Chapter 12: Miss Eina, the Half-Elf of the Adventurer's Guild (Please Follow) (Patreon)

Whew... Rozz's eyes swept over the parchment. There was definitely a sense of accomplishment. He stopped lying face-down and stretched his body, now that his stats had been updated.

Hmm... did he feel a bit stronger than before?

The feeling was subtle, hard to put into words. But if he ran into the same kind of Goblin again and wanted to kick it to death, it would definitely be easier than today!

"I think I finally get it..."

"...why gamers love maxing out every stat, grinding even their lewdness meter to the cap. The sense of accomplishment really is something."

With his stats updated, Rozz grabbed a clean change of clothes and headed to the communal bathhouse for a quick wash — his whole body felt sticky and uncomfortable.

Still, remembering that even this change of clothes had been prepared by Hestia, he felt a complicated pang. Ever since transmigrating into the world of DanMachi, everything — his food, clothes, lodging, even his Adventurer gear — had come from Hestia.

The sense of being kept by a pretty, childlike girl only grew stronger.

"Still... at least now I've got some way to earn money. I just don't know how today's Dungeon haul turned out."

Rozz left the communal dormitory's bathhouse, and when he returned to his room, he found Hestia sitting on the edge of his bed.

The girl goddess blinked her deep blue eyes and spoke up first.

"Rozz!"

"Want to go out for dinner?"

"Huh?"

Noticing the confusion in the boy's eyes, Hestia put her hands on her hips. "You explored the Dungeon for the first time today — of course we should celebrate!"

Rozz thought of the Magic Stones and Goblin teeth he'd picked up today — he still had no idea exactly how many valis they'd fetch.

If his finances allowed it, he really did want to treat her to a meal. "Sure, let's go out to eat."

After leaving the communal dormitory, they made their way down Adventurer Street. In the evening it was even livelier than during the day, bustling with people.

As far as the eye could see, most of the shops here were taverns that opened in the evening — which made sense, since Orario never lacked for Adventurers.

Noticing the pure white palace-like building ahead, Rozz stopped in his tracks, looking at the Adventurer Guild not far off. "Lady Hestia, before we eat, I'd like to stop by the Guild."

"What for?"

"While I was exploring the Dungeon today, I collected some Magic Stones and drops," Rozz said, pulling out the cloth pouch at his waist, full of today's Dungeon drops.

He explained honestly, "I want to exchange these for valis, and also... ask about the Dungeon's situation. Mostly because after today's exploration... I still don't feel like I really understand the floors."

Hearing this, Hestia tilted her head up, not looking the least bit surprised. "No problem. Knowing more about the Dungeon will help you in future explorations."

"Then I'll go buy dinner first, and we'll eat back at the dorm!"

Without even giving Rozz a chance to object, the girl goddess turned and strode off toward a nearby, reasonably priced restaurant.

Clearly, Hestia had sharply picked up on the fact that Rozz probably wanted to exchange his drops for valis so he could treat her to a meal.

Just knowing he had the thought was enough to satisfy her.

"Go on, then..."

—

The Adventurer Guild's lobby was even livelier than Rozz had expected, with a long line of Adventurers waiting to exchange their drops.

Rozz walked up to the reception counter, and there she was — the half-elf girl who'd handled his Familia registration and Adventurer status the day before: Eina Tulle.

"Good evening."

"Ah, Mr. Rozz!"

Eina looked up and recognized the boy in front of her as the newcomer she'd handled two days before. "Good evening. What can I help you with?"

"I'd like to exchange my Magic Stones and drops."

Rozz set the cloth pouch of loot on the counter, remembering to add, "Also... I'd like to ask about the Dungeon."

"No problem!"

Though this wasn't strictly part of her job, Eina took the pouch anyway and skillfully counted the Magic Stones and drops inside, tallying up the final total according to market prices.

"Twenty-three Magic Stones, plus five Goblin fangs. After the standard tax deduction, that comes to... two thousand two hundred valis."

She arranged the copper coins neatly and handed them to Rozz. "Here you go."

"Thanks."

All he could think was, being an Adventurer really did pay better than he'd expected. The single room Hestia had helped him rent only cost 20,000 valis a month.

As a rookie Adventurer, he could even manage to break even.

Rozz tucked the valis into his coin pouch. If he kept working hard, he probably wouldn't need to... freeload off her quite so often going forward.

"Um..."

"What would you like to know about the Dungeon?" Eina asked, taking out the Guild's reference book on monster distribution.

"Mainly the monster distribution."

Rozz didn't really have a clear idea himself. "I'm not too familiar with the Dungeon's layout — I don't know which monsters show up on which floors."

"I see."

Eina nodded lightly and began explaining. "The Dungeon is divided into different zones by depth. At your current level, Mr. Rozz... you should really only explore the Upper Floors."

"The Upper Floors are floors 1 through 5. The monsters there are mainly Goblins, Ugly Spirits, and Cave Lizards."

"As for Goblins... any rookie Adventurer with even a little training can handle those. Cave Lizards are trickier, though — their sheer size makes them a problem."

Rozz listened carefully, committing the information to memory.

"And there's also..." Eina continued, "Unless you're absolutely confident, I wouldn't recommend heading down to the sixth floor rashly."

"Because down there..." her tone suddenly turned serious, "you're quite likely to run into a monster called the War Shadow, known as the 'Newbie Killer.'"

"I understand."

So for now, the only area he could safely explore was floors 1 through 5 — anything Eina would call a "Newbie Killer" was clearly no joke.

Just thinking about it made Rozz's skin crawl. "Thank you, Miss Eina."

"It's my job."

Eina put the book away. Remembering the Magic Stones Rozz had exchanged earlier, she realized he'd only thought to ask about all this after the fact. "Mr. Rozz... don't you think you should have asked about this beforehand?"

"Ah..."

Faced with the half-elf girl's concerned gaze, Rozz felt guilty just thinking about lying to her. "Well... I can hardly tell you I just forgot, right?"

Could someone really forget something like that?

Eina fell silent for a moment. Unable to hold back her feelings, she murmured softly, "Seeing you come back safely really is something of a miracle, Mr. Rozz."

As she said it, she felt a chill of retrospective fear.

After all — a rookie Adventurer exploring the Dungeon alone, especially one like Rozz who hadn't even sorted out which monsters lived on which floors, had just gone straight into the Dungeon anyway. Coming back alive... could genuinely be called a miracle.

Eina looked at Rozz earnestly and cautioned him patiently. "Still. Since you made it back safely, Mr. Rozz, as the one responsible for you — I do hope you'll put safety first when exploring the Dungeon from now on."

The reason was... the half-elf girl found it a little hard to say aloud — because in the past, the Adventurers she'd been responsible for had rarely... made it back from the Dungeon safely at all.

Curse: Broken.jpg

"I will."

Rozz nodded earnestly. This world didn't seem as hard to get along in as he'd imagined — at least, every pretty girl he'd met so far had been quite gentle.

He smiled easily and thanked her again. "Thank you for your concern, Miss Eina."

"Don't mention it."

Eina stood up, remembering to add, "If you ever have any more questions about the Dungeon, feel free to come find me anytime."

"Okay."

With the drop exchange and information request taken care of, Rozz didn't plan to linger at the Guild any longer. After a brief farewell, he turned and left.

Just then, as he reached the entrance, he saw Hestia standing there with a bento box in hand. The girl goddess waved at him, her smile especially bright.

"Rozz."

"Let's go home!"