“Guah~.”
The owner of a weapon shop, Tomonari Munechika, sat at the counter, and let out a tired sigh.
“Good job.”
He closed his tired eyes, and his pupil, Michio Douyama, brought him tea.
Douyama was one of many pupils Munechika had taken up until this point. He had been his pupil for ten years, and both his smiting and alchemy were good enough for him to stand on his own.
He kept telling him to get his own workshop, but Douyama would respond that he still had things to learn. Even if he told him he would finance it, he would only say he was counting on him when the time came, and continued working in the weapon store for two years.
“Thanks. That guy didn’t think about my age. How many hours did he want me to fight him, geez.”
He cracked his neck and checked how he was doing.
He swung his weapon during breaks as he worked as a blacksmith, but he did not expect the match to go on for that long.
Ten minutes minimum, half an hour max, he thought. And it went on for five hours.
That was a lot for a retired old man.
He worried if he would strain his back again.
“Did that clear your past ill feelings?”
“…Yes.”
Munechika responded bluntly to his pupil, and sank in his chair as he reminisced.
◇ ◇ ◇
Forty years ago, Munechika was an active seeker exploring the dungeon.
The seeker association had just been formed, and people detested the dungeon, which was known as labyrinth or coal mine among other things.
The occupation of seeker was seen as one for thugs, so seekers had a low place in society.
And during this time, Munechika recruited allies to tackle the labyrinth.
There was no guidance until the tenth floor at this point, only information about what monsters appeared.
Still, that prior knowledge increased survival rates, and that alone was already an accomplishment for the association.
Munechika’s party, Tiger and Wolf Fang, began exploring, and it went well as they got their first skills.
Incidentally, while in Tanaka’s time many parties avoided naming themselves because it was seen as lame, in the past everyone did so because it was cool.
Many names that would leave people red-faced were stated loudly and proudly.
“I am Munechika of Tiger and Wolf Fang! You’re in the way! Make way!”
They were cocky as they advanced, and trouble with rival seekers was a daily occurrence.
It was because of this that the country set up a branch to supervise seekers, but that is another story.
When Munechika was young, he was vulgar and avoided by regular people. But he never put his hands on them, and made sure his partners did not either.
Tiger and Wolf Fang was an all male party and all rash people, so there was no one who served as the voice of reason.
Perhaps it was because of this, or luck, that it took them less than three months to clear the twentieth floor. They took down a unique monster along the way, which earned them new skills.
A year and a half after they began, they passed the thirtieth floor, setting a new record in the association. Although this would be beaten three years later.
It was all going well.
They explored, were silly, fought, ate and drank, and slept with women. Those were their days, but the thirty-first floor spelled the end of that life.
They got carried away.
If he was faced with himself of that time, he would stop him even if it meant punching him.
He thought he could do anything. Everything went too well, leading to him not evaluating his strength well.
And so, when he saw seekers fighting a unique monster, he saw it as a chance.
This unique monster was a hobgoblin with a spear, armor, and a horse.
As he watched it fight seekers, he thought its attacks from horseback were fierce, but he could deal with them. His past successes led him to misunderstand the power of the unique monster.
He waited for the unique monster to be worn down, just in case, and would jump in just as the seekers were about to be finished.
The idea was to get the credit for the unique monster’s defeat, and a reward from the seekers he saved.
And sure enough, he made it in time, saved the seekers, and was thanked.
And the price to pay was his partners.
The real battle started once it got down from the horse.
Munechika, the leader, was in the vanguard and fought the unique monster.
As they crossed spears many times, something felt off. He tried to understand what it was, and as he became flustered, he drew an arc in the sky and lost his consciousness.
When he opened his eyes, he saw the corpses of the others.
“…”
He fell to his knees as he watched this unreal sight, and could not even cry or yell.
Still, tears fell down his cheeks. Somewhere in his heart, he accepted it was real.
He could not move, and watched on with tears streaming down.
Sadness, anger, resentment, hatred, and regret were in his heart, and as they all mixed together, he was assaulted by a strong sense of emptiness.
A wave of something he had never felt before reset his heart. It was an instinct meant to protect it, but he began to think about what he should do there. Crying and yelling would draw monsters.
But his reset heart made him think of something.
“…How come I was the only one that survived?”
He could not understand it.
He was the first one to go down. He should have been the first one to die, right? He thought as he looked at the others.
Maybe they fought bravely to save him.
That thought crossed his mind.
He had no idea why the monster ignored him when the others were all dead.
Monsters attacked people. They did not let them go if they surrendered or played dead. If he was unconscious, the monster should have dealt the killing blow. That was how monsters were.
Why did it let him live?
Questions about his survival occupied his mind, but no answer came. Only the unique monster knew the answer.
“Dammit…”
He cursed and shed tears.
All towards the unique monster that was not present.
“Dammit dammit dammit dammit dammit dammit dammit!!”
He hit the ground, and got up.
He was angry over his partners being killed, but more than that, the reality that he was spared and the humiliation roused him.
It was different from resentment. He felt something similar to love, and he swore revenge.
But that would never come to pass.
◇ ◇ ◇
After losing his partners, Munechika trained and trained.
He stopped being silly, stopped drinking, smoking, and sleeping around with women. He only continued to fight in the dungeon.
He studied how to use his weapon by himself, and became stronger by learning to use his skills.
He continued challenging the dungeon alone for three years, and went up to the thirty-fifty floor alone.
This was astounding, and could be called a great achievement for a seeker that was used to exploring with a party.
But at the same time, he felt the limits of what he could do alone.
His stamina could not hold, his magic energy did not last, and his food was not enough. And worse yet, he could not sleep properly alone.
He was always exposed to the threat of monsters, and after ten days of not resting well, his concentration would break and he would suffer attacks from monsters that were nothing.
He would need a party to continue. After feeling that, he started looking for the unique monster on the thirty-first floor.
He knew he could not beat him at this point, but he felt it was the only path left for him.
To get stronger, he would need to push forward, and he could not do it alone. If he did advance, death awaited.
Floors with a six or a zero tested seekers. The encounter rate of monsters went up a lot, forcing seekers to fight one after the other. He could run for the next floor, but fields become increasingly larger from the thirty-first floor on. He could not keep running forever, but could not keep fighting either. After all, he was alone.
But his time alone would come to an end.
“You look lonely. Do you want to come with us?”
A certain tomboy asked as he camped on the thirty-first floor.
He thought it was a joke and said no, but became interested when he learned they were the ones who broke his record for shortest time to reach the thirtieth floor.
At first he thought to use them to become stronger, but he stayed with them for a long time.
With a party, they easily cleared the thirty-sixth floor he thought was impossible, and cleared the fortieth. But still, he continued looking for the unique monster on the thirty-first during his days off.
He went deeper and deeper, but even after tasting despair, continued searching.
Even after realizing he no longer had what it took to encounter this unique monster, he continued searching.
He retired as a seeker and opened an alchemy workshop, a weapon store. He accepted pupils, started a family, and still searched.
He knew he would not find it, lost sight of his goal, and even after the prime of his life was over, he continued.
That was how fixated he was on this unique monster.
And then, Tanaka appeared.
He had an abnormal amount of skills, and became even stronger when his body suddenly changed shape.
He was impertinent and screwed around, but he had a feeling about him.
He might be able to take down the unique monster.
That feeling was right. Meeting this unique monster was rare enough, but he fought it and survived.
Hearing Tanaka complain made him shiver.
“Hey, if you accept a quest from me, I’ll give you armor for free.”
“Seriously!? I’ll do it!
Tanaka immediately jumped on it.
Rather than chuckle over this reaction, he worried that he was not thinking at all.
Days later, he reported the quest was done.
“I brought what you wanted!”
Said Tanaka with a ragged breath, as he brought the spear he saw long ago. The spear held by the monster he yearned for.
His body shook, and he could not reach for it on the counter. Douyama realized this, and brought Tanaka some tea.
As Tanaka drank it, Munechika calmed himself and took the spear.
He used Appraisal to see what kind of spear it was, and saw the name of a kingdom he saw a long time ago.
After a big sigh, he closed his eyes and calmed himself.
He had a feeling. That unique monster might have had a will of its own.
Munechika was not the only one it spared on the thirty-first floor.
The unique monster spared people who shared a common trait. Said trait was carrying a spear and exchanging swings with it.
Why did it spare spear users? Why did it spare him? He wanted to hear the truth.
But that would not happen.
He felt a great sense of loss, and approached Tanaka. He knew it was unreasonable, but had to do it.
“I’ll trade you the spear for fixing the armor, if you have a match with me.”
“Really! I’ll do it!”
He worried about Tanaka as they had the same exchange… Or not. This time, he understood that was just how Tanaka was.
The match would happen when the armor was done, and Munechika began getting himself into shape as he repaired the armor.
That said, since it was an armor, he could not escape its allure and added some things. Before he knew it, he was up all night twice.
He started seeing the yellow sky more often since he retired as a seeker.
He started a weapon store to make use of his Alchemy skill, but he did not expect to get so obsessed with it.
He prospered because of this, married late, was blessed with children, and took in pupils. The rest of his life seemed to be smooth sailing.
And that was why he faced Tanaka to square his past feelings. Tanaka who defeated the unique monster.
“Do you really wanna do it now?”
Grumbled the man who ended the target of his yearning and hatred.
“You promised. We’ll go until one gives up.”
“I give up.”
“And I’ll let you get away with that if you pay full price.”
“I’m kidding, I’ll face you.”
Tanaka took a step forward, and held up his heavy greatsword.
He looked like a giant boulder, leading Munechika to let out an impressed gasp. And he began working out a few ways to cut through it.
He held up the phantom tamahagane in the form of a spear. Its original form was that of a lump of iron, but it could be manipulated with magic energy and changed into different weapons.
Munechika handled various weapons, and phantom tamahagane was a magic item he created. Excluding items found in the dungeon, it was the peak in terms of magic items.
He held it up, and the pressure from Tanaka increased.
Should he go? Should he wait…
He hesitated a little, and thought it was foolish to wait when he was the one who challenged him, so he charged.
The gait of a master does not waver.
Munechika shuffled forward with perfect skill, and mercilessly thrust. Tanaka looked surprised, like he did not know what happened.
He was thrown far back, and held up his sword again after looking at Munechika.
Munechika understood his power from that blow alone, but did not slow down.
Of course, he held back a little, but it was still hard for someone of Tanaka’s skill to evade. That was what he thought, but Tanaka was more persistent than he expected.
He thrust his spear, hit with the butt end, grabbed it closer to the blade for sweeps, punched, and kicked, but Tanaka dealt with it all.
Munechika was attacked with magic from behind, and in the small amount of time he spent dealing with it, Tanaka got his posture back to the start.
If he slowly went up in gear, Tanaka looked like he was struggling, but if he eased up, Tanaka would counterattack.
And Tanaka’s moves got better as time passed.
Munechika was having fun. Tanaka was still rough in points, but his handling of his weapon was masterful. Not only that, but he was improving rapidly as he fought Munechika. Surely he was using skills, but that was fair. Power was everything for seekers.
Strength was justice, the strong were forgiven, strength gave right over life and death.
Munechika was still stronger, but he would be surpassed one day, and that right would go to Tanaka.
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