In a world of swords and magic, the trade-city of Averl stands above countless dungeons managed by the Adventurers' Guild. Jill, a slim young man who swings two steel blades, and Fina, a girl who wields a bow and enchantment magic, were forced into a partnership through an endless argument over splitting profits. Unable to be honest, they bicker constantly yet fight in perfect sync underground. Fina has fallen for Jill at first sight but hides it behind her sense of duty to her large family back
Each One's "Place to Return To - Steel Sword and the Maiden of the Bow: The Spiral Labyrinth of Two Clumsy People
" Oh my, the two of you together again for work today? How lovely that you get along so well."
The Hands of the Iron Road—the three-story stone adventurers' guild headquarters towering in Arvel's Central District—was once again thick with the smell of sweat, leather, and cheap liquor. In the first-floor reception hall, adventurers from Iron rank to Silver rank crowded together, seeking the morning's first requests. On the massive notice board mounted on the wall, request slips written on parchment were crammed edge to edge, and before it, young men were scrutinizing them with serious faces.
" ...It's not like we get along or anything."
Jil said this and gave a small shrug in front of the reception counter. His large, sea-deep blue eyes wavered with a troubled look. His brownish-black hair was short, and a few strands stuck up—probably from sleeping on it. He stood 172 centimeters tall. In plain leather armor and a cotton shirt, with two steel swords thrust through his belt on either side. His somewhat slender, supple build hardly looked capable of swinging two such heavy swords. But any regular at this guild knew: those thin arms of his concealed monstrous strength that could swing two steel swords as if they were weightless.
" I'm only partying with her because she said the split would be good."
Behind Jil, a small shadow twitched.
" Hey, I'm the one who didn't say that!"
The voice belonged to the girl standing half a step behind Jil. Her gold hair with a hint of red reached below her shoulders, tied today in a ponytail for combat. Her greenish-gray eyes glared at Jil's back with a pout. She stood 158 centimeters tall. Her small frame wore light leather armor prioritizing mobility, and on her back she carried an elven composite bow said to be her grandfather's keepsake.
Fina crossed her arms and turned sharply away.
" You're the one who went and said half-and-half was fine on your own. I said six-four was fine."
" ...But you're stronger than me. You can use enchantments too. Way more than someone like me."
" That again! Can you stop saying 'someone like me'?"
Fina's voice rose slightly. The adventurers in the guild lobby glanced over at them. No—actually, they'd been watching all along. This morning exchange had become a thoroughly familiar sight in the Hands of the Iron Road's reception hall.
"There they go again."
"When are those two ever gonna get together?"
"There's apparently a betting pool. Word is the reception girl runs it."
Such whispers drifted from behind the pillars. Jil didn't notice. Fina didn't notice either. The two of them were simply absorbed in their own arguments.
Behind the reception counter, a woman with chestnut hair gathered into a bun and fastened with a gold hairpin watched the two of them with narrowed amber eyes. Mirene, twenty-three years old. A receptionist at the Hands of the Iron Road, and Jil and Fina's handler. A former adventurer who retired three years ago after an injury to her left leg and took up this work. Good at looking after people and fond of advising rookie adventurers, she was the guild's big-sister figure.
" All right, all right, that's enough. You two are full of energy this morning."
Mirene spread a sheet of parchment on the counter with a wry smile.
" There's a perfect Iron-rank request today. Slime extermination on the first floor of the Spiral Labyrinth, plus magic stone collection from rock bats. Reward is thirty silver coins. How about it?"
" We'll take it."
Jil answered immediately. Fina, still slightly puffed up, gave a small nod.
As Mirene ran her quill across the request slip, she glanced between the two of them.
" You're going together, right? Of course."
" ...It's nothing. We just happened to take the same request."
" That's right. Just happened. We just happened to take the same request, at the same time, in the same place."
" Hehe, I see. Just happened."
Mirene let out a knowing chuckle, signed the request slip, and handed it to Jil.
" Here you go. Take care out there. The first floor is safe, but don't let your guard down. Especially the rock bats—they come in swarms."
" I know. Let's go, Fina."
" ...I know already."
Fina followed after Jil's back, passing through the guild's heavy wooden door. Mirene watched their retreating figures with her cheek propped on her hand at the counter.
" Those two, together again today by coincidence. By coincidence, trusting each other with their backs."
Muttering to no one in particular, Mirene gave a small laugh.
——
The city of Arvel was bustling under the morning light. This trading city where three highways intersected had a population of about forty thousand. Located in the southeastern part of the Kingdom of Valdria, it was a rare city on the continent—one with the entrance to a massive dungeon, the "Spiral Labyrinth," directly beneath its streets. Along the cobblestone roads, morning market stalls lined up, and from the bakery "Wheat Hill," the smell of fresh-baked bread drifted through the air. Among the passing crowds, adventurers carrying swords and bows were a common sight.
Jil and Fina made their way to the "Adventurers' Plaza" in the Central District. At the plaza's center stood a bronze statue of an adventurer who had distinguished himself during the Great Tide Disaster, and at its base was a large stone staircase leading underground. The entrance to the Spiral Labyrinth.
" The first floor is for Iron rank. Just slimes and rock bats. As long as we don't let our guard down, we'll be fine."
Jil said this as he descended the stairs, as if confirming it.
" You got surrounded by slimes solo last time, didn't you? Was that letting your guard down?"
" ...That was just because there were too many."
" Hmm. Well, you've got me today, so relax."
Fina puffed out her chest. At those words, Jil opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end said nothing and kept descending the stairs.
The entrance to the Spiral Labyrinth was wider than they'd imagined. The stone staircase leading underground spiraled round and round, with magic stone lamps lit at regular intervals along the walls. Their faint light blurred softly in the damp air. The air was chilly—cold enough to make the morning warmth above ground seem like a lie.
" ...This place still has a strange atmosphere."
Fina muttered quietly. The Spiral Labyrinth was one of the dungeons that appeared suddenly during the Great Tide Disaster about four hundred years ago. It was said that relics of an ancient kingdom lay sleeping within, but its full extent remained unexplained. Only fifty floors had been confirmed to date. Floors one through five were for Iron rank, and the deeper one went, the more dangerous the monsters that dwelled there.
The two of them reached the first floor. The cavern was highly humid, with water droplets dripping from the rock walls. In the distance, they could hear a splashing of water and something crawling.
" ...Here they come."
The moment Jil put his hands on the swords at his hips, several translucent blobs leaped out from behind the rocks. Slimes. From fist-sized ones to ones as big as a puppy, there were roughly ten of them.
" Let's go!"
Jil drew both steel swords simultaneously. With a speed unimaginable from his slender frame, he charged into the swarm of slimes. He cut down one with his right sword and knocked aside another closing in from the side with his left.
"Hah!"
Jil's dual-wielding was full of wasted, wide swings. Each strike was heavy, and the arcs were large. But the destructive power was tremendous, precisely shattering the slimes' cores.
" Can't you move with a little less waste?"
Fina nocked her bow in the rear and hurled abuse at him. But her hands moved precisely. She loosed arrows without hesitation at the slimes Jil missed. The arrows from the elven composite bow pierced the slimes' cores without fail.
" ...That helps."
Jil said this while breathing hard, cutting down the remaining slimes. Dual-wielding was powerful, but it consumed stamina heavily. Even against just ten slimes, Jil's breathing had risen considerably.
" You, how have you survived this long doing that every time?"
" ...Because you're here, I can be reckless."
At those words, Fina's hand stopped for a moment. Her greenish-gray eyes widened.
" ...W-what are you saying? That's obvious, isn't it?"
Fina turned her face away and regripped her bow. The tips of her ears were faintly red.
——
That was when it happened.
From the cavern ceiling, countless wingbeats descended.
"Rock bats!"
The swarm of bat-type monsters clinging to the ceiling's rock surface took flight all at once. There were roughly thirty of them. Rock bats were weak individually, but troublesome when they attacked in groups. With sharp fangs and claws, they tore their prey apart.
" Jil, there are too many!"
" Stay back!"
Jil readied his two swords and met the oncoming rock bats. But there were too many. No matter how many he cut down, more came one after another. Rock bat claws grazed Jil's cheek, his shoulder.
"Damn it...!"
Jil's stance broke for an instant. In that gap, five rock bats closed in on Jil's back all at once.
" I won't let you!"
Fina nocked an arrow and drew her grandfather's keepsake bow to its limit. A pale blue light dwelled on the arrowhead.
"Thunder spirits, dwell in this blade—Enchant Lightning!"
The enchanted arrow Fina loosed struck Jil's two swords. In that instant, the steel blades were clad in pale blue lightning, scattering sparks with a crackle.
" Fina, this is...!"
" I'm leaving my back to you!"
Jil turned to look at Fina for just a moment. Then he gave a small nod.
" Yeah, leave it to me!"
Jil swung the two lightning-clad swords with all his strength. Pale blue light raced through the cavern, burning away every last rock bat in the swarm. The lightning enchantment instantly seared through the rock bats' wing membranes, stopping their movement.
"Haaaaah!"
Jil's final swing cleaved the large rock bat at the center of the swarm clean in two. The cavern filled with the afterglow of lightning and the smell of scorched wings.
Silence returned.
"...It's over."
Jil lowered his swords and breathed with his shoulders. The enchantment's effect expired, and the pale blue light faded from the blades.
" Of course. I'm with you, after all."
Fina said this while short of breath, yet still smiled proudly. Her complexion was slightly pale from the MP cost of the enchantment. Even so, her smile was full of confidence.
" ...Thank you, Fina. I was saved thanks to you."
Jil said this, looking straight at Fina.
Fina was at a loss for words for a moment. Jil's sea-deep blue eyes were looking at no one but her. At that, something deep in her chest tightened.
" ...I-it's nothing. If you died, my share would shrink, that's all."
Fina said this and set about collecting the magic stones. The dimness of the cavern must have hidden how her downcast face was red to the ears.
——
Arvel's streets at dusk.
After receiving the thirty silver coins in reward at the guild, the two of them walked side by side along the Central District's cobblestones. The market stalls were beginning to be packed up, and the smell of supper began drifting through the city.
Fina counted her share of silver coins from her pouch as she walked.
" I'm taking a little extra for what I send to my little brothers and sisters, okay?"
" Yeah."
Jil answered briefly.
Fina looked up at Jil's profile with a slightly dissatisfied expression.
" ...Say something."
" But you're the one who earned it."
Jil said this and shrugged.
" Today's enchantment—if you hadn't been there, I'd have died. It's only natural you take more of the share."
Fina couldn't say anything more. Sweat seeped into the hand clutching the silver coins.
(This person, he's always like this. Always putting himself last.)
Fina's hometown, Nola Village, was a poor farming village
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