"Ugh!"
"Don't move yet. Your wound hasn't healed yet."
"Did you save me?"
"I even used my advanced potion to do it."
Mr. Bear was awake and had a complicated expression. He seemed happy to be alive, but also a little doubtful. Well, he must know how much benefit we could have seen if he died.
"Thank you, 30 million stones would be..."
That might not have been the exact amount, but since it was Jencia's estimate and she had a lot of experience with looting, it must have been more or less correct. Mr. Bear, who knew the psychology of explorers well, muttered under his breath, "...I was lucky."
I agreed. In this situation, how many explorers might choose to resurrect rather than wait to die?
"I'll pay for the advanced potion." Well, that's obvious. "How much does it cost?"
"Hmm, five million stones should be enough."
"...An advanced potion should cost around a million."
"Is that so? Then it seems the merchants cheated me."
At my astute behavior, Mr. Bear seemed stunned for a second, then smiled. "Certainly, the price of an item can change depending on the circumstances." As a seasoned Rank 5 explorer, he seemed to have understood exactly what I meant. "Five million stones... That's a reasonable price."
"Thank you for thinking that."
"What are you talking about?"
Stay still. Let the adults speak.
"But right now I don't have that much money. I'll pay you five million stones when we get back to the city."
"Hmm."
"Instead, I'll leave you this item. I'd like you to return it to me once I've paid you." Mr. Bear took out a skull-shaped bracelet and handed it to me. "It's a numbered item. I only wore it once, but it's still worth more than five million stones."
Afterward, Mr. Bear briefly explained the object to me, but even if he hadn't, I already knew what it was. No. 7611, The Necromancer's Deception. When the wielder received mortal damage, they fell into suspended animation and gained immunity to harm for a certain time. It broke after three uses.
I wondered how he was still alive. It must be because of this.
I asked him if he wouldn't give me this instead, but Mr. Bear firmly stated that it was a guarantee and swore to pay me back in cash. "Don't even think about stealing it, Bjorn, son of Yandel."
What the hell, how did you know?
When I shuddered, Mr. Bear chuckled. "I've heard about the barbarian who travels with someone from the cat tribe. And that young woman also mentioned your real name a few times."
"Uhh, did I say that?"
"Don't worry. I understand the feeling of not wanting to attract attention. I won't tell anyone."
"Don't worry. I understand the feeling of not wanting to attract attention. I won't tell anyone."
I was glad. I didn't know anything else, but it would be a little annoying if this reached Dwalkie or Hikurod's ears, as I avoided them by saying that I received a commission to be here.
«So what happened? Is the fox dead? And you two killed the guardian?». Mr. Bear, who had returned from the dead, first finished calculating the cost of his life and then asked about the situation. I just nodded my head because I couldn't get into all the details. Fortunately, Mr. Bear, who knew the etiquette of an explorer, did not interfere. «Little Balkan, Bjorn, son of Yandel. I thought it was exaggerated, but looking at today's work, it doesn't seem like it».
He must have been surprised that the two of us knocked down the guardian alone. Anyway, after deciding on a time and place to meet back in the city and distribute his share of mana stones, Mr. Bear's wounds had completely healed.
«Bjorn, son of Yandel, and Missha Karlstein. Thanks for saving me. I won't forget this».
With that, the man rode out of the crack through the portal. A great guy until the end.
After Mr. Bear left, we took a moment to watch The Necromancer's Deception. Two of the three jewels shone. In other words, there were two uses left.
I'll wear it until I return it.
Just in case, I hooked the bracelet to my wrist. I remembered Mr. Bear's words to keep it well before returning it, but...
Well, I'll put it to good use before that.
Anyway, I put this matter aside and took some time to think.
Five million stones...
In exchange for the higher quality potion, I got decent compensation. Well, if you thought about 30 million stones, it was just a drop in the sea.
I guess I've become a real savage.
To be honest, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't greedy at all. Plus, I didn't have to go through the effort. Whether Mr. Bear was good or bad, if he had waited patiently, he would have received a sum sufficient to improve the Soul Impression up to level 6.
I poured a potion on his wound not out of philosophical reasoning that letting someone die for money that could be obtained otherwise would not set me apart from a looter, but out of Missha.
«Why are you looking at me like that? It's making me anxious again.»
«No es nada.»
Whether my code of ethics was corrupted or not, I decided it wasn't something I could do while my future colleague was by my side. However, after it was all over, I started thinking.
What if he was alone?
It wasn't just about enjoying wealth and glory. In this world, money was power, and it was like life. If it weren't for Missha, what choice would she have made in the face of that enormous temptation?
...It's probably not a question to worry about anymore.
Whether he wanted to or not, as long as he continued working as an explorer, one day he would learn the answer. So I finished my thoughts and packed my things.
«Hey? Aren't we going out?»
Where would we go? There were still two things to take with us. I took Missha through the ice passage. It was originally blocked, but was revealed earlier when the tyrant Tarunbas appeared. If we moved through this passage, we would reach the second chapter we were in previously.
«Wow... how do you know something like that? Information about gggcracks is very expensive».
«Thanks to Ragna».
«Oh...that woman...» When I used Ragna opening the secret library for me as an excuse, Missha accepted it and moved on. Maybe it was because she didn't read anything, but she tended to believe me when I told her I had read it in a book.
"Bam!
After reaching the second chapter, I climbed the stairs backwards and broke the third pillar from above. The item he had overlooked while watching the mafia permanently increased Cold Resistance when he picked it up.
[You have taken a piece of ice imbued with mana. Cold Resistance increases +1 permanently].
Since Missha had enough Cold Resistance, I picked it up. Although I was thinking of giving him the next one. After passing the first chapter, we left the Glacier Cave. Then we passed the frozen lake and headed to the starting point.
"Bam!
After breaking a small pond near the starting point with my mace, I dove into the icy water and took out a red ice bead.
«Take, eat».
«Shouldn't you tell me what comes first?»
Would I feed you something bad?
Still, I explained it to her briefly, which freed Missha from her anxiety, and she swallowed it.
[Missha Karlstein has taken Ice Crystal. Cold Sensitivity permanently increases +3.]
In reality, the Ice Crystal was the characteristic object of the Glacier Cave. In addition to increasing sensitivity, it could be eaten up to three times, so when an ice cream-type character grew up, he always came to Glacier Cave at first.
I'll have to come back here next time after the cool down.
I was quite cold from diving, so I lit a bonfire and dried myself. I put on the clothes I had taken off before. «Then we're done».
«Oh, are we finally leaving?»
You would like.
I took a blanket out of the bag.
«...Why do you open a blanket?»
«We don't sleep much on night duty. Let's rest a little before we go». There was no safer place than a clear crack in the maze. It was a little cold, but there was no better place than this to sleep well. «Don't worry. There is no one here but us».
«...I see. So we'll just rest for a while?»
«Yeah. It's cold, so come here. Let's share the blanket».
«...Should we?»
The cold breeze brushed my nose. The bonfire was hot. It was night, so the dark blue Milky Way stretched over the sky and flickered.
«Bjorn... are you sleeping?»
¡Honkkkkk!
«Estás esss?»
We close our eyes for a while.
***
[You have entered the glass cave on the first floor.]
Rank 5 scout Abman Urikfried opened his eyes in the Crystal Cave and let out a long sigh. That's when he realized it.
...I'm alive.
After leaving the team he had long been associated with due to an incident, he had been working on his own. Through that, he experienced many crises as the maze was not an easy place to wander alone. But it had never been as dangerous as this time. He knocked on death's door before narrowly coming back to life.
...I've been lucky.
I kept thinking this, but it was true. Despite knowing the crazy bitch who entered the rift and hid her identity for the purpose of looting others, there was an explorer on the team who was good enough to save her without having any connection to him. And it also turned out that he had an advanced potion. What were the chances of that?
I'll have to make an offering to the temple when I get back or something.
No matter how many times I thought about it, it was truly a miracle. After enjoying the glow of survival for a while, he changed the subject in his head.
Anyway, Bjorn, son of Yandel?
Little Balkan, Bjorn, son of Yandel. I had heard his name many times in the city. Of course, back then, he didn't think much about it, just that there was a peculiar new guy among them. For a rank 5 scout like him, a scout with a nickname was nothing strange.
Era interested.
He was different from the average barbarian. Although he may seem simple and ignorant, he was skilled, fast and good at negotiating. To put it bluntly, he was like a barbarian who had been an explorer for a long time. Pure, but never naive. That's how he noticed the black heart of the woman he didn't even know.
Did he earn a nickname in the third month and is he already so seasoned? Someday it will be great.
There was no resentment towards him. No, on the contrary, there was only a feeling of gratitude. They said that chasing money was an explorer's destiny, but how many explorers had he met who were devoured by money? Order five million stones for a treatment? Arguably, the barbarian had fulfilled his scout duty just by not stripping Abman of his equipment. This only seemed more special, considering the large number of those who had forgotten that duty.
That's probably why that woman follows him so much.
Abman remembered the cat woman who seemed to be his teammate. The barbarian gave him the Yeti and Guardian essences in exchange for nothing.
That woman is also very lucky.
It must have been a blessing to have a partner like that. If only his former colleagues were half as big as him, he wouldn't be working this way alone.
No wait...
At first, it was just a fleeting thought. However, he changed his expression and seriously considered it. I was starting to hesitate to work alone because of this incident.
Certainly, a guy like this might not be bad. Even I can't work alone forever. And it seems that they also only have two people.
Abman soon made a decision. The various clans and regular teams that had tried to recruit him would be upset if they found out, but… oh well.
I'll have to bring it up when we see each other again in the city.
He liked this barbarian very much.