Chapter 1
“Ahhhhhh- I’m really lost this time.” I stood there in the middle of the forest, holding nothing but a map. “Which way am I even supposed to hold it?”
I was flipping the map over and over, trying to figure out which side was correct. This was the first time I was using a map after all, of course I would be confused.
“But man… I finally made it to the Dungeon.”
I, Retto Frei, had set out at the age of 18 seeking adventure. I had been training, ever since the age of 8, sometimes with a master and sometimes alone. But finally, all that hard work and effort payed off. I finally made it here.
“My adventure is finally starting!” with a giant smile on my face, I looked up at the sky and laughed.
The sun was shining high above, barely any white masses in sight. Even though I was inside the Dungeon, the sky looked just as real as before I entered. I wondered why this was, but gave up after I realized I had no idea.
First, I need to figure out how this map works.
Changing my focus back to the map, I started walking in the direction I thought was right.
“It’s this way right…No, this way.”
I had no idea where I was situated on the map, or even if I held it the right way.
“Ahh, who cares, I’ll just go this way.”
I just decided on a random direction and was ready to head off into the sunset. But, first, I needed to worry about the sudden growls I heard coming from behind. From personal experience I knew what kind of growls they were, but what interested me was the species the growls were originating from. With a glance I immediately realized what they were.
“Woah! Black Hounds! So cool!”
Giant monsters called black hounds stood atop a small hill. An entire pack of them no less. They looked like a larger and more violent version of wolves that I had seen back home.
“I heard they would be on the first floor, but encountering them so soon…I must really be lucky!” The smile didn’t fade from my face. I was just too excited to finally be in the Dungeon.
“GRRRRR!!!” The growl came from them again.
Their eyes shone red like the color of blood due to their immense bloodlust. Saliva dripped from their open mouths, splashing on the floor, and changing the hue of the grass due to the liquidity.
“Come!” I yelled with a grin on my face.
This is what I trained for. Finally a battle to test my strength.
I was excited, I could barely hold back my urge to throw the first attack. But tragedy struck in a single moment. The sound of something much more frightening than that of the monsters, a sound which immediately displaced the smile off of my face appeared.
“Kruuugh-“
It was the sound of an empty stomach. Worst of all, it was the sound of my empty stomach.
“Shit, I thought I felt weaker for some reason. I didn’t eat enough before I left.” My hands immediately dropped from their previous position, and landed on my stomach, gripping it. “I can’t fight like this. I’ll faint due to hunger.”
My head dropped downwards as well, and my eyes closed due to disappointment. However, the black hounds didn’t care, they slowly approached me, keeping their eyes sharply on my neck.
The next second, a black hound jumped at me, its fangs aimed at my neck.
“Ahh-“
A quick duck and the monster flew over me. If I were to evade even a second later, it would already be over.
“Wait, I’m hungry, I can’t fight you.” I said to the black hounds, but their attacks had already started. I evaded them as well as I could, but I wouldn’t hold out for long.
I was looking forward to fighting them as well…It can’t be helped.
With a sense of disappointment, I took off running. Because of the hunger, there was no way I could fight them, and the best remaining option was to just flee.
The monsters wouldn’t just give me up however, the pack quickly started running after me. The entire pack was chasing only me.
Is this what it feels like to be on an adventure! Hahaha!
Running through the forest, evading branches, and holes, I had already crossed a meaningful amount of land. The chase was still ongoing, even though 20 minutes had already passed.
Aren’t they getting tired? I’m running low on energy myself. Ahhhhhh! Why didn’t I take some food with me when I left. I clutched my head as I thought this.
But then, suddenly a small figure entered my vision. This figure was in the sunlight, kneeling down and collecting some flowers. As the distance shrunk, the silhouette of a small girl became visible.
“Hey, watch out!”
The girl looked in my direction and noticed the black hounds that were chasing after me. Her eyes instantly teared up, as the skin on her face darkened due to shock.
“AHHHHHHHHH!” She screamed, her body frozen on the ground.
“Move!” I yelled at her, but to no avail.
If I don’t stop, this girl will be attacked by the monsters. I guess I have no choice.
I stopped the momentum I had, and my feet sled across the ground as I came to a grinding halt. There was nowhere I could go. If I evaded, they would definitely attack the girl.
“It seems we will fight in the end anyway.”
At the same time my hands went up into the air, getting ready for a fight, my teeth showed themselves as well.
The black hounds all jumped at me flashing their razor sharp teeth, their eyes focused on my neck.
“Fire Punch”
I took a swing and punched. Fire exited my hands in the direction I was hitting, and the orange flames flew at the monsters that were in the air. The flames engulfed the monsters, and the sound of their flesh crisping could be heard as they got burnt by my attack.
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
“Haha, that was a nice hit.” I laughed as the monsters all dropped to the ground after the attack. Even the trajectory of their jumps had been halted by the attack. I couldn’t help but smile due to happiness. However, it was a short lived pleasure.
“Kruuugh-“
“Ahh! My stomach.” The sound appeared again, and the hunger with it. I dropped to my knees as my hands gripped at it. “I’m so hungry…”
The girl was still on the floor, unable to believe what she had just witnessed. Her eyes were fully open, I was not sure if it was because of surprise or shock.
“That was easier than I thought it would be. Kruuugh-.”
Those black hounds, I imagined them to be stronger than that. Honestly, I’m kind of disappointed.
Sulking wouldn’t get me anywhere since my hunger just wouldn’t go away. I slowly walked up to the girl that was now focusing her attention solely at me.
“Do you have any food?” I asked the girl.
Her eyes opened even wider due to the surprise, however, she managed to answer.
“Wow Mister, you’re so strong.” Eyes full of admiration appeared, and the shocked expression vanished from her face. “I was so scared when I saw the black hounds approaching, but you beat them with a single attack. How did you get so strong?”
“I trained a lot.”
“I don’t think I would be able to do an attack like that even if I trained. I would be too afraid to move after I see the black hounds. You’re amazing mister.”
The girl ignored my question and went on to create some of her own. I wasn’t really interested, I just wanted to know if the girl had some food or not. I couldn’t continue my journey like this after all.
“Wow, what was that attack?”
“It was Fire Punch. My dad taught it to me. Enough with the questions already, do you have any food or not?” I was very hungry, if I couldn’t eat, I don’t know how much longer I could continue on.
“Food? My mom owns a restaurant in the town nearby, do you want to come with me?”
“Woohooo, a restaurant? I’ll come, I’ll come. Let’s go!” I swung my fists in the air, ready to depart, but the girl lowered herself to the floor and picked up a basket that was next to her.
“Wait, I need to finish collecting flowers for mother.”
“Hahhh?! Can’t that wait?”
“No! I promised her I would collect some flowers for her today!”
The girl looked like she wouldn’t budge until she collected her flowers, so my legs just dropped to the ground and I waited until she was finished. After which she led me to the nearby town and into her mother’s restaurant.
XXX
“Welcome, Welco- Oh, Sara, you’re back. How did it go? Did you collect a lot of flowers?”
As we walked into the restaurant, a middle aged chubby woman appeared. It was probably this girl’s mother.
“Mom!”
The girl ran up to the woman and hugged her as tight as she could, before she started speaking with tears in her eyes.
“I was collecting flowers, and then suddenly, I got attacked by some monsters. I was so scared, I thought I wouldn’t get to see you again.”
“Oh my!!! Are you okay Sara?! Did you get hurt anywhere?!”
The mother started looking through the girl’s body, searching for any visible wounds she may have received. Her Panic was clear as day.
“Nnn” the girl shook her head. “This mister saved me!” she pointed towards me as she said this.
“Wooow! It’s actually a real restaurant!” I wasn’t paying much attention to them and was mostly just observing my surroundings. I still had a hard time believing I was in the Dungeon.
“He saved you?”
“Mhm! He threw a punch, and suddenly fire came out of his fist, and then the monsters went like ‘crisp’ and they burned up in that fire. It ended in an instant. Haha.”
“I see. So he’s the one I need to thank for keeping my daughter safe. Sara, bring the flowers to the back and lay down in bed. I’ll come to you soon. I don’t want you to work today.”
“But Mom, I’m fine, nothing happened to me.”
“Just listen to me today. Now, I need to do something before I come to you. Be sure to lay down in bed, you hear me?!”
“…Yes.”
The girl walked away, but before she left my field of view, she turned around and waved me goodbye.
“She’s a good girl isn’t she?” The mother came to me and asked.
“I guess. Listen, I heard this was a restaurant, isn’t there like some food I could eat here?!”
Her face turned to shock for an instant, before going back to normal.
“You only care about the food huh… This is indeed a restaurant. You can eat whatever you want today, it’s on the house. Consider it a reward for saving my daughter.”
“Yuhoo! Food! Food!” I ran over to the counter and started looking through the menu. “I’ll take the fish, the steak, the…” There were so many foods to choose from, and my hunger was so large. I wanted to try everything.
“I’ll be with you shortly. I just need to check up on Sara, in the meantime, choose what you want to eat.”
“Ehhhh?! I have to wait?!”
The mother just looked back and smiled as she left the room. She came back some 5 minutes later, with a washed face and red eyes. “Alright, what do you want to eat?” she asked with a smile on her face.
XXX
“You are an adventurer right?” The woman asked whilst I was eating.
“Yes! How’d you know?!”
I haven’t said anything to the girl, so how did she know I was an adventurer?
“Come on now. Your clothes and the fact that you can fight are obvious signs. Not just that, I know the people that live in this village, and I’ve never seen you before.”
“I see…Can I have seconds?”
I already finished my meal. For my first dish I ordered noodles, which I completely devoured, but, I was still starving.
“This food is delicious. I can’t stop eating.”
“Well, if you say it like that, be my guest. I need to offer you a reward for helping my daughter after all.”
I ordered more random food and watched the back of the woman as she cooked.
“I’m surprised you actually came in this direction. We don’t usually see many adventurers around here.”
“Really? It doesn’t look like a bad area though.”
“That’s not the reason.” She finished the food and set it down in front of me before she continued. “The gates to the abyss are in the complete opposite direction. Usually when adventurers come here, it’s to rest or meet their families.”
“Hmm- That’s interesting…” I focused on my food, not paying too much attention to what she was saying.
“Why did you come here?”
“I just ended up here. Didn’t really have the intention of coming here.”
“Wait! Do you even know what the gates to the abyss are?”
“Nope. Never heard of them.”
The woman planted her arms on her face out of sheer disappointment. It was clear even to me that she was let down by something.
“I can’t believe it. I’ve never met an adventurer before that doesn’t even know of the gates to the abyss…”
“It isn’t that bad. If it would be important, I would know about it.”
“It’s really important! It’s the only way to go down between floors.”
“Heh?! That is important!”
The woman just clutched her face even harder. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“Look, I’ll explain it to you. But I don’t know too much either. There’s only one way to go down to the next floor, and that is through a huge opening in the floor called a gate to the abyss. It’s very dangerous, so only adventurers that are strong and want to go deeper attempt it. But I bet you want to go…”
“Haha. It’s good I heard about this before something bad happened.”
“This is no time to be joking around. If you didn’t know something as basic as that, I bet you don’t know how most of the stuff here works. It could get dangerous for someone that doesn’t know the rules and laws of the dungeon. Keep that in mind.”
“Don’t worry. I’m strong, I’ll be fine. If something happens, I’ll just fight my way out.”
“He’s right mom. He’s very strong, you should have seen him earlier.” The small girl appeared from a corner of the room. It seems like she had been listening in on our conversation.
“Sara? What are you doing here?! I told you to stay in bed!”
“But I’m okay Mom!”
“That isn’t important, you should res-“
“BOOM”
The sound of a door violently crashing against a wall could be heard coming from the entrance. The sound of wood cracking accompanied it as well.
Hmm? What was that?
I looked behind me and saw that two men, dressed in black, wearing tinted glasses entered the restaurant. Their faces carrying creepy smiles.
“We’re here for the weekly pay Hilda.” The two men walked closer to the counter, glancing at me as I ate.
What’s these guy’s deal?
“T-there weren’t many customers this week, so…”
“Not many customers? You know the boss won’t accept an excuse like that. You should just pay the weekly amount. You have money saved up don’t you?”
“That…”
The small girl walked behind her mother, pulling the back of her skirt. Her eyes were slowly beginning to tear up.
“Is this perhaps your daughter? When did she become so cute?” One of the men tried grabbing the girl, but the mother slapped away his hand before he could touch her.
“Don’t touch Sara!” the mother screamed. She raised her voice, which seemingly irritated the two men that were there. Their faces twisted ever so slightly displaying their irritation.
“Mom! I’m scared!”
“We’ll be back Hilda! If you don’t have the money until then! You know what happens.”
The two men gave up before they could raise a bigger ruckus and left the restaurant, not before eyeing me up and smirking.
Seriously, what’s the deal with these two creeps? I just want to enjoy my meal in peace.
“Huhh…” a deep exhale could be heard, as the woman dropped to her knees. She was clearly shaken, even I could see that. Her daughter hugged her from behind and small tears left her eyes.
“I was so scared mommy. Who were those people?”
The mother looked shook. For a moment, she didn’t know how to respond to the words of her daughter, she let the mask of calmness slip off her face, showing her worry to her daughter.
“You don’t have to worry Sara, they were only friends of mine. I kind of overreacted didn’t I? I just didn’t want anyone touching my cute angel. I’ll have to apologize to them the next time I see them.”
Even with her best efforts, the mother couldn’t fully hide the unease, and Sara seems to have noticed as well.
“Go back to your room sweetie. I’ll come soon.”
With faded breath, the girl slowly walked towards her room, occasionally glancing towards us. Before she left my sight, she turned around and bowed.
“I forgot to say it earlier, but, Thank you for everything, Mister.”
“You’re welcome.” I responded to her.
Afterwards, when her child was no longer there, the mom bowed as well, as deep as she could.
“Once again, thank you for saving Sara. I don’t know what I would have done if she would have gotten hurt.”
“You don’t need to thank me. Could you instead make me more food?”
“Even after eating that much, you’re still hungry…But, I am sorry, I need to close up for the day. I hope you understand.” A bow followed her statement again.
“Really?! Ahh, I thought I would be able to eat more…”
“I’m sorry for the inconvenience. I hope you understand…”
“Is it because of those people? Why didn’t you do something to protect yourself?”
“…”
“Why didn’t you try to fight them? You had weapons next to you. You could have used a knife. The victory could have been yours if you just defended yourself.”
“Don’t joke. I’m not like you. I’m not strong, I could never do something like that.”
If that’s what she believes, then this ends here.
I stood up and was leaving the restaurant when a quivering voice spoke out to me.
“…I wasn’t always like this. In the past, I didn’t care who stood in my way, I wasn’t afraid to fight for my dream and what I believed in. I wasn’t such a coward…But, that all changed when they took away my husband.”
I turned around, looked at her and saw that she was willing to speak. I sat down on an empty seat and listened.
“It was about a year ago. Me and my husband were leading this business like we had done for around 10 years. But on an unexpected day, those people showed up. They demanded we pay them protection money and that they would leave us alone then. My husband declined and argued with them… I still remember how they dragged him out of the restaurant.” Her tears started flowing down as she continued with her story. “…That was the last time I spoke to him. One week later they found him in a lake without breath. It was clear who did it, but I was so scared. I didn’t want something to happen to Sara, so I stayed quiet. I know I should have done something, but who would put their daughter in danger? Who would stand against people when they had so much to lose? I don’t care if I die, but I want my daughter to live a happy life. I don’t want her to suffer because of my decisions…”
“Sob, Sob”
Wailing reverberated in the restaurant as the woman completely broke down in tears, her arms wiped and wiped, but the tears never stopped. Her skin reddened as she tried hiding her pain and fear, the pain surely following closely behind.
“I don’t want Sara to grow up without any parents! I know my husband can’t rest in peace when his killers are out there, but I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t do anything.”
“Sob, Sob”
She broke down, telling me everything. I wasn’t especially close to her, and she probably didn’t even care about me that much. But the emotions she had kept bottled up probably broke free when I asked her about it.
She can’t show this side to her daughter or anyone else. She probably had to hide these feelings for a while now.
“…Where can I find them?”
Without thinking, she answered my question. Her emotions must be clouding her judgement. Not like it matters much anyway. I would find them either way.
“T-they are usually in some bar downtown. I don’t know the name of it.”
I stood up and walked out the door. The night sky was already visible to the naked eye, as the sun headed off to slumber.
With rage in my heart, I walked to where I believed I could find them.
-Chapter 1 End