I've made a mistake, I realized as I ran through the halls, my legs aching with every step. Lili probably didn't weigh fifty pounds soaking wet, but her bag was another matter entirely. It was huge and packed to the absolute brim with what I could only assume were bricks. I couldn't even guess how much it weighed other than a lot. Worse, since it was on Lili's back, my balance was pretty much nonexistent.
"Is Mr. Jericho okay?" Lili asked, from her vantage on my back, her arms wrapped around my neck. I was forced to lean over so she wouldn't choke me just by holding on. At the very least, it made swiping at goblins and the like easier.
"I-I'm fine," I said, rivers of sweat falling off me with every movement. I've made a mistake but I'm too deep in at this point. If I back out now, after about...ten minutes of this, then she was going to think I was a wimp. Oh, and I want to get those stat gains, of course.
"Lili isn't sure she believes that...but, frog shooters up ahead Mr. Jericho," Lili called out at three frog shooters hopped into view. I licked my lips, tasting salt, as I gripped my new sword. Right. Three of them at once. I could manage that. I just had to get in close.
Taking a bracing breath, I pushed myself forward, ignoring the burn with every step I took. At once all three of the frog shooters seemed to notice me. Which made sense. The ceiling was pretty high, but between my height and Lili's backpack, I'm sure we made a pretty big target.
I rushed forward, breaking into as much of a sprint as I could manage but it was far too slow to close the distance between us before they could shoot their tongues. I raised my sword so the flat of it was facing towards them and picked a frog. Their tongues launched out at me at once, and I was too big for them to not hit. The one that I chose smacked into my blade with enough force that my sword nearly brained me, while the other two struck home, hitting just as hard.
One hit my thigh with enough force that my leg was knocked out from underneath me. The other hit me in the chest, nearly knocking me on my back. I kept my balance only because I expected it, pushing myself up as fast as I could. I could already feel the bruise forming on my thigh, making it flare with pain as I ran forward before they could fire off a second shot.
I didn't make it in time. "Mr. Jericho!" Lili shouted in my ear, firing off her crossbow, her arrows punching through a frog's eye, making it ribbit as it jerked to dislodge the arrow. The other two managed to fire a shot off before I got in striking range. A tongue hit me in the stomach, my armor absorbing the worst of the blow while I managed to block the other. With a snarl of my face, I took the final step forward as I brought down my sword, cutting through the two offending frogs in half with a single swing. After that, it was child's play to stab the final one to death.
"Whew," I breathed, wiping more sweat off my face with my unbloodied forearm. That was...good. I took a little damage, but my armor took the worst of it. My leg hurt though, but the pain was fading. Health?
120/121
"Lili thinks it might be a bad idea to fight with Lili on your back," Lili commented as she let go, dropping down to collect the magic stones.
I wiped sweat off my face, straightening out and my back feeling sore already. "...Yeah," I admitted, taking in a deep breath, cracking my neck. That hadn't been my best idea. "That bag sure is heavy though, I'm surprised that you can lift it." Now knowing just how stupidly heavy that bag was, it made the sight that much weirder because Lili barely seemed to notice the weight as she began digging up magic stones.
"That is because Lili has a Skill that helps her carry heavy bags for adventurers. It might look impressive, but Lili is very weak -- that's why Lili has to rely on strong adventurers like Mr. Jericho." Lili explained, sending me a smile that looked genuine. It was hard to remind myself that I probably couldn't trust anything she said. Lili, before Bell melted her heart with his teeth rotting sweet fluff, was kinda...in a self-destructive downward spiral.
She wanted out of the Soma familia, but she didn't trust anyone to help her do it. When she saw Bell talking to someone that she had screwed over, she assumed that Bell was going to betray her when he wouldn't elaborate on what was said, so she betrayed him first. If she had talked to him about what was going on, then a lot of drama could have been avoided, but she didn't because she didn't trust anyone.
"Huh, well, either way it's impressive," I answered, pushing my thoughts away from the topic. I needed to be aware I couldn't trust anything that she said, but at the same time I needed to chip away at the wall she built up around her heart. Words were meaningless to her. Action was the only thing that could convince her.
"Mr. Jericho is kind for saying so, but it's really not impressive. Most supporters have the Skill -- it's a shameful Skill if Lili is being honest. It means that all Lili is good for is carrying bags," Lili said, her tone not reflecting her words at all. Even still, it was hard hearing stuff like that. An emotional gut punch. Worse, I had no idea if those were her true thoughts or if she was trying to tug on my heartstrings.
"That's not true. You're a dead shot with that crossbow of yours, and, well, you seem to have a lot more common sense than I do," I said, watching her work. I flashed her a smile when she looked up at me.
I watched her work, if just because I would learn how to do it the normal way. Lili cut just under their rib cages, right at the diaphragm, stuck her hand underneath the sternum and pulled out a small sliver of a purple stone. The entire process took about thirty seconds, so it wasn't horribly slow, but compared to auto-loot…
I walked over to one, kicking it over to copy the movements that she made, I reached in - "Mr. Jericho shouldn't lower himself to retrieving magic stones. Lili can do this, she's just a mere supporter after all." Lili protested, earning a look from me.
"It's fine, I don't mind at all," I responded, shoving my hand into a frog's chest and searched around for the stone. It took a few seconds to find it since it was so small. Pulling it out, the frog was reduced to ash, letting me look at the stone. They were so small, no bigger than a fingernail and about as wide as a pencil. Then I dropped the stone in inventory, disguising it as putting it in the pouch that hung off my belt.
"Lili knows Mr. Jericho means well, but please let Lili do it. It's only right -- Mr. Jericho killed the monsters, he shouldn't have to do supporter work as well." Lili insisted something about this conversation sounds familiar. Did this happen in the anime? I don't remember.
"I don't mind helping out," I returned. "It makes me feel awkward watching someone else work while I'm twiddling my thumbs."
"If other adventurers see Mr. Jericho doing supporter work, then they'll think that Lili isn't a hard worker. They'll say all sorts of mean rumors about Lili, and she might not find any other adventurers willing to hire her. So, please Mr. Jericho, at least let Lili do this much," Lili pleaded, a smile on her face, but her beige cloak hood covered her eyes.
"I-" couldn't force the issue, could I? "Alright, I guess," I finished lamely, standing back up and watching her go to the last frog shooter.
"Thank you, Mr. Jericho," Lili said, digging the magic stone out with practiced ease. She deposited the magic stones into a small bag attached to her backpack, looking up at me with a beaming smile. "Lili still thinks its a bad idea to fight while carrying Lili and her bag on Mr. Jericho's back, but if Mr. Jericho is trying to...grind...stats, then would he like to carry Lili between fights?"
There was an idea. "Huh. Yeah, that's a lot smarter than what I was doing, wasn't it?" I muttered more to myself than here, though Lili did spare a giggle at my expense. I don't think my Intelligence stat governed my actual intelligence since I didn't feel any stupider than I did before, but I guess now that I was fighting in life or death scenarios, bad habits became more apparent. Like having an idea or goal and chasing after it directly when there were other better, easier, paths to take.
I've always been stubborn like that. Once I started doing something one way, I didn't like changing halfway through. It caused me more than a few problems, but there were times that stubbornness helped far more than it hindered.
I nodded at Lili, crouching back down, "let's do that then. Hope on."
…
We spent the rest of the day like that. Lili on my shoulder, slaughtering monsters as I racked up exp and magic stones. We made small talk -- me doing my best to convince her that I wasn't a scumbag that was about to rob and beat her, Lili giving half-answers and somehow telling me absolutely nothing about herself. It was a decent day, even if I was still light-years away from the progress I needed to make. I even got a new sword out of it.
"I think we did pretty well today," I voiced my thoughts, looking down at Lili. It hadn't clicked just how small Lili was until I walked beside her up the steps to the Guildhall. She was less than four feet tall, around 3'7 if I remember right. I was more than twice her size.
"Lili thinks so too," Lili agreed with a chipper nod. "Mr. Jericho might have an...unusual way of doing things, but Lili can't say Mr. Jericho doesn't get results. Is Mr. Jericho sure that he's only been an adventurer for two days?
"I am," I confirmed, feeling more than a little proud at her disbelief.
"Then Mr. Jericho is super amazing for a rookie adventurer! Lili can't remember the last time she supported a solo adventurer that killed so many monsters!" Lili praised, and that took the edge off my pride since I'm sure she was just buttering me up. So, I just smiled in response as a thank you.
We walked up to the Guildhall, seeing that it was mostly empty during the later part of the day. Those that went in later wouldn't come up until sometime at night, while those that went in early like me left hours ago. That meant that we didn't have to wait in a line to cash in our magic stones.
Lili handed me a sack filled with them that I passed through to the teller before I added my own sack. Both were pretty heavy with magic stones, I couldn't guess just how many stones there were. Over a hundred, at the very least.
"Your total is thirty thousand valis," the teller informed, pushing two large bags of gold our way. I heard Lili gasp behind me, telling me we just made a lot since I still didn't have a grip on how much a valis was worth. I recall her and Bell freaking out about...was it 20,000 valis?
"Thank you," I said, turning to Lili, her eyes darting up like she hadn't been eyeing the money like a dog over a bone.
"Well, Mr. Jericho, we should-" Lili started, looking off to the side, and it was for that reason she was nearly hit in the face with the sack of gold I tossed in her direction.
"Here you go," I said, dumping about 15,000 valis on goodwill. It hurt to do. Almost physically, but I did have the money to spare at the moment. I still had a big enough budget to buy my armor and supplies to make Hestia's night...relaxing when she got off. I would even have some leftover to start a piggy bank.
"W-what?" Lili asked, too startled to hide her shock. She stared down at the heavy bag of gold like it might vanish before her very eyes. "Y-you're splitting it evenly with me? Why? Mr. Jericho should-" She started to protest, turning her wide-eyed gaze back up to me. And there it was. The reaction of me completely stepping outside the mold that she built for those that called themselves adventurers.
"Should be paying you for your work in full," I dismissed her protests easily with a smile. Actions mattered, not words.
"But, Mr. Jericho -- Mr. Jericho carried Lili!" She blurted, then glanced away when she realized what she was announcing, searching for someone that might have overheard her. To put her at ease, I started to walk away from the teller to make sure he couldn't overhear either. "Lili was more of a burden than normal for adventurers. The work wasn't fifty-fifty," she pointed out.
She had a point, I had to admit. "Well...in that case, if you won't just accept it, then think of it as...hazard pay," I said, giving myself another mental pat on the back for that one. My other option was to think of it as a bribe to keep quiet about the guy that I...killed, which would remind her that I killed someone in the Dungeon. And that reminded me that I had killed someone in the Dungeon. I'm...still not going to think about that.
"Hazard pay?" Lili echoed, sounding doubtful, but less so than she was a moment ago. Now she was holding onto the money with a death grip, I doubt I could pry it from her hands even if I tried.
"I know today was a bit much for you. I don't exactly do things the smart way in the Dungeon," I admitted freely. "So, it's extra pay since I did put you in more danger than you would normally be in and I didn't exactly tell you that upfront. Thus, hazard pay."
"You're weird." I wouldn't have heard it if I wasn't trying to, but just underneath her breath, I heard her call me weird. Despite all the...mishaps, I was still on track with the Lili route. Fantastic.
"And, if you're willing, would you like to be my supporter tomorrow? I usually start around five in the morning, but if that's too early for you we can agree to meet at a time and I'll just pop back up." I offered, making Lili go silent. She stared down at the heavy bag of gold in her hands, then back up at me.
"That sounds good to Lili. She'll meet Mr. Jericho here at five o'clock!" She decided, throwing on a happy look. A hand twitched to offer it to shake to seal the deal, but I didn't want her to think I was trying to take the money back. Lili was as skittish as a cat in that regard. Instead, I offered a small wave as she started to leave.
"I'll see you then," I returned, watching her go. After waiting until she was firmly out of sight, I went back into the guildhall, found a quiet corner and reached down to my new bag looted off that guy. The contents was basic stuff including potions, so that alone was a win in my book. Just health and stamina potions. Once it was empty, I dumped my haul from yesterday into the bag. It bulged outwards, the seams threatening to tear.
I didn't have enough room, I realized. I mean, I still had plenty more left. After a moment of thought, I dumped more into my pouch -- it might look a bit odd, but I doubt that anyone would assume that I was pulling monster shards out of a pocket dimension. I stuffed it with loot, nearly emptying out my inventory of monster stones, though I still had some monster drops left, I made my way back to the teller.
"Sorry, forgot that I had these," I told him with what I hoped was a convincing grin. The slight man looked down at the bulging bags, then at me and I could practically see him giving a mental shrug.
"Your total is thirty-five thousand valis," he said, sliding over two more bags of gold my way. I picked them up, enjoying their considerable weight. I had money now! I could pay off my armor, load up on supplies, get some clothes, a bed and a couple other odds and ends. But...half of it was going to be spent on Hestia.
I made a promise, after all.
___________________
A/N— I'll try to post daily. Powerstones and comments would help, it would mean alot and give me the motivation to continue the story. In fact two chapters a day wouldn't be impossible either.
I'll post an extra chapter every 500ps power stones, no limit!
Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed.
Ps. You can also read ahead at my Patreon to support the story and help me write more. Patrons get two chapters a day and 30 chapters ahead for just a couple bucks :)
Patreon.com/Ethereal0