The dirt road to Dellwick glistened beneath the sun. Early morning showers had turned the trail, created by the comings and goings of carts, people and animals, into shallow puddles. Along this path, five adventurers, packed in a wagon filled to the brim with their equipment and supplies, rode into the village.

Out of all of them, only Sylphia was awake when the outer rim of thatched houses came in sight. She rubbed her reddened eyes and helped herself to a large yawn.

Ah, I can't do it... I need my comfy bed or I just can't sleep.

The moment she tried to lean her head into the soft cloth covering the sides and top of the wagon, the entire vehicle jolted, downwards then upwards, bashing it against the metal frame.

"Hng!" Sylphia recoiled in pain. Fuck!

Sitting beside her, Rika awoke from the sound of her anguish. She swivelled her eyes left and right, still hazy and half-open, muttering, "Hmh, huuhn? Sylphie, are you awake already? Where are we?"

One by one, the other adventurers stirred to life.

Across the wagon, a swordsman stretched out his arms and let out a groan. The set of steel armor he wore around his body clanked together every time he moved. "Hnng? Are we there yet?"

Beside him, the other adventurer that joined them, a female archer, woke from her slumber. She pulled the hood off her face, turned sideways and looked out the back. "I think so," she said, letting out a subdued yawn. Beneath the hooded cloak, she wore only light clothes, made mostly of fur and leather, that left her belly, among others, exposed.

At the far end of the wagon, Letty leaned her head onto the wagon's frame. As before, she wrapped herself within a large mantle, but this time, she also had a wide-brimmed hat to cover her eyes, which, to Sylphia's surprise, made her resemble a witch, despite, in reality, being a scribe.

Strange.

"I can see a village over there..." Sylphia pointed out the front of the wagon.

"Ooh!" Rika scooted over, squeezing her into the corner.

"Ack!" She tried to push her away, but she would not budge. "Get off!"

"Sylphie!" Her eyes gleamed. "That's it! We're here!"

The swordsman stood up and carefully lurched forward before peeking out the front himself. "Ahh, Dellwick," he said, "a fine place." He then turned to Rika and grinned. "You should definitely try their local tea brew! They add in juuuust a bit of honey, and it just takes it to a whole 'nother level!"

"Ohoo! I didn't know that!" Rika clasped her hands over her chest. "I can't wait to try it!"

By the time their wagon entered the village, the spry redhead had calmed down. She moved to the opposite side to sightsee and chat with the two other adventurers.

With her personal space finally restored, Sylphia caught her breath and relaxed for a bit. She thought of waking Letty up, but when she turned to look, her Master was already awake.

Eh? When did she wake up? She didn't even say a thing either. She sighed. She's not very chummy, is she?

Wrapping her words in a rosy melody, Sylphia greeted the girl in the witch hat, "Letty, good morning!"

"Mm? Ah, g-good morning, Sylphie..."

"Hee hee."

"Hm...?"

"Ah, it's nothing. I was just wondering if you've visited here before. You didn't seem all too excited to see the sights, after all."

"Ah, yes, I have. Once before, a long time ago."

"Huh... as part of your job?"

"Eh? N-no... I wasn't a scribe yet at that point..."

"Hoh... I see."

"It was... pretty different back then."

"Hmm?" She cocked her head. Actually, how old is she, anyway? She looks like she might be in her late teens still... Come to think of it, how old is Rika? Geez, I don't know how old anyone is! Snapping out of it, she then idly said, "It must have been a really long time ago..."

"W-well... yes, but not just that..."

She tilted her head to the other side. "Hm?"

"It used to be more cheerful around here... there used to be a lot more people living in the village too."

"Eh? You mean the place is shrinking? Is there some sort of epidemic on the loose!?"

"E-eh!? N-no! Please keep your voice down... someone might hear you..."

"Ah." She covered her mouth with both hands. "Showwy," her muffled voice squeezed out from between her fingers.

Letty sighed. "No... a few years back, I heard the village started having problems with bandits."

"Eh!? B-bandits!? And we just went on through the night, too!"

"Well, it should be safe for us adventurers, since we could protect ourselves... but farmers who don't have the money to hire someone to protect them occasionally find their produce stolen along the way."

"Eh... so people started leaving?"

"Well... no. Not just that."

"Eh? More stuff happened?"

Letty nodded. "The bandits weren't really the worst of it. There is hardly a place anywhere without a few bandits."

"Eh? Really...?" Sylphia felt a cold snap forming over her shoulder. What the heck is happening in this world...?

"But the problems kept piling up... I heard that taxes shot up and people started getting conscripted into the Lord's army for some reason."

"Ah... war, huh?"

"Well... no. I don't really know the details of that, but Londonium has been at peace for as long as I can remember..."

"Huh... then what?"

"Sorry, I don't know... but the end result is the same. Many people adored the former Lord and signed up in the army, but many did not return."

"Eh... where'd they go if there isn't a war...?"

The girl's mellow purple hair weaved back and forth as she shook her head. "I don't know..."

"Eh..."

"And then..."

"Eh!? There's more!?"

"Well... it's pretty recent, but... I'm thinking the village is still pretty gloomy since... well, that Lord they loved so much died a few months ago."

"Ehh...." Sylphia winced. What, is this village cursed, or something...?

"Mm..." The scribe gave a conclusive nod. Then, her eyes shot wide open. "Hm?"

"Hm?" Her eyes flickered.

"By the way..." Letty laid eyes of suspicion over her. "I notice you've taken to just calling me 'Letty'"

"Geh-" She winced. "D-did I...? Aha... ahaha."

The scribe chuckled. "I... actually, I like it better this way." Nodding her head down, her lips inched outwards.

Sylphia's heart thumped. That just now... was pretty cute. Averting her gaze, she then said, "Ah, okay. Then I'll call you that from now on."

"Mm." Letty nodded.

Though she still thought of her as an enigma, that tiny conversation seemed to peel off some of the layers. By the time their journey ended, she felt like she came to understand her quiet, unsociable, and yet sometimes rather cute, scribe of a master just a little bit more.

Their wagons stopped beside the village inn.

"Urk!" The moment the bagful of supplies fell on Sylphia's arms, her entire body hunched over just to stop it from falling through to the ground. Squeezing out a strained voice, she asked, "Why did we have to bring this much supplies again!? We were just going to raid the dungeon near this village, weren't we?"

"Just raiding?" Letty looked at Sylphia with disdain, off the side of her eyes. "There is no just about dungeon raids..."

Tsk. And you were so cute just a minute ago...

"Here you go!" Rika offloaded another bag and give it to the other adventurers.

Letty continued, "All dungeons are massive labyrinths, with all sorts of dangers hidden from within... It isn't possible for adventurers with the same rank as the dungeon they are clearing to finish in less than a week."

Sylphia winced. "A week!? W-wait, we do have a couple of Journeyman-level companions with us, and then there's you."

"Still not possibl- Hnn-!" The next bag fell on Letty's arms. "I-It's not just a question of strength... a dungeon is a test of an adventurer's entire ability to survive, think, and, of course, fight."

"Eeeeh!? Then why are they listed as Apprentice level quests? Can newbies really handle dungeons?"

Letty sighed. "That's why I was discouraging you from picking this request..."

Rika leapt off the wagon with the last of their baggage on their hand. "But then," she said, "doesn't it make you all the more excited?" Her eyes sparkled. "The insurmountable odds, the joy of discovery, the promise of great treasure if you succeed!"

Their master lowered her head and muttered to herself, "It's not a given that there's treasure in hidden within any dungeon, though..."

Their conversation continued as they walked to the inn with their bags.

"Speaking of which..." Sylphia said. "Isn't it strange that an Apprentice-level dungeon is left so close to this village? I mean, you'd expect all of the adventurers to just swarm the place and pick it clean, right?"

"No," Letty answered, without delay.

"Eh?"

"I'd just explained it to you..." Letty said, "dungeons aren't usually something that beginners can handle. So most apprentices usually keep to doing escort or hunting requests. The irony is, by the time they have accumulated enough experience to raid dungeons, they would have already reached the rank of Journeyman, and doing apprentice-level dungeons are already beneath them."

Sylphia cocked her head to one side. "But a couple of Journeymen accompanied us here..."

Her face blanked out, Letty slipped a doubtful glance towards the little girl.

Eh? Ah... Sylphia sighed. "Are... female members really that hard to come by...?"

"W-well... yes."

"They came as a mixed pair, though."

"Well, you don't see that very often... a-anyway, it's a good idea, in general, to team up as journeymen with apprentices, since they may eventually join your party when they reach the same status."

"Hmm, can't journeymen just party up with each other? Why does it have to be apprentices like us?"

"Well, they do, sometimes. But normally, parties of journeymen see each other as rivals for the same quests."

"Ah, I see..."

Meanwhile, Rika chatted happily along with their journeymen companions as happily as when they were in the guild house.

Speaking of which, we ended up picking these two not only because they came as a pair, but also because one of them is also a girl. The corner of Sylphia's mouth twitched. Now that reminds me, I sort of recall the guy getting really nasty stares from all around when we picked them... I wonder if he's going to be okay when we get back to the guild...?

As soon as they settled their baggage down at the inn, they immediately went out to scout the dungeon.

They followed a trail leading out of town and toward the entrance of the dungeon. Along the way, they came across a number of guards patrolling the trail itself and guarding the entry to the town.

"Why are there a bunch of guards here?" Sylphia asked.

Ruth, the swordsman, walked beside her and said, "It's to protect the town from monsters escaping the dungeon."

"Hm? Since they're here anyway, why don't they bother clearing the dungeon themselves?"

"Haha, no way."

Sylphia's eye twitched. Keeping herself in check, she replied politely, "What do you mean?"

Letty spoke up from behind them. "They can't handle clearing a dungeon..."

"Yeah." Ruth said, "There could be some powerful monsters hiding in that dungeon, right?." He shrugged. "Just because it is ranked as Apprentice-level doesn't mean it's a dungeon that just anyone can clear."

Isn't that exactly what Apprentice-level is supposed to mean? You guys should fix your damn system!

"Then why is it ranked Apprentice-level?" asked Sylphia.

"Dungeons are ranked based on the type of monsters that escape from it," Letty said. "plus the general area that surrounds it. Based on the reports I catalogued, the monsters escaping this dungeon are generally on the weak side, such as giant rats or poison lizards. Things that even untrained adults can handle by themselves. On top of that, the area is in a core territory of the Kingdom of Londinium, right beside a farming village that has never been seriously attacked for many decades. How else should I classify this dungeon?"

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Ah, so she's the one who decides the rankings. This is your fault then, Letty.

Ceressa, the archer, stepped forward and said, "But that isn't quite enough to measure the level of danger that lies within the dungeon itself."

"Yeah..." Ruth's voice took a low, breathy tone. "I know that all too well..." Looking down onto his hand, he rolled his fingers into a fist and said, "We once attempted to clear a Journeyman-level dungeon with Master Edgar and several other Journeyman-level adventurers..."

Ceressa looked away, hiding her glum expression from the rest.

"It turned out there was a nest of rock-face lizards inside, and they were the cause of the landslides that struck the town near it..."

At first, Sylphia hesitated, but curiosity soon got the better of her. "What happened?" she asked.

"We managed to kill the king and burn the nests..." Ruth closed his eyes and took a breath. "but we lost Mitchie that day..."

Ruth and Ceressa averted their gazes from one other.

Shiiit! What's with this depressing mood all of a sudden!? Argh, I really had to pry into that, didn't I!?

Ceressa then attempted to flip the mood, saying, "Heh, Ruth did so well that day that he instantly got a recommendation from Master Edgar to be a Journeyman." She gave a smug grin as she leaned closer to Sylphia. "That night, when we were celebrating with some drinks in Mitchie's name, he then went on a drunken spiel about 'not being worthy' and that if he'd been just a bit stronger, then Mitchie wouldn't have died, and all that-" Unable to hold it in any longer, Ceressa snorted and let out a burst of laughter.

"H-h-hey!!" Ruth turned bright red. "I told you never to tell that story anymore!"

"Ahaha! Haha! Aha... ah... And so, and so, get this-" She desperately held back her laughter as she continued the story, "Master Edgar actually took him up on his offer and rescinded his recommendation!"

Ruth covered his face with his palms and screamed. "Aaaaaaahahaha! Nooooo!"

By this time, Rika had started laughing as well, while Sylphia had a twitchy smirk on her face as she tried to hold back her laughter.

"He actually did it!" Ceressa gasped for breath. "The absolute madman! And he did it just for kicks, he told us the next day! Ruth was completely out from drinking too much the night before, but the moment he remembered, ah!" She clapped her hands together. "You should have seen it yourself. I've never seen a more pathetic face in my life!"

"Grrrr..." Ruth growled, "Shut up, already! That's literally ancient history!"

"And so, here he is, still a Journeyman. We went on to save a town from a monster attack later on, and that got recognized by the guild as an accomplishment," She then loudly patted Ruth on the back. "But what a waaaaste! If he just took Master Edgar's recommendation, he could have listed that accomplishment for his Journeyman rank, and he could have been a Master right about now!"

"Aaaargh!" Ruth scratched his head furiously. "Stop reminding me!"

"Hmm..." Sylphia rolled her head around. "You mentioned 'accomplishments' as if they were a thing you needed?"

"There are two ways you can get promoted to Journeyman..." Letty said, "to finish an accomplishment... basically, any feat of skill that either your master or the guild recognizes, or to be recommended for it by your master. By the way, the only way to get the rank of Master is to finish an accomplishment."

Ceressa rubbed her finger into Ruth's cheek. "So you see, this guy blew his chance, big time-"

Sylphia giggled. "You two seem to be very close."

The two of them flushed bright red.

Ruth then jumped at Sylphia and said with an exaggerated scowl on his face, "No way! Absolutely not!"

"Eh- a- ahh..." Sylphia shrank in front of him. "S-sorry..."

"Eh? Ah, no." Ruth backed away from her, scratching his neck in embarrassment. "I overreacted a bit there."

"Aahhhh..." Ceressa bent her arms behind her head and, looking blankly to the side, pouted, "So we're not close, huh?"

"Huh? What now?" Ruth gave her a suspicious look.

Ceressa then jumped at Rika. "Hey, Miss Rika, can you take me with you after this? Let's leave this jerk after we clear this dungeon!"

"H-hey!" Ruth stammered, "Are you serious!?"

"Hmmmmm...?" A mischievous smile appeared on Rika's face. "Okay!"

Next, Sylphia shrugged, and said, "Yeah, I'm okay with that."

"Yay! I sure you're a better frontliner than that jerk anyway!"

"Aaaaaaah!" Ruth clutched his head with both hands.

Rika, Sylphia and Ceressa laughed in concert while Letty let out a sigh.

After a short hike, the trail they followed disappeared into a clearing. At the far end, several soldiers stood watch in front of a cave mouth.

Here it is... the dungeon!

"Oho! We're here!" Rika grabbed onto Sylphia's shoulders. "We're finally here!"

"So this is it?" Ceressa looked around the cave. "Doesn't look like there's much treasure hidden in there."

"Looks can be deceiving." Ruth said as he drew his sword, "This magic crystal here," He pointed at the bright yellow rock encrusted on the pommel on his sword. "I found in a cave-form dungeon like this one many years back. That was still the best dive I've ever had."

"Hmm...?" She did not seem convinced. "That was from before we met, huh?"

"Yeah. It was just me and Mitchie at the time." Ruth stretched out his arms. "Well, anyway, now that we're here... Since this request is officially handled by Miss Rika and her gang, let's just sit back and let them run the show."

Ceressa nodded. "Mm." She then turned to Rika. "This is for your own sake, too. One day, you'll be diving into dungeons yourselves, right?" She winked. "So you'll need to know how to deal with everything first hand ASAP!"

Ooh? Is that how it works? That's very convenient.

Letty bowed. "A-as coordinator of this request, I thank you two for joining us."

The two adventurers nodded in reply.

Then, she just stood perfectly still. Without saying anything. Eventually, she turned to Sylphia and whispered, "S-so... w-what now?"

Sylphia snorted. "What do you mean, what now? I thought you were going to give us your plan or something!"

"Ah, no," Letty shook her head. "I've never been to a dungeon dive before..."

"What!?" Sylphia furled her brows. "Fine, I'll do it." She then stepped forward and cleared her throat.

The adventurers looked at each other.

"Hey, is this going to be okay?" Ruth whispered to Ceressa.

"Let's just go along with it," she replied, "we can just step in if they miss something."

"Good enough."

Sylphia rubbed her chin.

"Is... something wrong?" Letty asked.

"Ah, well, first there's a bit of a problem..." Sylphia said. "we don't know anything about each other. I'd like to know what skills you have, so I can map out how best to position you."

Ceressa drew a knowing smile on her lips.

"Alright." Ruth stepped forward. "As you can see, I'm a swordsman." He drew his sword. "This here is Demonbane, my magic sword."

"A magic sword?" Sylphia leaned forward.

"Heh," Ceressa snickered, "only the name is impressive - it's just a sword with a bit of lightning infused in the blade, thanks to the magic crystal."

"Hey! That's actually a big deal when fighting demons!" He then looked away from her, muttering, "allegedly..."

"Please, you've never even fought demons."

"Well, you know who you can thank for that!" He looked longingly at his sword. "Isn't that right, Demonbane?"

Ceressa cringed. She then shook her head and then stepped forward herself. "Uh... and I'm his unfortunate companion, Ceressa."

"Hey," Ruth suddenly leaned in. "the 'unfortunate' part is unnecessary isn't it?"

"Shut up, it's my turn now!" She shoved his face away. "As you can see, I'm an archer!" She pointed to the bow on her back. "I've got 88 confirmed kills, with 32 being headshots - 2 of which went straight through the eye sockets! Or, well..." She shrugged. "whatever counts as eyesockets on some monsters... heheh! Nice to meet you!"

"Mm." Sylphia nodded. "Nice to meet you. I see, I see." She then turned to Rika. "You should introduce yourself to them as well."

"Okay." Rika smiled. "My name is Rika, as you know! Well, I guess I'm a swordsman too now, but I used the spear for most of my life, so I guess I could use both, if necessary!"

"Huh, that's interesting," Ruth said, "not many spearmen transition to being swordsmen and vice versa. They usually master their favored weapon and stick with it."

Rika giggled. "Ahaha, no... It comes from my previous work of being a town guard!"

Both Ruth and Ceressa's eyes widened.

"Oh." He rubbed his chin. "I never knew Miss Rika used to be a town guard."

"Mm! But now I'm Sylphie's Kn-"

"Okay, moving on!" Sylphia yelled, "Letty?"

"Eh!?" Rika flailed her arms around, "Wait, I'm not done ye-"

Sylphia cupped her mouth with one hand. "Yeah, that's enough. Letty!"

"Ah, eh...? Um... okay." Letty nodded. "I'm Letty, Master Adventurer working as a scribe for the Adventurer's Guild. Umm..." She twiddled around her thumbs. "I can use magic, but I don't really know any offensive spells..."

"What spells can you use?" Sylphia asked.

"Eh? Ah... just... Barriers... uh... I can create light, if the cave gets too dark... things like that, I guess...?"

"I see..." Sylphia tilted her head and closed her eyes. "We might not have enough people..."

"Sylphie?" Rika said.

"Ah, no, it's nothing." Sylphia shook her head. "Moving on - does anybody know how to-"

"Huh? Wait-" Ruth said. "You haven't introduced yourself."

"Huh? Ah, yeah... well..." Sylphia scratched her head. "I can't really fight at all, so let's move on," she said in a monotone.

Ruth and Ceressa's jaws dropped.

"Hey, hey," Ruth's eyelid twitched. "so you're basically saying you're dead weight?"

"Hmph." Sylphia furled her brows. "Don't worry, just because I can't fight doesn't mean I'm useless in a fight." She waved her hand towards Letty. "Just like our Master, I'm also a mage. And my abilities are to improve my the skills of my allies."

"Huh... I see." Ruth crossed his arms. "Like a cleric or something, huh? With someone like you as a partner, then even an apprentice swordsman like Miss Rika could fight on par with a Journeyman like me." He nodded to himself. "Mm. I'm liking our chances a bit more."

"Anyway," Sylphia said, "back to my question earlier - who here knows how to treat wounds?"

There isn't HP or whatever in this world - wounds work the way they do in the real world. There are also no convenient heal spells. Thanks to magical herbs, the level of medicine is somewhat better than actual medieval time, but there is no such thing as instant recovery, and definitely no resurrection.

"I know how," Ceressa said.

"Well, I learned some first-aid," said Rika. "but nothing more complicated than that."

Ah, of course, she was a town guard after all.

"M-me too..." Letty spoke up. "I-I also brought a supply of medicine and bandages, just in case."

"Ah, really?"

"Hm." Letty then held part of her mantle open, revealing a large pack wrapped around her hip. "Right here."

Uwah, what exactly does she keep beneath that mantle? Anyway, "Very good." She said, "Hmm, okay... Ceressa, Letty, no matter what you are doing at the moment, if someone needs to be treated, prioritize that first. Rika, you should keep focusing on the enemy in front of you and only help out if it's really necessary."

They nodded.

What else? what else? Sylphia looked around and saw their faces all tuned in to her. Finally, she gave a nod. "Yep. That's all."

"Alright!" Rika pumped her fist into the air. "Let's go!"

Thus, the party entered the dungeon. After exchanging short greetings with the guards outside, they finally disappeared into the dark abyss.