“――――”
Kageura Keiichiro descended the stairs, a bag slung over his shoulder.
【Holy Sword】, renowned enough to be called the 【Hero Party】, had a substantial income.
Their base of operations was a luxury hotel.
He walked down a grand staircase wide enough for five people to stand side-by-side.
The day he would climb these stairs again—would never come.
Keiichiro simply walked towards the hotel exit.
“Well now. If it isn’t the 【Hero Party】’s baggage handler.”
Someone blocked the exit.
Feeling weary, Keiichiro looked up at the man.
Standing there was a smirking man he didn’t recognize.
They probably didn’t know each other.
Surely, the man only knew of Keiichiro one-sidedly.
—Baggage handler.
It was a derogatory nickname for Keiichiro.
Just as the name implied, it mocked Keiichiro for clearly being dead weight within the 【Hero Party】.
“Oi, say something, why don’tcha? Or are ya scared now that 【Holy Sword】 ain’t here to protect you anymore?”
The man sneered.
—So that’s why he’s confronting me so brazenly, Keiichiro thought. The man apparently knew he had been expelled from 【Holy Sword】.
When you operate in the same area, that kind of information naturally reaches your ears.
It wasn’t particularly strange that the man knew.
Keiichiro’s gaze swept around, lightly checking his surroundings.
There were several Adventurers in the entrance hall.
Perhaps Keiichiro was a good spectacle for them too; they watched his actions with mocking smiles.
The news of his expulsion must have spread quite a bit already.
Likely because he had drawn attention in a bad way.
“Yeah, there’s something I’ve been wanting to ask for a while now.”
Saying that, the man showed a vulgar grin—
“The three from 【Holy Sword】. Which one felt the best?”
“…………Huh?”
For a moment, he froze, unable to comprehend the meaning.
But the man licked his lips and brought his face close to Keiichiro’s.
“You were in a party with three women. Things must build up when you’re diving into Dungeons—you must’ve been the one taking care of that, right?”
(This guy—!)
His brain felt like it was boiling.
【Holy Sword】 was the strongest party in the country. And at the same time, they had many enemies.
Even from the perspective of Keiichiro, their childhood friend, the three women of 【Holy Sword】 were beautiful.
Thus, they garnered much attention from the public, but also much jealousy from their peers.
A party of only women—Keiichiro wasn’t even considered in the equation—meant there was a certain number of Adventurers who looked down on them from the start.
This man was likely one of them.
“Now that their handler is gone, maybe I’ll invite them out next time I see them in a Dungeon. I guess I’ll find out which one’s the best if I try them myself.”
The man’s crude laughter echoed.
Faced with him, Keiichiro—laughed wretchedly.
“Haha… Yeah, I tried hitting on them with that in mind too… but they didn’t seem interested in that sort of thing. If anything, they kept even someone like me in the party for a while—you know. That said, I guess I pushed my luck too far… This time, their patience finally snapped, I suppose…”
He laughed like that.
Like a jester.
Believing that if he played the clown, he could lessen the malice directed towards them, even if just a little.
Hoping people would think they were just being messed around by an idiot.
“Well—yeah. Figured it was something like that.”
The man slapped Keiichiro’s back with an open palm and roared with laughter.
“Still, being a [Trapper] is one hell of a class! I mean, you managed to drag down the great 【Hero Party】-sama this much!”
Satisfied after saying his piece, the man brushed past Keiichiro and entered the hotel.
“See ya, former member of 【Holy Sword】-sama! Apparently, former Adventurers are valued for manual labor!”
Keiichiro could only watch silently as the man shouted loud enough for everyone around to hear.
(…So if you’re weak, you don’t even have the right to punch someone who insults your friends, huh?)
Adventurers operated on meritocracy.
Lacking strength—was equivalent to a sin.
☆
“Whoa…”
Keiichiro stumbled.
He had bumped shoulders with someone.
He was in a crowded train station.
Contact with people around him wasn’t unusual, but.
(That girl…)
Keiichiro turned back and found the person he had bumped into.
It was a girl about high school age.
Her red hair, reaching down to her shoulder blades, swayed as she walked.
Apparently, she was walking while looking at her smartphone and didn’t seem to have noticed the collision with Keiichiro.
—Even though Keiichiro, who was bumped, had stumbled significantly.
She was probably an Adventurer—and likely skilled enough to hold her own even in this area, the front line.
To someone like her, Keiichiro had so little power that bumping into him went unnoticed.
(Those without talent are weeded out, while promising Adventurers are drawn here—huh.)
This was Japan’s front line—the Demon City.
An area once known as—’Tokyo’.
Powerful Adventurers gathered here.
Keiichiro was one of those being pushed out of this Demon City.
☆
Staying in this town would only bring him misery.
Keiichiro boarded the train as if fleeing.
“Kurenai and the others will probably challenge that someday too, huh.”
Keiichiro gazed at the scenery from the train window.
Skyscrapers lined the view.
Among them towered a colossal structure that dwarfed even the buildings.
At the tower’s summit sat a black vortex.
A distorted space, swirling like a whirlpool.
That was called a Gate, the entrance to a Dungeon.
Among them, that one was named the Origin Gate, one of only seven ‘First Dungeons’ in the world.
The first Dungeons that appeared across the globe half a century ago.
And they were the highest difficulty Dungeons, still uncleared to this day.
That’s why conquering the Origin Gate was called this by the people:
—Humanity’s final objective.
If Japan’s Origin Gate were to be cleared, it would surely be by Kurenai’s party.
In doing so, they would one day become heroes in both name and reality.
“There’s no point in me thinking about it…”
Keiichiro let out a breath and was about to look away from the window.
About to—but,
“What…?”
Keiichiro narrowed his eyes.
The Origin Gate seemed to waver.
He could see ripple-like tremors in the vortex-like gate.
“Is that…?”
What he saw next—was an arm.
An arm so enormous it looked like it could reach from the tower’s summit all the way to the ground extended from the gate.
(Can no one else see it…!?)
Keiichiro looked around, but there were no signs of panic.
With this many people on board, it was hard to believe no one was looking out the window.
Which meant that arm was only visible to Keiichiro.
“Oi… Wait.”
(What is it—)
The giant arm was being raised.
Cold sweat trickled down Keiichiro’s cheek.
The worst-case scenario painted in his mind.
It—became reality.
The giant arm swung down.
An attack with speed belying its immense size.
There was no way a train merely running on rails could dodge it—
The car Keiichiro was sitting in was instantly crushed.
☆
“Damn it… what the hell.”
Keiichiro spat out blood.
He was inside the wrecked train car.
Unable to do anything, he had been crushed by the giant arm.
Perhaps no one else had noticed the arm; the people around seemed to think it was just a train accident.
“What was that… that giant—”
Just before being crushed by the arm, Keiichiro had seen it.
From deep within the gate—eyes had been peering out.
He only saw the arm.
But beyond it… there was a body.
Judging by the silhouette, it was probably humanoid.
Beyond that gate lurked such a monster.
Being targeted by such a creature, of all things, could only be called misfortune.
(If things were going to end like this—)
Several of his internal organs had already ruptured.
Keiichiro would probably—die just like this.
If he had known this would happen.
What came to Keiichiro’s mind were the faces of the comrades he fought alongside.
Even if he knew he couldn’t fight with them anymore.
Still, at least together—
“Heeh… So you could see that giant, huh.”
Suddenly, he heard a voice.
Was it an auditory hallucination due to his near-death state?
Thinking that, Keiichiro still looked forward.
Standing there was a black-haired girl.
Her clothes were spotless, showing no signs of having been caught in the giant’s attack.
Yet she stood inside the crushed train car.
“Who… are you?”
“Let’s see.”
“If I had to say, maybe—the devil who will become your god?”
—Something like, ‘Do you desire power?’ perhaps.
The girl’s lips curved like a crescent moon.