Volume 3 - CH 7

smoothly day by day, and we've already broken through the tenth floor.

Now that we have two more jewels, I can't wait for the auction, but I still have a few more days to go.

"Hey, Alec, I'm going to take my sword in for repair today, is your sword okay?"

While we were eating breakfast at the inn, Serina asked me that question.

"Yeah, mine's still good, but Meena, you need to get your sword fixed."

"Yes, but..."

"I'll get you a replacement, so don't worry it."

"Okay."

It's a bit of a waste, but I decide to redeem the jewels for quests at the Adventurer's Guild and stock up on armor.

The enemies in the tower are getting stronger by the minute, so I might as well upgrade my gear to the steel series.

First, I went to the adventurer's guild.

"Oh, Alec, it's been a while. You haven't shown up in a while, so I was a little worried that you might have gone off to sleep."

The old man at the guild's reception desk said this to me as soon as he saw me.

"I'm not screwed, but I need to cash this in. Is the quest for the jewel still on?"

"Oh, the jewel. No problem. It's not easy for anyone to bring them here. Well, you don't have enough ranks, but I'll make a special exception for immediate payment of 10,000 gold. Please check."

I received one gold coin.

With this, I have a little over 28,000 gold. I think the steel armor is expensive, but it will probably be enough. If it's not enough, I'll sell another jewel.

"Alec, your adventurer rank is D right now. Why don't you take the promotion test while you're at it? I can raise your rank to C."

The old man says, "Adventurer rank advancement." As I recall, the range of requests you can accept expands. But I don't see much benefit in that.

"It's a pain in the ass."

"Ehh? Why not. Let's aim to become an A-level adventurer together. By the way, I'm currently a B."

Serina said.

"Another time, okay."

"Eehh?"

"Well, it's not safe to raise it too quickly. Just take your time. A number of people have died in the dungeons recently. Especially in the West Tower, three groups of eight people have been killed this month. You guys don't want to go there."

The old man warns, but we're already there doing the capturing, right?

"Oh, we're attacking there now."

Serina said.

"Huh? Serina-chan is fine, but Alec, show me your card again. You're still on level ......."

"Look closely. I'm already 21, and I'm well equipped, so there's no problem."

"Mmm, that's true. It's going up a lot. You just started last month, and you're doing great."

"Hee~, Alec-san, you've already passed level 20? That's quite a feat."

He pulled out his head and hugged my shoulder in a familiar way.

"Let go of me. How old are you?"

"Heh, it's a secret."

Shin smiles and pulls away.

You don't have to tell me, I'll use my skills to evaluate you.

【Name】　Shin

【 L ｖ】　 ？？

【Class】　Hero

【Job】　Ranger

【 Race 】　Human　

【 Gender 】　Male

【 H P 】　？？？

【Description】

A hero from another world who was summoned to the Kingdom of Vernia.

A secretive person.

He is lazy and sometimes active.

<<Shin's Personal Skills>>

Caution!

Your browsing has been interrupted by a skill.

Damn, he's better than me?

And it looks like he's got the skill of blocking skill browsing too.

I think I'm going to have to start saving for browsing skill blockers too. I'm sure Shin has at least one appraisal anyway. He seems to know a lot about games too.

"You could have at least told me that. We're fellow heroes, aren't we?"

Serina said.

"Yes, but Shiraishi-san, why don't you have dinner with me at a fancy restaurant? then I'll teach you a lot of things if you do, hehe."

"Yes, I'll go with you if Alec goes with me."

"I'm not going."

Just because we're a heroes doesn't mean we're going to be a friend.

"Geez, you guys are so unreasonable."

Seeming to throw up her hands, Serina also shrugged her shoulders.

"Too bad. Are you done with your business then?"

Shin asked, but I guess he had business with the guild.

"Yeah, I'm done."

I stepped away from the counter.

"Then can you exchange this for cash?"

Shin placed the red dagger on the counter.

"Hmm?"

This dagger looked familiar.

It's a dagger that was in the possession of an adventurer named Dick or Dildo or some such cheap name.

I'll have to check it out, but there's no doubt about it. The name of the appraisal was "Cutlass of Injustice".

"Ohhh, it's a work of art. If you put it up for auction, I'm sure you can get a good price for it, you sure about this, Shin?"

"Yes, I'd like to exchange it for cash as soon as possible."

"Shin, where did you get it?"

I asked curiously.

"It's the West Tower. I found it on the ground by accident."

"There were no adventurers nearby?"

"No. There were no adventurers alive. There was a mage's staff on the ground, and it looks like he had a battle there, but he must have been killed by a strong monster. We have to be careful too."

Shin replied nonchalantly.

"Ahh, those people have been killed. ......"

Serina frowned.

Meena tried to get in front of me, but I forcefully held her shoulders and left her there.

"See you, Shin."

"Yeah, let's both do our best as heroes, hehe."

Hmm.

"Let's go to the inn."

"Okay."

"What's the matter with you two?"

"Just come with me, you guys."

Once I've taken Serina and Lily with me, I go back to my room. This is a good place to talk about secrets, since there are soundproofed magical devices.

I also lock the door. Meena was very cautious and kept her eyes on the door with her sword drawn and ready.

"So, what happened?"

"There's a chance, Shin's doing a PK."

I said, opening my mouth.

Lily shrugged at that.

"Uh, sorry, what's PK?"

But she didn't seem to know the word itself.

"From there, huh……"

"Because I don't know. I've heard of it, though."

"It stands for 'Player Killer'. Now you know."

"Ah, Ahh. Eehhh!? Did Shin do those to adventurers?"

"I don't have any proof, but it's very possible. Shin said the dagger was dropped by accident, but if other adventurers walked by first, the sooner the one get these. Besides, if it had been that long, there would still have been bodies left behind."

"But I don't think it's reasonable to assume he's the culprit just because of that."

"There is other circumstantial evidence. Remember what Sylvie said. There's been an increase in the number of deaths in the dungeon this month, and that's probably after we were summoned. He's got to have gotten some PK-specific skills. He's probably chosen to solo because he's played those (・・・・) games too. And he's got a lot of money."

"You too?"

"I'm not into that kind of game, and you know I made my money because of rare skills and treasure, PK woman."

"No, geez.I'm really sorry about that time. And I'm sorry I doubted you. But I'm not either."

"Yeah. I know you're not."

"And I could also smell Dil something-san on Shin. Apart from the dagger, that is."

Meena added, but that was the clincher.

I'm sure that when he killed him, he probably had him pinned down from behind or something.

"Uwaahh, it's scary having a murderer so close."

Lily shuddered. Shin doesn't like a bad guy, and the fact that he doesn't look like one makes him even scarier.

"Lily, we'll deal with him soon, but in the meantime, just act normal. If he finds out, it'll be a problem."

"Uh, yeah, I understand."

"Are we going to report him to the guild to settle this?"

"We'll do that too, but he'll be staking out the west tower today to get rid of us."

"Huh? Why ...... Oh, because We saw him selling that dagger."

"Yeah, I guess he didn't expect to find someone who knew Dill something there. He didn't have a clue."

We didn't want to go toe-to-toe with Shin, who was better equipped and higher level than us, but it seemed only a matter of time before he made a move on us.

In preparation for the final battle, we quickly bought equipment and adjusted our skills.

We updated mainly mine and Meena's equipment.

Serina, Ione and Sylvie already have their steel equipment ready. Rather than having Lily wear heavy armor to reduce her evasion rate, I'll have her specialize in evasive types with light leather armor.

Steel shortswords +1 at 4000 gold each.

One steel breastplate +1 for 6200 gold.

One steel round shield +1 for 3400 gold.

I also bought two cheap working knives for 100 gold each.

The shields are a little heavy, but the opponent has a bowgun, so the wider range the defense, the better.

With Serina's discounting skill and my bargaining skill, I was able to buy them cheaper than the regular price.

I was hoping to get a rank +2 karma like Ione has anyway, but there didn't seem to be any higher-ranked armor available in the stores.

And the new skill I've acquired for my confrontation with Shin was...

【Candle Play】New!

I'm telling you, it's probably the one that Shin had. It's not like I just took it. It's the work of 【Skill Copy Lv1】.

There's no way I'm going to play that in a decisive battle.

So I took 【Turtle Binding Lv5】 for a total of 30 points.

The goal is to tie up your opponent and block their movements. I would have been fine with a normal bondage skill, but I was just curious. You need to have fun in life, you know.

I also bought about five ropes and put them in my item box.

Then, I raised the level of 【Slave Master Lv5】for a total of 28 points.

This is to bring out Meena's abilities and for another purpose, but I'm not sure if that will work.

【Agility UP Lv3】 【Athleticism Lv3】 【Dynamic Vision Lv3】 Lv up!

68 points to increase combat ability. Athleticism and Dynamic Vision cost more points, but I want to dodge bowgun arrows, so I'll focus on these.

【Skill Concealment Lv.2】 New!

Another skill to keep your opponent in the dark.　

I also took other skills that might be useful with the remaining points.

【Premonition Lv2】【Situation Judgment Lv2】Lv up!

With this, I have 0 points left. I've used up all of them.

I'll let Meena take the combat ability enhancement and Lily take the evasion enhancement.

I can't see her skill set, though.

Now I'm ready.