He swung his blade to sever the head of a humanoid lizard from its body. Bloods gushing from the headless neck as the body fell, creating a pool of bloods around. He step away while wiping bloods from his short sword.

He took the lizardman’s head from the solid rocky ground and put it inside a leather bag. He had a hard time tightening the lid of the bag he decided to call it a day. He followed the torch put on the rocky wall to retrace his step.

He arrived at headquarter to turn in the bounty. The waitress behind the counter took the bag and gave him ten dozen of silver coins. It’s not much but it’s enough to pay for supplies and eating. His life is not one for extravagance and richness for he is just a Dungeon Explorer.

***

A pair glass of mead landed on the table where two men sat talking to each other. The one bald man drop a few bronze coin on the table for them to be picked up swiftly by a white, soft slender hand. The waitress wink at the bald man before leaving. His eye couldn’t let go of her ass before finally his friend across the table called him out.

“Should’ve let me pay, Loh. I just finished my bounty.”

“You should’ve said that sooner, Tor! However, maybe she will wink at you instead of me! I guess that’s a wink worth of money you could say!” Loh continued with a hearty laugh.

“I’ll be the one to pay that next week.”

Loh drunk the mead before replied, “You wouldn’t need to do that, son. I wouldn’t be here next week.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m accepting jobs from King Hors. It will be an expedition quest. You know what that means.”

“The prostitutes are going to miss you!”

“Accompany them for me then!”

Tor and Loh share a good laugh together. Loh explained the estimation for the expedition could be for a month and the preparation for it. The adventurers will join the Army of the Sun in exploring the untouched territory of the darkness. The rumor has it that King Hors has been really restless for the past few days and he finally determined to act upon it.

“Well then, good luck on your journey. May the spirit of adventurer help you on your journey!”

“Aye!”

***

Moon was hanging on the sky illuminating the street with blue-ish light. Tor stroll through the street as he wasn’t sure if he can sleep tonight. So he decided to take a stroll at night.

That’s where he heard a soft sultry voice called out to him. He turn around to see a woman with azure eyes and curly hair, a prostitute Loh regularly visit.

“Alone much? Wanna have some companion?”

“Not really into it right now, Sina.”

“Oh, I can just company you walking down the street.”

“I guess that could do.”

They walked together. Tor realized a few people following them. “I wonder what you are doing alone at night?”

“Doing the usual stuff, you know? The creeps just suddenly pop up so I had to run away. No money, no service.”

Tor only nod at the answer. Sina continued by asking a question, “I wonder why you are not with Loh inside a tavern? You two usually being best buddy there and then Loh would come here to ask for my service.”

“He is taking an expedition quest.”

“How curious!”

“Indeed. I guess exploring the dungeon is no longer profitable.”

“I wouldn’t think of it that way.”

“You wouldn’t?”

Sina explains that she notice there is more demand of prostitutes from higher ranked officers in army as the unrest over the rumor of dark army arrival is rising. She thought that the dungeon exploration are just taking a backseat.

“Well, even if that’s the case, us dungeon explorer did take a big hit. Fewer quest meaning those who doesn’t get it have to find another way to make money.”

“Mhm.”

“Although seems like you getting more money from people’s unrest.”

Sina nodded.

“Well, I guess that means Loh’s absent wouldn’t really bother you.”

“That means someone else can fill in for him”

***

He woke up naked in one of Sina’s love lair. She is already dressed when he fully aware of his surrounding.

“Rise and shine! That was a fun night.”

Tor doesn’t share the same sentiment. It was good, of course. He even rated it above the average prostitute.

However, just like any other, he felt something is missing.

Just as he reaching for silvers, Sina interrupted him, “Tonight is free.”

“Why? Thought you are in it for the money.”

“And the thrill. It was always about pleasing someone else. Some are pretty decent but in the end, it boils down with me pleasuring them. Last night, I was the one who enjoyed the night. So, I won’t be charging for that.” She chuckled before continuing. “Although if you want more, you can come back and next time you’ll be the one who enjoys me.”

***

The event that happened recently really dealt a huge hit to dungeon exploring. There isn’t a single job left when he arrived at the quest board ath adventurer headquarters. He still have a few more silvers to eat and live thanks to Sina, but he also need to maintenance his sword. In this case, he usually take a dungeon exploration quest that rewards more, meaning he has to go deeper. Those quest is rare and not many tend to take it. However, seems like more people are taking harder exploration quest.

“Sorry, Maria. But is there any hard dungeon exploring quest left unassigned?”

“Well, if you are talking about solo we don’t have one unfortunately. Although, we have a slot for a swordsman to fit into a party.”

Being in the party isn’t his strong suit. It’s not a bad thing but he just prefer to go exploring dungeon alone. Their more cave-y nature tend to limit movement and it’s already only has enough room for one to swing freely. Although, there are exception when it comes to a unique dungeon.

“This party is going to Mah’ab cave. The dungeon is pretty large with lots of big monster there. We put that one on high priority because this is one of those time where we have to kill those monster before they are being too big for the cave.”

Mah’ab is notorious for it’s difficult monster. The terrain is pretty flat with many rooms as big as an open field. Really fitting for a party to fight giant monster. The pay tend to be pretty handsome too.

However, Tor feels like not doing it. While the pay is good, it will be split with other party member. He is a bit greedy in that aspect so he asked if there is a party quest easy enough to be taken by a lone explorer.

Maria scramble through the paper first before finally finding a fetch quest on the Tanam cave. It pays decent although with a caveat. The one who order the quest wants to join in the exploration.

Tanam cave is not exactly dangerous but it still is a dungeon. For profesional like him, there is not really a threat. Civilian is still not permitted to enter it just because it pose less threat than the other dungeon. It is also really weird for a scholar to dive right into the cave. Scholars usually don’t bother themselves with the rough work such as collecting the items they want. They tend to just let the adventurer do it.

Both isn’t the type of quest he likes. Fetch quest is boring. Sure he just wants to make money but there is a certain thrill for going against something. In the end, he needs the money more than the thrill so he chose the fetch quest.

***

He is looking around, watching the surrounding. His client, a scholar, is taking a close look at herbs that only grow in this cave. To him, there is nothing fascinating from studying those leaf. The scholar’s interest is something he couldn’t understand.

“Sorry to bore you, Mr. Adventurer.”

“Shall we leave then, miss?”

A monster appeared as they walked their way out. A brown skinned humanoid creature with high pitched voice. Their limbs are slender but they are capable enough to swing clubs and wear a shield. A cave goblin is standing in their way. With their physique, they are no threat to Tor. He easily ended its life with a slash to its neck.

“I thought it’d be so dangerous that I would need a party to protect me!”

“Lots of things can go wrong. It just happened to be an easy adventure.”

“You are indeed awesome! I wonder if I could hire you as my private guard?”

“No.”

“I could pay you handsomely.”

“I’m not interested at standing around doing nothing.”

“Well, I guess.”

They got out unscathed. It was an easy mission for him and the reward is pretty good. He now can maintenance his sword without worrying what to eat for the rest of the week.

***

The blacksmith studied Tor’s blade and amused, “you take care of it really well.”

“I don’t want scrambling around for money just to buy a new one.”

The blacksmith chuckled before start to maintenance his sword. “Comeback tomorrow. This sword will be good as new.”

***

The tavern is less merry than usual. It seems like there is quite a lot adventurers that took the expedition quest. The missy took the money off his table after setting the mead down. “Don’t look so down mister. Your friend will surely be back. He’s a tough guy.”

He only replied with a thanks. She smiled and promised a free glass of mead.

He just sit there looking at a glass of mead in his hand. He drink it, devour it. There is no merry in drinking with no one on the other side of the table. He stood and take his leave when he finished his mead. He arrived at an inn and quickly hit the bed.

***

The next day he went into adventurers headquarter, there is quite a commotion. Everyone is gathering at the receptionist.

“The son of a bitch wiped out my party! I was just lucky to lost my right hand!” cried the surviving mage.

Seems the party that went to subdue monsters at Mah’ab cave faced some troublesome enemy. It’s not unheard of. But when it happens, usually the headquarter would assemble parties to subdue it as it is now deemed to be too dangerous to let live.

At first the headquarter would ask for volunteers. If they are deemed too small or too weak, the headquarter would call another adventurer to aid the parties. This time, it was both. Hasid, Pola, Gard, and Jok are some of the most capable adventurer in the town. However, they are away on the expedition quest along with other adventurers.

And so, the headquarter call forth all available adventurers to subdue this monster, A Naga.

***

A blonde young swordman sat alongside Tor. “I’m surprised you willingly join this quest.”

“It’s not like I have many choice, Erg. Either I go a low paid quest or I do this one.”

“You need money eh? I thought that sword is already maintained by the old man. You can always get the lower ranked quest.”

“Indeed it has. I just need a change of pace.”

“Mhm. The amount of high ranked quest suddenly dropped down the moment the expedition quest was sent.”

“I wonder.”

***

Right in front of them, the magnificent Naga. Its scale can nullify magic. Not only that, it can also block most weapon. It is harder than steel. Its breath can melt shield. Its eyes intimidate its prey and enemy alike. It hasn’t fully formed though. Its wing still isn’t fully functional yet, its scale hasn’t covered all of its body and its breath is not yet melt a steel –still hot enough to catch a wooden equipment on fire. So the adventurer need to subjugate it before it can wreak havoc.

But that is not the only problem they faced. Naga is an evolution of lizard-kin. Everytime it roars his kin started to come crawling through the entrance of its room. That’s where Tor stand. He slash everything that come to his way –leaving his party’s back vulnerable to the Naga if the party fighting it lost.

There is nothing he can do about it. Right now he can only help the main party by holding off Naga’s reinforcement.

A lizardman slashed his shoulder but he slashed back. Someone beside him got their face chomped by an enormous lizard. Other got their heart stabbed by lizardman’s sword. The adventurer are more than capable to fight a group of lizard. But with this overwhelming amount of them, it’s a different story.

The mage was able to land a few shot but they have to be careful or else they might burn other adventurer. A lizardman was able to knock Tor off the ground. As it tried to stab him, an arrow went flying through its eyes.

Tor quickly stood up and swing his sword at other Lizard.

***

The wave of lizard stopped coming. Behind them, Erg and other adventurer were able to kill the Naga. In the headquarter, everyone received a pouch of silvers. Five hundred silvers each. That was enough to buy new equipment and such.

***

The next day is just like any other day. He took a quest. Kill 5 cave goblin it says. He went to Tanam cave and took 5 heads of cave goblin in the span of few days. After the fifth day he was able to get out of the cave and turn the bounty in.

Rinse and repeat. Three weeks gone by and things never changed. Life never changed for him.

***

A hooded woman sat in front of him while he is drinking his mead. Her azure eyes and black curly hair is a very familiar face to him.

“Miss me?” asked her.

“Kind of. How’s your business."

“I’m putting it on hold.”

“Why?”

“People are getting too rough.”

“They are that desperate?”

“Yes. It has something to do with the expedition quest.”

“It failed?”

“It failed.”