My name’s Alec, and I am a pretty well-known adventurer, if I say so myself. Adventurers are folks who make their living by hunting monsters, exploring the Forsaken Zones, and stuff like that.
Some take on exclusive commissions for nobles, while others work as freelancers and take whatever jobs they please. Great adventurers sometimes even get hired as mercenaries during war.
I’ve been in a party with three other adventurers for a while now. Some kingdoms have proper adventurers’ guilds to support people like us, but unfortunately, this one hadn’t established a guild yet. We drifted from region to region, earning our keep by hunting monsters and selling their parts.
After hearing some rumors, we decided to make our way into the northern part of Arvale.
“We should be getting close to the wasteland,” I told my party.
“You sure about this?” Hazena, our party’s youngest member, asked skeptically. She was the only female in our group and a mage, so she wielded a staff.
“Yeah, I’m sure. Heard it from some merchants I trust.”
A barren wasteland sat at the far north of the March of Arvale, which bordered two areas overrun by monsters that were too dangerous for regular folks to set foot in. These places were known as Forsaken Zones. The northernmost zone was a dense forest, while the eastern one was mountainous.
For people like us, who made a living harvesting monster parts, places crawling with monsters were treasure troves. They were almost as good as dungeons. The downside was that most Forsaken Zones were out in the boonies. Lengthy expeditions were normally out of the question because there weren’t any safe places to rest or resupply.
“According to the merchants, someone just built a village out in the wasteland, and now people are going there in droves.”
The merchants’ information networks never ceased to amaze me. You never knew for sure until you’d checked it yourself, of course, but this one was worth rolling the dice.
Before long, we spotted the wasteland, and it became clear that this land was infertile. Even grass could barely grow here. It was all jagged rock formations and dry, cracked ground.
I couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy.
Why would there be a village in a place like this?
“Hey, am I imagining things, or is that a road ahead?” Hazena said, pointing.
I followed her gaze. Sure enough, I saw a road stretching across the wasteland. And it wasn’t just some dirt path; it was a proper road—way too nice for this kind of terrain.
I’d traveled along the famous Alpira Highway before, which was reportedly the most beautiful road in the kingdom, but I had to admit this stonework might’ve actually been better.
Baffled, we followed the road.
“Hang on... Is that the village? It even has walls!”
“Yeah, it makes sense, since it’s so close to the Forsaken Zones. They gotta have something to keep the monsters out.”
Still, the closer we got, the more something began to feel off.
“Those walls are really high, though...” someone muttered.
Although they’d seemed normal from far away, now that we were closer, it was clear they were on par with a small city’s outer defenses. The scary part was that we still had a way to go before we reached the place.
“This is just a village, right?”
“That’s what the merchants said.”
After passing under two huge gates, we began walking through a strange settlement filled with large buildings. Market stalls selling food and goods lined the streets. This “village,” as the merchants had called it, was busier than some trade cities I’d been to.
“There’s no way this used to be a barren wasteland.”
“It’s definitely hard to believe.”
The rumors were true, at least. And honestly, this place was more than good enough to serve as our outpost near the Forsaken Zones. They had an inn for us to stay at and shops to sell off our loot.
“Well, should we go introduce ourselves to the mayor?”
Neglecting to greet the leader of a place that still called itself a village could get us in real trouble. It was just something you had to do. It wouldn’t have been expected if the place was classified as a town or city. If you tried to do it in those situations, you’d have probably been turned away.
“We should probably go, seeing as they’re calling this place a village still. According to the rumors, the guy who built the place is Marquess Arvale’s son.”
“Hang on, the one with the Sword Mastery Gift? The one they call the Battle Lord or Warlord or whatever?”
I wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d built this village just to plunder the Forsaken Zones himself.
Guess he’s as bloodthirsty as his dad.
“He must look like a total wild man if he loves to hunt monsters.”
We were still chatting when a kid who couldn’t have been more than thirteen walked up to us with a smile. His gentle demeanor suggested he wouldn’t hurt a fly.
What’s this kid want?
“Greetings, adventurers. I’m Luke Arvale, the mayor here.”
Huh?!
✦ ✦ ✦
One day, a group of four adventurers arrived in the village—the first group of adventurers to visit, actually. I guessed they’d heard the rumors and had planned to use the village as a forward base to explore the Forsaken Zones.
“Hey Ally, how’s the dungeon development going?”
Ally, the dungeon fairy and current dungeon master, puffed her chest out proudly. “Super great, thanks to youuu!”
Incidentally, I’d recently put in a direct underground tunnel that led from my house to her place on the bottom floor.
“Oh em gee, babes! I totally pumped the dungeon up five levels! I made the difficulty ramp up nice and smooth, and I even dropped some suuuper tough bosses in there. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya!”
Originally, the dungeon had consisted of only two levels. She told me she’d also fixed the issue with the first floor having way too many traps and monsters. That’d been a bit much for a starter level.
“Yeah, it’s better this way. People will stay longer.”
The longer people stayed in the dungeon, the more Dungeon Points she racked up. If it were too hard right from the start, they’d give up early and she wouldn’t get many points.
“Do you think it’s okay if we start letting people in, then? There are adventurers in the village now.”
“It’s totally ready!”
“All right. I’ll ask them if they’d like to give it a try.”
Now that I had Ally’s permission, I headed out to meet the adventurers. They’d probably just finished their walk through the fields and had reached the front gate.
“That must be them.”
Adventurers usually wore lighter gear, unlike soldiers, allowing them to pass for travelers from a distance. Based on the description Saten had given me—a group of three men and one woman—I knew this had to be them. I didn’t see anyone else matching that description.
“We should probably go, seeing as they’re calling this place a village still. According to the rumors, the guy who built the place is Marquess Arvale’s son.”
“Hang on, the one with the Sword Mastery Gift? The one they call the Battle Lord or Warlord or whatever?”
“He must look like a total wild man if he loves to hunt monsters.”
Yeah, I’ll pretend I didn’t hear any of that.
“Greetings, adventurers. I’m Luke Arvale, the mayor here.”
✦ ✦ ✦
After the adorable young boy greeted us with a bright smile, we all froze.
Hang on, he’s the village mayor?! And the son of Marquess Arvale?!
He wasn’t what we expected at all. The fact that he was a kid was shocking enough, but he seemed so soft and gentle that we couldn’t believe he was that bloodthirsty warlord’s son.
Surely he hadn’t come all the way out here just to meet us. He must’ve just happened to be nearby. Still, how had he known we were adventurers? We’d had to show identification at the gate, so we mentioned we were adventurers then, but there was no way that information could’ve reached him already.
We instinctively dropped to one knee, baffled. Even ruffian adventurers like us knew to show proper respect in front of the son of the domain, regardless of whether he was a kid. One wrong move and you could’ve lost your head.
But the boy raised a hand to stop us. “Oh, there’s no need for those kinds of formalities! Anyway, I’m guessing you came here because of the Forsaken Zones?”
Apparently, he wasn’t big on ceremony.
Honestly, that was a relief. We weren’t the most savvy group when it came to etiquette, and it seemed like he was straightforward too. The other odd thing about him was that he didn’t even have a hint of that arrogance most nobles had.
I liked him already.
“Yeah, we’re hoping to use the village as our base while we explore the Forsaken Zones.”
“All right. Well, we just got an inn up and running recently, so please feel free to use it.”
A village this developed only recently got an inn? That’s kind of surprising. Where were all those merchants staying until now?
“Oh, and I have a suggestion if you’re interested.”
“What’s that?”
And then the boy surprised us even more.
“How would you like to try exploring a dungeon?”