Chapter 68: That’s why you mustn’t rush

For new adventurers, ordinary autonomous cities offered a better environment to work, gain experience, and raise their strength.

That was why guild staff in charge of newcomers like Lumia advised them not to go to a labyrinth city until they reached level 20.

Even so, new adventurers often ignored that advice and headed for labyrinth cities while their levels were still low.

Labyrinth cities, with their dungeons that might grant treasure and the dream of striking it rich overnight, were considered the true stage for the adventurer profession.

In the case of otherworld refugees who had been transferred from another world, they had to enter dungeons if they wanted to return to their original world.

Because of that, otherworld refugee adventurers tended to rush toward labyrinth cities even more than ordinary adventurers.

Only while they were still trainees could the guild they first registered with restrict them from moving their activities to another autonomous city.

Once they became official adventurers, they were free to choose where they worked, so the guild could no longer restrict them.

All the guild could do was advise low-level newcomers not to go to a labyrinth city until they reached level 20.

In reality, the newcomers who ignored that advice were the majority.

Kazui and Yuri had also intended to ignore the advice.

The reason was that they had been left behind by the students from the same school who had become adventurers at the same time, and the two of them were impatient.

"I understand wanting to return to your original world, and wanting to catch up quickly after being left behind by the others who were swept here with you, but impatience is dangerous."

Lumia continued her advice with a serious face.

"Being an adventurer is a dangerous job, but the degree of danger in an ordinary city like Aquila and in a labyrinth city is far too different."

"How different, specifically?"

"To put it in a way that’s easy for you to understand right now, Kazu-kun..." ℴℴ𝘮

After that preface, Lumia answered.

"Brigadier-class monsters are almost never seen in Aquila, but in a labyrinth city they appear in the dungeon every single day."

Kazui was shocked by her words.

Hearing that monsters on the level of Vice, whom not a single adventurer in Aquila could hope to match, appeared every day, it was only natural for him to be surprised.

Incidentally, "appear" was not the precise wording.

To be accurate, powerful monsters of Brigadier-class and above were stationed around the lower half of the middle floors and in the deep floors of the dungeon, and adventurers "encountered" them on a daily basis.

"Things like that... every day..."

"For an otherworld refugee adventurer to return to their original world, they need to reach a level of strength where they can defeat at least Brigadier-class monsters."

Lumia added.

"Otherwise they can’t clear the dungeon, and more than half of the Headliners that appear in Reverse Festa are Brigadier-class or higher, so they couldn’t defeat those either."

There were mainly two ways for otherworld refugees to return to their original world.

One was clearing a dungeon. The other was defeating a special monster called a Headliner that appeared during an event known as Reverse Festa.

A Headliner was a monster fused with a treasure item called a Starry Egg.

Various kinds of monsters could become Headliners, but more than half of them were Brigadier-class or higher.

Even saying Brigadier-class or higher, Marshall-class with a ten-ring crest never became Headliners, and General-class with a nine-ring crest almost never did either.

In practice, it was fine to think of them as Brigadier-class.

Unless they cleared a dungeon or defeated a Headliner, they could not return to their original world.

In other words, unless Kazui and Yuri gained enough strength to defeat Brigadier-class monsters, returning to Japan would be difficult.

Incidentally, "defeat" in this case meant defeating them in group combat with a party, not alone.

Combat against monsters in dungeons was basically carried out by parties or similar groups.

Of course there were adventurers who entered dungeons solo, but they were a minority.

"If you go to a labyrinth city while your level is still low, there’s a high chance you’ll die before you can raise your strength."

Lumia continued with a stern expression.

"That’s why you mustn’t rush, Kazu-kun."

"I understand. I’ll keep it in mind."

"When I give this advice to new adventurer kids, they all say that, but most of them still end up going to a labyrinth city."

Kazui felt awkward inside.

This was the first time he had heard about Brigadier-class monsters appearing in dungeons, but he had received advice with the same intent from Lumia many times already.

Even so, once his training period ended, he had planned to head to the labyrinth city of Virgo together with Yuri.

That was why Lumia’s sincere advice left him feeling awkward.

(If what she said about Brigadier-class is true, maybe I should follow Lumia-san’s advice after all...)

After hearing about Brigadier-class, Kazui was starting to change his mind.

Having been attacked by Vice and forced to recognize the outrageous strength of a Brigadier-class, he realized how naive his thinking had been.