The Old Man Who Got a Second Round in Another World prologue part1

The name of  my job is "Adventurer".

In this world, adventurers dive into dungeons, seeking the treasures within to claim as their own. This was one of the main source of income for people who choose to become adventurers. The other source of income was to defeat magical beasts that are present in those very dungeons. Once these magical beasts are defeated, they will drop items which can be taken back to a town or the guild and sold for money. In terms of income, adventuring is a profitable profession, however it is as dangerous as it is profitable.

I am one of those "Adventurers". A veteran who has been adventuring for over 20 years.

Once again, i am entering a dungeon.This time, with the goal of hunting magical beasts.

[Last one left] (Man)

As the man turned towards the meadows, he noticed his prey hiding within the shadow of the grass.

It was a Wild Boa.

Wild Boa are demons who look similar to wild boars with brown fur. It is well-known for its high-speed rush along with its sharp tusks on its head. The combination of its rush and its sharp tusks poses a huge danger to adventurers facing this magical beast.

However, in the man's eyes it is merely food. In fact, he can't see it as anything but food. The quest that he accepted from the guild was a request to collect meat from Wild Boas in the dungeons.

Without warning, the Wild Boa performed its signature high-speed rush, running directly towards the man. Not feeling the need to dodge its attack, he lifted his two-handed sword and swung down towards the Wild Boa. In the midst of its attack, the Wild Boa crashes into the sword, the collision emitting a dull sound. At the end of the exchange, the Wild Boa had its head crushed, and its body was laying limp on the ground. Few moments later, the body of the Wild Boa turns into blue particles, leaving behind a lump of meat with skin the colour of tree bark on the ground. This phenomena was something that occured all around the world, however even after it was studied, the only thing that was discovered is that only magical beasts will transform into blue particles when they die. With some luck, there is also a chance that "Drop Items" would drop from their remains.

[Whether they are boars or pigs, at the end of the day they are still meat] (Man)

The man picked up the Drop Item,Meat (Average). In this world, the quality of a Drop Item increases as the level of the magic beast increases. Meat(Average) is similar to meat obtained from ordinary livestock. It is also possible to obtain higher quality meat such as Meat(High) and Meat(Special) by hunting beasts with higher levels in dungeons with higher difficulties. Although Meat(Special) is a rare and delicious type of meat which can only be dropped by beasts of extremely high difficulty where even first-class adventurers would be in danger.

[Let's see… The requested amount of meat is ten. With this, the request is completed.] (Man)

The man placed the  lump of meat in a Magic bag (Capacity: Large). It is a magic bag that was found when he was adventuring in the past. It is a highly valued magical item capable of storing up to 200 kilograms of items. He thought of selling it many times in the past as it costs as much as buying a house in the village, however it is so rare that the probability of it appearing in the marketplace is close to zero. It was near impossible to obtain the bag again once sold. Convinced by the convenience provided by the bag, the man kept the bag and his adventures became much easier as it removed the need to carry heavy items around .

As a precaution, the man took out the request form from his bag to review its content once more. Afterwards he started counting the lumps of meat obtained from his hunt to check if it matched the requested amount before leaving the dungeon. As he walked towards the magical gate in the dungeon, he thought about how rewarding himself with a good night of drinks for his work.

When the man returned to the village, he went towards the butchery in the village to deliver the meat before heading over to the guild for his quest rewards.

    [Welcome back, Yuysan] (OId Lady)

A familiar face, the old lady who ran the receptionist desk smiled as she waved at him. If this were a guild from a big city, surely a beautiful girl would had been assigned at the desk as the receptionist, however for a small village like this, being able to choose who ran the desk was a luxury in itself, making it near-impossible. The other adventurers often complained about this at the bar, although personally the man did not mind as it is merely for work. As long as the receptionist does not obstruct his work, their age or gender do not matter.

    [I am back. The meat collection request has already been completed, here is the certificate of completion] (Yuya)

Yuya handed over his status card and the certificate of the request over to the old lady who quickly removed the seal from the certificate and the quest reward was shown on his status card. As she returned the status card, Yuya checked to ensure the quest reward matched the amount as stated in the request form. As expected, the reward matched.

    [Yuysan, you should know that your speed in clearing requests is respected and extremely helpful to the guild? I wouldn't do anything to jeopardize your trust in the guild, regardless of your job.] (Old Lady)

    [Well i am just checking because its work after all. By the way, are there still any more requests approaching their deadlines?] (Yuya)

    [Ah that request was the last one. Oh right, Yuysan. Nikita asked me to pass you this.] (Old Lady)

As she said that, she passed to Yuya a homemade apple pie. Nikita is the showgirl of a bar that he go to quite often. She is going to be 16 this year, and is quite well-liked among the men in the village. Although he eat at the bar quite often, he couldn't seem to recall asking her for an apple pie though? As if she was reading his thoughts, the old lady looked at Yuya with a gentle smile.

    [Do you remember about the incident where the Maltese disease spread throughout the village? Back then, you were the one who took up the request to collect Karnatta stone which was the main ingredient in brewing the potion used to cure the disease. Thanks to that, you saved her mother who was infected with the disease. By the way, aren't you still single? At your age, shouldn't you be looking to settle down and start a family yourself? Why not consider Nikita? She has pretty good looks for someone her age you know] (Old Lady)

    [Sorry but i will have to pass on this one. I am just an old man who is about to retire. I am sure a girl like Nikita will have many younger and better-looking guys to choose from. I will accept the apple pie. I will also be dropping by tomorrow, please reserve a delicious quest for me okay. It is the last time after all.] (Yuya)

Although Yuya just received a generous reward from completing the request earlier, he was also offered a homemade apple pie. He felt like he would be disrespecting Nikita if he rejected the offer, thus he accepted the apple pie.

    [Yuysan. Are you really not going to renew your contract with the guild? The other guild staff and i would like for you to continue being an exclusive adventurer for the next year as well you know] (Old Lady)

    [Sorry. But I am already 36 years old this year. It is difficult for me to continue adventuring at my age. As you can probably tell, i already have plenty of savings built up. I plan to return to the countryside and spend my retirement slowly cultivating fields. As for adventuring, you can rest assured since my successor, Beck is an excellent adventurer. After all, i was the one who raised him] (Yuya)

Exclusive adventurers are adventurers who are binded to a guild with a contract.They are obliged to perform smaller quests that nobody would complete as their rewards were not worth the effort required. Instead, they are paid additional salaries as they continue to work as an exclusive adventurer. For quests like these, which are mainly quests put up by villagers for their needs, veterans like Yuya were chosen to complete them. These requests are troublesome in many ways, however he did not mind completing them. Being an exclusive adventurer also gives the option of declining quests with higher difficulties, allowing adventurers to have a stable income with relatively low risks as compared to the adventurous, high risk high reward lifestyle of an adventurer. This is also a way to show appreciation to the people in the village.

However, adventurers are humans too. As they grow older, their bodies grow weaker. Even as an exclusive adventurer, the idea of an being an adventurer is more or less impossible due to their old age. In his peak, Yuya was able to call himself a first-class adventurer, however he was still unable to become one of the top-class adventurers. Similar to first-class adventurers, many top-class adventurers who were forced to give up their ambitions do not aim to conquer high difficulty dungeons but rather spend their time completing odd-jobs while nurturing the next generation. For Yuya, he spent his days steadily completing jobs that were safe, slowly building up savings for retirement to live a quiet life that was not chasing the thrill of adventure.

Chapter end