The sky was overcast with low-hanging clouds that morning. Still, I was in no position to take a day off just because of bad weather, so I headed for the dungeon. Once I’d stepped outside of my apartment, I took the precaution of securing my door with two separate locks. I’d heard it was common for empty houses to be robbed in this neighborhood.
Even though I was in the capital, the public security was lacking. There were tons of substance abusers, robbers, and burglars around here. The innkeeper of the Swindoll Con Inn had said that government affairs were at a standstill thanks to the king’s curse, but apparently, that wasn’t actually the case.
The curse that Michelle had cast was mild and would only intermittently give him headaches or stomachaches. She insisted that it wasn’t serious enough to prevent him from doing his job.
“Chichi and the king are just living it up. That’s all,” she’d said bitterly, and it had turned out to be true. The rumors said that there were plans to erect a new castle for the queen. Upon the ostentation-obsessed queen’s request, it’d be a gaudy one at that. There’s a literal war going on at the border—what are they thinking?
As I briskly walked toward the dungeon, I spotted a familiar face down a back alley. It was one of my regulars, the porter Rigal. A group of three boorish-looking men and women were surrounding him.
What’s going on there?
I quietly approached the entrance to the back alley.
“Just hand it over already. You’ve got a few coins in there, don’t you?”
“Well...”
“Hurry it up. Don’t piss us off.”
It looked like Rigal was getting a shakedown. If I described it like that, it just sounded like a petty offense, but this was no different than a robbery. Rigal had no relatives, and he worked his hind off as a porter. And in the midst of such a life of struggle, he was a regular who’d visit my shop while clutching his slender allowance.
I wanted to help him out somehow, but I couldn’t use my monster cards or Rocket Bombs in the middle of town. Oh right, I have just the thing.
Product name: Snap Ball
Description: A toy that lets out a loud sound if you throw it against the ground or step on it. It’s a type of firework. It casts the spell Fear within a fifty-centimeter radius of the explosion.
Price: Fifty rims (Ten pieces)
I quietly sneaked up behind the group and threw a Snap Ball on the ground.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
“Eek!”
“Augh!!!”
It was a small sphere only one centimeter in diameter, but it made a satisfying racket. The hoodlums who’d been surrounding Rigal jumped up and scampered off. Looks like the Fear spell is pretty effective. But to think of robbing someone first thing in the morning... This was probably also a result of the decline in public order, huh?
“Rigal, it’s all right now,” I said, extending a hand to the boy, who was slumped on the ground.
“M-Mister Yahagi...” Rigal was shaking. It seemed he’d gotten caught in the cross fire of that Fear spell.
“Here, eat this,” I said, taking out the grape-flavored Powdered Drink Mix. “It should calm you down.”
It could lift spells, so it was likely to be effective against Fear too. You were supposed to dissolve it in water and drink it, but I had neither a cup nor any water on hand. He would have to take it just like that.
“I-I’m sorry...” He then erupted into a coughing fit. If you lapped up the Powdered Drink Mix without any water, sometimes you ended up choking on it. After a while, the color returned to Rigal’s face.
“Well? Have you calmed down?”
“Yes, thanks to you,” he said with a small sigh.
“Does stuff like that happen to you a lot?”
“I’m a kid, so I’m not usually a target, but robbers come out all the time at night. So, I can’t go outside once it gets dark.”
“It’s a tough world out there.”
I looked toward the workers who were coming and going along the road. There seemed to be more adventurers around lately. Previously, few people had been willing to live the risky life of an adventurer, but this society had rotted to the point that people couldn’t afford to be choosy anymore.
“There have recently been more people entering the dungeon who don’t even wield body-strengthening or attack magic,” Rigal said. “Well, I’m in the same boat...” Unlike Meryl and Mira, Rigal didn’t possess any combat abilities. Yet, he had to do his best to live without any parents, even though he was a boy not even fifteen years of age.
“Take this as a protective charm,” I said, giving him my favorite monster card.
“What? But this is the SR-rank card Turtle Ninja!” he exclaimed. “No way! I can’t accept this!”
“It’s fine. Just take it. I can’t let any of my regulars die on me.” If this cheerful Turtle Ninja could protect this young boy, then it was much better that he had it instead of me.
“Thank you.”
“If you feel like you’re in danger even for a second, you better use it,” I told him. “Don’t think of it as a waste. Living is more important than anything else.”
“Yes, I promise. I want to compete in the next Mobile Forces tournament, after all.”
“That’s the spirit. Oh yeah, Minerva said something like if you improved your mana management skills, you could possibly wield some new magic.”
“Really?”
“That’s right. The only magic I can use are my ‘store, open’ and ‘store, close’ spells, but he told me I might be able to use an elemental magic one day. It’d be cool if I could eventually use Fire Magic or something.”
“Then I need to study hard too,” he said, determined. “Learning to move Gungalf around freely and even gaining magic on top of that would be a dream come true!”
“Right?”
Rigal was still a young boy, but he had the strong will needed to make it in the dungeon.
“All right! We should get going.”
Rigal and I then left for the dungeon, walking side by side.