Year of Armored Dragon 422.
The location is Basherant Dukedom in the Northwestern part of the Central Continent.
Basherant Dukedom is one of the Three Great Magic Nations, and as such, is one of the most powerful nations in the northern lands.
In this nation, we arrive at the third city [Pipia].
He has attached himself to the city as an adventurer for a while now... and has become known to the public simply as [Quagmire]. [1]
This man was once flung to a far-off place by the Mana Calamity and is only one of many such people who tasted despair after a lengthy return of several years to the Fedoa Region.
He moved towards the so-called 'Northern Lands' of the Central Continent in an effort to find his still-missing family under the guise of just being an adventurer.
It is early in the morning for Quagmire.
Before the day begins, he himself is a deeply devoted disciple of his religion.
He offers a prayer to his God - A quiet prayer for the 'Shinto and Buddhist' deities that he has stored in a small wooden box - something that would not be accepted by the Milis Religion.
No, perhaps if someone from the Milis Religion saw it, they would frown upon the nature of it, but they could never dispute the earnestness of the prayers of the faithful Quagmire.
After morning prayers, Quagmire begins his training regimen. Changing into some comfortable and easy to move clothes, he does laps around the town.
The Quagmire often says that maintaining physical strength is one of the basics of being an adventurer.
[Though I am a magician, I am an adventurer first! What good is it if I can't move well when it counts?]
He does the training unique to his hometown, starting with one hour of running.
He then performs an exercise not seen anywhere in the Basherant Dukedom; it consists of the body lying prostrated on the ground being elevated and lowered, repeatedly by using only the arms.
He repeats this activity 100 times.
Afterwards, he changes positions onto his back and proceeds to raise and lower his upper torso 100 times as well. It is said that he never misses these daily activities.
[Muscles are enviable! They work everyday without fail without needing to be reconciled in some way. Like a lady friend... But, unlike the lady who disappears suddenly, muscles will never become a traitor.]
Said the Quagmire whose laughing voice had a bit of loneliness to it.
After he finishes the morning exercises, he goes to the town.
Where he goes is a dining room on the first floor of an inn to have his breakfast.
The average amount of food an adventurer eats compared to a person of the general populace is about 2-3 times more.
The cost of food in the Northern Lands is high, and occasionally, one has to skip a meal here and there to save coin.
However, the Quagmire is different from even the normal adventurer.
He eats.
He eats about 1.2 times the amount of food even a normal adventurer does!
Vigorously eating dishes that are piled high with rice and beans.
The morning meal is perhaps the greatest source of his strength.
After eating, he heads towards the Adventurer's Guild.
The place where the town's many ruffians gather.
When Quagmire enters, he is at the center of everyone's attention.
The reason being is that Quagmire has no official party affiliation.
Oh, but he will temporarily join one if the situation requires it, or if it is a dangerous mission to solo.
The demand for the magician known as Quagmire is great.
And today, like usual, the leader of an S-rank adventuring party called out to him.
[Oi!, Quagmire!, have you heard the news? A rogue Red Dragon has been spotted here in the Northern Lands!]
The S-rank Adventurer [Soldat Heckler].
The man had many physical features particular to a human found living in the Northern Lands.
He had attained the swordsmanship ranks of:
Sword God Style: Advanced
Water God Style: Intermediate
He also is one of the most famous adventurers around this area.
He is the leader of [Stepped Leader], a party affiliated with a larger clan known as [Thunderbolt], which is active throughout the whole Basherant Dukedom.
It is a combat oriented unit that deals primarily with subjugation requests.
[Stepped Leader]'s party composition consists of 6 people.
2 Swordsmen,
1 Warrior,
2 Healers, and
1 Magician.
The party had a 7th member, another Magician at one point, but he died in an unexpected accident.
So their firepower was lacking.
[C'mon Quagmire, why don't you join our party officially already? You surely can't be feeling uncomfortable about it by now, right?]
Much like that, Soldat has invited the Quagmire just about every day, but Quagmire just shakes his head in rejection.
[There's no point in sticking around that long. I'm famous enough here already, and I have other countries I must still visit and spread my name.]
Quagmire had a purpose in saying that.
Family.
He was searching for his mother.
However, Quagmire knows that because it has been five years since the Mana Calamity, the discovery of any new information on her whereabouts will not be easy to uncover.
So, Quagmire spreads word of his name while he carefully searches each country he visits from end-to-end, missing nothing.
If he becomes famous enough in each area, surely a family member will be able to recognize and find him, or so he speculates.
[Ah, but still, at least join us for the rogue Red Dragon Extermination!]
Quagmire received the job request.
If it is successful, he will become quite famous for slaying a dragon.
So together they went to the counter and registered the party.
[Umm... it's not just our party participating is it? Where are the other parties who are also participating?]
[There'll be more joining, Quagmire... It's the first big job like this in a while. Everyone will be motivated to join!]
Dragon exterminations are usually done by two or more parties working together.
To do so with only one party is pretty much... suicidal.
Five parties expressed desire to join in the Dragon Extermination.
S-rank party [Stepped Leader]
A-rank party [Road Knights]
A-rank party [Iron Lump Corps]
A-rank party [Cellar World]
A-rank party [Drunken Jokers]
In total, a 25 member raid group.
A certain kill group would consist of at least 7 or more parties, so the number of people gathered right now is rather low.
[Oi! Oi! It's a Red Dragon you know? It's a huge bounty, so where is everyone already? Everyone here is A-rank, where are all the S-rankers at?]
[Word is that a new labyrinth was discovered out in the east, so everyone went to take a look at it.]
Soldat was impatient.
Inside the Adventurer's Guild, one man sighed then chimed in.
[...I guess with just this few, it's probably impossible to accomplish it after all.]
So the party [Cellar World] withdrew from the raid, and there were just 21 members left.
It seemed that a total dissolution of the mission could be expected at this point.
With the number of people left, it was a very risky proposition. Everyone thought so.
At that point, Soldat spoke with great authority.
[Alright! 21 People, that means everyone gets a bigger cut from the bounty!]
Everyone was anxious enough, but after that, no one said anything disheartening.