Contents

[Thanks to Abhorent for the cleaning and Ulti for the typesetting.]

Prologue

TL: Cannongerbil

Editor: Striker, Ulti

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“Yeah, this isn’t going very well.”

I let out a huge sigh as I stood in front of the body of a Giant Frog.

My entire body was covered in slime, and my shoulders felt heavy.

“It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”

After getting kicked out of that country, I traveled to the town of Axel in the neighbouring country.

This place is famed as the town for newbie adventurers, so it seemed like the perfect place to begin my new life as an adventurer.

I changed classes from Dragon Knight to Warrior and sealed away my spear, making do with the single sword that Princess Leonor gifted me, but it just isn’t coming together.

“If I had a spear, I could defeat a creature of this level in a single blow.”

This wasn’t a boast. It was an objective fact.

A Dragon Knight’s main weapon is a spear. They carry swords on their waist as a backup weapon, but it has no place in an actual battle. As such, we mostly trained with our spears and rarely if ever use our swords.

“I never expected them to be this different from each other.”

Dodging enemy attacks isn’t too difficult, but when it comes to attacking, a spear and a sword are completely different. The footwork you need to use with a sword is also completely different from a spear, so it feels awkward to me.

“Guess I’ll just have to get used to it.”

I’ve been working by myself so far, but I’ve heard that adventurers generally group up into teams.

I should start looking into finding some companions before too long.

As I was thinking about that, I suddenly heard the sounds of battle in the distance.

I glanced over in that direction, and managed to make out a group of adventurers in the middle of a fight.

One vanguard with a shield up in front, and a bow user and a spell caster in the back, huh.

They seemed to be struggling a little, so I decided to lend them a hand. I’ve only been in town for a short period of time, but there’s no harm in making a few more acquaintances.

As I rushed over, I raised my voice so that they would know that I’m not an enemy.

“Seems like you’re in trouble! I’ll lend you a hand!”

With my sword in hand, I gallantly leapt into the battlefield.

“Oh, thanks for the help!”

“We’ve been really lacking in offense. You’re a great help!”

The shield bearer and the bowman gave me words of thanks. I could only see the mage like girl from the back, but she seemingly raised her staff in acknowledgement.

They were on the ropes earlier, but with just the addition of a single vanguard, the flow of the battle decidedly shifted in our favour.

“You have my gratitude. You seem to be an adventurer, but I don’t think I’ve seen you in town before.”

“Ahh, I’ve only been in town for a short time, after all.”

The straight laced seeming man thanked me after the battle was over, and I casually responded.

There are a lot of his type amongst the knights, so he is easy to talk to.

“Sigh, seems like it’d really be tough if Taylor is our only vanguard.”

The man with the long bangs casually shrugged his shoulders, seemingly frivolous in both words and actions. He seems quite close to the thuggish adventurer image that I’m trying to adopt.

“Good work, we managed to make it out somehow. Thank you too.”

The female mage who had her back turned towards me this entire time turned around and gave me a smile.

“Eh?”

Seeing her face took my breath away.

The face of the person who I’ve given up hope of ever seeing again is staring right at me, after all.

“Why are you gawking at me like that? Is there something you want to say about my face?”

She said with a frown. Her displeased face is also practically a clone of hers.

However, it’s not the same. They do really resemble each other very closely, but they aren’t the same person.

There’s just the very slightest bit of difference between the two of them, but I can tell.

This isn’t good. Whenever I’m with her, I’m reminded of the princess. I’ve already decided to make a clean break from my past, so it’s best if I don’t get involved with her.I took a deep breath to calm myself down.

“No, sorry. My name is Dust. May I ask your name?”

“Me? I’m Lynn. Nice to meet you, warrior with a strange name.”

She offered her hand to me with a smile, and I couldn’t take my eyes off her.

I know I shouldn’t hang out along with her, but…

“I’m working solo right now, but if you don’t mind, could I join your party?”

When I looked at her face, those words just came spilling out of my mouth.

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And here it is, the start of the final volume of the Dust Spinoff. This volume covers the famous battle of Axel that was built up in Volume 16 and mentioned briefly in Volume 17, as well as being the conclusion to Dust’s own personal arc. As usual, the following chapters will be going up every Saturday at the same time, so look forward to them.

Now originally the plan was for me to work on the various leftover short stories after I’m done with Dust 7, but that has changed with yesterday’s announcement. If you haven’t heard, Yorimichi 2 (short story collection) has just been announced and it is scheduled to be released on the first of November, which if everything goes right should be when I’m wrapping up Dust 7, so I’ll be working on that next. Hopefully with less of a wait than Dust 7 has been.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy the conclusion to Dust’s story.

-Cannongerbil

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Volume 6 Epilogue

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Dust Spinoff directory