Published: July 4, 2025
The day after Abel and his party returned from the fortieth floor of the dungeon.
Ryo had been running outside the city since morning.
Of course, he had eaten a proper breakfast.
He felt a lingering unease from the battle yesterday, so he decided to shake it off by running.
At first, the other three from Room 10 had followed Ryo, but gradually fell behind, ultimately ending up exhausted.
"Come on, Nils, how can the frontliner go down so quickly? Just keep running, even if it's slow."
"No, Ryo, just how much stamina do you have...?"
While the other two were completely spent, Nils, being the swordfighter and frontliner, stubbornly began running again, albeit at a slow pace.
"That's right, it's important to keep moving, even if it's slow."
With that, Ryo increased his speed and moved ahead.
"Y-yeah..."
Outside the city, Nils's words went unheard by anyone.
By early afternoon, the three spoke in unison.
"I can't do it. Not yet."
They couldn't eat.
Reluctantly, Ryo searched for a cafeteria alone, but nothing caught his eye.
He had no desire for a specific food.
His stomach was quite hungry.
After all, running since morning would naturally lead to that, but what exactly did Ryo's stomach crave...?
On the main street he usually walked, he couldn't find anything appealing, so he wandered into back streets he normally wouldn't enter, near the East Gate.
It was completely by chance that he stumbled upon that scent.
The seductive aroma of various spices centered around cardamom and coriander...
Curry!
Drawn by the smell, Ryo entered a shop.
It wasn't a curry specialty store, as the displays inside featured hamburgers and spaghetti as well.
"Welcome~"
He heard the voice of a middle-aged woman from the back of the shop.
Looking around the store, perhaps because it was a little past meal time, there was only one customer present.
With platinum blonde hair and green eyes... the customer looked at Ryo with wide eyes.
After a moment, the woman moved.
Holding a spoon in her right hand, she brought curry to her mouth while beckoning Ryo with her left hand.
Following that gesture, Ryo approached her.
"H-Hello, Ms. Sera..."
"Ah, Ryo, you know about this place too..."
"No, I just happened to be drawn in by the smell of curry."
"Oh! You know it well! If you're going to eat curry in Run, it's got to be this shop. For now, come sit next to me."
With that, Sera patted the seat next to her, inviting Ryo over.
Once Ryo sat down, Sera resumed eating.
After a moment, a woman brought water.
"Thank you for waiting. What would you like to order?"
"I'll have the curry, please."
"What level of spiciness would you like?"
"S-Spiciness?"
He didn't expect to have a choice in spiciness...
"We have three levels: mild, medium, and hot."
"Then, I'll go with medium."
As Ryo said this, Sera nodded vigorously next to him.
"Ms. Innkeeper, I'll have another medium as well!"
"Understood, two mediums~"
With that, the innkeeper returned to the kitchen.
Ryo looked at Sera, surprised by her order.
Noticing his gaze, Sera hurriedly explained.
"Uh, elves have poor stamina. It's not that I'm particularly greedy or anything!"
"No one said that..."
The sight of the beautiful woman hurriedly making excuses was quite adorable.
Clearing her throat theatrically, Sera forcefully changed the topic.
"By the way, Ryo, where do you live?"
Changing the topic to where one lives is a classic move.
"I'm staying at the adventurers' guild dormitory."
"Dormitory? That’s the one you can stay in if you register as an adventurer within 300 days, right? But since you were able to use the North Library, that means you’re D-rank or higher... right? Did you rapidly accumulate requests and rank up quickly or something?"
"No... I was just registered under the rank-up system as a D-rank."
He felt a bit embarrassed to be registered as D-rank without any achievements.
"Rank-up registration? That's impressive. Yeah, you certainly look strong, so it makes sense to be D-rank right away."
Sera nodded repeatedly as if convinced.
"I've never been told I look strong before..."