Chapter 1

"Kh...!"

Kanzaki Rei braced himself against a rough wooden shaft, forcing his trembling body upright as he stared at the seemingly endless walls of stone surrounding him.

Where... is this?

His last memory was the airport lounge. A sudden thunderous explosion. Blinding fire.

Then darkness.

And now—this place.

His body felt horribly weak. His vision flickered at the edges, black creeping inward as if he might collapse at any second.

"Ah!"

"Someone’s about to pass out!"

The voice was bright and melodious—but the language was strange, rapid, unfamiliar.

What is she saying...?

No.

He understood it.

He could understand her.

At the edge of his fading vision, a woman with long, flowing green hair rushed toward him.

Flash!

A radiant emerald light flared to life, enveloping Rei’s body.

Warmth surged through him. The crushing weakness vanished as though erased. His limbs regained strength with miraculous speed.

"In a dungeon this dangerous... how is there a human child here?" The green-haired woman’s voice was filled with concern.

A rush of heat followed.

Behind her, flames condensed into the silhouette of a human figure—a man who looked, at first glance, like someone enthusiastically cosplaying a fantasy mage.

Yet his voice rang out, deep and cheerful.

"Kumironi, did you say that’s a human?"

"We already cleared every monster in this dungeon."

So the woman healing him was Kumironi.

Her ears were long and pointed.

An elf...?

A dungeon?

And that power just now... magic?

Even if it wasn’t magic, it was undeniably something beyond human capability.

Rei’s mind raced.

"Yes... we didn’t see him on the way in," Kumironi murmured. "Was he randomly teleported here by some faulty transfer array?"

"Or maybe just a lost child."

"Hm... of course, we can’t rule out a monster disguising itself as a human to lure us in." As he spoke, a blazing, solid fireball roared to life in the mage’s palm.

Rei’s heart skipped.

"N-No! I’m human!"

If he didn’t clear this up immediately, that fireball was going straight for his head!

Whoosh.

The flames dispersed.

The mage grinned. "Relax. I was joking."

"I can tell at a glance whether you’re a monster."

"And even if you were, it wouldn’t matter. We’re strong."

Kumironi shot him a reproachful look. "Iz, he just recovered. Don’t make jokes like that."

The mage—Iz—scratched his head sheepishly. "Sorry, sorry. Just didn’t expect to find a kid down here. Couldn’t resist teasing him."

He crouched slightly, examining Rei.

"You don’t show any class traits."

"Still haven’t completed your first job advancement, I assume?"

Rei had no idea what he meant.

He had just arrived in this world, after all.

It was only natural he wouldn’t understand.

So he nodded.

Iz sighed. "Leaving you here isn’t an option. We just finished clearing this dungeon and are heading back anyway. Might as well bring you home."

"Where do you live?"

Home.

At the word, Rei’s mind flashed with the faces of his parents.

He had boarded that flight to go home.

They had been waiting.

But...

He wasn’t going back.

Not anymore.

For reasons he couldn’t explain, tears welled up and spilled down his cheeks without restraint.

He wiped at them with his sleeve—but the more he tried, the harder they fell.

"Iz..." Kumironi glared. "You made him cry. He’s just a child."

Damn it...

I don’t want to cry.

Yes, thinking about his parents hurt—but crying in front of strangers? That wasn’t the mentality of an adult.

Especially not in an unknown world.

He needed to stay rational.

Wait.

Child?

Still wiping tears, Rei glanced down.

The ground was... close.

He looked at his hands.

Small.

Tiny.

Ah.

So I really did reincarnate as a kid.

As his focus shifted, the grief gradually eased.

So it’s true—kids can’t stop crying once it starts. Just thinking about something sad makes your nose sting. What an inconvenient body.

If I accidentally burst into tears in front of people later... that’ll be humiliating.

Thankfully, distraction works fast.

"Home... I don’t know," Rei replied, his voice startlingly young and soft.

Only after speaking did he fully register it.

How old am I?

Ten?

Younger?

Iz’s expression softened with helplessness. He stepped closer.

"If you don’t know where your home is, that’s a problem."

"We can’t just drop you in a random town."

"Unless... your home was..."

A shadow passed through his eyes.

In this age of rampant monsters, villages were often annihilated overnight. When that happened, low-level mages sometimes cast random teleportation spells to send the village’s children away.

If luck favored them, those children might survive.

But "random" meant anywhere in the world.

And less than one percent of the world was safe.

Forget the death zones that even Level 8 adventurers dared not enter—vast oceans, boiling magma seas, eternally frozen tundras...

No child could survive those.

Civilized lands were rare islands in a hostile world.

This child cries at the mention of home.

He must know what happened... even if he can’t face it yet.

Iz forced a bright smile.

"Alright. Decision made. You’re coming with us."

"Wherever we go, you go."

Rei blinked. "That’s... okay?"

He had just arrived in this world, but they clearly looked like dungeon-delving adventurers.

Dragging along a non-combat child?

That screamed death flag.

Iz laughed. "Don’t worry. We’re strong."

He gestured toward Kumironi. "This is our healer—Level 5 Healing Caster, Kumironi."

"I’m a Level 5 Mage—Iz Palut. Everyone just calls me Iz."

"Besides us, there’s a Level 5 Defender, Obades, and a Level 5 Warrior, Akasei."

"They’re deeper inside the dungeon retrieving loot. You’ll meet them once we regroup."

Mage. Warrior. Defender. Healer.

It certainly sounded like a proper party.

But... Level 5?

Isn’t that kind of low?

Sounds like beginner tier to me.

You might be overselling the ’we’re strong’ part there, Iz Palut.