Walnut-chan - Chapter 2: I Once Prayed to All the Gods of Orario

The next day.

Renan woke up in the real world, sat up in bed, and slapped his own cheeks.

He wasn't the sentimental type. It was a shame that his counterpart in the Demon Slayer world had fallen in the darkness before dawn, but the dead were gone, and the living had to keep looking forward.

Rest easy, other me. Once I'm strong enough, I'll take your place and wring Demon King Muzan's head off and leave it out to bake in the sun.

Renan swore the vow silently.

Outside the window, faint light was already showing at the edge of the sky.

He washed up quickly, tucked his coin pouch securely against his body, and only then stepped out of his room.

Today he was heading to the Guild to finish his adventurer registration, and maybe see whether a newcomer like him could rent or buy a batch of decent, affordable gear.

Normally, registration was handled with a senior from one's Familia leading the way.

But the Soma Familia... well, those in the know knew. Not scamming your own people already counted as gentle and kind there.

Since the Dungeon could produce accidents at any moment, the Guild had staff on duty twenty-four hours a day.

Still, no one in their right mind showed up in the dead of night to register as an adventurer, so most people picked daytime.

When Renan stepped into the Guild hall, the counter staff were in the middle of a shift change.

He sat on a sofa not far away for a while and finished off the potato balls he'd bought on the way as breakfast.

About a quarter of an hour later, a brown-haired half-elf girl wearing glasses walked up to him.

"Hello, I'm Eina Tulle, a Guild staff member. Do you have business to take care of, or a question?"

Renan looked up at her, nodded, and introduced himself. "Hello, Miss Eina. I'm Renan, I just joined the Soma Familia yesterday. I'm here to register as an adventurer. Also, I wanted to ask whether the Guild has any equipment rental or discount services for new adventurers."

At the words "Soma Familia," Eina's expression visibly cooled.

Which made sense. The things the Soma Familia did behind the scenes, like selling divine wine and cozying up to the dark factions, were hardly a secret. If the Guild claimed to know nothing, that would be a joke.

It was just that every Familia was busy sweeping its own doorstep and nobody had the free time to file a report. On top of that, Zanis had most likely already fed plenty of mid-level and senior Guild officials with Valis, which kept the surface calm.

Still, it was obvious that the lower-level staff at the Guild wouldn't have a pleasant look for any Soma Familia member.

Even Eina, a supporting character who'd helped Bell a great deal in the original story, was only maintaining basic social courtesy right now.

But for Renan, that was more than enough. He wasn't Valis, after all. Not everyone had to love him.

Registering as an adventurer was simple. Fill out a form with your name, current Familia, previous Familia, Falna level, birthplace, and whether you planned to become a front-line adventurer or a supporter, and you were done.

"Here you go, Miss Eina."

Renan handed over the completed form. Eina took it and double-checked it, then put on a professional smile. "Then congratulations, Mr. Renan. From now on, you're an official adventurer."

Renan: "Thank you."

Though Eina didn't care for the Soma Familia, she had no intention of shortchanging the boy in front of her on official business. "For newcomers and adventurers who are short on funds, the Guild does offer a half-rental, half-sale service for used equipment. Weapons are 1,000 Valis. Armor costs a little more, from 1,200 to 2,000 Valis depending on the piece. Once an adventurer is on steady footing, they can return the equipment, and the Guild will refund part of the Valis based on its condition."

Since it was all secondhand gear, the Guild's prices were honestly quite fair.

But Renan only had so much money on hand. After renting a weapon, he could in theory afford just one piece of armor on top of that.

Determined to spend every Valis where it counted, he began carefully flipping through the equipment catalog Eina had handed him.

That said, the Guild only stocked a handful of designs.

It took him under two minutes to decide.

"I'll rent a one-handed short sword and a leather chest guard."

The sword went without saying. It was an essential tool for the swordsmanship that went with Breathing Techniques.

As for picking a chest guard out of all the armor options... Renan wouldn't say it aloud, but he really had been spooked by how his other self died.

He didn't want to end up like his counterpart in the Demon Slayer world, heart pierced by an enemy, wounds so severe that not even the space could save him.

Eina raised no objection to his choice. "The one-handed sword is 1,000 Valis and the leather chest guard is 1,500, so 2,500 Valis in total. Once you've paid, I can take you to pick up the gear."

"Sure." Renan paid without hesitation.

The Guild's equipment was clearly the work of novice smiths from a smithing Familia.

Durability-wise, it plainly couldn't compare to the third-grade and second-grade gear sold in shops.

But it was a perk for new adventurers, so Renan had no intention of being picky.

He picked out a short sword from the pile with no obvious scratches or chips, found a chest guard that had been patched so many times it had become noticeably thicker, and put it on. Then he decided to say goodbye and head for the Dungeon.

Just then, though, Eina, who'd been standing to the side biting her lip, seemed to make up her mind. She took a step forward and spoke. "Mr. Renan, are you planning to head straight into the Dungeon?"

Renan froze for a moment, then nodded openly, making no attempt to deny it.

Having gotten her answer, Eina put on a serious face. "Mr. Renan, you're from outside the city, so you're probably not familiar with the monsters in the Dungeon. I think you should spend a little time memorizing the maps of the first few floors and the monster information."

She smiled again. "Don't worry, the Guild doesn't charge for this information."

Renan might look like a sixteen-year-old boy, but he'd awakened his past-life memories, and inside he was quite mature.

Since the Guild, or rather Eina, was willing to help, there was no reason for him to refuse.

He smiled and nodded. "You're the expert, Miss Eina. I'll do as you say."

…

As it turned out, memorizing the maps and the monster compendium didn't take Renan much time at all.

After all, he now had his Demon Slayer counterpart's power stacked on top of his own.

He still had no clear sense of his physical abilities, with nothing concrete to measure them against.

But his memory had clearly improved by leaps and bounds as the soul origin named "Renan" stacked.

Calling it reading ten lines at a glance or a photographic memory might be an exaggeration.

But with maps that looked chaotic and branched endlessly, and a monster compendium crammed with text, he could now memorize everything after looking it over two or three times.

This surprised Eina, who came by afterward to check on his studying.

She hesitated for two seconds, then asked with curiosity, "Mr. Renan, you seem to have pretty good talent. Why on earth would you go and join the Soma Familia?"

As soon as the words left her mouth, the girl realized she'd overstepped and hurriedly waved her hands. "Ah, I'm sorry, that was rude of me. You don't have to answer, Mr. Renan, not at all."

Renan had nothing to hide. Since arriving in Orario, he'd called on nearly every Familia focused on exploring the Dungeon, apart from the ones that only recruited women and the dark-faction Familias. Anyone who cared to check could find that out easily.

So he answered half-joking, half-serious. "I made a wish to all the gods of Orario, and the only one who answered was the Soma Familia."

Eina tilted her head, clearly not understanding what the boy meant.

Renan simply added, "To put it plainly, I tried all those other Familias and got turned down by every one."

"Uh..." Eina looked awkward. "Um, sorry."

"It's fine." Renan shrugged and stood up. He looked at the half-elf girl sitting across from him, his expression sincere. "Miss Eina, thank you for your help today. I'll remember this kindness."

"Oh, you're too polite, Mr. Renan." Eina waved her hands, a faint flush on her face.

She didn't like the Soma Familia, but the boy in front of her was gentler than many of the adventurers she'd met since becoming a Guild employee, and somehow easy to warm up to.

Renan checked the time and saw it was nearly eight. Remembering what Eina had taught him about needing to claim territory early on the first few floors of the Dungeon, he didn't hesitate and said his goodbyes. "I'm heading into the Dungeon now, Miss Eina. See you this afternoon."

Eina stood up too. "Mm, see you this afternoon. And be careful out there."

"From your lips to the gods' ears."

…

The Guild wasn't far from the Dungeon.

It took him less than ten minutes to get there.

He passed through the Dungeon entrance guarded by members of the Ganesha Familia and entered the last safe area, the Starting Path. Instead of rushing deeper, Renan found a patch of open ground and first tried out his newly acquired Breathing Techniques.

Although the Water Hashira had saved the Demon Slayer Renan back then, the style he ended up learning wasn't the well-rounded Water Breathing but Thunder Breathing, the fastest and most explosive of them all.

His talent was merely average. The Breathing Technique that the Demon Slayer protagonist could master in half a year had stubbornly taken the Demon Slayer Renan a full four years.

But whichever world they came from, both Renans had a very clear-eyed understanding that they were ordinary people. So after learning all six forms of Thunder Breathing, the Demon Slayer Renan poured nearly all his energy into studying First Form: Thunderclap and Flash.

His goal was crystal clear: if he couldn't beat an enemy, he could at least use Thunderclap and Flash's built-in burst of speed to run away.

In fact, whenever he'd gone on missions as a Demon Slayer Corps member, he'd often run into danger, yet he always managed to come out alive.

It was just a pity that Rui of the Lower Moon Five, along with the "family" he'd put together like kids playing house, was exactly the kind of matchup the Demon Slayer Renan was worst at handling.

And then, there was no "and then."

"Haaah... hhhh... breathe."

Renan stood where he was, changing the rhythm of his breathing.

In some ways, a transmigrator's cheat really was powerful. It was his first time using Thunder Breathing, yet in less than half a second, his body was already reinforced.

Unfortunately, the Demon Slayer Renan, who'd studied Thunder Breathing for five years, was still far from mastering Total Concentration Constant, the technique that could run twenty-four hours a day and operate by instinct even in sleep, let alone anything like the Marks or the Transparent World.

Renan swung the short sword a couple of times. The blade traced silver arcs through the somewhat dim cavern.

Then he ran through, one after another, the six sword techniques of Thunder Breathing: Thunderclap and Flash, Rice Spirit, Thunder Swarm, Distant Thunder, Heat Lightning, and Rumble and Flash.

Only after confirming that he had completely absorbed the Demon Slayer Renan's combat experience and skills did he kick into a burst of speed and run toward the true first floor of the Dungeon.

Since he'd wasted some time at the Guild, he hadn't entered the Dungeon particularly early.

The first floor of the Labyrinth had long since been occupied by other adventurers there to farm Valis.

Even the few corners and dead ends the Guild map marked as extremely unstable spawn points already had people posted at them.

When Renan showed up, they all tightened their grips on their weapons and shot him hostile glares.

It was Renan's first day as an adventurer, and in his previous life he'd been raised in China, so he was undoubtedly neutral-leaning-lawful to the bone. He had no desire to get into a quarrel over one or two monsters.

After a moment's hesitation, he spent a bit more time heading down to the second floor.

There were still plenty of adventurers farming here.

Then the third floor. It was a tiny bit better, with no more cases of several adventurers guarding a single spawn point, but it was still packed shoulder to shoulder.

In fact, according to Eina's information, the first three floors of the Dungeon were safe enough that large crowds of adventurers gathered there every day. These people had long since lost their drive. They had no ambition to become upper-class adventurers and just muddled along, wanting only to scrape together enough Valis to get by.

Not until the fourth floor did the number of adventurers on the road noticeably thin out.

After wandering around for another half hour, Renan finally found a cavern with no adventurer staked out in it.

After he went in and waited about twenty seconds, a crack slowly opened in the stone wall not far ahead and spat out a newly born goblin.