Dungeon Defense (WN)

“Uh, hey. Anyone, uh, with me, the Demon Lord……!”

The young man was perplexed as he tried to bring it up again.

It was at that moment, a female staff member who was serving the food and drinks tripped the young man from behind. The young man made a pitiful sound as he received the unexpected assault and fell in an unsightly manner.

“Oh dear, I’m sorry! I wasn’t looking in front of me.”

The young man was faced with one unexpected situation after another. He naturally went along with what the waitress said as his mind still wasn’t fully together. The female staff member held her hand out with an apologetic look and the young man absentmindedly took her hand.

The waitress let go right when the young man was about to pull himself up. The young man lost his balance helplessly and fell back down. Thud, the adventurers who were watching him from afar chuckled once the young man fell again.

“Dear me. What am I to do? I’m rather weak because I’m a woman.”

The waitress lowered herself to look down at the young man’s face.

“But Mr. Self-proclaimed Knight Aspirant, I’ll be cheering you on. If you defeat the Demon Lord, then I’ll be the woman who made the hero fall, wouldn’t I?”

The young man was able to put the pieces together once things got this far. His face went red.

“How could you do something so discourteous……!”

“You’re the one who was discourteous first, little gentleman. Listen carefully.”

The waitress continued.

“This isn’t a practice ground for young aspirant knights to come and use the things they learned. Understand? This is our workplace. A place where we make a living. Do you get it? The world may be screwed up, but you shouldn’t openly try to destroy our meal plates. That’s basic manners.”

“How could you treat a Demon Lord like a means to make a living!”

The young man got up and started to shout while pointing his finger.

“Finding a way to maintain your livelihoods is naturally important; however, there are many things in the world that are more important than that! Slaying a Demon Lord that’s tormenting the continent – that’s our important duty as humans!”

“Kid, no one cares what sort of ethical beliefs you have. Even if you were to die right this instant, the world is overflowing with people who can replace you.”

The waitress grabbed the young man’s finger tightly.

“Thousands of adventurers are able to live their lives thanks to a single Demon Lord Castle. In this city alone, there are thousands of humans who are able to make a living thanks to the Demon Lord Castle. If you slay the Demon Lord with that great sword of justice, then we’ll all become jobless━Can you take responsibility for the lives of thousands?”

“…….”

The young man had never thought of it like that.

“Of course we’d laugh when someone who can’t even take care of himself claims that they’ll shoulder the burden of thousands.”

The pretty female staff member with orange hair snorted.

“If you aren’t here to work, then get out, you limp dick. As you can see, this place is always busy. If someone like you just stands here absentmindedly, then even I’ll end up bumping into them unintentionally.”

The young man couldn’t say anything back as he was chased out of the guild.

The other adventurers laughed once more as they watched the young man make his way out in a hurry. They didn’t have any sort of malice towards the youngster. It simply felt like an interesting fellow had shown up during their awfully boring day.

They were grateful since he gave them a laugh despite their difficult lives. There were a fair amount of adventurers who genuinely thought this. It would only be a loss for them the more seriously they took their lives, after all. How could someone possibly live the life of an adventurer and also live their lives seriously at the same time?

“You’re way too nice to greenhorns, Fleur.”

One of the adventurers commented as he drank his barley beer.

“I told you many times already that you don’t have to. Leave them be! Dullards like them have dark futures ahead of them anyway, so they have no idea if someone is trying to help them. It’s pointless. Pointless, I say.”

Several other people voiced their agreement as well.

The girl placed her hands on her hips and sighed.

“Quite the great senile old man has descended upon us. Do you think the world flows however you want it to? I say the things I do because I can’t win against my own temper. This is how I am, so keep your nose out of my business, old man.”

“Our guild lass also has quite the sharp tongue.”

The adventurer took a swig of his beer.

“Kuh. I’ve always been curious. Fleur, why are you always so kind to greenhorns? You say it’s because of your temper, but that honestly sounds like a lie. No matter how much I think about it, this kind of meddling doesn’t fit you.”

“…….”

The girl muttered quietly.

“I would be happy if no one died. Especially inside of that Demon Lord Castle…….”

The other adventurers nodded solemnly in response.

It was a common story. Someone precious to her probably died inside of the Demon Lord Castle. Be it her parents, her lover, or perhaps a sibling. It was a common occurrence in this world. Thus, the adventurers decided to not pry any further.

Don’t ask someone something they don’t want to answer.

This was one of the unspoken laws you had to keep at all cost if you wished to survive in this field of work for as long as possible. The adventurer thought to himself as he drank his beer.

‘Come to think of it, her father was a famous adventurer.’

He was apparently a Red-ranked adventurer.

He was undoubtedly a father to be proud of. Being able to raise a child in itself was an achievement for adventurers that was as impressive as saving the world. Fleur had apparently been working in the guild at the next city over before she was able to transfer here thanks to her father’s connections.

‘I don’t think I ever heard about a Red-ranked adventurer dying in Dantalian’s Demon Lord Castle…….’

The adventurer was curious, but he naturally stopped thinking about it.

‘Well, it doesn’t matter.’

The adventurer was a veteran who was coming up on his 7th year as an adventurer. He knew better than anyone else that it was best to not think about things too much in this neighborhood. Well, he thought to himself. The more secrets the world and a lady have, the more beautiful they look…….

* * *

The young man who was chased out of the guild had to sleep on the streets that night.

He didn’t have any money.

“……At least it isn’t that cold.”

The young man pushed his way in between a couple of buildings. He did so in concern that his body might become rigid due to the cold wind, but it was also for the sake of being prepared against thieves. If a couple of thieves approached him while he was resting in this alleyway, then he should be able to fight them off.

“Haah.”

A sigh came out on its own.

He did check on lodging fees just in case, but it was as he expected. It wasn’t even a matter of having enough money to stay at an inn, he didn’t have enough to even rent some family’s stables.

If he lowered his head and begged shamelessly, then he could probably stay a night for free. The people in this city didn’t seem cruel. However, the shameless part bothered him. The young man’s life until now had not accustomed him to the act of begging…….

His entire fortune was now only a single silver coin. He could buy 4 pieces of bread before becoming completely broke.

Of course, he could endure for a couple of days, but what about after that……?

“No, I can’t be weak.”

The young man pulled himself together.

“What are you doing, Frederick Schiller!? Your resolve is weak and the world is harsh. They say that the harsh world is like a mountain, so only those who conquer it can become heroes, right!?”

The young man recited the words he had learned from his class as he stared up at the night sky.

It was the same night sky he saw when he was still in the academy and had big dreams. The young man semanticized this. Therefore, it didn’t matter where someone came from, whether they were born a noble or a slave, and whether they lived their lives as a knight or an adventurer. There was only one path that people should walk. The path of justice.

It didn’t matter where he was right now. His current self was undoubtedly shabby. Not only was he completely shabby, but he was also about to sleep in a dirty alleyway. Nonetheless, it didn’t matter…….

The next day.

“Is there anyone here brave enough to slay the Demon Lord’s servants with me!?”

The young man returned to the guildhall and shouted loudly.

He felt like Goddess Artemis had given him another air of confidence after a night of rest. Although he did change it from slaying the Demon Lord to slaying the Demon Lord’s servants.

“…….”

The female staff member glanced at the young man.

She didn’t say anything, but her gaze was much colder compared to yesterday. She ignored the young man and continued serving barley beer to the other adventurers. The same adventurer from yesterday let out a snort as he received his beer.

“See, what did I say? He won’t come to his senses.”

“Say something stupid in front of me one more time and I’ll break your dick in half.”

“Hiiik!”

It wasn’t surprising that no one responded to the young man’s gallant shout. The young man had no choice but to return to the alley without making any results today as well.

The day after that.

“Is there no one brave enough to slay wicked monsters with me!?”

The young man remained confident, but his face was slightly paler than usual as he shouted. The other adventurers were already used to this, so they didn’t even turn to glance at him. In truth, they had actually made bets about how long the young man was going to keep this up for.

The next day, the day after that, and the day after that…….

For four days straight.

The young man was starving.

“…….”

He was hungry.

His body was already exhausted after his long trip to get here. Adding several days’ worth of hunger on top of this was difficult for even a young, prospective knight to endure. 

Fortunately, it was Sunday.

People would make a new batch of soup every Monday. Thus, the soup would become bland like water after each passing day. Sunday was when people’s soup stock would taste the blandest. Beggars would get chased away ruthlessly on Mondays when they came begging for some soup, but they would be given at least a single bowl on Sundays.

“May I have one bowl of soup……?”

The young man spent the entire day going to 6 different villages.

The reason was simple. He was afraid that he would look shameless if he went around begging in only a single village. The people looked annoyed, but they gave him some soup anyway.

“Why is a youngster with all his limbs still intact doing something like this……tsk tsk.”

Normally, even this bland soup would go to a specific group of people. Every village has orphans. If an orphanage doesn’t exist, then the orphans would live on the streets, so a ‘Grace of Sunday’ would be prepared for these orphans.

So people were taken aback to see a young man, who still looked healthy, come begging for soup even though he obviously wasn’t an orphan.

The young man couldn’t endure the humiliation any longer.

He couldn’t get comrades, but he entered the Demon Lord Castle by himself anyway. Two goblins attacked the young man. Beastly monsters that he was taught were the weakest among monsters. Regardless, the young man almost lost an arm trying to deal with the two goblins.

“Ha, hggh……haa.”

Studying about them and reality were two different things.

If handling two goblins was this difficult, then what would happen if three had attacked him? Fear washed over him. The Demon Lord Castle wasn’t some place he could wander alone. The young man put a goblin corpse on his back and left quickly.

He never learned how to butcher monsters, so he ignorantly put a corpse on his back before escaping.

The young man left the corpse to a butcher and made a single silver coin. He was ripped off, but it couldn’t be helped since he didn’t know the going prices. He bought a loaf of bread, a lump of cheese, and some soup with the silver coin. 

The food was so tasty that he shed tears.

The next day.

The young man returned to the guildhall and spoke carefully.

“I’ll take a silver coin per goblin. One silver coin per goblin……!”

He sounded a bit awkward, but his voice melded into the noisy atmosphere inside the building.

“Does anyone want to go catch goblins? 2 silver coins per goblin. I know how to butcher them.”

“I told you, one gold per person is insane!”

“Hey. I found out that the Mage Towers ran by demons and humans are all the same. There’s no one trustworthy in the world!”

Like any other day, people were looking for work as usual.

The female staff member smirked as she watched the young man from afar.

“Now he’s learned how to talk properly.”

***

Author’s Afterword

There are probably people who remember this, but Fleur was the girl that the ‘One-eyed Bald Adventurer’ Fabian loved.

TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I’m honestly surprised to see Fleur again. She seemed like such a small character. I guess this probably won’t be the last time we see this little knight. The author gave him a name and everything. He must be important, right? Right?

In any case, Chinese New Years is approaching. I’ll probably be able to get another chapter out before then, but keep in mind that there’ll most likely be a delay afterward since I’ll be gone for an entire day meeting relatives. 

I’ll see you guys in the next chapter.

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