第三十三話 逃がした魚は(Side:クライン)
都市ロンダルムを歩く、二人の冒険者がいた。
クラス剣士のクラインと、クラス盗賊のリース。
ルーチェの元パーティーメンバーの二人であった。
「......やっぱ、二人じゃ無理だな、クソ。効率が一気に落ちる。準備費用引くと、今回の分は赤字になっちまった」
クラインは頭を掻きながら街道を歩く。
元々ルーチェが抜けた分、三人目を迎え入れるつもりだったのだ。
だが、ソロ活動している、問題行動のない冒険者は少ない。
いたとしても、クラスやレベル、報酬の兼ね合いで痒い所に手が届かない。
募集側のクラインはなるべく低い報酬で役に立つ人材が欲しいが、相手も相手で生活が懸かっている。
お互い自分に有利な条件ばかり目を向けるため、条件がどうしても上手く噛み合わないのだ。
なまじ可視化できてしまう分、パーティーにレベル差や装備の差があると、そこの交渉でも揉めてしまう。
お互い簡単に妥協はできないし、クラインもまた自分の損を許容できない性質であった。
そうして二人で活動していたのだが、安全に冒険者業を熟そうと思うと、普段より一回り下のレベル帯の魔物が標的となる。
魔物の魔石の価値は、その魔物のレベルに応じて指数関数的に上昇する。
リースが溜め息を漏らす。
「運が悪かったんだよ。普段は二体狩ったら何かしらドロップしてたのに、まさか何も落ちないとはな。ほぼ確定ドロップだと思ってた〈ヒール茸〉さえ、マタンゴを四体狩っても一本も落ちないなんて」
クラインが舌打ちをした。
〈ヒール茸〉はHP回復効果があり、二万ゴルドの値段で売れる他、単に自分で回復用として使ってしまってもいいありがたいアイテムである。
マタンゴ本体が弱いこともあって、クラインは楽で効率のいい金策として、余裕がないときはよくマタンゴを狩っていた。
今回も赤字分を取り返そうとマタンゴを狙ってみたのだが、見事に何も落ちなかったのだ。
「......ルーチェの〈豪運〉が利いてたんじゃないの? 他の冒険者、マタンゴをわざわざ追いかけて狩ってる奴なんていなかったみたいだし。乱獲されないように知ってる奴が黙ってるんだってクラインは言ってたけど、単に普通にやっても全然落ちなくて効率が悪いからなんじゃ......」
「チッ、偶然だろ。そりゃ多少の違いはあったかもしれねぇが、あそこまで変わるもんか」
そう言いながらも、クラインの顔には後悔の色があった。
好条件で手頃な都合の合う冒険者は、なかなか見つかるものではない。
そういう面では、安値で雑用と戦闘を熟せるルーチェはありがたかったのだ。
ルーチェはレベルは低いが、素早さだけはそれなりに高いため、戦闘面でも敵の体勢を崩したり、攻撃を引き付けたりと、最低限のことはできていた。
前回のドロップ品の報酬額を分け合ってそれなりの武器を買わせておけば、弱点の攻撃力不足も多少は補えただろう。
クラインも今回の〈
「アイツが〈血濡れの剣〉の分け前が欲しいなんて言い出さなきゃ置いといてやったのに」
市場価値二百万ゴルド、レアドロップ品の〈血濡れの剣〉。
一人だけレベルの低いルーチェに、この取り分を持っていかれるのはごめんだった。
「呼び戻す? どうせルーチェも、声掛けりゃ、すぐにでも戻って来るわよ。レアドロップの報酬だって、有耶無耶にできるでしょ」
「あのな、リース、俺にだってプライドがある。あそこまで言って、やっぱり戻ってこい、なんて言えるかよ。アイツに頭下げるなんて死んでもごめんだぜ? 幸い、あの剣のお陰で金に余裕はあるんだ。そう焦る必要はない。同レベルくらいの奴が欲の皮張った条件ばかり提示してくるなら、低レベルで物分かりのいい奴をゆっくり探せばいい」
クラインは言いながら、冒険者ギルドの扉に手を掛けた。
リースは冒険者ギルドの中が騒がしいことに気づき、顔を顰めた。
「誰かが高レベルの魔物でも討伐したのかしら」
二人して、騒動の中心へと目を向ける。
「い、E級に昇格したての冒険者と、F級冒険者が、推奨レベル50の〈天使の玩具箱〉の攻略を!? 確かに〈
受付嬢が驚いた様子で口にしていた。
その前には、先日別れた二人......ルーチェとエルマが並んでいた。
「あ、あの二人が!?」
クラインにはとても信じられなかった。
エルマは自分同様に【Lv:20】程度であったはずだ。
ルーチェはレベルが低すぎて、〈天使の玩具箱〉攻略にはとても戦力になるとは思えない。
〉で〈夢の主〉から襲撃を受けたんだ。奴の魔石はあるし......疑うなら、同様に巻き込まれた冒険者を捜してもらえばいい。二人、助けてやった奴がいる」
「わかりました。〈天使の玩具箱〉は都市から攻略報酬金が出ていたため、一応確認を取らせていただきます」
都市や村に近い〈
その方が実入りがいいし、王国のためにもなるからだ。
そのため都市ロンダルムには〈天使の玩具箱〉の〈夢の主〉を討伐できる冒険者がおらず、このまま〈天使の玩具箱〉が放置されることを恐れた都長は、〈
「へえ、攻略報酬が出てたのか。縁もないと思って、調べてなかったな。いくらになるんだ?」
「一千万ゴルドです」
遠目にそれを聞いていたクラインは、額を聞いて思わず大口を開けた。
「一千万!?」
ルーチェを追い出した事件の許になった、〈血濡れの剣〉の市場価値の五倍である。
「ほう、一千万ゴルドか。ここでこの額はありがたいな」
ルーチェがぼそっと漏らす。
クラインはそれを聞き逃さなかった。
あの二人は、一千万ゴルドを前に全く物怖じしていない。
「ご、〈豪運〉か......? まさか、推奨レベル50の〈夢の主〉のレアドロップ品を......?」
あのエルマという男は、ルーチェが〈豪運〉持ちだと知るなり突然スカウトに出てきていた。
そしてその後にいきなり大物狩りである。
おまけに一千万ゴルドを前にしても物怖じする素振りを全く見せない。
恐らく、それより高額なドロップ品を得ているのだ。
ルーチェの影響を認めたくなかったクラインだが、さすがに認めざるを得なかった。
自分達が低レベルのマタンゴ狩りで稼いでいたようなドロップ率で、推奨レベル50の〈天使の玩具箱〉奥地でドロップ狙いの狩りを行っていれば、数百万ゴルド......いや、数千万ゴルドくらい容易に手にできていても、おかしくはない。
「調査はそう時間は掛からないはずなので、すぐに一千万ゴルドはお渡しできるでしょう。それからギルドの規定で......お二人を、D級冒険者に昇級させることになります。ルーチェさんはF級からの飛び級になりますね。......えっと、高レベルの〈夢の主〉討伐による昇級はかなりレアケースでして......私は対応したことがないので、一応細かい前例を確認させていただきますね」
受付嬢がぱらぱらと書類を捲っている。
「ルーチェが、D級......」
クラインは、最近苦労してようやくE級冒険者として認められたばかりであった。
リースに至ってはまだF級冒険者である。
特にD級冒険者の壁は厚いとされており、この都市ロンダルムにおいて、D級冒険者は十人程度しか存在しない。
充分熟練の冒険者として通用するラインである。
「な、なんかよくわかんない内にルーチェ、雲の上の存在になっちゃったわね。多少は上手くやってるのかもと思ってたけど、まさかあそこまでなんて。はぁ......こりゃ、逃がした魚は案外大きかったのかもしれないわね」
リースがそう口にしたのと同時に、クラインはダッシュで彼女達の許へと向かっていた。
「ルーチェ......俺が悪かった! 俺は心を改めたんだ、戻ってきてくれないか!? 〈血濡れの剣〉の売却額は、やっぱり三等分しよう!」
クラインは床につけるかの勢いで頭を下げ、ルーチェへとそう懇願した。
ルーチェとエルマは、冷たい目でクラインの下げた頭部を眺めている。
「行こう、ルーチェ。調査は時間が掛かるらしいからな」
「......はい」
「ちょ、ちょっと待ってくれ! 話だけでも聞いてくれないか!?」
クラインが慌ててルーチェの後を追いかけていく。
どうやらルーチェに頭を下げるなんて死んでもごめんだ、という言葉はなかったことになったらしい。
Ch 33
There were adventurers walking through the city of Rondalm.
Klein with the Class of Swordsman and Reese with the Class of Thief.
It was the two from Luce's former party.
"....we really can't do it by ourselves, shit. With just the two of us the efficiency goes way down. If we subtract our expenses we will end up in the red for today."
Klein kept walking on the main road while scratching his head.
With Luce leaving the party, they intended to recruit a third person.
However, there were not many adventurers that were working alone and not for problematic reasons.
And with those that did exist, they weren't able to find anyone that had a Class, level, and reward share requirements they approved of.
As someone on the recruiting side, Klein wanted somebody that was useful for the least possible share of rewards, but even the recruits had to worry about making a living.
With each looking only to better their own situations, they were almost never able to come to a compromise.
Even if they did, they would argue about the level or quality of equipment difference within the party.
Not being able to compromise again, Klein could not tolerate any disadvantage to himself.
So the two of them kept working by themselves, yet even when hunting a bit lower level monsters to avoid needless risk the monsters turned out to be quite dangerous to fight.
The worth of magic stones from monsters go up exponentially based on their level, therefore by hunting lower level monsters their reward money also went down by that much.
Reese let out a sigh.
"We were unlucky. We used to get something after taking down two monsters; I didn't think we would get nothing instead. Even the Heal Mushroom I thought was a certain drop was nowhere to be seen, even though we took down four Matangos."
Klein clicked his tongue.
The Heal Mushroom was a really useful HP recovery item that was worth twenty thousand gold if you sold it, but you could also simply use it yourself if you needed to.
With the Matango itself being quite weak, Klein frequently used it as a convenient and efficient income source when things were tight.
Even today they hunted for them to get out of the red, but nothing dropped at all.
"....maybe Luce's [Great Fortune] was working before? No other adventurers seemed to be going out of their way to hunt Matangos either. You said they kept their mouths shut about it to prevent it from being over hunted, but wasn't it because even if they did they wouldn't normally get much out of it because of the low drop rate....?"
"Tsk, shut up. It might've made a small difference, but I won't believe it was that much."
Even as he said that, it was obvious from his face that he was regretting his previous decision.
It was not easy to find a competent adventurer that would conveniently accept unfavourable terms to them.
From that point of view, Luce, who did the odd jobs and could even take part in the fight for cheap, was welcome.
Even though Luce had a low level, she had quite a high Agility, so she was able to contribute somewhat by disrupting the enemy and even attracting their attention for some time.
If they had just given her share from the last drop item, then she would've been able to overcome her lack of attack power by getting a better weapon too.
Klein could not help but recognize during this last Dungeon trip that Luce's [Great Fortune] had some kind of effect on drop rates.
"If only she didn't bring up wanting a cut of that Bloodstained Sword, I would've let her stay in the party."
The rare drop called the Bloodstained Sword, with a Market Value of 2 million gold.
He didn't want the lower leveled Luce to take away from that at all.
"Should we call her back? With how Luce is, she would come running if we said something. We should even be able to gloss over the topic of that rare drop."
"Listen here, Reese. Even I have my pride here. There is no way I could just call her back after all that was said. I would rather just die than lower my head to her, you know? Fortunately, we have some money in reserve thanks to that sword. No need to panic that much. If people on a similar level to us won't bend on their terms, then we will just need to slowly look for someone lower level who is sensible enough."
Klein said this while heading for the adventurer's guild.
Noticing that there was some kind of hubbub within the adventurer's guild, Reese frowned.
"Perhaps someone managed to take down a high level monster or something."
The two of them looked closer at the center of the commotion.
"An E rank adventurer and an F rank adventurer alone managed to conquer the Angel's Toybox that had a Recommended Level of 50!? We indeed received a report of the disappearance of the Dungeon, but...."
The receptionist lady said in a surprised tone.
In front of her stood the two people they walked away from the other day.... Luce and Elma.
"Th-those two!?"
Klein could simply not believe it.
Elma should've been around [(Lv:20)] , the same as himself.
And Luce with her low level shouldn't have been any help with conquering the Angel's Toybox at all.
"We didn't really conquer it per se. We were just attacked by a Wandering Lord. We have its magic stone too, but if you doubt us anyway, then you should ask the adventurers that got caught up in it too. There were two people that we managed to save."
"I understand. Since the city offered a reward for conquering the Angel's Toybox, we will need to confirm things first."
There are sometimes rewards offered for conquering Dungeons near villages or cities.
It leads to a higher income and it's good for the kingdom too.
Because of that there was no adventurer in Rondalm who could take down the Dream Lord of the Angel's Toybox, therefore the leader of the city put up a reward for clearing it out, fearing that it would be left alone too long.
"Huh, so there was even a reward for it. I didn't think we would have anything to do with it, so I didn't even look it up. How much will that be?"
"It's 10 million gold."
Hearing that number from the back, Klein could not help but exclaim.
"10 million!?"
It was five times the Market Value of the Blood-stained Sword that caused him to chase away Luce before.
"10 million gold, huh. It will come in handy at this point."
Luce absent-mindedly murmured.
Klein managed to overhear it.
Those two don't even seem to care too much about 10 million gold.
"W-was it the [Great Fortune]....? D-did they get a rare drop from a Recommended Level of 50 Dream Lord....?"
That Elma guy tried to scout out Luce as soon as he noticed her having [Great Fortune].
And then they went for a big game right away.
In addition to that, they show no sign of being awed by that 10 million gold at the least.
They most likely managed to get a drop item even more valuable than that.
Klein didn't want to admit to the effect Luce had, but he couldn't help but do so now.
If they went exploring deep in the Angel's Toybox with its Recommended Level of 50 with aim of getting drop items, all with the same drop rates they had while hunting lower level Matangos, then it wouldn't be strange if they managed to gather a few million or maybe even a few dozen million gold worth of drop items.
"The investigation shouldn't take that long, so we will be able to pay out the 10 million gold very soon. After that, in accordance with the Guild rules, we will be promoting the two of you to D rank adventurers. Luce-san will be skipping a rank it seems. Um, well, promotion thanks to defeating a high level Dream Lord is a rare case and I've never come across one before, so I will make sure that I have every detail right first."
The receptionist lady started shuffling her papers.
"Luce, a D rank...."
Klein was only recently recognized as an E rank adventurer after great pains.
Reese was only an F rank adventurer still.
They say that it's especially difficult to reach D rank and in Rondalm there were at most ten of them present.
It's what separates well accomplished adventurers from the rest.
"S-somehow Luce managed to become a cut above the rest in a blink of an eye. I thought she might be doing fine, but I didn't think she would go that far. Haah....it seems the fish that got away was the biggest one."
Just as Reese finished saying that, Klein dashed forward to the duo.
"Luce.... I was in the wrong! I realized my mistake and I will change, so won't you come back!? Let's divide the money from the Bloodstained Sword three-ways after all!"
Klein almost ended up smashing his face into the floor; he bowed his head so fast as he begged at Luce.
Luce and Elma were looking at Klein's lowered head with cold eyes.
"Let's go, Luce. It seems the investigation will take a bit."
"....yes."
"H-hey, wait a moment please! Please just hear me out at least!?"
Klein hurried after Luce.
It seems what he said before about how he would rather die than lower his head was being ignored right now.
The Reincarnated Heavy Knight Who Was Exiled After A Supposed Big Miss Is Unparalleled With His Game Knowledge
大ハズレだと追放された転生重騎士はゲーム知識で無双する
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/the-reincarnated-heavy-knight-who-was-exiled-after-a-supposed-big-miss-is-unparalleled-with-his-game-knowledge/
Action Adventure Fantasy Romance Shounen
Abandoned Children Adapted to Manga Adventurers Alchemy Arrogant Characters Artifacts Blacksmith Calm Protagonist Clever Protagonist Determined Protagonist Dungeons Fallen Nobility Fantasy World Game Elements Guilds Hot-blooded Protagonist Level System Love Interest Falls in Love First Lucky Protagonist Male Protagonist Mystery Solving Naive Protagonist Nobles Poor to Rich Previous Life Talent Reincarnated in a Game World Romantic Subplot Skill Books Strategic Battles Strong Love Interests Strong to Stronger Sword Wielder Underestimated Protagonist Weak to Strong
https://ncode.syosetu.com/n8465gx/
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