Aldo was dreaming. It was a memory of when he was a child, playing a certain game. He couldn’t recall everything about the game, but he remembered the events at the beginning.
The protagonist was a young boy, someone who would later be called a hero. Supporting this hero on his journey from the very start was a silver-haired woman, an older adult than the hero. A faint memory of her name came to mind—it was “Clara.”
Aldo woke up. This “game” shouldn’t even exist in this world. He couldn’t quite understand what it was. Was it one of those nonsensical phenomena unique to dreams?
Aldo slowly sat up and opened his eyes fully. Beside him in his bed, he saw Iris, sleeping soundly. He remembered that they had shared the bed last night.
He carefully got out of bed, trying not to wake Iris. Although he wanted to gaze a little longer at his beloved daughter’s peaceful sleeping face, mornings were busy. He had things to do.
He prepared breakfast for Iris and got ready for work. He washed his face, brushed out his bed hair, and brushed his teeth.
As he finished clearing his sleepy mind, Iris woke up.
“Good morning, Dad.”
“Oh, good morning, Iris.”
Rubbing her sleepy eyes, Iris sleepily made her way over to Aldo.
“Come on, Iris. Let’s eat breakfast.”
“Okay!”
Hand in hand, Iris and Aldo moved to the table. Along the way, Iris cheerfully hummed a tune.
“Dad, are you going to the dungeon today?”
At the breakfast table, Iris suddenly asked him that question.
“No, I plan to come straight home today.”
Aldo went into the dungeon as a side job to support their life together. But if he spent too much time on side jobs, he would lose precious time with Iris, which would defeat the purpose. He decided to keep his dungeon excursions to a reasonable frequency.
“I see. Hehe.”
While seated, Iris swung her legs back and forth.
“Yesterday in the dungeon, I dug up a pretty valuable gemstone, so we should be able to live on this for a while.”
Hearing that Aldo wouldn’t be entering the dungeon for a bit, Iris felt relieved. With that, they finished breakfast, and Aldo prepared to head to work.
◇
On his way to work, Aldo passed through the slums and noticed a silver-haired girl being harassed by two burly men.
“Hey, little miss. You calling us thieves? Where’s your proof?”
“Heh heh, this girl’s got a nice body. Let’s sell her to a slave trader.”
Their exchange was far from pleasant. Aldo couldn’t simply ignore the situation and prepared to intervene. But—
“Ugh…”
The silver-haired girl delivered a fierce elbow to one of the burly men. She moved so quickly that Aldo couldn’t even follow it with his eyes.
“You…!”
The other man tried to grab her, but she tripped him with a swift leg sweep.
“Ugh…”
“Hm. You look strong, but what a letdown. You don’t even know how to use your strength properly.”
The silver-haired girl placed a finger on her chin, her gaze slightly upward as she taunted the men. Angered, the fallen man tried to grab her again.
“I told you, that move is a waste.”
With a powerful kick to his stomach, she knocked him out cold. In no time, she had incapacitated the two brawny men. Aldo felt like he had seen this girl somewhere before.
“Oh no, I’m going to be late… Ah! Hey, you!”
The silver-haired girl turned to Aldo and waved.
“Thanks for trying to help.”
“Oh, uh… you’re welcome…”
Aldo waved back slightly, and the girl dashed off, disappearing down the street.
“Who was… that girl?” he murmured before refocusing and continuing to work.
Aldo went to work, completing his tasks while dealing with some banter from his boss and colleagues. He was getting the hang of his job, though he still lacked the skill of a veteran.
After finishing his work, Aldo decided to check out the dungeon behind the mine for a bit.
From that dungeon emerged the silver-haired girl he had met earlier in the day.
“Oh…”
The girl froze upon seeing Aldo. Her red eyes locked onto him, and then she pointed a finger directly at him.
“Uh… We met earlier, right?”
“Ah, yeah. What a coincidence to run into you again in a place like this.”
An awkward silence fills the air. The girl never expected to run into someone she met in the slums on the same day, in a completely different location.
“Yeah, I work at a nearby mine. There’s a mining site behind this dungeon.”
“Ah, I see… But what brings you to the dungeon?”
“Well, it’s not so much that I have business with the dungeon. I just came to check it out. I don’t have plans to dive in today, but I do side work as a digger, so I was just curious.”
Aldo tells the truth. There’s no reason to hide the fact that he works as a digger on the side.
“I see… So you’re a digger, huh? Well, we’re in the same line of work then. My name’s Clara. I’m still just a rookie, but nice to meet you!”
“Ah, I’m Aldo. A rookie among rookies.”
Clara bursts out laughing at Aldo’s words.
“Ahaha, what’s that?”
“Well, I only started diving into dungeons yesterday.”
“I see. So, Aldo-san, that makes you my junior. Got it, got it.”
Clara looks at Aldo with a proud expression for some reason. Some might feel irritated, as if she’s trying to one-up him, but Aldo accepts Clara’s attitude with a tolerant spirit.
“Then, Aldo-san, let’s dive together in the future.”
“With me? But I’m not that strong.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. Actually, even though I’m a digger, I’m not very good at excavation. But you’re a miner, so you must be good at that, right?”
“Yeah, I guess I’m better at that because of my job.”
Though Aldo doesn’t remember everything, there are some things he has learned through muscle memory. Therefore, he’s good at excavation work in dungeons.
“I’ll handle the fighting, and Aldo-san can focus on excavation to gather materials. That’s the plan!”
Clara grins widely. Aldo feels a little embarrassed about leaving the fighting to the younger girl, but he knows Clara is strong. She’s not someone to be underestimated just because she’s a girl.
Also, Aldo thinks that Iris will be more at ease if he has a companion. It’s safer to dive with two people rather than just one. With that in mind, Clara’s proposal sounds pretty appealing to Aldo.
“Alright, Clara. Let’s team up.”
“Yeah, that’s what I like to hear! But you can drop the ‘san’. Even though I’m a bit older, it feels weird to have an older man call me that.”
“I-I see. Clara.”
And so, Aldo teamed up with Clara. This girl, Clara, might be a rookie digger now, but she has immense potential. If she trains for more than 10 years, she could rival someone with the potential to be a hero.
“Alright then, I’ll wait here tomorrow.”
“Huh, tomorrow?”
“Yeah, just come here after work.”
Aldo, now forced into agreeing to dive into the dungeon, hadn’t planned on doing so for a while. But it would feel bad to turn down Clara’s invitation when she’s so motivated. So, he decided to accept her invitation.
