Volume 2 - CH 37

After that, Luce and I worked as the bulwark to defeat the remaining three Mummy Rana.

With Celt unable to come forward due to being poisoned, he became a tad more well-behaved and remained in the back line, allowing us to move easier.

【You have gained 651 experience points.】

The body of the forth Mummy Rana lying on the floor started to melt and disappear into thin air.

In the end, all of them were finished off by Luce and me.

From behind the dissatisfied Celt, Mabel waved at us with a smile.

By the time Celt turned back towards her, she already stopped waving and changed her expression.

“Good work, you two. Do you need healing?”

“Ah, no, we didn’t take too much damage, so potions should take care of it.”

Recovery items in Magic World all needed time to take effect.

They can, in effect, only increase the natural recovery rate, so it doesn’t really amount to much during combat.

You can’t know when the next enemy will show up in a Dungeon, so healing via magic is still the prefered method.

“Elma-san, let’s gather the magic stones! Ah, some weird items have dropped!”

I kept looking at the Mummy Rana’s corpse.

From the four corpses, three have dropped some kind of black mushroom.

Those items have a much higher drop chance compared to weapons, but getting this many from small-fry monsters is still out of the ordinary.

“….what’s with this drop rate again? Are we being haunted or something?”

Celt kept glaring at the remains of the Mummy Rana in jealousy.

Although the drop items belong to the adventurer who dealt the last hit, magic stones will be exchanged at the Guild as a party, then the rewards will be distributed in proportion to each of our levels.

From that point of view, drop items are even more welcome now than during an ordinary Dungeon exploration.

I also pick up the black mushrooms at the same time as the magic stones.

On their cap, something like a human face could be seen.

――――――――――――――――――――

〈Zombie Mushroom〉

【Market Value: 400000 gold】

A fragrant mushroom. Just as its appearance suggests, it’s extremely poisonous.

It is said that any human that breathes in its spore becomes a zombie, but it’s not nearly that toxic.

After I checked their information, I threw them into my Magic Bag.

“…..uhm, will we be really fine if we pick those up?”

“No problem. Even small animals need to be weak and inhale its spores from close up for it to work.”

“Who would be buying something like that….”

“It has some kind of use in alchemy, apparently.”

Those are so-called material items.

While Luce and I were talking about the items, Celt did not give up and approached Mabel yet again.

“Let’s stop with the pretenses already. I thought you were a second rate Priestess, but it’s my loss. I capitulate.”

“….what are you talking about, Celt-san?”

“I’ve been an adventurer for a long time now. It was good acting on your part, but I can tell that you just made up some reason so you could delay healing me. Those two already know each other, so I don’t want to end up on the outs by myself. Let’s just bury the hatchet, okay? Even you don’t want to go out of your way to pick a fight with a well-connected guy like me, am I right?”

Celt put a hand on his Magic Bag.

He probably intends to try bribing her again.

“I will get angry, Celt-san! I’m responsible for people’s lives here! The healers for this Raid Quest will also get a bonus from the Guild this time. I’m more than satisfied by that and don’t want to snatch other people’s share too! I understand the feeling of wanting to grab as much as you can since you are risking your life here! I’m not saying you are wrong to do that! However, I don’t want you trying to involve me in it too!”

Mabel, who was quite meek until now suddenly raised her voice.

Her face went red from anger and she also started to breathe faster.

Some tears could be seen welling up in her eyes too.

It seems Celt didn’t expect Mabel to raise her voice, so he was taken aback.

He was trying to ignore the whole thing, but his expression still ended up looking mighty awkward.

“Wha-what’s up with you, tsk. Getting worked up over nothing like that. You just don’t get it, we just both lose out this way. It’s a miracle you managed to reach C rank with naive thinking like that.”

Celt threw out a parting shot and all but ran away from Mabel.

“Oi, you’ve already finished collecting, right!? Then it’s time to go!”

Celt took out the map, then walked to the branch in the corridor and started comparing it with our surroundings.

Mabel approached me and Luce with a smile on her face.

“If I were to accept a deal like that, then the risks of them developing a grudge or spreading unnecessary rumors goes up by a lot. It’s an iron rule for a healer to avoid revealing their inner thoughts if they are treated with hostility even once, no matter how suspicious they become.”

“I-I see…..”

“I don’t want to do something unnecessary either, but Celt-san was the one how started it, so he’s in the wrong here. Healers need to negotiate frequently and being underestimated leads to continuously getting the short end of the stick.”

Mabel looked at Celt, then she put a finger in front of her lips and made a shushing sound.

“Of-of course, we won’t say anything.”

Hearing my words, Mabel had a satisfied smile on her face.

…..like hell will I say anything after that.

If we get her mad at us, then who knows what she could do in the future.

“Ah, uhm, Mabel-san, do you want some of my drop items?”

“I’ve said it just now, but healers get a proper bonus reward. You don’t need to worry about me, just treat me normally. I’m thankful for the sentiment though.”

Mabel smiled at Luce.

“Is-Is that so…eheh, eheheh….”

Luce ended up mimicking her and returning an awkward smile.

….I thought that Mabel was pretty quick-witted even before this, but I might’ve been underestimating her still.

With how Mabel constantly needs to balance the need to avoid being looked down on and prevent the developing of grudges at the same time, this might not be all that surprising.