“Damn it…!”
Iru cursed loudly while heading to the official guild’s research room.
He knew there was no one around, so he dared to say it. If he did something similar at the guild counter or in the cafeteria, strange people would get involved. Iru had that much common sense.
What was making Iru so frustrated was the low success rate of recent requests. Just yesterday, he had gone to the tower as a last resort, but had failed miserably. His request success rate over the past month had likely fallen below fifty percent. As a result, he had gotten into trouble with an adventurer named Kou the other day. In the past, he had inwardly mocked those who pestered other adventurers, but in the end, he had done the same thing. After that, Maiya had scolded him thoroughly. His feelings then were no different from now. It was due to his impatience.
However, whether it was a wall in his strength as an adventurer or just a slump, he kept spinning his wheels and couldn’t seem to get anything right. This time, he had charged into a new floor in a completely unprepared state. Maiya, knowing this, had gotten angry and told him to hurry up and research the monsters that appeared in the research room. That’s why he had come here on his day off.
***
When Iru arrived at the research room, there were already several people there. Most adventurers rarely did research in the research room. At first, Iru thought it was unusual but paid it no mind. However, after a while, new people entered the room, and their conversation reached his ears.
“You were here, Oban.”
“Ah, Dezire. Are you researching something?”
“Yeah. The monster that appeared in the floor I went to yesterday used an attack I’ve never seen before. I wanted to know if it’s a unique attack to this place.”
“A special attack?”
Dezire shook his head at Oban, who tilted his head in confusion.
“No. It’s not that, but I’m a little curious.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. What about you guys?”
“Thanks to Cecil and Arisa, we can now go to new floors. We’re re-investigating everything from the beginning.”
Dezire, laughing, said to Oban, who spoke with a bitter smile.
“Hahahaha. That’s how it is. But it’s far better than going without researching.”
“Yes. I think so too.”
“Well, good luck then.”
“Yes.”
As Oban encouraged him and Dezire nodded, their conversation was about to end.
Iru, who had been listening to their conversation, felt a spark of interest. Hearing their talk, he understood that researching in the research room was a daily routine for them. However, in Iru’s common sense, it was almost impossible for an adventurer to come all the way to the research room to investigate monster characteristics. Iru himself was only here because Maiya had told him to, and he was reluctantly complying. It wasn’t the first time Iru had been to the research room. Therefore, he understood that knowing about monsters beforehand could be helpful to some extent. But that was only *to some extent*, and it wasn’t directly useful.
However, listening to their conversation, he felt that their way of thinking was different from his. For some reason, Iru was very curious about what that difference was.
Perhaps because he was looking at them while lost in thought, Dezire, noticing Iru’s gaze, looked his way.
“You’ve been looking over here for a while, did something happen?”
Addressed by Dezire, Iru’s expression turned startled.
“Ah, no. My apologies. I just happened to overhear your conversation and it piqued my interest a little…”
Iru quickly waved his right hand back and forth, and Dezire tilted his head slightly.
“Piqued your interest? Did we say something strange?”
“No. It’s just that you seem to diligently study materials regularly, so I thought it must be quite useful…”
As Iru said this, Dezire suddenly burst into loud laughter. Since they were the only ones in the research room, no one reprimanded them. Oban and the others, who had been listening to Dezire and Iru’s conversation, also managed a bitter smile.
Iru was bewildered by the sudden laughter. Seeing Iru’s reaction, Dezire said, covering his mouth.
“Ah, I’m sorry for suddenly laughing. I just found your opinion to be completely off the mark, so I couldn’t help myself.”
“Off the mark?”
Iru was more confused by what Dezire had said than by the laughter, and he tilted his head.
“Of course. How useful can information written on mere paper be, compared to practical experience?”
Hearing this, a sense of disappointment spread through Iru. So, researching in the research room was meaningless after all. But at the same time, a question suddenly arose in his mind. If that was the case, why were they coming to the research room so diligently? Iru voiced the question that had surfaced in his mind.
“Then why are you guys researching here? It’s not useful, is it?”
When Iru asked this, Dezire scratched his head with his right hand.
“Look here. We’re constantly risking our lives against monsters.”
Iru nodded at this self-evident statement.
“Then, isn’t it natural to increase our chances of survival even by a little bit?”
Dezire said this easily, but Iru looked as if he had been struck by a shock.
Adventurers are a profession that must constantly fight monsters and win. Naturally, this involves a constant exchange of lives. It was through Dezire’s words that Iru finally realized this very ordinary fact. Or rather, he had been told similar things by Maiya regularly. But, to be honest, those words had gone in one ear and out the other. It was only when Dezire, a fellow professional risking his life against monsters, said it that it finally sank in with a sense of realization. Of course, as one constantly exchanges lives with monsters, there are many times when one feels danger. However, that was only during dungeon raids or when out in the field; when in town, it was so commonplace that he had forgotten it. The feeling he had felt so naturally when he first became an adventurer had resurfaced within Iru.
Finally realizing this, Iru asked Dezire.
“Is… is that how all the members of your guild think?”
Iru remembered that Dezire and Oban belonged to a guild that had recently become a topic of discussion, and so he asked. The adventurer Kou, with whom Iru had gotten into trouble the other day, should have belonged to the same guild.
“Well, it’s not exactly the guild, but, yeah.”
Despite Dezire’s strangely evasive answer, Iru nodded without bothering about it.
“I see.”
Hearing Dezire’s words, Iru felt as if the gloom that had plagued him for the past few days had been blown away. He had become too accustomed to the adventurer’s life and had been able to recall the very basic feelings he had when he first started. Of course, it wasn’t guaranteed that his request success rate would improve immediately, but he felt like he had grasped something. Feeling this, Iru bowed his head to Dezire and said.
“Thank you for talking with me. You’ve lightened my mood considerably.”
“Is that so? If I was able to help, then that’s good.”
Seeing Iru’s expression change from how he looked at first, Dezire seemed to sense something and then left. He had probably gone to search for the monster data they had been discussing.
After that, Iru also began to read the data, and it was only natural that he became more engrossed than before.
It feels like I’ve written something similar elsewhere, but I’ve chosen to write it here again. This also serves as a foreshadowing for Maiya’s upcoming story.
