Episode 45.8

Zoir was a muscular swordsman with a stout frame. Somewhat similar to Lecan.

Zoir was wary of Lecan at first.

That's only natural. They're having a joint expedition with unfamiliar adventurers inside a dungeon. His party could potentially meet their end in the dungeon if they ended up going against each other.

That said, the chance of having a powerful swordsman and a <Purification> user as companions in dungeon diving was too good to pass up, thus both parties decided to see how it would go through a few floors before deciding and renewing their terms and conditions in front of the dungeon receptionist.

"Zoir. I'll take care of a shaft alone. Eda and Julius will deal with the second. Your party is in charge of the remaining three shafts."

"Sure that okay with you? Shouldn't our side cover more?"

"Nah, it's fine. Also another suggestion."

"Let's hear it."

"You guys want to gather magic stones and wolf hide, I take it."

"'Course. Fangs and claws as well."

"Eda and I got extra large <Free Boxes> on us."

"Hou!"

"If you bring the whole wolf bodies outside without skinning them, you can leave them to me and Eda and we'll bring them to the trade facility."

"Oy oy. Either strip the mats or take the magic stone out, you can't get 'em both outside. No, wait. Or are you saying you can bring both out of the shafts in this dungeon?"

"No. The hide won't disappear if you gouge out the magic stone along with the meat and entrails around it. Only those meat and entrails part disappear once you take the magic stone out afterward."

"What the. Is that for real?"

"Go and give it a try. Gouge out a large portion of the meat."

"We'll do just that. We'll put marks on the Magic Wolves our party beat."

Zoir appeared to trust Lecan after two floors down, thus they went back to the dungeon receptionist and decided on the terms and conditions of their joint expedition.

Which is quite lax.

Magic beasts beaten by Zoir's party belong to them, while <Willard>-beat ones belong to <Willard>. Each side isn't required to disclose what they've obtained. If Zoir party members request for it, Eda will cast <Recovery> or <Purification> for a fee of one silver coin. The expedition period is generally from morning till evening. The decision to keep going down to the next floor or not is discussed between Lecan and Zoir. So are when they're deciding off days.

Such were the agreement. At first Lecan told them they don't need to pay for <Recovery> or <Purification>, but Zoir insisted, 'This may be a joint expedition, but we're all going our separate ways into different shafts, and we don't got nothing to offer you back. Let us pay you one silver coin at least.'

A staff member of the dungeon desk was present to witness the agreement. Were it violated, the violating party may not utilize the trade facility and there might be bad rumors spread. It's not a good idea to anger the administrative side if they want to keep exploring this dungeon.

As it turns out, this joint expedition was a boon.

They got to floor 8 in one day. Floor 20 in the second, and floor 30 in the third. As five people would beat up one small Magic Wolf, this pace isn't really a surprise.

They got to floor 36 on the fourth day and floor 40 on the fifth day.

As they exited floor 31 shafts, Zoir party members started asking for <Recovery>.

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Eda cast it.

"Ooh! This is awesome. I've got <Recovery> cast on me in a temple before, but this is simply way better. One silver coin is a steal for this."

As he watched it, Lecan spoke to Zoir.

"Zoir. We'll make <Recovery> free."

"Eh?"

"Not everybody got through this far uninjured. None used a Red Potion nor asked for <Recovery>. Their wounds may not be serious enough to hinder them in battle, but as those small wounds and fatigue pile up, our diving pace would suffer and might even cause unforeseen accidents."

"Well, yeah."

One small red potion is priced one big silver coin on the market, one silver coin is a tenth of that. However, adventurers are fundamentally stingy. They won't shell out money for wounds that's gonna heal on their own. And both commoners and adventurers generally see <Treatment> as a luxury.

"Zoir. You all will now get <Purification> cast on you. Free of charge."

"Eh?"

Zoir didn't seem to understand Lecan, he looked awfully doubtful. Lecan ignored that and signaled Eda.

"Eda."

"Un. I got it."

Eda took her thin wand and went around casting <Purification> on all of Zoir's party members.

"<Purification><Purification><Purification><Purification><Purification><Purification><Purification><Purification><Purification><Purification><Purification><Purification><Purification><Purification><Purification><Purification><Purification><Purification><Purification><Purification>."

The entire ensemble were at a loss for word. Of course they would. No one could have imagined such high level special magic like <Purification> would be cast in rapid succession like this. And no one has ever witnessed a barrage of 20 straight magic cast in person, even if she minimized the mana used per cast.

"S-so niiiice."

"My goodness. It's like I've been reborn."

"So this is, <Purification>."

You simply can't imagine how good <Purification> feels before you experience it for yourself. It's nothing like having your wounds healed or your fatigue and cramps eased, it literally feels like you've been reborn anew.

"From here on out, we will arbitrarily cast <Recovery> or <Purification> on those who are wounded or fatigued. And of course, you can also ask yourself. There's no fee. Progressing faster and safer is beneficial for us too."

"Okay, you win, Lecan. We'll take you up on your kindness. But we're still gonna pay the <Recovery> earlier. That was the agreement we made after all."

Lecan could sense how the mood of the whole group improved significantly at this point.