It has been a full week since I arrived in Velshara. Currently, I am lying on a bed in a local inn, staring at the ceiling. Since I arrived, I have been active only twice: on the first day, because of the incident on the road, and on the fourth day, when I finally decided to seek out a dungeon within the city.
I learned that the monsters inside the Velshara dungeon are the same species as those in the Targashar Dungeon, at least until the 15th floor. Aside from the practical goal of leveling up my jobs or earning money, I simply wanted a way to empty my head. I paid one of the adventuring parties 20 copper coins to escort me directly to the fifth floor. One of them took me there and then left to rejoin his friends. Once alone, I dealt with the monsters on that floor swiftly, killing the mini-boss—that snake bastard—much easier than I had before, thanks to my new job and the general leveling of my other roles.
When I emerged from the dungeon after completing the fifth floor, I headed to the local Dungeon Raiders Guild and sold the drop item from the mini-boss. The gain was 55 silver coins. Not bad at all. I managed to secure enough to cover my living expenses for more than a month with that single run. I have already paid 12 silver coins to the inn where I am currently staying, which covers ten days' worth of accommodations and two meals a day. I’m not in a position where I need to count my copper coins anymore; I’m quite rich now, thanks to the aftermath of that incident and the money I collected from equipment sales and bounties.
The memory of the funeral still lingers. After the burials, we departed the mountain pass with all the belongings of the deceased and their collected intelligence cards. Entering the city was easy under the escort of the rescue squad. The other guards—the ones who had stayed with our original caravan—didn't show much emotion beyond a deep, lingering shock. They had heard the reports from the soldiers and seen the blood-stained carriages. To them, the rescue squad had left to save two caravans and returned with nothing but salvaged remains, bringing back only one survivor.
Upon entering the city, we went straight to the city guard commander. He was a middle-aged man with brown hair and a perpetually annoyed expression. His heavy eyelashes were knit in a constant frown, making his black eyes difficult to see.
***
Halbrecht Varnemir
Race: Human
Sex: Male
Status: Normal
Equipment:
Two-handed Steel Sword?
Steel Breastplate??
Steel Gloves?
Steel Helmet
Steel Footwear?
Golden Amulet?
Golden Ring?
Job: Knight Lvl 40
***
He was the city guard captain with a significantly higher-level Knight job than Nareth, the captain of the rescue squad. He was also clearly a noble, evidenced by his last name, unlike the guards I had met in Targashar.
“How was it, Sir Nareth? Did you take care of those bastards?” he asked with a booming, resonant voice. He was surprisingly cordial toward the knight who had escorted me back.
“It was already so late, Lord Halbrecht,” Nareth replied, speaking with deep respect. “The only person alive was this man. Hey, Han! Come here.”
Nareth spoke to the noble Halbrecht with reverence but called me over—a "commoner"—with a casual, almost dismissive tone. Despite a small prickle of frustration at the disparity, I didn't let it show and answered the call immediately.
“Yes, sir. I am here.”
“When we arrived at the venue,” Nareth explained, narrating the story from his perspective, “the two caravans and the bandits who ambushed them were all dead. This man, Han, was sitting among the corpses and waiting for us. He told me about what happened.”
He gave a rough, abbreviated summary of the slaughter, skipping most of the visceral details. Halbrecht listened, then turned his gaze toward me.
“It is unfortunate those merchants died so close to our city, even if it is good to be rid of those annoying pests. But, come on. How did this little bastard survive that fight? Did you sacrifice your comrades to save your own hide?”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
He was an annoying man. Why was his attitude toward me so different from how he behaved toward the knight? I knew the answer, of course: he was a noble, and I was not.
“No, sir. I did everything I could do, but the enemy was just too many. Even my slave died in the end. He was still alive when the fight concluded, and I was about to use a potion on him, but he died because the bandits used poison on their swords.”
I tried to keep my voice as steady as possible, attempting to move the conversation away from his accusations.
“Hoh? You even had a slave? What is your job? It must be something special to let a peasant like you have a slave for himself.”
His curiosity was laced with condescension. I was right; his behavior was entirely a product of class difference. Just you wait, I promised myself silently. It is only a matter of time. I will become so strong that neither bandits nor people like you can hurt me, regardless of how many there are. I’ll rise above this arrogant bunch.
“No, sir. I am just a swordsman,” I replied, forcing myself to act humble. “I was earning money in the Targashar dungeon. Most of my funds came from a bandit I captured and sold into slavery after I got a bounty on his head.”
“Tch! What an unlucky bastard,” he muttered. “Whatever. It’s good the bandits are dead; our duty was to kill them, so we’ve done our part. Nareth, take care of the bounties and the other staff. Make sure the goods of the merchants are sent to the Lord if no one claims them. Got it?”
I’m the one who killed them, you bastard. You didn’t do anything, I thought. His comment about bringing the goods to the Lord made it clear they had no real intention of searching for the merchants' heirs.
Thankfully, he left, and I didn't have to deal with him further. I received 18 gold coins in total for the bounties on the bandits. After that, I left as quickly as I could with the bandits’ scavenged equipment. I visited a local shop to get rid of the cursed gear, selling the entire lot for 20 gold coins. Even if individual items were low-quality, the sheer quantity of the equipment provided a massive sum.
I headed for the inn that the equipment merchant had suggested, too exhausted to search for a better option. I gave the innkeeper 12 silver coins upfront to cover all my expenses for ten days. He looked delighted to receive such a payment all at once. He led me to my room, and I asked him to bring me hot water and to call me for every meal. Once he left, I sat in the room's only chair and finally breathed.
“Damn! What a busy day. This day was the most tiring and eventful day I experienced since I came to this world.”
I muttered to myself. The whole day replayed behind my eyes—the guards falling like leaves, Selvia’s cries of fear, Namo’s tear-filled face on the dirt. I saw myself killing in a trance until only those two greedy bandits remained. While I was repeating the action of me killing both of them in my head, there was a knock on the door.
It was the innkeeper with the hot water. I wiped myself down as best I could and changed into fresh clothes before throwing myself onto the bed. Despite being deathly tired, sleep wouldn't come. After several hours of tossing and turning, I decided to check my Player Window.
My jobs were now: Swordsman Level 36, Warrior Level 33, Dungeon Raider Level 33, Monk Level 31, and Hunter Level 38. Each had leveled up at least twice. It was a stark reminder that killing humans increases job levels just as effectively as monsters. Then, I noticed something new. There was a new job available—one I must have earned during the heat of the battle.
The job's name was Hero. I was dumbfounded. I hadn't expected "Hero" to be a job; it felt more like a title or an achievement. But the bonuses and skills it offered were incredible.
***
Hero:
- An epic job that only a person with heroic deeds can access.
- All stats increase (medium)
Skill: Overwhelm
- Increase all stats by (2 + 0.04 * level) for 1.5 seconds.
- Skill cost = 25 mana
***
This was sick. I was dumbfounded when I saw this job, and my heart started to beat faster. Seeing this job revitalized my excitement for this world again, a little.
I wanted to try it immediately, but I had to drop one of my previous jobs first. After a moment of hesitation, I removed the Hunter job and equipped Hero as my primary job. I hadn't expected much, but the shift was massive. Not only did it work, but it also significantly increased my total points. My Swordsman job had been giving me 46 points (36 for the level and 10 base), but this one gave me 101 points—1 from the job level and a base of 100 points due to the job's quality.
My total points reached 181. I used them to increase both of my experience-related skills to Level 10 immediately, bringing my experience multiplier to 121. It cost almost all my remaining points, but it was worth it.
I checked my coin count: 1 platinum, 95 gold, 1 silver (Targonia), and 95 silver and 70 copper (Obscura). With one platinum being worth 100 gold, I had nearly two platinum coins. It felt like a reward for surviving that slaughter. I didn't know whether to be happy or sad about it, but the good outcomes were enough to relax my mind just enough for me to finally drift into sleep.
Over the next seven days, not much changed. On the first day, I disposed of the equipment and on the fourth, I visited the dungeon once, only to decide I wouldn't go back. I tried to look around the city and shop, but I ended up doing nothing at all. I even told the innkeeper to stop waking me for breakfast and just leave it at the door for me to eat at noon.
I’ve started to realize that I’m spiraling. I’m not doing anything at all. Since I’m not as gloomy as I was a few days ago, I’ve decided to go for a proper walk in the city today. If I still can’t find anything to keep me here for the remaining three days of my stay, I’m planning to leave for the capital. I haven't forgotten how much I wanted to come to this world, and with the gold I’ve saved and this "Hero" job, I have every reason to keep moving. I’m still a bit gloomy and easily agitated, but I’m going to try to fix that.
[Edited]