Chapter 33

Two adventurers were walking through the city of Rondalme.

Klein, a Warrior class, and Rees, a Thief class.

They were both former party members of Luze.

"...Damn it, we can't do this with just the two of us. Our efficiency drops drastically. After deducting the preparation costs, we ended up in the red this time."

Klein scratched his head as he walked down the road.

Originally, they had planned to welcome a third member to fill the gap left by Luze.

However, there were few solo adventurers without any problematic behavior.

Even if there were, the class, level, and reward requirements often didn't align.

Klein, as the recruiter, wanted to find someone useful at a low reward, but the other party also had to make a living.

Both sides tended to focus on conditions that favored them, making it difficult to reach an agreement.

The visible differences in level and equipment within a party often led to disputes during negotiations.

Neither side was willing to compromise easily, and Klein, in particular, couldn't tolerate any loss to himself.

Thus, they had been operating as a duo, but to safely continue their adventurer work, they had to target monsters one level lower than usual.

The value of a monster's magic stone increased exponentially with its level.

Therefore, lowering the level of their target monsters significantly reduced the expected reward.

"At this rate, we won't be able to explore the 'Dream Hole' unless we bring in a new member. We're spending too much time and money on travel, and the deeper we go, the more we lose."

Rees sighed.

"We just had bad luck. Usually, something would drop after hunting two of them, but I never thought nothing would drop. Even the 'Heal Mushroom,' which usually drops with near certainty, didn't drop a single one after hunting four Matango."

Klein clicked his tongue.

The 'Heal Mushroom' had an HP recovery effect and could be sold for 20,000 gold, or used for personal recovery, making it a valuable item.

Because Matango were weak, Klein often hunted them for easy and efficient gold when he was short on funds.

This time, he had targeted Matango to make up for the deficit, but nothing dropped at all.

"...Maybe it was Luze's 'Great Luck.' It seems no other adventurers were chasing Matango. Klein said that those who knew about them kept it quiet to prevent overhunting, but it might just be that they don't drop anything and are inefficient to hunt normally."

"Damn, it's just a coincidence. Sure, there might have been some difference, but it couldn't have changed that much."

Despite his words, Klein's face showed a hint of regret.

Finding a well-suited adventurer with good conditions was not easy.

In that regard, Luze, who could handle both chores and combat at a low price, was valuable.

Although Luze's level was low, his speed was relatively high, allowing him to disrupt enemy formations and draw attacks, fulfilling the minimum requirements in combat.

If they had divided the reward from the previous drop and bought him a decent weapon, his lack of attack power could have been somewhat compensated.

Klein acknowledged that Luze's 'Great Luck' had likely influenced the item drop rate during their last 'Dream Hole' exploration.

"If he hadn't asked for a share of the 'Bloodstained Sword,' I would have kept him around."

The 'Bloodstained Sword,' a rare drop worth two million gold.

Klein didn't want to give this share to Luze, who was the only one with a low level.

"Should we call him back? Luze would probably return immediately if we asked. We can also handle the reward for rare drops ambiguously."

"Listen, Rees, I have my pride. After saying all that, I can't just ask him to come back. I'd rather die than bow to him. Fortunately, we have enough money thanks to that sword. We don't need to rush. If we only get greedy offers from adventurers of the same level, we can take our time to find a low-level, reasonable one."

As Klein spoke, he reached for the door of the Adventurer's Guild.

Rees noticed the commotion inside and frowned.

"Did someone defeat a high-level monster?"

Both of them turned their attention to the center of the commotion.

"A, an E-class adventurer who just graduated and an F-class adventurer are attempting to clear the 'Angel's Toy Box,' which is recommended for level 50!? We have already received reports of the 'Dream Hole' disappearing, but... really?"

The receptionist exclaimed in surprise.

In front of her stood the two they had recently parted ways with—Luze and Elma.

"Those two!?"

Klein found it hard to believe.

Elma was around level 20, like himself.

Luze's level was too low to be of any use in clearing the 'Angel's Toy Box.'

"We didn't clear it. We were attacked by the 'Dream Lord' in the 'Wandering King.' We have his magic stone, and if you doubt us, you can search for the other adventurers who were involved. We saved two of them."

"I understand. Since the 'Angel's Toy Box' had a reward for its clearance, we will confirm it."

Sometimes, 'Dream Holes' near cities and villages have clearance requests.

If left unattended, these 'Dream Holes' can spawn monsters and cause abnormal events that lead to monster disasters in the surrounding area.

The difficulty of 'Dream Holes' varies by location.

Some areas tend to have easier 'Dream Holes,' while others have more high-level ones.

Various theories exist, such as the influence of the mana flowing through the land or the bias of the sleeping god Alzaros, but the exact cause is unknown.

High-level adventurers tend to operate in cities where dangerous 'Dream Holes' are more likely to appear.

This is more profitable and beneficial to the kingdom.

Therefore, the city of Rondalme lacked adventurers capable of defeating the 'Dream Lord' in the 'Angel's Toy Box,' and the mayor, fearing its abandonment, offered a reward for its clearance.

"Hmm, there was a reward for clearance. I didn't check because I thought it was unrelated. How much is it?"

"Ten million gold."

Klein, who had been listening from a distance, opened his mouth wide in surprise at the amount.

"Ten million!?"

It was five times the market value of the 'Bloodstained Sword,' which had caused the incident with Luze.

"Ten million gold, huh. That's a welcome amount here."

"I should be happy, but... the drop items have numbed my senses, and I'm not sure how to react."

Luze muttered.

Klein didn't miss this.

The two of them were completely unfazed by the ten million gold.

"Is it... 'Great Luck'? Could they have obtained rare drops from the level 50 'Dream Lord'...?"

Elma had suddenly scouted Luze after learning about his 'Great Luck.'

Then, they immediately went after a big catch.

Moreover, they showed no fear in the face of ten million gold.

They must have obtained even higher-value drops.

Klein, who had been reluctant to acknowledge Luze's influence, had no choice but to admit it.

If they had been hunting for drops in the depths of the 'Angel's Toy Box' with the same drop rate as the low-level Matango, they could have easily earned several million, or even tens of millions of gold.

"The investigation shouldn't take long, so we can give you the ten million gold soon. According to guild regulations... we will promote you both to D-class. Luze, you will be skipping from F-class. ...This is a rare case of promotion due to defeating a high-level 'Dream Lord,' so I need to check the precedents."

The receptionist flipped through some documents.

"Luze, D-class..."

Klein had only recently been recognized as an E-class adventurer after much effort.

Rees was still an F-class adventurer.

The barrier to becoming a D-class adventurer was considered high, and in the city of Rondalme, there were only about ten D-class adventurers.

It was the level at which one was considered a fully competent adventurer.

"Luze... somehow, he's become a high-level existence. I thought he was doing well, but I didn't expect him to be that good. ...Maybe the fish we let go was bigger than we thought."

Rees said this as Klein dashed towards them.

"...Klein? What's going on?"

"Luze... I was wrong! I've changed my mind, please come back! We'll split the proceeds from the 'Bloodstained Sword' three ways!"

Klein bowed so low that his head almost touched the floor, pleading with Luze.

Luze and Elma looked at Klein's bowed head with cold eyes.

"Let's go, Luze. The investigation will take some time."

"...Okay."

Luze and Elma walked past Klein, who was bowing.

"Wait, wait a moment! Can't you at least hear me out!?"

Klein hurriedly chased after Luze.

"..."

Rees was taken aback.

It seemed that Klein's words about never bowing to Luze were now meaningless.