Sendai Yuusha wa Inkyou Shitai

Do you know of the words “Other world labyrinth”?

I wonder if you’d understand if I said “Dungeon”?

Dungeons are an existence that Fantasy-type other worlds of swords and magic can’t be without.

Traveling on foot through a Dungeon that became a monster den, you get the treasure that sleeps in the Dungeon.

That kind of labyrinth overflowing with a man’s romance, naturally exists in this other world of Reynbrook as well.

On a certain solitary island called Nordyord, there is that kind of labyrinth.

The Nordyord Labyrinth (the name of the labyrinth is basically just starts with the name of the place that it exists in) that was just found in recent years has yet had anyone reach the inner depths, and due to that labyrinth’s huge size and degree of difficulty, it has been called a Great Labyrinth (only Great Labyrinths are not Dungeons and are read as Great Labyrinths).

Now then, about this Nordyord Labyrinth, right now, it was known as the hottest labyrinth.

・The height of the quality of the monsters.

・The possibility to mine Magic Stones.

・There is no one that has reached the lowest level.

It’s these three things.

The quality of a monster had a direct connection to the rarity of the items obtained from the monsters.

As for being able to mine Magic Stones that are often used in the engine parts of things like Magic Tools, you would probably understand if it was said that this labyrinth was a Magic Stone mine in the olden days.

Since good quality Magic Stones would sell for a high price even if it had the size of a pinky, it was popular.

And then, if one were to become the first person to conquer this dungeon, they would unmistakably be considered a person who has rendered a distinguished service by the Guild, have a festival thrown for them, and have their name known throughout the world.

Of course, they each had their own demerits.

If the monster’s quality was high, the monster’s strength would be just as high, and something like a good quality Magic Stone was not something that would be easily obtained.

To become the conqueror, they would have to plunge forward through a layer of savage land without any background knowledge about it.

However, for the Adventurers and Mercenaries, even if they take the various demerits into account, the merits still greatly surpassed them, and it was a mouth-watering labyrinth.

「I’m not going. Into something like a labyrinth.」

「Eh~!?」

A young lady raised a voice of discontent at the words the young man uttered.

「We went through the trouble of coming to Nordyord! If we don’t dive into the labyrinth, then I won’t know what we came here for~!」

The boyish young lady with short blonde hair and fox ears grabbed at him and drew close with force, but the black-haired young man didn’t change and refused with a discouraging attitude.

「Even if we were to dive into something like a labyrinth, at the very least, there’s advantages for me. That’s why I won’t go.」

There was no use in arguing as he didn’t have ears to listen to them. A young lady that had grown her glossy black hair down to her waist tilted her head at that attitude that felt like it was already at the limits of stubbornness.

「If it’s you, Yashiro-san, I actually thought that you’d say something like 「You’re not a man if you don’t go Dungeon diving!」 and wildly assault it with excitement.」

「That’s right, Aniki! Since you were born a man, let’s go and carve your name into the world!」

「It’s because I didn’t want that that I was a Hero while hiding my name.」

In one corner of the bar that was brimming with people, the young man breathed a sigh while carrying the bar’s snacks to his mouth.

He was of age, so if he had some alcohol at hand, he would have drowned his cares in drink.

Of course, they were Yashiro Yuu, the Preceding Hero, and Bernadette, an Agent of the Church.

And then, along with the new companion that would be travelling with them, Kuon Heleott, it was the three of them.

「To begin with, I don’t have any money troubles.」

Yuu still possessed the Guild card that he was given by Norn.

That amount of money that an ordinary person couldn’t exhaust even if they used it their whole life, as long as he had that Guild Card, he could lay low.

Therefore, one of the appeals of the dungeon, 『profit』, didn’t communicate to Yuu.

*Dan!* (Bam!)

Kuon hit the table and stood up.

「There are monsters that have never been seen before and a boss that no one has ever reached, you know!? To just sit on your butt with that right in front of you, I’ve misjudged you, Aniki! I do respect you though.」

Kuon, who was itching to dive into the labyrinth and fight as much as she liked, glared at Yuu while getting a bit teary eyed.

Exposed to that strong look, Yuu let out a big sigh, and leaked a mutter within his mind.

Why did it turn out like this……

That, was something from a few hours before.

◇

Three days of being rocked by the waves.

Although there were also things like a poker showdown of the sailors and a struggle to the death with a gigantic squid, the transport ship, 『The Zekamashi』, safely continued through the sea towards Galarie.

They should have arrived at Galarie after a few more days but things turned into a situation that would make them greatly stray from 『The Zekamashi』’s route.

「It’s a stormーーーっっ!!」

Tens of minutes after one of the sailors shouted, 『The Zekamashi』 was dragged into a raging storm.

「It’s not like it were anything drastic, but we’ve greatly strayed off the planned route.」

“So that wasn’t something that you’d call drastic?” is what Yuu thought in his mind but he decided to keep quiet.

The man called the captain of 『The Zekamashi』 took out several sea charts in front of Yuu, Bernadette and Kuon.

「The place that we’re at right now is this island, 『Nordyord』. We’ve been considerably washed away to the west.」

Pointing at the island that was drawn on the sea charts, the captain completely did not show an impatient attitude in regards to the current situation.

「Well, I’m sure this storm will stop by tomorrow. So we’ll just have ta be on standby on this island ‘til then!」

The captain rolled up the sea charts.

「What would Kuon-boccha— ojou-san like to do?」

Seeming like the ship captain and the Heleott family were acquaintances, Kuon made a wry smile at the ship captain that stopped himself from saying “-bocchan”.[1]

「Since there’s nothing we can do about it, we’ll go up on shore. If an inn’s open, we’ll pass the night on a bed that doesn’t sway.」

She had a tone that made one want to shout out something like “Nee-san!” if she had a tobacco pipe. That’s what she looked like.

「Let’s go too, Yashiro-san!」

Bernadette, who understood that it would concern the sailors’ life and death if she were to eat a large amount of the ship’s food, had been dissatisfied recently.

It seemed that she thought that if it were a restaurant on land, even if she were to eat like an idiot, she would probably be forgiven with just getting kicked out and banned from the store.

As proof of that, drool was dripping down from her mouth.

「First, wipe your mouth, Food Buster. ……Hm~m, it is true that there’s a limit to what you can do on the ship. ……We’ll also go down for now.」

Replying with an “Aiyo”, the captain left their room.

◇

「Phew~……I’m feeling kind of tired.」

「It did sway a whole lot after all. I thought that the ship was going to sink.」

On the island that 『The Zekamashi』 finally arrived at, Nordyord, there was a large town.

It was small when compared to something like Be Io, but for a town of a solitary island, it had a surprising liveliness and the bar was also completely overflowing with people (though they might simply be taking shelter from the rain).

「Aniki, it looks like you’ve still got a long way to go on top of the sea! Sister-nee-chan, although we didn’t capsize, it’s pretty much close to a miracle that were washed away by a wave and reached a town, you know? Be sure to give thanks to whatever God you believe in.」

In our first time at sea, the sea-child Kuon, that that couldn’t really be said to be true for her, didn’t look like she was fatigued at all in comparison to me and Bernadette who were a bit worn out from all the large swaying motions.

「Hey, hey, are you guys going to immediately stay at the inn after this? If that’s the case, then……」

And then, we return to the beginning.

Translator’s Notes:

[1] For those that don’t know, -bocchan is kind of like saying “young master”. Used on boys.