Rookie Hunting (1)
A certain man and woman adventurer couple arrived in Golen.
They were a two person C-Rank group. The man was named Gesunoh, with the woman being Kiwami.
Gesunoh and Kiwami took pleasure in hunting those who were weaker than themselves.
Hunting meaning killing people and taking their possessions, of course.
It was both their hobby and their source of income—around an 8:2 split.
Most of their targets were those people who’d just become adventurers and had only just started learning to some extent. There was no sweeter nor easier to hunt prey than a rookie, someone who was basically blind through ignorance or negligence.
But above all, the younger their targets, the better. They wouldn’t have much money, but there were various other ways to have fun with them.
To put it bluntly, these two were sleazebags.
They’d been staying in Pavuera before then, but they’d started being tracked down after playing around a bit too much and had to escape. They had their sights set on two or three spots to move on to.
For them, they just took it as how a migratory bird would migrate depending on the season.
“So, darling, what do ya think we should do next?”
“Mmm, well, honey… we should find some young ones to be our companions.”
The two would often try to work their way into parties with just three or less beginners, teach them a few things and get their trust, then kill them. They’d usually spend a few days doing it, but sometimes they wouldn’t be able to hold back and do them in on the first day.
They chose groups with that number so they could kill one off and take another hostage to make them watch how they enjoyed themselves with the third.
Depending on the situation, they might have to do stuff like kill off two at the same time or use paralytic poison on all three to do it one by one, but—
—The two making sure they had their fun before the kill was just their style… Specifics will be left out.
Which is why they’d found Golen to be a perfect place to come along.
There was a dungeon filled with things too good for newer adventurers to pa.s.s up, such as the iron golems, so there were always tons of people coming and going.
As it was a new village, it didn’t even have a gatekeeper. It was a great place for criminals to hide out in.
There was a ton of prey, it wasn’t strange for newcomers to suddenly appear, and best of all, the dungeon would take care of whatever corpses they’d leave behind.
The more they’d heard about Golen, the more they felt like it was a great place. It was a village made especially for them.
… Is what they thought.
The first thing they did after arriving at the village what head to the guild branch office.
Other than the veteran adventurers aiming to hunt iron golems, there were tons of delicious-looking rookies.
However, their current objective was to inspect the dungeon. They would get a look at the dungeon map and find places that seemed like there wouldn’t be many people—that is, places they could play around in.
They decided to split up in order to collect information. Gesunoh’s goal was to learn about the hunting grounds, and Kiwami’s, the prey.
Gesunoh walked to the newer looking of the two behind the counter. He spoke amiably, showing his C-Rank guild card and behaving gentlemanly.
“Hey, Receptionist-san. Is there a dungeon map?”
“There is one for the first floor only. Viewing it is five copper coins, while purchasing a copy is ten copper coins.”
“Just the first floor?”
He paid eleven copper. One was a tip.
Five copper to inspect the map was cheap. In other words, although it wasn’t too big of a floor, there should at least be some information on the following floors.
“The second and third floors are mazes, so as the path changes frequently, a map cannot be made for it. Although it is possible to get a feel for the rough direction you need to go for the staircase, it is hard.”
“Heeeh…”
“If you would like to view a map that shows only the fixed traps and the stairway’s positions, that is ten copper coins. Thirty to purchase one.”
This time, be paid the thirty coins to buy the map.
… All that was drawn on the good quality paper map was a rough outer edge, a protruding room, and the position of the staircase.
There was a cautionary mark on the protruding room.
“What’s this room? It says a Safety Zone… trap?”
“That is the [Avarice Trap]. Um—”
This information didn’t appear to have a cost to it, as she readily told him. Gesunoh thought to himself that it would be better off written down on the map in the first place.
The [Avarice Trap] was something like a room that was itself entirely a trap.
It had a pedestal with a magic sword stuck in it. Upon pulling the sword out, it would lock down—however, you could leave after returning the magic sword to the pedestal. It was only a prison for avaricious people, those who couldn’t put the magic sword back.
… Hearing this, Gesunoh couldn’t help but smile.
A room that locked down—a room they could do whatever they wanted in.
“Oh, thanks. I’m off, then.”
“Take care.”
Getting all the information he needed from the receptionist, Gesunoh went and joined up with Kiwami, who’d gathered some information from separate adventurers.
“What’s up, honey? Find out anything good?”
“Yeah, darling. I heard about a blue-haired kid being brought by a blonde elf to register as an adventurer. There was a dog beastkin slave too.”
“Any good men?”
“They were all women, so cute I just wanted to gobble them up—and they were all dressed up nicely, even the slave, they’ve got to be something like a rich girl, her escort, and her pet. How’d it go on your end, darling?”
“Ah, well I did hear about a place that sounds amazing. I’m thinking we should go to check it out right now even.”
With that, the two headed right into the dungeon.
The goblins couldn’t match up to them at all. They headed straight for the [Avarice Trap].
They’d memorized the map, so they quickly found it even with various walls getting in their way.
Just as he’d heard, upon taking the sword out—the entrance was blocked by thorns.
“What do you think, great right?”
“It’s so amazing! But it looks like sound can make it through that entrance? I think screams would make it through.”
“Girls screaming really does carry pretty far huh… yeah, we’ll just cave their throats in first!”
“We could even watch the dungeon eat them up after we kill them if we bring them here.”
The two snickered.
“It’s such a good place, how about we get a bit of exercise?”
“Fufu, sure, darling… is what I’d like to say, but how about we save it for our prey?”
“Unfortunate, but if you say so… I’m looking forward to it. Haaah, I can’t wait to make that rich girl drink the slave’s p.i.s.s. She should be able to keep it down since it’ll be from her cute pet, yeah?”
“Ufu, I’m sure that she’ll be pleased to tears.”
Then, stopping at a kiss, the two began to search for their prey.
That is, for the three women that would fill their wallets and provide them with endless fun.
The child and slave would obviously be rookies, so they wouldn’t matter at all. The bottleneck in their plan was the blonde elf.
The blue-haired child and the elf were very likely an aristocrat and her escort. That being the case, the elf should have some level of skill to her.
They would need to act buddy-buddy with them to gain more information.
“Now then—let’s plan this out. For our fun future!”
“For our fun future!”