Volume 2 - CH 4

“We managed to find a weapon for me right away! The next is to just hunt more Smiles, level up some more, and pick up the items that drop, right?”

Even as we walked further into the caverns, a happy looking Luce kept holding on tightly to her new Black Steel Knife.

“I guess so….I would like to hunt down about ten Smiles, pick up their drops, and raise our level in the meantime. After that, we will play it by ear, depending on how much HP and potions we used up and how late it will be at that point.”

“T-ten Smiles!? We managed to take down the last one without suffering any damage, but…you looked like you were struggling a bit there, Elma-san. Are you sure that will be fine?”

So I looked like I was struggling….huh.

Having to corral it against a wall and keep it there by locking down its movements with my shield may appear a bit hectic to outsiders.

However, not only is there no real danger to me in the process, the movements of the Smile are straightforward, so they’re easy to anticipate.

Compared to the Embryo or the Mariss fight, I can do this halfway on autopilot.

I may even call it a bit unsatisfying.

“Black steel items have a Market Price of a bit over 4 million gold…. You need to get four of them to equal one Rana’s Radiant Ornate Sword in terms of money. They are not even certain drops, so I would like us to take down that ten at least.”

I would like us to bring in an equivalent of two Rana’s Radiant Ornate Swords, or there would’ve been no meaning to our move to La Colina, the City of Adventurers.

“….doesn’t that just mean that instead of the black steel items being cheap, it’s the Rana’s Radiant Ornate Sword that’s inordinately expensive?”

“Even so, I don’t like the idea of making so much less money with this exploration than the last time.”

I’m well aware of the fact that things went a little too well last time, but even so, I would feel a bit salty if our income went down even though our levels went up.

I want to set the target a bit high and try to proactively aim for item drops.

“Uhhmm…. isn’t your money-sense a bit broken, Elma-san?”

“With our levels going up, the value of items that go through our hands will also increase exponentially. If we reach a suitably high level, then buying and selling items that are worth a couple of dozen million gold will become a matter of course.”

“What do we need that much money for….?”

What is she even saying at this point?

The answer should be obvious.

“You need money to become strong.”

I don’t even need to say how much getting a valuable weapon helps out an adventurer.

However, to prepare for various situations I would like to keep a few different weapons on hand at all times.

Furthermore, expensive items like recovery potions and magic stones that can insta-cast spells are also necessary to have items in case of emergencies.

The more expensive the better.

Skill Books are one example.

In a sense, they are even more important than other equipment.

That’s the reason why I traded in those items that were worth 50 million gold over all for the [Smoldering Fang of Madness] at the Broken Grimoire Company.

It was an absurd price, but even if the [Smoldering Fang of Madness] cost ten times that, I wouldn’t have given up on getting my hands on it eventually.

In Magic World, there were countless ways of spending money.

No matter how much I might have, I won’t have trouble spending it.

“Isn’t that getting your priorities backwards…..?”

Luce said this with a small twitch in her expression.

I hurriedly tried to change the topic with a cough.

“A-anyway, the Smile itself is not that difficult to beat. Taking down multiple ones is not that hard either. Since their movements are simple, it’s easy to lock down its best method of attack.”

I need to push it into the wall as soon as we come across one, then keep it locked down there with my shield.

We just need to repeat this ten times and it would already fill our quota.

“As long as multiple ones don’t appear at the same time, it’s not an opponent that we should struggle with at all. It’s not a monster that tends to flock together like that either, so we don’t need to worry….”

Sounds of DON, DON, DON, DON could be heard from straight ahead.

From further along the passageway, four Smiles were rolling towards us.

“You barely even finished saying it and there is a group incoming already!? They are clearly flocking together!!”

“….that’s really unusual, for Smiles to group up like that.”

“Is-isn’t this a bit too dangerous? Shouldn’t we be running away….?”

“No, Smiles have the [Acceleration] Skill. It’s better to take them head on.”

We may be able to run away successfully, but rather than having to run away with multiple Smiles targeting my back, it would be safer to just fight them.

“Also….fighting against this many enemies is just how I like it. It would’ve been fine to hunt them one by one, but that would’ve been simply too easy. Let’s rake in a bunch of levels and drop items here and now.”

I pointed my sword at the group of Smiles.

We just got a new weapon for Luce too.

“Luce, you should use [Dice Thrust] from now on. We need to prioritize cutting down their numbers as soon as possible.”

“Y-yes!”

There should be a reason why Smiles that don’t tend to flock together grouped up like this.

I checked the Smiles’ expression one by one, and found one that was obviously different from the others.

Normal Smiles all have smiley faces on them, but on the far side of the group there was one whose eyes were curving down at the corners, giving off the impression that it was crying.

It was not a Smile, but a Cry, a rare species.

It has the ability to gather up and direct the Smiles that ordinarily don’t form into groups like this.

I thought that this might be the case when I saw the group of Smiles appear, but with this confirmation a smile crept up my face.

The Cry has a low probability of spawning, but once defeated, there is a high chance of it dropping a rare item.

The Luck stat also affects the spawn rate of rare monsters.

The most likely reason for the appearance of the Cry is the increased Luck from Luce’s [Great Fortune] Skill Tree.

“Luce should be the one to thank for this.”

“A-am I really at fault for those monsters grouping up like that!?”

Seemingly misunderstanding my words, Luce raised her voice in confusion.

“Well, yes, but not really….”