Jack of All Trades, Party of None

My name is Haruto Tendo. I’m twenty-five years old.

I was born and raised in a small country called Kyokutō, which lies eastward from here, in Tsutolairu. Somehow, I eventually ended up in this city, working as an adventurer.

Even after becoming an adventurer, things happened here and there, and before I knew it, I was serving as the captain of a clan called the Red Copper Twilight.

Red Copper Twilight is a clan built on the concept of a small but elite team, composed of eleven people in total: four adventurers and seven non-adventurers.

Oh, don’t look down on us just because we’re few in number!

After all, we are an s-rank party!

That said, we mostly explore the lower layers of dungeons, and we’ve barely ever ventured into the deep layers.

We aim to be specialists in lower-layer dungeon exploration!

Who in their right mind would want to go to the deep layers, a dangerous place like that?

Now, you’re probably wondering why I suddenly started talking about myself like this.

Well, let me tell you why!

It’s because—I might die very soon!

Before I die, I wanted to engrave my glorious footprints in my mind!

But even looking back on my life like this, I haven’t really lived a remarkable life...

Hey, who said I’m a careless person?!

“Captain! Can you stop joking around in this situation!?”

Huey, a member of our party, got angry at me for talking to myself inside my mind, to no one in particular.

Why?

“Huh? I’ve had a serious face the whole time, haven’t I?”

“Even if you have a serious face, suddenly talking about weird stuff like that counts as joking around!”

“Eh, did I say it out loud? Ugh, so embarrassing!”

“So please, stop joking and do something about this situation!”

“No way, if you think about it normally, this is way beyond what someone like me can handle.”

Surrounding the four of us, more than forty dragons of various kinds—fire dragons, earth dragons, flying dragons—are gathered.

One or two dragons are tough enough for veteran adventurers, but forty? That’s a death sentence.

“By the way, can you stop directing your anger at me? The very person who caused this situation is standing right in front of you.”

My gaze fell on a girl standing there, her glossy black hair fluttering, wearing a kimono from our homeland, arranged for easy movement.

Her name is Fuuka Shinonome. She’s seventeen years old.

She’s the ace of our party. And the one who triggered this whole situation.

We are frequently at her mercy.

Since we’re probably going to die here, this will be the last time she messes with us… Huh? I don’t feel any regret about that at all.

“But she ignores me whenever I try to talk to her…!”

Don’t sound so pathetic.

“Don’t worry. Fuuka isn’t ignoring you. She just doesn’t talk much and isn’t speaking to you.”

“Isn’t that basically the same as ignoring me!?”

“...Yeah, I guess so.”

“Don’t just accept that!”

“Hey, why are you making jokes in a situation like this?!”

Even Katina—nicknamed Kati—who was trembling behind us, snapped.

This is getting chaotic!

“We’re not joking around!”

“Then why are you yelling so loud?! Normally, you wouldn’t even be able to make a sound in a situation like this!”

“...Kati, you’re yelling pretty loud yourself, aren’t you?”

“...Oh, you’re right.”

Alright, I guess I need to get serious soon.

“Hey, Fuuka. Have you thought about what we’re going to do now?”

Ignoring the quarrel between Huey and Kati, I spoke to Fuuka.

“...?”

Fuuka tilted her head curiously.

“I mean, do you have any plan to defeat these guys?”

“All that’s left is to slash them. You need dragon scales, right?”

...Yeah, I knew that.

That she’s the type to recklessly attract a huge number of dragons without thinking things through.

Well, I guess that’s fine for Fuuka!? Her attacks never miss.

But we’re ordinary humans...

Please understand the struggles of ordinary folk, genius.

A nearby fire dragon roared.

“Shut up! I’m thinking about how to deal with you guys right now! So be quiet, damn it!”