Chapter 1: A Bad Idea

[Narrator]

A girl was sleeping under a blanket in the blocked alley of a dark street. A boy was standing next to her. He yelled "We don't own anything in this world! We don't have food for tomorrow or the coming days, but she's still sleeping like it's no big deal."

Even though he stated so, the youngster showed no signs of anxiety. Like he has a strategy in mind beforehand.

[The Boy's POV]

This world was very nasty and boring, I muttered. I along with my sister have no memory of our ten prior years of life. We were twins and orphans, and we recently turned 11 years old. We have no one to ask for help and we lack a safe place to hide at the moment as well.

"I'm hoping tomorrow goes well."

I sat down after making such a comment, but I kept my guard up because the city was never safe.

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The night had passed. On the street, Those Two from yesterday could be seen strolling. They were holding pieces of bread while they ate one at a time.

_________

I have a weak face and a starved body, and I just so happened to be wearing a cloak that I had found on the back of an ally. Walking next to me was a girl who was wearing clothing that belonged to an older child and was bigger than she was. Unlike me, she had a lovely face, and her hair never seemed to be ruined.

I made my way to the location where I spent the majority of the day with my sister. My sister called me [Aniki] and I called her [Daki]. Those were general terms meaning older brother and abandoned respectively.

I spoke with her,

"It went better than I anticipated,"

"Do you realize what a worry-wart you are? Nobody is capable of seeing through my gimmicks."

"Gimmicks? You would not have been able to take this bread if I hadn't distracted the owner of that stand."

"Yes Yes, Mr. I-can-do-it-myself, I completely and absolutely agree with you."

Despite the fact that she was my sister, her sarcasm and rudeness were far higher than mine.

This... is our life. We stole our food in order to survive in this cruel society. Currently, We were crossing a busy street. I looked to my right and saw several youngsters wearing the uniform of an academy.

"I hope we can attend an academy together," I murmured.

"Huh? whoa, what are you saying? When you can't even afford your regular food, how are you going to pay for the uniforms and the fees? It makes me doubt that you are the older sibling here."

Her statements get heartless. Are you sure she's your twin? I questioned myself.

"Eh, don't simply smash my hopes away-"

She rolled her eyes and started to move ahead of me.

As we approached what we thought of as "home," which was really only a confined alley with a small amount of cover on top that proved to be useful during rains. A party of adventurers went by while conversing. They appeared to be oblivious of their surroundings. They knocked down Daki and ignored her as they left. I ran to help her up, but Daki didn't appear upset in any way.

"Are you alright? Those shitty jerks." I yelled as I assisted her to get up.

"Treasure!! Gold!! " Daki whispered that, yet her voice was still energetic.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Those jerks, They were boasting of finding a boatload of gold in the nearby Labyrinth."

Even though she was excited as she spoke, her voice remained low. She didn't appear to want anyone else to know about it.

"What then? Now, do you want to follow them?"

"Naturally, I do... In the end, I need my payback. They may make up for it by allowing us to steal part of their gold."

"You make it seem so simple. We don't even have the tools to keep ourselves safe as we move through that woods, let alone the fighting skills."

She pointed to the intrepid travelers and said, "Those shitheads, they will be our guards."

"Huh? How?" Her words left me perplexed.

"Come up with a plan so we can follow them without running into any monsters, then, since that's what you're here for." She smirked as she spoke those words.

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Adventurers were traversing the woods in closed formation.

"Did you see the two kids following us????" asked a man wearing light armor and a set of daggers on his back belt.

A female with pink hair, and a giant muscular body, wearing quite the heavy armor answered him.

"Isn't one of them the small child you pushed,"

The man responded with a preoccupied face.

"Hey, I did say I was sorry!"

"Huh? When? Moore, stop lying!" She looked enraged.

"Eh!!!????" Moore exhibited fear.

The five-person squad's commander, who had blue hair and an attractive face, called them out at this point. He was merely sporting leather armor that was concealed by his cloak and a sword on his waist.

"Grisaia, Moore, stay alert!"

"Kryun! Moore has given us some labyrinth lures."

"Those little children? Are you certain that's what you want to do?"

"I don't think there is an issue. They followed us to a risky location, so you may as well take advantage of them."

The blue-haired man was warned by a woman who wore an identical dress to the group leader. She had long, shining black hair, and her beauty surpassed that of the noble women.

"You went through the trouble of calling out all the top adventurers. If that place turns out to be worthless, you are aware that you would be in serious danger."

"I have worked with Kryun a few times before, his information is always on spot, Lady Almia." A black-haired man with a samurai-like appearance said in response to her comment.

"Sir Miyamoto Musashi, I don't recall asking you that."

"I gathered you all because I need more than just the strength of the best adventurers, so stop fighting each other. For more than ten centuries, the Labyrinth we are headed for has remained unclear," said Kryun.

"Almia, The One Who Brings Tragedy, Grisaia, The Powerhouse, Moore, The Unstanched Adventurer, Miyamoto Musashi, The Strongest Samurai, and Kyrun, The Top of the Guild.

I'm confident that there have previously existed stronger adventurers. But if we unite the finest adventurers of the current era, we ought to be able to clear the area and take the undiscovered treasures." Kryun spoke words of encouragement.

"Fancy Words from a Coward." Almia didn't appear persuaded.

Grisaia approached and placed an arm on Almia's shoulder.

"You shouldn't be concerned, lovely woman; we can always defend one another."

Almia managed to get away from Grisaia using her skill, and she pretended to be following everyone.

"Sorry, but I must decline your offer."

Grisaia scowled, "Aww- I was also being nice- "

Almia proceeded to follow everyone till she came to the kids who were attempting to follow the intrepid adventurers.

"Now is your time to flee. You shouldn't trust me and those individuals up ahead, so get back to the city as soon as you can." saying that she went back and joined the group.

However, The kids ignored her advice.

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"We screwed up," I grimaced.

Daki shrugged.

"Yea! You made a serious mistake."

Both of us were restrained and were staring at the adventurers who were dining by the campfire.

"How am I to blame? You desired to follow them." I yelled.

She yelled back, "You should have come up with a better idea."

The woman from earlier came over to us at that point. Her beauty was highlighted by the moonlight. She came over and gave us some meat.

"Why are you giving them your food?" asked Kryun.

She ignored his question and continued to sit next to us. She released the ties so we could eat.

What's your name, Almia enquired.

"We don't have any."

"How come? Your parents, where are they?"

"Never met them."

"I-I see."

"Oii, Almia!! why don't you join us here, leave those useless kids," Kryun shouted from a distance.

I yelled back because I couldn't help it. What wrong did he do to him anyways?

"Are you certain that you are not the useless person here?"

He approached me, with his face beginning to develop stress lines. "Are you trying to pick a fight?" he said.

"Why not start a fight with someone who is your size?" I kept my cool as we conversed.

"And who might it be?"

"Someone present here who is plainly not me or my sister."

"I had a question I wanted to ask you... Do you want anything else to eat? something like a stolen loaf of bread?"

"At least it tastes better than the rotten monster flesh."

"What place do you snooze at night? any sort of back street ally?"

"what about you? a dungeon's filthy floor, perhaps?"

"For a child, you have a huge mouth." The man's face began to develop more and more stress lines.

"Oh, right... Losing to a child must be embarrassing."

Almia overheard our conversation and burst out laughing, and the others who had been listening soon followed.

"Wow, the serious beauty has a sense of humor." Daki made a scathing remark which was ignored by Almia.

The tall and muscular woman approached us, and she made an offer.

"Listen, I'll make you an offer because you insulted the guy most of us hate. If you willfully serve as our bait, we will reward you with some gold from Moore's share since he started this mess. In any other case, you have five minutes to flee."

"OII!!!!!!! why me?" Moore stumbled in shock.

"EVERYONE JUST SHUT UP." Kyrun cried out before entering his tent.

I couldn't think of any other options at the moment. We needed money, and the city was far away. Traveling at night in a forest would prove dangerous either way. Hopeless of our situation I had no choice but to compile.

"We accept,"