body.
Shield Cain spurts blood like red and black mud.
「―――」
Kian looked back at the monster that had died behind him with a lingering heartbeat.
The brownish dust slowly subsides, revealing the monster lying on its back, its hind legs twitching.
Blood poured out of the monster's body, and the smell of iron was everywhere.
「――Well, after all, it's only a lowly bloodsucker」
Christy said as she clattered the stone floor with the butt of her staff.
She looked down ruthlessly at the poor, defeated, dead monster.
「There's no way a mindless lump of flesh with no intelligence withstand my magic. The name of the head of the Academy in Royal Capital is not just for show.」
Christy's black hair is swept back with a white hand.
Her figure was proud and beautiful.
(Actually, it would be wise not to tell her that I had already inflicted the fatal wound.)
It is better to join their side than to fight them
Don't go against those of high rank and dignity.
「My, that was incredible, Christy! As expected of you!」
Manon rushes up to her from behind, clapping her hands.
Christy with a slightly embarrassed look on her cheeks, "Hmph!" and turned her face away.
「T-This much is natural. It's not worth much praise.」
「What are you saying!? I thought I was done for when this monster came charging at me! And then ...... with the big rock spear and boom! That's amazing!」
「It's true. I was too busy avoiding it. I don't know what I would have done if Christy-san hadn't been there.」
Kian walked up to Christy while putting the club back on his hip.
The dark-haired female magician turned to Kian, "Oh".
「You're alive. I thought you were scared and cowering because you were staaanding there motionless. I'm glad to see you didn't turn into ground meat.」
「Are you hurt, Kian-sama?」
Manon turns her dark blue eyes on Kian from under her mask.
He couldn't see her expression, but from the movement of her eyes and the sound of her voice, she seemed to be seriously worried.
She also seemed to think that Kian was just going to be run over by Shield Cain.
「Thanks to Christy-san, I was saved. I'm glad none of the three of us dropped out.」
「Hmph.」
「You're right. It was a fun adventure! Though It was a little scary, I want to experience it again」
「You must not, your excellency Mariabelle」
Oswalt, a young man with shaved blonde hair, walked up from behind.
He directed his words at Manon, but his golden eyes were fixed on Kian.
「If you want to see monsters and knights fighting each other, please use the arena in the citadel. If you have to go out to the dungeon every time, the knights guarding you will collapse from exhaustion.」
(Mariabelle――So, this Manon girl was the Count of the Ezerland frontier herself?)
Kian looked at the masked girl, thinking so inwardly.
The glasses were right, something impossible had happened.
He had no idea that the princess of this province was secretly participating in the qualification test for junior adventurers.
Did the vassals not stop her?
「Now, let's go home now. We have had enough adventure.」
「Wait. As I recall, we have to return with some sort of "proof of subjugation," don't we?」
「Yes, a piece of the monster's body. In most cases, it's the head.」
Kian said and looked at Shield Cain, who was sinking in a pool of blood.
The monster still twitches its hind legs.
To all appearances, the monster looked like a giant praying mantis.
「I'll take care of it. I can't let the blood stain the two ladies' skin.」
「I'll help too.」
For some reason, Oswalt suggested it.
Before Kian could say anything, Oswalt quickly came to Kian's side.
And he stares at him again from a close distance.
「What's wrong? You're not going to take its head off?」
「No. Then could you please pull the armor of that guy's right arm outward? I'm going to put a knife in its neck.」
「Armored?」
Oswalt asked, amused.
「This big thing is no longer armored.」(?)
「Because I messed it up with my rock spear!」
「Hahaha......」
Oswalt patted Kian on the shoulder as he smiled fondly at Christy.
He whispered low in his ear.
「It was brilliant swordsmanship. Or was it clubbing? Fufu. If you don't mind me asking, can you tell me how you shot through this guy's armor?」
「Eh, ......」
「I should just pull its arm, right? ...... Look, it's time to cut its head.」
「Ah ......, thank you very much」
「No need to thank me.」
Oswalt stared at Kian again from close range as he reaped its head.
His golden eyes shook strangely.
The sun earrings in his ears made a small shuffling sound.
「Also, you don't have to use honorifics with me. And no laughing like that.」
「Errr...」
Kian replied vaguely as he cut the head off Shield Cain.
Oswalt glanced at the two women in the room, then glanced at Kian again, this time from a closer distance.
「Do you lack confidence? Or do you have no desire? Which is it?」
「I don't know what the question is about, but ......, I don't think I'm a confident person.」
「......, No, it's not. You are probably a very confident person. You are even proud of your power. You love your sword skill deeply, trust it strongly, and even think you can beat anyone if you want to. Am I wrong? Such amiability is not because you are humble, but because you are cowardly.」
「............」
Kian tilted his head slightly and smiled amiably at the blond knight who whispered something he didn't understand. Oswalt continued quietly.
「Cowardice comes from ignorance. You should know more about other people. Like Christina, for example, who is flouncing around over there......Who do you think did more in the battle earlier, yourself or Christina? Well, I guess I don't have to ask, though.」
「―――」
The sun earring in his ear shimmered again.
Kian finally looked directly at the handsome man with shaved blond hair.
He huffed and his fearless mouth relaxed.
「You're wearing some interesting earrings, aren't you? Earrings in the shape of a "Crescent Moon", huh?」
「About this........I found these in the "Rose Labyrinth".」
「Hou......I heard that about three weeks ago, a vampire who came back to life in the "Rose Labyrinth" was exterminated, but I didn't think that was you?」
「No, I was the one who killed the vampire, but it was a woman named Arueno who took away its ability to fight.」
「......Kian. I'm totally interested in you.」
Oswalt whispered this to Kian, and his well-defined face crumpled into a smile.
The way his eyes narrowed and his mouth widened made him look for a moment like a large snake.
The biblical serpent that fed man the fruit of the tree of wisdom――
「Use my leather bag. The way back is uphill. Friedrich won't complain if I carry the monster's head.」
「Thank you.」
「No need to thank me. I'd like to thank you, too. You've shown me something good.」
With that, Oswalt takes his hand off the monster's carcass and pulls a folded leather bag from the pouch at his waist.
Kian dropped Shield Cain's grotesque head into the bag and stepped away from the strange blonde-haired young man.
「You think I'm a freak?」
「Well ...」
「Ha ha ha! What an honest guy!」
Oswalt's loud laugh made Manon and Christy turn to look at him.
「Were you talking about something fun?」
「No, your excellency. We were just making small talk.」
The beautiful blonde-haired young man laughs pleasantly and returns to Manon without looking back at Kian.
His backward glance showed that he was an excellent-looking knight who served his nobleman faithfully, if only in appearance.
『Interesting fellow, isn't he?』
(Yes, he is. ...... It's a strange feeling. Enemy or friends.......It's the first time I've met someone I don't really understand.)
「Kian-sama? Aren't you going back?」
Manon turned around and asked Kian as he stood by the monster's corpse.
Kian shook his head and replied, "Shall we go? It's a test until we get back up there"
Thus, Kian and the other three rejoined the three guild staff who had been watching behind them and headed back the way they had come from the dungeon.
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Tftc
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