Level Down 42 (Patreon)

Volume 1 Chapter 42 - This Is a Fun Double Life

RAW

The stampede of the Dragon Dungeon has ended, and Allen's life has changed completely. Having said that...

“Damn it, that Guildmaster. He's got a grudge against me for something so small. In the end, there was no damage and his own head didn't fly off, so he should just hurry up and forget it.” (Allen)

Allen cut the three ash wolves that surrounded and attacked him even while grumbling.

“Oooh, brilliant skill. As expected of a former iron class adventurer.” (Nick)

“Don’t say former, just don’t!” (Allen)

“No, you are, aren’t you. Or maybe ‘former guild employee’ is better?” (Nick)

“I'll leave you behind, Nick.” (Allen)

This is the 8th floor of Lilac Dungeon. Following behind Allen were several people he recognized, starting with Nick, who was teasing him. They were Nick's craftsmen friends who helped repair the orphanage.

At first, they were intimidated by the unique atmosphere inside the dungeon, but seeing Allen and Nick interacting as usual, their nervousness had disappeared and they were even able to laugh.

“Hey, you two, get moving. I’ve got to quickly finish this request and raise my level more, you know.” (Dolban)

As the two tried to continue their exchange, Dolban, a dwarf walking at the end of the group, snapped at them. Dressed in full metal armor and holding a pole axe longer than his own height, to put it bluntly, he looked far more like a veteran than Allen.

“Un, as I thought, it feels really weird that Shishou is an adventurer.” (Allen)

“Or rather, wasn’t he a blacksmith? For one, he’s...” (Nick)

At that moment, a paraspider that has paralyzing poison swooped down on them, and Dolban casually slashed at it.

To prevent its paralyzing poison from spreading, he cut off just one of the paraspider’s legs and redirected it, and when the paraspider fell to the ground like that, he smashed it using his poleaxe.

Dolban showed brilliant skill, but he didn’t particularly boast and continued walking while lightly wiping the body fluids on his poleaxe with a rag.

“Huh, he’s not a blacksmith, is he?” (Nick)

“In the old days, people used to say that a blacksmith was only a full-fledged blacksmith if he could handle all the weapons he created.” (Allen)

“Dwarf blacksmiths, not half bad.” (Nick)

“Oi, move those legs!”

““Yes!!”” (Allen & Nick)

As Allen and Nick were secretly talking, they were once again scolded by Dolban. Sensing a clear anger in there, the two replied while straightening their backs in the same way as if they were looking at each other in a mirror, and then they started walking a little faster towards their goal, the 9th floor.

.

.

.

“That's what happened.” (Allen)

“Fufu, sounds like you had a rough day.” (Matilda)

Allen finished his report while complaining to Matilda about the request for power leveling of craftsmen including Nick, which he did in Lilac Dungeon while in a party with Dolban.

Normally, this reception is for the level-up trap of the Slime Dungeon, but since there aren't always people applying for it, it's also possible to report on regular requests here. Well, not many people know about it though, even among adventurers.

As Matilda was listening to Allen's complaints with a smile on her face, she placed the bag containing the request reward given to her by another guild employee in front of Allen.

“Here, the reward of 20,000 zenny.” (Matilda)

“It’s strange after all. This amount of money!” (Allen)

Although the amount was as stated in the request, the amount doesn’t match the contents of the request, which involved spending the whole day from morning until night taking amateurs to the 9th floor of Lilac Dungeon. Allen knew this very well, that’s why he couldn't help but cry out.

Moreover, the 20,000 zenny was the amount for both Allen and Dolban. In reality, Allen only earned 10,000 zenny for working all day today.

“It’s about average or a little above average for a wood class adventurer.” (Matilda)

“I'm telling you, I know that. Why is a request like this given to a wood class? What’s more, it wasn't my choice, it was semi-forced, semi-forced. That baldy...” (Allen)

“Go on. ‘That baldy,’ what, I wonder. Dear me, you should have received enough reward for a wood class, and to think you still have the energy to complain at the reception even after the request... could this be an appeal to me to receive a special request?” (Orlando)

Smiling brightly while bearing a dark shadow that radiated pressure behind it, the Guildmaster of the Adventurers’ Guild, Orlando, cut into their conversation. Allen gave a strained smile, and Matilda thought ‘Oops’ as she frowned for an instant, trying not to let Orlando see her.

However, as expected of the experienced Matilda, she quickly returned to her normal face so as not to cause any damage to herself. Allen, who witnessed this, looked at Matilda as if she was a traitor, but Matilda passed it off with a nonchalant face.

“No, no, we were just talking about how a wood class should do work that is typical of a wood class.” (Allen)

“Fumu. Then, we have a request to collect medicinal herbs. I believe the client is particular about the quality of the herbs, and even specifies the method of collection and freshness. Matilda-kun.” (Orlando)

“Yes, this is the request.” (Matilda)

“Matilda─!” (Allen)

Matilda smoothly pulled out the relevant request form, and Allen couldn't help but raise his voice at her. In response to that, Matilda folded her arms in front of her chest with a serious expression, and spoke to Allen with sparkling eyes.

“Allen, you can do it. I believe in you.” (Matilda)

“You, you're just trying to keep the damage from getting to you, didn’t you!” (Allen)

“Now then, the deadline is one week. I hope you can get the medicinal herbs that the client will be satisfied with. If you fail, you will only get further from increasing your rank. So don't worry.” (Orlando)

“I’ll worry! Damn it, remember this.” (Allen)

Seeing Allen off as he snatched the request form and left, Orlando and Matilda looked at each other and laughed. Matilda's laugh may have been a little strained though.

.

.

.

A few weeks later, Allen was on the third floor of the Dragon Dungeon in his Nella form together with...

“Nella-sama. You seem to be somewhat tired.” (Iseria)

“Ou. I've got some stuff going on with the guild request.” (Allen)

Although Iseria shouldn't even be able to see his expression through the mask, she sensed it and looked at Allen with concern. They had already finished mapping this floor, so he didn’t need to be that cautious, but that it would be meaningless if he were to be distracted by worry, Allen thought as he let out a sigh and roused himself a little.

“Adventurers shouldn’t let their guard down in a dungeon. Well, it's not like I get to say it since I was worried myself.” (Iseria)

“No, it's a learning experience.” (Allen)

Allen and Iseria proceeded through the dungeon while exchanging such words.

In order to fulfill the promise that Iseria had requested in return for protecting Allen's secret; to teach her common sense as an adventurer.

It's true that it would be bad if his true identity was revealed, but Allen actually had another purpose.

(If I want to go deeper, I won't be able to do it alone anyway.) (Allen)

So that he can go to a floor that matches his ability someday. He’s going to try to raise Iseria, whose potential he had no problem with, as a candidate for a partner for that time.

“What's wrong?” (Iseria)

“No, it’s nothing.” (Allen)

Noticing his sharp gaze, Iseria asked, and Allen shook his head in response. Iseria tilted her head a little, then nodded her head as if she was satisfied and smiled.

“Let's go take the dragon trial someday.” (Iseria)

Iseria said that with a nice smile, and Allen, facing her with a big smile under his mask, replied.

“Absolutely, no way.” (Allen)

Allen's happy double life had just begun.

────

Author Note:

Thank you very much for reading.

This is the end of the story. There are many elements left unfinished, but this is just a revision to what I have written in the past, I more or less only wrote the plot until this point.

Many more people than expected have read, rated, and reviewed it. Thank you very much.

If I read your review and come up with a continuation, I may write more, so I hope to see you again at that time.

(*゜▽゜)ノ

※2021.5.13

Many people were interested in the continuation, so I resumed it. Details regarding this will be provided in the afterword of the next chapter.

Please take care of me.

────

Previous | Next