Hunting monsters.

Most commissions made to the guild involved that in one way or the other. That was why instead of travellers who had excellent outdoor survival skills, adventurers were mostly combat-oriented people. In a way, they should be called Monster Hunters instead of “adventurers”, for they rarely if ever did any explorations.

Even new members were not exempt, though the difficulty of the commissions they could accept was heavily limited.

As a party at the very bottom of the hierarchy, Matthias’ group was no different.

“I can’t believe it! We’re missing all the action!”

Soleil’s dismayed shouts echoed across the small wooded area they made camp in. She sat down in a miserable position right next to a clean pond on a small clearing. Her face was twisted in both indignation and frustration as she murmured her complaints like “how dare they do this to the demon lord,” or “I’ll remember this, mark my words.”

Meanwhile, Matthias and Manna spent the time picking herbs from the forest floor. In other words, they were doing all the work.

The commission was to assist the pharmacy guild in collecting common ingredients. While they were cheap, low-level materials, there could never be enough of them as they could be refined into recreational solutions as well. In that case, the guild paid by their weight, and the commission didn’t have a deadline. It was an easy job that even new, non-combatants could do so long as they were vigilant of their surroundings.

So why did Matthias decide to gather herbs instead of taking on more difficult commissions to raise their ranking? To put it simply, he just wanted to experience it. A life in an RPG-like world wouldn’t be complete without picking their first cheap herb. And as to why Soleil wasn’t helping... well, it wasn’t because she was too busy sulking.

It was because she was completely useless at it.

A short while after they started, they gathered together to check the quality of the herbs they had picked. At first it was to see how much herbs were ripe for picking, since only mature sprouts could be harvested. That time, Soleil was even proud of what she had done and presented to them a basket that was half full. However, he and Manna noticed that out of almost thirty pieces of plants she had picked, only four of them were the ones they were looking for.

The rest were just weeds.

“Huh? What are you talking about? Aren’t these all the same?”

Soleil looked completely convinced of it, and even after several minutes of both he and Manna describing the herb, she still couldn’t identify between the two. And thus, she was relegated to watch duty.

“You know, I don’t think a “demon lord” would know the difference between a useful plant from the weeds around it,” said Manna with a smirk. “If you think about it, it’s also strange that you, a noble, does.”

Matthias stopped his hands and glared at Manna, who replied to him by sticking her tongue out.

“... I just studied about it. Books exist for that reason, you know?”

Truthfully speaking, it was difficult for Matthias to keep calm each day without purposely straining his brain. Even after almost two decades of living in that new world, he was still not used to processing the limited information that his surroundings fed to him. Back on Earth, there was no shortage of information circulating around him. Whether it was through browsing his phone or listening to the ads in the background noise, everything kept his mind running non-stop. But in that world, he could only keep his attention on a few things at once. Though it helped him focus better, it was different when he was just trying to get through everyday life. That was one of the reasons why he buried himself in books every chance he could.

In a way, it was similar to repeatedly browsing through Wikipedia pages using the Random Page button.

“What should we do with Soleil? She’s quite deep in her sulking.”

“Well, what can we do?”

There was no helping it. According to regular procedures, once a new dungeon was discovered, only parties similar to or higher than the rank assigned to it were allowed to enter for the preliminary exploration. It was to prevent newbies trying to make quick cash from getting themselves killed. Even though Matthias was sure that they could handle it just fine, rules were rules, and he didn’t want to stand out in a bad way so early in his adventuring career.

Besides, it wasn’t like they weren’t going to get anything. The issue from earlier that day was still fresh in his mind.

Although a dungeon changing its type had never been recorded before, it was an explanation that fit what had happened. And since the idea was interesting enough, Nail promised to conduct their investigation of the dungeon with that in mind.

On that note, as it turned out, Nail’s party was the only B-ranked group in town. They were also the highest-ranked party nearby. His party was a powerful team. It felt nice to be on friendly terms with such a party.

“We could enter the dungeon afterwards, anyway. All we’re missing is the experience of going into true uncharted territory.”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

It was only four hours into the day, which meant they still had roughly fifteen hours of sunlight left. The air was still cool and the sun shone on them gently at an angle. It was the perfect time to relax. Otherwise, it was also a great time to do some light exercises. On climates like that, Matthias felt at peace simply picking herbs in the middle of a lush, verdant forest.

If only Soleil thought the same. Matthias sighed.

Even after they finished gathering the herbs an hour later, Soleil was still staring blankly across the pond. However, he could tell that she was at least doing her job of being alert, since she would react to even a small animal scampering around the grass.

Manna looked at Soleil with a complicated expression. She didn’t know whether she should laugh or cry about her companion’s state. The difference between her usual haughty attitude and her current disposition was quite startling, even after only spending a day with her. Yet, it was also a good sign. Though she may complain a lot, she still followed the rules, especially since those rules were rational and was aimed to protect rather than oppress the less experienced parties.

“Carry this for me, will you?” Manna asked as she dropped her basket full of pristinely-picked herbs onto Matthias’ arms. “I’ll see if I could hunt some small game we could snack on. Maybe that’ll lift her mood.”

He nodded and watched Manna jump onto the trunk of a tall tree and skip between the branches. Though she had a much more developed body than Soleil, her actions were nimble, quick, and didn’t make a single sound even when her feet kicked her entire body weight up across the flimsy-looking branches.

After seeing her figure disappear, he looked back towards Soleil and sighed.

“Guess I should talk to her,” he thought. It was a good opportunity for them to learn more about each other and perhaps better their chemistry.

At the back of his mind he was hoping that their relationship would go even deeper, but that was simply him being a man. After all, Soleil was by no means unattractive. Her body was lean, toned and without any trace of excess flesh. When she was hunched up, he could see traces of muscles on her back rippling as she breathed slowly. Her face was a thing of wonder as well. Combined with her prodigal strength and morality, her only actual problem is her eccentric behavior… which isn’t actually an issue if one simply gets used to it.

He walked towards her, baskets in hand, and sat a few paces away. She spared him a glimpse before turning her view back to the woods across the pond.

“Yikes.”

As he sat there, he realized: he had nothing to talk to her about. What should he say? Should he talk about the weather? But it was the same weather as yesterday and the month before.

When he was on Earth he had extremely few, if any, chances to talk to the opposite sex. He was a loner, an outcast. In his new life as part of the nobility, he had a much wider network of friends. Well, it would be more accurate to say that they were merely “acquaintances”, as he didn’t like most qualities of young nobles. The only real “friend” he had made after all those years was the daughter of an old butcher who was an extremely talented hunter… and even that didn’t help him gain the experience talking to women, because she was quite tomboyish.

“N… Nice day we’re having, huh?”

Yeah that was definitely an awkward way to start a conversation.

Wait… that was strange. That was definitely not him.

He looked to his side. Soleil was looking at him. She had on a stiff, nervous smile. It looked like she was waiting for something. Was she the one who asked about the weather?

“Uhh…”

How should he respond?

He kept thinking about the matter for some time until he saw tears form on the corner of Soleil’s eyes.

Was she as awkward around the opposite sex as he was?!

“Yeah! It’s nice and sunny.”

Just like yesterday, and every other day for the past month.

Now, the problem with that kind of conversation was that there was no real way to continue it unless one of them was a smooth communicator. And as he realized at that point, neither of them were.

So another awkward silence followed between them. Yet, he could feel that the pressure was on him since she was the one who initiate a conversation first, regardless of how basic or simple it was.

But before he could ask some stupid question, he heard Manna call out to them from a distance.

Shortly after, she jumped from a tree and landed without a sound near them. She carried a leather pouch dripping with blood with what looked like a rabbit’s foot sticking out of the opening. It looked to be the spoils of her hunt. But her expression was anything but happy.

“You two. Come with me.”

She motioned for them to follow as she walked back into the woods. Matthias and Soleil exchanged confused looks before following her obediently.

At the back of his mind, he was grateful that he didn’t have to suffer that awkward air a second longer.

After walking without any conversations happening for a few minutes, they came upon a small clearing. There, they saw the corpse of a minor wolf monster that had been shot in the head with an arrow. At first Matthias thought that it was what Manna was trying to show them, which was strange because those kinds of targets were nothing more than practice for her. But then she turned to the right immediately after and continued walking.

It didn’t take them long after that to discover what she meant to show them.

It was an undead. Granted, it had already been disabled with a well-placed arrow to its knees, and a rock thrown to its skull.

“Well that’s strange,” he mused, immediately realizing why she brought them there. “The entrance to the dungeon is pretty far from here. What gives?”

Manna nodded. “It’s also wearing armor.”

Matthias realized her point.

Low level undead, which was typical of tomb-type dungeons of the E and D rank, never wore clothing, much less armor. Only those of the intermediate and advanced ranking did, and they were incredibly difficult to fight in numbers. There were two explanations that made sense. Either they were adventurers who were wounded by the undead and turned due to the lack of a cleric in their party… or the guild misjudged the dungeon’s rank.

Both reasons were problematic. There was no need to elaborate on the issue of the second one. The problem was the first one. Considering the dungeon’s entrance wasn’t anywhere near them, then there was a possibility that…

But just before he could ask the others about it, they heard someone scream in the distance.

Soleil immediately ran off to it, destroying the trees in her way.