SWNOVELXO Chapter 8: - First Dungeon
On the fourth day of my reincarnation, I became an adventurer. At the Adventurer’s Guild, they asked for my name and checked my record card.
I hadn’t expected that I could actually produce a record card as a living being, so when they asked to see it, I simply complied.
Since I had been warned that being a Level 1 Villager was abnormal, I decided to choose the Traveler class. It was safe for me to be a Level 1 Traveler.
When the staff chanted, “Reveal his deeds in broad daylight,” my record card appeared from my chest. The staff checked it and returned it to me.
The returned record card contained my name, gender, age, job, skills, and criminal history. Of course, there was no criminal history.
I realized this now, but my name had become Tooi. My status screen had also shown Tooi, so I truly felt like I would live in this world as Tooi.
The only skill listed was “Strong Legs,” which was a Traveler skill. Why wasn’t my Unique Skill listed as a regular skill?
I recalled that Anneriese had said that the skills you possessed from birth were Unique Skills. Since they were innate, they were more potent than regular skills. They weren’t listed as skills because they were not normal skills. I decided to think of it that way.
But I didn’t have any combat skills, which was convenient yet somewhat disappointing.
Speaking of which, I had the record card of a thief. Gorteo had told me that I could exchange it for money at the government office, but I had completely forgotten about it.
“Do the record cards of deceased individuals persist indefinitely?” I asked Anneriese.
“Record cards of deceased individuals naturally disappear after one year.”
I didn’t need to exchange it immediately, but if I forgot about it, I might miss the opportunity. Today was still early, so I decided not to enter the dungeon and instead go to the government office to exchange it and then return to the inn later.
I made sure to purchase the dungeon booklet. It contained information about monsters from floors one to five and a simple map. At first, I wasn’t sure what it was, but upon closer inspection, I found that it included the route to the boss room. I had my doubts about calling it a map.
I entered the guild’s cafeteria. I was thirsty, so I thought about ordering a drink, but the menu only offered three choices: ale, wine, and water.
I ordered water, while Anneriese ordered wine. It was surreal that the slave drank wine while her master had water.
“I was surprised that they charge money for water, but it’s annoying that it’s warm,” I commented.
“No one at the guild’s bar orders water. If you want cold water, shall I fetch some from the well?” Anneriese offered.
“Nah, it’s fine.”
I felt uncomfortable making the old lady do labor for me.
About this being a bar, well, there were burly men eating what I assumed was meat, although I had no idea what kind, and they were feasting on it heartily. They were also drinking, but I thought it was a dining area, not a bar. I assumed you’d drink in a bar.
As I sipped warm water in the bar, my record card naturally disappeared after about ten minutes. It was an inexplicable phenomenon that made me feel like I was truly in another world.
In the morning of the fifth day since my reincarnation, we headed to the dungeon. Last night, I had let Anneriese use the bed again. I couldn’t ask the old lady to sleep on the floor. I thought about upgrading the room to a larger one, but I was fine with sleeping on the floor for now. The issue was that the seasons were changing from late autumn to winter. If sleeping on the floor became too cold in the future, I’d reconsider.
The dungeon was located just outside of town, in a small forest area. Suddenly, a black whirlpool appeared in the forest, resembling a hole torn in the fabric of space.
Around it, there were stalls set up between the trees, and many armed individuals who seemed like adventurers. Among these adventurers were people with the Villager job, and there were quite a few of them. They seemed to be entering the dungeon as Villagers and were probably aiming to fulfill the job change conditions to become Swordsmen or something else.
I had been checking the levels of Villagers since yesterday, and there were some who were around level 15. This wasn’t limited to adventurers; I had seen them throughout the town. It seemed like you gained experience points and leveled up in anything you did.
The Villager adventurers were armed with either swords or spears. There were no bows; it was a choice between swords or spears. Of course, there were no wizards; they were Villagers, after all.
“Why don’t they have bows?” I asked.
“Because bows require arrows, which are consumables and cost more money than swords or spears. No one wants to do it,” Anneriese explained.
“Even if they buy arrows as a party?”
“They usually don’t.”
If everyone had to pay individually, the cost of buying arrows would add up. Unless the rewards were substantial, which they probably weren’t.
“If they happen to obtain a spellbook, who in the party would use it?”
“The leader or the one who defeated the monster usually uses it, or they sell it for money.”
“I understand the leader part, but if it’s someone who’s defeated a lot of monsters, wouldn’t they become less effective in combat? Because, if they’ve defeated many monsters, that means they’re closer to changing their job to Swordsmen or something. Wouldn’t it be more effective for someone like that to become a Swordsman or something?”
“We don’t think like that. Wizards are powerful, so everyone wants to become one. That’s why people with high contributions become wizards.”
“Hmm. It seems inefficient.”
“…”
I thought it was inefficient, but since their lives were on the line, maybe it wasn’t so straightforward.
While having this conversation, I bought grilled pond squid from one of the stalls. I also made sure to get one for Anneriese, but I was worried that the texture might be too tough, and she might choke. Could I even chew through it?
“I think the tentacles of the pond squid are tastier,” I commented.
I assumed she was hinting that I should buy some tentacles as well.
The old man gave a wry smile but looked at me expectantly.
“…I’ll take two tentacles.”
“Sure thing!”
The old man responded with a warm smile.
Anneriese’s teeth seemed to be in good condition as she quickly devoured both the grilled pond squid and the tentacles.
I, on the other hand, hadn’t even finished the grilled squid yet, but Anneriese’s gaze was fixed on my plate of tentacles.
“You can have some,” I offered.
“Don’t mind if I do,” she replied.
I wondered where Anneriese’s appetite came from. Her movements were more relaxed than mine, so she shouldn’t be using that much energy.
Even though she had already eaten her portion of breakfast and half of mine, it was truly a mystery.
Following the group of five Villagers, Anneriese and I entered the dungeon. It was only because others were going in that we dared to enter this eerie hole. If no one else had been here, I wouldn’t have thought about going into such a creepy place.
Without feeling anything, we were suddenly inside the dungeon. It had stone floors, stone walls, and a stone ceiling. There were no fluorescent lights or torches, but there was dim lighting that made it barely visible.
“The inside of the dungeon is artificially constructed,” I noted.
“It’s said that the Demon Lord created the dungeon and spawns monsters within it,” Anneriese explained.
“The Demon Lord…”
It might sound clichéd in isekai stories, but there was indeed a Demon Lord in this world. Well, it was only said to exist, not confirmed.
As I walked, I asked Anneriese about the Demon Lord.
No one knew the true identity of the Demon Lord. No one had ever met the Demon Lord.
“If no one has ever met the Demon Lord, why can you say that the Demon Lord exists?” I asked.
“That’s been said for a long time,” she replied.
It felt like they were creating the idea of the Demon Lord through superstitions and misconceptions.
Even though it was possible that the Demon Lord existed, I voted for the non-existence side. I hoped that there wouldn’t be any Demon Lord events.