2-5 Adventurers

The power of the evolved Item Box was incredible.

Whenever an idea came to mind, I could briskly create all sorts of things.

It was like a hyper-high-performance 3D printer with infinite raw materials, linked to the internet and PC resources and controllable by brainwaves.

When I suddenly snapped back to my senses, seven hours had already passed.

While I was eating a late dinner, the Guildmaster came over with a group of adventurers who looked fairly young.

“Oho, you were still here! Sorry about that. It got late, so I thought you might have gone home already.”

“Ah, don’t worry about it. If anything, I’m the one sorry—Guildmaster, you must be busy. I lost track of time doing some side work and it got this late.”

I raised the piece of meat skewered on my fork in greeting.

“I’m curious about what that work was, but never mind.”

“Hey!”

Hmph, I’d only been making ordinary Japanese-style crafts and magic.

Nothing particularly special.

There was nothing uniquely original about mine.

Though their effectiveness was tremendous.

I quickly stuffed the rest of the meat into my stomach and moved to the Guildmaster’s office.

The Guildmaster had a backlog of work.

At least an hour of today’s delay was definitely my fault.

Then they introduced themselves.

First was a man who seemed to be the leader, with a somewhat rugged face but a friendly manner as he introduced his team.

“I’m the leader, Edwin. Please call me Ed. Starting tomorrow, you’ll be diving into the labyrinth together with our party. Since this is training, we’ll keep to the shallow floors. Please work together with our thief. Dennis.”

“I’m Dennis, the thief from Team Ed. Nice to meet you.”

A young man who looked every bit the thief—lightly equipped, slim, agile-looking, with pale sky-blue eyes—greeted me with a smile.

“Nice to meet you.”

“Next is the warrior who’ll be in charge of guarding you. Lois.”

“Good to meet you, Alphonse-san. I hear you’re a merchant?”

This one had a solid build and the look of a taciturn warrior.

The thickness of the muscles wrapped in his leather light armor was clearly beyond that of an average person.

An old guy like me had always been skinny, with barely any shoulder muscle to speak of.

“Yeah, that’s right. Looking forward to working with you.”

“And our back-line archer, Erin. She’s the only woman in our party.”

“Nice to meet you.”

She was a girl you’d call fairly cute.

But the abundance of charm plastered across her face more than made up for it.

She was the type you’d often see back on Earth.

Very easy to like.

Her vivid red hair spilling out from under her hat, paired with green eyes, made a strong impression.

For someone called an adventurer, she had a slightly fashionable air overall.

I’d acknowledge that understated good sense.

“Hi there. Nice to meet you~”

“But seriously, you’re amazing. Even though you’re a merchant, you can handle a sword and your magic is incredible? On top of that, you’ve got storage. You’re like someone born to challenge dungeons.”

The young man assigned to train me said this while fiddling with his short, translucent blond hair.

“Yeah, the Guildmaster told me I should raise my rank. Sorry for being such a novice you have to babysit, but I’m counting on you this time.”

Right there, I had Sub-Guildmaster Legg-san prepare the paperwork, paid in advance, and quickly finalized the contract with them.

“Then we’ll depart when the six-o’clock bell rings tomorrow morning. We’ll assemble at the guild. The carriage has already been arranged.”

“Thanks. See you tomorrow, then!”

I said goodbye to Edwin and the others.

“Guildmaster, thanks for everything. I’ll go enjoy the dungeon.”

“You’re completely treating it like sightseeing.”

Armon spoke while wrestling with a mountain of documents.

He didn’t seem very good at battles of that sort.

“Yeah, monsters on the shallow floors probably aren’t scary. Traps are what worry me. I won’t feel ready to seriously dive in until I train myself to cast defensive magic on reflex. Well, I’ve got flight magic, plus unlimited healing magic and plenty of potions, so I don’t think it’ll be a problem. But collapsing ceilings, spike pits, or crushing rooms would be bad news.”

“Hahaha. Well, do your best. See you.”

Without taking his eyes off the paperwork, the Guildmaster sent me off with just his voice.

I suddenly stopped and asked one more thing.

“Ah, can’t I learn a stronger healing spell? Something like Greater Heal.”

“Hmmm, that’d be difficult. I can’t use that one either. Around here, the only one who could is probably the High Priestess of the Ross Grand Temple in the Royal Capital. Other than that, maybe royalty. The High Priestess is extremely capable. She was an outstanding candidate from a very young age. If you throw enough money around, you might manage something there. But she’s very busy. Her schedule must be packed, so it wouldn’t be immediate. That one will have to wait. Unless you’ve got some special connection that could get her to set aside personal time. Still, I’ll at least ask for you.”

“Yeah, please do.”

With that, I finally left the Guildmaster’s office.

Leaving behind the growing bustle of the guild, I walked through the Royal Capital as the sun began to dip.

Each component forming the streets and buildings had softly rounded shapes, giving the scenery a gentle feel.

They were beautifully colored with paint-like pigments.

Those multicolored paints were probably the work of alchemists.

I’d been in Japan not long ago, yet now this scenery fit me as naturally as breathing.

Japan in my memories felt more like a foreign country.

It was a strange feeling.

Like realizing that a long-abandoned old house was no longer really your home.

People don’t live in the past—they live in the present and the future.

After returning to the inn, I started crafting again for a bit.

This time, I made a Nurse Unit.

It was a flying device that automatically used healing magic and potions.

With this, even if I became incapacitated by a dangerous status condition, I might still be okay.

Unless I was completely petrified or unconscious, it should even be able to launch itself from the Item Box.

Tomorrow would be early, so I went to sleep.

I set the magic PC’s alarm for five o’clock.

Day seventeen in another world began.

I woke up wide-eyed to the magic PC’s alarm.

The sensation of an alarm ringing inside your head was pretty interesting.

I washed my face, went to the toilet, and ate my usual, familiar breakfast properly.

Come to think of it, I’d missed my bath yesterday.

I pulled out the simple shower unit I’d made for dungeon use and took a quick wash.

Then I checked out of the inn and reached the guild in five minutes—current time, five fifty.

Safe!

When I entered the guild hall, all of Team Ed was already present.

“Hey, as expected of a merchant. You made it before time. If it were a noble, they’d show up an hour late without a care. And those are the types who talk down to you. They’ll even complain, ‘Why are we still not at the destination?’”

Ed laughed as he said it, but the adventurer’s trade sounded way too rough.

Thank goodness this wasn’t my main job.

“Hahaha. Alright, shall we go?”

The carriage wasn’t large, but the ride wasn’t bad.

I’d taken Japanese-made motion-sickness medicine, and I’d laid big cushions under me and against my back.

Adros was twenty kilometers away.

Even here, distance units were the same as in Japan.

Maybe the first king brought that over?

The kilometer was calculated based on the size of Earth as a planet, so it was hard to imagine people from a world without advanced science deciding on it themselves.

This world probably didn’t even have the concept that it sat on a planet.

They said it would take about four hours by carriage to reach the dungeon.

The speed wasn’t much different from carriages on Earth.

No breaks along the way, true to adventurer style.

Before I knew it, I was sound asleep.

“Alphonse-san, Alphonse-san.”

“Ah—oh. Are we there already?”

“Yes, you slept well. It was easy on us.”

Ed said with a laugh.

Then, in a slightly playful yet formal tone, he greeted me.

“Welcome to the Labyrinth City of Adros.”

Yeah, it wouldn’t feel right without a classic ritual like that.

I smiled without thinking, and they followed suit.

We immediately had them show me around the city.

Being an adventurers’ city, it was lively.

Inns, taverns, brothels, gambling halls, weapon and armor shops, teahouses, equipment stores, grocers, clothing shops, souvenir shops, agencies for hiring porters, monster material dealers, and more.

It was flamboyant in a way different from the Royal Capital.

The city’s chaotic atmosphere made it clear this was a labyrinth city.

“Today, we’ll get used to the city’s atmosphere first, then do a light exploration of the first floor of the labyrinth as a warm-up. Since this is an underground labyrinth, that means the first basement level. We’ll stay for a week as planned. You can keep diving nonstop, or return to the surface every day.”

“I’ll decide once I get a feel for it. I’d like to come back daily, but that wouldn’t be much training. I prepared most things in advance, so I’ll just window-shop. With this group, I’ve got enough supplies to live for years. The monster materials being sold do interest me, though. I might stop to buy something on the way back.”

“I-is that so. As expected of a wealthy merchant with storage.”

“And you’ve got plenty of good weapons too.”

We toured the city until noon, then got a lecture over lunch.

Lunch was very much in the city’s style—bread stuffed with stir-fried monster meat, or skewers of grilled monster meat.

Compared to food in the Royal Capital, the seasoning was rough, but that was part of the charm.

You couldn’t eat things like this in Japan, after all.

When I traveled abroad, I was the type who wanted to eat local food.

I’d eaten my fill of crocodile in Australia.

“There are guidebooks explaining monster distributions and materials here, so let’s buy one before heading into the labyrinth. They’re not cheap, but you’re fine with that, right? For first-timers, it’s absolutely something you should have.”

“Got it. If you recommend it, I’ll definitely buy it. Is it dark inside?”

I recalled that night in the mountains when I’d encountered that monster.

I’d hated darkness since long ago.

It always felt like something was lurking within the shadows.

“It depends on the labyrinth, but this one is generally dark. It’s an underground cave type. The entrance is artificially lit. Inside, areas with glowing moss-like growths are brighter.”

“I see. Give me a moment to prepare.”

I gave the aerial mobility unit the image of LED lights from my Item Box.

I placed light sources on the top as well, so the ceiling wouldn’t become a blind spot.

It was shaped like a UFO—or rather, like two flying-disc lamps stuck together.

Basically, it looked exactly like a standard household ceiling light.

Just two of them joined back to back.

Brightness depended on magical power, so it could range freely from searchlight-level glare to the faint glow of a mood lamp.

Just in case, I also prepared high-luminance gas lanterns I’d brought from Earth, along with powerful lights around 4,800 lumens.

The ropes loaded on the carriage were thoroughly reinforced as well.