From Coward To Hero

The Adventurer Guild of the Albanell Kingdom was extremely hectic. A few hours had passed since the Stampede began, and since the concentration of those on the front lines was likely starting to break, they needed to rotate personnel soon.

Because there was also coordination with the Knight Order, Edmond was completely overwhelmed with work.

“Edmond-san! The number of monsters is far greater than expected!”

The words of the adventurer who rushed into the guild reached Edmond’s ears, yet Edmond continued reading through documents without paying it any mind.

“Well, it’s a Stampede, so that’s obvious.”

“How long is this going to last!?”

“How should I know? Sometimes it ends in three days, sometimes it keeps going for a week.”

At Edmond’s words, the adventurer’s face turned pale, and he began pacing around in panic.

“Wh-what about evacuating the townspeople!?”

“We don’t have time for that. In a city this big, do you know how much manpower it would take to evacuate everyone?”

Right after Edmond said that, a man in knight’s armor rushed into the guild this time.

“I report that the situation on the front lines is worsening by the moment. The number of enemies increases with each passing hour, and the number of our wounded is rising. At this rate, we may no longer be able to hold them back within a day, and monsters could flood into the city.”

“…Can’t the Knight Order send reinforcements?”

“That would be difficult. The Royal Guard is busy escorting the royal family during evacuation, and some units are already on expedition, so our numbers were limited to begin with.”

“Sigh… I get that the big shots want to run, but they could’ve at least left a few knights behind.”

Edmond roughly scratched his head, then picked up the sword placed nearby and stood up.

“For now, I’m heading to the front lines. Most of the work I can do here is already finished. It’s different whether there’s someone coordinating things or not. Vice Guild Master, you’re in charge of the guild until I return. If I don’t come back, then you’re the Guild Master from that point on.”

The short man who served as the Vice Guild Master nodded with tears in his eyes after hearing Edmond’s words. He likely sensed that this might be their final farewell.

“Well then, I’m off.”

“Please be careful…!”

More than half a day passed after that. Edmond joining the front lines raised morale somewhat and allowed them to hold on, but it was hard to believe they could last until the Stampede ended.

When dawn broke and the surroundings became clearly visible, the enormous number of dead monsters could finally be seen with the naked eye.

“This is seriously down to the wire… Even my stamina isn’t infinite!”

Edmond shouted as he swung his sword down and slaughtered monsters, while the adventurer beside him pierced a monster with his spear and gave a wry smile.

“You’d already retired from the front lines, yet if you can still move like that, you’re already a monster yourself.”

“That’s only half of what I could do in my prime. Still, how long is this going to continue…?”

“This place might end up being our grave.”

At the words spoken by the still-young man, Edmond fell silent with a deep furrow in his brow.

“You might think it’s strange for the guy who called you back to say this, but losing someone as capable as you would be a waste. If things get dangerous, run.”

“I won’t do that!”

The man swung his spear and slaughtered several monsters at once.

“I was born and raised in this city. I’ll protect it to the very end. When I returned from a request and found the city still standing, I was grateful to you, Edmond-san.”

“…I see. Thanks.”

The two ended their conversation there and tightened their grips on their weapons again, when one adventurer who had been listening nearby frowned and twisted his face in contempt before spitting out:

“You two are this admirable, yet Luca… that guy actually ran away. Unbelievable.”

Those words echoed among many of the nearby adventurers, and some twisted their faces in agreement.

“Seriously. I don’t know if his curse was lifted or whatever, but a coward who runs away in a moment like this doesn’t deserve the power he got.”

“That guy probably cheated somehow back then. He’s still the same useless weakling he always was. He ran away because he was afraid everyone would find out.”

“Gahaha, that might be true.”

The adventurers who had never liked Luca began insulting him one after another, and even those who had remained neutral until now nodded along to the insults, venting their dissatisfaction toward someone who wasn’t present.

“Hey, don’t say things like that. Running away is wisdom too. We should at least be grateful he brought us information about the Stampede.”

Edmond defended Luca with those words, but the resentment did not subside.

Everyone here thought this might become their place of death, so it was only natural that they would resent someone who escaped from that place.

“But it’s still cowardly. A guy like that should just quit being an adventurer.”

“Yeah. If we survive and Luca shows up at the guild like nothing happened, I swear I won’t forgive him.”

Just as Edmond was about to open his mouth to properly stop the escalating insults toward Luca—

—suddenly, the monsters stopped appearing.

The bizarre sight of monsters that had been attacking endlessly until now suddenly not appearing at all caused everyone to fall silent with puzzled expressions.

After several dozen seconds passed, someone muttered quietly.

“Could it be… the Stampede ended?”

“No way, that’s way too soon.”

“And Stampedes don’t just stop suddenly like this, right? Don’t the numbers gradually decrease?”

Some adventurers’ faces brightened with hope that the Stampede had ended, while others frowned even deeper, sensing that something was wrong. As the adventurers began murmuring among themselves—

—from the gap in the rocky hill where the dungeon entrance should have been, two figures appeared.

The moment they saw the faces of those figures, most of the adventurers’ expressions turned to shock.

“Wait… is that Luca?”

“And the one with him is Rebecca…”

“Wh-why are those two coming out of the dungeon entrance?”

Luca and Rebecca walked toward the stunned adventurers who could barely move, then stopped in front of Edmond and slowly spoke.

“Edmond-san, we destroyed the Dungeon Core, so the Stampede has stopped. There won’t be any more monsters coming out, so you can rest easy.”

Edmond could not understand the meaning of Luca’s casually spoken words for a while… and only after several dozen seconds did he finally open his mouth.

“Wha… wh-what do you mean!?”