Ankoku Kishi to Issho! Volume 1 Chapter 1

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Thus Meet the Jet-Black and Snow White

“Alright, time to work hard today as well.”

Having gotten a good night’s sleep in the inn room, I got up before the morning sun started rising, and headed to the labyrinth. Yesterday, it probably was because I entered the labyrinth too late, but I didn’t earn close enough to what I would have liked. Hence, I have to get in early, and earn ten-fold from yesterday. Filling my belly with the remainders of the food I was carrying, I put on my armor, picked up my sword, and left my room.

As I stepped down the stairs on the first floor, the sights of the adventurers from yesterday had disappeared, and all that was left was that inn proprietress, mopping the floor.

“Morning. You’re early I see.”

“Good morning.”

The inn proprietress realized my presence and stopped her work, to which I returned her greeting.

“I love it when people get to sleep early, and wake up early. Most adventurers just drink until late night, and sleep until late noon, you see. Can’t follow their example, alright?”

“Ahahaha.”

I gave a wholehearted laugh towards the inn proprietress’ small talk. As a country boy, I didn’t have that many friends and acquaintances, so I can’t help but put myself on guard with the people from the city here, but that’s not the case with this hearty inn proprietress. Really weird.

“By the way, you got some water and food on you?”

“No?”

“That won’t do!”

As I shook my head to gesture along my response, the inn proprietress quickly dashed behind the counter.

“Because it’s a bother to keep it on you, a lot of newcomers tend to just leave it behind, but if you’re getting lost somewhere, in hunger and thirst, you’ll get killed by monsters if you can’t muster up any strength.”

Is that so? From when I was walking down there yesterday, it felt much more narrow than above ground in the streets, and the structure wasn’t too complicated to get lost in, I feel like.

Watching me tilt my head in confusion, and slight disagreement, the inn proprietress clicked her tongue as she was shaking her finger back and forth in front of me.

“It’s fine if you’re calmly walking through the passageways. But, if you happen to encounter a large quantity of monsters, and have to run away, you won’t be able to calmly remember your surroundings, and you’re lost in the nick of time.

“I see I see.”

I was satisfied, and gave a nod. Master also told me about the time he was getting lost in the forest during an evacuation, and he had to hunt for a bear to quell his hunger.

“Well, I’m sure that you won’t meet such a fate on the first floor. But, if you keep going down further, you never know what will happen. Make it a habit to take some water and food with you at all times, alright?”

The inn proprietress said so, as she handed me a leather pet bottle filled with water, and a small bag filled with some dumplings. Are those possibly ration meatballs? That’s a karate ninja for you!

“That’s two silver coins then, please.”

What a dirty selling trick! With this flow, I can’t decline now, so I just gave in and paid her.

“Thanks for your business. And, some free advice on top of it, you seem to have an ill fortune concerning women.”

So after forcing me to buy something, you’re giving me a bad fortune? I let out a sigh as I put the water and food in my pouch, and headed towards the exit.

“Come home early, alright.”

Not using the words “Take care out there” was probably another way for adventurers to wish for your luck I assumed. I raised up my right hand to respond to the inn proprietress, and left the Eternal Maiden. And, passing past the guards that were shaking because of this cold morning, I once again descended down into the labyrinth. Just as the inn proprietress said, most of the adventurers were still asleep, no signs of them in these long passageways.

First, I moved along the pavement for a while, then I went left at the intersection I went right yesterday, and immediately was greeted by five kobolds.

“Yeah, let’s come here at this hour every day.

With that, my route wouldn’t overlap with another group’s territory. Deciding on that, I started to slash away at the kobolds. Unable to even let out a scream, they all scattered in small particles of light, leaving behind three tiny magic stones.

“Guess I’ll have to aim for larger monsters?”

Since I didn’t converse magic stones into money yet, I wasn’t sure of the rates, but I guessed that earning 100.000 gold coins with this would prove hard, if not even impossible. The deeper one went down inside the labyrinth, the stronger ones adversaries would become, with better loot in balance, so maybe I should go aim for a lower floor quickly.

“Seems like I have to search for the stairs that lead downstairs.”

But, during my travels from my birthplace until the imperial capital, I heard stories of a so-called guardian that one had to defeat to go down one floor. Well, if I wanted to ask them for some details, they all ran away like they had seen the devil in person, but I should probably find out myself.

“Seeing and hearing really is a huge difference.”

The only things I knew about being an adventurer is from the adventuring novels that gramps brought back with him from his travels, so my knowledge is severely lacking. Even Master said “Reality is formed with our own eyes”, and never told me anything.

…Maybe I happened to make some grand mistake here? Well, no use in dwelling on it now. I should be moving. In my birthplace, there’s a saying that goes “First act, then think”…As a result of that, Gramps did it with some younger girl and made some kids, which resulted in him getting tortured to death and revived around 108 times, so thinking before acting might be a valuable tactic as well.

“Cheating really isn’t good.”

Learning something from the negative example that was gramps, I went to slash down two nords I freshly spotted. Two small magic stones the size of a wheat grain. And, when I was looking for my next prey, I heard an ominous sound coming from the depth of the passageway.

“What is this?!”

But, the sound stopped immediately. Instead, I heard the sound of a tsunami of footsteps, followed by the angered screams of girls.

“What is this about, you idiot princess!”

“The idiot part is a bit vexing. Walking around to search for them feels like a bother, so I wanted to try something and tried this forbidden magic.”

“What part of forbidden did you not understand?!”

I couldn’t pick up everything, but that sounds just now was probably the result of this magic to gather the monsters around them…Why didn’t I think of that! Is she a genius?! Well, there’s the demerit of not being able to land a surprise attack, but it would save a lot of time, and other resources that you would waste by walking around, like food and water, so that’s a big merit. And, the other adventurers won’t be able to obstruct your route either. To come up with such a plan, this girl must be very talented.

My interest was heightened, and I made my way towards the source of their voices. Turning corners several times, I arrived at a certain passageway, gazing at the sheer number of goblins that had gathered here.

“That’s gotta be at least 50. Amazing.”

Just how many magic stones would you get by striking down all of those. I was certain, the person that thought of it must be a genius. And while I was showing admiration, I heard new fighting sounds, and the storm of footsteps from the goblins.

“O flame, roam free, and burn it all down, ‘Fireball’!”

“Gege!”

Chants, followed by an explosion, and the groan of a goblin being hit by something that sounded very blunt. I’m guessing that they’re one sorcerer, and one warrior, but the goblins are blocking my view…

As I was trying to get closer, the movement of the goblins came to a sudden halt.

“Or are you saying that a female elf like me should just end up violated by these goblins like in some erotic novel?!”

“So noisy!”

They’re suddenly fighting between each other…? But look at that! They stopped the attacks of the goblins with just their words! They have to be really strong! I really want to talk to them. That’s why, although I feel bad for having bad manners, I’ll go ahead and clear up the inconveniences that are filling this passageway. With the goblins still having their backs turned towards me, I calmly lifted my greatsword and gathered aura in the blade. Only problem was that I had to be careful about wrapping up the girls in it, but…

“Blergh!”

As if she had read my thoughts, I heard the sound of one girl doing a dive unto the ground. That’s a genius for you, I didn’t have to worry about them to begin with. Once again giving my admiration, I let the aura flow out from the tip of my blade, and let it out in a straight horizontal line.

Black Shadow Style, Sword Magic – Rice Mowing

Like one would cut the head of rice crops, the black aura blade mowed down the monsters. As they were cut in half, they looked around towards me with a facial expression distorted by confusion and shock, as they dissolved into particles of light that scattered everywhere. The inside of the labyrinth shortly turned as bright as the outside during the early afternoon, so I narrowed my eyes. After the light disappeared, I made my way towards the two girls lying on the ground in the back.

“Pretty young.”

The two of them seemed to be around 17. Seeing that the girl that attacked me was about 20, or even younger, the average age of adventurers might be lower than I thought.

One had long ears, presumably of the elvish race, a small robe over her stature, and a wooden cane in her hand. So she must be the sorcerer that used the magic to gather all those monsters here. Skin as white as ivory, her hair looked like golden thread, radiating even in this darkness, jade green, big eyes, and a beautiful face, as if it was created by hand to fit every human’s taste. In short, she looked like the princess in those fairy-tales you read about.

The other girl had a smaller stature, seeming to be of the dwarven race, a full-body metal armor covering her, and a big shield in one hand, with a mace in the other, showing that she had great physical strength despite her body. Brown skin like solid earth, red hair like a burning blaze, deep blue eyes like you were staring at the depths of the sea, and although she might have been the exact opposite of the elf girl, she was also cute in her own way.

…But for some reason, she had a huge moustache below her nose.

Anyway, observing them like that, I stood in front of them.

“………”

“———!”

The elf girl just looked up at me in silence, while the dwarf girl seemed keen on protecting her from something as she readied her shield, standing in front of her.

…Seems like I angered them. Well, it makes sense since I clearly violated the rules here. I really wish I could ask them about that beautiful plan they came up with, but looking at their current attitude, that would probably prove impossible. I lowered my head to give my apology, and was about to turn around and walk away. But, before that, there was something I desperately needed to tell the elf girl.

“I can see them.”

Lying on the ground, her skirt got flipped up, and I could see her pure white panties. Since natural elves raised in the woods would normally promote their fully-naked principle with “Clothes and underwear is an impurity created by human civilization! That makes them look at us with perverted eyes even more!”, so she must be raised in the city.

In response, gramps would get angry and argue that “Being naked without any embarrassment is like having grilled meat without any meat!”—Well, not like that matters right now.

Although I couldn’t exactly do anything against it, I still happened to see the girl’s underwear. There’s no way I could just walk away without apologizing…Maybe I could have just ignored it, and not mentioned it to her in the first place though…

““…………””

An awkward silence filled our midst, as we just continued to look at each other.

“…What’s happening here.”

Hearing the dwarf girl’s fed-up sounding complaint, I was brought back to my senses. Since I pointed it out already, I can’t change that, so let’s just apologize.

“Apologies.”

“S-Same here, excuse me…”

After seeing me lower my head once again, the elf girl got flustered a bit as she started blushing ever so slightly, and fixed her skirt. Alright, my apologies are done, so now it’s time to leave this place as quickly as possible.

…Thinking about it, I don’t really have the confidence to talk to a girl from the city like this. That’s why I reluctantly turned by back to them, when—

“Please wait a moment!”

I heard the elf girl’s dignified voice, stopping me in my tracks.

“……”

Hesitating for a bit, I turned around in silence. Maybe just apologizing is not enough? But, what greeted me when I turned around was the elf girl, both her hands on her chest, moist eyes as she confessed the following.

“Dark Knight-sama, please become our comrade!”

“……What?”

Faced with a phrase I never expected to hear, I let out a voice of surprise.

Is this…her trying to flirt with me?! Is she trying to pick me up?! I mean, gramps told me that the women in the big cities are pretty assertive, but I didn’t expect that to be true. No, rather than that, her way of addressing me…Dark Knight. The adventurers that were present in the inn were also whispering that name as they were talking about me…That sound so friggin cool!

Paladin and so on don’t sound too bad either, giving you this hero-feeling, but Dark Knight is just…like an anti-hero, sounding even more impressive. Being betrayed by your previous comrades, left in complete darkness, still protecting the ones that are important to you, this feeling of solitude and grief that the normal hero doesn’t have! Not to mention that there are crafty methods you can use to punish the evil, completely out of reach for the hero. Once peace has returned when the evil was defeated, say “There’s still the greatest evil left, which is me”, and walk off into the wilderness…So. Cool!

“Uhm, Dark Knight-sama?”

Oh, I was too busy with my fantasies that I kept quiet this whole time, and now the elf girl is looking all worried at me. Better calm down a bit. What should I do about this? Suddenly joining them like that is a bit off, but I like her way of addressing me a bit too much to decline right from the get-go.

“Let us talk this out above ground.”

I responded in a deep voice, befitting the name of a Dark Knight, and started walking towards the exit, when I realized something.

“Is something the matter?”

The elf girl was still looking up at me with a worried expression. I mean, I actually have something to do, but now that I was playing the Dark Knight in front of you, I can’t exactly say that…Though it wasn’t visible beneath my mask, my face was filled with anguish, and the person that saved me from this situation was the dwarf girl, pointing at the objects lying on the ground where the goblins had stood a few minutes ago.

“I’m sorry, but can we pick up the magic stones of the goblins first?”

“Yeah!”

I quickly nodded in panic, as I started picking up the magic stones.

Thanks for the save, false moustache dwarf! And, curse my poor person’s mentality for not pulling through the hard-boiled play!

*

Having finished the collection, we stood before the problem of how to split them up—

“Since you were the one that saved us, it is your right to keep the magic stones, Dark Knight-sama,” the elf girl told me, and while I felt a bid uncomfortable about it, I put the great number of magic stones in my pouch.

Not only clever, but she’s not greedy nor offended either, a really wonderful girl. As I was deeply admiring her, we started making our way to the exit of the labyrinth.

“Excuse my late introduction, but my name is Rufa, and this here is my friend Garnet.”

“Rufa-san and Garnet-san I see.”

As I repeated their names to burn them into my memory, the elf girl Rufa corrected me.

“You don’t have to add the -san.”

“Same here, I don’t mind if you leave it out.”

The dwarf girl Garnet agreed with Rufa. Though I feel slightly flustered to call them directly by name, that wouldn’t be very Dark Knight-like, so I kept quiet and nodded.

“And, is it fine for me to ask after Dark Knight-sama’s name?”

“……Alba.”

Delaying my response with slight hesitation, I gave her my name. My childhood friend at my birthplace would always make fun of me by calling me “Albatross Alba”, so I had a slight complex about my name, you could say.

“Alba-sama is it, what a gallant and wonderful name.”

…A goddess actually appeared, and she is walking right next to me.

As I was deeply appreciating her comment, Garnet stood on her toes, as she nudged at my shoulder.

“Let me be so kind to tell you, but don’t be deceived by her cute fa—”

Bang!

“Ara, I’m sorry. My hand must have slipped.”

Garnet was about to tell me something as Rufa’s cane suddenly crashed into her shin. Maybe it was just my imagination that she did a full swing in reality.

“~~~?! What are you doing, you super idiot!”

“You too, how about you don’t say anything unnecessary.”

As Garnet was crouching down to hold her leg, Rufa whispered something in her ear. Looking at them like this, they felt like sisters with a slight age difference. They really are good friends. And while we finished our self-introductions, we arrived at the stairs that lead out of the labyrinth.

Exactly at that time, another group of adventurers came down the stairs, and as they spotted us they let out a voice of shock, with a surprised expression.

“The rumoured Dark Knight?! Why is he together with the princess?!”

So my Dark Knight nickname is already spreading? That’s a bit flustering. And also, princess? Slightly confused, I gazed over at Rufa, who returned my gaze with a full-faced smile.

“I have the beauty of a princess, so they have been calling me like that ever since a long time ago.”

“Who’s a beauty.”

Garnet repaid Rufa for that slap with the cane from before, and gave a clean backhand into the solar plexus of her. But, it’s true that Rufa is a beautiful girl, so the princess nickname isn’t too far fetched in my opinion. As long as she’s not one of those ‘PaCra Princesses’ Gramps told me about, who has a relationship with every male in the party, crashing the unity…

As I was lost in thought, Garnet once again tapped me on the shoulder.

“What you’re thinking right now might not be too far from reality.”

Wha—Did she read my thoughts?! My childhood friend also told me that “Your thoughts are leaking on your face”, but I should be wearing my helmet right now…Is she some esper?!

“Well, I was also deceived in the beginning, but if you put down this sinister-looking amor, and show some normal attitude toward her, she’ll—”

“Alba-sama, let’s keep the talking at that, and hurry on out.”

Recovering from the retort to her solar plexus, Rufa once again cut Garnet’s sentence, as she suddenly grabbed my arm to keep walking. When doing so, she beautifully stepped on Garnet’s foot…Are they actually that close? I’m getting a bit worried here.

But anyway, we passed past the adventurers, frozen up out of confusion, and got out from the labyrinth, on our way to the inn ward, where the two of them guided me to a two-floor apartment.

“Please, come in.”

Inside the room that we stepped in, presumably Rufa’s, was filled with decorative plants, turning the whole room green.

“They are an elf’s blood after all. Being born in the city, I had only been to a forest a few times, but I still can’t calm down without some plants around me.”

Rufa felt a bit flustered as she gave a bitter smile, but I don’t mind at all. On the contrary, it makes me feel like my birthplace, so it’s more soothing than anything. But, this being my first time in a girl’s room like this, it makes me feel nervous more than my first real battle with those monsters back then.

My childhood friend’s house was so small that I couldn’t even enter it, and Grandma might have looked young and beautiful in her own way, but her insides felt less like a girl’s and more like a living fossil—Let’s leave it at that. If I think any more into it, her lighting (magic) might come down on me.

As I shook my head to rid myself of these unnecessary thoughts, Rufa had a dubious gaze as she offered me a seat. I gave her my thanks and sat down, and now I was sitting across the two girls at a table.

“And, will you become our comrade?”

“……”

I returned silence to Rufa’s question. It’s because I was really lost on how to respond to that. For now, I can see that they’re not pulling some plug to rob me of all my money or my equipment. They seem to be seriously looking for some comrades.

But, comrades, huh…

Gaining comrades would mean that cruising through the labyrinth would be safer, and you can take on even stronger monsters. However, you would be forced to split your earnings, and in the worst case, you would earn less than before. Thinking about the fastest way to build my own home, it might actually be faster to go alone. Also, I can’t help but feel nervous, talking to people from the city like this! I mean, I can’t exactly initiate a conversation with “Gotta pull the harvest for the apricots since it’s going to be hot this year” right? Especially if it’s two girls like them! I’m not fluent in which clothes and sweets are in now, or which diva is making the big business at the moment?!

Rufa might have taken my silence induced by my interior conflict as rejection, as her expression darkened.

“You must be worried about teaming up with us, who don’t even belong to a clan…”

When she says clan, is she referring to those gatherings of adventurers? But, before I could think too deeply about it, Garnet might have guessed that I only possessed vague knowledge, as she gave a short explanation.

“I don’t know what they call it at your place, but there are these ‘Parties’, groups of comrades that enter the labyrinth together, and once there’s a gathering of those parties, you call them a ‘Clan’.”

“Last year, there were around 1200 adventurers, and I heard that around 50 clans were known.”

Hearing Rufa’s addition, I was unable to hide my surprise. So there’s even more adventurers here than in my whole hometown? That’s what you’d expect from the biggest city on the continent.

“Once you belong to a clan, you will receive help if you’re decimated in the labyrinth. However, we have received a prohibition of entering a clan.”

“That is all my shitty old man’s—Excuse me, an undesirable state caused by my lack of virtue.”

…For a second, did I just feel a black surge coming from Rufa, or was that just my imagination? Still, for two excellent girls to be declined from the clans around, is it that tough to get in one?

Once again Garnet took my silence as a sign to offer an explanation.

“It depends on the clan. Talking about the strongest clan White Wing out there, who have it as their goal to ‘Arrive at the deepest floor of the labyrinth’, you need to be strong enough to make it to the fifth floor at least, or they’ll send you home at their doorstep.”

“But those are in the minority, and most of them just come into existence by a natural gathering of people.”

Rufa said so with a smile, but I couldn’t help but shudder. That’s way too tough of a condition for a loner country boy like me. “Alright, let’s gather people and build a clan”, what’s with that, some new type of torture?

“After that, jobs get split up, and the membership fee makes up for the price of a resurrection and so on, and when there’s even people responsible to take back decimated teammates, everyone can profit from being in a clan.”

I felt relieved after hearing Garnet’s addition. This feels almost like something business-like. But, since the membership fee seems to be pretty expensive, so someone who’s trying to save as much as he can, it’s not for me.

“There’s a great variety of clans out there, but just as I said before, but we have some circumstances, so nobody will take us in.”

Seeing a young girl like Garnet let out a deep sigh, I could feel my chest burn up with rage. What horrible bullying, I can’t allow that! As the Dark Knight of justice, I cannot overlook something like this!

“No no hold on! It’s not because of the reason you’re imagining!”

Garnet quickly calmed me down as I suddenly got up.

“Ignoring the cause, fault lies with us. The ones from the clans have done nothing wrong.”

Seeing that even Rufa said so, I urged myself to calm down. Although I didn’t feel completely satisfied, I sat down once again.

“To repeat it, but we do not belong to a clan as of right now. Our skill is also on the meager side, so if you could help us out…”

Rufa became vague, as her face turned into the color of a ripe tomato, and she opened up one button of her upper clothing. It’s not even that hot, so why would she…? Does she actually belong to those nude activist elves after all? Well, I guess she can’t help it then. She was raised in a human city, so going naked in her own room isn’t anything that I could hold against her. Still, I feel bad, seeing that just talking to me built up this much stress.

“You’re still seeming to have a misunderstanding.”

Garnet looked at me with a gaze filled with worry, but do not fret! I won’t discriminate against your friend just because she’s feeling the need to go naked here! Also, back at my birthplace, about half of my comrades were a naked tribe, so I’m used to it! That’s why, don’t sweat it—maybe my encouragement was transmitted, because Rufa suddenly raised up her head to look at me.

“Alba-sama, let me ask you again. Please become our comrade!”

Her emerald-like eyes were slowly building up tears, and just seeing how desperate she was made my heart ache in pain.

…Really, I’m so pathetic, worrying about the most worthless things, and letting her suffer like that. What worth is there, throwing away a girl like her seeking for help, my eyes only turned towards my dream of building my own home. I became an adventurer to see how far I could make it on my own.

“Alright.”

Fit as a Dark Knight they would be able to rely on, I gave my approval in a deep voice.

“I’ll fight alongside you.”

“Really?! Thank you so much, Alba-sama!”

Rufa pushed her body forward in deep emotion, and tightly grasped both of my hands. Seeing her this delighted, I felt like agreeing here was the right choice. Still, I wish that she wouldn’t just invite any misunderstandings with such an action. Since I’m wearing my jet-black gauntlets, I can’t feel her skin directly, but normally you’d definitely get the wrong idea here. Grandma even said “They will listen to whatever it may be as long as they receive a beauty’s smile in return. That’s just how the living beings called men work,” or something like that. Meeting her halfway, Gramps also commented that “Being deceived by a beauty although knowing about her lies is the ability of us men.”

…Hold on, so am I being deceived here?

“By the way, there is one thing I would really like to ask in the end.”

As I was left in the depths of my own confusion, Rufa let go of my hands, and inquired with a serious face.

“What exactly is your goal to step down into the labyrinth, Alba-sama?”

Oh right, I didn’t tell them yet. My goal is—

“Become my own lord as an independent person.”

The moment I responded with that, Rufa’s smile froze up.

Eh, is it that unfashionable? I know that it’s a bit old-fashioned and so on, and I heard that those that aren’t bound by house and job are much more popular with the women nowadays…But, I heard grumbles and complaints from Grandma about Gramps living that very life…

In the meantime however, maybe thinking that I was worried, Rufa’s smile returned.

“That’s Abel-sama, your aspirations are worthy of making you the Dark Knight.”

Oh my, I’ll start blushing if you praise me like that. And, Rufa wasn’t done yet.

“So that we can both fulfill our goals, let’s work hard from tomorrow onwards.”

“Yeah.”

I gave a strong affirmative nod, and stood up, signalizing that our conversation was over. Though I forgot about asking the girls about their goal, that wasn’t all that important right now.

From now onward, we’ve become important comrades, who will protect each other in the deep dark down deep dark…and it might be better to leave early, so that Rufa can finally strip down to relieve herself!

*

Alba left the room, and after waiting a quick ten minutes, Rufa killed her insincere smile, and let out a sigh.

“Fuuu, doing it after such a long time, I can’t help but get stiff shoulders.”

“That was pretty disgusting.”

Remembering the good-girl acting just now sent shivers down Garnet’s spine as she let out a snort. Rufa however didn’t pay any attention to that, and just laid down on the bed.

“Still, to become his own lord…I didn’t expect him to be such an ambitious person to try and usurp the imperial throne and get the Goldot Empire in his hands.”

This city that prospers thanks to the adventurers filling it, he appeared as the long-term enemy of the adventurers, looking like the Dark Knight. Hence, his appearance might as well be regarded as a declaration of war against the Empire. Thinking like that, Rufa had a more cheerful smile, while Garnet couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

“I’m sorry to interrupt your moment of rapture, but I don’t think that he has such aspirations.”

“Huh? That puny false moustache of yours is joke enough.”

“Shut it!”

Rufa just shrugged at Garnet, boiling in anger.

“A man showing this much strength, and wrapping his body in such equipment, said that he wants to be his own lord. What else is there that he could have meant than trying to overtake this country?”

“How about just trying to make his own house somewhere in this city.”

“If he wanted a house that badly, he might as well just sell that equipment of his and buy a mansion somewhere in a higher ward though?”

“Well, that’s a thing, but…”

Garnet didn’t have anything to say back to that, and muffled in her false moustache. Rufa’s argument is very much correct. Out of 100 people, 100 people would surely support her opinion. However, one shall never forget. That the unrealistic things might happen from time to time, even though the ‘Obvious’ is right there.

“What if he is unaware of the value that his equipment holds, being nothing more than a naive young man, trying to earn his bread?”

“Garnet, look at reality, not your fantasies.”

Rufa went to warn her friend with a fed-up expression.

Should I just beat it into her—Garnet thought, as her fist started shaking, but if she snapped with something like that, she would not have ended up a childhood friend of this idiot princess.

“Seeing that I am the 7th princess, Rufa Auram Goldot, he chose bold words as ‘Become my own lord’. What other meaning could they hold besides trying to overturn the country.”

Rufa quickly tried a diversion back when they happened to run into those adventurers, but she couldn’t believe that Alba would be deceived with just that. There is talk all over the city that the current emperor has a beautiful elf daughter to him, and the official pictures of her in formal clothing are selling very well in the city. So much that it would be difficult not to get wind of that.

“Being a princess of this country, not a single clan would take us in, but he accepted us just like that. It was probably all to one day rule over this Empire.”

“Well, that’s what it might boil down to.”

Garnet thought as she had a sour look. With a noble family that has a gallant and fearful lion as it’s coat of arms, if you presented them with a mat made out of a dead lion’s skin, they would surely take it as a declaration of war. That’s just how the noble society works.

Seeing that the princess of a country decides to become an adventurer on her own accord, after being raised in the noble society, Alba’s actions could only be seen as a defiance against the Empire.

Still, I’m pretty certain that he was not aware of that…

He did not know of Rufa’s identity, and just decided to offer a helping hand out of goodwill. And the girl in question was confident that a coincidence like that could not exist. After all, in the noble society that she grew up, things like good deeds do not exist. That’s why she was gravely mistaken in the Dark Knight’s aspirations.

“How troublesome…”

“Yes, he is a troublesome partner. However, we had no other choice but to make him our partner.”

Rufa even took Garnet’s sigh the wrong way, and announced.

“We have to arrive at the deepest floor of the labyrinth, and save this country.”

“Yeah.”

Even Garnet gave an affirmative nod to that. And, Rufa followed up with a carefree smile—

“And, we’ll make my idiot sisters be beaten into silence!”

Spilling her evil true intentions.

“Not going to happen.”

Now Garnet had to shake her head in denial, but that didn’t stop Rufa from her cursing.

“I’ll definitely pay you back hundredfold for oppressing me just because I’m an elf, you idiot sisters…!”

Although the Goldot Empire is an open country that accepts a variety of races like dwarves and orcs, it is still a human country. With a wage of around 7:3 for humans, ever since the start of the foundation of the country, the imperial family had consisted of 99% humans. Now, the 41st emperor of the Empire, Jurafu, had welcomed an elf as his concubine, and between the two, the 7th princess Rufa was born. Being an elf naturally turns into a big ruckus. In the case of reproduction between members of differing races, the race of the born would take on either of their parent’s races. Except for the extremely rare case, a so-called hybrid, holding both special characteristics, is never born. In any case, they hold the outward appearance of one parent.

The statistics show that the chances of the child becoming either race are 50-50, and there is no gap between boy or girl. Hence, an elf girl being born between the emperor and his elf concubine was nothing more than a coincidence. However, that very fact enraged the nobles, who saw humans on the top of the race pyramid.

—Do you mean to say that, rather than our blood, who has served under your Majesty for a history of a thousand years, the blood of an elf is superior?!

It is a worthless fault they tried to find, but, unlike the adventurers that worked their way up through their own talent, that was something the nobles, who had nothing that made them special or worthy to stand where they were now, could never allow themselves to accept. Now, the other daughters of the emperor, being born out of his legal wife or other concubines held great evil will towards her, and, disregarding the fact that she was their blood related little sister, they did not hold back on openly showing their disgust with her.

“They didn’t hesitate to tell me ‘My, you’re actually wearing clothes today’ or ‘But, you’re not wearing any panties, right? What an indecent girl you are’ or ‘How about you go naked together with Onee-chan? Hue hue’ and so on, making fun of me just because I am an elf!”

“Let me be honest, but that last one is pretty dangerous in my eyes.”

As Garnet’s expression grew pale, she could still understand the feelings of her older sisters. Rufa’s outer appearance was without a doubt the one of beauty to behold, and she was able to hold her role as a princess in public spaces. Since only Garnet and a handful of trusted friends and people knew of her vulgar and idiotic personality, the only thing that the sisters could fault her with was the fact that she was an elf.

As a matter of fact, when the emperor decided to sell portraits of his seven daughters, Rufa’s sales were greatly outdoing the ones of the other six. Though one of the main reasons for that might have just been that the townspeople rarely get to see any elves, seeing that they housed in the deep parts of the forests, and now they had Rufa to make up for that, but whatever it was, the fact that the elder sisters received a crushing defeat by the hand of their little sister didn’t change.

After that incident, the relationship between the sisters worsened even more, and although her father was the main reason for that, he showed more antipathy than ever.

“As the hero that saved the Empire, having grasped enough political power, I’ll have the royal family and nobles parade through the city, completely naked and the ‘Nude Day’ will be born!”

“Wouldn’t that mean that you had to go through that as well?”

Well, she’d definitely receive support from all the perverted gentlemen and ladies out there.

“Also, why would you save the Empire if there are the older sisters that you hate so much?”

“Again, keep the only joke here that false moustache of yours. If I cared about that, all those innocent townspeople would suffer.”

“I really like that part about you.”

“…I’m sorry, I like men, so can we stay as good friends?”

“I really hate that part about you.”

Garnet brought a chop down on the head of Rufa, who got pale as she frantically tried to hide her chest.

“Leaving aside your revenge against your older sisters, I agree that we have to save the country. To achieve that, we need Alba’s strength.”

Though she felt bad for using the pure boy inside the devilish armor, it’s an important part of their plan to save hundreds of thousands of people.

“But, couldn’t you have at least told him the reason?”

“………”

Rufa got lost in thought as Garnet brought up that suggestion. And shortly after, she calmly shook her head.

“Impossible. I cannot think that he would just believe me that the Empire is heading towards ruin.”

They had several hints to base that on, but no solid proof. Knowing that the Goldot Empire had been basking in glory and money, who could believe that it would be walking towards it’s own death? As of right now, there was nobody besides Garnet herself, and Rufa of course.

“All that will lead to is being laughed at. Also, he’d certainly lose motivation, knowing that his wish would not be granted.”

Once you arrive at the deepest part of the labyrinth, the 7th floor, you will get one wish granted, no matter what.

That very lie mostly is the reason that so many adventurers came storming here to grant their wishes, and in order to have these adventurers go even deeper into the labyrinth and bring back magic stones of even higher quality, the Empire spread that false information. If Rufa’s strictly hidden information proves to be the truth, then there is no ray of hope waiting for the adventurers at the bottom of the labyrinth, but rather overwhelming despair that swallows up everything.

“Not to mention, nobody holds bottomless kindness that we can just tell him to fight for the country. If it’s Alba-sama, who plans to plunder the Empire, he will just seize a chance and go for his own profit.”

“……”

I really think that it’s bottomless kindness that brought him to accept but—Those words certainly wouldn’t arrive at Rufa’s ears, so Garnet kept her mouth shut.

“Still, we should improve our plan for tomorrow.”

“With plan, do you mean to use ‘Alarm’ again to gather the monsters?”

“Not just that, I also have to think of a date plan so that Alba-sama falls for me!”

“………Huh?”

Since the idiot princess blurted something incomprehensible again, Garnet could only stare at her with a confused expression, but Rufa didn’t mind that and just got up from the bed with a serious face.

“Listen. Even if I have the noble goal of saving the Empire from ruin, what we have to do is parasitic activities.”

Parasitism—not something that works based on equal favors, but one where the weaker feeds off the strong. Using their body to entice the opposite sex (or in rare cases even the same sex), you can force cracks and rifts into the bonds of a party, acting as as ‘PaCra Princess’ or ‘The price of the funeral service’, gaining great disdain from other adventurers.

In the past, she acted as a beautiful siren that broke down even clan-level bonds, and this is another important reason why clans would not take her in, besides her high standing.

“It’s truly a shabby action comparable to that of a lowly parasite, but there’s nothing we can do right now.”

Being detested by the greater number of adventurers has but one value. That is to grow stronger in the shortest amount of time.

“Garnet, do you know how many years it can take a new adventurer until he makes it down to the 6th floor?”

“There are barely any people that make it down to the 6th floor to begin with, but…around five years?”

“Tch, correct.”

“Just honestly praise me.”

Garnet retorted Rufa’s annoyed comment.

“Five years, huh. That’s way too late.”

“That is just the general measurement, and there are people like godspeed Chidori that made it one and a half years.”

“That still is too late…”

Garnet let out a sigh to compensate with the despair that was slowly approaching her. The only year the girls had left was but just one.

“Do you understand it now? To arrive at the lowest floor of the labyrinth in this one year, we have to grow as much as we can, even if it’s by feeding off others.”

The strength of an adventurer is determined by their specks on physical power, dexterity, and agility. All those perimeters are decided by how high their aura was. With just physical training, there are physical limits that one will arrive sooner or later, but there is no maximum amount of aura one can have. Obviously, the strength from the aura greatly overweighs the strength from one’s own body.

As an example, being born an elf, Rufa possesses a high-level aura, and although she has a slender build as a girl, she can bring out about the same strength as a muscular soldier. Also, since the castle is filled with graceful and ladylike princesses, the only times she would have gotten serious was against the shrimp, holding immense strength, the dwarf girl—Garnet.

But anyway, there is no greater way to grow as an adventurer but to raise your aura. Naturally, the only way to strengthen one’s aura is to defeat monsters again and again.

“Commonly, it says ‘If you want to move down to the second floor, you have to hunt for 300 goblins”, but that would take you months by doing that normally.”

Just thinking about it made Rufa feel tired as she let out a deep sigh. Being nothing but lumps of magical power, monsters scatter into their previous form, and are being sucked up by nearby adventurers. The body that has to deal with this overflowing energy enlarges the vessel to prevent self-destruction. That is called the mechanism that brings forth the growth of the aura.

Leaving aside the detailed procedure, all one has to know is that one gets stronger by defeating monsters. And, the more monsters, and the stronger they are, one defeats, the quicker is the growth of the aura.

“If you got a 6th rank comrade that could help you in hunting a dragon on the 6th floor, that would probably be done in a moment.”

Gritting her teeth at the absurdity of the world, Rufa once again let out a sigh. What’s important during that process is not to deliver the final blow, but to be close to the high concentration of magical power so that the body absorbs it naturally.

As a matter of fact, thanks to Alba defeating those about 50 goblins with but one attack, the magical power that got freed from the dead monsters definitely made Rufa and Garnet stronger than they were yesterday. And, rather than going to defeat 300 goblins on the first floor, higher efficiency can be achieved by going to defeat but one dragon on the 6th floor.

To be frank, rather than working hard on the first floor for months, the effects are much greater by just leeching off a strong adventurer, and fighting but half a day down on the 6th floor. That is the very reason why those leechers never disappear, even though they get despised by every adventurer.

“I can’t believe that you will not gain true strength if you don’t spill your own sweat and blood…”

“That thinking is just pure romanticism. What we desperately need is the strength to make it to the deepest floor.”

Garnet pulled a wry face, while Rufa returned a cold assessment. However, neither of them were in the wrong. What leeching off other adventurers brings you is nothing but stronger aura, while your sword skills and defensive body movement, as well as your knowledge to fight the different monsters, the team-play with your comrades, and the courage to fight to the death, can still be on the level of a new adventurer. In the end, the ones that will stand at the top with true strength are the ones that have made it through the thorny path.

However, by giving up on this summit, the fastest way to get stronger is still the way of leeching off others. And, for Rufa and Garnet, who have a time limit pressuring them all the time, they could not choose any other path besides that.

“In the end, we were denied entry to the stronger clans like White Wing, and our last effective hand left was this forbidden magic.”

“Don’t pull me into your despair!”

“But thanks to that, Alba-sama appeared in front of us.”

“Mmm…”

Garnet’s voice of anger disappeared quickly after she saw the seriousness in Rufa’s eyes. Her deep-green emerald eyes were filled with overflowing gratitude.

“Though I don’t believe in god, even I found myself praying to the heavens above.”

“You…”

“Thank you, for giving me the best target to leech off.”

“You really are nothing but a shitty princess.”

Garnet once again struck down on Rufa’s head with a chop, after she had seen that angelic smile paired up with the most disgusting words. If she hadn’t known that half of this was to hide her embarrassment, Garnet would have cut contact with her a long time ago.

Although it’s still not fitting right with me that half of it is her real intention…

As Garnet held her head in her hands, she still wouldn’t blame Rufa any further. Although she might think about the shittiest of things, she’s doing it with a purpose that would benefit other people.

“Anyway, we have no other option but to leech off Alba-sama.”

“Very well.”

“And to guarantee that success, we have to take safety measures.”

“You’re right.”

“That’s why I’ll go on a date with Alba-sama, and make him fall for me!”

“That I do not get.”

Since there was a huge jump on her logic, Garnet gave a fed-up retort.

“If you really need some safety measures that he won’t cut off from your leeching, and is even more ready for it, wouldn’t it be fine to just offer your body immediately?”

As Garnet stated the obvious, Rufa shouted her response with a bright red face.

“What kind of demon are you, telling me to do a naked strolling play with him?!”

“Nobody said anything like that! I’m just talking about having sex with him normally!”

“No, uhm…I want my first time to be with someone I love…in a romantic mood beneath the starry sky…”

“So it still is outdoors, huh?”

She might have been raised in the big city, but she still has the naked soul of an elf. Looking at the sight of the wussy Rufa, who only possessed superficial knowledge about sex, Garnet felt tired already, but at least she’s not willing to give her body away that easily.

And I’m sure that that guy would have declined her anyway.

After accidentally seeing Rufa’s underwear by accident, he was man enough to point that out, and still apologize. Not to mention that he got angry on their behalf as he had gotten the wrong idea about their circumstances at first.

“Anyway, I don’t plan on selling my chastity for the sake of the Empire. That’s why, I’ll make him my plaything, while keeping it in a platonic relationship!”

“I still hate you for that.”

Playing with him to her heart’s content, not willing to cross that final line is just dragging it out tortuously.

If it wasn’t for that kindness of his, things might actually end bad for her, I assume…

Being naive in her calculations like this is what still qualified her as a sheltered princess. Hence, Garnet is still unable to leave her side out of worry.

“What are these doubtful eyes about? You’re suspecting that I won’t be able to make Abel-sama fall for me, is that it?”

“You got some really bad eyes there.”

As Garnet was snorting to herself, seeing that the elf in front of her sure doesn’t realize what the people around her think, Rufa let out an overly confident laugh.

“Fufufu, I didn’t just think of this plan without any basis or anything. Frankly, Alba-sama is interested in me!”

“Well, it’s true if you think about it. At least in your brain.”

“It’s not just my imagination!”

Rufa complained quickly after being looked at like a pitiful girl by Garnet.

“I do have proof.”

“For example?”

“During our previous conversation, Alba-sama was entranced by the valley of my chest!”

Full confidence shining through, Rufa puffed out her chest, her upper button still open. After a short silence, Garnet tilted her head in confusion.

“Can there be a valley without mountains?”

“There is the possibility that Alba-sama prefers small breasts, you know?!”

“Don’t you feel sad, saying that yourself?”

As a gaze of sympathy came down on her by Garnet, a waterfall started gushing forth from Rufa’s eyes as she desperately tried to push up the cliff of her chest.

“Damn it, no matter how much I eat, I can’t gain any weight there…Curse my elvish genes…!”

“Instead, that earned you a lot of envy from your older sisters.”

She is beautiful, won’t get fat, and because of her long life span, there are no signs of getting older yet, has a high aura from the day she is born, and has talent to become a top-grade sorcerer, those are the attributes she has come to know by being an elf. Honestly, how could she hold jealousy towards humans.

“Anyway, tomorrow I’ll try my best to make Alba-sama my captive!”

“Well, do your best, I guess.”

Garnet had grown tired of retorting every single ridiculous statement that came out of Rufa’s mouth, and just went to wave at her and at her, about to leave the room. However, before she could escape, Rufa put her slender fingers on her shoulders.

“Garnet, no matter what happens, we’re friends, right?”

“What’s with you, so suddenly. Don’t ask the obvious.”

Garnet grew a bit flustered, seeing the girl’s gaze.

“Then, let us both work hard to seduce Alba-sama, okay?” Rufa said with a bright smile.

“You’re telling me to do it as well?!”

“Of course. Assuming that he is a healthy man, I will be able to handle it on my own I believe, but in the case that he turns out to be a lolicon, we might need the power of a legal little girl like you.”

“Who’s a little girl?!”

“Of course, with your little body, there’s not a single hillock—”

“Shut up!”

Garnet’s iron fist ran into Rufa’s solar plexus. And, their fight continued until the landlord came to break them up.

*

“……What?”

The next day after I became comrades with Rufa and Garnet, I thought that we’d dive into the labyrinth again quickly, and so I went to greet them with my full equipment, only to be met with confusion. After all, the equipment the two of them were wearing right now was completely different from the one they had yesterday.

“Alba-sama, good morning.”

The Rufa that was greeting me was wearing a beautiful dress, her shoulders and back widely exposed. Maybe she really belongs to the naked fraction. Anyway, Garnet on her part didn’t put on her metallic armor like yesterday, but rather a gothic lolita one-piece—

“Ugh, just kill me already…!”

Hiding her red face with both her hands, she looked like a female knight about to be violated by orcs. Well, I heard that orcs actually like muscular women more, they probably wouldn’t prefer her in this gothloli appearance.

“What is this about?”

Since they were clearly not dressed for the occasion, I requested an explanation, which was given by Rufa with a bright smile.

“Alba-sama, you have barely seen the imperial capital, right? If so, how about we take a break today, and we will show you around the city.”

I see, that’s what it was about. Truth be told, I couldn’t get inside the actual city, which left me a bit disappointed, and the only places besides that which I have seen are the labyrinth and the inn itself. Being said that adventurers can only come in and out of the 9th ward, it might be a good idea to look at a weapon and armor shop.

“Also, I thought that it might be a bit tough on your body, entering the labyrinth day in day out, but was just unnecessary meddling?”

“No.”

I gently shook my head to transmit my thanks, seeing that Rufa started to look at me with a worrisome expression. Seeing that she was honestly worried and considerate like that, I could only feel gratitude. Maybe my feelings properly made it over to Rufa, because her face brightened up shortly after, as she grabbed my left arm.

“Then, let’s go. Come on, Garnet, you as well.”

“Do I really have to do it too?”

“…I can spread your secret across the Empire if you’re more comfortable with that?”

“Ugh…you unorthodox princess!”

After Rufa went to whisper something into Garnet’s ear, she started shaking fiercely, and grabbed my right hand, and now I was sandwiched between them.

I think they’re just making sure that I don’t get lost in this city I’m not used to…But I wonder, this feels like I’m doing something very bad. The adventurers that we were passing also gave us shocked reactions.

“So the rumour that the Dark Knight was befriending the princess was actually true?!”

“I know that adventurers have their freedom, but this is taking it a bit too far…”

“This lust after an elf’s ears even during grave danger, I totally understand!”

“He’s making a young dwarf girl wear gothic lolita clothes, wonderful.”

Hold on, I’m not some womanizer like gramps! I can’t ignore the last two statements!

I looked over at the adventurers to try and solve the misunderstanding, but they all just ran away before I could say anything.

Again, just wait a second. You female priests over there, stop looking at me like my Grandma would look at Gramps when he was flirting with another girl!

“Alba-sama, is something the matter?”

“………”

I just shook my head in silence as Rufa looked up at me with a worrisome gaze. They are just honestly showing me around the city, so they’d maybe start feeling bad if my evaluation dropped because of them. It’s fine. They can just think of me whatever they want. Who cares if they accuse me of being an elf ear fetishist or a lolicon!

…Sorry, I take that back, my heart is about to break in two.

As I cowered in depression, Garnet grasped my hand even tighter.

“I know that you’re innocent, so don’t let it get to you.”

Is she an angel?! No, she’s an archangel! Paired with her childish appearance, I felt like I could see something glowy expanding from her back.

“Are you thinking something rude right now?”

As I put my hands together like I was praying, Garnet looked at me with a very disgruntled expression. Then, I realized something. She had been hiding her own mouth all this time with her right hand. What’s wrong? Are you embarrassed because you just lost a milk tooth in the front row?

“I already lost all of my milk teeth!”

Garnet might have realized what I was thinking as she hit my lower leg at full force. But, unlike my full-body armor, she was only wearing zero defense knee-socks, which made her cower down in pain instead.

“Ughu!”

Is she okay…Huh?

To hold her hurting leg, Garnet separated her right hand from her mouth, and getting a clear sight, I finally understood why she was hiding it before.

“You lost your false moustache.”

Today, there was no sight of that overblown moustache decorating her face, and it was just her normal, cute face. Looking at it now, it matched with her small stature, and she had the appearance of a 10 years old girl. As I felt the sudden urge to pat her on the head and stretched out my hand, Garnet just pushed that away and glared at me.

“It’s my real hair.”

“No, that was clearly—”

“It’s. My. Real. Hair.”

…I think that if you could take off your hair like that and put it on again, you wouldn’t be a dwarf, but a mutant. While I was retorting that inside my head, Rufa pulled on my left arm.

“Alba-sama, I’m sorry about this, but could you not touch that subject?”

“……?”

“She doesn’t feel very comfortable if you point it out…”

Somehow I feel like I understand it, but at the same time, I don’t. Anyway, if she says so, then it’s probably better not to bring up that false moustache again.

“Let us go.”

Taking Garnet’s hand again as she once again started hiding her mouth in displeasure, I started walking. Rufa lined up next to me, as she explained the surroundings of the city to me.

“You might already be familiar with it, but the imperial capital is surrounded by nine rings of walls that have the form of rings, with the first ward right in the middle at the imperial castle, and the 9th ward the furthest outside.”

Yeah, I know that much.

“And, this 9th ward is built like a clock, with twelve individual districts. The north gate is the 12th, the south gate the 6rd, the west gate the 3th, and east gate the 9th.”

While she was explaining that to me, we passed the city gate, and arrived at the 6th district in the south. Unlike the 7th district, also called the inn district, filled with inns and houses for rent, it was just like the 8th district, holding only the entrance to the labyrinth, a vast open land with nothing inside.

“Cough. The gates that separate the interior of the city from the outside will be the very first target in the case that war breaks out. Prepared for such a situation, the gates in the east, west, south, and north are this vast land so that soldiers can gather here.”

Trying to calm herself down a bit with a cough, Garnet provided a detailed explanation.

I see, I thought I was deceived when I entered from the west gate, but that explains why.

“With this large territory in the Goldot Empire’s possession, once the capital is being surrounded to this level, things are already in a stalemate, so many call this just a waste of precious ground…”

“This has been a custom the Empire had been still small, surrounded by other countries after all. They probably can’t change it that quickly.”

Rufa and Garnet gave a bitter smile, but I felt admiration more than anything. Preparing for the one in a million chance is very clever after all, and I can feel the thousand-year old history of the Empire, directly from this wasteland.

“Right now, there’s still no need for that, but if the population continues to grow like this, we might need to make this another living district, and build a 10th wall.”

“By doing that, the labyrinth would end up inside the city though, which would be very dangerous.”

Garnet furrowed her brows. She might really be worried—

“Monsters might be gushing out of the labyrinth. At least, that’s what I think.” With an expression equally heavy to a stone, Rufa stated.

Is something like that even possible? I mean…

“In these thousand years—No, to be precise, in these past 999 years, an event like that has never happened. However, we have no proof whatsoever that it won’t happen in the 1000th year.”

That’s true. Nothing in this world stays unchanged forever. And Rufa seems fairly certain that the labyrinth is more dangerous than we might think. Does she know anything?

As I was holding my doubts and faced over towards Rufa, she responded with a grin.

“This is something that the nobles should be thinking about, and not something for us normal adventurers to be thinking about.”

That’s true, but it feels like she is avoiding the topic…

“Look, Alba-sama, we can see the shopping street from here.”

Rufa pulled on my arm and pointed forward, dragging me out of my thoughts. Passing through the gate of the 8th district, which had nothing but wasteland, the 5th district, also known as the shopping district, had, just as the name suggested, countless shops and stores lined up.

“Amazing.”

I was surprised at the sheer liveliness back when I entered the inn district, but it sure doesn’t compare to this shopping district. Small, narrow shops are lined up next to the other, adventurers wrapped in their armors, and even the soldiers from the Empire not to mention the traveling businessmen, all sorts of people were walking down the streets.

“It’s being said that you can buy whatever you desire, from spoons to a greatsword.”

“I doubt that there’s anything better than your armor here, but they even have magic tools, which could be useful,” added Garnet.

I see. There’s nothing I really want to buy right now, but I’d at least want to take a stroll around. As I started walking ahead in excitement, Garnet pulled back my hand, and stopped me.

“Don’t hurry, we will go to the bank of this Empire first,” she said, and pointed directly horizontally.

Looking over there, there was a huge building, standing out in a similar way like the castle in the middle of the capital would stand out.

This is a bank?! It was so big that I actually didn’t realize…And, Garnet looked at the shocked me with a sarcastic laugh.

“It not only has to deal with the hundreds of thousands of gold coins in the property of the adventurers, but they’re also responsible for the conversion of magic stones into actual coins. It has to be at least as robust as the castle, or things won’t work.”

“It’s being said that around one million gold coins are moving in and out every day. To make sure that they don’t fall victim to robbery, they have to be prepared and have people on board to protect everything.”

A million gold coins in one day?! Just imagining that makes my head spin!

“I mean, with your equipment…No, nevermind.”

Garnet seemed like she wanted to say something, but she instead pulled on my hand as we entered the Empire’s bank. Unlike the exterior resembling the one of a fortress, the inside had a clean floor filled with white marble stones, and although it was still early in the morning, a great mass of people was walking around.

“Welco—Welcome!”

The male employee that stood by the entrance gave us a quick glance, and after gulping, he quickly fixed himself and properly greeted us.

Ha, I bet that he was completely entranced by Rufa’s beautiful face. Men are men after all, they can’t help it.

“I doubt that it is because of the idiot princess here though.”

Garnet had a slightly fed-up expression on her face as she said that. Don’t worry, Garnet! You’re also plenty cute!

“You’re just as much of an idiot I see.”

How cruel, I was just praising you…

“Alba-sama, over here.”

Feeling slightly depressed, Rufa pulled on my hand, and guided me to the ‘Magic Stone Conversion’ window close to us. Since the greater number of adventurers was still sleeping, our turn arrived pretty quickly.

“Welcome. Is this your first time using our business?”

A female employee, wearing a monocle, who seemed to in the latter half of her thirties greeted us with a calm voice…She’s also pretty strong. Around the same as the inn proprietress from the Eternal Maiden?

As I was thinking that, the eye hidden behind her monocle suddenly started to sparkle.

“Dear guest, please don’t treat me the same as that muscle freak if you would.”

Why did she know what I was thinking?! Is she an esper like Garnet?! Scary!

“Hey, don’t lump me in together with that monster of a—It’s nothing.”

The employee’s eyes showed another sparkle, and Garnet quickly stopped herself. As I was shaking even inside my armor, Rufa softly came closer to whisper something to me.

“Just like the Eternal Maiden-sama, this woman right here is also a former 6th ranker. So, don’t even try to steal or swindle her, because that would end badly.”

I immediately shook my head. I feel like if I tried to deceive her, I’d lose a finger, if not even more. And, as I was shaking to the bone, the employee repeated her words from before, as calm as ever.

“Dear guest, is this your first time using our business?”

“Yes.”

“Then, could I ask for your adventurer card.”

…Eh, I don’t have anything like that. Looking at Garnet at a loss for what to do, she had a disgruntled expression on her face as she put one hand in the pocket of her skirt, and took out a small metallic plate, with words written on it.

“You receive this after you have graduated at the training ground, something like an identity card for adventurers. Without this, you won’t be able to open up an account here, and you aren’t allowed to buy anything dangerous like a magic scroll with ‘Fireball’ on it for example.”

…Sorry. This is the first time I even heard of the existence of those training grounds. Wait, does this mean that I’ve been illegally entering the labyrinth? My face inside the mask went almost as pale as the ground beneath me, and as I gazed over at the employee with an instigating gaze, she took out a metallic plate similar to Garnet’s out from beneath the counter.

“You can register here as well.”

“Please.”

I prostrated myself on the floor in front of her.

“Then, please tell me your name and family name. The name of your birthplace will suffice as well for the family name.”

Maybe to avoid confusion if there are people with the same name. Since I don’t have a family name, I gave her one of my birthplaces.

“Alba I Lapsel”

“Understood, please wait a moment.”

As she finished hearing out my name, the employee held the metallic plate in her hands, as she started chanting something. Ohh, my name is being engraved in it!

“Alba-sama, with this, you’re registered as an adventurer. I also created an account at the bank here, so feel free to entrust your money to us. Also, in the case that the card is lost, we will require an amount of five silver coins to reissue a new one.”

As the employee warned me, she handed me the adventurer card. That’s all it took, I guess. It’s good that getting it didn’t take too long, but I’m a bit worried that someone might steal money from me if they stole it.

“All employees remember your name and your face with the ‘Common Storage’ magic, so in the event that your card gets stolen, they can not illegally steal anything from you.”

She was reading my heart again…Scary. Also, even if it’s for my own safety, having everyone that works here remember my name and face is equally scary.

“I Laspel? Where did I hear that name before…”

Rufa was muttering something to herself, but I was too busy realizing just how scary the big city actually is.

*

After turning all the magic stones we looted from the goblins and nords, we received 40 gold coins and 8 silver coins. Being told that there’s an income tax even, we lost around 10%, which was pretty sad as a loss, but seeing it as your duty of being a resident of this city, it was something unavoidable. In the end, it was comparable to gathering apples for all the people in my hometown.

I tried to cheer myself up as I walked through the shopping district. Just as Rufa said, countless stores were lined up next to each other, reaching from a weapon and armor shop, to a miscellaneous store, and just looking around was enjoyable enough.

“Alba-sama, is there nothing you want to buy?”

Maybe Rufa thought that it was weird for me to just gaze through the window instead of actually stepping inside, as she pulled on my arm. Hmmm…Since I want to build my own home as quickly as possible, I don’t feel like wasting my money on anything unnecessary…Ah, there’s one thing. As I remembered something, I looked around the vicinity, spotted a store that might offer what I was looking for, and entered.

“Welco—Uwah, is that the rumoured Dark Knight?!”

The shop owner was a bearded male dwarf, and as he spotted us, his eyes went wide. While taking that as quite the unexpected reaction, I gazed over at the shelves filled with the assortment of goods, specifically gaudy and gorgeous looking jewelry.

“An accessory shop?” Rufa tilted her head, apparently not having expected my choice.

However, I didn’t come here to buy something for myself…Really, what should I do. Something expensive would probably feel pretty heavy on the other person, and since I don’t know what’s popular right now in the capital, I can only trust my own senses…As I was gazing through the mass of rings and necklaces, I felt something poke at my back. Turning around, I found Garnet, hiding behind Rufa’s back, looking up at me in a worried manner.

“If you wanted accessories, wouldn’t any other shop have sufficed? Like the shop across the street?” She said, as she quickly dashed away.

What’s gotten into her so suddenly? I was educated on gemstones and the like with Granny’s collection, so I think that I have a pretty good idea for this, and the assortment here looks pretty real to me, while the prices aren’t too high up. But then, the shop owner suddenly raised his voice at us.

“Wait, aren’t you Redberyl’s daughter?! Gahaha, what are you wearing, heavens!”

“Ugh, this is why I didn’t want to…”

Being pointed and laughed at at the same time, Garnet grid her teeth, as her face started to burn bright red. An acquaintance of some sort? Before I could question her myself, Rufa came over to explain it for me.

“Garnet’s father, Redberyl-sama, is a very famous swordsmith, working for the emperor and high nobles at times, and there’s no dwarf in this city that doesn’t know him.”

That means that Redberyl’s daughter is equally famous. So she’s basically also part of the elite here, huh. As I looked over at her in admiration, Garnet seemed to be sulking as she puffed out her cheeks.

“The amazing one is my father, and I’m nothing but his incompetent daughter…”

What is she talking about? I mean, this is their family business, so I’d feel bad for sticking my head into it…

“Still, you have no sex appeal whatsoever. How will you ever marry into a formidable family, looking like this?” The shop owner spoke up.

“Shut it!”

“Gahaha, your face doesn’t look threatening at all!”

The shop owner just laughed off the rage of Garnet. Really, what is he on about? With Garnet being this cute, I’d imagine that the guys would be chasing after her to marry her. As I was having these doubts, a dwarven woman appeared from the back of the shop, and tapped the male dwarf on the shoulder.

“Dear, you’re being rude to our customers.”

“Gahaha, sorry sorry, I couldn’t hold myself back, seeing Redberyl’s daughter like this.”

“I’m very sorry for my rude husband. It seems like I need to teach him some more delicacy.” The woman gave a deep bow to Garnet.

“No, I’m used to it, so it’s fine.”

Garnet told her not to mind it with a bitter smile, but her gaze seemed a bit envious, as she gazed at the wife. Being a bit surprised at the whole situation, that was the same for me. The man must have gotten the wrong idea about that, as he let out a snort.

“A good woman, right? This glossy and sparkly black beard got it’s own reputation in the shopping district.”

Yes, from beneath her nose, until her chin, she had a full beard decorating her face. The long, bushy hair almost made you mistake her for a man.

“Dear, don’t embarrass me in front of the customers.” The wife complained, but she seemed awfully delighted still.

Watching this, I finally remembered. The dwarves are a folk that get attracted to the charm of beards. I heard about this from Gramps before, but I never met any in person, making me assume that he was only talking about men. To think a bearded lady is being treated as a beauty…I can totally get Gramps being an absolute fan of this, but it’s a bit too high of a hurdle for me…Wait? So, since Garnet does not have any natural beard…

“Grrrr…” Indeed, said Garnet was watching this heartwarming scene with a jealous expression.

I figured. To me, she looks like a normal, cute girl, but in the eyes of the dwarves, she must lack important charm.

“Garnet may be a dwarf, but she was born with very thin body hair…” Rufa gave me the final piece of information I needed, naming the reason for Garnet’s complex.

That’s probably the reason why she kept putting a fake beard on. Before I could come up with anything to cheer up this poor girl in front of me, the shop owner raised a laughing voice yet again.

“Gahaha, to think his grandchild would end up like this, Redberyl must have it rough.”

“……”

“Why not get yourself a man? They got bad eyes and don’t understand the charm of a beard on a woman, so they might happily accept you.”

“…Shut up.” Garnet’s voice was lacking her usual energy.

The shop owner’s sharp words probably stabbed right into that complex of hers. If I had to guess, the shop owner probably didn’t have that intention. Judging from Gramps’ words ‘The dwarves might be a hearty and lively race, but they have no delicateness and sensitivity besides in their fingertips’, so that’s probably what this is. I guess that Garnet must be an exception, seeing that she can perfectly sense my emotions all the time. That being said, just because they don’t have any delicacy doesn’t mean they’re allowed to hurt someone. Especially if that person is a comrade of mine—basically, a member of my family.

“Store owner.” I released a fierce amount of dark aura from my body, approached the store owner crackling in joy, and spoke with a deep voice resembling a dark knight.

“Do be discreet with your humiliation towards my companion.”

“Eek…I-I’m sorry!” The store owner let out a terrified scream, prostrating himself in front of me.

I mean, you don’t have to apologize like that…Was I too forceful, I wonder? Reflecting on my actions, I pointed inside the showcase of the store, two pendants to be exact, and handed the money over to the wife. I even added a bit of extra money as an apology for my rough tone before.

“T-Thank you very much.” The wife had a bit of a shocked expression on her face, as she took out the pendants from the box, handing it over to me.

“P-Please, spare me…!” The store owner on his end was still busy groveling on the floor.

Everything I could have said probably would have had a negative effect, so I just silently grabbed Garnet’s hand, and left the shop.

“A-Alba?!”

I fully ignored her startled scream, and entered a small alley with no people around.

“What has gotten into you?” Rufa had chased after us in a rush, gazing up at me in confusion.

I mean, I just felt awful for embarrassing the shop owner like that, so I went to leave in a hurry, that’s all. But, as these words didn’t come out of my mouth, I instead put one of the pendants I just bought around Garnet’s neck.

“This is…tsavorite¹?” She held the top of the pendant, radiating with a beautiful green, in her fingers, and pronounced the name of this gem.

I heard before that dwarves would often ‘Pronounce gem before milk’ as babies, and it seems like that is correct here. Tsavorite Garnet — A gem of the garnet group with a strong green color.

“Why would you…?”

Well, all these magic stones I got from defeating these monsters, I felt bad keeping it all to myself. That being said, I didn’t want to forcefully push money onto them, so I felt like a present was the perfect thing to do. When I pathetically attempted to tell Garnet about these thoughts, she put her hand on her mouth, snickering.

“You really are a kind one.”

Really? My childhood friend always called me nothing but a fool though.

“But, why tsavorite?” Garnet asked, while playing with the gem between her fingers.

It didn’t have that much of a deep meaning to it…But Garnet’s name, it comes from the name ‘garnet’, given a group of minerals, right?

“Exactly. The dwarven race loves giving their children the name of minerals and stones.”

I figured. Her beautiful red hair reminded me of a garnet.

“You…No, I guess saying it wouldn’t change a thing.” A sudden sigh escaped her lips. Why?

Either way, I felt like a gemstone as a present would be perfect for Garnet, but it might have lost in touch against her red hair, which is why I chose a different color.

“You actually have quite the eye, huh.”

Gramps was a big fan of gems and jewels and all. Adding the greatness of his jet-black armor I’m wearing, that should be enough to tell, right?

“…Right.” Another sigh came from Garnet.

She’s going to lose her happiness at this rate, is she fine with that? Well, as mentioned before, I thought that a gem with a different color than her hair would be a much better fit, which is why I chose the green tsavorite. That’s why I hope she’d just accept it.

“Well, it certainly looks good, so I’ll gladly accept it.” Garnet smiled happily, shaking the top part of the pendant.

Thank god. If she threw away what basically came up to five gold coins, I’d love myself up in my rented room.

“By the way, do you know what the tsavorite stands for?”

Umm, what was it again? I’m sure that Gramps would know.

“…Well, it makes sense that you wouldn’t.” Another sigh.

It wasn’t anything like ‘A woman who missed her chance to marry’ or something of that sort, right?!

“Moron! Anyway, let me thank you.” Garnet handed me a shart retort, and smiled brightly like the gem.

Hmmm…she’s this cute, and yet she’s not being regarded as charming by the dwarves because she doesn’t have a beard? What a shame, is what I thought, when Rufa suddenly showed a complicated expression, as she broke between us.

“Um, you’ve been talking to yourself for quite some time now, Garnet. Did you finally go crazy?”

“I don’t want you of all people to worry about me!” Garnet retorted, giving a jumping chop down on Rufa’s head.

Not good, since Garnet is always good at guessing my thoughts, I forgot to even talk properly. Also, there was something else I had forgotten.

“Rufa.”

“Yes?”

I showed her the other pendant I bought, as she turned towards me. Following the thread of leather was a golden amber, a 100% naturally-made pendant. I heard that elves don’t like metallic wares too much, unlike the dwarves, so I thought that amber rosin might be a better choice.

“Please accept this.”

“……Yes.”

After spacing out for a brief moment, Rufa cast her face down. I wonder, is a beauty like her already used to present likes these, or is it possibly too cheap for her? I mean, it was five gold coins…But, Rufa apparently guessed my anxiety, and grinned at me.

“Alba-sama, thank you very much. I will treasure it!”

Well, I’m happy for her words, even if she’s just being considerate.

“The two of us will be off to fix our makeup for a brief moment, so could you wait here for us?” Rufa said in a hurry, grabbing Garnet’s arm, and rushed deeper into this small alley.

It didn’t look like her makeup was ruined though…Ah, the toilet, right.

‘Hey, we were planning on winning him over, so why are the tables being turned on us?!’

‘I don’t remember him winning me over though.’

‘Eh, your heart won’t even budge after receiving such a wonderful present? …So you actually had a thing for women, then?’

‘As if!’

I heard the two of them exchange words, when they quickly returned, Rufa with a smile, and Garnet with a tired sigh.

“Thank you very much for waiting. Now, let’s move on to the next stop.” Rufa said, as she took my arm, and started walking.

…Did she properly wash her hands after her toilet visit, I wonder?

*

‘That was too dangerous, we have to be more careful in the future.’

Whilst holding onto Alba’s arm, Rufa warned herself.

‘Possessing such a scary and strong-looking armor, yet handing out such considerate and well-thought presents, is this the famous gap moe I have heard of?!’

Letting out confused screams of agony inside her head, Rufa gazed at the pendant she just received. Though she was despised by human royalty for being an elf, there are those who are yet attracted to her even more, openly trying to win her heart with presents costing hundreds of gold coins. However, as these presents often consisted of gold or silver, she never bothered to wear it on her body. As for the reason why, the elfish race possessed a tendency to dislike any metal on their skin.

‘The natural charm of nature has a much bigger impact on a so-called naked race like ours, and a lot of people actually don’t know about our metal allergy. Then again, we elves often just keep it a secret.’

For elves, with her long lives and beauty, they possessed a great sense of pride, never openly revealing their weaknesses. Her mother even would put a brave face, using a magic called ‘Heal’ to hide the reddened spots on her body whenever she was forced to wear metal in any shape or form. Though Rufa did indeed belong to the elvish race, because of her being half-human as well, her metal allergy wasn’t as bad compared to her mother. However, if her contact with metal continued for several hours, even she would have to deal with these symptoms, so she generally avoided any rings, necklaces, as well as metal weapons or armor. If Alba’s jet-black armor wasn’t a magic tool, meaning that it was an object created by magic, she would probably refrain from holding his arm like this.

‘That’s why, he is…’ Rufa gazed up at Alba’s face, secretively.

He properly thought of the disposition all elves carried, and chose natural material for the pendant he gifted to Rufa.

‘Just where did he hear of this…?’

The more she thought about it, the more Alba turned into a being shrouded in mystery. First, there was his equipment, which was a perfect replica of the Dark Knight. Just how did he get that?

‘And…how did he manage to acquire an aura resembling a 6th floor ranker…’

Inside of the elvish race, there exist those geniuses that possess a grande amount of aura within them. However, without any training, that would only bring them to the 1st floor of the labyrinth, nearly not enough to defeat the horrors residing down on the 6th floor unless they vigorously trained.

Now, leaving aside the mainland, the only place where magic beasts are found at great mass is inside the underground labyrinth of the Goldot Empire. Thanks to the great amount of magical power amassed underground, monsters can be materialized. However, the best they can hope to defeat there are a small number of goblins or kobolds. That being said, even after ten years of hard work, dealing with these small monsters, you won’t be able to acquire an aura on the level of a 6th floor ranker.

‘Is he a former adventurer after all? But, why would he lurk around the 1st floor of the labyrinth then, and he seems awfully alienated to the city…’

The more she thought about it, the more she got confused.

‘He really is a mysterious person…I have to be more careful!’

She wanted to go in for the kill, and yet almost got intrigued by him even more, so Rufa slapped her cheeks to waken herself up.

“…?”

“No need to worry, she is probably thinking about something foolish again.”

Alba had tilted his head in confusion, but Garnet just sighed in disbelief at Rufa’s action. At the same time, they arrived at their next destination.

‘It took around three hours now. We should have taken a horse carriage I suppose.’ Rufa rested her feet for a brief moment, and glanced at the horse carriage at the corner of the street. With two hundred thousand people living in the most outer circumference of the capital, the 9th district was as big as expected. It was about the level of a middle-class city. Even just walking around for shopping was harsh work if you weren’t an adventurer used to it.

‘I know that the circumstances here aren’t the greatest, living closest to both monsters and adventurers, but can they not make it a bit more convenient I wonder?’

As Rufa was thinking that, she turned a considerate expression towards Alba.

“You must be tired from this long walk, my apologies.”

“No.”

“That’s Alba-sama for you, what healthy legs you have. But, I happened to grow exhausted, so could we take a quick rest?” Rufa said, gazing up at Alba.

‘Ask for consideration, praise him, and show him how weak and fragile of a girl I am. It’s perfect!’

‘I didn’t know you worked part-time as a clown.’

Garnet raised one eyebrow with a snort. Naturally, Rufa understood the intention of his right away.

“…How’s it feel to be clean down there with no need of shaving.”

“How many times do I have to tell you not to say that!”

“…?!” Alba’s back twitched at the sudden outburst of rage by Garnet.

Only Rufa knew that Garnet had no hair growing even in her most precious place.

“What happened?” Alba asked.

“I just thought that Garnet’s skin looked silky smooth.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

“…Tch, you better remember this.” Garnet was forced to accept Alba’s subconscious words of praise, and clicked her tongue.

In the face of such, Rufa showed a victorious smile, slipped past the city gate, and set foot on the fourth part of the district. Right that second, a scent of alcohol and makeup came floating towards them.

“This is the so-called flower of the capital, the pleasure quarter.”

Unlike before during the afternoon, now with no sorts of street stalls or play parlors around, it had a much more calm atmosphere to it. Instead of this, women appeared out of their buildings, wearing light clothing, inviting people towards them and their back alleys.

“I assume you have interest in these sorts of establishments, Alba-sama?”

“………Shake shake.”

Rufa had asked him with a flustered expression, to which the helmet resembling a devil shook to the left and right at great momentum.

“Is that so. I’m relieved that you are a sincere person, Alba-sama.”

Although she showed relief on the outside, Rufa grew even more wary inside her heart.

‘He has no interest in cheap women. That means he is going for someone like me, who has hegemonial influence on the Goldot Empire, and has a noble lineage.’

No way a man of power like Alba would hold thoughts such as ‘I want to do this thing with the person I love’ and ‘I want to save money on this’ and so forth.

‘If you think that way. Just keep living in that fantasy world of yours.’

‘Garnet, could you stop reading my thoughts?’

Hearing the retort of her trusted friend, Rufa gave a faint warning back. She pulled on Alba’s arm even stronger, aiming for the certain establishment she had in mind.

“Let us take a brief rest here.”

It stood in the middle of the pleasure quarter, a bit above the other buildings, giving off a noble and proper vibe. The inside had been designed in a calm fashion, with tables and chairs made out of ebony, even possessing a cooking chef with the regular cooking hat on his head. With no dunkards or aggressive folks around like you’d see in taverns, the place was indeed filled with gentlemen and noble women.

“They offer simple snacks as well, but the main appeal is the sweets here.”

“…?!”

The second Rufa spoke those words with a smile, Alba shook greatly like a lightning had passed through his body.

‘Oh? Is Alba-sama the type of man who would be embarrassed to enter an establishment offering sweets?’ Alba looked even more adorable to Rufa, which is why her smile widened.

She could have never imagined that a Dark Knight like him would react in such a way because of a mere sweets store. There’s no way that he could just be a small fry from a rural area. As Rufa was thinking that, Garnet stepped forth, and carefully rubbed Alba’s back.

“Calm down. This might seem high-class, but one piece here is about three silver coins, so they won’t suck out all your money like those other establishments aimed at rich people.”

“…?!”

Alba did the math in his head. With just one silver coin, he could stuff his belly at the Eternal Maiden, and yet a single piece of food here costs three times as much. He was about to scream out in shock at this revelation, but barely kept the agony inside of him. Rufa on her end arrived at an open table close to them, and swiftly called the waitress closer.

“Excuse me, we’d like the peach compote with the rose crown strawberry ice cream and three chocolate sticks doubles please.”

“Understood. Please wait a moment.”

The waitress must have seen that she dealt with the 7th princess of the Empire in front of her, but most possibly because of her good training, she showed no reaction at all, just politely taking their order. At the same time, Alba muttered a confused ‘Peach com…a spell?’ to himself, which was covered up by his demonic mask, so Rufa didn’t even pick up on that.

“I went ahead and ordered for us, but was there something you disliked, Alba-sama?”

“No.”

“That is good to know. Also, is there anything you particularly like?”

“…Apples.”

“Is that so. I will order something with that at a later date then.”

Although Rufa gave a polite answer on the front, after Alba’s short hesitation, her brain was already working full speed ahead.

‘Apples, is it. They grow everywhere, so I won’t be able to identify his place of origin.’

If it was a fish of the ocean, he would have been someone living close to the cost, and if he answered with meat, it could have been somewhere in the mountains, assuming he specified it on goat meat, and if it was cow meat, she could have guessed somewhere in the plains. There are other localities that prohibit pig meat, and in the event of it being staple food, it would have been somewhere to the east.

‘Maybe I should start looking for this ‘I Lapsel’ family name that Alba-sama has!’

Rufa thought so, and went deeper into her analysis.

‘He is using the Empire’s language—the mix between east and west. He seems able to read the billboards and signs throughout the place as well, and since he properly paid for the pendants, he is able to do simple calculations. I’m sure he must have been educated well.’

There are many folks mixed in the ranks of adventurers that can’t properly read or write. The children with no education left, having grown up on the fields or alone without a family as thieves often end up as adventurers after all. These children, with no place to return to, keep fighting and fighting, making them the greater mass of adventurers. However, Alba gave off no signs of belonging to that group. He himself felt like an irregular existence.

‘Possessing this much confidence, it’s either the real deal, or a real moron.’

And this Dark Knight Alba undoubtedly belonged to the first group.

“Why are you just deducing that?” Garnet showed a tired expression, but Rufa skillfully ignored her, instead gazing at the sweets the waitress brought towards them.

“Thank you very much for waiting. Here we have the peach compote with the rose crown strawberry ice cream and three chocolate stick doubles.”

“Wow, that looks delicious!” Rufa showed great delight, scooping up a bit of ice cream, and pushed it in front of the demonic mask Alba’s. “Alba-sama, open wide~”

“…?! Shake Shake!”

Alba frantically shook his head left and right again, but Rufa fully ignored that with a smile. Although a big portion of this idiot couple reenactment was to have Alba fall for her, Rufa actually had a different approach in mind.

‘Now, show me your face, which is hidden behind that mask!’

Unless he took off this demonic mask, he would not be able to eat the ice cream.

‘If the being behind this mask truly belonged to the race of demons, then we have to let the town guards deal with this. If he were to be a human, then that would prove him being a former adventurer, no doubt.’

The name of being an adventurer is granted after graduating from the training grounds located in the 10th area of the district, but that has been the case for many thousands of years.

“Now now, don’t be embarrassed, just open wide~”

With the most perfect smile she could have managed, trained during her long years as the princess, she continued to push the spoon towards Alba. By doing so, Alba was forced to react in some way, so he put one hand on his mask—and together with a metallic sound, only the mouth of it opened.

“Eh?”

“Delicious.”

Alba gulped down the spoon held by the speechless Rufa, and gave his impression towards the strawberry ice cream. Following that, he scooped up a bit of ice cream on his own spoon, and offered it to Rufa.

“Here.”

“Eh, ah, ehh?!”

The second their positions got reversed, Rufa blushed furiously.

‘I never did something so couple-esque before! Not even with my mother?!’

‘I’m pretty sure you did. Like when she was breastfeeding you’, Garnet threw in a cold retort.

Oddly enough, Rufa didn’t reject her friend this time, but instead sought out help.

‘Garnet, please do something!’

‘Just eat it?’

‘Doing it to him is one thing, but having a man do it to me is way too embarrassing!’

‘I don’t get it. But, whatever.’

Garnet sighed in resignation, and pushed her own body towards Alba’s spoon, biting down on it.

“…?”

“Delicious. Here, as gratitude.”

Alba tilted his head in confusion, but Garnet swiftly ignored such a gesture to scoop up a bit of her own ice cream and did as he did a second ago. At the same time, Rufa observed Alba’s mouth closely, as he bit down on the spoon.

‘He doesn’t have the dwarven-typical beard, yet neither does he have sharp teeth like an orc. I highly doubt that an elf would wear such restraining armor either, so he must be a normal human male.’

His skin color seemed relatively young, presumably in his twenties. Though sadly she didn’t manage to see his face fully, she at least made some good progress overall.

‘That being said, he has some beautiful lips for being a man.’

Her expectations grew bigger, as she tried to peek deeper into the opening of his mask. However, before that, Garnet pushed another spoonful towards him.

“Next is the peach compote, I’d say. Here, open up.”

“…!”

“It’s good? Glad to hear that. What about the chocolate sticks then?”

“…!!!”

“Delicious as well? Fufu, this takes me back to the dog a house in my neighbourhood kept.”

“…….Crack!”

Being forced to watch the lovey-dovey actions of Alba and Garnet, Rufa couldn’t take it anymore, and kicked her feet at her with full force.

“Ouch! What are you doing!”

“Don’t get the wrong idea. I’m jealous at the fact that he’s feeding you like this!”

“I really don’t like the sound of that!”

Garnet had to take a few steps back, seeing that Rufa previously announced she had a thing for men. Right as Alba went off to say something to the two, a loud voice filled the inside of the establishment.

“Why are you here?!”

Standing in the entrance door of the store, with one hand on her sword, was none other than the 6th floor rank adventurer God-Speed Chidori, as her black ponytail shook. Naturally, her gaze was glued to the face of the Dark Knight Alba.

“………Clack.”

Without uttering a word, Alba closed the mouth of his mask, and accepted Chidori’s gaze fully without stepping back. However, Rufa broke between them, with a perfect smile.

“It has been a while, Chidori-sama.”

“Princess?!”

Only now realizing the presence of Rufa, Chidori awkwardly averted her gaze.

‘She probably still seems a bit hung up on the fact that she rejected us joining her clan. For possessing this much skill, she is quite the honest person,’ Rufa flashed a devilish evil in her head.

Thanks to the help of Garnet, she managed to slip out of the royal castle, and after becoming an adventurer here in the 9th district, she went around asking the other 6th floor rankers for assistance. However, because of her lacking skill and the bothersome aspect of it, every attempt of joining a strong clan ended up in failure. That being said, Rufa never held any grudges towards these, as she was the one at fault for leeching off their strength.

At the same time, whatever their goal may be, there is also the chance that Chidori’s group might make it down to the 6th floor, and save the Empire themselves. That being said, Rufa wasn’t as kindhearted as to not use this opening Chidori provided.

“Unlike Chidori-sama, Alba-sama was kind enough to reach out for us with a helping hand, a truly kind person! Unlike Chidori-sama!”

“Ugh…”

“I don’t think you need to repeat it like that.”

Watching Chidori clearly feel bad about her decision, Garnet gave a sharp retort, which was completely ignored by Rufa.

“I could judge Alba-sama’s kindness just by his appearance alone, so aren’t you embarrassed to ready your blade at my benefactor?”

Chidori is a samurai—meaning that she comes from a military family to the east, thus possessing great pride, and Rufa kept stabbing at this relentlessly. Thanks to this, the warrior girl felt forced to take off her hand of her blade’s scabbard.

“…It is just as you state, Princess, I am not as rightful and benevolent as this person. At the same time, I shall not put any worry and shame on my name by bothering these innocent folks around.” Chidori said, turning towards the terrified customers and waitresses, showing a deep bow.

Ending this action, she walked past Alba, while glaring at him, and sat on the counter.

“White pearl cream with red azuki beans topping, green tea warabimochi², six of them.”

“Same as always then!” The cook gave a smile and started cooking.

That order alone was enough to give you a heartburn.

“…That’s a 6th floor ranker for you.”

“Indeed.”

Rufa and her group could only observe the mountain of sugar delivered to the warrior girl in awe. No matter how many calories she burnt during combat, was this really good for her leath? On the side of this sat Alba, openly confused, only to resume eating their three gold coins’ worth food.

*

To think we’d run into the black-haired girl—Chidori in a place like this. After we separated from the sweets store, that had me nervous in one too many ways, I could finally let out a sigh inside my mask. Chidori even tried to slash at me the second we met again, might she be some overly-aggressive Berserker class?

No, possibly not. If she really was a Berserker, then she would have sliced at me with a ‘Chest!’ scream, at least according to my teacher. Then, what else could be the reason? Is it the hot-bloodedness of an adventurer like her? As I was thinking that, I heard voices resembling a fight right up in front of us.

“You bastard, what’s your problem!”

“Dear customer, our establishment is a place for people to casually drink some alcohol, not to harass our waitresses.”

“Huh? You’re charging me one silver coin for a cup, and now you even complain at me?”

From a distance, I could see three rough-looking men having a verbal fight with a middle-aged worker, right in front of a bar.

“Seems like those folks got kicked out. Probably for mistaking a bar and club here.”

“Judging from their clothes, they don’t seem to be residents of the capital.”

“Probably some mercenaries from the rural area around.”

Not even bothering with the conflicted gazes around them, the men kept screaming forth and forth, as Garnet and Rufa calmly analyzed the situation. As a fellow man who escaped the rural area, I can understand their feelings to a certain limit, but troubling the people from the store is also…I decided to step in and stop them, when it happened.

“Stop fucking with me!”

One of the men screamed in rage, and aimed his fist at the employee.

“Careful!”

I raised my voice, but didn’t make it in time when the fist of the men directly connected with the employee’s head—

“Gyaaaa!”

Or so I thought, when the man raised a roar of agony, blood spurting from his fist.

“W-What did you do?!”

With the result of the one setting out for a punch being the one hurt, the man’s friends watched this scenery in shock. It really cannot be helped. As long as you’re not an adventurer, you wouldn’t be able to tell what just happened. In the split-second before the man’s fist connected, the employee, most likely a former adventurer, created thorns of Aura in front of his face. If a normal person were to punch at this, the result is as you can see.

“Dear customer, if you need treatment, the nearest temple is in the seventh area.”

“Y-You…You better remember this!” The other men hissed at the grinning employee, and lent their injured friend a shoulder.

Is he going to be okay? I hope he’s got enough money to heal himself…

“Even though he fully deserved that, you still went to try and help him, right?” Garnet appeared from behind my back, giving me a smile, mixed with a bit of disbelief.

To be honest, with him being a fellow country boy like me, I felt a bit of sympathy, that’s all…Still, I never thought that a pleasure quarter would have such ruffians in them. Knowing that there’s strong ex-adventurers like that employee is a big relief, but I can’t help feeling a bit scared. Let’s not stay here for too long.

“I mean, you are the main source of everyone’s fear right now…”

Garnet let out another sigh, which I ignored, and just pulled her along the main street on fast feet. Right as I wanted to pass the gate that would lead us to the 3rd area, Rufa stopped me.

“Alba-sama, there is no need to go any further than this.”

Eh, really? I heard that the 3rd area is merely a big open plain, but we still haven’t seen the 2nd and 1st area of the district. But, Garnet already guessed my thoughts.

“I’m sorry to tell you, but the 1st and 2nd area here are a graveyard. Even if you went there, it won’t be any fun.”

I see, with nobody to visit there, I have no need to go there indeed. But then, wouldn’t it have been fine to stay in the entrance area of this place? I looked over at Rufa, emitting as much confusion as I could, when she pointed at the side of the gate, slightly flustered.

“I am terribly sorry, but there is one more establishment that I wanted to show you, Alba-sama.”

When I looked over, I was greeted by a great amount of men and women, standing in the middle of an open space. Um, I can’t see the place like this? Wondering what this was about, I gazed upwards, when a giant basket came slowly soaring down from the sky.

“Wha?!”

“Fufu, are you surprised? This is the Goldot Empire’s famous ‘Viewing Basket’.” Rufa grinned, and pointed at a billboard near the open space.

Let me see, let me see…For five silver coins per person, you can enjoy a trip through the sky. How about you enjoy the sight of the capital together with someone important to you?

“Thank you very much. Then, the next customers please.”

A man and woman came out of the basket’s door, and another couple entered. Following that, the former adventurer next to the basket, seemingly a magician, turned towards the basket and swung their wand.

“Be freed from this start’s warning, dance high up into the sky, ‘Levitation’.”

Aura wrapped up the basket, and went up into the air, together with the couple inside. I see, so this is a method for other races which can’t fly to enjoy the scenery up in the clouds. Can’t you see everything up high then?! There’s no need to directly visit every small place ourselves. Brimming with excitement, I grabbed Rufa’s hand and lined up.

“A-Alba-sama, you don’t have to be so pushy…” Rufa started blushing happily.

It seems like she’s as excited as I am. If she can’t wait anymore, then I should just—No, let’s not. Gramps told me to be careful with that. But, five silver coins for one person is a bit expensive…And, as I was thinking about that, a female employee, probably staff of this place, came talking to me.

“Um, dear customer, there is a weight limit on the viewing basket, so riding it with a full-body armor is…”

I see, I figure that just lifting up two people might be enough work, so armor is a no-go.

“Alba-sama, it can’t be helped, so please take off your armor!” Rufa looked at me with radiating eyes, rushing me.

Do elves have the desire to even make other races go naked? I would rather not see a prison cell from the inside, and if anything, this jet-black armor has been created by condensing magical power, making it a magical tool and not a metallic tool, so it’s actually more light than most things. To show that, I jumped up a few times. Ah, I guess I should take off the greatsword on my back? I don’t find a place to put it down, so I guess stabbing it into the ground should be enough. Slash!

“…I understand, that will be enough.” The employee showed a terrified expression like she had just been threatened by a murderer, lowered her head, and took a few steps back.

Man, she’s just like the waitress at the sweets store, the people of the Empire sure are polite. Though I feel like a lot of them are hidden monsters like that bar employee before.

“…Tch.”

I heard someone clicking their tongue next to me, but Rufa would not do such a thing, I knew that, so who was it? I tilted my head in confusion, when I found Garnet standing right next to my greatsword.

“I’ll keep a lookout on this, so you just enjoy yourselves.”

“Hm?”

“I’m not going. It says only two people can ride on it, right?”

Ah, that’s right. But, I’d feel bad for leaving her behind. I know! Rufa and Garnet just have to ride on it instead!

“You’re forcing two girls on this? What kind of punishment is that supposed to be?” Garnet sighed.

“What do you mean?”

“…Well, I should have known that you wouldn’t understand.” Garnet shrugged her shoulders.

No no, I totally understand. You’re supposed to take this ride with someone precious to you—which basically means that you two friends should ride it together!

“Enough of that, just get on it.”

My opinion had been ignored fully, as Garnet pushed my back, forcefully returning me to Rufa’s place. And, after a few minutes of waiting, our turn came up.

“The next customer plea—Eh?! …A-Ahh, the rumoured Dark Knight.” After freezing up for a second, the magician showed a satisfied expression.

…Just how many people have heard of me by now? I’m getting a bit embarrassed at this sudden growth in fame. As I was grinning to myself, Rufa grabbed my hand, and smiled.

“Let’s hurry and hop on!”

Yeah, standing here too long in a daze would be a bother for all the people waiting behind us. I handed the price for the both of us to the magician, and hopped on the basket together with Rufa. Inside was a one long-stretched chair, allowing the two of us to sit. It was narrow enough that our shoulders touched, but it can’t be helped.

“Then ,here we go.”

Confirming that the two of us had taken our seats, the magician used their floating spell again. Following that, we slowly started to ascend. Now we could see the entire capital, without being restrained by the various walls in our way.

“Amazing…” I feel bad for this lack of expression, but I was honestly at a loss for words.

The walls extended in long circles, with countless small houses in between them, and the royal capital in the center of it all, shining pure white. From up here, the capital of the Goldot Empire looked like a piece of art, telling the thousand years of history that had passed when people first started living here. When I was at a loss for words, Rufa talked to me.

“Alba-sama, this is the Goldot Empire.”

“Yeah.”

“Even though a gigantic underground labyrinth extends beneath the surface, post people aren’t even aware of it, just living their lives.”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t think of this as a bad thing. Because the hearts of people are not strong enough to live through a daily-life drenched in fear.”

“Yeah.”

I knew that she was talking about something very important, but I could only focus on the scenery in front of me, overwhelmed by it, unable to utter anything else.

“Alba-sama, you plan on becoming the owner of your own residence here in this Empire, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Then, as the Emperor and his duty to save his folk, would you please aim for the deepest part of the labyrinth?”

“Yeah.”

…Hm? I feel like I made some horrible promise just now? I tore away my gaze from the scenery in front of me, and looked over at Rufa. Her eyes emitted a strong and serious light, not allowing me to talk my way out of this with a ‘Sorry, I wasn’t listening’, sadly.

“…I promise.”

I started sweating profusely inside of my helmet, seeing no other option but to answer with these words. As a reaction to that, Rufa’s tense face softened up, and a smile appeared like a blooming flower.

“Thank you very much. As proof once you have fulfilled this promise, I will offer you my everything.”

Rufa’s smile as she said those words was all too beautiful, I started sweating even more. Was that just now…a proposal?! Giving a vague response to this, what kind of man would I be! The worst! The worst, I say! But, this isn’t some love story where the princess falls for the prince at first glance, and I really don’t think she is the type of person to propose to a man she met not even two days ago. I want to confirm just what Rufa said. But, asking her to ‘Say it again?’ would make me a disgrace of a man!

“Dear customer, how was your ride?”

The voice of the magician surprised me, and I raised my head in shock. Without me realizing it, the basket with us inside had arrived on the ground. Apparently, me worrying like this cost all the time we had in the air…Wait, now I forgot to probably see the surroundings and where all the stores I needed are located! Embarrassed at this failure of mine, I grew silent and swiftly left the basket to not trouble the waiting customers.

“And, how was it? Got a good view?”

“Yes, it was a truly wonderful time.”

Garnet brought me by greatsword, and asked us for our impression. Oh yeah! Maybe Garnet can guess my thoughts, and ask Rufa for me!

“Hm, what’s wrong?”

She quickly realized that I wanted her attention, so I gazed down into her blue eyes, passionately as possible. Please, I can only rely on you!

“…Sorry, I plan on taking a dwarf husband for the sake of my family, so I can’t answer your feelings.”

She totally got the wrong idea.

“I see, with your own home and castle, a single woman won’t be able to satisfy you,” Rufa chimed in.

And another misunderstanding was born.

‘That Dark Knight, he’s not satisfied with an elf girl, and tries to violate that dwarf girl as well?’

‘It must be one of those adventurers that goes to collect all sorts of races with him. The worst…’

‘Not to mention an elf that looks just like the princess…I’m so jeal—I won’t forgive him!’

And now I was being treated like the devil. Unable to bear the cold gazes around me, I picked up the greatsword, readied it on my back, and ran away at full speed.

*

Rufa and Garnet somehow managed to catch up with Alba, and they returned to the inn district of the 7th area.

“Alba-sama, I had a lot of fun today.”

“Yeah.”

“Now then, we will see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah, see you.”

Rufa gave a beaming smile as she escorted Alba back to his apartment, and separated again. And, the second she entered her own room, she threw off her highly-suggestive dress.

“Fuu…I know it was to seduce Alba-sama, but faking half the day like that sure was tiring.”

“So you’re finally taking off your clothes, exhibitionist race.” Garnet scolded Rufa, but equally swiftly took off her goth loli clothing, and put on her fake beard in her underwear appearance.

“Why don’t you just throw that away already? Alba-sama will be happier that way.”

“No. Way. In. Hell!”

“Really, being stubborn like a solid rock is just like you dwarves.” Rufa complained in a light tone as she put on her room-wear, resting on the bed. “That being said, today truly was a successful day.”

She managed to confirm that Alba was no devil, but rather an average young human male. At the same time, although he is aiming to be a ruler in this Empire, she equally managed to receive the promise of him challenging the depths of the labyrinth.

“Even if I am scorned as the princess of this Empire, as long as the two hundred thousand inhabitants of the capital are saved, I will accept this.”

“Yeah.”

“If anything, thinking of kicking out this shitty old man of mine is something to look forward to.”

“No, please don’t.” Garnet got a bad premonition, but Rufa just ignored this with an arrogant snort.

“Hmpf, a shitty old man that doesn’t listen to his daughter’s honest warning deserves to be kicked out for all I care!”

“The birth of a new dictator.”

“Anyway, I’ll just forget about my shitty parents, and focus on my parasite life starting tomorrow.”

“Truly like a shitty daughter.”

“Fufu, after spending such a joyful date with us today, there is no mistaking it that Alba-sama will gladly fight for us.”

“You say that, as you almost got seduced by him instead?”

“Why do you keep complaining all the time!”

“I thought it was good manners to retort to your idiocy.”

Throwing a fit, Rufa got up from the bed. Right as they were to start their usual banter, she remembered something.

“Garnet, does the name ‘I Lapsel’ ring any bells with you?”

“You mean Alba’s name? Never heard about that before.” Garnet shook her head, and took out a world map from the bookshelf nearby.

It was something that Rufa had borrowed for the rest of her life from the royal castle, which showed even smaller regions and locations. However, no matter how long she searched for it, nothing came to sight.

“Maybe he just randomly came up with that name?”

“No, I faintly remember hearing it somewhere.” Rufa said, and took out an old book. “I think it was during my studies on legends…Ah, there it is!”

“Let me see.”

Garnet sat next to Rufa, gazing at the book.

“I Lapsel³, a legendary island of fairies located in the sea to the far west.”

“Basically, a pseudonym?” Rufa showed a darkened expression, and Garnet nodded along.

“Probably. He seems like the type of person to admire legends like these.”

If he was told that the legendary holy sword Excalibur rested in the depths of the labyrinth, he must be the type to jump into the fray.

“No, maybe the cursed magic sword Balmung?”

“Either way is fine. In the end, we didn’t find many hints about him…”

Just when Rufa thought she had a good grasp on the existence called Alba, he slipped past her.

“I’ve gotten hungry. Garnet, go buy something.”

“How about you learn to cook for yourself and try to win over ALba with that?”

“I’ve been raised as a princess, there’s no way I would start with that now!”

“Then you just have to work harder.”

“You say that, but you can’t cook either, right!”

“I-I sure can! Just…the vegetables I’m cutting turn out too distorted…”

“Hehehe, you’re a dwarf, yet you have no fine touch at all?”

“You damned wench…!”

Now the two of them started verbally bantering for real, as the place was filled with screams of rage.

1 Tsavorite

2 Jelly-like confection made from Bracken starch

3 Here written as ‘Island of Supreme Bliss’