"I wish the stew had a little more pepper", the small wooden bowl nearly empty along with the 3/4ths eaten bread. With the water long gone I had lost the desire to wholly finish the meal, and I already put off work enough. I go to stand up in a rather dramatic movement due to the slow pace of it all. My main weapon in hand I move back through the tables in a different direction towards the main door and stop. "...Fuck", I left my sword in my room. I reach to the left side of my waist to confirm this horrific news. Unfortunately. It's true. All the time and practice I put into my morning routine has done nothing, and now I must brave the stairs twice more to get to work.

" The things I do for....whatever I'm doing this for", I turn around yet again and trug back towards to my room with more force than was necessary bumping into every other table, one which was now lightly occupied. I apologized but didn't stop, these steps must be conquered now BEFORE IT'S TO LATE. One step at a time. First, second, third, etc. I made it past halfway before the unthinkable happened. I started to lose my balance. The step creaked loudly as I started leaning more and more back, but in quick move of pure reflex that no one else has.....I leaned forward. The lightly plated boots came crashing down, crushing any more defiance the steps may hold and I can now continue the climb. The stairs traversed twice in one morning is crazy, even for me, and after I retrieve the sword slumbering within my chambers I must descend these planks of wood once again only with added danger with the added weight of the weapon. I return to my room to find the sword where I had both left it and forgot it. Right next the head of the bed. With the basic short arming sword retrieved and equipped I can now continue my journey, that is until I come face to floor with the descending planes once again. "...A true rival to my skills".

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With hazardous terrain out of the way (for now) I find myself ,obviously, outside the Inn in the hot morning sun. "It's about to reach the summit of the mountain", armed with this knowledge I now have a rough estimate of the time. These streets are unassuming enough, no details standout, there's just a few people, and the journey to work is long. You're probably wondering what it is I do for work. Yes you, the reader, didn't you read the chapter title? This is your tutorial after all. But I'm sure you can make an educated guess with the crappy armor our nameless protagonist is wearing along with the out of place Greek helmet that doesn't suit half-plate armour. The lesson there is that you work with what you get and you, oh look at that were already at the edge of town. The residential area gave way to wide open valley with sweeping meadows, much of which is farmland, and mountain wall at end casting long looming shadows with the morning sun behind it. As I follow the cobblestone path leading to this wall I can see my destination from here. A simple hole supported with wooden beams in square like shape, but of course I'm getting ahead of myself as the destination is still a good walk away. As I approach this mine one can see the small pull carts outside, some of which still has cut down stone and miscellaneous metals. And sitting by the entrance is a wheelbarrow laying next to a small area most likely dedicated to chiseling that stone down to a more manageable state. All of this is shadowed in the by the mountain this mine digs into and blocked by its morning shadow. The depth of the mine is much darker, as I can only see a good few feet past the entrance.

Unfortunately my objective lies inside this cold, dark mine and I won't be paid until it's been dealt with. Now if you haven't guessed as to why the protagonist is here yet here is the answer. In this world of intelligent humanoids there also resides various beasts, some call them monsters, that are equal to us in the food chain by sheer destructive power alone. As such there are 'monster hunters' that deal with these problems the same way a normal hunter would deal with animals. Kill them, take various components from them like skin and meat, and sell what's left off to who wants it. In this context these hunters sound no different than normal ones. Unfortunately these beasts rival people by either sheer number and/or by capability to survive as such they can be.....well a tad bit more difficult to deal with. And for this reason monster hunters can save a lot of people in the process just by doing their job. Almost every localised hero in this world became famous by doing this job and even more benefits went their way once the fame set in. And now here we are, isekai'd to a time and place filled with would be heroes searching for fame and fortune, crestfallen warriors either out of the job or lost within themselves, and with a war around the corner who knows what the outcome is. But for right now our nameless protagonist is hunting "cave dwellers".

Cave dwellers are a more gangly, taller goblin in terms of appearance. Their the same height as an adult male in length but they don't usually fully extend their legs unless their lunging. They are also stronger than what their skinny form reveals, making their blunt claws effective weapons. You can usually find them in packs between 3 and 6 members making dealing with an infestation rather difficult as they tend to just run away and return later.

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"I hate my job"

I finally make my way into the tunnel where the dark greets me like an old friend, but it doesn't stay for long as it gives way to a glow coming from the wall. Glowstones are used for light in this mine, their intended purpose can be inferred from their name, and there total value can be inferred from this situation. Many a stone lights the way in this almost straight tunnel in a repeating pattern, and the pressure of the earth around me has finally hit as breathing feels a little more taxing. The tunnel soon gives way to a chamber not that much bigger than the tunnel leading to it but it does make up for its lack of detail with what lies on the other end. An opening on the other side of this chamber where one can see stone bricks making up an enclosed hallway running horizontal to the mineshaft. As I approach I can see where they obviously broke open the wall from this side as pieces of the wall lie on the ground. I peer into the hallway looking left and right surveying the area before I move ahead. "...Hmm claw marks, must've been eager or hungry" the various indents in the stone lead off to the left into the dark. I look at the chamber one more to look for any remains of any kind and see nothing, they cleaned it out. I double back a grab a glowstone from the wall and make my way back to the dungeon, the light doesn't help much but reveals the chiseled stone pillars graciously spread apart from one another along the walls. So obviously I go right cause it's not like there are any prisoners waiting for me, might as well explore while I'm here. I follow the path for bit but stop as I notice the path starts ascending noticeably. "Probably leads to the actual entrance" with that in mind I turn around and walk back to where I was and keep walking in the direction where a quest marker would point. I don't make it very far as I reach a set of heavy looking stone doors. "Elaborately engraved stone doors in a dungeon whose entrance is probably somewhere on, if not on top of, the mountain.......oh ya it's definitely a tomb" the obvious gash marks across the lower part of doors as well as a lack of marks on the ground tells me that....this is a push not pull. Setting my spear against the wall and bracing myself against the door I push one of the doors open with a grind of stone on stone and quickly grab my weapon and stand in the doorway. The light of the stone reveals that in the center of the room a large stone coffin sits, the finer details of which I can't make out from this distance but there is detail nonetheless. Silence greets me, nothing moves.

Until of course I unceremoniously toss the stone into the room at the end of the coffin. Many a shrek responded to the action as I took a step into the room and look at the left corner of the room closest to the door huddled together is a pack of monstrous ghoul like creatures, three of them to be precious. "Why so few?" the creatures attack in a, literal, blind rage and charge at me. With my spear braced in both hands and my body angled I thrust the weapon forward as the first one charged impaling it through its thinly midsection. I bring the spear back along with its blood and take a step back and reset my position. The next two circled around the retreating one and attack me at once. They miss as I take another step back and swing the bladed end of the spear and lightly grazing one of them. The other jumped and attempted to mount me as I swung my spear. The added weight swaying us both around until we collided with the far right wall. I drop my spear and grab the creature with both hands and fling it over my shoulders where as the other was running up to attack. I reach for my blade and manage to draw it in time to leave the creature a deep slash across its front as it then hits the wall with a thud. Taking two steps forward I raise my weapon to the point the blade was behind me and brought it back down with enough force to imbed it into the creature's skull, finishing the fight. I heave the weapon from the head of the creature and observe my surroundings. The one that I slashed and collided with the wall lie still against it, the one whose head I split lie at my feet, while the first one is back in the corner huddled in itself. That one I go out of my way to behead.

Since the sheath of my sword is just a loop of leather attached to a belt I don't worry about the mess as I return it to the leather belt. And with a head as a show of proof my work is done. Now as for that coffin, atop a stone slab lies a figure made out of stone with a sword braced with both hands and placed on the body with the tip of blade between the feet. The sides of of the coffin reveal more carvings as some sort of army both of which face the bottom portion toward the feet "...or to the door" there are signs of the dwellers climbing the coffin probably not knowing what it what was as it doesn't look like it has been opened. But it never hurt to check. I place my hands on one side of the lid but I stop myself "If I push this off it could permanently damage it" I begin to rethink if I should open it "I could get away with it, I shouldn't care anyway...but" I stand back up "I guess I never change huh", the voice coming from the man sounded with more life than before. He collected his things and his bloody show of a job well done and headed back out leaving the stone, the corpses of the monsters, and an untampered tomb behind.