Becoming an Extra in a Trash Game

Chapter 29

“First, shall we register as Adventurers?”

While gently scratching the back of the tired, drooping horse and lightly pulling on the reins, it follows along well despite stumbling.

Luna’s horse, Beth, seems to be staggering even more, but she quickly recovers when Luna pats her.

The Labyrinth City seemed to have a lot of new adventurers and many people entering the dungeon, so all matters related to dungeons, adventurers, and mercenaries were concentrated in the central tower.

The city is quite large, and with a high floating population as well as many permanent residents, there are well-placed signboards here and there.

The outskirts seem to be mostly residential areas, while the area between the center and the outskirts appears to have general shops and stores.

After quickly reading a signboard, I decided to find lodging first before moving on.

“Come to the Blue Bird Inn for delicious food!”

“Clean beds. Hygienic.”

“Large beastkin welcome!”

Inns that mention one or two of their advantages are likely to be ordinary inns.

Places below that level probably wouldn’t bother spending money on such advertising, while better places wouldn’t need to advertise…

I took out a copper coin from the money pouch at my waist and gave it to a child who looked like a lizardman, then spoke.

“Can you recommend a high-class inn as well?”

Yellow eyes with horizontal pupils. A transparent nictitating membrane blinked across them and disappeared.

“In that case, I recommend Paysern, which you’ll find if you go straight in this direction! They have proper stables.”

Whether the child is quick-witted or not, they accurately point out a good selling point.

I gave them another copper coin as thanks and nodded towards the direction the child had pointed.

“How about we leave the horses at the stable, then have a meal and register? Or should we register right away?”

“It would be better to eat and then move on.”

“I think… We can look around… Leisurely and sleep later.”

I nodded at Kane and Luna’s words.

Since we haven’t been here long, we’ll need information to figure out how to set things up.

‘Well, nothing special should happen.’

If something does happen, its usefulness will be determined accordingly.

The Paysern Inn was a fairly large building about 5 stories tall, a high-class inn decorated overall with blue and white as accent colors.

“For meals, how about we go to an ordinary tavern instead of here, to hear rumors and gather information?”

It seemed that since this was a high-class inn, the atmosphere was such that people whispered quietly to avoid being overheard, rather than chatting boisterously.

So I wanted to have lunch at a place that seemed like it would be frequented by mercenaries or adventurers, to eavesdrop as well.

“I’m fine… With anything……”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Are they going to agree to everything I suggest? Though I think they probably don’t have any reason to object, after seeing the two being so compliant, I made a decision.

‘They trust me too much after all.’

If you ask whether that’s apparent just from deciding on lodging and a restaurant, I would answer yes.

Both Luna and Kane seemed to have an underlying psychological assumption that my judgments were basically correct.

In a positive sense, it could be said that there’s an abundance of trust, but…

‘The protagonist and heroine shouldn’t have less autonomy than extras.’

Moreover, even though I roughly know the flow of events, I’m still human, so there will inevitably be moments when I’m wrong.

Even then, it would be problematic if those two think of me as a separate brain, always making the right decisions as they expect.

‘One way or another, I need to make them… No, raise them to be strong.’

I organized my thoughts as I returned to the central square.

There seemed to be many people advertising there.

In the end, we went to a place recommended by a child promoting good food in the square, and we saw a somewhat old-looking place that looked just like the medieval tavern I had in mind.

Even before opening time, the boisterous noise was flowing out…

‘This is it.’

As Kane opened the door and held it, Luna entered first, and I followed.

Inside was quite full despite it being daytime, and everyone seemed to be having a drink or two.

I sat at a table in the center where there were a decent number of people and was about to choose from the menu when three mugs of beer were suddenly placed in front of us with a thud.

“Haven’t seen this party before? First time?”

“Ah, yes, that’s right…”

“Today’s Set A is delicious, so order that.”

Watching a jovial-looking man arbitrarily shout for three Set A meals, I laughed and looked at the beer mug in front of me.

‘It’s beer.’

Is it the norm here to have a beer as soon as you arrive?

I took a sip of the lukewarm beer and met Luna’s eyes, who was also holding her beer mug with a slightly bewildered look.

“Drink up, seems like one beer is standard here.”

“Yes… It seems so.”

As another party entered and sat at the table next to us, four beers landed on their table with a thud, and Luna nodded.

“Well, shall we do some eavesdropping?”

I grinned as I looked at a rabbit-kin and a magic user.

The composition of Set A was simple. Two well-baked pieces of bread and potato soup. Half a stewed chicken and a vegetable salad.

The salad had basic ingredients like cabbage and tomatoes rather than a variety of vegetables, and the potato soup was a bit thin, but the seasoning was fine.

The chicken stewed with carrots and corn was especially surprisingly tasty, being both sweet and salty.

“This time I went down to the 12th floor, you know. Ended up using a precious potion.”

“Did you hear that news? There’s an island in the southern sea where the storm never stops, and on that island…”

“What’s the use of a new dungeon appearing if we can’t enter it?”

“Is it still under control?”

Murmurs.

Among the scattered voices, some useful information could be heard.

This is just what I’ve overheard, so when we combine the information Luna and Kane have heard later, there should be even more content.

“Hello, it looks like a Beginner Adventurer party. Want some help?”

While I was straining my ears to listen while pushing a piece of bread into my mouth, someone sat down next to me and addressed Kane.

A whiff of what smelled like rose perfume drifted over, and when I turned to look, I saw a woman with dark red hair and pointed ears smiling at Kane.

“Just looking at you, your clothes are still neat, and your weapons look new. The lady with the strangely tense face seems inexperienced. First time in the Labyrinth City?”

She spoke to Kane with a slight smile, her eyes crinkling…

That guy, whether it was because the female mercenary was an Ain or not, instead of chasing her away, He just took a sip of beer with an indifferent face and then glanced slightly in my direction.

“Hmm. For now, we’ll try on our own, and after that, we’ll accept help if needed.”

At Kane’s glance and my words, the woman turned to look at me, her orange eyes so vivid they seemed to shine.

The cat-like woman had a scar on her cheek but still had quite a fresh face.

“Oh, you’re the leader? Haha, excuse me. Alright, my name is Ruby. I’m staying at this inn long-term, so if you need any help, come and ask anytime.”

She patted my back heartily with a bright laugh and stood up.

As she returned to the next table, there was a commotion about how it only takes a minute to seduce a man, but she got rejected by kids.

‘A party of three men and one woman…’

It’s clearly an experienced party. Besides Ruby, who introduced herself, there was a thin man with a sharp face, a muscular man, and a man wearing a hood that hid his face.

‘For now… Just us.’

The Labyrinth Dungeon may be called a Labyrinth, but on the lower floors, there are many people around, so we shouldn’t have to worry about being backstabbed…

Well, if the need arises later, it might be fine to travel together briefly.

“Shall we get up if you’re done eating?”

I spoke to Luna and Kane, who were looking at the next table with somewhat tense eyes, and they both nodded as if to say let’s go now.

We should have filled our stomachs to some extent. As we headed towards the central tower to register as adventurers, I asked if they had heard anything, and Luna spoke first.

“It seems there are many… Adventurers usually try to get coral or pearls from the southern sea. Rumor has it that… One small island is… Surrounded by storms.”

“To add a bit more, while it’s sunny a little ways away from there, only that place has storms, so they suspect it might be the appearance of a giant monster.”

Hmm. This seems familiar, but it’s not a place we can go to right now anyway, so it probably doesn’t matter.

“And… Besides the Labyrinth… Another dungeon was discovered, but the city itself issued an entry ban, they say.”

“Ah, I heard that too. Why do you think they issued it?”

“For now… They say it’s for investigation purposes, or there are many rumors that very good items are coming out so they want the high-ranking adventurers to monopolize it.”

It’s hard to tell what’s speculation and what’s fact.

I shrugged and smiled, and during our conversation, we arrived at the central tower that stretched high into the sky.

There are so many newcomer adventurers that as soon as you pay a small fee at the Adventurers’ Guild on the first floor, you immediately get a wooden tag.

Even though it’s meant to be a form of identification, while the material is common wood, the seal stamped on it is magically treated to prevent forgery, they say.

I don’t know if I can trust that.

“It’s too simple.”

“Probably because half of those who receive it will quit within a year.”

I nodded at Kane’s words.

Everyone probably comes thinking they’ll only hear good things and succeed, but… Well, that’s how it is with any job.

“Shall we experience a floor or two to aid digestion before heading back?”

I suggested as I put the wooden tag into the money pouch at my waist.

This is content for stagnant waters anyway, so to break through 99 floors you’d need to headbutt seriously, but the lower floors are farming spots for useful items.

The rewards were pretty good too. Every 5 floors you definitely get potions, and for each floor cleared you get a small amount of money and material items.

‘I don’t know how it would be in reality, but.’

“Sounds like a good idea.”

“You, keep your shield up.”

I wanted to say, ‘What, don’t you trust me?’ but I couldn’t trust this body’s reaction speed either, so I just nodded.

* * *

“It’s a slime.”

“It’s a slime.”

“How cute……”

As expected of the Labyrinth Dungeon.

This was a clear advantage over border areas where variables always exist and you never know what might pop out from where.

Lower floors have low-level monsters. The deeper you go, the stronger the monsters become.

I looked at the core wriggling inside the watery, liquid-like blob of a monster.

Whoosh―

Kane threw a flying knife from quite a distance away, piercing the core before it could leap up close, causing it to burst like water…

“This is too easy.”

It’s too easy.

Would it be a bit tricky if we only had melee weapons?

Thanks to Kane, who hits the core with every throw as if there were magnets attached to the flying knives, Luna and I have the leisure to chat about trivial things.

“Want a carrot?”

“Yes, I like carrots……”

Crunch―

As we take out raw carrots and munch on them, Kane, who was walking a step ahead, glances back at us.

“This won’t do. Kane, I’m confiscating your flying knives.”

Everything bursts when you throw them, what kind of experience is this? We won’t even level up with 1 experience point at a time.

Kane is the type that becomes sharper the more you make him struggle, the more you push him, and the more mental pressure you apply.

As all protagonists are.

Of course, he’ll grow steadily even if left alone, but if you give him the right fertilizer for stress, he grows even better.

When I called out to confiscate the flying knives, Kane drew his sword and walked forward.

“Um… Should we confiscate the sword too?”

Holding the sword, he approaches the leaping slime, dodges it by just twisting his body, then thrusts the sword like in fencing, stabbing the core. One shot, one kill.

Dodge once and thrust, and the slime bursts and melts away like water.

“Still… It might be a bit much to make him burst slimes with bare hands, right?”

At this rate, we could go much deeper.

Thinking that, we went down another floor, and a party walking in the opposite direction passed by us, grumbling.

“Don’t you think the number of monsters has decreased lately? Weren’t they supposed to respawn in the Labyrinth?”

“It’s because too many newcomers are coming. Even respawning takes time, but everyone stabs them as soon as they appear, so the lower floors are drying up.”

“Kaaack! Ptui! This is really annoying!”

“Ugh, disgusting, you idiot!”

I listened to what they were saying and waited until they completely disappeared before speaking.

“Did you hear that? Let’s go further down.”

“By the way, what did they mean by respawning?”

As we walked looking for stairs to the next floor with Kane, Luna spoke up.

“Um… I’ve heard… Though we don’t know why… The difficulty varies by floor level, and when monsters die, they respawn somewhere… Some say the dragon might have created it with some intention……”

Intention… In the game, it was for farming, and in the original work, this was around the time Kane was receiving assassination training, so it’s difficult to say anything definitively, but it was a somewhat peculiar aspect.

Unless it was intentionally created, there were many parts that couldn’t be explained.

‘But now it’s Kane’s experience field.’

I saw the stairs I had just discovered and pushed Kane’s back, urging him to go down quickly.