Jack of All Trades, Party of None

"I wonder if they're going to be alright..."

After seeing the three of them off, I passed the time at Grandpa's general store.

When I'm alone, my thoughts tend to go in unpleasant directions, so right now, I don’t want to be by myself.

"Loitering around and being a nuisance... Are you trying to sabotage my business?"

As I wandered about the shop, Grandpa finally spoke out in reproach.

Yeah, I’m completely at fault here.

"Sorry. I just can’t sit still."

I never thought that just waiting could be this painful.

Sending my disciples to a place beyond my reach makes me this anxious.

"If you're that worried, why didn't you tail them without being noticed?"

Grandpa said this with an exasperated tone.

Yeah, he’s right—I have no argument against that.

"I feel like that would mean I don't trust them, so I don’t want to do it. They have enough skill to clear the 30th floor without any problems. They'll be fine."

"Then just wait patiently."

"...Yeah, I understand."

After sharing my worries with Grandpa, I felt a bit calmer.

That's right.

I trust them.

I can’t let them see me like this—so unmanly...

After stepping behind the counter and sitting next to Grandpa, I took another look around the shop.

"...By the way, has the number of customers dropped?"

I haven’t been able to promote the store properly this past month.

Could that be part of the reason?

"It's always been like this during the daytime. We still get quite a few customers in the mornings and evenings."

Most adventurers explore the dungeon during the day.

This store caters to adventurers, so it makes sense there aren’t many customers at this time.

"Speaking of which, the thanksgiving festival is coming up soon, right? Orun will be participating this year too, won't he? After all, he belongs to the silver rabbits of the night sky."

"Oh, that’s right, it's coming up soon. I haven't heard any special talk about it within the clan. I guess it was around the time of the 92nd floor expedition, so that’s probably why. But I don’t think he’d skip it."

The thanksgiving festival is a ten-day event held annually from late May to early June in this city.

It’s a festival to give thanks—for the Great Labyrinth.

Thanks to the magic stones and materials brought out from the Great Labyrinth circulating in the market, it’s no exaggeration to say that the country’s economy has been revitalized.

Moreover, having the Great Labyrinth means we can obtain a wider variety of materials than other nations, which we export as well.

In gratitude for this, exploration in the Great Labyrinth is prohibited during the festival period.

Well, that’s the official reason, but in reality, it’s to leave the labyrinth alone for a while to balance its ecosystem.

The materials adventurers seek are in high demand.

High-demand materials fetch higher prices when sold, so naturally, adventurers aim for those since they bear the same risks but get better rewards.

However, this means that high-demand materials get over-hunted, leaving the labyrinth filled with low-demand materials.

Naturally, the Great Labyrinth has its own ecosystem.

If this continues, the balance of that ecosystem will be severely disrupted.

Normally, restoring a disrupted ecosystem takes longer than a human lifetime, but the labyrinth’s ecosystem can be restored much more quickly.

If the labyrinth is left untouched for about a week, it returns to its proper state.

That’s why no one is allowed in during this period—to restore normal conditions. That’s the background of this festival.

Adventurers who can’t explore the labyrinth set up stalls and participate in various events to help liven up the festival.

I say “help” because I’ve never actually participated in the thanksgiving festival.

When I first became an adventurer, becoming stronger was my top priority, so during the downtime when the labyrinth was closed, I explored other places.

Once I began gaining skill, it became a perfect opportunity to handle administrative tasks with sponsors, so I never really enjoyed the festival.