Chapter 1: Prologue

Part 0: Prologue

[Routine Quest is now available]

An articulate voice of male voice

Huh...of course it's not a dream. What even i'm thinking.

But his sound definitely resounded in my head, and also what the hell is in front of me, a quest window floating in mid-air.

'Could it be... today too?"

While the voice talking in my head, I cautiously opened the information window.

Zeet...

[Routine Quest: Building Muscle]

Push-Up, 100 times: Incomplete (0/100)

Sit-Up, 100 times: Incomplete (0/100)

Squat, 100 times: Incomplete (0/100)

Running, 10 km: Incomplete (0/10)

※Warning: Incompletion of Routine Quests will result in appropriate levels of punishment.

As soon as I got to confirm the contents of the Daily Quest, I began cussing out reflexively.

"Aww...Just how many days it has been already!?"

***

Part 1: Rank E Player

Rank E Player, Kazuya Sai

No matter where he going, this title always followed him around.

Sai's overall strenght was almost the same as a regular goblin. With the exception of being a bit stronger and his healing ability slightly faster, Sai was about the same as regular goblin in every other aspect.

It was par for the course then, that he'd always end up getting injured. He nearly died several times, too.

Of course, it wasn't as if Kazuya Sai liked being a Player.

The work was dangerous, others made fun of him, and to confound the matters even further, the pay was pretty pathetic, as well.

If it weren't for the medical aid paid out by the Player Association to the Player in their "payroll", he'd have turned in his Player licence and quit by now, and live his life like a regular person.

Unfortunately, someone like Kazuya Sai, in his mid-twenties and lacking in any tangible job skills, there was no other way but to remain as a Player if he wanted to pay for his little brother's hospital fee of millions of yen every month.

Should one say that he had no choice in the matter?

That was why, even though he didn't want to, he simply had to participate in the raid supervised by the Association.

***

Players operating within the same area tended to know each other pretty well. In the event of a Dungeon opening up, all the Players in that district would be asked to come, that's why.

The Players who had arrived early sipped on the cups of tea handed out by the Association's employee and shared cordial greetings with each other.

"Oh, hey. Natsu , Over here. Here."

"Oh? Mister Shinichi, what are you doing here? I thought you were giving up on being a Player?"

"Well, that... My sister going to an academy."

"Hahahaha, is that so. Yeah, for a Players to earn big in one go, participating in a raid is the best, isn't it."

Natsu jovially burst out in laughter. Mister Shinichi followed suit with a sheepish chuckle, before asking Natsu.

"By the way, why do I feel like that the Association is calling on us less and less nowadays? Did the number of Gates decrease or something?"

"Eii, of course not. That's only because the Guilds are getting all worked up over clearing the Dungeons; it's got nothing to do with the Association. I hear that various Guilds are jumping in with both feet since there is big profit involved in this whole thing."

"Well, in that case, since this raid is being supervised by the Association, it should be safe, no?"

Mister Shinichi took a glance around as if he was getting nervous.

If a Guild was not involved today, that meant there wasn't enough profit to be had, and if there wasn't enough profit to be had, then that could only mean that this particular Gate's difficulty would be low.

Of course, nothing in this world was 100% absolute.

It wasn't just Mister Shinichi; other Players were nervously glancing around as well.

"Hmm. I wonder...."

MNatsu finished the rest of his tea while avoiding answering his friend, before spotting a certain someone and raised his hand in happiness.

"Uh! He's here. Hey, Mister Sai!! Mister Sai!"

Other Hunters also displayed joy at discovering that young man.

"Ah, hello."

It was none other than Kazuya Sai.

Sai performed a simple nod of the head at the joyous Natsu and walked by.

After making sure Sai was well out of earshot, Natsu began sniggering while confidently speaking up.

"So, Kazuya Sai showed up. Then it's going to okay today, too."

Mister Shinichi's eyes widened up and he hurriedly asked Kim.

"What was that? Is that Player Kazuya Sai really strong?"

"Ahh. Right, of course, you wouldn't know who he is. He's a Player who started working shortly after you left, you see. However, every Player here knows who that kid is by now."

"He's really that strong? Wait, why is he working for the Association, then? Why not for a Guild or as a Solo Player?"

Natsu sniggered some more before narrowing his eyes.

"You know what that guy's nickname is?"

"How should I know that? C'mon, man. Just tell me already."

"The World Most Weakest Player."

"....Weakest? Not something like, the ultimate strongest?"

"Dude, that's the nickname for the rank S Players Kazuya Aito. That kid is the 'weakest weapon'. I'm pretty sure he's the weakest Players in the Republic of Korea."

"Really, wait why he has the name of The strongest players?"

Shinichi began frowning deeply.

Kazuya Aito was his father, and Sai was a forbidden child.

When Shinichi's head tilted this way and that, Natsu chuckled and poked the side of Park with his elbow.

"Eii! The raids Kazuya Sai participates in will only have low difficulty because he's so weak. The Association would never entrust him with a tough job, don't you get that? They don't want to see him get killed, right?"

Only then did Shinichi's expression brightened up.

"R-right. Yeah."

His sister was deeply worried about him since this would be his first raid in quite a while. Honestly, even he himself was worried, too. However, now that he listened to Natsu's words, he felt like a weight was lifted off his mind.

Natsu continued on.

"That guy, there was a rumour not too long ago that said, he got injured participating in a raid of a rank E Dungeon and spent a week in the hospital."

"A Player got injured by a rank E Dungeon?"

"That's right. No one expected to see a Player getting injured during a rank E Dungeon raid, so they didn't even bring along a Healer, apparently!"

"That's why he spent a week in a hospital?! Pu-hahaha!"

When Shinichi began guffawing too loudly, Natsu hurriedly hushed him.

"Stop it, man. Mister Kazuya might hear you."

"Aigoo. I didn't think of that."

Park cautiously checked Sai's reactions as he continued to giggle.

Thankfully, the distance was far enough and the youth didn't seem to have heard them.

Of course, they were mistaken.

'I can hear everything, you geezers.'

A bitter smile formed on Sai as he tried hard to ignore them. At times like today, he couldn't help but blame his unusually-acute sense of hearing.

It seemed that he arrived too early and the raid was yet to commence.

'Did I arrive too early?'

Sai looked around to while away the waiting time, spotted the Association employee handing out warm tea, and walked closer.

"Can I get a cup of tea as well?"

"Oh. Player Kazuya Sai... I'm really sorry, but we ran out of tea just now."

"......"

The cold Winter breeze brushed past the tip of his nose.

Sai quietly wiped his nose with his index finger.

What a sad day it was, for the tea to run out as soon as it was his turn to get one.

***

"Why do you persist on being a Player, Mister Kazuya Sai?"

"I'm sorry."

Sai lowered his head and apologised.

The young, beautiful girl using healing magic in front of Sai, Yukine Ai showed how unhappy she was with a pouting expression.

"I'm not trying to get you to apologise, you know? I'm only worried about you. If you continue being Player, sooner or later you'll be faced with a truly dangerous situation."

Sai glanced past Yukine Ai's shoulders and took a look at other Players fighting over yonder.

When one entered through the Dungeon, one would arrive at a place called 'Palace'. The rank of this particular dungeon should be around D.

A dozen-plus Players were taking care of the monsters inside this Palace without so much as breaking a sweat.

Unfortunately, for a rank E, such a feat was nearly impossible.

Normally, the job of healing the injured Players from the back fell on the Healers. Since he always got injured during raids, Sai was rather well-known among the Healers.

Yukine Ai cautiously asked him.

"Perchance, is there a reason why you can't give up being a Player?"

Sai resolutely shook his head.

He didn't want to reveal anything personal to other people.

"I'm only doing this to earn money. If I don't do this, I'll probably die of hunger, actually."

Yukine Ai pouted even more.

"If you continue on with this hobby of yours, soon you'd be raiding a dungeon in the netherworld, you know?"

Sai was taken off-guard from her remark and ended up chuckling out loudly.

Thanks to that, Yukine's nagging intensified.

"Ah, ahh!! Don't laugh! Don't! Your injuries might get worse!!"

Sai giggled before asking her.

"Where did you even learn to say stuff like that?"

"What do you mean, where? It's from Mister Natsu waaay over there."

"Ahh, that old man really went and did it, didn't he...."

As they chatted and laughed, his treatment was almost over.

It was already too late by then, though. It seemed that the raid was pretty much over now.

Sai's expression hardened.

'I only killed a single monster today. 'A rank E creature, no less. Kazuya Sai began fidgeting with the rank E magic crystal in his hand.

The lowest grade magic crystal from a rank E monster fetched less than hundred thousand yen. For something he bet his life to earn, it was a pathetically small amount. (TL: Just over $88.)

'A magic crystal from a rank C monster can sell for over ten million yen, though....' (TL: $8830+)

Too bad, a rank E Hunter such as himself couldn't even attempt to kill a monster with a rank as high as C.

Finished

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***