Chapter 1: The Old Man Gets Mocked by the Rookie Female Adventurers

The Kingdom of Lemuria.

Once, it was a small monarchical nation on the fringe of the continent.

Never in its history had such a minor kingdom drawn any attention.

But… from a certain point onward, this small kingdom suddenly began to bathe in the spotlight.

This was because, from that time on, a great number of outstanding warriors and adventurers began to emerge from it.

Before long, their names would be known throughout the continent.

And, as if in response, this small kingdom also began to gain power with unstoppable momentum.

Now, Lemuria is that great empire known by all on the continent… and it continues to this day as the continent’s hegemon.

However, the individual who became the cornerstone of such a great empire was not widely known until recent years.

The “Moon Maidens,” a legendary party of female adventurers who belonged to Lemuria.

Or “Sword Empress Mira,” who would later ascend to the throne as the empress.

The stories of these women have been widely passed down to later generations.

But were you aware that throughout their lives, these legendary figures were in pursuit of a single man?

It is said that they constantly told people one thing.

That they had learned from a certain individual…

And that the purpose of their lives was to capture that individual…

That man’s name was Shuzo Mikami.

Yes, the very same eccentric adventurer who would later make his name known across the continent—the infamous “Mikami the Fugitive.”

This is a story from a time when the adventurer Shuzo Mikami was still unknown.

When I think about it, my life has been one of constant escape.

Family, school, relationships… all the various troubles one faces in life.

I kept running away from things like that.

So, in a way, it’s only natural that my final moment would have this kind of punchline.

Yes… you could say it was inevitable that I would meet my end alone in a dingy apartment.

I had come to fully accept that way of life… or so I thought.

But in that moment, when a sudden pain in my heart sent me collapsing to the floor… what came to my mind…

Was the regret that I shouldn’t have run away.

It’s too late to regret something like that now, though…

My life is ending right here, right now.

But, if there is a next time… if there is a next life…

I will… never run away again.

I’ll face any hardship head-on and live a life without regret.

Yes… I’m sure that’s what I swore at the end of my previous life, but…

Maybe it was the tavern’s clamor and the booze getting to my head, but I suddenly found myself thinking about the old days… about my final moments in my past life.

That was already the distant past… a story from ten years ago.

In this world, too, I’m still running away, same as always.

And I’m living a life just as pathetic as my last… no, even more pathetic.

No… I was just transferred into this world in this same body, so I guess calling it a ‘past life’ is strange…

“…Hey, Mikami-san, are you even listening?”

I must have been lost in thought.

The words of the women in front of me weren’t registering at all.

Because of that, it seemed their moods—the moods of the “Celesties,” the rookie female adventurers I’d dived into a dungeon with today—had soured even further.

When I came to, they were all glaring daggers at me.

The atmosphere had become quite hostile.

“Huh? O-oh… yeah, I’m listening.”

“So… about the distribution of today’s reward. You didn’t participate in combat at all, Mikami-san. The only thing you did was make us, the ‘Celesties,’ flee from the monsters… correct?”

“W-well… yeah, that’s right…”

At this point, I had a pretty good idea of what they were getting at. Most likely a reduction in my share of the reward.

We hadn’t gained much from this dungeon exploration.

They might have a reputation as the up-and-coming adventurers, the Celesties, but that doesn’t change the fact that they’re still rookies.

In other words, their wallets probably weren’t very full.

If that’s the case, trying to cut costs—my reward—is a natural line of thought.

Seriously… even in another world, life is tough.

And the lack of dreams or hope is no different from my old world…

“In that case… we don’t have to pay you, right? Since you made zero contribution, Mikami-san.”

“W-wait a minute! Getting nothing is a bit much, don’t you think?!”

The terms were even worse than I’d expected, and I couldn’t help but raise my voice, unbecoming of my age. I knew how pathetic I looked for a grown man, but I was desperate.

Working for free was out of the question.

As a perpetually F-rank adventurer, I’m also perpetually broke.

Honestly, when it came to financial stability alone, my old world was better.

The sweatshop I worked for didn’t pay overtime, but they paid my meager salary every month without fail.

But… being an adventurer is, of course, completely commission-based. If you can’t complete the quest, you get nothing.

At the end of the day, “adventurer” might sound cool, but right now I’m like a day laborer or a gig worker—kind of like one of those food delivery guys.

In short, there’s no safety net whatsoever.

Naturally, I had no leeway to save any money.

So, if a day’s earnings vanish into thin air, I’ll be one step away from living on the streets.

“But all you did was run away, Mikami-san! We never even wanted you in our party in the first place. The woman at the Guild desk just said that in case anything happened, we should consider using your ‘Flee’ skill as insurance… Honestly, we feel totally ripped off!”

One of the Celesties—the swordswoman who acted as their leader—shouted, looking as if she’d reached the limit of her patience.

Before I knew it, we were both yelling at each other pretty loudly.

And so, the people around us were staring, wondering what all the commotion was about.

The clientele of this tavern is mostly adventurers to begin with.

And in a tavern where adventurers gather, squabbles… even all-out brawls, are a common occurrence.

So our little tiff shouldn’t have stood out that much, but…

It seems our dispute was strangely conspicuous even for this place.

That’s probably because we had our own reasons for attracting the eyes and ears of the adventurers.

The female adventurers I’m confronting… the Celesties… are rookies who have recently started gathering a bit of attention.

They’re still new adventurers and don’t have any notable achievements.

Despite that, they now enjoy a great deal of interest from the adventuring crowd.

…To be honest, a large part of that is because they’re young women.

The dangerous business of adventuring is, when all is said and done, dominated by men.

An all-female party is an extreme rarity.

And it seems to me this undeserved fame is having a negative effect on them.

It may not be my place to say, but they’re overestimating their own abilities.

No matter how famous you are, monsters couldn’t care less about human circumstances like that.

In short, if you force your way through a mission beyond your abilities, the only thing waiting for you is death.

It isn’t just the Celesties; a lot of new adventurers are like that.

That must be why the Guild assigned me to them.

And here I am, pontificating like this—which I’m well aware of, so I’m keeping it strictly to myself—while being a perpetual F-rank adventurer myself…

And yet, I’m also something of a minor celebrity among the adventurers in this town.

Unfortunately, in a bad way…