After we’d finished filling out the registration forms, we went back to the same receptionist. She scanned our forms and said, “Yes, your registration is complete. Here are your Adventurer’s cards, which serve as proof of identity, later." “Huh? That’s it?” Huh? Isn’t there some kind of magic power test or something more special than this? I unintentionally raised my voice, caught off guard by how simple and anticlimactic it was. I mean, it’s a fantasy world, so you’d think they’d have some kind of ceremony or something. “Is there a problem?” Both the receptionist and Cystie looked at me, confused. “…No, it’s nothing,” I answered. I’d expected too much from a world that turned humans into dullahans. The receptionist cleared her throat, as if to change the atmosphere. “Well, I assume you’re already familiar with the concept of Adventurers, but I’ll explain it again. Adventurers are people who make their living by hunting the monsters that live in this world. Their main job is to defeat monsters, but they may also be asked to carry packages, serve as escorts, gather items, or perform miscellaneous odd jobs. You could say that adventurers are jacks-of-all-trades.” Yeah yeah. So adventurers are pretty much the same as in the games and books I’ve read. I’m glad it’s not too different from what I expected. “Here at the Adventurers’ Guild, you can find all sorts of requests from towns, villages, countries, organizations, and individuals on the guild’s quest boards. In exchange, we charge a small fee from the reward, so please be aware of that,” the receptionist continued. I see. So the guild acts as an intermediary. Well, I guess it’s only natural that they’d take a bit of money for their services. They’re not a charity organization, after all. “That concludes the explanation of what it means to be an adventurer. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask.” And just like that, Cystie and I were registered as adventurers. ○ “Whoaa?!” “Look! He just got hit by a fire ball!” Multiple explosions were going off in the hilly areas near the royal capital. Most of the fireballs were aimed in the wrong direction or directly at me. Some hit my thigh, others hit my arm... Despite that, Cystie was happily raising her voice, having managed to take down a single monster. “You didn’t hit anything! Your fireball just happened to fly into the herd, that’s all! Besides, more of your spells are hitting me than anything else!” “What’s that supposed to mean?! Duke, are you criticizing my magic again?!” “Forget about that! Hurry up and do something about the cows behind me!” That’s right. I was being chased by a huge herd of rampaging cattle. They were called "Aegyl Buffalo". A type of monster that was common in the hills surrounding the royal capital. They looked a lot like buffalo, but they had three vicious horns sticking out of their heads. They were extremely dangerous. There were so many of them, and the hills were so wide, that no matter how many we took down, the herd didn’t seem to be getting any smaller. If we left them alone, they would multiply like crazy and charge at anyone who happened to pass by, regardless of whether it was people or carriages. They were good for eating, too, so there were quests to hunt them down every day. Apparently, the skewered meat sold at stalls was both cheap and delicious, making it popular with the locals. I’d thought it would be a piece of cake to hunt stampeding cattle, and maybe Cystie's magic might even hit them due to their large size, so I agreed to take the quest... There were too many cows coming at me from behind! It wasn’t just one or two. There had to be at least several dozen. I’d found one cow, but then Cystie had said, “I’m going to fry it to a crisp with a lightning bolt!” and the spell had ricocheted, missing the cow and only ending up making it angry. While I was trying to escape, more and more cows had joined the stampede, and the herd had swelled in size. By the time I tried to fight back, one cow had become two, two had become three, and so on. The culprit seemed to be my red cape, which was fluttering behind me. The cows seemed to be attracted to it. Fighting bulls are known to charge at red capes, so you might think the cows were reacting to the color, but that wasn’t the case. They get excited by fluttering cloth, and my long cape flapped around as I ran, attracting their attention. The fact that they were only chasing me was proof of that. I was supposed to be drawing the herd away from Cystie so she could bombard them with spells, but... “Hey! Quit messing around and hit already! At this rate, the herd’s just going to keep getting bigger and bigger!” “I-I know, I know. This isn’t how it was supposed to go at all,” Cystie grumbled, starting another incantation. “'Fireball'!”

The spell flew from Cystie’s staff and shot straight for the middle of the stampede—then veered off course and came right at me. “...Huh?” “Whoa?! What the hell?! I didn’t mean I wanted you to hit me! You shot it straight at me on purpose!” If that Fire Ball had hit my legs, I would have lost my balance. That could have been seriously dangerous! Even my sturdy body wouldn’t be able to stand up to a stampede of cows that looked like they weighed a ton each. As I shivered with those thoughts running through my mind, I caught sight of the adventurers I had seen at the guild in the distance. “Hey, that mage is taking out the monsters along with their friend.” “That mage is a real piece of work. And what’s up with the armored guy? He doesn’t seem hurt at all.” “This doesn’t make any sense.” “Man, that red cape must be what’s attracting all the Aegyl Buffalo. It’s not a bad strategy.” Apparently, they’d just come to see the new guys in action. Don't you guys have anything better to do? If they’re just going to watch, why don’t they give us a hand? “I’m s-sorry! I know I can hit them with a lightning spell!” “Didn’t I tell you to take Lightning out of your spell book? It was a coincidence that it worked on the black wolves!” “The misfire before was the coincidence!” Cystie began chanting again, all fired up. “'Lightning Bolt'!” A purple bolt crackled at the tip of her staff... and flew off in the opposite direction, kicking up a cloud of dirt. “Forget it! Trade places! You take my cape and run as fast as you can! I’ll take them out one at a time from the back.” “W-wait a second! I can’t run as fast as you, and I don’t have an endless supply of stamina! Don’t come over here!” I dashed over to Cystie. Cystie, sensing the danger, ran in the direction of the onlooker adventurers. Whether she did it on purpose or by accident, I didn’t know. Perfect, I’ll have them help out. They were armed, after all. It should be fine. “Hey, are they coming this way?” “You’ve gotta be kidding me!” “Those newbies are trying to lead the monsters to us!” “Don’t come over here!” The onlooker adventurers, panicking, turned their backs on us and started running. How rude. I was just chasing after Cystie; I wasn’t trying to lead the monsters to my senior adventurers. It’s Cystie’s fault for running in their direction. I’m an undead with an endless supply of stamina. I could chase her to the depths of hell. “Hey, full-armor guy! Throw down your cape!” “Y-yeah! Throw down your cape! We can use it as bait while we all attack the monsters!” Cystie joined in on the fleeing adventurers' words. The way she casually mentioned "everyone" made it clear she was trying to involve the onlooker adventurers. In other words, she was doing this on purpose. “No way! This red cape is my favorite! If I throw it down, it'll just get trampled and turn into a rag!” A dullahan without a red cape was no dullahan at all. Granted I also wasn't walking around with my head in my arm, but still. “You can just buy another one!” “I don't wanna!” This was a cape that could stand up to the heat of a wyvern’s breath. It wasn’t the kind of thing you could just replace. As we were arguing, one of the adventurers in front of us stopped and pulled out a bow. Was he finally ready to fight? The moment that thought crossed my mind, two arrows flew from the bow and grazed both my shoulders. “Hey! Are you trying to kill me...? Ah!” In the next moment, my red cape slipped off my shoulders and fluttered through the air. Then the red cape slowly fell to the ground, and a herd of excited bulls barreled into it. The cows in front were tumbling over one another, but the ones behind showed no sign of slowing down. By this point, half the cows couldn’t even stand up due to the weight and momentum of the ones behind them. As the stampede continued, I saw my red cape fluttering through the air. “Waaaait! My cape!” I shouted, my breath ragged. I lunged at the stampeding cows, stabbing them with my shortsword...