Poor Noble Nord’s Adventure

4. Subjugation Mission

Since registering as an adventurer, Nord had been taking requests from the Adventurer’s Guild every day.

The jobs, as usual, didn’t feel like they were meant for an adventurer, but doing them daily earned him some money.

It wasn’t much, just enough to cover his food expenses, but at least if he saved on his meals, his younger siblings could eat a bit more.

Though, with so many mouths to feed, it was barely a drop in the ocean.

Within less than a week, Nord had ranked up.

Now, he proudly held the 1st Rank: Slate Adventurer.

While it was just the starting point as an adventurer, the wooden tag hanging from his neck had transformed into a proper stone slab—a guild card made of stone.

Even this small change gave him a sense of growth.

True to the name, the Slate Adventurer was made of stone, and unlike the flimsy wooden imitation of a guild card, it was imbued with magical properties.

From this Slate Adventurer  onward, even if one ranked up, the design and functions of the guild card wouldn’t change, just the material.

Even as a low-ranked adventurer, holding the Slate Adventurer meant being treated as a proper adventurer.

With this plate, Nord could now take on adventurer-like requests such as subjugation missions.

Of course, the monsters targeted in these subjugation missions posed a risk to the requester, hence why they sought help, and these missions always carried the risk of injury or death.

Feeling the cold, chilling touch of the stone guild card he had just received, Nord steeled himself anew.

§

One of the daily routines Nord quickly became accustomed to at the Adventurer’s Guild was the morning scramble for jobs.

Requests offering high rewards, rare items, or enticing descriptions.

The quest board was filled with all kinds of requests, but naturally, some had better pay and conditions than others—that is, some were more appealing than others.

Everyone flocked to the lucrative requests, while the less appealing ones were avoided.

Of course, there were exceptions—strange adventurers who deliberately took on the jobs no one wanted, but aside from them, most adventurers fought for the best ones.

Since strength was everything for adventurers, the scramble for jobs could become fierce.

The old saying goes that adventurers face three strong enemies with every request:

First, the fellow adventurers fighting over the same requests in the morning.

Second, the monsters encountered at the requested location.

Third, the adventurer’s own greed for the rewards.

It seemed that most typical adventurers couldn’t overcome the third enemy.

But I digress.

Until yesterday, Nord could only take requests from the Free Board, so all he could do was watch.

But today was different.

Even with the Slate Adventurer, there were still better and worse requests.

Aiming for the next rank, Nord needed to make money by taking on the more rewarding quests to gear up efficiently.

Naturally, Nord also wanted this, so he decided to dive into the battlefield of the morning scramble, where adventurers swarmed like beasts.

§

After pushing, shoving, and clawing his way through, Nord finally snatched a request.

It was for ‘Subjugating Monsters in a Dungeon.’

In this world, there are places called dungeons, home to many monsters.

However, these monsters are known to behave differently than usual.

Normally, when a monster dies, its corpse remains where it fell, unless it decays or is consumed by slimes or something similar.

But in dungeons, something else happens.

When a monster dies in a dungeon, its corpse is absorbed by the dungeon and disappears, leaving behind a crystal known as a magic stone.

A magic stone is a crystallized mana, which can sometimes be found outside of dungeons, but that is extremely rare.

Why this phenomenon occurs only inside dungeons had long been a mystery.

But not long ago, this mystery was solved by the Kingdom’s Magic Academy.

According to their research, dungeons are a kind of magic that creates “shadows” of monsters.

When a dungeon is formed in a place where mana naturally accumulates, known as a “mana pool,” the dungeon produces monster “shadows” with magic stones at their core.

Since these shadows are copies of the original monsters, their strength is consistent.

This theory also explains why the strength of dungeon monsters is uniform, unlike the variations seen in monsters outside.

(This was something Nord had learned from his eldest brother, Albireo.)

Dungeons have been discovered throughout the Ilva continent, and it’s said that great treasures lie deep within them.

The current theory is that these dungeons were created by ancient mages as treasure vaults, and the monsters serve as their defense mechanisms.

More importantly, the Kingdom’s Magic Academy researchers took note of the fact that these monsters—and their core magic stones—were reproducible.

Magic stones, which are abundant in dungeons, have many uses.

For instance, the Ferris family owned a magic stone lamp.

This lamp used the magic stone’s power to light up without the need for oil or candles, making it safer and more convenient.

Other examples include stoves that don’t require fire and boxes that keep food cool to prevent spoilage—various magical tools powered by magic stones are widely used.

These magical tools are highly valued for their convenience and are found in the homes of wealthy nobles and merchants.

(Unfortunately, Nord’s home only had one magic stone lamp.)

However, once the dungeon’s boss—the guardian of the treasure—is defeated, the magic stones stop being produced.

As a result, dungeons owned by the kingdom were gradually being cleared, and the domestic supply of magic stones had been declining.

But the Kingdom’s Magic Academy succeeded in reviving these dungeons.

Thus, several dungeons revived by the academy now existed, providing a stable supply of magic stones once more—however…

Unfortunately, the academy’s mages could only revive dungeons along with the monsters inside.

Although research continues at the academy, they have yet to figure out how to modify the settings of a dungeon.

In other words, the dungeon subjugation mission Nord accepted was essentially a mining job—killing monsters in an artificial dungeon and collecting magic stones.

§

“Subjugation… you say…?”

When Nord went to the counter to accept a dungeon subjugation request, the guild staff showed concern.

It was understandable.

At the moment, Nord was dressed in nothing more than cotton pants, a tunic, and a leather vest.

Calling this “armor” was laughable—it was basically just casual wear.

The only thing remotely resembling adventurer gear was the sword strapped to his waist.

“At least get yourself… some better equipment…”

──Save up some money from gathering and odd jobs and get yourself some decent gear.

The guild staff subtly advised him in this way.

“It’s fine. No problem at all.”

Nord nodded confidently in response.

His confidence was not baseless.

After all, the dungeon he was being sent to was only of the level assigned to a first-rank adventurer. The enemies wouldn’t be that strong.

However, even weak monsters could become dangerous in large numbers.

As you fight one after another, fatigue builds up, and focus wanes.

In that moment of distraction, you take a fatal blow and die.

That’s how most people meet their end in the labyrinth.

Especially for novice adventurers with little combat experience and inadequate gear.

Even weak monsters could be a threat.

So, why did Nord take this subjugation request?

The reason was simple.

§

A green goblin wielding a dagger lunged at Nord, aiming to stab him.

Nord sliced through the goblin with his sword.

With a sharp cry, the goblin’s body disintegrated, vanishing into the dungeon.

Without pausing to watch, Nord swung his sword upward, slicing through a giant bat that had swooped down from above.

Its body also vanished, leaving two magic stones on the ground.

Nord had already slain dozens of monsters.

Just as he reached down to collect the magic stones into the bag tied to his waist, an attack came from his blind spot.

“Giiieek!!”

It was another goblin, different from the one he had just killed.

With a wicked scream, it rushed at Nord, aiming to stab him.

But Nord remained calm.

Without attempting a counterattack, he merely protected his vital areas—his neck, for instance—and then,

Clang!

“Giee!?”

The goblin’s rusty, battered dagger had struck Nord’s armor and was blocked.

Without faltering from the impact, Nord took advantage of the goblin’s opening and slashed it down.

After ensuring no other enemies were around, he collected the goblin’s magic stone.

Nord’s confidence came from his armor.

His torso was protected by a solid steel plate.

The armor covered his entire body, with chainmail that didn’t restrict his movement while protecting him from blades.

While monsters in a first-rank subjugation mission could indeed be dangerous to an unarmored adventurer, with proper armor, they were no longer much of a threat.

Just like in the earlier ambush, Nord could rely on his armor to block the enemy’s attacks and then attack at will.

However, most first-rank adventurers wouldn’t be able to afford such a strategy.

Even after years of completing requests, they wouldn’t be able to afford armor that covered their whole body, as it was prohibitively expensive.

§

Thanks to the armor, Nord’s first subjugation was a great success.

Not taking any damage from enemy attacks made a huge difference.

His bag was overflowing with magic stones, and when he sold them at the dungeon’s purchasing station, he earned a decent amount.

The “armor strategy” was powerful, but there was a catch—it was only temporary.

The armor wasn’t Nord’s.

It belonged to the Ferris Knight family, and to be more specific, it was used by Albireo, the heir of the Ferris family.

Albireo was currently on leave, and during that time, Nord had borrowed the armor from him under a rental agreement, paying his brother a fee.

The rental cost was high, and after deducting his food expenses from his earnings, Nord was left with only a small profit, but there was no other way.

Armor wears out with use, and repairs are expensive if damaged.

In fact, Albireo had only lent him the armor as a gesture of brotherly kindness, knowing the risks.

Though, as a military academy graduate, Albireo knew that monsters in the shallow parts of a dungeon would never damage the armor.

After all, it was Albireo who had taught Nord this strategy in the first place, a technique passed down by knight apprentices at the military academy as a way to make pocket money.

Though he conveniently left out the part about the armor being virtually indestructible.