Chapter 1:
An Atrocious New Start
I LIVED A QUIET LIFE, WANTING TO AVOID MAKING a fool of myself and sticking out from the crowd, though I also wished to do all I could for others. Sure, I had hopes and aspirations a long time ago, but I had since figured out my limits and lived the best I could within them. At least, that’s what I thought.
“Get out of our faces, loser,” said Chronos. Those words had me gulping down my spit.
It wasn’t just him. Nikola and Mehlis were glaring at me like I was something less than human, too. The three stood united against me, keeping their distance and failing to conceal the malice radiating from them.
“Heh heh… Um, well…why?” Those were the words I finally managed to croak out.
“Stop it, it’s obvious enough already,” said Nikola.
“You’re a supporter!” added Mehlis. “You had to sense that guy was coming.”
We sat around the usual table at our party’s house. It was our dinner table, meeting room, and center of our shared amusement. It was a place of cooperation, and the very symbol of our group. Yet here I was, getting condemned as if it was some sort of impeachment.
I could think of plenty of rebuttals, but I could already see where this was going. A sudden encounter with a boss monster was a risk all abenteurers accepted when heading out to the front lines. The Abenteurers’ Guild even made sure to warn people of that, and this labyrinth dive was only supposed to be an expedition to fill out our map and gather materials anyway.
“Well, um… I’m sorry, but I don’t think that’s my fault. Or, y’know! Retreating would have been the right call, and, um…” To break the silence, I forced some incoherent words out of my mouth. We had been prepared to flee. I had requested we do so again and again and made sure they were all trained to retreat when necessary.
However, our leader Chronos had put his ambitions first. Defeating a boss monster meant having your name known to all of Filburn. His dream of getting some quick glory had led him to act recklessly.
“I think we could have avoided that encounter, but, um…”
As a result, the boss’s first attack had sent Chronos flying, knocking him out with a concussion. Nikola and Mehlis also failed to guard in time, leaving them heavily wounded and knocked out.
“Cut the excuses!” screamed Chronos. “This is all your damn fault!”
I had more rebuttals. I wanted nothing more than to tell him how wrong he was. But once I realized their anger came from elsewhere, there was nothing else I could say.
The real problem was that I had miraculously managed to defeat a boss on my own. Really, it was a miracle. I was just desperate to protect everyone. We were in real danger, and the comrades I had fought with through countless battles had their lives on the line. If I didn’t figure something out myself, we all would have been goners.
And boy, had fortune taken my side. I managed to win out of pure luck. I highly doubted I would be able to accomplish such a feat ever again.
“B-but we defeated the boss. Drachenflügel will be promoted to an A-Rank party, and then we’ll…”
Defeating a boss monster was an achievement celebrated by all. It unlocked the teleportation circle that led to the next floor of the labyrinth, trailblazing new understandings and bringing new riches to the town. Once the guild formally acknowledged that achievement, we would be on to the next stage—the party class of A-Rank. The name “Drachenflügel” would be recorded in the history books, and we would gain overwhelming authority and power.