The Corrupt Guildmaster, Respected by Adventurers
Several days after Aron and the other selected members departed from the guild.
The Demonic Void Dungeon near Ajif Village—
~Fiel Valencia~
“Fiel-san, protect us! Lizette, lure it! Yolm-san, restrain its movements with ice magic! Galius, aim for its legs!! Aron will finish it!”
At the instructions of Sylvia, leader of the Red Dragon’s Wings, everyone moved at once. Facing the boss of the 10th underground floor, “Giant Argen,” I took a proper stance with my sword and activated my unique skill, Eisen Maiden.
“Defense Up ×2”
Just before Aron-dono slipped past my side, he cast a strengthening spell. My body was wrapped in a blue light as my defense increased.
“GROOOOOOOO!!”
Immediately after, I received Giant Argen’s slash head-on. With my abilities boosted by the defense increase, my Eisen Maiden repelled the giant’s greatsword strike.
“Yolm-san! Ice magic!”
“Hohoho. Leave it to me!”
Sylvia-dono and Yolm-dono activated ice magic at the same time. Freezing air swirled around Giant Argen’s legs. In the next instant, Argen’s legs froze solid. Lizette darted around it, leaving black afterimages behind her.
“Your opponent’s me!!”
“GROOOOOOO!!!”
Only able to move its upper body, Giant Argen targeted Lizette. With its lower body fixed, Argen lost its balance, and Galius-dono slammed his massive axe into the giant’s right leg.
“ORA!! Fall already!!!”
“GYAAAaaa!!?”
Forced into an awkward posture with both legs immobilized, Argen couldn’t withstand the added impact of the axe and collapsed to the ground. As the giant rolled over and looked up, Aron-dono was above it, sword pointed downward.
“Weight Increase ×10!!”
Wrapped in a purple glow, Aron-dono charged straight into the giant’s solar plexus. A support spell that no one would normally use, weight increase, had been applied to amplify his falling attack.
“GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!?”
The giant’s scream echoed through the area, then gradually faded. Its arms fell limp to the ground.
“You did it, Aron!”
“That attack just now was amazing! I can’t believe you thought of using it like that!!”
The two members of the Red Dragon’s Wings rushed over to Aron-dono. He scratched his head shyly.
“Haha. I talked it over with the Guildmaster and found an application for strengthening magic.”
Zilkein-dono did? Amazing… just how much knowledge does he have?
As I was thinking that, Yolm-dono sat down.
“Sorry to interrupt the excitement, but now that we’ve beaten the floor boss, shouldn’t we take a break?”
“What’s with you, old man? You giving up already?”
Lizette, her hands clasped behind her head, puffed out her cheeks. She probably wanted to finish quickly and return to Zilkein-dono.
“This floor was rough, you know. We came all the way down to the 10th floor without proper rest, didn’t we? It’s hard on this old man…”
Sylvia-dono took a pocket watch from her chest. It was something she had prepared so they wouldn’t lose track of time while diving into the dungeon.
“It’s already this late… You’re right. Once we finish collecting materials, let’s return to a safe place and rest.”
◇◇◇
After collecting materials from Giant Argen, we returned to a room we had cleared of enemies and decided to spend the night there.
“Ow, ow… feels like I twisted something weird while carrying the old man.”
“Hohoho. If it’s still bothering you tomorrow morning, I’ll cast healing magic on you.”
“Sylvia, start a fire.”
“Alright. Lizette and Fiel-san, please prepare the meal.”
While Aron-dono and the others prepared camp, Lizette and I took portable rations from our leather bags. Bread and dried meat. As we handed them out, Lizette wore a mischievous grin.
“Isn’t that a bit lonely for everyone? I brought dried berries too, you know~”
From a small pouch, Lizette placed dried berries into everyone’s palms.
“Bringing sweets, Lizette, you’re a beginner, but you know your stuff.”
“And dried berries at that… you found something good.”
Aron-dono and Sylvia-dono ate the berries with impressed looks.
“Why is it good to bring sweets?”
“Hmm~? You don’t even know that, Fiel? Does that mean my adventurer knowledge is already better than yours?”
Lizette grinned smugly. Her provoking tone irritated me, but it was true, I didn’t know anything about this. I should listen quietly…
“Well, just this once… c-could you teach me?”
“Hmm? You mean, ‘please teach me,’ right?”
“P-please teach me.”
Ugh, the humiliation. Someone kill me…
“Sweets help relieve fatigue, and they also restore a little mana, you know?”
Lizette began explaining proudly. Seeing her, Galius-dono and Yolm-dono smiled.
“Oh, you even know about mana.”
“Hohoho. Lizette-chan is diligent.”
“Ehehe~… getting praised like that is embarrassing~!”
Lizette scratched her head shyly. Encouraged, she went on to explain about sweets. While sweets are useful to adventurers, they have two weaknesses.
First, they have low priority compared to other items.
Healing potions and various status-curing medicines. On top of that, for long dungeon runs, food supplies are also needed. And you have to fight or flee while carrying all of that. You want to minimize what you bring… so items with immediate effects naturally take priority.
The second weakness is that sweets themselves are rare.
That’s true. Even when I was a knight, I never ate sweets.
“Only royalty, nobles, or wealthy merchants could afford to eat sweets. So that’s the weakness.”
“Exactly. And among all those sweets with weaknesses! What I brought overcomes them!”
Lizette puffed out her chest. I see, choosing dried berries, which are relatively easy to obtain and don’t take up much space, instead of confectionery… She really is one or two steps ahead of me as an adventurer. I have to admit that honestly…
“But still, dried berries aren’t easy to find. Where did you get them, Lizette?”
Aron-dono crossed his arms. Lizette looked like a child who’d been caught in a prank.
“… I’ve been talking big, but it was Zilkein who told me about the dried berries.”
“Zilkein-dono?”
“Yeah. I went shopping with Zilkein, remember? He told me to bring dried berries. Said they’d just arrived at a shop in Luminage City.”
“Huh. For the Guildmaster to think of that…”
“He even spoke to us at departure. He’s a kind person, isn’t he?”
When Aron-dono and Sylvia-dono said that, Lizette blushed.
“Yeah. Zilkein told me I don’t have to take unpleasant quests, and he introduced me to Aron and the others too… I love him. Zilkein, I mean.”
As Lizette said that shyly, the members of the Red Dragon’s Wings and Yolm-dono exchanged looks. Then, everyone turned their eyes toward me.
“W-why is everyone looking at me!?”
“Well… haha, I’m rooting for you, Fiel. We’re friends, after all.”
Aron-dono’s pity-filled gaze hurt. Everyone looked at me with warm, gentle eyes. Damn it… how humiliating…!
“I told you I don’t mind polygamy. I’ve traveled through lots of villages, there are quite a few people with multiple wives, you know?”
“Ugh…!! I want a life where I’m pampered even more…!”
Like the relationship between Emidia-dono and Zilkein-dono…
……
Thinking about it made my chest ache a little. Zilkein-dono always looks out for Emidia-dono. He cares about her condition and never pushes her too hard. And Emidia-dono supports him in turn. They’re like a long-married couple.
Aron-dono calls them boss and subordinate, but I don’t see it that way. I-I’m jealous…
“So you want to be pampered, Fiel? Same as me. Come on~ you should be honest and say you like him too.”
“Shut up!”
I denied Lizette reflexively and came back to my senses. What am I thinking… damn it, this is completely Lizette’s fault. That lust-brained girl obsessed with romance…!
I tossed the dried berries Lizette gave me into my mouth. After a slightly unusual aroma, a sweet-and-sour flavor spread across my tongue. The sweetness flowed through my body, and I felt my fatigue fade.
“Delicious…”
“Right? You should thank Zilkein!”
Lizette smiled brightly. Seeing her face drained all the venom from me at once. She looked happy from start to finish, and considering her circumstances, I could understand why she was so excited.
The one who created this scene was undoubtedly our Guildmaster… and his words from when he saved Lizette surfaced in my mind.
—I am the Guildmaster. My job is to create a place where adventurers can live fulfilling lives. Trust me. I can’t stand seeing someone with talent like yours suffer.
Because he’s the Guildmaster, huh.
Zilkein-dono always puts us first. This matter with the dried berries proves it too. Even before I became an adventurer, when I was discouraged by my father’s words, he encouraged me.
… Hehe. I see now. I thought Emidia-dono was special, but in truth, all of us were cherished by Zilkein-dono.
Realizing that, I felt my face grow a little warm.
What do you think about this chapter?
