Blade & Bastard

Deep in the depths of the dungeon, a man spends his days scouring the treacherous floors for bodies of dead adventurers. His name is Iarumas, and he has no memory of the life he lived before he was resurrected from a corpse. The living keep their distance from the cold, sullen man—Iarumas consorts primarily with the dead. That is, until he meets Garbage, a feral young swordswoman who is the sole survivor of a massacred party. With Garbage by his side, Iarumas ventures farther, searching the dungeon for clues to his past while avoiding the inevitability of a permanent ashen demise…

A corpse looter with no memory of his past, a feral girl with a knack for the blade, and a downtrodden young thief—fate has brought this peculiar trio together, and now they find themselves face-to-face with a fearsome gas dragon! Raraja is convinced this’ll be the end of him…but it turns out Iarumas still has some divine tricks up his sleeve. Just who is this man, and what is his purpose? Raraja may not know for certain, but he figures sticking with his ragtag party can’t do too much harm…After all, as an adventurer, he’d much rather handle a couple corpses than be turned to ash himself, right?

“Treasure awaits in a hidden room on the third floor of the dungeon”—so claims a dangerously suspicious rumor. It’s a blatant trap, but there’s nothing wrong with that as far as Iarumas is concerned. With Sezmar from the All-Stars in tow, his party descends into the dungeon, seeking fortune or something greater…only to run into a blaring alarm, a swarm of monsters, and a trap set specifically for Garbage! Even though the situation is as dire as can be, Iarumas presses forward with reckless abandon. Just what is this man seeking, and will his pursuit lead him to certain doom?

While looking for Raraja’s fallen friend, Iarumas’s party stumbles upon a corpse, more charcoal than flesh, which Raraja insists on dragging out. Murmur, chant, pray, invoke—the words of revival are spoken, and a large-framed girl named Berkanan gulps the fresh air of her second chance at life. Her confidence is low and her skills as a fledgling mage are inadequate, but despite all that, she has a serious goal—kill the red dragon that burned her party alive! Can Iarumas’s party face up to the notorious beast that leaves even the most seasoned adventurers retreating in fear?!

On their quest to find a Dragon Slayer sword in the deeper levels of the dungeon, Iarumas’s party is attacked by a group of bandits. Newbie adventurer Berkanan never expected to have to fight other humans, and for the first time, she tastes the true fear of death. Although they manage to fend the bandits off with the help of Garbage, Berkanan’s feeling of powerlessness continues to torment her…and to make matters worse, the party soon finds themselves under attack by wandering monsters!