CH 8

Kirika-chan tottered over to Bryce-kun and grabbed his arm.

「Mhm. Kirika will do her best to teach onee-chan everything.」

She looked like she was about to cry.

I see. She spent all that time with Bryce-kun, so he was like a brother to her. She must be sad that her brother was leaving.

Even though she was still so young, she must’ve had to live a lonely life without her parents.

「Let’s eat! I’m starving!」

Kurtz-kun exclaimed loudly, as though he tried to break up the solemn atmosphere.

「This is also something Rofas-san set up for us. You put the potion here, and then a loaf of bread or potato will come out. This way, we don’t have to look for food and we can eat in the hut.」

Kurtz-kun explained. He then inserted a potion into a small hole and said 「bread.」A loaf of bread appeared from a different hole.

Amazing! It was a vending machine!

Bryce-kun went next, and got bread as well.

「Kirika, what are you getting?」

Bryce-kun asked Kirika-chan. She gave it a thought, but shook her head.

「I only got two potions today, so I’ll skip dinner.」

Eh?

「If you don’t eat, you won’t grow up strong and healthy, you know? Since I got five, I’ll…」

「You can’t!」

I was about to exchange my potion for a loaf of bread for Kirika-chan, but she stopped me.

Everybody looked at me.

「It’s a dungeon rule. Do not assume anybody will save you, and do not ask for help.」

「W-what’s with that rule? So I can’t even help a small child who’s going hungry?」

Everybody sat down at the table.

I ended up only exchanging a loaf of bread for myself and sat down as well.

「We may be young, but we’re all adventurers.」

「Also, this is where we learn and practice how to be an adventurer.」

「Um, onee-chan. If we are in a dungeon with other adventurers and one of us gets hurt, we can’t expect the others to help us. If somebody tried to help us, they might end up dying.」

I gasped.

I recalled the sword that Rofas-san carried on his back.

That’s right. This was a world with swords and magic. Death loomed closer to us here than in Japan.

「That’s why we can’t expect any help, and we can’t help others.」

So I have to hold back from helping Kirika-chan, who was holding back herself?

「But, what happens if you get hurt or sick, and you can’t collect potions for a few days?」

It might be fine to skip one meal a day.

「We’re adventurers, not beggars. If we want to eat, we work. If we don’t, we have to quit being an adventurer. If you can still work, then you do some trading.」

「Trading?」

「You do something like this, 【Contract: Borrow 1 Potion from Yuuri – Equal Exchange】. If I do this, I can get a potion by giving you something in exchange for it. Once both parties are satisfied with the trade conditions, both of us say 【Contract Complete】to approve the trade. Since the contract is bound by magic, breaking it will impose a penalty.」

I see. So you could trade through contracts.

Wait, does that mean…?

「Can this be done in the dungeon too?」

「Of course. Since you’re level 1, you’ll be in danger if you get attacked by a D-ranked monster. For Rofas-san though, he could take it down so easily it’d be harder for him to sneeze, and he would feel a lot of guilt if he let someone die without helping them. If something like that happens, you can ask for help by saying something like, 【Contract: Need Assistance to Escape from Dungeon – 5 Gold Coins】.」

That’s good to hear.

This was not a world where everyone would help or save you, even when you asked.

「If you receive a request that you know you can complete, and you’re okay with the compensation for doing it, you just need to declare Contract Complete.」

Mhm.

A system like this might be better.

It was easier to ask for help like this so you wouldn’t be burdened with the possibility of the person helping you dying.

「Rofas-san will help you even if you only give him a loaf of bread.」

「He definitely would!」

We all had a good laugh.