Chapter 7
Jeong Yushin got up clutching his head.
His head throbbed from the hangover.
Naturally, since the two of them had taken turns sipping high-proof dwarven liquor.
He changed clothes while suppressing his queasy stomach. He put on the linen shirt and pants he had bought at the market and the boots he had received as a gift yesterday.
Darmong was on the first floor.
“You’re coming down like a relaxed bear.”
“It’s the first leisurely morning I’ve had in three months.”
Darmong brought out some food.
A sandwich packed with meat and potato soup.
The taste was astonishingly delicious. There was quite a lot of bear fur in the soup, but he treated it like willow leaves floating on cold water. He figured it was Darmong’s consideration, since he might get indigestion if he ate too quickly because the food was so delicious.
Yushin stood up while pulling bear fur from between his teeth.
“I’m off.”
“Go on.”
He went outside and walked down the street.
The inn where Jeong Yushin was staying was in the southern part of the city. It was a commoner’s district, neither poor nor wealthy.
It was the district where people settled down and made their lives in Labyrinth City.
After walking for about thirty minutes, he saw a fairly large wooden building.
The Labyrinth Explorers’ Guild branch.
He had seen it several times on his way home from work. He had never gone inside, though.
So it was familiar, yet unfamiliar at the same time.
He pushed through the wooden revolving door and entered.
The inside of the building was fairly quiet. It seemed that everyone who was going to leave had already left.
As he approached the counter, he saw a female receptionist.
“How may I help you?”
“I heard there’s a class for new explorers. Can I register?”
The woman smiled brightly. She was a dog beastkin with drooping ears, and she looked cute when she smiled.
“Of course! May I see your identification?”
“Here it is.”
“Yes, Mr. Ska. I’ve confirmed it. The tuition is five silver coins.”
He took out the silver coins and handed them over.
‘Cute.’
The receptionist explained the class schedule and content in a warm, friendly tone. At one point, he felt the sharp gaze of the human woman at the next counter, but he ignored it.
The first errand was over, so it was time for the second.
He immediately left the Explorer’s Guild branch and headed to the forge district in the west. After wandering around for quite some time, asking people for directions while showing them the note Mallon had given him, he finally found it.
“Ten silver coins for one longsword.”
Mallon’s cousin, Boron, said this.
“What?!”
His hands trembled. That was an entire month’s wages.
“I heard you’d give me a discount.”
“I did give you a discount. It normally costs fifteen silver coins.”
There was nothing he could say to that. Besides, Boron’s expression had twisted severely. He might get kicked out if he said the wrong thing.
“How much is this shield?”
“That one is five silver coins.”
“Then I’ll buy these two—the sword and the shield.”
“What about a helmet?”
“Huh?”
“The helmet is the most important piece. This one is five silver coins.”
The dwarf brought over an iron helmet. It had a very narrow T-shaped opening. Its shape was similar to a barbuta.
Their eyes met briefly.
Boron let out a deep sigh.
“Listen carefully. If not for my cousin’s introduction, I would have kicked you out by the seat of your pants long ago. Don’t haggle or look for cheap goods in front of a dwarven smith. It’s insulting.”
So that was why he was sulking.
“I’m sorry.”
Jeong Yushin apologized sincerely. The dwarf seemed to calm down a little and spoke with a grumble.
“One reason new explorers have such a high mortality rate is the lack of armor. Especially armor for the head. It’s uncomfortable, makes it hard to see, and the echoing sounds can be disorienting. Since it’s cumbersome and expensive, people don’t like to wear it. Then they get hit in the head and die. A truly novice’s end.”
“Thank you for the advice.”
“It’s a relief that you understand. What other armor do you have?”
“I have hard leather armor and gauntlets.”
“Good. Take this scabbard and whetstone as freebies.”
Jeong Yushin took the equipment the dwarf handed him. He belted the longsword diagonally around his waist and held the shield in his left hand. When he put on the helmet, his field of vision narrowed drastically. The dwarf had been right.
“I’ll come again sometime.”
“Don’t.”
Jeong Yushin left the forge as the dwarf saw him off.
The walk back to the inn while wearing the helmet was grueling. Because of his narrowed field of vision, he nearly collided with people several times. Even so, he kept it on. He needed to get used to it.
“I’m back.”
Darmong was sitting at the counter.
“Back already? Did you get your equipment?”
“Yes.”
“Buy the rest after your class. Still, you did well to buy a helmet.”
“The class starts tomorrow.”
He had quit the monster dismantling job at exactly the right time, neither too early nor too late. Was it luck? Or had it been Darmong’s plan?
Could it be that there was a journal in Darmong’s room, its pages filled with a training plan for him?
The thought gave him chills.
Surely not.
Still, he was curious enough to ask honestly.
Darmong gave him a pitying look.
“You’re overly self-conscious.”
“Ah, yes.”
* * *
Early the next morning, he went to the Explorer’s Guild building.
The building was bustling with people.
The request board was crowded, and every table in the corner was occupied.
The counter was not as quiet as it had been yesterday, so he stood in line and waited.
Bang!!
Someone slammed the reception desk. It was the boy standing directly in front of Jeong Yushin.
“No! Why do you keep forcing me to take the class!”
“It’s for new explorers. It covers things important for survival and exploration...”
It was the human woman who had glared at him yesterday. She spoke calmly, but her eyes, visible through the lenses of her round glasses, were cold.
The boy cut her off.
“Do I look like an idiot? You’re charging five silver coins for knowledge everyone already knows if they bother to ask? You should have some conscience. I may be a new explorer, but I’m not oblivious. Stop trying to rip me off and do your receptionist job properly.”
“....”
The receptionist’s eyes briefly turned vicious at the boy’s words.
“I’ve confirmed your request. Ten hobgoblins exterminated and ten low-grade magic stones collected. Is that correct?”
“Yeah.”
“You may submit the requested items here or at the Guild exchange office in front of the labyrinth. Goodbye.”
“Tsk.”
The boy clicked his tongue and returned to the party waiting for him. Two men and two women. They all appeared to be new explorers.
After the boy left, Jeong Yushin went up to the counter and held out his iron badge.
“I’m here for the new explorer class. Please confirm my attendance.”
The receptionist’s gaze was so fierce that he quickly got straight to the point.
“Yes, Mr. Ska. I’ve confirmed it. Go down to the basement.”
Clack!
‘Well, this is something.’
The receptionist set the iron badge down on the counter.
It was not forceful enough for him to complain that she had slammed it down. Yet it was too loud to consider a gentle placement.
It was a way of venting her anger that was too ambiguous to nitpick.
He understood that she was angry, but taking it out on someone else was not right.
Jeong Yushin picked up the iron badge and tucked it into his clothes.
He missed the bright smile of the cute dog beastkin from yesterday.
He moved away from the counter and went downstairs.
Three people were standing there.
A mole beastkin.
A human man in his early twenties.
A plump female dwarf.
“Hello.”
Jeong Yushin greeted them first. None of the three returned his greeting. They simply stared blankly at his face.
‘This is awkward as hell.’
“Are you, by any chance, a Barbaroi?”
The human man asked cautiously.
“Yes.”
“Ah! I see. I was startled—I’ve never met a Barbaroi who greeted someone first. I’m Jackson.”
He was gradually starting to hate being a Barbaroi.
“I’m Ska.”
Only then did the other two open their mouths and introduce themselves.
“Teeg.”
“I’m Alon.”
The mole was Teeg. The dwarf was Alon.
Their names were somehow easy to remember.
As they chatted quietly, someone came down from upstairs.
A brown-skinned, silver-haired woman.
She wore a tank top and loose pants that made it easy to move.
Her muscular body had a clearly visible, solid six-pack.
The woman stood in front of them.
“Is this everyone?”
With a languid voice and an even more languid gaze, she looked over the four of them.
No one answered.
“Am I talking to myself?”
“I don’t know whether this is everyone or not. We’ve been waiting for quite a while, though.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m Ska.”
“Ursula. I’m the guild master of this branch.”
Even if this was only a branch, it was shocking that the guild master was personally teaching new recruits.
Ursula scratched her head vigorously, as though annoyed.
“Damn. I heard a lot of new explorers had joined this time, but this is all?”
No one answered. They needed to know something before they could answer. This was the first they had heard about a large influx of new explorers.
“Whew. It can’t be helped. We’re starting.”
Eight hours passed.
Despite her lax manner, Ursula conducted the class diligently and in great detail. They could ask as many questions as they wanted, and she repeated her explanations until they understood.
“Tomorrow, we’ll learn about the types of monsters found on the shallow floors and how to deal with them. You don’t need to bring weapons. They’re prepared in the underground training ground. Any questions?”
Jackson raised his hand.
“Will you continue teaching the classes, Guild Master?”
“No. I’m only doing it through tomorrow. Another instructor will come after that.”
“I see.”
“Don’t be disappointed. They’re people as capable as I am.”
“Understood.”
Ursula turned around and went upstairs first.
Jackson wiped his forehead with one hand.
“Honestly, I’m a little surprised there was so much we needed to know.”
“I suppose so.”
“Still, I learned a lot. Some parts surprised me too. Especially the reason so few people have reached the depths of the Great Labyrinth in a thousand years.”
At Alon’s words, Teeg nodded.
“Exactly. A party falling apart because of negative imprints—I was shocked.”
Imprints.
An ability granted to those who enter and leave the Great Labyrinth.
At first, they had sounded good, but the reality was different.
There were three types of imprints.
Positive imprints.
Neutral imprints.
Negative imprints.
Positive imprints literally awakened their owners’ talents or granted them new abilities.
Neutral imprints were imprints whose usefulness depended on their owners’ needs and preferences.
For example, there was an imprint that caused a great deal of hair to grow. It was of little use to beastkin, but necessary for bald humans and dwarves.
Finally, negative imprints.
Imprints that adversely affected their owner or the city.
Someone with one of these imprints might suddenly develop a craving for blood or even mutate into a monster.
Ursula did not explain negative imprints in detail. She only mentioned a few representative examples.
“So it was a total luck-based gacha shitshow.”
“Excuse me?”
Alon asked in response to Jeong Yushin’s grumbling.
“Nothing. Good work, everyone.”
He brushed it off and left the basement.
When he returned to the inn, Darmong was sitting at the counter with his chin propped up.
“I’m back.”
“Yeah.”
Jeong Yushin sat across from Darmong.
“Darmong, I have something to ask.”
“The reason I look so furry isn’t because of an imprint. It’s molting season.”
Damn psychic teddy bear.
“How did you know?”
“That’s what every new explorer thinks. They’re all bound to think alike. Eat your dinner.”
“Yes.”
After dinner, he went to his room and lay down on the bed.
“What should I do if I get even a shitty imprint?”
Saying it aloud made it sound even more idiotic.
Survival came first, yet here he was worrying about imprints.
I should get some sleep.