Chapter 9

Hello everyone,

Due to the frequent delay in chapter releases, I decided to start pre-release the unedited chapter.

The edited version will be released immediately when the editing process is complete.

I will leave the editor name blank for the unedited version

That’s all from me.

Enjoy the chapter ????

——–

There were probably more than 100 monsters.

Haruki, who finished off the Killer Rabbits’ rampage by fighting continuously with his whole energy for 30 minutes, fell to the floor on his back, after making sure no monsters were still alive.

A soft feel was transmitted to his back.

He totally forgot that he was fighting while carrying a bag full of meat.

The inside of his throat, body, and head were all hot.

Haruki was breathing frantically.

His body trembled as soon as he began to relax.

If at that time I was hit by an attack…

If at that time I let the Killer Rabbits through the passage…

His body trembled minutely when he thought of the worst possible results.

It was really nice that such a future didn’t occur.

Haruki was laughing in the middle of his thought.

The battle with monsters was fun.

But the emotions and fears he showed were different.

It was like a roller coaster or a haunted house, fun and scary at the same time.

So, Haruki is now laughing while frightened.

“Ah, I’m glad I’m alive.”

He severely experienced the value of life.

“Um…….”

A delicate voice arrived in the ears of Haruki who was breathing roughly.

It felt stiff, but it was a gentle voice like a little dog’s caress.

“Yes?”

“Huh!?”

The girl startled when he turned his face.

By the way, he was still wearing a strange mask.

Hm…, well, alright.

I would still notice you, even if you didn’t shout!

“So, what?”

“……tha, thank you for helping me.”

“That is nothing……”

Haruki’s words didn’t last beyond that, because she held Haruki’s hand while looking at him with her red eyes.

“Really, really…… thank you very much. I thought I was dead. When I was abandoned by my adventurer group…… I thought I was finished…….”

Even though she sniffled, again and again, she continued to say her thankful words.

Ah…….

I’m glad that she is alive.

I’m really glad that she is saved.

From the bottom of Haruki’s heart, a warm emotion gradually rose.

Because if she had passed away, it would be impossible to relieve her pain and despair like this.

After Haruki’s breath calmed down, he picked up a corner of a Killer Rabbit’s corpse, one of many that filled the floor surface.

As expected, it is impossible to carry more meat, and it is not tasty if it is butchered without bleeding. Even if I forcibly bring it back and sell it, the most I can earn is only a small amount of money.

The total number of remaining horns was 48.

Haruki’s bag wasn’t enough, so he decided to have her hold it.

Hah, hah, hah. (TLN: SFX of exhausted breath)

With this, my income will increase!

I somehow managed to recover the armor expenses, and managed to gain more income.

“……I am Kurosaki Karen, thank you so much for your help.”

“Ah, I’m glad you are safe.”

“Um, are you a Sapporo ranker?”

“No, I’m an ordinary low-class adventurer.”

Sapporo also had strong people who were within the 100 ranks of “Let’s Be” ranking.

But Haruki was not included.

“Low class!? Then, why did you jump into the Monsters Rampage!?”

“Ah, um…… I was in a daze?”

“It was a Monster Rampage that even an adventurer who was active on the 9th floor of “Chikaho” has fled, isn’t it? I can’t believe a low-class adventurer cutting through it just because you were in a daze.”

Karen stared at Haruki’s eyes with a serious expression.

“Do you have a reason not to reveal your identity?”

“Well…….”

As Karen said, Haruki had a reason to not say it.

The fact that Haruki was able to annihilate the Rampage was thanks to the skill points he allocated.

He wanted to explain it.

However, he was able to annihilate the Rampage only because he allocated the skill points.

How far the uproar created from this fact…….

Every adventurer, without a doubt, would try to obtain this skill board.

Even by killing Haruki.

“Oh yeah, are those three adventurers your acquaintances?”

Haruki, who was troubled with the answer, forcibly changed the topic.

“No…….”

Karen pursed her lips and gave a gloomy expression.

“They were members of a team that I recruited from the website. This time, I thought they would help me to subjugate monsters…… but.”

I guess it reminded her of the time when she was abandoned.

Tears started gathering in her eyes.

If they were ordinary people, it was inevitable that they would abandon her and run away.

However, it was not a problem that could be overlooked if adventurers such as they abandoned her, a novice.

Moreover, they had planned something bad…….

While recalling their conversation, Haruki’s stomach was eager to move.

Adventurers professionally protect people.

They must never treat allies violently nor abandon someone weaker than them-self.

Of course, there were scenes where there was no choice but to abandon strangers.

There might be circumstances where even team members must be abandoned.

However, they abandoned a job they undertook themselves.

That’s why Haruki’s condition became worse.

Haruki couldn’t accept behaviors that insulted the rankers he so admired, nor other adventurers.

*********

“Hey look, my store’s income is more than twice, 200%, of last year!”

“Grrrr…….”

Yutsuki Akane closed the armor dealership at five o’clock, a few minutes ago, and went to jeer at its neighbor, the materials purchase station.

She fluttered today’s sales report in front of the big, plain, well-liked branch manager.

“Hey, how does this store’s achievement? How does it?”

“Noisy, you are so noisy! Even though we’re both branch managers, I’m your senior, aren’t I? Don’t you know something like a proper attitude?”

“In this world, results are everything. The young and beautiful me who can show a good result, compared to you who are a little older with an ordinary appearance and an ordinary result, don’t you understand who is superior?”

“Who is old!?”

What an intolerant person you are?

I just fan you a little, but your face becomes red…….

Yup, this feels great!

“If you are annoyed, why not try to surpass me with something other than age?”

“Grrrr!”

Naturally, this big, plain, well-like woman’s attitude and her poor character mean nothing to Akane…… or so it should be.

It was said that it’s good to be young.

With hatred as the detonator, the big, plain, well-liked lady will be making efforts to increase her performance from now on.

In other words, all of her behaviors were for the company ……probably.

When Akane was fanning the material store’s branch manager, a pair of adventurers, one male and one female, appeared in the store.

“Welcome.”

The branch manager was letting out a soft call, and her expression which was fanned by Akane disappeared completely and changed into a business smile.

Usually, she will issue fanning words from the side if she was seeing a situation like this.

But Akane’s focus was taken by the man of the couple.

Chapter end

She saw that the man wore a mask that startled everyone.

He is the prey…… ah no, I mean the customer who came to my shop today.

He must have immediately tried the effectiveness of his armor in the dungeon.

His armor has become a little bit dirty.

In addition, he wears that seemingly-cursed mask.

It is terrifying to behold that scary thing.

And this branch manager, who didn’t change her tone even after seeing him wearing that unique mask, was as expected.

Even so, her experience was different compared to Akane’s.

Well, what kind of material does he bring back from the dungeon?

Akane was interested.

If I know this, I can correctly measure his ability and his wallet’s content.

In addition, I can forcibly sell the items that seem appropriate for him.

While hiding near the wall, she measured the condition of the raw material purchased by the shop.

A large quantity of horns was taken out from the couples’ bags.

Those are surely Killer Rabbits’…….

Killer Rabbit’s offensive power is so-so, but it is an intellectual creature that takes evasive and feinting actions that could not be seen on the previous floors.

Battle skill is necessary to beat it down, so it is absolutely difficult for beginners to subjugate it.

Perhaps even a fast-growing adventurer would take a month to subjugate Killer Rabbit starting from scratch.

The materials they brought were more than 100 horns.

Since female Killer Rabbits don’t have horns, that means they defeated more than 100 male Rabbits.

They were predicted to defeat 200 rabbits if the combined ratio of males and females was 1: 1.

If it was collected in just a month, he should not be a talented person who stopped at the bronze class only.

That was because if he delivered 100 horns every day, he would earn 2 million yen – the minimum standard income of silver class – in just 10 days.

As expected, that man is at least a silver class.

Even if he is unskilled, he seems to at least have the abilities for gold class.

“Thank you very much for today. The purchase price of 101 Killer Rabbits’ horns will be 202,000 yen. Are you okay with this assessment?”

“Yes!”

“……well, are you going to use the team distribution function?”

“Eh? What is that?”

Has he always solo’d until now?

It seems like he doesn’t know of the team distribution function.

The IC card managed incomes and expenditures at the same time.

Even if you decided to distribute later, when the leader secured income for the team, the card would calculate it as individual income.

Of course it was possible to deduct the distribution of the team directly from the IC card, but it couldn’t be handled as expenses because it would be caught by tax evasion’s counter measures.

Therefore, it is unusual for only leaders to pay taxes.

The team distribution was used to compensate it.

It was possible to charge the team members one by one by inputting the amount of money obtained from materials sold on the register side in advance.

Distribution could correspond from direct input of numerical value to percentage method.

In the case of an amount that could not be divided nicely, it was also possible for shops to cover single digits. That was a service from the store.

Of course, this store also has these kinds of services.

“Well then, please distribute it.”

“Tha, that is not good! I haven’t done anything after all.”

“No, didn’t you carry the horns?”

“I’m just carrying it; I have not helped the battle.”

Was she perhaps a supporter?

Both of the customers started to argue.

Such a scene was rare.

Nonetheless, usually supporter would demand money…….

“Then, let’s make it half as much as Karen carried. The income for that part will be zero if Karen didn’t carry the horns, so this is thanks to Karen, isn’t it?”

“But…….”

The man brought his mouth near to Karen’s ear as she tried to rebut.

When he whispered something, Karen easily compromised with the man’s idea.

But…….

While seeing both of them, Akane felt her body become numb.

Clearly, Akane had been convinced that the Killer Rabbits were defeated by both of them.

However, the fact was different.

It was he, who wore a strange mask, that mercilessly collected the Killer Rabbits’ horns!

The average number of monsters subjugated in a day was at most 50 monsters.

Even for the so-called “Let’s Be” rankers, who seriously hunt in a party, at most could only hunt 100 monsters.

However, he defeated twice those numbers…….

Of course, Akane had considered the possibility of those horns being collected in a few days.

However, if so, he wouldn’t say “the income for that part will be zero.”

That means it was just in one day…….

Akane’s eyes were shining suspiciously.

If he becomes more skillful, my shop income will increase even more.

*Slurp* Akane licked her lips.

“I am very sorry. I can’t distribute only 48 of the assessed horns.”

“Wait a minute!”

Akane, who couldn’t endure it anymore, cut off the branch manger’s words.

(Hey, what’s wrong with you?)

(Why don’t you recalculate it?)

(Even if you re-appraise the carry-in amount, you still settle it overtime.)

(Ha!?)

(Don’t you know our overtime is very strict? I don’t want to be scolded later.)

(You are a fool. You really are a fool, right!?)

Akane jerked and shook the branch manager’s nape.

They are without a doubt high-class customers.

What will happen to us if we can’t meet their demand?!

If we refuse to re-assess it, they will go to other veteran shop like Kawashima or Harima.

The 101 horns that would have been secured will become nothing!

In addition, we will send salt to our rivals!! (TLN: In Japanese, “Sending Salt to Your Enemy” means showing humanity even to one’s enemy.)

“I am very sorry, could you spare a little time?”

“Oh, well…… yes, it’s okay.”

Surprised by the appearance of Akane, the man’s eyes widened and he awkwardly nodded.

If we give him a benefit here, he will go to our shop even more.

That kind of chance is hanging in front of us.

Wasting it is utterly impossible!

Akane immediately revised the 48 horns from the beginning.

She transferred 53 pieces and 50% of 48 pieces to the male side and deposited the remaining amount to the girl’s IC card.

“Thank you very much~.”

Seeing the adventurers leave the store after the distribution was finished, Akane waved her hand while smiling.

Next to her, the branch manager trembled.

“You……. Why are you doing as you please in my shop!”

“If you don’t understand that kind of thing, you will never able to increase your profit.”

The manager conduct was by the book.

In addition, revision also took a lot of time.

If compared to the cost, the income earned was too low.

Moreover, it was scary to be scolded by the area manager from headquarters if she works overtime.

So in the short term, it was more appropriate and easier to induce changes in distribution method.

That was in the end our circumstances.

For adventurers, as customers, those things are not their concern.

It is useless to capture an immediate benefit, but miss a big fish. (TLN: “miss a big fish” means miss a big opportunity.)

Lavishing such friendly service will cultivate a large bouquet of money…… ah, that’s wrong; flowers would bloom in the future.

Even now, I believe that one day it will give me the edge on my superior, therefore, steady action must be taken.

“I will report your action today to headquarters.”

“That’s okay. Someday, you will cry out that you secured such good customers thanks to me. At that time, it will be too late to apologize.”

“Good grief, I can’t say anything.”

Of course, the future when that branch manager is weeping because of Akane would not come.

That is because the large flower would always bloom for Akane.

That future when Akane send the bouquet is close by.

But she who brought the bouquet would be the messenger of misfortune……

Chapter end