Ch 121.2
Translator: Jiro Editor: Ryunakama
「I-I did it! I did it! I can feel something in my hand!!」
The Lucky Rabbit that was moving vigorously up until now suddenly stopped.
That was because Claude had gotten a hold of its core.
「Good job Claude. Now just pull it out.」
「Okay!」
Claude pulled out her hand from the Lucky Rabbit’s rear. And in her hand she was holding a Bunny Necklace. It was lucky for us to be able to obtain it on our first monster. Now that it had lost its core, the Lucky Rabbit dispersed into thin air. Seeing that Claude weakly fell to the ground.
「Good job Claude.」
「It was nothing…」 said Claude with a face that showed her exhaustion.
Besides the consumption of magic power, that was also a powerful mental blow as well. Claude’s face looked kind of hollow.
「Should we stop here?」
「No, I’m fine. Please let me do it.」
「But…」
「I said I wanted to become strong, didn’t I? This is nothing.」 said Claude with a cheerful smile while making a guts pose.
Well since she’s already said it I won’t ask anymore.
「… Okay, okay. But don’t go overboard, okay?」
Okay!!」 replied Claude with courage as I stroked her head.
Still what is this strange feeling that I’m getting. We’re fighting against monsters. We’ll be forgiven no matter what we do, and rather we are encouraged to do anything we can to them. All in order to earn money… Me from the past did everything for that purpose and I also made all my companions do the same thing. I’ve done way worse things than this. … And yet this is my first time feeling like this. I’ve grown soft…
While I was submerged in my emotions, Shirushu’s ears twitched once more.
「A Lucky Rabbit.」
I shouldn’t think like this. Our opponent is a monster. I cannot let our lives be taken because of compassion.
We captured the newly found Lucky Rabbit and similar to last time we used Steal on it.
In the end, during today’s hunt we managed to obtain two Bunny Necklaces for a total of around three million rupi.
Kuku… we earned a huge sum today.
「Good job everyone!! … Especially you Claude. You really did great.」
「T-thank you…」
Milly showed appreciation for Claude’s efforts, while at the same time glaring at me with disgusted eyes.
We didn’t have a choice after all. The only one qualified to use Steal was Claude.
But even so, today’s hunt took quite a toll on Claude’s mentality.
I guess I’ll have to patch things up later.
――When night came I went to Claude’s room.
After knocking on the door I heard a weak response from the inside and the door opened. Claude was in the process of fastening the buttons of her pajamas. It appeared that she was quite tired.
「Claude, are you okay?」
「Kind of… Did you see through my act?」 said Claude as she laughed.
It seems like I really did force her quite a bit.
「I thought that I’d give you something nice.」
「For… me?」
「Who else is there!」 I said as I took out a Bunny Necklace from my bag and put it around Claude’s neck.
Claude made a strange expression as the bunny shaped jewel settled itself on top of her chest.
「This is…」
「It looks great on you.」
「I-Is that so… But I don’t deserve something so cute…」
Even though she said that, Claude was clutching onto the bunny shaped gem. Tears could even be seen in her eyes.
… For christ sake, you’re way too happy.
I put my hand on top of Claude’s head. At the same moment Claude buried her head in my chest.
「I’m only giving it to you because of the work you did today.」
「… Even so, thank you.」
Claude’s shoulders were shaking and she looked down. I then pushed her on top of the bed, facing down, and began moving my hands on top of her back. It was time for today’s Magic Power Line strengthening. I held back compared to usual and before I noticed it Claude had already fallen asleep.
It seems like she was really tired. From now on, in order to prevent her from going overboard, like she did today, I should put brakes on her.
◆ ◆ ◆
After that several days passed. Each day we would go to the Tiros Abandoned Factory and earn money and EXP.
After two days of hunting Lydia would take a break in order to go around the stall marker and sell the items that we had obtained as well as buy other things.
「By the way Lydia, how is that plan going?」
「Hmph. The Flower Bomb one? It’s doing fine.」
「… Adrei hasn’t done anything weird right?」
「He is a splendid gentleman. I don’t think there’s a need for you to worry about him Zeph-chi.」 said Lydia with a laugh.
It seems like Adrei has no interest in anyone else besides Milly. Knowing that, I feel like I need to be even more cautious… But even so, it’s good to hear that he’s getting along great with Lydia. After all, Adrei’s help is essential for this plan to work.
「Even so, that’s a huge stack of money you have there…」 said Milly with surprise. I couldn’t blame her.
Lydia had over ten stacks of rupi.
「It’s nothing much, today I only made 500,000.」
「Lydia-san, you’re amazing as always.」 praised Shirushu.
「It’s nothing much, I just had good luck.」 said Lydia while trying to be modest but her face still showed a bit of boastfulness.
After all, she couldn’t have made that much with only luck. It was precisely because of her skill that she was able to earn that much.
「By the way, how much was the profit?」
「Hmph… Including all of the resales… I think it’s close to around 10 million.」
Hearing that everyone raised their voices in praise, however to me it seemed a bit strange. It was less that I had originally expected.
「It seems like the market price of the items we bought out before hasn’t risen that much.」
「Well it’s normal considering everyone’s reselling. Should I sell out our remaining items?」
「I’ll leave the decision up to you.」
Resale stocks were uncertain. Because the price of resale goods fluctuates greatly depending on the demand and supply, a resale merchant needs to always be glued to the stall market.
It seems like Lydia’s been doing a lot of work in trying to earn money, by trying to make connections with the merchants in the stall market, as well as making her own weapons.
「But if we leave Lydia behind, it will get hard to hunt.」 said Milly.
「It’s a bit hard for me to take care of the monsters inside the Abandoned Factory alone, and the Lucky Rabbits on the outside are a bit…」 continued Claude.
「You’re both right… Hmph…」
As I was thinking on what to do I put my hand inside my pocket and took out a small rock. It was a Crystal Ring.
Come to think of it I did give a piece to Silverie. I should be able to call her whenever I want… Should I call her in as a helper I wonder?
◆ ◆ ◆
The farm village Garnek Park. It was close to the capital, but because of that the youngsters would go away in order to earn money, leaving behind only the elderly and the children.
It was a small village of several tens of people… And in a place a bit further away from the village, within a small hut, was one of Silverie’s hiding spots.
Silverie was resting here while healing her wounded body.
As she was reading a book on top of her worn-out bed, suddenly her attention was drawn from a voice coming from the outside, so she looked outside through the window.
A young boy and girl were playing tag.
《Kids huh.》
She hadn’t known when it had started, but seeing kids now reminded her of Zeph. Close to ten days ago Zeph had saved her while she was on the verge of death at the snow mountain.
Thinking logically about it, there was no way Zeph could have known about the disaster Silverie had found herself into. The only explanation she could think of was that she had called out to him for help while she had been unconscious.
It was vague but she had memories of calling Zeph’s name at that time.
However, she had said it in such a low tone that there was no way for him to have heard her.
But still, Zeph had been able to find about her peril with just that and even went to the snow mountain amidst the snowstorm in order to try and save her. Whenever she thought of that Silverie’s chest tightened.
She just stayed as she watched the crystal ring she held in her hand.
「Because of me… Zeph…」
Almost unconsciously she whispered out Zeph’s name. Along with that, she startled herself.
That was because she thought that she could have unconsciously contacted him via Telepathy.
However, the crystal ring in Silverie’s hand just continued to let out its dim light, without showing any response.
Silverie showed relief on her face, but before she knew it her face had turned bright red.
「For christ sake… Zeph is the one at fault… Why did he give me such a thing…」 she said while playing with her crystal ring and the crystal ring fragment that Zeph had forcefully given her.
Even though they were both pieces of a crystal, due to both pieces being from different kinds, there was no way for them to fit together with one another.
But even so, while she was trying to match both of the pieces, she ended up seeing her face, reflected in one of the crystals and then returned to her calm self.
Silverie’s current calm expression was one that she hadn’t even seen herself.
「For christ sake… What in the world am I doing…」
Her face became red from the embarrassment and she threw the crystals at the bedside.
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