Chapter 001 - “Warp”
I feel rushed. I know I’m being too impatient and losing my cool, but I can’t calm down. There’s no time.
I’m going to be 30 years old in a month. I left my home village and have been labyrinth diving for the past 15 years as an explorer. However, without achieving anything, I aged before I realized it. And since explorers are managed by the guild, there is a heartless rule I must adhere to, and that is any explorer who can’t reach above D-rank by the age of 30 will be forcefully retired.
Well, it’s actually not that heartless.
People who can’t get over D-rank by the age of 30 clearly lack the aptitude for being an explorer.
Being an explorer is a dangerous occupation that involves fighting monsters, and once a human surpasses the age of 30, their physical capabilities decline.
The guild’s rule is to prevent casualties, it’s a measure of compassion rather than heartlessness.
Of course, I understood that from the beginning, but I just can’t give up.
I should still be able to do this. At 29 years old, I’m considered a veteran, but I don’t feel like I’m declining at all. Perhaps I could be on a slight decline, but I’m still continuing to grow.
My journey is not going to end here.
Retiring and getting a regular job? I will never live a boring life like that again.
I still have the memories of my past life. They are memories of me living a life in a peaceful country with at least clothes and food assured.
To be honest, my past life was not a satisfying one. I went through high school without any friends or girlfriends. Even after I got a job, I was constantly pushed around just to make a living salary. Without any hope, I repeatedly traveled between my company and my home, spending my occasional day off watching anime.
It was a painful life that did not hold any hopes for the future.
In the end, I met a shitty end befitting of my shitty life.
When I was exhausted from work and trudging along, I was struck by some punk’s car.
I don’t remember anything after that.
Well, I definitely died from that.
Then before I realized it, I became village kid A in a poor, rural village.
Village kid A had a hard time. Life was tough to the point where my past life would be considered a blessed one.
At an age when one would typically be attending kindergarten or daycare, I had to help my parents in the fields and be covered in mud.
On top of that, I was always starving.
It was painful, it was tough, and I was hungry…
But despite all that, I endured because, unlike my past life, there was hope.
I was no longer on Earth; I was in a completely different world, and a fantasy world, on top of that.
I was moved when I witnessed magic for the first time as a child.
When the old man from church healed me with recovery magic after an injury, it gave me hope.
It made me think, “Won’t I be able to use magic too? And with that magic, won’t I be able to make money and escape this ghetto life?”
Then, when I turned 15, I left the village and came to the labyrinth city.
From that point on, I gave it my best.
I knew that I didn’t have any talent.
I also knew that no matter how much time passed, I wasn’t getting any better.
The other explorers who started at the same time as me and the younger explorers whom I mentored surpassed me in no time, and I could tell that I was being looked down upon too.
“But I won’t give up!”
The moment I said that out loud, the floor I stepped on glowed as a magic formation surfaced.
“―Wha?! Oh shit!”
It seems I have really become careless due to losing my composure.
I would have never stepped on that trap under normal circumstances. And this is a warp trap too.
Nobody knows where a warp trap will send you inside a labyrinth.
It wouldn’t be a problem for someone strong, but to a weaker person, it’s considered a dangerous trap, as they will meet their end if they were sent to a deep part of the labyrinth.
When I gave tips to new explorers, I emphasized to them repeatedly to watch out for these traps, yet I stepped on one myself.
This might be it for me then…I can only leave it to the little luck I have left.
◆◇◆
After the bright light cleared, I looked around me and became confused.
Why? Because it looks like I was transported into somebody’s house.
Then, I noticed a woman with silver-colored hair sitting at a desk with her back to me.
“A guest…how rare”, she muttered before getting up and turning around to face me.
I was struck by her unrivaled beauty as her long silver-colored hair glistened.
Looking at her, I understood instinctively - She’s not human.
“W-where am I? And what are you?”
“Hmm? You are the one who came to visit me, so what’s with the way you’re…Wait, oh, it’s just a brethren”
The woman nodded as if she realized something.
“Brethren? What are you talking about? Are we not in Lien’s Labyrinth? And why is there a home here?”
What’s going on?
“I have no idea what you’re talking about at all. Start from the beginning”, the woman spoke with a shocked expression on her face.
“I was in the shallow layers of Lien’s Labyrinth. I stepped on a warp trap and ended up here”
“A warp trap in Lien’s labyrinth…? You, does this place look like a labyrinth to you?”
“No. That’s why I’m confused”
A labyrinth’s warp trap should only teleport someone to a spot within the labyrinth.
“Hm…Ah, I see”, the woman nodded as she seemed to have grasped something.
“Do you know something?”
“It’s a simple matter. You were attracted”
Huh?
“What?”
“To me”
“There’s no way, we’ve never even met before”
In the first place, even though this woman is indeed beautiful, she’s even scarier.
“Ahh…You, you haven’t realized?”
“What the hell are you talking about?! I…S-sorry. I lost my composure for a moment”
Although I don’t know what she is, I apologized for shouting at a girl.
“Well, it’s just the chirping of a fellow brethren, I don’t mind it”
“You’ve been calling me your brethren this whole time, what does that mean?”
“Hey, what do you think I am?”, the woman asked with a bitter smile.
“I don’t mean to be rude, but not a human”
“Correct. I am Maybelle. The vampire progenitor, Maybelle”
A vampire progenitor…
A legendary monster…
“Hm? So ‘your brethren’ would mean?”
What the heck?
“Before that, I’ve given you my name, so how about giving me yours as well?”
“Y-you’re right…I’m Luke. An explorer from a town of the Labyrinth City Talis”
Just an E-ranked one though…
“Ohh? An explorer. I know about them. Jack of all trades who explore labyrinths and fulfill client requests”
“Yeah. That’s pretty much it. So, what’s with the ‘brethren’ thing?”
When I asked, Maybelle smiled brightly.
“Of course, it’s exactly what it means. Luke, you are my fellow brethren, a vampire progenitor”
The moment I heard that, my head suddenly started hurting.
