All-rounder Healer Chapter 215: The Form of the Rift Dungeon

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　When I entered the town, the first thing that caught my eye was a circular plaza. The diameter is about 20 meters. Stalls were lined up around it, and adventurers and townspeople were selling and buying things there.

　I felt a little discomfort.

　The town looks like a typical town, and there is nothing strange about it, but there is something strange with it.

“…Really.” (Rook)

　What is strange is the appearance of the adventurers.

　Most adventurers I know wear armor and carry swords, spears, or bows. But the adventurers here were carrying clubs and maces.

　A large man crossing the street in front of me carried a huge hammer on his back, and a cat-eared lady passing on my left had a bat-like object hanging from her waist. The woman at the stall was clutching a club-like object–or was it a cooking utensil…?

　An auntie is banging her club against the flesh of a giant frog’s leg, which looks five times the size of a bullfrog, and yells,

“Come closer~! I have Mud Toad smashed and grilled!” (Auntie)

　… Anyway, some people have swords and spears, but they seem to be in the minority here.

　Well, maybe things change a lot in different areas. It could even be a situation where children in other areas hold swords because they admire the legendary Holy Sword of the hero, but children in this area hold clubs because they admire the lady at the food stall.

　…No, that’s not it.

　I took a walk around the area and looked for the Adventurers’ Guild.

　As is generally the case, Adventurers’ Guilds tend to be located in relatively obvious places. In the center of towns, in front of gates and dungeons. They are not located in the upscale areas where aristocrats often reside.

　So it would not be surprising if it were in this location…

“Well, I guess not. …Excuse me, where is the Adventurers’ Guild?” (Rook)

“The guild is on the north side of town. If you go straight down this road, you will see the dungeon. You should be able to find it if you go that far.” (Stall Owner)

“Thank you.” (Rook)

“Sure, please come again.” (Stall Owner)

　I thanked the man at the stall and proceeded down the main street as directed.

　This town, like the others, is surrounded by stone walls, but its interior seems less maintained or developed than other towns of the same size. The streets are almost entirely bare earth with no cobblestone pavement. There are marks left by the wheels of horse-drawn carriages. Most of the buildings are made of wood, with a few simple, hastily constructed buildings here and there. Is the lord of this place unwilling to spend much money? Or perhaps this town has only been in existence for a short time.

　I am a little concerned about this, but I guess it doesn’t really matter to me right now.

　While thinking about these things, I walked along the undulating main street and finally arrived at the place I wanted to visit.

“…Is this the Rift Dungeon?” (Rook)

　At the end of the avenue was a large plaza that seemed to be more than 50 meters long, with buildings surrounding it. There are several food stands and stalls in the plaza and many adventurers.

　And in the center of the square is a chasm. It is a rift.

　A space that was torn vertically, as if the space had been ripped apart from side to side. It is about five meters high. The width of the wide part might be about two meters. The inside of the rift was stained an eerie reddish-purple or black color, and those colors were swirling around in the center of the rift.

“Well, but…” (Rook)

　Why was it bare?

　I heard that dungeons rarely spit large numbers of monsters out. I don’t know the conditions under which this happens, but because of this, when a town is built around a dungeon, the dungeon itself is often surrounded by a wall.

　The dungeon in Elem is a typical example. There, they built several layers of high walls to prevent the town from being damaged if it was overrun by monsters. But here, there is not even a fence. Are they confident that the monsters won’t overflow, or are they confident that they can stop them?

　Well, I guess I’ll never know at this moment, even if I keep thinking about it. The dungeon will have to wait.

　Looking around, I spotted an adventurers’ guild on the left, so I went inside.

　The structure of the guild is the same as a typical adventurers’ guild, with a bar and a resting area for adventurers on the right. To the left is a bulletin board where requests are posted, and in front is the guild’s counter. The number of adventurers is small, perhaps because it is halfway through the day.

　I took out my guild card and presented it to the counter, ignoring the stares and probing air from the moment I opened the door.

“Excuse me. I’m going to start working here today. Can you tell me about the criteria for rank advancement?” (Rook)

　The receptionist answered “Yes,” took my guild card in her hand, checked it, and pulled out a document from her desk.

“The standard for C rank is to deliver 100 C rank magic stones. If you succeed in your request, we will make our own independent assessment and try to incorporate it into the evaluation.” (Receptionist)

　I see. In other words, there are standards, but there are differences. It seems that ranks F, E, and D can be promoted at their own discretion, while rank C can be promoted at the discretion of the Guild Master in some limited guilds in certain towns. Since it is up to each guild to decide who is promoted to rank C and how there can be no complaints about the standards.

　And the standard of 100 magic stones seems to be a relatively reasonable line.

　When I was diving into the dungeons of Elem, I was hunting 10 or 20 monsters a day, and at that pace, I should be able to reach D rank in less than 10 days, but that was because I was able to hunt solo at that time, and in undead areas with few people. Usually, the number of monsters people can hunt is smaller because they fight each other, and since they are often in a party, their share is divided equally, so they earn even less money. In addition, in a labyrinth-type dungeon like Elem, there was no need to strip monsters, and since there were few dropped items, there was less time and effort to transport them.

　In fact, when I was in Rankfurt, I hunted El Sheep with Dan and his party, and we were limited to one to three per day. The whole body of an El Sheep can be used, so it took a long time to bring back all of it, but at that pace, it would have taken more than 100 days to get to 100 magic stones, no matter how I calculate it.

“I see. Are there many adventurers in this area who dive into dungeons?” (Rook)

“Yes, that’s right. …Basically, I think most adventurers come here for the dungeon.” (Receptionist)

　While I was making conversation, I heard the door behind me open with a clang and heard the steady thumping of several footsteps. The footsteps came straight toward the counter and stopped at the booth next to mine.

　I glanced over at them, a little curious.

　He was a man a little older than I am before. He is a little taller than me, with a relatively well-defined face, blond hair, and glistening eyes that seem to express his inner fighting spirit. And his golden armor, which seems to match his blonde hair, is shiny and glittering…

　Yes, this is some player no matter how you look at it. Thank you so much for appearing.

“I’d like to register as an adventurer.” (Blondie)

“Ye-yes!” (Receptionist)

　The receptionist next to me replied in a panic.

　Do you want to register as an adventurer now? Did you reroll your group?

“I want you to give this to the Guild Master.” (Blondie)

“This is… to be… Excuse me.” (Receptionist)

　The receptionist in front of him bowed her head broadly and dashed off to the back of the guild in an all-out dash as if she had pressed the B button with such force that she came right back and bowed again.

“The guild master will see you now. I will show you to the reception room in the back!” (Receptionist)

“Good.” (Blondie)

　The sparkling man said just that and disappeared into the back of the guild, followed by the receptionist, as if it were something normal.

“What in the world is that…” (Rook)

“I don’t know……” (Receptionist)

　The receptionist in front of me replied to my mumblings in a distracted tone.