Chapter 21
"Hyaah!"
At Ruche's attack, the Patchwork Bear fell apart.
【You gained 43 Experience Points.】
The Experience Points came through without a hitch.
I used 〈Shadowstep〉 to immobilize the monster and deflect its attacks, while Ruche steadily dealt damage with her 〈Iron-Piercer〉 knife.
We were getting used to this routine.
"I did it! Elymas-san, I went from 【Lv: 16】 to 【Lv: 19】!"
Ruche's Level was rising steadily.
Once she reached 【Lv: 21】, we could start our main objective: hunting the Moneybags Larna.
"All right, just one more monster... Any old one will do..."
"Ah! Look, look at this!"
Ruche excitedly rummaged through the Patchwork Bear's remains, then held up a cute shield with a bear's face on it.
"It dropped! It really dropped! An item drop!"
Ruche held up the bear shield and squealed with delight.
"Oh... right."
"See? See? Aren't you glad you brought me along? Huh?"
Ruche said, her eyes sparkling as she looked at me.
Leveling up was the goal here. That wasn't the main event...
Though it was worth a decent amount, so I wouldn't call it a complete waste.
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〈Bear Shield〉 (Recommended Equip Level: 10)
【Defense: +12】
【Market Value: 200,000 Gold】
A cute, round shield shaped like a bear.
Its recommended equip level is low relative to its performance.
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Since it's equipment for low-level users, its market value is quite low despite its low drop rate.
Still, 200,000 Gold was a nice haul right now.
It was a nice haul, but honestly, I'd rather that luck came through later instead of being used here.
"Do you want to use it, Elymas-san?"
"...N-No, I'm glad you offered, but my current shield has better stats."
"It's a smaller shield, so maybe you could use it for something different! You said your shield was bulky and had a high recommended Level, so it was a little hard to use, right? What do you think? You could at least keep it with you...!"
She was really pushing it...
W-Well, she had a point.
It was easier to maneuver, so maybe it could serve a different purpose.
The biggest problem was that I absolutely didn't want to take it out in front of people.
I could end up known as the Bear Knight.
With its low drop rate, it was undoubtedly a rare item.
...Well, Patchwork Bears appeared pretty frequently, so if you wanted one, you could just keep hunting them until it dropped.
"...Thanks. I'm not sure I'll use it, but I'll take it."
"Yes! Yes! That's the right choice! Hehe... I was useful!"
If it helped keep her motivated, I was glad.
In 〈Magic World〉, there was a superstition that getting a low-value item drop meant you wouldn't get the item you actually wanted. But bringing that up now would only dampen her enthusiasm.
We continued exploring and hunted a third Patchwork Bear.
【You gained 43 Experience Points.】
【Your Level increased from 23 to 24.】
【You gained 1 Skill Point.】
My Level had gone up by one, too.
And now Ruche should have reached her target of 【Lv: 21】.
"I-I can't believe it... No matter what I did before, my Level wouldn't go up at all, and now it happened so easily..."
Ruche checked her 〈Status〉, her mouth hanging open in astonishment.
"All right, that wraps up the preparations. Now, let's get to the main event..."
"Aaaah!"
Ruche shouted and started rummaging through the Patchwork Bear's remains.
I watched her, wondering what was going on, as she held a round bear shield up in the air.
"It dropped! A second 〈Bear Shield〉!"
I stared silently at the stylized bear drawn on the shield.
This was strange.
There was no way an item with that drop rate should be so easy to get twice in a row...
"Wait, did I remember the drop rate wrong? No, but..."
This was beyond just being bad luck according to the superstition.
Most likely, Ruche's natural Luck stat was simply very high.
Jesters were already a Class that tended to have higher Luck than other stats, in exchange for lower values in their other stats.
If she'd rolled a high value even among Jesters, then the 500% boost to her Luck from 〈Beckoning Nyar-on〉 would have an even greater effect, making a run like this possible.
Even so, it was strange.
Then why hadn't Klein and the others noticed the boost to Ruche's drop rates?
It was true that only certain 〈Dungeons〉 and monsters benefited from increased drop rates, so without enough information, they might not have known how to make money efficiently with 〈Beckoning Nyar-on〉.
But even so, the drop rates should have changed noticeably.
"...Oh, they were her first party, so they didn't realize how much better things were with her around."
When you have little information, it's easy to focus on everyone else's successes.
Maybe they'd seen parties progressing more efficiently than them and decided it was because Ruche was holding them back.
That sort of thing wasn't particularly rare in 〈Magic World〉, either.
With the initial 【5】 Skill Points in the 〈Great Luck〉 Skill Tree, you could acquire the Trait Skill 〈Four-Leaf Lucky Grass〉.
When 〈Great Luck〉 reached 【15】, 〈Four-Leaf Lucky Grass〉 evolved into 〈Beckoning Nyar-on〉.
〈Four-Leaf Lucky Grass〉 increased its owner's Luck by 200%.
In other words, Klein and the others had been used to having high item drop rates from the very beginning.
This Level range was especially a time when, without any prior knowledge, you were feeling your way around and trying all sorts of things.
They might not have noticed even if the item drop rate had changed.
They didn't even know which monsters dropped what, or at what rate.
"H-Hey, Elymas-san! Why don't we keep this 〈Bear Shield〉 as a spare instead of selling it? Please?"
"...Ruche, I'm really glad you agreed to team up with me."
"Did you want this 〈Bear Shield〉 that badly? Should we collect ten of them today at this rate?"
...It wasn't that I wanted a 〈Bear Shield〉.
Besides, Ruche's Level was catching up to the Patchwork Bears.
From here on, our leveling efficiency would drop sharply.
There wasn't much point in hunting Patchwork Bears anymore.
"This is where the real work begins, Ruche. Let's head a little farther into 〈Angel's Toy Box〉 and hunt our target for today: the Moneybags Larna."