Encounters

Hm? Wait, should I buy a house here?

I stood up, unsummoned Shiro, and went on to have lunch.

Maybe I should do daily visits so that I can earn money and pass time since I would otherwise be bored to death in this inn room.

I went to the guild to check on the quests and it was empty. It was in the afternoon so maybe everyone had already gone to do their quests. I was the one late. The one with whom I was somewhat acquainted was there though.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Rio."

"Good afternoon, Miss Kenny. There doesn't seem to be many people around."

"Yes, most of them have already gone to do their respective quests. It's only in the morning and evening when we're crowded. So right now, it's peaceful."

As expected, huh?

"Do you have some quest recommendations?"

"I see. Please wait, I'll check."

She went inside and came back a few moments later with a bunch of quest papers.

"I can recommend these for you. Since Mr. Rio seems fairly strong, I believe these quests shouldn't be a problem."

"Haha. Understood. I'll take a look at them."

The quests were mostly subjugation quests for wild boars, brown bears, harpies, and rocs. And there was also the Watercress Herb Collection request that I passed last time.

"What kind of monsters are Harpies and Rocs?"

I knew about Harpies a bit but Rocs were new to me. But since there was a possibility things were different, I decided to enquire.

"Harpies are bird-like monsters with the face of a human woman. They are notorious for stealing food and other things from the merchants and often even harming them. There have been some recent cases of their citing near the town so a request has been filed with us. As for the Rocs, they are also bird-type monsters who look like eagles but are as big as an adult human in size. They have been taking away the livestock in a village near the town so the villagers filed a request for their subjugation. There's been a pair of them according to eyewitnesses. The village isn't that far away but it might not be possible to travel there and come back by today so I'm not sure if this fits you. But I included it anyway since it was an urgent quest. It'll help the villagers if the Rocs are subjugated."

"I see. I was planning to take just one quick quest today but I might take a few. Is there a time duration for the Harpy and Rocs quest?"

"For the Harpies, it's 1 week but for the Rocs it's 3 days."

"I see. Then I'll take them both for now."

I'll go to that village tomorrow. Today I'll do the local quests like boar and brown bear subjugation.

"Understood. It really helps that you're taking the Rocs quest. The reward may seem a bit short but it'll certainly help the villagers in trouble."

"I see. No problem."

"By the way, Mr. Rio. Have you visited the dungeon in the town yet?"

"There's a dungeon in this town?"

That was news to me. I didn't hear anything about it from anywhere.

"Yes, the town has a dungeon right near the western gate. It's a 60-floor deep dungeon with Beginner to Intermediate rank. Adventurers often visit it to get monster stones, find treasures and level up. And since the dungeon has been explored, there are even maps available for upper to lower-middle floors. If you are interested, I recommend checking it out. I'm sure with your talent, it'll be easy to go to the deeper floors. Plus, you get rewards for reporting any unexplored regions or secret routes which haven't been discovered yet."

"Oh, sounds interesting. I'm waiting for my new armor. Maybe once that arrives, I'll head to the dungeon."

I'll run out if it's dangerous or filled with traps though. I don't wanna risk it.

"That's great. I've assigned the quests to you. Good luck with them. Oh, and I was told to inform you that your monster material dismantling will be done by tomorrow so please come to collect your rewards tomorrow afternoon."

"Oh, great. I was starting to run out of funds. By the way, how much does it cost to buy a small house in this town?"

"A house? I don't know the exact rates but I think it'll cost somewhere around 30 Large Silver or higher depending on the location. It gets a lot more costly if you wish to get one in the inner district. Of course, you can find cheaper ones near the slums but that's not recommended for living. I believe if you keep this pace up, you can even afford the costly ones, fufu."

She said with a smile. She showed baseless confidence in me. Maybe it was the discerning eyes of the professionals. She must be working here for quite a while and must have seen all sorts of adventurers. So, maybe she could tell just by looking at them if they were capable or not.

Honestly, it made me somewhat happy.

"Hey, Kenny! Are you free? We have to report a quest completion."

As I was talking to her, I heard a young and energetic voice from behind, calling the receptionist. I looked behind to see a party of 4, led by a blonde guy in full body armor, from below the neck and a decorated sword situated on the side. He seemed to be in his early 20s. His companions were a female Swordswoman, a monk-like guy, and a girl with a grey staff and robe.

Is she a magician?

Her attire gave off that vibe. She was the ideal figure for magicians according to the novels I had read.

"Yes, Mr. Lloyd. We're almost done. Please give me a moment." (Kenny)

"Sure thing. We'll be sitting there. Call me when you're done." (Lloyd)

The guy replied with a bright smile and then he and his party sat at a nearby table talking about something— probably their quest.

"So, Mr. Rio. Is there anything else you would like to know?" (Kenny)

"Hmm, I think that's all. I do want to know more about the etiquette of dungeon diving and the 'Dos and Don'ts' but I'll ask that some other time."

"Then I wish you luck on your quest. Goodbye." (Kenny)

"Yes, thank you. Bye."

With that my quests were decided. The whole afternoon till the sun was about to set, I did my Watercress gathering quest near the river. The Watercress grew in the moist regions near the river bed. I had asked for a picture of them as usual at the guild and used Search to locate their patches. For people normally, it must take probably a whole day just to search for the herbs. I was lucky that I had my Map. I also hunted a bunch of boars and found 2 wild bears as well. It was just like the last time. The bears were taken down by my enhanced <Wind Cutter> in single shots.

"Now, if only the system could find me a girlfriend. My life would be set."

Just kidding. Haha. I shouldn't ask for the impossible.

I bet if my System was sentient, it would have cringed really hard and said "Bro, at least do that on your own!"

By the way, in the last two days of monster hunting, I had leveled up. I only got one new ability though. I was currently at level 36. The level-ups were a lot slower now but that was probably because the monsters around here were low-leveled. It's not like monsters on the level of Giant Viper roamed everywhere. People won't be able to live peacefully if that happened.

***Character Profile***

Name: Rio

Age: 20

Gender: Male

Race: Human(712-Human)

---

Level: 37

HP: 3700/3700

MP: 7400/7400

---

Job:

Primary: Master Swordsman

Secondary: Apprentice Spearman, Apprentice Ax user, Apprentice Monk, Apprentice Priest, Advanced Fire Magician, Advanced Water Magician, Advanced Earth Magician, Advanced Wind Magician, Apprentice Light Magician, Apprentice Dark Magician, Apprentice Space-time Magician, Apprentice Lifestyle Magician, Apprentice Hammer user, Advanced Barrier Magician, Advanced Summoner

---

Titles acquired:

Lost Person, Holder of Entranos's last will, Person from a different world, Holder of ???? Sword, Ruin Explorer, ????'? ???????, Goblin Slayer, Beast Slayer, Giant Viper Slayer, Orc Slayer

Stats:

STR: 3700

DEX: 3700

DEF: 3700

AGI: 3700

VIT: 3700

INT: 3700

Luck: 80

---

Special Abilities:

Appraisal, Inventory, Map II, Logs, Entranos's Blessing, Universal Language Acquisition, Party Management, Status Management

Abilities:

Sword Technique IV, Fire Magic III, Water Magic III, Earth Magic III, Wind Magic III, Darkness Magic I, Light Magic I, Barrier Magic III, Lifestyle Magic II, Space-time Magic I, Mana Perception III, Summoning Magic IV

Skills: Slash, Sprinting, Magic Manipulation, Presence Detection III, Danger Detection III, Throwing, Parry, Observation, Weapon Break, Hammer Smash, Dodging, Comprehension, Dismantling I

Resistances: Venom Resistance II, Fear Resistance I

***

Shiro, who was summoned after I entered the forest was just bouncing around all the time, eating, or rather dissolving, plants and leaves fallen on the ground.

I fed it a few of the magic cores which I harvested using a dismantling knife I had bought in the shopping spree. It came in handy but tearing down monsters didn't feel so great.

I also tried playing fetch with Shiro. It was on a whim but I threw some materials like branches and would order Shiro to bring it back. Shiro was a quick learner and got the hang of it at once. My slime familiar was no inferior to any dog!

After resting and playing near the river for a while, I was about to head back to town when I heard shouts coming from somewhere. I unsummoned Shiro and ran in the direction of the noise after checking the Map.

There was a party of adventurers who were hunting what looked like a giant Centipede. Its height surpassed that of the adventurers and its skin was black and lustrous. Surrounding it was a bunch of smaller Centipedes. Some of those were laying dead nearby.

From what I could decipher, they must be hunting these guys but the giant boss Centipede was proving to be too strong. The numbers and levels didn't seem like the party of 3 could handle alone. So I decided to ask if they needed help.

It was common courtesy to not interrupt another adventurer's hunt but if it was like I was sure they wouldn't mind some help.

"Hey! Do you guys need any help?"

"What? Another adventurer? Not? Are you an adventurer? If yes, please help us! We're surrounded by these bastards. And this big guy is tough as steel!"

Damnit, my casual attire isn't like an adventurer at all. I can't wait to get my armor.

"Got it! I'll start by thinning out the herd. Can you hold out till then?"

"Yeah!"

"Okay then!"

I ran and started slicing off the surrounding Centipedes with my steel sword. I managed to kill a few in a matter of seconds. The other guys were too busy dealing with the enemies and didn't notice any abnormality. They also killed a few smaller ones. With the numbers now, I was sure that they could handle the small fries. I moved to the big boss which was being held back by a guy with a big shied.

He must be the tank of the party.

He was the one who replied to my question and possibly the leader of this party by the looks of it.

"The small fries are now under control. Are you okay?"

I asked as I got close to him.

"Yeah. Somehow. Thanks. This big guy suddenly came in with his goons when we were busy dealing with some stray ones."

"If you don't mind, can you distract it? I'll try cutting its head off."

"Its head and back are tough. A normal sword doesn't seem to have much effect. It'll be better to attack its soft belly but those million hands and scary mouth won't let us reach close. Its bite has a paralysis effect so getting bitten might be fatal here."

I see. I think my Katana might be able to slice its head off easily but I don't wanna pull it out yet. Maybe I can lift it using wind magic and use <Wind Cutter> on its belly. It's a little risky since I'll be showing my magical prowess but… Yeah, let's just do it. It would be bad if they got hurt or killed because I was desperately trying to hide my powers.

As we were dodging the boss Centipede's attacks, the others had finished dealing with the small fries and were now circling the boss. But none of them could get proper hits on it due to the hard shell.

"Hey, I have a way to defeat it using magic. But you'll have to trust me on that."

"You can use magic?! Aren't you a Swordsman?"

The other swordsman of the party exclaimed.

"Well... I am a Swordsman but I do know a little bit of magic as well. I can lift it using my Wind Magic and then cut its belly."

"Understood. We'll make a gap for you. Start chanting."

The tank guy agreed to my suggestion.

He ordered the others and asked them to keep the boss distracted while I chant my magic.

But I did not really need time to chant.

I used new magic I learned from the Introductory Magic book called <Wind Tornado>. It was an intermediate-level spell used to create a powerful tornado that'll lift and spin the enemy high in the sky.

I chanted <Wind Tornado> and from beneath the giant Centipede, a tornado of wind and dirt emerged, lifting it high in the sky. It tried to struggle but with no foothold, it couldn't do anything. I then aimed and sent out a few <Wind Cutters> slicing it into 4 parts. The parts fell on the ground once the tornado died down and the fight was over.

"Phew. That was stressful. Didn't think we would suddenly encounter a boss Centipede in wild. Life sure is unexpected."

The tanker fell to the ground on his rear and sighed in relief.

"I was telling you to keep cautious."

The archer who was the last member of this party reprimanded the tank leader.

"Yeah, man. Stop being so reckless. You're supposed to be the tank of the team. Your role should be to protect us and not launch all-out attacks on enemies."

The other swordsman joined in on the reprimanding.

"Right, sorry about that. I just saw those small Centipedes and thought they'll be easy prey. I should have been a bit more cautious. If he wasn't around, we might have been in a big pinch after getting surrounded."

The party members who were talking among themselves looked at me now.

I had appraised them while they were chit-chatting so I knew their names and stats now.

Name: Freddy

Age: 27 years

Gender: Male

Race: Human

---

Level: 29

---

Job:

Primary: Swordsman

***

Name: Roberto

Age: 25 years

Gender: Male

Race: Beastmen (Wolfkin)

---

Level: 26

---

Job:

Primary: Swordsman

***

Name: Lukas

Age: 27 years

Gender: Male

Race: Human

---

Level: 25

---

Job:

Primary: Bowman

***

It was a party consisting of a tank, a damage dealer, and a long-range archer. It seemed quite balanced on paper.

"Is it common to find Centipedes in this area?"

I asked once their stare started becoming uncomfortable

"You see them sometimes come out of their burrows around these parts. But a boss Centipede isn't something you see every day. I guess we're just unlucky." (Freddy)

"I see."

"By the way, we haven't introduced ourselves. I'm Freddy. The Swordsman over there is Roberto and the Archer is Lukas. We're a D-rank party who hunt monsters around these parts." (Freddy)

So they are a D-ranked party, huh?

"I'm Rio. I'm a new adventurer who registered just this week. Let's get along well."

"A new adventurer, you say? Aren't you like a B-rank adventurer? I wouldn't be surprised if you were. That magic was quite something. Ah, which reminds me, why are you using a sword if you are a magician?" (Freddy)

I didn't know how to answer Freddy's question. I wasn't particularly a swordsman, even though I would normally use it and my primary job was set to it. But in my case, I could use magic as well. So I was something like a hybrid.

"Well, I guess you can say I'm something like a Magic Swordsman."

I didn't know if there was a job like that. Maybe there existed magicians who liked to use swords.

"Like, you can use both sword and magic?" (Roberto)

"Yeah. Something like that."

"Amazing. I've never seen anyone like that around. It must be a high leveled job. You're lucky. Us common folks who can't use magic can't do those fancy tricks." (Freddy)

"Yeah, I guess I am lucky. Haha."

"But didn't he use chant-less magic just now? I haven't heard of someone using intermediate-level magic without any chant. And he doesn't even have a staff." (Lukas)

"Ah, now that you mention it..." (Freddy)

The archer who seemed sharp-witted pointed out an abnormality and Freddy was deep in thought.

This made me nervous. Did I make a mistake after all? But I couldn't think of anything else to help them. I felt like bringing out my Katana would have created an even bigger suspicion.

"Isn't it fine? Maybe he has his reasons for not telling. Heck, if I had those moves, I wouldn't like to expose them ether. We should just be grateful he came to help us." (Roberto)

"That's also true. We adventurers do tend to hide our abilities." (Freddy)

"Hmm, fair enough. I'm still curious though." (Lukas)

The swordsman Roberto came to my rescue. I was honestly glad I didn't have to explain anything now. Because I probably couldn't give them a decent explanation. And I couldn't just straight up tell them I was simply an absurdity capable of such feats.

After a break, the party members started to dismantle the monsters and take out the stones and other important parts. I didn't know if I could claim parts of the loot since it was originally their hunt, so I just stood there, awkwardly. It was then Freddy who came to me and offered me half the materials from the small Centipedes.

"Is it okay? This was supposed to be your loot originally."

"Of course, you were the one who defeated these after all."

As for the giant Centipede boss, they decided that I should keep it since I was the one who dealt most of the damage and eventually killed it.

I put it in my Inventory after removing the magic stone using help from Freddy and the others.

"You even have an <Item Box> ability? Now, this is just unfair. I'm so jealous." (Roberto)

"Is it rare for people to possess it?"

"It's certainly not that common. The people who have it and high magic power can store and transport a good amount of things without bearing any weight cost. There are item bags that are sold but they cost a fortune so not everyone can buy them either." (Freddy)

"Does an <Item Box> has infinite capacity or is there a limit based on MP or weight or something?"

"Of course, it's not infinite. It's dependent on the person's magical power. That's why even if someone possesses the ability, it'll not be of much use if their magical power is low. But from what I can see you have a considerable amount of magical power. Since you can store an entire corpse in it." (Freddy)

"I see. It certainly is useful."

There was an ability similar to my Inventory that would let people store things inside but it was quite inferior to my Inventory since it had a lot of restrictions placed on it.

Inventory is OP.

"Well then, are you headed back to town? How about accompanying us? We'll treat you to some beer or ale as thanks for saving us." (Freddy)

"Yeah, I was also headed back to town. I'll have to refuse the alcohol though. I appreciate it, but I can't. Ah, if you want I can store those bags of monster material and give them to you back when we reach the town."

"You sure?" (Freddy)

"Yes."

"Thanks. That'll indeed help." (Freddy)

I took their bags and carefully placed them in separate cells inside my Inventory.

We made our way back to the town and then headed together to the guild. These guys were in fact veterans even if they didn't have high ranks and levels. They were doing adventuring for over 4 years now.

I handed them all their stuff and we headed to separate reception desks. I was greeted by the good old Kenny, the receptionist.

"Welcome back, Mr. Rio. Are you here to report the quest completion?"

"Yep. Please check these."

"As expected. You certainly have the talent."

I handled all the proofs, magic stones, and herb stash and collected my rewards. The herb stashes fetched great prices. I then gave the monster bodies for dismantling and received a new receipt.

On my way back, I met the adventurer party from before and bid farewell to them. They had planned to stick around the tavern and have some drinks in celebration of the good haul.

This was the way most adventurers lived. Earn money daily and then enjoy drinks and food with their companions. It was "The adventurer's way of living life" as I later overheard from someone.

It wasn't so bad. With such a dangerous job, enjoying every day with friends you trust and enjoying their company seemed like a fun way to live.

Perhaps if I made some adventurer friends, I might do the same sometime.

Who am I kidding? I was somewhat introverted even in my old world.

Well, I had my special circumstances so I didn't know what the future had in store for me.

I went back to the inn, had an early dinner, washed with hot water, and went to sleep with Shiro. That was the end of my second day in the town of Belstra. A day with a few new encounters.

***