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nCh. 50: Accepting the Job

n“By the way Loren, I forgot to mention something important.”

nLoren moved away from Lapis, who was still leaned towards him, telling him that she wasn’t done talking, and ordered another drink from a pa.s.sing waitress.

nShe gave him an awkward expression when he put the coins that paid for it in her hand, but immediately switched to a customer service smile and walked away across the counter.

nLoren was shocked at the fact that even the waitresses might be thinking that it was weird for him to pay, but Lapis reached over, grabbed his shoulder, and forced him to turn and face her, not giving him a chance to be upset.

n“Are you listening?”

n“Yeah. What did you forget?”

n“As you may know, I have a mission.”

nLapis sat back down in her chair, satisfied that Loren faced back towards her, but Loren had no idea what she was talking about, and c.o.c.ked his head with a suspicious look.

n“What are you talking about?”

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n“My arms and legs and eyes.”

nWhen she said that, Loren remembered that her limbs and eyes were prosthetics, but c.o.c.ked his head again, wondering if it was as extravagant to say that it was her mission.

n“Other than my mission to gain experience in this world and become a great person, I had a mission to recover my body parts.”

n“You were searching for them?”

n“Yes…but sometimes I think maybe it’s fine even if I don’t.”

nShayna tripped when Lapis said so nonchalantly.

nLoren worried that if this was enough to make her trip, she would hurt her knees or her waist, but then remembered she was astral and there was no need to worry about that.

n“Anyways, I’m looking for parts of me.”

n‘Umm, what exactly is Lapis?’

nShayna asked Loren, who was looking at Lapis, who was emphasizing what she said by raising her fist.

nLoren thought about how to explain it to her but guessed that since the girl in front of him was in fact a No Life King, and even if she found about Lapis’ ident.i.ty, she wouldn’t go around telling people, so he silently told her what Lapis was.

n‘Demon kin, I see. It makes sense. After becoming what I am right now, I can see that she isn’t human, but she wasn’t anything I’ve seen before, so it makes sense that she’s demon kin.’

nLoren was impressed that she found out so much by herself.

nShayna gave him a proud look, then pointed at the great sword next to him.

n‘That’s not an ordinary great sword, either. I’ll have to observe it more to know details, but it seems to be able to easily break through the defensive barriers of a No Life King, as well as heal you.’

nLoren looked down at the great sword, thinking if what Shayna just said was true.

nWhen he fought the Shayna before, his attacks reached her without any problem.

nThis was against a No Life King, which had strong defenses against both physical and magical attacks.

nLoren had figured that the curiosity-filled demon in front of him had something to do with it, but when he thought that it was something Lapis had readied for him, he also thought that if it was from Lapis, it wasn’t strange for it to have such abilities.

nLoren then unexpectedly felt soft hands on his cheeks, and his head was forced in the direction of Lapis.

n“Loren? Are you listening?”

n“My bad, I wasn’t.”

nLoren decided that being honest was better than telling her that he was listening, then have it backfire on him. Lapis let out a discontented growl, but immediately released him, put her hands on the table, leaned over close to his face, and said with a stronger tone.

n“I’ll say it again, okay? I’ve located a place where a part of me might be.”

n“Which means that our next job has something to do with that place, right?”

n“Exactly!”

nLapis showed him a quest form that she must have gotten from the quest board with a beaming smile.

nShe rotated the form towards Loren, and after looking through it, Loren stared at Lapis’ face.

n“It’s a bit embarra.s.sing if you look at me like that.”

n“It’s nothing like that. You sure this is really a quest meant for adventurers?

nThe explanation on the form was indeed something that would make Loren stare at Lapis suspiciously.

nSeeing Lapis smile and nod, as if to say of course, he went over the form again to reconfirm what he had just read.

nThis is what it said.

n‘By Volf Adventurer Training School

nThis year’s graduate practical training will be combat training in the school’s underground dungeon. We have put out this quest because we want adventurers to accompany them. The reward is thirty silver coins per person. We request that you accompany this year’s graduates into the dungeon. At the same time, escort them when needed.’

n“Adventurers are trained?”

nLoren looked around at the adventurers sitting near him, finding that hard to believe.

nNot that he was any better but seeing them drinking and babbling first thing in the morning, it was hard to believe that they were trained.

nLoren himself wasn’t trained, and yet he called himself an adventurer.

nAt Loren’s question, Lapis replied slowly, as if choosing her words carefully.

n“On paper, that’s their goal…but if I remember correctly, they’re an inst.i.tution that take talented children of aristocrats and citizens and raise them into future heroes and braves.”

n“Like Klaus?”

nLoren recalled the red headed young man that he met during the quest to Hanza.

nKlaus had a Gift, abilities that only those with the apt.i.tude for being a hero or a brave, was rumored to have the backup of the adventurers’ guild or some nation, and to Loren, the image of a trained adventurer fit him perfectly.

n“Yes, Klaus probably graduated from such an inst.i.tution.”

n“If that’s the case, I’m not really on board with this job.”

nTo put it simply, it was an inst.i.tution that raised people like Klaus, and it meant that there might be many with similar personalities as him.

nLoren didn’t mind being looked down upon too much, but if someone asked him if he was fine with going where a lot of those kind of people were, he would have to say no.

n“So, what does this final exam and what you’re looking have in common in the first place?”

n“So, this Volf Adventurer Training School has a large dungeon underneath it.”

nLapis told Loren that there were quite a few dungeons around the world and building an adventure training school on top of it was quite common.

nThe various tools and resources found in the dungeons was what brought people to it, then people start businesses off it, the businesses then bring even more people, and the area will continue to develop.

nThe reason for building a school on top of a dungeon was by doing so, teachers with abilities above a certain level would gather, and talented youngsters would gather and be taught under their guidance.

nThese talents would be the force against the dungeon if anything were to happen, and the school itself was expected to be a lid for the dungeon entrance.

n“Usually only the shallow floors are open to students, but for this particular training, the whole thing is opened.”

n“It’s not like it’s school property, right? Isn’t it okay to just go in there as adventurers?”

n“If it was a different dungeon, yes.”

nLapis frowned as she continued.

n“The dungeon under Volf Adventurer Training School is a bit of an exception. The school’s executive rights to the dungeon has been recognized, so outsiders can’t step in.”

n“And why’s that?”

nLoren didn’t understand the merits of having exclusive use of a dungeon.

nThe resources inside of it was traded on the market expensively, but not allowing people to go in would bring complaints from adventurers, and it didn’t seem like the students and teachers there would be able to make a lot of money from exploring it.

n“There are many speculations. Its difficulty is low compared to its size, there lies resources that they want to themselves, something is sealed underneath, there might be troubles that occur if they let people who don’t understand the situation step inside.”

nLapis believed that all of them were just rumors, and the only fact was that the Volf Adventurer Training School had exclusive rights to the dungeon underneath it.

n“I’m not that interested, but what you’re looking for is down in that dungeon, right?”

n“There’s a high probability, I believe.”

nOnly for that part did Lapis nod with a serious look on her face, and Loren let out a long, thin sigh.

n“I guess it’s fine. It’s not like we have any other jobs to do. Let’s go with that one.”

n“As expected of Loren, you make it so much easier. I’ll go sign up the two of us. Leave the transportation and preparation to me.”

nAs soon as she got Loren’s approval, Lapis s.n.a.t.c.hed up the quest form and started walking over to the guild area with delighted steps.

nAs Loren saw her off, a waitress brought the gla.s.s of cheap liquor he had ordered, and when he received it, although it didn’t even taste good, he took a large mouthful.

n‘Onii-san. Isn’t your weapon a bit too large for exploring dungeons?’

nThe great sword that Loren had used before was quite large as well, but the pitch-black great sword he was currently using was even longer than that.

nIt wasn’t made for skirmishes in tight spots, and it hadn’t been long since he started using it, so he couldn’t use it at the level that he used his old great sword, which he had been able to use like a part of his body.

nTherefore, when it came to going into tight s.p.a.ces like dungeons, he might not be able to use it sufficiently enough.

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n“Well, if it’s a bit wide enough, I can still use it pretty well.”

nIf the job description was correct, the main job was to accompany the school’s students, not fight something.

nIn the case of an emergency they would have to fight to keep the students from dying, but Loren was being optimistic, thinking that if wasn’t, there was no need to fight at all.

n‘I think it would be better to have some sort of spare weapon.’

n“That’s true, but…my debt would increase even more.”

nAlthough he knew Lapis wouldn’t come to collect it herself, having his debt increase wasn’t something he felt good about.

nHe would need a good amount of silver coins, even for just an ordinary weapon.

n“If I’m not careful, I might be forced to buy something weird…I guess I’ll ready a dagger somehow.”

nThe hazard pay that he received should be enough for that much at least, and even if he couldn’t he could buy sc.r.a.p iron and use the little furnace that Lapis had brought back from Hanza and make one.

nEven if he were to do so, he would have to do it in secret, or Lapis might get upset that he didn’t rely on her, and Loren swirled his gla.s.s of cheap liquor, thinking about how troublesome it was.

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