"About time you showed up." Eina pushed her glasses up and said, "I was starting to think you actually died."

Eina's office in the guild hall.

I took my usual spot across from her and let out a wry smile. "I was busy. There's been a new addition to our family."

"Hm? Oh!" Eina smiled and said, "Did you recruit another member to the Hestia Familia? Congratulations!"

I coughed. "It's... something like that. She's definitely family alright."

"Well." Eina nodded and said, "Make sure to bring her here to register if she's planning to become an adventurer soon. Ah, and Lady Hestia will need to update the Familia register too. I'll send the paperwork back later... You'll also need to decide on a Familia head now that you aren't the only member."

"Ugh. More paperwork?"

Eina shrugged. "It's part of the job as an adventurer here in Orario. And speaking of paperwork..." She slid a piece of paper over to me. "Congratulations. I managed to get you listed as a tamer. I made sure to hide the exact monster, but if people start digging you'll need to explain what it is. I still think it's a bad idea to keep a Jackbird, but-"

"Oh yeah. About that... It's not a problem anymore."

"Eh?" Eina blinked. "What do you mean?"

"The Jackbird isn't with us anymore, so it's not a problem."

Eina paused. And then she stared at me. "Mister Kranel. You mean to tell me that I went through all that effort to register you as a Monster Tamer in the most discreet manner possible... and now it's worthless?"

I cleared my throat and said, "I-It isn't worthless! I plan on taming more monsters in the future, so it'll work then. Right?"

I wasn't... but seeing Eina's glare, it looked like I'd have to.

Maybe a War Shadow... those were useful, right?

Eina glared at me more. But then she sighed and leaned back in her chair. "What am I going to do with you, Mister Kranel? I swear, one of these days the stress is going to kill me..."

"Sorry."

Eina sighed again and said, "It's fine. I'm the one who accepted you as my adventurer, so it's on me. But in any case... I've heard you've found a party member recently?" She stared at me and said, "You haven't been too reckless just because you aren't alone, have you?"

I remembered the horde of monsters and our speed run exit.

"...Of course not. I've been taking your lessons and concerns directly to heart."

"You're lying. But I'll believe it this time, I guess." She sighed and said, "But please be careful. Adventurers might be called that, but they-"

"Shouldn't go on adventures. I know."

"Good." Eina nodded. "Then is there anything else you wanted to talk about? Or was this just a social call?"

"Mostly just a check-up...?"

"Then get out."

"Huh? Wait, why are you-"

"Have a good day, Mister Kranel. And please don't visit to give me a headache when all hands are on deck dealing with the Loki Familia's recent mess."

"Um... okay?"

After getting shoved out of the office, I frowned and walked off.

The Loki Familia's recent mess... Was something big happening in Orario right now?

"...Hah. Guess I should do some more prep work, huh?"

It was still early in the morning, and since Welf seemed like he was going to be busy... Well, he handed me a new sword, so maybe I should go do a trial run. I had the warp point set up, so I had an emergency exit... Plus, if this sword was as magical as it seemed to be, I should be fine.

...Yeah. Let's do that.

With everything decided, I made my way to the dungeon, determined to at least get some light training in.

xxx

The dungeon. A place filled with monsters and treasures. The source of livelihood for adventurers, and the fastest way to increase your abilities.

It was dangerous, of course. But as long as you didn't push your limits, it was safe enough.

Kind of like cave diving underwater. It was inherently dangerous and an untrained person would just be swimming out of their depths and into their deaths.

But it you were prepared, everything was fine. Proper training, planning for unexpected scenarios, preparing fail-safes...

I'd done all of that. I knew all about the first ten floors, and I was planning to go to stop on the sixth, setting up warp points along the way so that I could leave.

Right. That was what I planned. But in actuality...

"Why. Does crazy stuff! Keep happening! To me?!"

I growled and swung my new magic sword, sending out a blast of wind and a flash of green light. With that, the darkness faded, revealing shadows surrounding me in every direction. Even the ceiling.

But they weren't just ordinary shadows. Nope. Wouldn't be that simple for me. Instead of normal harmless shadows...  they were War Shadows.

Long story short, I got to the third floor without any trouble. No hordes of monsters or anything.

And then the floor gave out beneath me as I went around looking for training dummies.

Thankfully, I didn't fall very far. That, and the magic sword Welf gave me was wind-based, so I managed to stop my fall after a few floors.

Which left me in my current predicament: trapped in a room without an exit and surrounded by too many War Shadows to count.

Blurs of red light. Shadows, streaking towards my body.

Before they connected, I equipped Black Demon.

Loud clangs. The sound of Welf's bulky creation tanking the hits for me. But at the same time, I could feel the impact and see parts of the armor dent.

Before when I fought off some War Shadows with Welf, Black Demon held up great. But that was one-on-one.

Here, it was one versus more than I could count.

I clutched my magic sword and then focused, charging mana.

I wasn't sure if this was the right way to use it, but if it was anything like the magic swords I knew...

Shining light. The emerald blade, pulsing with power.

More clangs echoed. The sound of the sharp War Shadows blades trying to find a weak spot to rip me to shreds.

It was dangerous. It wasn't like Black Demon was made of Adamantite or something. While it wouldn't shatter, if it got enough damage, it would definitely give.

So before then...

A soft 'ding.' Like the sound of a small bell.

"My turn!"

I swung my sword. Emerald light flashed and then howling wind erupted all around me, like a localized tornado.

No, not 'like' a localized tornado. It *was* a localized tornado.

The dungeon walls collapsed. The hole I fell through grew wider and cracks spread throughout the floor beneath me.

But that wasn't all.

The War Shadows vaporized, shredded by the screeching wind. If they dropped any items, those were ripped apart as well, along with the magic stones.

And before I knew it, I was standing in the middle of an empty stone room, the walls in every direction gouged by those tornado winds.

"...Huh." I looked at the glowing green sword in my right hand. "...Okay. Maybe I have to give Welf's magic swords more credit."

The magic sword I quickly made *definitely* wasn't capable of something like this.

Well, not without a lot of careful design work to weave in magic.

But Welf just took it and smacked it a few times and he created this...?

"...Yeah. I definitely created a monster by giving him that info, huh?"

If this was what he could make *before* using that Blacksmithing or whatever skill AND before all the notes I handed over... Wouldn't he be capable of making something like Excalibur in the future? A literal sword of promised victory or some other crazy conceptual weapons?

"I also see what he meant about me keeping this." I frowned and quickly tucked the magic sword away in my inventory.

Yep. Definitely for emergencies only. If it got out that this was possible... especially with how easy it seemed to be to use it... Yeah, bad. Better to keep it out of anyone's hands and leave it to collect dust in a place only I could reach.

That aside...

I took a look around and frowned. "Where am I?"

Judging from how many floors I fell through, this was definitely the sixth floor. But there wasn't any exit. Instead, it was just a giant room. Even after the walls were ripped apart, there was nothing but stone in every direction.

Well, stone and a few shimmering pieces of metal that were sucked into my inventory with auto-pickup.

"Hm. Should I just leave?"

I didn't manage to set up a warp point on this floor, but I could still warp to the others. A one-way trip, but better that than be stuck here. And I could always try again later with Welf-

'Dodge.'

I instinctively leaped to the side. The moment I did, a pure chime echoed. Not the sound of bells, like before. Instead... it was the sound of my armor getting split apart.

*clang*

A chunk of Black Demon's shoulder fell to the floor. And when it did, a shadowy figure emerged in front of me.

"Another War Shadow...?"

It looked similar. A humanoid form with wispy shadows emanating from its body.

Except, this War Shadow had two glowing orbs instead of one big one. Rather than the crimson orb in the middle of its face that looked kind of like a visor, this War Shadow had two orbs that looked like eyes. One green, one grey. Not only that, it also looked like a proper person. Almost like someone wreathed in shadows rather than a being made from shadows.

And it was deadly.

Staring at it, every instinct in my body was telling me to be on guard. Not only that, but I could tell. That monster outclassed me. The moment I made a mistake, it would cut me down.

The War Shadow tilted its head, staring at me. Almost like it was trying to peer through my armor.

I felt sweat pour down my neck.

Should have left. Definitely should have left.

It seemed like the dungeon got pissed off and sent a Reaper-type monster after me.

Or maybe it was upset that I broke the walls?

Probably that. If something like this popped up when the walls were broken, that would explain why there weren't artificial shortcuts in the dungeon.

Speaking of shortcuts, I should definitely use mine and warp out.

Except I had a feeling that the moment I tried, that thing would cut me down.

The War Shadow stared at me, its ominous grey and green eyes scanning my armor.

I stared back, taking in every piece of information I could.

...Yeah. I couldn't match it. The energy that thing was emitting felt like a bomb about to explode at any time. At least a hundred times more than the mana I had at my disposal, even if I gathered up all the magic stones in my inventory.

It was also fast. If I didn't get that subconscious message to dodge, my arm would have been ripped clean off.

So I had a problem.

I wasn't fast enough to out run it. That I was sure.

I also wasn't fast enough to escape with my warp point before it cut me apart.

Not only that, but from the clean and polished surface from where it got cut, Black Demon was useless against it. 

Silence.

Was the monster content to wait for me to act? Or did it know I was cornered?

I pursed my lips to think.

Running wasn't an option. There wasn't an exit, and there was no way I could escape upwards before that thing cut me down.

Warping away was plausible, but I would need to delay it somehow. A few seconds for me to make my exit.

But I didn't know exactly how fast it was.

Was that just a probing attack? Or was it a full-speed attack meant to assassinate me?

If it was the former, I was screwed. The latter... it was possible.

But only if I wasn't wearing Black Demon.

I had to move fast, and I couldn't do that in this suit of plate mail. At least, not fast enough to fight that thing.

But that was a gamble. If I took it off and the War Shadow attacked, I was screwed.

But if I left it on, I'd be too slow to dodge another attack. Especially since it would be anticipating me trying to dodge now.

Damned if I did, damned if I didn't.

So then...

...Yeah. I had to do that.

It wasn't enough to replicate being the King of Heroes or the Counter Guardian that wanted to save everyone, but the monster in front of me shouldn't have anything ridiculous to block it either.

Probably wouldn't kill it like this, but if it was just buying time...

I focused.

Three steps.

First, unleash a barrage of all the hyper-accelerated projectiles I had.

Second, store Black Demon away.

Third, warp back home.

I understood the steps.

I knew what I had to do.

And it would work.

I knew it would work.

That thing was fast, but it was still a monster. And moreover, it was a monster expecting to fight an ordinary human on normal grounds.

So...

'Execute.'

A barrage of white blurs, echoing like gunfire.

As anticipated, the War Shadow was unharmed. My projectiles pierced its body, ripping holes through it. But those holes quickly reformed.

Still, it was enough.

I shredded its legs and arms, forcing it to have to regenerate before it could move.

The War Shadow tipped over, momentarily losing its footing. Even so, it moved towards me, closing the gap at a rapid pace.

I used Inventory to quickly phase Black Demon so I could jump back and then brought it back to use as a makeshift shield.

*sching*

The clean sound of sheared metal. Black Demon was split in half from head to toe and collapsed in a heap.

But it bought time. Enough for me to pull open my warp menu, select the church, and overlay my location. I didn't have the time or practice to specify my room, but if it was just the courtyard...

The War Shadow noticed it had been fooled and charged at me.

I stored Black Demon in my inventory again and prepared to chuck it back out to buy another second of time to escape.

But it wasn't necessary.

The War Shadow suddenly paused mid-charge, those glowing orbs locked onto my face.

No, was it my face, or was it the church shimmering behind me?

I didn't know, but I *definitely* wasn't sticking around to find out.

I chucked a few more things at the War Shadow just in case, mostly the pilfered goblin and kobold weapons I had been collecting. And then with that, I stepped back, warping out of the dungeon and back home.

The War Shadow stared at me as I did, its eyes never moving. As if trying to sear my face into its memory.

And then it was gone, the connection between the two spaces severing as I completed the warp.

But I didn't move.

My heart pounded in my chest. My hands still shook from the close call.

...Yeah. Definitely needed more prep before I headed back in-

"Daddy?"

Fina's voice.

I looked back to see her standing at the church entrance, rubbing her eyes.

Fina looked at me and said, "Why are you standing outside like that? And why are you all sweaty?"

I laughed and wiped my hands on my pants. "Don't worry about it, Princess. Now, did you and Mommy eat breakfast yet?"

Fina walked over to me and then held up her arms.

I smiled and picked her up.

Fina shook her head and said, "Mommy's still sleeping and I don't know how to make the food warm. Can you do it, Daddy?"

"Of course, Princess."

Now to heat up some food for my cute daughter, wait for my lovely goddess to wake up, and then forget all about going into the dungeon until I bugged Eina for more books and made more preparations.

Ah. I also need to remember to plan a date with Tia. Maybe I could ask Welf to babysit for a day? He wouldn't mind, right?

xxx

"Achoo!"

Back in Welf's forge, the Crozzo Blacksmith frowned and wiped his nose with his sleeve. "Weird. Why do I feel like I'm about to get dragged into something chaotic...?"

He paused and thought about it. And then he remembered the person he was both contracted with and partying with.

"Oh right. Bell."

Welf sighed and then turned his attention back to his latest work. "Now let's see. If I judge the concept of creation right and hypothesize the basic structure, it should be possible to duplicate the composition materials with mana. Then if I induce growth by simulating accumulated years and experience to excel the manufacturing process..."