Evil Avalon - Volume 1 - Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Piggy, the Weakest Adventurer Ever

“Soutaaa!” my mother called from downstairs. “Kaoru’s come to get you!”

Somehow, Piggy had arranged with his childhood friend Kaoru to travel to school together during their middle school days, and she was continuing to honor this promise at Adventurers’ High.

You’ve got this gorgeous girl to come pick you up every day? I thought. You’re one lucky bastard, Piggy.

I threw my uniform on and leaped down the stairs. Kaoru was waiting with her arms crossed, not wearing her irritation openly on her face, but not doing much to hide it.

“I’ve been waiting for ages, Souta,” she complained. “Whatever. Let’s go.”

“Sure thing,” I replied.

Kaoru spun on her heels, sending her hair flying up, and walked briskly. I hurried up next to her, thinking we’d walk side by side, but she started walking faster to keep a space between us. So I got the hint and lowered my pace to fall in behind her, not saying anything. Why did she bother to come and get me at all if she disliked being with Piggy? School was only a few hundred meters away, and there wouldn’t be enough time for a proper conversation. I didn’t question it because sharing the commute with her was enough of a blessing.

However, something else I found strange was the way she kept stealing glances at me. It was easy to notice; she was walking ahead of me, so she had to turn around to see me, and every time I met her gaze, she’d swivel her head back to the road ahead. Maybe our love had rekindled? Probably not, but the thought kept me entertained as we walked through the town.

The spring air was chilly that morning, just the right temperature for my sweaty, plump body. The streets were almost empty. A couple of cleaners swept away the cherry blossoms that had fallen from the now almost bare cherry trees planted along the road. We didn’t encounter many other students passing through the front gate on their way to school since most lived in the dorms.

I approached the shoe lockers and put my shoes inside. Something was moving about this moment. It marked the true beginning of my high school life. Or my second high school life, at least.

However, I realized that a group of kids stared at me while whispering to each other. Had I forgotten to fix my bedhead? I followed Kaoru into our classroom while combing my hair with my hand.

“Hey!” one of my classmates called out to me. “Heard you lost to a slime!”

“A slime?” I repeated.

“Yeah. You lost to a slime on the dungeon’s first level and had to get rescued.”

He was half-right. They had rescued me from the dungeon last night after I got hit by multiple slimes. I’d woken up in a bed in the Adventurers’ Guild’s infirmary. My thick layers of body fat had absorbed most of the blows and prevented serious damage, so they’d let me check out as soon as I recovered.

Incidentally, I overheard a staff member complain, “It was a task and a half getting you onto that bed.” But anyway...

“Wait, you all know about that?” I asked.

“Someone from another class saw the rescue team carrying you out,” someone answered. “It’s all over the school!”

“How’d you lose to a slime in the first place?” a student said. “It’s pathetic. Even little kids can get the better of them!”

“For real, though!” another agreed. “How useless can you be?! Ha ha ha!”

A slime hadn’t beaten me. I’d just tried out a challenging move to see whether it would work, which it had. Then, it sucked me dry of mana, blacked out my vision, and knocked me out.

However, I couldn’t confess to any of that without revealing my knowledge from the game that nobody else appeared to grasp. Intel like that could get me on a hit list. After all, this was a dangerous world where terrorists ran amok. The class would think I was crazy, but I didn’t want that either.

I devised a bland excuse to put the conversation to bed and said, “Oh, I, err... I just wasn’t in top form that day. Ha ha.”

My classmates weren’t about to let me off the hook that easily, though.

“C’mon, I know you’ve got the worst grades in the year group, but this is ridiculous!” one jeered. “You’re gonna give Class E a bad name!”

“Yeah, tell him!” another joined in. “And is it just me, or does he stink as well?”

“Yeah, and he looks like a pig too,” a third said. “I know, we’ll call you Piggy from now on.”

“Piggy?!” someone else repeated, clutching their stomach as they laughed.

Shit, I’m a laughingstock! I thought. This is so embarrassing.

Was this the reason for Kaoru’s repeated glances at me during our walk to school? Now that I thought about it, she’d expressed a hint of scorn. I wished she’d given me a heads-up. Although the cat had been out of the bag, it wouldn’t have changed anything.

Also, the class had come up with the Piggy nickname earlier than they had in the game. Did this mean that not everything followed DEC’s story? Sooner or later, they would’ve started calling me Piggy.

I felt stumped about why the skill became active since I hadn’t assigned Void Slicer to a skill slot and had less mana than the amount required. Plus, the summoning skill Jörmungandr hadn’t worked, so what was going on?

I still hunched over at my desk and thought about the experiment until Murai arrived.

“Sit down,” he said. “It’s time for homeroom.” He then drew up an itinerary for the day on the whiteboard. “First, you’re all going to introduce yourselves. Then there’s an orientation session, where you’ll know how your classes will work here and how to use the school facilities. After that I’ll tell you how to enter the dungeon...” Murai paused and looked at me. “Although, I hear one of you beat me to it.”

The class erupted into laughter.

“Right, onto the introductions,” he continued. “Hmm, let’s start with the person closest to the hall door and work around.”

While most Adventurers’ Middle School students went on to Classes A to D, those from Class E were external candidates from various middle schools. In at least one case, one came from an office job in another world.

I decided to run through what I knew about the students from DEC as the class introduced themselves.

The first to start was the leader of the pack.

“I’m Yuuma Akagi. I went to a place called Higashi Middle School in Tokyo. I fight with a one-handed sword and want to become a Warrior one day.”

This attractive boy with short, red hair was DEC’s protagonist, Akagi. With enough training, he could get the special Hero job, which was extremely powerful. However, most players stopped using him as a character after the DLCs had made it possible to make even stronger custom character builds. Akagi was still strong and had exceptionally high stats. He was the character I’d have to keep an eye on because his choices could stir up the game’s most dangerous events.

“Nice to meet you. My name is Sakurako Sanjou. I come from Hokkaido and want to be a Priest. I can use both blunt weapons and staffs.”

Sanjou, AKA Pinky, was one of DEC’s heroines and a fan favorite. She had soft and fluffy hair and was a little plump, but training in the dungeon would soon see her mature into a striking girl with a perfect hourglass figure. One of the DLCs allowed players to use her as the protagonist, adding multiple storylines and the ability to date the game’s handsome male cast. After completing enough quests, she could get the Holy Woman job. In Boys’ Love mode, she could become a Sorcerer. As you’d expect from a protagonist, her stats were incredibly high, and she could go on to be a powerful character, even more than Akagi. You wouldn’t think it by looking at her adorable appearance.

“Pleased to meet you all. I’m Naoto Tachigi, and I’m from Chiba. I want to be a Wizard.”

Tachigi was Akagi’s roommate in the student dorms. He came from a samurai family whose pedigree shaped his attitude, which often caused people to think of him as cold. They were mistaken to believe that, though. He was as friendly and thoughtful a boy as they came. Many female fans drooled over the shipping between the lively Akagi and the more reserved Tachigi. Players with female characters could also develop a romance with him.

“It’s nice to meet you all. I’m Kaoru Hayase. I’m from Kanagawa, and I want to become a Warrior. I’m best with a sword.”

Kaoru was another heroine whose beauty and abilities were ultra-high specifications. Piggy had been the villain for her route, and he was expelled from school, so I needed to monitor her progression. She lived next door to Piggy and was also engaged to him. Although she hated Piggy, she often found herself with him, like on the way to school. I still couldn’t quite figure out how close a relationship they had, and I wasn’t planning on sexually harassing her like the game’s Piggy. As such, I hoped for improvement in our relationship.

The more pressing concern was her effect on the remnants of Piggy’s mind, as it would weep in anguish every time I saw Kaoru and Akagi getting along. I needed to find some consistent way to relieve that feeling, or the negativity would infect my mind.

But there was someone I needed to keep an eye on for an entirely different reason.

“Kotone...Kuga. From Aichi. I’ll use a shortsword and a bow. I want to be an Archer.”

She was a quest character integral to the “Kuga’s Revolt” main quest. Her bob cut made her look like an ordinary, unassuming Japanese girl. Kotone was actually an American-born secret agent working for a US secret service division who’d transferred into the school with a false identity. After progressing her storyline, the game forced players to choose between working with her to defeat a terrorist group or taking her down for stealing state secrets. At this point in time, the safest thing to do was to keep my distance from her.

There was a reason why all the students so far had spoken about getting intermediate jobs rather than advanced jobs. Only a handful of this world’s best adventurers had gotten expert jobs, which wasn’t a realistic goal for most students.

Of course, there was always an exception.

“I am Hiroto Majima, the eldest son and heir of Katsuyuki Majima, who is head of a semi-noble samurai family in Niigata. My weapon is a sword, and I shall get the Samurai job! I’m looking for support roles to join my party!” He looked in my direction and said, “That doesn’t mean you.”

His insult made it more likely that nobody else would let me into their party, so I’d have to clear my name somehow. He came from a samurai family, and taking on someone from this society’s upper class would require care.

Next up was a girl that I was fond of.

“My name is Satsuki Oomiya, and I’m from Kochi. I plan to use either grimoires or maces as my weapons, and I want to become a Wizard. Let’s all do our best!”

She was a cute, petite girl who wore her hair in two braids on either side that she’d tied up at the ends. In the game, she’d acted as the class’s unofficial representative, trying to unite the students of Class E against the discrimination of other classes. Her actions caught the eyes of upper-class students and the various student factions, causing her downfall. Would she suffer the same fate in this world?

The session proceeded, with handsome guys and pretty girls standing up to introduce themselves. I stood out like a sore thumb against the almost exclusively attractive lineup of Class E, but self-consciousness would only bring me down.

My turn came last. I hadn’t decided what job I wanted yet, so I thought about what to say and settled on Priest. That would make the most sense with my stats.

“I’m Souta Narumi from Kanagawa. I’m using a bat as my weapon, and I want to be a Priest. All the best!” I made a sideways peace sign, hoping to score a laugh, but a round of mean whispers occurred.

“A bat, really?”

“So that’s the weakest adventurer ever.”

“I heard he lost to a slime.”

“What else would you expect from a Piggy?”

Hey, what’s my nickname got to do with it?! I thought and heaved a sigh. What a great start to my high school life...

“All right,” Murai said. “We can start the orientation now. Follow me and stick with the group.”

He would take us on a tour of the school’s facilities. A glimpse through the classroom window was enough proof that the school boasted several facilities. Excited to see what he’d show us, I joined the rest of the class and followed Murai as he marched us across the school grounds.

There was much to see. Adventurers’ High focused on academic study as much as on dungeon raids. They’d invested significant sums into special classrooms for study, music, and cooking, as well as teaching materials, scientific equipment, and audiovisual educational aids. All this made the public high school I’d gone to in my Japan look like cheapskates. The recording studio alone must’ve cost a fortune.

The government’s sizable budget allowed the school to have a liberal spending policy. Plus, a never-ending flow of donations from private enterprises in bed with the bureaucrats caused the institution’s expenditure to be higher than the average school.

“Be sure to keep on top of your studies,” Murai said as he showed us these rooms. “If you focus on just the dungeon, you won’t get promoted to the higher classes.” After that rousing bit of advice, he led us out of the main school building to inspect the facilities outside.

When he’d said promotion, he referred to the school’s system that allowed students to change classes at the end of the first and second halves of the year based on their grades in the dungeon and classwork. If a student’s grades were good enough, they could move up to Classes D or C by the end of the year, even if they started in Class E. However, students could only get promoted to a class one level higher than their current one. Reaching Class A from Class E start would require promotions at four of the six opportunities over the three years of enrollment. Conversely, poor grades could result in class demotion.

Graduating from Adventurers’ High in Class A would grant instant admission to Adventurers’ University, so promotion was highly sought-after by the students of Class E. This undertaking would require a tremendous amount of work. The students of Class E would have to catch up to the skill level of higher classes despite the lack of dungeon experience. Someone like me with knowledge of the game might stand a chance, but that was a huge barrier for the other Class E students.

While I was thinking about that, we reached a building whose size dwarfed everything else.

“This is the arena,” Murai explained. “It’s inside the magic field and can withstand damage from practicing skills. There’s all sorts of blunted weapons and metal tools inside for you to use. Remember that you must file a request when you want to use it.”

Students could practice their skills and spar against each other in this area. While students could do this outside, they needed to ensure they didn’t accidentally damage school property when they unleashed powerful skills. Murai added that practicing here was essential to advance to Adventurers’ University or participate in the Arena Tournament. Proficiency in fights was vital, but I planned to focus on leveling up since that would increase my strength at my low level.

Next, Murai took us to a room that smelled faintly of medicine. “This is the infirmary,” he said. “On weekdays, there’ll always be at least one teacher with the Priest job stationed here who can treat injuries and illnesses with the magic Medium Restoration skill. Come here if you ever hurt yourself in a dungeon raid or during training.”

A handsome young Priest smiled and waved at us.

Injuries during training were probably commonplace. The weapons might be blunt to make them safer, but smacking someone with them would still do damage. Medium Restoration was powerful enough to restore one or two missing fingers, so I had great faith in the infirmary’s capabilities. I preferred never needing them.

Upon leaving the infirmary, Murai led us to a road lined with various factories. One of the buildings had weapons of every kind propped up against the walls, and in the back of the room were several air hammers and equipment for forging metal. This factory’s purpose was probably to refine steel and dungeon-mined metals and manufacture weapons.

“The factories here develop and research weapons, equipment, and magical items,” Murai explained. “Outside agencies also operate a few food stands here, so be on your best behavior when you come through.”

Apparently, we could negotiate with the factory’s blacksmiths if we brought raw materials for any equipment order. I’d considered this if I found good materials on my raids since some metals in the dungeon had imbued magic. Still, I wanted to know my other options to get the best value for money. Some shops in the guild accepted orders for making new weapons. I could also trade materials for weapons and equipment in hidden shops in the dungeon once I’d reached a high enough level. Perhaps I could put in requests with Mr. Tatsu if I became close friends with Kaoru, but that one wasn’t really an option.

“The factories also lend weapons out to students,” Murai continued, “so if you don’t own one yet, stop by later to borrow one. You won’t find any top-notch weapons lying around here, but they’re good enough to get you through the first ten floors of the dungeon.”

This privilege was perfect timing for me since my bat had broken in the dungeon the day before. I glanced at the weapons and noticed they had swords and maces of various sizes and weights. Their quality seemed quite good, and it would make more sense to borrow one here than to risk money on a lousy purchase in a shop.

Murai escorted us away from the factories and toward the school’s club building. The building housed rooms set apart for club activities and training facilities. Like the rest of the school, the money that had gone into it was staggering. Corporate logos nearly covered everything in sight, advertising the sponsors that had provided the school with training machines, weapons, and funding.

“You’ll find that all the club activities in this school center around the dungeon,” Murai explained. “Each club focuses on a specific weapon or job, so if there’s a job you want to learn more about or a weapon you want to improve at, you should join a club. There’ll be a club fair this weekend, so you should go and think about which one you want to join if you’re interested.”

I remembered that there was a club for archery and two clubs for swordcraft, the First Swordcraft Club and Second Swordcraft Club, which had different sponsors and were home to rival cliques. Clubs had been prime spots for many in-game events, but I didn’t think I’d join any because I wanted to spend as much time as I could raiding the dungeon. I was enrolling in the best club: the go-home club! The real reason for not joining was to avoid bullying and fights. There were benefits to clubs, but I didn’t want to suffer those nasty experiences. I’d let the protagonist do that for me.

Our last stop was the dungeon portal. The school had all its facilities built around the portal to make the most of the magic field, which had a radius of one hundred and fifty meters. Students needed to pass through the Adventurers’ Guild ticket barriers to access the dungeon. One could get close to the portal within the school grounds, but entry was impossible without passing through security.

“If any of you haven’t yet registered for your Adventurer’s Pass at the guild,” Murai said, “fill in this form so we can print them out now.”

So it turned out that I could’ve gotten my Adventurer’s Pass without going to the guild. That was fine. It had let me get into the dungeon a couple of days early.

“Right,” said Murai, looking down at his watch. “Now’s a good time to take a break for lunch.” He pointed across to a building. “That’s the cafeteria. Be sure to buy the coupon book if you want to eat there regularly.”

The restaurant had outdoor seats, and the entrance to the cafeteria was already bustling with students. They chatted among themselves and inspected the menus posted outside.

Obeying the grumbling orders of my stomach, I walked over and took a peek at the menu. The daily special was only two hundred and eighty yen... And it came with unlimited rice and miso soup?!

I might stop packing lunch if a couple hundred yen can get me a meal that big! I thought. My stomach growled in approval.

“We’ll reconvene in the square in front of the Adventurers’ Guild at 1 p.m. I want you to split yourselves up into groups of three to five people before your lunch break is over,” added Murai.

It was standard practice in dungeon raids to form a party with other adventurers in case anything happened, such as setting off a dangerous trap or being ambushed by monsters. But with all the rumors about me floating around, would anyone invite me to do that? I pricked up my ears to eavesdrop on the conversations around me.

“Anyone wanna party up with me?” one person asked. “I want two combat roles and two supports.”

“Hey, everyone, I need a group!” another said. “I can use Magic Arrow!”

“We want one more combat and a support role,” a third said, “and we’d prefer people with the Search skill. Any takers?”

“Hey, you. Wanna join me?”

“Ooh, maybe?”

The students had launched into recruitment drives and self-advertisements before they’d even ordered food.

Looks like people with offensive skills are the most in-demand, I thought. Figures.

My classmates were prioritizing offensive skills over healing magic. The first few floors lacked deadly traps or powerful monsters, except in a few special areas. So groups with more combat roles were more efficient.

“Akagi, would you like to join our group?” Kaoru asked. She and Pinky had dragged Tachigi off to one side and were calling out to Akagi.

Several girls had been fighting over the right to invite Akagi to their groups. The lucky bastard...with his devilish good looks and awesome-sounding Sword Mastery skill, everyone wanted a piece of him. But he turned down the offers and joined Kaoru’s group instead, and the four of them appeared to be doing well together.

Uh-oh, I thought. Piggy’s mind is gonna have a breakdown unless I can distract myself! It’s bad enough that I’m a loner. I’m almost in tears, and I don’t need his mind making it worse! 

“Hi, everyone,” said Oomiya, the responsible one, pointing toward a vacant area in the cafeteria. “There are empty tables over there, so let’s grab some seats. We can continue working out our parties while we eat so we don’t block the door to the cafeteria.”

Obliging, the students placed their bags on the seats and headed over to the lunch counter.

I hurried after them to order food, hoping it would clear my head of Piggy’s negative thoughts. Today’s daily special was a nicely balanced meal of rice, miso soup, deep-fried horse mackerel, salad, and pickled vegetables. I piled my plate high with rice and returned to my seat.

“Let’s dig in!” Oomiya said.

At her call, everyone started their meals. While they ate, my classmates showed each other their stat screens on their terminals and tried to market themselves. The makeup of an adventurer’s first party wouldn’t matter much in the long run. Everyone took it seriously since it was the first dungeon raid for most of them.

I invited myself into their conversations and casually dropped that I had a starter skill too. My advances were politely—okay, bluntly—shot down, and I felt like crying. To be fair to them, my Glutton skill sounded more like an excuse for why I was always hungry and could eat so much rather than anything useful.

It was only a few minutes after the meal had begun, but the students had coalesced into full parties. They all had a good time, and somebody suggested they leave to rent weapons.

“Before that,” a person said, “has anyone not found a party yet? Oh... Just Piggy.”

“Who’d want a guy in their party that gets shown up by a slime?”

“Did he actually lose to a slime? Was it because he’s fat?”

“C’mon, guys, somebody let him join,” someone said, before hurriedly adding, “Ah, you can’t join ours, though. We’re full.”

My school life had hit rock bottom within the first week. I-I’m not crying. I’ve just got some pollen in my eyes, that’s all.

However, fate hadn’t abandoned me entirely.

“For goodness sake, he did pass the exam to get in here, remember? You’re welcome to join our party if you’d like.”

My head shot up, and smiling down at me was an angel... Well, no. It was Oomiya. “D-D-Do you mean it?!” I exclaimed. “Thank you so much!”

Class Representative Oomiya had just knocked the student council president off the top spot of my favorite characters list.

“Whoa, hold up!” a cute girl in glasses objected. It seemed she was in Oomiya’s party. “Satsuki, you’re not serious about inviting him, right?”

Her reluctance was understandable, given the rumors swirling about me. However, I wouldn’t give in to solitude without a fight! Putting on my brightest, most innocent smile, I said, “Thanks for letting me in!”

This was an all-girl party, so I was a little excited.

“Great,” Oomiya said. “I’ll let the others know we can’t join them.” She then walked off somewhere.

I looked at the girl with the glasses, who explained they’d planned to join a group of three other girls. Oomiya would inform them that they couldn’t form a party anymore because they’d taken me in, and the parties had a limit of five people.

Ah, I feel kinda bad now.

When Oomiya returned, she drew her chair closer to mine so we could plan our strategy for the raid. She had big, round eyes that curved up ever so slightly in the corners and was cute. Her shampoo’s lovely fragrance made Piggy’s mind get excited; maybe it was my mind.

“I think we should get to know a bit more about each other and our strengths,” Oomiya said. “I’ll go first. I’m Satsuki Oomiya, and these are my stats.” She pulled up the status screen on her terminal and showed it to us.

Examining the numbers, I noticed her agility was higher than expected from someone wanting to become a Wizard. She also had a skill called Detection, which allowed her to detect nearby monsters. In DEC, she had become a Wizard, but as small and agile as she was, the Thief job suited her better.

“Cool, my turn. So I’m Risa Nitta. I originally wanted to be an Archer, but like, I’m starting to think I might prefer something more magic-based.”

Nitta wore glasses and had straight, mid-length hair. She had a sophisticated appearance that made “beautiful” seem a better descriptor than “cute,” and she fit the big sister character archetype. Her soft manner of speech and gentle mannerisms made her seem slow. But something in her eyes made me feel like a cold, calculating mind lay hidden beneath her outer appearance. An aspiring Archer, she’d come along carrying a bow on her back.

“Right, so as for me—” I started.

“We know who you are,” interrupted Nitta. “Everyone does. Narumi, right? You’re famous. Did you really lose to a slime?”

“Risa, don’t bring that up!” exclaimed Oomiya.

“No, it’s fine,” I said and continued my introduction. “I told everyone I want to be a Priest, but I’m happy to act in a combat role swinging my mace around.”

I was famous for all the wrong reasons. Perceived weakness impeded progress in the “might makes right” ecosystem of Adventurers’ High. Perhaps I should’ve dispelled the rumors when I’d heard about them. The nurses had measured and updated my stats after I’d been taken to the infirmary yesterday, so I decided to show the two girls.

“Wow, you’re already level 3...” remarked Nitta. She then furrowed her brows and tilted her head in puzzlement. “Wait, so like, you must’ve killed a bunch of slimes and goblins to get there, right? Or did you power level*... No, I guess not. Nobody does that on the first two floors.”

*TIPS: Power leveling: When a lower-level player enlists the assistance of a higher level player to gain experience points and level up quickly and safely.

Her confusion was justified. Level 3 adventurers shouldn’t lose to slimes, and the only way I could’ve gotten to level 3 was by successfully defeating slimes.

“I started feeling ill that day, which is why,” I answered.

“I knew it didn’t make sense,” commented Oomiya. “Nobody could make it into this school if they couldn’t beat a slime.”

It surprised me how friendly Oomiya was to me. She didn’t harbor any reservations about being in the same party. Nitta struck me as odd too, as I had no memory of seeing her in the game. Why had someone so gorgeous been left out of the story? Perhaps it wasn’t so strange. Characters had only gotten screen time if they’d had some connection to the protagonist or a heroine.

We finalized the formation we’d use in the dungeon while eating our meals, then headed to the weapon factories.

Murai had explained that to rent weapons, we’d have to register them in our terminals. The process was free too, so I planned to rent one if I found one I liked. The factories only had ordinary steel weapons, so none used magical ores mined from the dungeon, but to buy one outright would cost as much as a PC.

“What do you think of this one?” Oomiya asked.

“Wow, check out this bow!” said Nitta. “I think I’ll snag this one.”

Nitta and Oomiya browsed the selections with giggling excitement.

I joined them in the rental section to hunt down a good mace and picked one up to get a feel for the grip. The metal weapons were a lead weight in my hands, even the small ones, and they’d be a pain to carry around. A wooden weapon would be easier for me to swing around with my low strength stat. I spotted a spiked wooden mace that looked like a troll’s club, so I went for that.

“It’s almost one,” said Oomiya, “so we should get back to Murai.”

“Narumi,” said Nitta, “you’d better show us how a level 3 does things, okay?”

“You can count on me!” I replied.

We navigated through the crowds of people going in and out of the Adventurers’ Guild and arrived at the meeting space. There must’ve been thousands of people since many adventurers ran through the final checks of their raid plans. Some people had rolled out mats on the ground and sold goods, like a flea market. Although they needed a license to sell items on the street, the foot traffic guaranteed profit.

I looked toward our prearranged meeting point by the clock tower. Most of the class had already arrived and were chatting among themselves. I stood next to Oomiya and Nitta while we waited for Murai, and I listened to our classmates’ discussions to pass the time.

“I’m already level 2,” one said.

“Wow, that’s amazing!”

“I heard a guy from another class is already over level 10.”

I gathered that Akagi, his group, and I hadn’t been the only ones that had raided the dungeon on the same day we’d received our terminals, but we were in the minority. Most of our class had spent their time in the guild’s library doing research and paperwork.

The government’s age restriction of fifteen didn’t mean someone who had graduated middle school could jump into the dungeon. They’d first need to take courses, undergo on-site training, and take tests. The entire process would take at least two months from when they applied to receive their class ten Adventurers’ Pass. Enrollment at Adventurers’ High came with the benefit of printing out a class nine Adventurers’ Pass by displaying the school-issued terminal to a guild staff member. You’d get to the dungeon quicker by waiting for the school term to start than through the regular process.

So, the only opportunity to visit the dungeon for Class E students had been during the three days since the first day of school. Most of them had instead spent that time researching monsters, ordering equipment and weapons, practicing teamwork with their parties, and checking out the Adventurers’ Guild.

That seems overly cautious to me, I thought. But maybe I’d do the same if I didn’t know DEC inside and out.

At that moment, a resplendently dressed group of adventurers passed by. One of them was a combat-role adventurer wearing a full suit of armor that gleamed in the sunlight and carried a large sword with gaudy ornamentation attached. Behind him were several support-role adventurers wearing masks and robes with magical patterns woven into their fabric.

They’re wearing Adventurers’ High badges, so they must be students too. They must be third-years if their badges are that color.

The school had implemented a rule requiring students to wear the school badge on their chest during schooltime dungeon raids to distinguish them from ordinary adventurers. It could be hard to tell otherwise with all the equipment adventurers wore.

I assumed they were around level 20. Few of the adventurers gathered by the guild were higher than level 10, so heavy equipment that required a high strength stat to equip stood out. The other nearby adventurers began whispering to each other, gawking at the group.

“Get a look at their equipment! Someone said they go to Adventurers’ High.”

“Are they actually level 20?”

“It blows my mind that a high schooler can level up that high.”

Without warning, the man in full-body armor activated his Aura. “Move. You’re in my way.”

Adventurers darted away from his powerful, intimidating Aura and cleared a path. The third-years proceeded through the opening with smug looks like they owned the place.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, I thought. Being a high level doesn’t give you the right to bully ordinary people!

I remembered when one of Kariya’s cronies had used his Aura on us. I’d felt like a gigantic beast had gripped its claws around my heart, and the crony hadn’t been as strong as these guys. The way these assholes had used that skill on ordinary citizens for being in their way made me want to sit down with the school’s compliance team and grill them for not doing their job.

Seeing this, I remembered that high-level students had been just as aggressive in the game. Maybe I’d act a bit cocky too if I were their level. But I didn’t want to turn out like them, so I would need to keep an eye on myself since it was awful to watch their behavior.

Murai checked his watch and said, “It’s about time. Is everyone here?”

Before Murai could take a roll call, Akagi ran toward us from the direction of the school and panted as he said, “I’m...sorry. For being...late.”

Kaoru, Pinky, and Tachigi rushed after him, all out of breath. They’d lost track of time while picking out rental weapons at the factory. Choosing the right weapon was a matter of life and death for adventurers, so it was only correct to take time to weigh their options. I wished they’d stop drawing so much attention to themselves. It was making Piggy’s mind go mad with jealousy.

“Let’s get started then,” said Murai. “I want you all to pick one member to be your party leader. Your leader will then report to me the names of the people in your party.”

Our leader was obviously Oomiya.

“As soon as you’ve told me who’s in your party,” Murai continued, “you can head to the dungeon. You get through this barrier by scanning the terminals on your arms through this machine.”

One by one, the party leaders made their reports and Murai handed them badges with the Adventurers’ High logo to pin on their members’ chests. Then, the party scanned their terminals in the machines and began to walk toward the portal.

The dungeon wasn’t as busy at midday, and we made it to the portal without getting in line. My classmates walked through the bizarre, black surface of the portal with ease, but personally, I didn’t think I’d ever get used to the gross, sticky sensation.

Our class regrouped inside the dungeon at a spot near the portal, and Murai announced the schedule for our trip. We were to walk down the main road to the second floor, then turn back. He wanted us to walk in our groups and regularly monitor our location on the terminals’ maps.

Each party designated one of their members to keep their terminal screen open and watch the map, who then guided the party toward the second floor.

A long line of adventurers stretched over the main street that connected the first floor portal to the second floor. The occasional slime would spawn only to get cut down immediately, so our group had no monsters to hunt.

A fat lot of good renting a new weapon did, I thought. I felt sorry for the students who had rented heavy weapons and now had to lug them around with nothing to use them on. One of the boys looked particularly downcast. He’d been bragging to some of the girls, but now he had no way to show off.

“So many people,” remarked Nitta. “It’s like we’ve wandered into a tourist trap.”

“Yeah,” agreed Oomiya. “We’d have to leave the main street to escape the crowd.”

While the number of people had surprised me before, it was natural it would get crowded with adventurers from all over Japan. The main streets that led between floors were the busiest areas, always lined with an unbroken column of adventurers from end to end. The only ways to hunt monsters on the first floor were to veer off from the main street or go at night when it was less busy. This floor had been nearly empty in the game because the only people inside the dungeon had been players, and most wouldn’t spend long in the early section. Some aspects of the game didn’t survive the transition to reality.

After walking about two kilometers from the portal, the path ahead opened into a clear space. Countless lights installed on the ceiling beamed down on us. It was almost blinding to look at. Toward the rear of the area was a set of stairs leading to the second floor, along with signposts pointing to a first aid station, toilets, and other facilities. This was the final destination for our orientation session.

Once Murai took roll call, our homeroom class began. We descended the stairs, entering another wide area. Vending machines and a rest area that served cheaper light meals than the first floor’s landing zone were present. Murai warned us that prices would go up the deeper into the dungeon we went, and he recommended we stock up on provisions before going on raids in the future. I’d spotted several small transport vehicles passing down the main street on our way, and I realized they provided the supplies for these services. The fourth floor even had a hotel and item trading stalls that only the wealthy and vacation-goers took advantage of because they were so expensive. Since players could zip through early floors using the dash function, none had used the hotel in the game.

“We’ll wrap things up a bit early today,” Murai said. “It’s up to you whether you go home or stay with your party to hunt monsters. Classes will run on the normal schedule starting tomorrow, so make sure to show up on time.”

It was still early in the day. The time was a little past two.

Oomiya invited me to explore the first floor, but I couldn’t wait to raid the second floor, so with a heavy heart, I turned down her offer. Going on a raid with a pair of cute girls sounded like great fun, but I couldn’t fight the urge to plunge deeper into the dungeon.

“Show those goblins what you’ve got!” said Oomiya encouragingly, smiling, then we parted ways.

Really though, I thought to myself, Oomiya and Nitta are so gorgeous.

The attractiveness of its students was yet another reason to love Adventurers’ High. Kaoru was stunning, but Oomiya and Nitta were gorgeous even if they weren’t heroines. If I played my cards right at school, I might get to spend my summer vacation surrounded by cute girls—wouldn’t that be one to remember?

I could hardly wait.

***

Kaoru Hayase

Luck had smiled on me for my first few days at Adventurers’ High, bringing three wonderful companions—Yuuma, Naoto, and Sakurako—into my life.

I’d gotten the chance to talk with Yuuma on my first day. Well, I’d approached him, but still. Adventuring had delighted us both, and in our excitement, we’d agreed to raid the dungeon together. I was so glad we did because it led to one of the best Saturdays of my life.

I was so happy to have friends that I could depend on when I wasn’t sure how best to get stronger, raid the dungeon, or raise my grades to get into Class A. Without them, I’d be clutching at straws all by myself.

Yuuma was courageous, ambitious, and had the raw talent to do anything he set his sights on. He’d told me before the raid that he only had a little training in swordcraft and wasn’t confident in his skills, but then I saw him slice down goblins charging at us. His form had been perfect, had been glorious. And he looked so cool when he’d undauntedly stood up to those thugs from Class D. I was a teenage girl, so how could I see that and not feel a stir in my heart?

Naoto looked sour-faced, but I changed my opinion when I learned how caring and gentlemanly he was. I’d also found out that he knew almost everything there was to know about magic. Swords were my specialty, so I was unfamiliar with magic. If I ever became a first-rate adventurer, I’d eventually have to team up with a magic wielder. Getting experience fighting with Naoto and learning from him would be valuable for my future.

Not to be mean, but Sakurako’s cuddly appearance and personality hadn’t initially filled me with hope for her performance in the dungeon. When we’d gotten into close-quarters combat, she’d been lightning quick, adept at healing magic, and mindful of everything happening in the battle. I couldn’t believe it was her first raid! I had to tip my hat to her. She might even have more potential than Yuuma.

My astonishing companions were all gifted, but I had no innate talent like them. The only thing I could contribute was the swordcraft I’d practiced from a young age. That group made it possible for even someone like me to be helpful.

I’d have to work on improving myself if I wanted to be worthy of staying by their side. So I needed to ramp up my training so they could trust me to watch their backs in battle. I was ready and willing to put my whole heart into my school life!

However, the next day at school had been a letdown. Our orientation had just been a trip to the main street, the second floor, and back. There was no fighting or anything new to see—I’d already been down that road.

“The monsters on the first floor are too weak,” said Yuuma, sounding bored. “They could’ve at least taken us to the third floor.”

We weren’t level 1 adventurers, so this session wasn’t the most stimulating. Even the second floor was a walk in the park for us now.

“We can do what we want when this is over,” said Sakurako. “Why don’t the four of us go hunting again?”

“I was just about to suggest that,” replied Naoto. He looked at me and asked, “Will you come too, Kaoru?”

I didn’t need to be asked twice.

“Yes, I’ll come,” I accepted, smiling. “I’ve already rented out a weapon, so it would be good to try it out.”

We giggled and kept walking, treading every step carefully as if to make sure we were really here, inside the dungeon.

I looked ahead to see what awaited us—

—and saw a big-bellied schoolboy waddling along the path. A chill ran down my spine.

That was when I remembered the night before. Just after I’d gotten out of the bath and started studying, my “stress” arrived as a shocking message from Sakurako: Souta got taken to the infirmary after a slime defeated him. The story had made it to the school’s bulletin board, and everyone talked about it.

Slimes were famous for being so weak that anyone old enough to enter the dungeon could take them on safely. Even little kids could probably beat them! So how had he gone and disgraced himself like that? Souta’s parents had been relieved that he didn’t get hurt, but this must have been heartbreaking.

I did feel a twinge of guilt. Perhaps this wouldn’t have happened had I been stricter during our training. Then I remembered that Souta wasn’t willing to put in the effort, so I cut myself some slack.

Souta had shown no remorse over the night before when I’d picked him up for school in the morning. He’d greeted me at the door yawning, his usual passionless self. But I thought he should have at least acted ashamed for getting shown up by a slime. Any good student of Adventurers’ High would.

Something else about him had struck me as odd recently. After the school’s entrance ceremony, Souta had gone from never leaving me alone to barely having anything to do with me. He used to ring me up out of the blue, barge into my house uninvited, or hound me to go on dates. We spoke a bit on Saturday morning, but he hadn’t ogled me as usual or tried to invite himself on our dungeon raid. When Murai told us today to form parties, I’d been sure he’d come straight over to me. He hadn’t even looked my way.

Had he lost interest in me?

No. Souta would’ve given me back the nuptial grimoire. I would have to do whatever he said as long as he had it. The only reason he kept it was because he was still obsessed with me. Plus, I’d witnessed firsthand how much he hated working to improve himself. A guy like that couldn’t change so readily.

As if to prove my point, I could see that he had rosy cheeks and leered at the two girls in his party. He was treating this dungeon orientation session like it was a date! It was pathetic.

The two girls by his side, Oomiya and Nitta, must’ve taken pity on the class outcast and grouped up with him out of duty.

I couldn’t help but sigh at the thought. But I wanted to put the work into becoming a top adventurer and the freedom to fall in love with who I wanted. So I wouldn’t spare any more time for Souta. I needed to void the nuptial grimoire that bound me to him as soon as possible and clear the way for a future where I had a choice.

Unfortunately, my progress in that regard was nil. I blamed myself for keeping Souta at length for so long that we’d grown distant. The best plan I could hatch was to befriend Kano and get her on my side, but she’d started acting hostile recently whenever I tried talking to her. Maybe she didn’t like me anymore. She idolized her older brother, so perhaps she’d noticed the mixed feelings I had for him.

That change stung when I remembered how she smiled so innocently at me, but I had to put it out of my mind. I had too much to focus on to worry about that.

I kept on walking, my mind distressed by thoughts of the many challenges in my future.