Chereads / Living as a Shadow in the World of Heroes / Chapter 3 - His Role in the Dungeons

Chapter 3 - His Role in the Dungeons

He waits for them outside the dungeon entrance. As a dungeon escort or the 'guardian', not everyone knows the existence of this job as it was mainly common to have escorts only when they wanted to have a secure journey to other kingdoms and secure their safety from any possible threats. Dungeon escorts do have the same purpose but different at the same time. Why? Because the person who proposed this job to the rulers (the King and Queens of the other species as well as the government functions of super-humans), who was also known as the 'Lazy Guide', ensured that the escort could never harm the contractor intentionally, and that any detection of greed or deception that could harm both parties would automatically destroy or nullifies the contract, making the golden tattoos disappear.

Any contractor who has ill intentions shall be revoked of the rights of escorting privileges, either as a job or as a hire man. That is why no one lasted aside from those who were genuine to all, as the job prevents taking advantage of the weak and the newbies, so no one would take the easy way out. Especially if it was planned sabotage, such as leaving them in the dungeons after taking the loot, or killing them to silence and make sure they come clean. Authenticity of an escort can be seen on their badges and the 'Lazy Guide' would personally hand them to the escorts whenever they achieve something trivial.

Contracts last for years and the rules depend on what was set upon agreement prior to signing, but safety will always be top priority. If there are any means that the client has hidden innuendo like using an escort to take advantage of them or any detection of a possible threat to the escort, the golden paper for the contract shall not appear and shall not be withdrawn from the escort's storage.

Those are the reasons why no one from the higher ups would ever seek escorts and if they ever have one, it would be for others. Guilds were known for those. Guild masters would hire escorts for their top members and mostly for the most cherished heroes.

Escorts don't really have to fight during any exploration. All they do is look after their clients and tend to their needs, especially if the client neglects themselves like focusing on dungeon clearings without breaks, as if their body would not shut down. Having an escort means having someone to look after you and accompany you on your journey either to fame or to glory, but they will never take the light from you as they will always be in the shadows, looking, watching, and helping you when needed.

Escorts don't need any status at all, as most would just want to live simply and most veterans choose this job to either lie low and have time with their family, or find successors or students to guide or continue their legacy when they were hunters.

Yami has no desire for anything and that is why this job was perfect for him. He got this trait when he was younger from someone important to him. The desire for nothing and just going with the flow. He does just want to laze around, but after hearing the dungeon incidents that happen to newbies during their debuts. His current goal is to guide the youngsters coming from the village where he grew up and now, here he is, looking after new students so that they won't be lead astray in the future. The rascals he knew had completely grown up, and they were now having adventures on their own, making names for themselves, helping others and reaching for their dreams. All with his guide and his teachings, they are now freelancers. Not attached to anything but works hard and excellently on whatever they do. A job well-done for their young 'master'.

The new group piqued his interest. They were a unique bunch and this contract would help him determine if they were worthy enough to be 'guided' by him. Unknown to the rest of the world, there was no such thing as ranks, there were just levels. A, B, C, D, E, F and even S to SSS ranks, were supposed to determine only the dungeons and that was it, but for some reason, people started to label the heroes with those grades. If you clear an S-SSS class, then you're strong. If you can't clear an F class dungeon, then you are weak. It seems like the world has forgotten that fighting is not necessary for all. There are foragers, and they level up each time they successfully gather resources from the dungeons. They gain experience with finding herbs and receive rewards with each successful completion of missions. There are researchers, alchemists, potioneers, laborers, farmers, musicians, writers and many more, yet most were completely immersed in labeling themselves by tiers, which is unfortunate. There are different fields and there are different ways to live, yet they were so in awe of the heroes that they forgot that they themselves were capable. Heroes stop leveling up after reaching SSS-rank and just decide on doing random act of heroism and whatnot and that's what disappointed him the most. Such potentials are wasted when they were not even able to experience the hardship they went through, but of course, as per universal rule, they were not allowed to tell how others should level up, so they just kept quiet as others should reach level 1000 for the system to recognize them as Heroes. That's right. The people around him, the famous heroes in the current realm, the high-class people around the globe, were just self-proclaimed heroes. The four people to reach the thousand mark were those who cleared the tower of trials all by themselves. Those were: Roberto Garcia in the American, Pierre André in Europe, Amahle Nkosi in Africa, and Kim Jung-soo on the Asian continent. They were famous as the system notified the world when they successfully cleared the towers. Such a feat that no one else was able to do, as they settled for less.

Many dreamed of reaching the top, but the ranking system was pulling them down to believe that they had achieved the best they could get, to make them no longer desire the growth, knowledge and power that they sought to have.

He shifted his position. The dungeon was chosen by his team. It was one of the newly opened ones and was scouted successfully by a forager. Herbs were collected here for the past few days and the dungeon was bound to disappear after a few days from now, as simple dungeons like this only stay for a week unless it was successfully cleared before the time frame. Smaller dungeons will last for only three days and bigger dungeons will last for a month, but having them stay for such a long period of time means that the monsters inside will accumulate power after being left unguarded, which will lead to possible rift leakage, making high-ranking monsters get out of the dungeon. Having a dungeon hold powerful monsters will cause strong inhabitants to leave and will either find a new home to settle in or create a nest out there in the normal realm. There were no lower monsters to eat, especially in the cities, so the only resort was to feed off the residents, which complicates the lives of the civilians, as an S-class monster could only be filled when they have eaten their fill. Even normal monsters will get satisfied only after eating a hundred civilians, so imagine how many lives would be lost by having a destructive hungry monster on the loose even for just a day. It would be lucky if it stayed in the cities. If so, then a hunter would immediately be able to respond, but having a dungeon appear on the outskirts and in the inhabited lands, then it meant trouble as having a monster successfully nesting means they could reproduce. Having one is already a mess, but having a queen out of a dungeon... meant death not just with the lands but also with the world balance.

Enough with the dungeon talk.

He stood up as he heard voices. Today, he will be testing them. Tomorrow he will be fixing them. The next weeks he will be teaching them. Then, after that, he will make sure that they will reach their full potential on whatever path they decide to take. Be it a hero, a villain, or a demon king. It doesn't matter. He will be their guide and no one will ever take that job away from him. Not even the gods.