It was a rainy day in Orario, Kunihito had arrived just under a day ago. Due to the rainy weather, his only choice at this moment was to take cover under a shelter to avoid getting his only clothes on his body wet.

He was sitting in an alley with no one in sight, his eyes closed, resting to the sound of the storm.

Touch

The slight sensation of touch made Kunihito's hand instantly grip his supposed attacker's arm in a strong grip, due to the superhuman strength of his falna, it was not necessary to break the arm there.

"And then? What do we do from here?" The half-elf asked, at the same time he opened his eyes to only meet the grey eyes of a human girl, she had a somewhat wet appearance from being under the rain.

"Hey… are you okay?" The girl asked, it was strange because she didn't even react to the grip on her arm, but she seemed harmless to the half-elf's eyes.

"Don't dodge the question, what the hell were you planning to do?" Kunihito made sure to grip the girl's arm tighter, but she did not react… it was strange.

The girl looked him up and down before answering, "You seemed to need help." She answered solemnly.

For a brief second, almost imperceptible, the girl seemed to have seen a glimpse in the half-elf's eyes. "Tch… how stupid, are you a protector of the poor and disadvantaged? Or maybe you just want to help me so I can pay you back with a good interest rate, greedy humans." After his clearly rude words, he let go of the girl's arm and turned away.

The girl didn't like the tone of the words and the insinuation that she was some kind of person who extorts others.

The girl brought her arms to her hips and pouted, "Hey! That's not how you talk to people who try to help you!" She complained clearly irritated, although some would say that she seemed more cute than intimidating.

"Screw you, I don't remember asking you for anything, die interfering human." Kunihito waved his hand signaling for the human to go away on her own.

Hum

Hum

Hum

She stood there humming until Kunihito lost his patience. "GO AWAY!" He ordered, in a sudden jump that made him stand up, he was clearly much taller than the girl, about 20 centimeters, but that didn't intimidate the girl at all.

"NO, YOU CLEARLY NEED HELP!" The girl shouted back with a strong tone.

"HEIN!? YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW ME, YOU CRAZY BRAT!" Kunihito attacked.

"AH! I'M ALREADY A CAPABLE ADULT, AND WHO ARE YOU CALLING CRAZY, I'M JUST HELPING YOU!" She shouted back, she was clearly out of her mind in the blonde's opinion.

This argument went on for a while, long enough for both of them to get very wet from the rain.

Well… the girl won the argument, there came a point where the 30 minutes of "battle" they had would only end if one of them gave in, and the girl seemed very determined with her illogical arguments, one crazier than the other, final conclusion? Kunihito had a good taste of how problematic women could be when they wanted something.

(Fertility Hostess)

Syr was currently arguing with the owner of the pub behind the counter, who happened to be her boss.

She had brown eyes and long brown hair. She wore a different, more colorful version of the uniform than the others.

"You must be kidding!" Mia Grand couldn't believe what Syr was saying at the moment.

She just didn't want a MAN to be hosted in the same place where her coworkers spent most of their days, with all her colleagues being female. Obviously, this couldn't end well… But Syr didn't seem to want to give up for anything.

"I guess I can consider this a victory," Kunihito spoke loudly for Syr to hear. He was sitting on the counter while the discussion was taking place, deeply grateful that the owner wasn't as crazy as the young human.

"Mia-sama, he has nowhere to go and will pay for his stay here," Syr argued.

Mia looked at the half-elf wearing that ragged cloak, which gave the impression that he was nothing but a vagabond, but underneath it, he wore a strange but good-quality garment that could be noticed just by looking, not to mention the armor and sword that looked very expensive.

All this on top of the arrogant and battle-hungry eyes, which led her to believe that he was probably a wanderer… From centuries of experience, this woman could only distinguish this man as one thing, dangerous.

"Oh, I was forced to come here for you to shut up, and now I have to pay for your forced hospitality. I always knew you just wanted to extort me!" Kunihito declared sarcastically, just for Syr to throw a wooden plate in his direction, which he did the favor of dodging and mocking how she would have to wash it now.

Syr, now with her teeth clenched because of the blonde man, sighed deeply. "Mia-sama, I'm doing all this just to pay off a past debt." Her eyes seemed to shine with a nostalgic air, something that did not go unnoticed by Mia.

Mia looked from Syr to Kunihito, with a look that many would describe as a "Seriously?" With that, the woman seemed to have entered a contemplative state.

"Alright, 4,000 valis per month, with hot water included, but any food he eats will come out of his own pocket, as well as property damage, of course," Mia declared with precision.

Syr gained a glow of happiness and clasped her hands while bowing her head. "Thank you, Mia-sama," the girl thanked with profound sincerity.

Unlike Syr, Kunihito didn't seem happy at all. "This is really a…" Before he could finish the insult, Syr covered his mouth with her hands.

"Come on, I'll show you your room!" She then began to push the man up the stairs while still covering his mouth as he clearly seemed to be saying terrible things.

Later he found out that in addition to the lodging, he would have to pay for the repair of the wooden floor that was soaked by him and Syr… which generated another great argument between the two, which he obviously lost.

(Current time)

Kunihito opens his eyes. He was still sitting on a bench in the square of love. The blonde was quite disciplined, so sleeping while sitting down while keeping an eye on his surroundings was not an exclusive skill of his. But everyone who called themselves warriors in the Far East, his homeland, possessed such a skill. It was strange to him that no one in the West, at least the people he had met, had such a simple skill.

Then the half-elf smiled. "It's not like they need it anyway." Kunihito compared all the areas he had visited with his homeland; it was a joke to say they were similar.

In the Far East, where war, carnage, poverty, disease, and monsters ruled. Here in the West, well… it was brighter, a place where children could go out to play pranks instead of being disciplined to serve some lord or fight in endless wars. Orario, for example, was a very Kawaii city from his point of view.

This led the blonde to think of the dream he had, the day he met that annoying brat who forced him to stay at the pub. It was a strange experience; something about the girl aroused his interest. "Paying off a past debt," the man remembered Syr's words well. Maybe that's what sparked his interest, even though he never asked what it was about, it was still intriguing.

On top of all this, he stopped and contemplated the reason he became an adventurer was just to pay for the forced lodging, thanks to Syr. Even though he didn't give it much importance and still found it crazy that she wanted to help him without any apparent reason, it was a strange feeling to quit his job as an adventurer after what she provided for him.

Whether he liked it or not, thanks to her, he had a bed to sleep in at night, good food and drink… This was too much in the eyes of someone who lived in the Far East where things like this were a luxury for every day.

"I guess she'll bug me if she finds out I've been 'fired,'" Kunihito laughed at the thought coming to his mind.

Kunihito then looked up at the sky; it must have been between 9 and 10 in the morning now, judging by the position of the sun. The half-elf then stood up from the bench and clenched his fists as he began to walk towards the gigantic Tower of Babel. "I guess I'm getting too sentimental. It's time to kill something to forget about these stupid ties," Kunihito spoke to himself as he sped off in a torrent of dust at superhuman speed towards his destination…

And the bells of fate rang.

(Dungeon fifth floor)

It was not a good day for Bell Cranel, a novice adventurer.

He had entered the dungeon hoping for many things. The boy dreamed of fame, romance, riches, and glory. This was a completely normal way of thinking for a young male child who grew up aspiring to heroic adventures. Wanting to have a closer relationship with beautiful girls. Wanting to interact with lovely ladies of different races. Thinking this in some improper way, or perhaps with immature thoughts. Was this not a normal personality for a young boy?

"I can't have a date in the Dungeon, correction, search for a harem, is this really wrong?" In conclusion, he was completely wrong.

In conclusion, he was completely wrong. — Wuaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. — The monster chasing him roared.

This is the result for an adventurer like Bell, who was thinking such improper and immature thoughts, on the verge of death because of his own innocence and arrogance thinking he was special in the world.

A phrase from a famous hero could be described for the current situation of the young white-haired boy, "The path of the brave does not follow the footsteps of stupidity."

Which led to the situation at hand. To be more precise, currently Bell was being chased by a monster with a human body and the head of a bull, a Minotaur.

This monster was completely immune to his attacks, which were only at Level 1. He was about to be overthrown by it.

Bell then entered a dead end, something that could be seen as the gates of death, a fate worthy of a fool.

The Minotaur's hoof, while not directly kicking his back, every step it took crushed the earth and even the spot where Bell was standing was affected by the impacts, the teenager couldn't stand and could only roll on the Dungeon floor.

— Uwaaaaah — The Minotaur roared.

Bell was sitting on the ground, where his life would end tragically.

It seems that from the beginning, the boy did not have the qualifications to be a hero of fairy tales, after all, as many of them said "The most humiliating death for a hero is when he can't even stand against his enemy", a phrase said by a hero who faced ancient dragons.

The boy's back hit the wall, there was no place to retreat. "I… I'm dead."

These words echoed in the boy's mind, his teeth constantly chattering, tears also streaming down, his own skin could completely feel the deep and heavy breath of the beast.

Raising his head and looking at the muscular body that was between one to two times larger than his, this was the feeling that all beings who became adventurers felt at least once, the feeling of overwhelming suffocating strength stomping on them like they were just a bug in the way.

"In the end, I just continue to be pathetic…" The thought trickled through the boy's mind.

The Minotaur that was slowly pounding its hooves appeared in front of his sight, the next moment, a line passed through the monster's body.

— Wha-what!? — Bell blurted out.

— Uaaaah! — The cry of pain resounded from the Minotaur.

Slash

The result was that the monster who couldn't even move immediately turned into pieces of meat.

Bell didn't even see what happened as it was too fast.

As if following a pattern, the Minotaur's body fell apart. Along them, that dark red blood spurted out as the Minotaur collapsed completely the next moment.

A large amount of blood splashed onto the white-haired boy's body as if he had taken a shower.

"You seem to have seen better days, little girl," the swordsman said, shaking his sword to rid it of blood.

Bell was completely frozen at the sight.

(With Kunihito)

It seemed like the world had something against the half-elf at the moment. Yesterday, he felt too disheartened to go to the dungeon, and today, when he was feeling a real desire to go, he was interrupted by the screams of a little girl fleeing from a minotaur.

"What happens in the dungeon, stays in the dungeon." He remembered those words well when he saw the girl running from a… Minotaur?

What the hell was a creature like that doing on the fifth floor? The simplest probability was that someone must have come across it and somehow lured it to this floor, where it ended up chasing the little girl…

It wasn't a fair situation from Kunihito's point of view, so he drew his sword and looked deeply at the creature "Muon no Tachi." With a frightening burst of speed, he charged at the beast.

In less than a second, the half-elf sliced the creature in a horizontal line, completely silent. If you couldn't see it, you wouldn't even know what had happened.

This was one of his techniques from his fencing school, "Muon no Tachi," an advanced technique of the Sword God style where the blade is swung at a speed beyond the speed of sound. One characteristic of this technique is that it leaves no sound behind.

Kunihito then began to swing his sword to get rid of the beast's blood. "You seem to have seen better days, little girl," Kunihito said, looking at the figure covered in blood in front of him. She didn't respond.
…

…

"So you're not going to thank me? What is it with people from the West not having the decency to thank those who save them? Or are you one of those girls with a stuck-up nose up there at the top who's going to start yelling at me like you have everything under control? By the way, if you do that, I'll break your legs," Kunihito expressed his clear annoyance.

"Well… I… I'm a boy," Bell began, and he would have been grateful if he hadn't been interrupted right after.

Kunihito blinked, responding instantly, "The way you were screaming didn't make it seem like it. I imagine it must be embarrassing to call yourself a man from now on," the half-elf laughed at the young man's expense.

Bell looked away in turn, and if he hadn't been covered in all that blood, he might have been seen blushing with shame.

The half-elf saw the action before turning, "Well, don't let that discourage you. After all, this creature shouldn't even be here in the first place. Take it as an experience to become stronger in the future and maybe help another coward," Kunihito then began to move away from the boy.

The half-elf wasn't good at cheering people up in situations like this. In a land like his, where the strongest devour the weakest, emotional words sounded only discouraging. In his view, it was best to laugh at the situation at best and use it as a learning experience to rise up, at least in his view.

Kunihito had not even taken two steps when he saw a blonde swordsman. Even the half-elf who had been in the city for a short time recognized the figure, the sword princess Ais Wallenstein was a well-known figure. He knew her by sight because his family often visited the Pub where he lived.

But seeing her in the dungeon, a combat environment was something different, at least from the half-elf's point of view. He looked her up and down analytically, with her doing the same in response.

She had muscles in the right places, her eyes conveyed the look of someone who had been in countless battles, giving her an air of experience, but even so… It was embarrassing.

His eyes landed on her now-drawn sword, even at a considerable distance, due to the half-elf's trained eyes, he could clearly see the marks on the sword. This seemed disrespectful to her weapon, something no warrior should have. This left a bad taste in the mouth of the older blonde.

Kunihito smiled and thought, "However, she's still very young. With the right discipline, maybe… No, that's not my concern." The thought of instructing her came to Kunihito because he saw a little bit of himself in the girl, especially in those eyes thirsty for a goal, as his master would say, it was adorable.

Back to reality and dismissing his previous thoughts, Kunihito found himself also being analyzed by the young girl. The half-elf had the pleasure of waiting for her to finish her own analysis.

"Excuse me… Are you two okay?" the sword princess asked. She didn't seem truly concerned, in fact, she was more focused on the half-elf's sword and the bearer himself.

Kunihito found it a bit funny, because he had learned that martial arts schools like the Sword God Style were very rare and carried much more basic teachings in the West, so a sword art created in the midst of wars to kill people and monsters with mastery would certainly attract the attention of other swordsmen, swordsmanship instincts? Perhaps.

"Well, we're…" Before the half-elf could respond, his voice was drowned out by a more feminine scream than the screamer would like to admit.

"DAHHHHHHHHHHH!" The boy behind Kunihito ran away as fast as his legs could carry him.

The stunned faces of the Sword Princess and Kunihito watched the bloodied young man disappear into the distance.

The echoes and screams dying down, Ais's face transformed into something no one had seen before: speechless.

"That was quite a first impression, you really scared that little boy off," Kunihito commented, putting his hand over his face to stifle his laughter.

Ais blushed at the comment, averting her gaze in embarrassment. On top of that, Ais heard laughter that was not at all contained. She turned and saw one of her companions bent over, clutching his ribs, "Haaah! Haaah!" He took deep breaths, and the blonde's face turned even redder.

Her gaze returned to her werewolf companion, and then to… Wait, where did the hooded elf go? Did he leave without her noticing? That was impossible!

"B-Bete! Did you see where that hooded elf went?" the sword princess asked, still trying to get out of her embarrassed stupor.

Bete, in the middle of a laughing fit, responded, "Elf? What elf?" He then tried to breathe to stop the fit, ignoring the armored blonde.

Ais then turned her gaze back to the dead-end alley and began to reflect on what she had seen.

As soon as she drew her sword to save the boy, as if a silent wind, a figure surpassed her distance and slashed the minotaur… But there was something strange, the sound of their footsteps and cuts were completely silent, she even thought she was imagining things, how could someone be so fast and silent at the same time?

Magic? It didn't seem to be the case, some unique ability? She had never heard of an ability that would give you a speed boost and at the same time leave you completely silent… It was dangerous, an adventurer could deliver a fatal blow to a monster or person without even the target knowing what had happened.

If Ais had the opportunity, she would love to talk to the elf about such a technique, and if it was something that could be learned as a sword technique, it would be a great combat weapon for her and a good way to strengthen herself.

(With Eina)

For Eina, who had worked with many adventurers throughout her career, it was difficult to say that she had favorites, but it was easy to say when she had… annoyances.

Bell Cranel was one of those, how could this boy be so irresponsible!? Descending to the fifth floor and being cornered by a minotaur just to be saved by another adventurer from his certain death, by ignoring her advice.

Eina huffed in discontentment when the boy told his story, was he stupid not to know that she would feel bad if he died in such a stupid way?

And the worst… HE CAME RUNNING TO HER FROM THE DUNGEON COVERED IN BLOOD ALL HAPPY!? WHAT WAS THIS BOY THINKING!?

Eina took a deep breath as she tried to stay calm to continue her conversation with the boy. It was because of adventurers like Bell that Eina had a great dislike for knowing that more responsible adventurers like Kunihito were worn out because of the guild rules… But on top of that, a thought came to her mind.

Even though Bell had rushed to her to inquire about the Sword Princess, he had described his savior so well that it was easily recognizable.

Well, Bell had "forced" her to answer everything about Ais, so as a reward, she was going to manipulate his current dilemma… just a little.

"Bell, I imagine you want to thank Kunihito for saving you, am I wrong?" Eina asked clearly, demanding the expected answer, which made Bell a little uncomfortable for being suddenly forced out of the subject of his newest crush.

"Yes! Kunihito-san, can you tell me where his family is so I can thank them?" Bell asked, which made Eina smirk maliciously as if it was something she was expecting. "Scary," thought the boy.

"Well, actually, Kunihito-san seems to be the only member of his family. The guild has no records and doesn't know anything about his family. Honestly, he might be lying about having a family in the first place," Eina made sure to throw her bait as quickly as possible.

Of course, she had no right, authority, or even responsibility to do so. It broke the professional agreement between the guild and the adventurers and made it only a personal desire, a selfish wish. But how many times has the guild been selfish after all?

The reason Kunihito stopped going to the dungeon was simply because of the tax the guild charged for families, a selfish ploy to profit from basic tips provided by the families themselves… That was capitalism.

With that in mind, Eina decided to "screw the rules" and help her friend, after all, he had always been a nice guy to her without any ulterior motives.

"Why would he do that? What would someone gain from lying about having a family?" Bell asked, confused.

Eina seemed thoughtful for a few seconds before answering, "There are diverse people in the world, some who lie for specific reasons and others who simply find the idea of lying to make life easier, without any real motives," Eina explained.

"Of course, this only makes Kunihito's situation worse. If he doesn't find a new family by the day after tomorrow, he will be blacklisted by the guild," Eina declared that Kunihito was lying about having a family, something she didn't really know, but it seemed to be the case… Hopefully she was right.

"But that's not fair at all!" Bell exclaimed with a hint of frustration. He didn't like the idea that the man who saved his life was doomed to a future disaster that he himself had no control over.

— That depends on the point of view, Bell. As a guild counselor, I see his actions as wrong from all angles. He's simply being stubborn in following the rules. — This was a lie, as Kunihito, even if he refused to reveal things about his God and Family, followed the rules to the letter. If he were to be blacklisted by the guild, he would likely just accept the punishment and stay away from the dungeon.

Bell clenched his fists in frustration over the situation. "So there's nothing we can do?" the rabbit said to himself as he looked at the table.

"Of course, if Kunihito can be convinced to join another family, this would be easily resolved," Eina replied. She didn't consider herself treacherous, but her actions could easily be seen as questionable, even with good intentions.

Suddenly, Bell's face lit up. He didn't even think about it. "Eina-san, do you know where Kunihito could be now?" Bell asked, standing up.

Eina could hardly contain her smile. "Probably in the dungeon," she replied. With the answer given, the boy ran off to meet his savior to save him? How ironic…

Eina felt slightly guilty for manipulating the conversation to make Bell reach that conclusion, but it was for a good cause… well, at least if Kunihito was really lying about having a family.

She would apologize to both of them later, but Eina couldn't help but smile at the charming nature of Bell wanting to help people. It made up for the times he made her want to hit him for being a troublesome adventurer.

At least if her plan worked, he could gain some influence from Kunihito and become more responsible…

(With Kunihito)

Cut

"So, is this all that this floor offers?" Kunihito mutters to himself.

Swinging his sword to clean the blood of the last monster he killed, he looks down at a mountain of magical stones, both large and small, all belonging to monsters from the 32nd floor.

"They say it's tough for level 4 adventurers to go solo here. Maybe it's just a nasty rumor. Adventurers at this rank can't be that weak," he thinks, looking at his unscathed body.

There are several words to describe Kunihito Xiloscient, a pure anomaly.

(To be continued...)