Dambi Becomes an Adventurer.
He was originally a half-blood born between a vampire and a human. Though he was of mixed blood, it was only natural for him to live in a vampire dungeon.
But among other vampires, his treatment as a half-blood was far from good. It would not be wrong to call it the worst.
Inside the dungeon, he was treated as less than an insect.
If anything, the humans who had been captured and brought there were treated better than Dambi. Humans were precious beings who provided blood to vampires, but Dambi was of no use to them.
Even under such cold treatment, Dambi did nothing. He did not raise his voice, nor did he flee the dungeon.
He merely accepted it in silence, telling himself he was a failed existence that did not belong there.
Because he was far too different from them.
Even his appearance was closer to that of a human than a vampire.
And so he believed he had been born into the world as a failed byproduct.
Like that, he spent meaningless days in the dungeon. He thought that life would continue forever.
Then one day, an incident that shattered his daily life suddenly arrived.
Holy knights had invaded the dungeon.
And they had not invaded only the dungeon Dambi belonged to. They attacked every vampire dungeon in the surrounding area.
Even in such a situation, Dambi survived.
To be precise, he was able to survive among the humans who had been kidnapped into the dungeon.
Dambi’s appearance was close to human, and the situation was so chaotic that no one had the time to think he might be a half-blood vampire.
And so Dambi was able to leave the dungeon.
He had certainly found freedom, yet something felt empty.
There was no one to torment him, no one to ignore him, but something felt hollow.
That was right. Dambi had lost the identity of his life.
Even if he had been discriminated against by his own kind, he had still felt a sense of belonging to the dungeon.
But when the dungeon was subjugated, that disappeared.
Where was he supposed to go now?
To forget his anxiety, Dambi simply walked and walked, spending his time that way.
When he grew hungry, he drank the blood of wild animals or monsters in the mountains.
At times, he went into cities and tried blending in among humans.
It was while he was wandering aimlessly like that.
Out of nowhere, a voice suddenly reached him.
【Act for my sake.】
That unidentified voice shook his very existence like the sound of a bell ringing out in the darkness.
And he knew by instinct.
If he aligned himself with the meaning of that voice, his life might change.
Thus, Dambi came to serve the Great One.
* * *
“Congratulations, Mr. Dambi! To think you completed your first request perfectly—how incredible!”
Katherine, the receptionist of the Adventurers’ Guild, greeted Dambi with a bright smile.
Just a moment ago, Dambi had successfully completed a request to capture a zombie alive.
Bringing back a living zombie intact and handing it over to the client.
For a novice adventurer, it was quite a difficult task. Yet Dambi had carried it out perfectly as soon as he registered as an adventurer.
Katherine could not help but be impressed by his performance. The thought flashed through her mind that Dambi might become the next ace of the Adventurers’ Guild.
Of course, for Dambi, it had not been particularly difficult.
He had simply brought over a zombie from the same dungeon.
“This much is nothing. For the sake of the Great One, I am prepared to take on any request.”
Dambi answered in a firm tone.
Thanks to the Great One, Dambi had gained a new goal in life.
To move forward for the sake of a being who needed him. That alone was enough.
Hearing Dambi’s words, Katherine nodded.
She could sense faith from him. Because of that, she mistook him for a devout believer of the church that worshiped the goddess.
“By the way, you must have been very good at capturing zombies, right? The client was incredibly satisfied too. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Most novice adventurers struggled even to hunt zombies. But Dambi had not hunted one—he had captured it outright.
Katherine handed three gold coins to Dambi, who had completed the request.
“Originally, it was one gold coin, but the client paid two more.”
Dambi now had three gold coins in his possession.
Of course, since the denomination was large, one gold coin was properly exchanged into copper and silver coins for him.
Soon after, Katherine lowered her voice.
“This is a secret, but the branch manager has his eye on you, Mr. Dambi. If you complete just a few more requests, you might receive a bronze badge in no time.”
A bronze badge.
At present, Dambi was an iron-rank adventurer with an iron badge. The rank after iron was bronze.
For Dambi, who had only just become an adventurer, being told he could rise to bronze rank after completing only a few more requests was an exceptional benefit.
“That sounds fine.”
Dambi also welcomed such special treatment, since he had an order from Celia.
He had to build up as many achievements as possible and raise his rank. Only then would he be able to do more things for the Great One.
Now that it had come to this, Dambi did not hesitate.
“Then I shall choose another request.”
Dambi found a suitable request from the bulletin board.
“Ah, you can’t apply for that one alone. If you’d like, shall I connect you with other adventurers?”
The request Dambi had chosen was the subjugation of a goblin dungeon.
For him, it was more than possible to subjugate it alone, but Katherine stopped him.
“The goblins there are said to mainly use bows, so it’s dangerous. I know you’re skilled, Mr. Dambi, but it’s better to be careful with your life. If you come back tomorrow morning, I’ll find you a suitable party.”
If Dambi’s adventurer rank had been higher, that might have been one thing, but for now, Katherine held the authority.
Dambi had no choice but to turn away.
If promotion to bronze rank was close anyway, there was no need to rush.
Thinking that, Dambi walked toward the city center with light steps.
The city center was not very far away.
“I’ll need a place to stay for the night.”
Upon arriving in the city, Dambi made his plan.
Since he had to spend the night, he intended to find an inn first.
Until now, he had stayed in the dungeon of the Great One.
But now, he needed a separate place to spend the night.
Sleeping outside was also an option, but he could not do that forever, so Dambi set out to find an inn.
As he walked through the streets of the city, an enticing scent of blood stimulated his nose from somewhere.
‘The smell of blood.’
When he turned his head, he saw a pig dripping with blood.
It seemed it had just been slaughtered.
“Meat would be good, after all.”
Drawn by the scent of meat, Dambi walked toward the tavern.
“Welcome!”
As he entered the shop, the owner’s booming voice greeted Dambi.
The place was not very large, and there were not many customers.
But Dambi did not mind. He focused only on the appetizing scent of meat.
“I want to eat that meat.”
Dambi’s hand pointed at the meat outside.
At that, the owner replied with a smile.
“You have quite the discerning eye. An excellent choice! We just slaughtered a fine one, so the meat quality is very good!”
The owner looked Dambi over.
He did not seem like an ordinary person.
An adventurer? A wanderer?
Either way, it did not matter as long as he could increase the shop’s sales.
“Have you found an inn by any chance? Our establishment also has rooms where you can stay the night. How about it?”
It was a tavern that also operated as an inn.
Since he happened to need one, Dambi nodded.
“I’ll take it.”
“Haha, the meal is ten copper coins, and lodging is fifty copper coins per night!”
“With the remaining amount, add more meat.”
Dambi answered as he placed a silver coin on the table.
His meal and place to sleep had been taken care of.
Now all he had to do was successfully complete tomorrow’s dungeon subjugation request.
* * *
When the dim light of dawn began to lift, Dambi arrived at the Adventurers’ Guild.
It was because Katherine had promised yesterday to form a party for the goblin dungeon raid.
However, the one who greeted Dambi was not Katherine, but a rough-looking man—the warrior Dren.
“What the hell? You’re telling me to take a greenhorn like this into a dungeon? You’re not joking, are you?”
Dren snorted, as if he did not want to accept Dambi as a fellow party member.
The other adventurers gathered nearby also nodded at the man’s reaction.
“And he’s iron-rank on top of that… This is ridiculous! Then who’s supposed to protect me?”
The female mage Lils, who was standing to one side, gave a small laugh and mocked Dambi.
A dungeon was reality.
An unknown world where a single mistake could cost every party member their life.
Naturally, they did not look favorably upon a newcomer who had only just become an adventurer.
Moreover, Dambi had no equipment, not even an ordinary sword. Their dissatisfaction only grew.
“I am strong even without something like a weapon.”
But Dambi declared that he had no problem even without a weapon.
Some might have called it bluster, but Dambi was merely stating a fact.
In truth, the adventurers gathered here right now were bronze-rank.
They were people Dambi could kill with a mere gesture of his hand.
“……”
While he was debating whether to show them his strength or not, Katherine stepped forward.
She spent quite some time persuading them, insisting that Dambi’s skills were remarkable, and only then was the party barely formed.
Even after Katherine’s words, however, the warrior Dren gave Dambi a warning that was not quite a warning.
“Fuck. Guess my luck’s rotten today. Anyway, if you become dead weight in the dungeon, know that we’ll just abandon you. Got it?”
And so a five-person party including Dambi was formed.
The warrior Dren, the mage Lils, the archer Jairo, and even the apprentice priest Hildon.
As soon as the party was formed, they immediately left the Adventurers’ Guild.
The goblin dungeon they had to subjugate this time was near the entrance of a mountain range.
The adventurers who had formed the party moved forward, each talking among themselves, but they thoroughly ignored Dambi alone.
“Hah! To think an iron-rank brat dares to join a party like this. The world’s gone to hell. Truly.”
Dren shook his head.
“That’s exactly what I’m saying. Iron-rank and bronze-rank may only be one step apart, but the difference is as vast as heaven and earth.”
Lils chimed in with Dren’s words.
They continued making openly discriminatory remarks, but Dambi did not care.
He was already used to it.
After traveling for quite some time, the goblin dungeon finally came into view.
“Now, this is where it begins.”
Dren said with a nasty smile.
“Come to think of it, this is your first dungeon, isn’t it? As your senior adventurer, I suppose I have a duty to teach you. Why don’t you take the lead?”
At Dren’s words, the other adventurers agreed.
“You cannot gain this sort of experience just anywhere. This, too, must be the will of the goddess.”
The apprentice priest Hildon smiled hypocritically.
They had already reached an unspoken agreement.
But Dambi had no thoughts on the matter.
He simply entered the dungeon.
When Dambi walked boldly into the dungeon, the remaining adventurers were the ones who looked flustered instead.
“Huh… Is he bold, or just stupid?”
The archer Jairo, who should have originally served as the guide, tilted his head.
But no one stopped Dambi’s actions.
If he was volunteering to be a meat shield, why would they stop him?
Thinking this request would be resolved quickly, they followed behind Dambi.
Inside the goblin dungeon, an eerie energy lingered.
As they advanced little by little along the corridor, goblin screams leaked out from somewhere.
“The atmosphere is strange. It feels as if the mana is running wild.”
The mage Lils sensed the mana surging inside the dungeon.
It was clearly an ordinary goblin dungeon, yet the atmosphere was strange.
“That’s right! There is some sort of wicked energy here!”
The apprentice priest Hildon also shouted.
The energy they felt now was not that of an ordinary goblin.
But Dambi paid it no mind and continued forward.
Seeing Dambi like that, the adventurers lowered their voices.
The first to speak was Hildon.
“No matter what happens, won’t that fellow serve as our shield? We need only confirm the dungeon and report to the guild, and a reward will be issued.”
Even if they only submitted a correction report saying the dungeon information had been wrong, they would receive a reward of sorts.
And even if a monster appeared, all they had to do was offer Dambi up as bait in front of them.
“Yeah, let’s do that.”
When the warrior Dren also agreed, everyone went along with Hildon’s words.
They began exploring the dungeon again.
How long had they walked?
Whoosh—
An arrow flew from ahead.
“Careful! It’s an ambush!”
Starting with Dren’s words, arrows poured down.
“Kyaaak!”
The mage Lils quickly tried to cast Shield, but an arrow pierced through her hand.
“Damn it! Get down until the arrows stop!”
Dren shouted as he lowered his stance.
“H-Hildon! Hurry and use Heal!”
Lils tried to reach her hand toward Hildon, the apprentice priest, but she could not move under the unending barrage of arrows.
Arrows kept flying.
They had never heard that goblins shot arrows in this manner.
It was as if someone were commanding and controlling the goblins.
Panic was clear on everyone’s faces.
They were busy hiding their bodies and avoiding the arrows.
Because of that, they did not see it.
Not a single arrow was flying toward Dambi.
As though they could not recognize his presence at all.
Dambi stood calmly amid the chaos unfolding around him. As if he were watching an interlude on a stage.
Soon after, he was able to see it.
The figure of a Goblin Lord commanding the goblins from ahead.
At that sight, Dambi muttered in a voice filled with madness.
“As expected, the Great One has come to see me off!”
As it happened, the Goblin Lord had been leading a scouting party and clearing out the nearby dungeons.
It was an action made possible because the range of movement of the dungeon monsters had expanded all the way to the Seil Kingdom.
Thanks to that, just as the warrior Dren had said, it had become an unlucky day for the adventurers.