CH 16

“55 million gold, huh…”

I kept walking around the city letting out frequent sighs.

High rank adventurers might be able to do it, but for an E rank adventurer it’s not easy money to get.

It’s understandable, since it’s about sixty times more money than I managed to get from the well-paying Undead Swarm Raid Quest.

The money sense of high rank adventurers are broken as hell.

And the money sense of storekeepers that deal with those high rank adventurers are also broken as hell.

Although the [Smoldering Fang of Madness] is a rare Skill Tree, for the most part only Heavy Knights and suicidal battle-maniacs would look for it.

That means that obviously powerful Skill Books cost much more than even that.

Even the less popular [Elemental Guard] was priced at 30 million gold.

I need to think up a concrete way of making money.

If I went with a slow and steady method, who knows how long it would take in the end.

I’ll need to work on a get rich quick scheme by aiming for rare drop items from a Dungeon.

However, Heavy Knights decisively lack steady damage dealing Skills for that.

To reach that amount, hunting only those monsters that [Rampart Reversal] could work against would be all but useless.

I thought up a few monsters that would be good for making money, but with my current Skills I wouldn’t be able to take them down, even if I gained a few more levels.

The only choices are investing points into the [Beginner Swordsmanship] Skill Tree, or search every underground shop like the Broken Grimoire Company and try to get an attack Skill.

And yet, those Skills would all end up useless once I manage to get the [Smoldering Fang of Madness].

I want to avoid wasting Skill points like that…..

Allies…. I need allies.

Although Heavy Knights are generally not seen in a good light, I should get a bit of recognition from that Raid Quest I participated in.

If I team up with an adventurer of a different Class, the list of monsters we would be able to hunt would be greatly increased.

It wouldn’t matter even if the other person had a low level.

By attracting the monsters’ attention to myself, I could easily help with their level grind, which would not just raise their firepower, but make them indebted to me for it.

People that enjoy a stable routine or those with a powerful Class would have a lot of people vying for their attention.

Aside from a tank like me, anything would be fine.

I won’t hope for much, but I would like a DPS if at all possible…..

As I was thinking that, I heard a racket from up ahead.

“Hah, who would’ve thought that a Bloodstained Sword would drop! With a market value of 2 million gold….shops would buy it for about 1.5 million, which is still a lot! We’ll be able to live the high life for a while! Dungeon delving is for sure amazing!”

A trio of adventurers were walking about.

The swordsman had a bright red sword on him.

“It might be a tad risky, but perhaps we should sell it to an underground shop. Selling at a public place would mean paying taxes on it after all.”

The one who replied was a lightly armored young girl.

She most likely has a scout type Class, the Thief.

“Ehehe…see! See that, see that! That must’ve dropped because of my Skill! My Skill! See, see, it really did have an effect!”

The third was a young girl with aqua colored hair, light red robes, and wearing a clown hat of the same color.

Perhaps she is a Clown?

She has the hat for it and I don’t see any weapons on her, so she must be using daggers or a wand.

“…..thanks to you, right. The rare drop we finally got after delving into the Dungeon many times. I sincerely doubt Luce’s Skill had anything to do with it.”

The swordsman guy let out a theatrical sigh.

“A-ahaha… r-right, Klein-san. But, after a few more times, the difference will be obvious for sure! It will be my time to shine soon!”

The Clown girl called Luce replied.

It seems the swordsman’s name was Klein and he was the leader of the trio.

However, not all seemed well.

“Luce, you really think that someone who is as useless in a fight as you would get a share from this sword?”

“Huh…b-but, I’m fighting on the front line with my life on the line too… S-so at least a fifth….or, no, a twentieth…. I would be happy if you could give me 100 000 gold…perhaps.”

“Haah….you know, even if you are risking your life, the problem is that the only thing you are good for is to take a few of the enemy’s attacks. It doesn’t matter how much you are ‘doing your best’. You are simply useless.”

“I don’t have any attack Skills because Klein-san told me how to put my points in my Skill Tree! You told me to keep that up…., but as soon as we get something that is worth a lot you suddenly change your tune! I think that’s unfair!”

“Unfair? I’m just saying that how is it fair that even though you are so useless, when it’s time to divide up the money you are clamoring for a share. I overlooked it until now, but with this much money it’s a different story. Haah…. and of all things you call it unfair. Are you all right? In the head, I mean. And about the Skill Tree, I just gave a few advice, you are the one who decided in the end. Don’t try to make it my fault.”

“Eh….K-klein-san?”

The atmosphere went from bad to worse.

So much so, that I even regret stopping to listen.

It looks like mistakes with distributing Skill points and a disagreement with shares after hitting it big combined into a standoff.

These kinds of arguments were frequent in [Magic World] too.

Problems where someone filled out their Skill Tree in a certain way, thinking about how to best complement the others in the party, but ultimately ended up useless due to changing circumstances come up from time to time.

Especially, in this world where you don’t have strategy guides freely available on the net, this kind of problem must be quite prevalent.

“Yeah yeah, 100 000 gold. Here, are you happy now? Pick them up already and go away.”

Klein threw the coins on the ground.

“And here I even let some like you, who have low basic stats, messed up their Skill Tree, and don’t even have proper attack Skills join our party. To think you would go crazy about small-change like this and show your real self. Don’t you think so too, Reese?”

Reese, the Thief girl who Klein aimed that question at, took a short glance at the red sword.

“Well…yeah. We don’t have much leeway in general, so trying to take away our shares when we get something valuable, well….”

“N-no, that’s not what I intended at all…. S-sorry, Klein-san, Reese-san. I don’t want the money from the sword after all, so….”

“It’s already too late to say sorry. Well, do your best somewhere else. Even though you won’t be able to gain experience points and therefore new Skills, because you messed up your Skill distribution. Although I don’t know who would let a dead end like that into their party.”

A relationship built on money ends on money, I guess.

This is the brutal consequence of this particular Skill System.

The Leveling System was set up in a way that you need to hunt opponents at least the same level as you, or you won’t be able to raise your level properly.

However, if you mess up your Skill point distribution, which could leave you unable to defeat same level opponents, gaining levels becomes exceedingly hard to do.

Did she perhaps put her points into the [Agility UP] or some useless weapon based Skill Tree?

No, judging from their discussion it should be a support type?

Thinking back on it a bit, they were talking about rare drops.

Is it that Skill Tree!?

But, why would anyone try to chase away someone who has that Skill Tree?

Even if there is no proper info distribution about Skill Trees, it’s still unbelievable.

However, based on their talk just now, I can only think of that possibility.

“I-I’m sorry for being selfish…. I don’t need any money from the sword, but please let me stay in the party, please….”

I leapt out without thinking and grabbed Luce’s hands.

“Uwah!? W-who are you!?”

“Please! I will absolutely make sure that you won’t be disadvantaged in any way, so please team up with me!”

Not just Luce, whose hand I ended up grabbing suddenly, but even her teammates, Klein and Reese were looking at me dumbfounded.

“As for the shares, will eighty percent be fine?”

“T-twenty percent permanently would be… well, I may not be able to cover my living expenses with that….”

“Of course, your share would be the eighty percent and the twenty percent mine! Is it not good enough? To tell you the truth, I have something I want to buy, so ten percent would be somewhat difficult for me. I would like to have that twenty percent, if at all possible!”

“P-please just calm down! Um, who are you to begin with!”

Th-this is bad, I lost my composure.

However, I absolutely can’t let this perfect opportunity pass me by.

Because, with her help it wouldn’t be the least bit difficult to come up with that 55 million gold for the [Smoldering Fang of Madness].

And that 2 million gold they were feuding about is chump-change compared to that.