「A few more days passed.」
Colin, clad in his Leather Armor, stood before a sewage outlet and stretched lazily.
His bones cracked and popped, and the soreness in his muscles eased considerably.
He still hadn't found any suitable jobs these past few days.
But now, Colin felt much more secure.
No matter how badly things went, at least he wouldn't end up on the streets. The two-Gold-Coin monthly stipend was his safety net.
The bald Dwarf with the grayish-white beard guarding the gate tugged on the corner of Colin's sleeve. "If you show up this early again tomorrow," he said, "I'll find someone to break your legs."
"Even with broken legs, I'd probably still be taller than you, Dorn," Colin said with a laugh.
"Nice one." The Dwarf chuckled. "Get going, kid. I have to close the gate."
"See you tomorrow." Colin strode off toward home.
He'd gotten a pretty good handle on the temperaments of these dwarves during this time.
They loved to trade insults but never took it to heart when they were on the receiving end. If you didn't mind that, they were actually quite pleasant to be around. At the very least, you got to hear some amusing banter every day.
Over the past few days, Colin's routine was set: every morning he would go to the sewers to train his Armor Technique, in the afternoon he'd look for work, and in the evening he would go outside the city with Kase to spar, practicing his Casting and Swordsmanship.
Though every day was exhausting, his life felt full.
Thanks to his daily training, the Skill Level for both Skills had risen by over ten points. His Casting Proficiency was now at 518, and his Dwarf Armor Technique Skill Level had reached 162.
This increase in Skill Level also meant an increase in Colin's combat effectiveness.
Of course, the real prize would be the Specialty gained from a Skill upgrade. With no jobs available, all he could do was keep grinding through daily training.
Walking down the main street, Colin turned into a small alley.
The alley was crammed with refugees in ragged clothes. It looked like there were even more of them than a few days ago.
The only saving grace was that the refugees here were too starved to cause any trouble, and most of them were women, the elderly, and the infirm.
Otherwise, Colin wouldn't have dared to walk home alone.
Meanwhile, rumors of a gang war were rampant in the slums, and food prices had risen slightly. The situation was genuinely worrying.
But worrying was useless. His current pay was enough to get by in the slums, so Colin simply took things one day at a time.
Besides, his Skill Level was steadily increasing. Once he was well-practiced, his skills would surely be put to use.
After leaving the alley, Colin climbed up to his attic.
The crimson sunset lent a bit of splendor to the humble little room.
He sat on his bed and caught his breath, then struggled out of his Leather Armor and shoved it under the bed.
"Are you Colin?"
A voice, even deeper than Kase's, came from behind him.
Startled, Colin whipped his head around.
There, standing upright on its hind legs in his doorway, was a rat.
Just as Colin was starting to feel confused, the rat spoke again. "There's a job available. Due to the recent gang wars, your party is requested to provide protection for the city's sewer cleaners for one week.
They gather every morning at seven o'clock at the Golden Leaf Tavern. This job shouldn't pose any major problems, and the pay is one Gold Coin."
"Uh... Okay?" Colin said uncertainly.
The moment he spoke, the rat scurried away in a flash.
'So this is the contact method Edwin mentioned? A Magic Rat? How bizarre,' he thought to himself.
'Well, at least it's a job.'
Feeling a bit more at ease, Colin fell into bed and went right to sleep.
「Early the next morning.」
Colin woke Kase, and the two of them headed into the city proper.
The pair followed a wide avenue toward the docks deeper in the city.
Besides the military docks in the Castle District, Thousand Masts City also had docks for merchant ships and fishing boats to moor.
The area around the docks was known as the Dock District. Its residents were mainly sailors, fishermen, and dockworkers, but it was also home to many smugglers and gang members. Even some Pirates would take advantage of the chaos to come here and fence their stolen goods.
The area was more or less abandoned by the city authorities; most lawmen and City Guards were unwilling to patrol here.
Overall, it wasn't a wealthy area, and law and order was poor.
The housing here wasn't much better than in the slums; most rentals were just attics or small shacks cobbled together from wooden planks.
Even so, it was far better than the slums outside the city walls. It was, after all, an official district. Once you moved in, you could be considered a true "Thousand Masts City Person."
This was the district Colin had asked about a few months ago—the one where rent was two Gold Coins a month.
If he were to move into the city proper, this would be his first choice.
To the occasional sound of seagulls crying overhead, the pair made their way to a tavern whose sign was decorated with golden coral.
This tavern was slightly cleaner than the Black Heart Tavern outside the city. The interior walls were adorned with a few mounted swordfish and decorative Fishing Nets. The owner, who stood behind the counter, wore an eyepatch and looked a bit like a Pirate.
Inside the tavern were a few drunks, as well as some dock guards and dockworkers who had just finished their night shifts.
As soon as they entered the tavern, they spotted their clients.
It was a group of four strangely dressed young men, huddled together eating breakfast. They wore thick overalls and tall Leather Boots, with leather backpacks on their backs. Leaning against the edge of their table were several muckrakes.
Colin stepped forward and asked, "Are you the cleaners looking for protection?"
The young men turned to look them over.
"You're the guards the guild hired?" one of them said. "You look capable enough, but there are only two of you... Don't Adventurer parties normally have four people?"
"One of me is worth four. When do we start?" Kase said, waving his hand impatiently.
The man who had just spoken looked at the Half-Orc, hesitated for a moment, then said to Colin, "You can call me Kiran. We'll head out as soon as we finish eating."
With that said, the cleaners quickly stuffed the food on the table into their mouths.
The Half-Orc's urging had an immediate effect.
The group walked out onto the street and casually found a manhole cover on a street corner.
The cleaners pried open the cover, and waves of an indescribable stench wafted out.
They lit two oil lamps and then climbed down one after another.
Colin and Kase exchanged a glance and followed them down the ladderway.
His body descended, bit by bit.
The cries of seagulls, the footsteps of pedestrians... all the noise from the Surface faded away, replaced by the trickling of water, the sound of constant dripping, and a strange, metallic scraping.
After climbing for a long time, Colin finally emerged from the ladderway onto a walkway that ran along both sides of the sewer. Beside the walkway was the channel where the sewage flowed.
He looked around.
The light's reach was extremely limited, illuminating only a few feet of brick wall and water. Farther on lay an endless, suffocating darkness, and it felt as though something might come squirming out of it at any moment.
"Feels like we've been swallowed by something huge," Kase said glumly, his voice echoing all around them.
Colin patted the Chest Guard of his Leather Armor.
He usually found wearing Armor uncomfortable, but this was a time when it proved its worth.
"We need to patrol the sewers, but gang activity has been very frequent recently. A few teams of cleaners have run into trouble after stumbling upon their activities," Kiran said, looking back. "Gentlemen, your job is to prevent anything worse from happening."
"The gangsters won't attack members of the City Watchers," Colin said, displaying the iron ring on his hand, which was engraved with the order's insignia.
The moment the words left his mouth, he felt a sudden, satisfying thrill of power.
If he and Kase were to die in the sewers, the local gangs would have hell to pay.
"Then we're counting on you," Kiran said with a smile.