Chapter 42
Around the time Marie-senpai was making a pained complaint about Hannah’s unexpected betrayal—“You know, isn’t this weird? I’m already 17, but... my height and figure haven’t changed in five years!” “U-um...” —and Hannah was flustered, Zephyrus, completely unaware of any of it, was leisurely shopping.
――――――――――
“Oh! That’s a 〈True Soul Necklace〉 with ‘MP Auto-Recovery LV1’ on it! Shopkeep! I’ll take it—and how about 130,000 Mille while you’re at it?”
“Get lost.”
Oof, that was a brutal response.
Judging by the white blazer with red embroidery and navy slacks, the shopkeeper was a third-year student. The way the senior cut me down in an instant suggested they were quite used to dealing with people.
Well, if someone asked me to sell a 300,000-Mille item for 130,000 right off the bat, I might say the same thing.
“Come on, just hear me out, Goldsmith. Are you short on Lower Beginner 〈Shocker〉 materials? I’ve got some on hand. And if you need more, I can go get them for you.”
“……All right.”
Oh, just as I thought.
With someone like this, you can negotiate by dangling a profit in front of them.
It’s the season right after the first-years enroll, so Lower Beginner 〈Shocker〉 materials are in short supply across the board. Every guild probably needs some, one way or another.
I checked, and even the academy store was running low on Lower Beginner 〈Shocker〉 materials, so I figured I’d use that to drive a hard bargain.
If I say they’re materials you can’t find anywhere else, their value will go up.
Fortunately, Marie-senpai hadn’t taken many of the materials for 【Goldsmith】 Jobs, so I figured there was room to negotiate.
I followed the taciturn senpai and stepped into the guild’s business area.
After negotiating, it turned out there was no way I could make up 300,000 Mille with materials from weak monsters in a Lower Beginner 〈Shocker〉 dungeon, so we made it a quest instead.
First, I’d make a provisional purchase of the 〈True Soul Necklace〉 for 100,000 Mille. I’d pay off the rest on credit by supplying materials.
‘You accepted the Subquest 〈Deliver the Requested Materials〉.’
・Deliver the specified quantity of the Lower Beginner 〈Shocker〉 materials the taciturn senpai wants.
・Reward: 〈True Soul Necklace: Defense Power 2, ‘MP Auto-Recovery LV1’〉.
An announcement rang in my mind, officially sealing the quest contract.
“All right, I think I can gather them by sometime today, so I’ll see you again this evening.”
“Yeah.”
It was strange how that alone was enough for a conversation to count as complete.
That taciturn senpai wasn’t cut out to be a merchant; they had more of a craftsman’s temperament, I thought as I left the shop.
I wonder if Hannah’s finished placing her order by now.
I’d gotten a quest while shopping, so a little more time than I’d realized had passed.
I headed back at a slightly quicker pace.
When I entered the 〈Patch Seal Sticker〉 shop, something about the atmosphere felt off.
“Oh, welcome back, Zephyrus-kun.”
“Bro, reality is cruel.”
“What happened to Marie-senpai?”
Marie-senpai’s eyes looked vacant.
Like in manga, when the top half of someone’s face is shaded and they look utterly gloomy.
What could’ve happened just from placing an order?
I asked Hannah with my eyes.
“U-um... ahaha.”
She passed it off with an awkward laugh. In other words, it was something she didn’t want to talk about.
For now, I decided not to bring it up with Marie-senpai.
“I’m heading to the dungeon now. Want to come, Hannah? Level-wise, I haven’t caught up with you, so I could go solo and level up, but—”
“I-I’ll go! Right away!”
I decided to change the subject and invited her to the dungeon, and Hannah responded almost before I finished speaking.
I got the feeling she really wanted to get away from here, but was that just my imagination?
I called out to Marie-senpai, who was inexplicably downcast, and left with Hannah.
Hannah and I arrived at the First Dungeon.
“Hannah, did you manage to place your order properly?”
“Y-yeah. I did.”
“Well, good, then.”
I avoided bringing up anything unnecessary, asked only what I needed to know, and let the conversation end there.
Today was Sunday, a day off. Just like yesterday, there were plenty of students at the First Dungeon.
Incidentally, the days of the week were the same as in Japan.
The academy was closed on Saturdays and Sundays.
One slightly unusual thing was that there were basically no classes during the fourth week of each month.
It was a policy unique to Labyrinth Academy: the school culture was to devote the entire fourth week of the month to dungeons.
It was a very game-like school policy. Wonderful.
Well, it couldn’t be helped. Without around nine days off, there wouldn’t be enough time to tackle dungeons with over 100 floors.
So the fourth week of each month was commonly known as Dungeon Week.
By the way, today was the second Sunday of the month.
“By the way, Zephyrus-kun, where are we going today? The 〈Tropical Forest Dungeon〉 again?”
“No, I have a request to take care of, so we’re going to a different place today.”
The First Dungeon had one 〈Novice Dungeon〉 and nine 〈Beginner Dungeons〉.
Of those, three were Lower Beginner 〈Shocker〉 dungeons.
They were as follows:
〈Tropical Forest Dungeon〉—animal-type monsters; ‘Gathering’ and ‘Logging’
〈Stonebridge Abandoned Mine Dungeon〉—stone golem-type monsters; ‘Excavation’
〈Stillwater Underground Dungeon〉—reptile-type monsters; ‘Fishing’
Listed in order of dungeon name, monsters, and gathering activities, that was what they looked like.
Since the request this time came from a production guild for Goldsmiths, I’d be heading to the 〈Stonebridge Abandoned Mine Dungeon〉.
Marie-senpai had also asked me to collect a few resources from there, so I planned to gather those too.
Also, I wanted to do some mining this time.
The Goldsmith had lent me two 〈Pickaxes〉 with the ‘Excavation LV1’ Skill attached.
They’d handed them over without a word, but I guess that meant they wanted me to go dig.