Chapter 106

I left home to Nihonium . Today, I continued my usual routine by diving into the fifth floor and kept hunting for Red Skeletons .

Concentrating to the best of my abilities, I maintained my hit rate at a 100% and also rose my MP from B to A .

After checking my status at the K-I-A board, I returned to the city with a sense of fulfillment .

Shikuro is as lively as ever too .

There weren’t any Magic Storm, no Double Sun, no Dungeon Masters, it was just your average adventurers roaming around and fighting monsters in the dungeon .

My legs were naturally heading back home, but suddenly I stopped .

Emily said something to me before I was going out this morning .

[I will be maintaining my hammer today desu~] (Emily)

Emily • Hammer . A customized weapon that Smith the owner of the weapon shop offered to her .

The motive was similar to an athlete, where they sponsor a certain product to a famous adventurer, and the more active the adventurers are, the more they can sell that product . It was the so-called advertisement billboards .

Emily had been active recently . With her level being maxed out, she would head to Shikuro’s dungeon—–especially in Arsenic where there were only rock type monsters, it was a huge success .

Being that active, I heard that nearly 70% of adventurers who dive into Arsenic used Emily’s Hammer .

[It’s almost similar to Air Jordan . ] (Ryouta)

That reminded me of the days when basketball shoes were the hype in my school .

Anyways, since Emily was busy all day with her maintenance, so I wouldn’t have any food to eat when I return home .

[Can’t be help, should I eat out then . ] (Ryouta)

While taking a stroll through the streets, I tried to remember restaurants that were serving meals right now .

Then, there was a shop that sells something like ramen .

From the whiff I could smell what seemed to be tonkotsu or iekei, and the umami which made it seemed to be a wonderful ramen .

Suddenly missing those tastes, I tried entering the store .

Don!

I bumped into someone just before entering the shop .

[Sorry——Eh?] (Ryouta)

[Eh……Ah… . . I’m sorry……]

It was the guy from one of the pair of man and woman who was attached to the elderly man .

The elderly man had methods of brainwashing like people in cults or a black company by connecting words with their dreams and emotions .

He was that victim .

He……looked even worse than when I last met him .

[I’m sorry, I was sort of daydreaming . ]

[That’s fine but… . you alright?] (Ryouta)

[……]

[Oi . ] (Ryouta)

[…… . Eh? Sorry, I wasn’t listening . ]

The guy was dazing while looking at the sky .

The heart wasn’t here……or not . He clearly was exhausted from rushing into dangerous situation .

[Then…… . ]

[Wait a mo . ] (Ryouta)

I inadvertently detained the man from leaving .

If this goes any longer it’ll leave a bad taste to my mouth, as he reminded me of myself before I came here .

☆

In the ramen shop, a man was having a look of surprise .

Flattening the 3rd bowl of ramen and stacking it on top of the first two, as well as devouring the fried foods I ordered from the side menu .

[Another one please——Ah, I’m sorry, I unconsciously . ]

[It’s alright, I’ve already said that I’m going to treat you, so you don’t have to apologize and continue ordering more . ] (Ryouta)

Thinking that he might refrained from ordering anymore, I opened my mouth and made an additional order .

I bought him in the store because I wanted to treat him as he looked like he was about to collapse at any moment . Although he refrained at the beginning, but soon he fell for the fragrance of the ramen in front of him and his instincts took over .

This amount of dishes… . . was more than I expected .

By the way I could not eat it .

How do I put it, the seasoning made the taste too strong that it could not match with my tongue .

Though the taste itself shouldn’t be that bad, as the interior of the shop has grown pretty well and the surrounding guests were feasting it .

It’s probably… . . the fact that my tongue had been fattened by Emily’s dishes .

I watched the man as he wolfed down the fourth bowl .

[Thank you for the meal . ]

[Don’t mind . Uhmm…Aah, my name is Satou Ryouta, you can call me by either Satou or Ryouta . ] (Ryouta)

Speaking of, we never knew each other’s name, thus I introduced myself from here .

[My name’s Cliff, thanks Ryouta . ] (Cliff) (TLN: Another cliff?!?!)

[Was that enough? If it’s not I can order more again . ] (Ryouta)

[It’s alright, but seriously thanks . ] (Cliff)

[I see……anyways, what’s happening with you? Are you not eating enough?] (Ryouta)

I knew the reason… . . but I decided to ask anyway .

[I wasn’t paid yet . So it has been three days of not having meals . ] (Cliff)

[3 consecutive days? Doesn’t Cliff dive into dungeon and make money?] (Ryouta)

[We are… . Oh there is one other friend but the money is under the control of the captain, so we get paid from him . ] (Cliff)

[What about salary?] (Ryouta)

[Not enough . ] (Cliff)

[How is it not enough? How much are you paid?] (Ryouta)

[If I’m not mistaken I was paid 30k Piros last month . ] (Cliff)

[That’s the pocket money for a kid!] (Ryouta)

[Eh?] (Cliff)

[Aah, it’s nothing . ] (Ryouta)

I accidentally tsukkomi myself, and Cliff seemed to be suspicious .

No wait, he had the face of weirded out .

This worlds currency, [Piro] is almost equal to [Yen] .

Even the price for this ramen was similar, a normal bowl is worth 700 Yen and a large bowl costs an additional 100 Piro .

With such prices, he has a salary of 30k per month .

[Can you even live like this——-Ah, sorry . ] (Ryouta)

When I saw Cliff looking at me with that expression, I apologized .

Because he can’t live like that was why he is like this right now .

[It can’t be help, we weren’t earning much . ] (Cliff)

[Was it that bad?] (Ryouta)

[Plus we were also injuring ourselves and our weapons and armors would need repairs, so that amount would be deducted from the captain . ] (Cliff)

[Hmm… . ] (Ryouta)

So consumable items and equipments are deducted too?

It seemed to be reasonable but somehow it was still strange .

It can’t be just 30k that less per month .

Cliff cast downwards, and was depressed .

[Sometimes I wonder, is this job not suitable for me?] (Cliff)

[Is that so?] (Ryouta)

[I think that there are other places where we can demonstrate our strengths, but if we were to tell that to the captain he would think we are amiable . ] (Cliff)

[Well I don’t think so at all, I think it’s a great way of thinking . ] (Ryouta)

[But that’s the truth . ] (Cliff)

[Huh?] (Ryouta)

[When the captain picked me up, my status were awful, my ability was low, and my Drops, besides Vegetation which was E the rest was F . ] (Cliff)

[Ah, I see . ] (Ryouta)

It sounded similar to Emily when I first met her .

If that was it… . . then he really had no choice .

[Did your drop not increase at all?] (Ryouta)

[Eh?] (Cliff)

[Eh?] (Ryouta)

Cliff was surprised, and I was too .

Why? Why did he responded with an [Eh?] .

[What… . do you mean by that?] (Cliff)

[What do you mean, it’s common sense though . ] (Ryouta)

[Drops can grow?] (Cliff)

[Wait, isn’t that normal… . . Since you can level up too . ] (Ryouta)

[…… . ] (Cliff)

I was amazed as I thought this was common sense for everyone .

I opened my eyes widely, and I tried to open my mouth but I stopped and decided to keep quiet .

I remembered what I saw back when I was in the dungeon, the so called captain was spouting nonsense about being grateful and having dreams .

[Don’t tell me……he told you that drops can’t be increased at all?] (Ryouta)

Cliff nodded .

[It can… . go up?] (Cliff)

[Well there are those who can’t increase, but never once I know it cannot be increased at all . ] (Ryouta)

At least my friends had some growth before their levels maxed out .

Cliff was astonished .

After paying for the meal, I took him out of the store .

Walking through the busy streets .

[Why not check it for yourself?] (Ryouta)

[Because I was told by the captain that if I were to see my own abilities I would limit myself . The status won’t determine whether I’m strong or not, but whether I as a human being will be able to surpass my limits . ] (Cliff)

[My god, this is a quibble . ] (Ryouta)

Although that’s what he said, but there was no way to not check for it yourself .

Perhaps that elderly man was cleverly controlling Cliff, preventing him from looking at it and making him inferior about his Vegetation being at E .

This is really pissing me off .

I brought Cliff to the tool store in the city .

I then bought a consumable item to check the status and give it to him . Even if you don’t go into the dungeon to check on the K-I-A board, there’s an item which can check it .

[Try using it . ] (Ryouta)

[A, aah . ] (Cliff)

Being told to use it, Cliff used it an his status was displayed .

[Aren’t your level already maxed out! How much was he using you for!] (Ryouta)

[This is… . my… . ] (Cliff)

[Besides being fairly strong, your your magic is stronger . ] (Ryouta)

[Oh, is that so . ] (Cliff)

Cliff was perplexed, but more than that .

[Onto the next, this is the deciding factor . ] (Ryouta)

[O,ooh . ] (Cliff)

I heard him drinking the consumable .

Then it displayed Cliff’s drop status .

[…… . Eh?] (Cliff)

[I told you so . ] (Ryouta)

I let Cliff burned this into his memory, letting him remember the anger towards that elderly man .

[The numbers don’t lie, this place won’t be able to demonstrate your ability, but places like Indole . ] (Ryouta)

Cliff was stunned .