Chapter 131: After After
———Lerim———
<2: 32 pm>
“There shouldn’t be any need for maintenance. That collar will keep him from utilizing mana, if he tries to, he will receive quite the backlash.” She finished up the explanation, looking at me as if bored more than anything.
I still can’t believe that actually worked…
“With that, you shouldn’t have any problem with keeping him detained.” She said before walking off, not even bothering to look back. She just left without saying anything else… I guess that’s just like her, at least based on my own impression.
The guy is fast asleep and he’s in for a rude awakening. A collar meant for disabling the use of magic. I kinda still can’t believe that no one else managed to replicate this item by this point. I mean, surely someone else figured it out by now, were they just slacking off or don’t feel like sharing? I could’ve sworn there were rumors of other methods that should be replicable that aren’t literal war crimes.
Alright, let’s get out of here and go do my own thing. By that I mean I want to go find something to eat and sleep the rest of the day off. That fight with that mouse girl took a lot of mana, and those things don’t replenish just because I snack on food and take a quick nap.
———Lynda———
<2: 38 pm>
“Were we seriously in there for that long? It certainly doesn’t feel like it.” Fiss remarked once she checked the time.
“It’s pretty easy to lose track of time in there since there’s zero indication of time inside, and we’re mostly worried about, you know, not dying.” It’s not like everything time-related just stops working, it’s just that checking for time isn’t really a priority. “Anyway, it’s time we cash in and then split it 50/50.”
“Ah, right. You did say we can get money for this…” …I mean, why else would people willingly risk their lives? What exactly did she have in mind? I could’ve sworn the dungeon trip also told us about this in the first place.
“Okay, let’s quickly go to the guild and unload all this stuff. By the way, if you get hurt badly when inside, they can heal you with the healers they hired, or you can just go to the shady clinic not too far away.” I gave her some advice that would really only matter for as long as she stayed here. It felt kinda weird to advocate for a shady guy like that red-haired man, but he is the cheaper alternative and he really hasn't done anything wrong, just being slightly odd.
“Clinic?” She obviously doesn't know about the place. I don’t really see other people talking about it either, despite the eccentric yet effective doctor residing inside. Sometimes some things just fell under the radar. The only reason we even found it was because I slipped up that one time. Glery always get a bit fierce when I got in trouble like that.
“I’ll show you later, for now, let’s go to the guild.” I said, leaving it at just that for now. Hopefully she likes bread. I like it, but definitely not as much as that weirdo… Hold on, I just remembered something. I never get to ask Doctor Cevin if that guy is his acquaintance. Glery and I talked about confronting him about it and we never did…
Honestly, who can blame us for that? It’s not really an urgent thing to inquire, and a lot of things really piled up so it’s really easy to forget.
But back to what I am doing right now, we’re finally inside the guild. It’s a bit busier than usual, but the line for unpacking the loot is thankfully empty, we can get this done in a flash.
“Alright dude, you know the drill.” I said to the receptionist, not feeling like saying anything formally while showing him my card. “Two of us here got the stuff. She doesn’t have a permit yet, working under me.”
He silently took the loot and inspected my card before giving it back.
“Please wait while we calculate the reward.” He said the typical thing, to which I simply nodded and brought Fiss to a table for us to sit at.
“That seems a little… rough.” She commented once both of us sat down, having nothing else to do but wait.
“With how many times I’ve been here, I think they’re quite glad I stopped beating around the bush. It’s not as if they have a lot of rules to follow anyway.” There hasn’t been any update on… anything related to the dungeon exploration job just yet. I wonder if they’re thinking about extending all this stuff to involve Fantarban Realms as well. I feel like people haven’t really been talking about it as much as they should have. “People tend to be more blunt with frequent customers, right? It’s just like that.”
“I guess, I just didn’t expect both sides to sound so dispassionate.” She replied. What else could she possibly be expecting?
“It saves time and energy, let’s leave it at that.” Not really something worth talking about. “So, what exactly was your thought on it? You were doing fine, but you don’t look all too happy about it.”
“Ah. I mean, it’s my first time actually doing it, discounting that trip. It felt kinda… I don’t know, unglamorous?” She said with uncertainty. Was she talking about how drab the dungeon is, or how little fanfare there actually is?
“You mean… like in the atmosphere or what?” I don’t really know what she expected, and I don’t think the trip had really painted a super fantastical feel to the experience. I wonder if the Fartarban Realm trip would be any different.
“Something like that. It doesn’t really help that the place looks rather dull. Like aside from the tenth floor every room looks like caves more than anything.” She elaborated. “Maybe if I remembered more about the trip, I wouldn’t have that kind of expectation.”
“...I just realized something. That trip was before you were forced to stay on the school campus, right? How did your parents let that? Aren’t they afraid of the trip possibly taking a really long time for something?” It’s not like we knew about buses being able to teleport before the trip.
“I don’t really know? Maybe they promised it won’t take long or something. My parents aren’t exactly known for being distrustful.” She said, making it clear that she doesn’t know the full details of the negotiation. “And ultimately it didn’t take that long. We skipped the return trip entirely so we end at the same time as a regular school day.”
“I see…” I guess the reasoning is just that simple. A promise. Considering all the crazy stuff this school had done, including how it was created in the first place, it’s not that surprising if they can cut down on travel time and such.
…So who in the world was masterminding the whole operation? The principal seems very nonchalant about the whole deal and she is always present during important events. Surely she’s not the one…
“Excuse me. We’ve finished the calculation, please come over.” A female staff member walked over and gave us the news.
“Alright then. Want to check it out?” I asked her, since it’s not like she needs to come over as well. The money will only be transferred to my account anyhow.
“Why not?” She said before getting up as well. I simply gave a small nod before both of us went to the receptionist.
“Here is your pay in total. Eight dollars.” Huh. That’s not too bad, considering we didn’t go far down at all. “Cash or digital?”
I turned to look at Fiss. I usually do digital but just in case she preferred the other way. Sometimes Glery also asked for it in cash.
“Cash.” She answered.
“Yeah, cash it is.” I repeated her answer since I’m the one with the say here as the leader and only one with the permit.
He nodded and walked back to get the money.
“Why isn’t there a cash register?” Fiss pointed out.
“Pretty simple. This is a place full of people who are strong enough to fight for more than a fair share of monsters. If a scuffle happens the last thing you want to occur is the place you keep your cash to be out in the open during that chaos.” It’s pretty surprising no big fight happened here yet. There were scuffles, but the perp was beaten up quickly before they could cause any real damages. It’s those guys from Perfect Class that usually do it, they can easily beat someone down in one or two hits, or with someone like that mouse in a dress, one hit felt a little bit too much. “For the record, there hasn’t been any big incident. I think you would’ve known already.”
“Yeah. That makes sense.” She muttered. There’s also the fact that there is an option to pay digitally, so there’s even less reason to have a cash register available just to risk it getting yoinked.
“Here you go.” The receptionist guy dispassionately said, putting down the cash. I silently took it and split up the reward with Fiss.
“...I heard it’s little, but…” She muttered, even after I said a few times already that it’s rather paltry in terms of rewards. Really, if you go and find some shady dealers who also want to purchase these things, we’d probably get a lot more money.
“Alright, let’s not dilly dally around here, let’s sit down.” I said, bringing us back to the table we were just at. “...So what do you think of the whole deal? You’re not too shabby yourself, so you can try doing this again for pocket money… Does your neighborhood even have a dungeon and guild nearby?”
“I think so? I’ve heard people talking about it, but not a lot of people have been going out and about. Why is this place so much more lively than other places?” She suddenly asked about something unrelated to the whole thing.
“Probably because of the low crime rate? It has always been low and even during the initial period after the Eclipse, there isn’t much trouble going around.” I think the appearance of Wiina definitely helps to deter troublemakers. It’s rather clear that she is so above everyone that no one with even one brain cell would think of causing trouble here. “I mean, it just seems like whenever someone tries to do a little bit of terrorism, they get immediately annihilated. There was this one time where a gang of criminals tried to waltz their way in and suddenly got hit by a giant dark and purple beam, and then they’re just gone. No traces.”
“...I think I’ve heard of that? There is no explanation anyone can come up with about that incident.” Oh, so she has heard of it?
“There really isn’t. In fact, nothing similar had happened since. Doesn’t look like Wiina’s handiwork to be honest.” It’s not like I’ve really seen her fight since… Gosh, what was the last time I’ve seen her fight outside of our first encounter? Was it seriously that exhibition match? Anyway, I still know a little bit of what she likes to do. “Her magic is all light-based it looks like, not all dark and grim like whatever that was.”
…Hold on. Wasn’t there one person who used that type of magic?
“Yeah, but couldn’t it just be her changing things up? It’s not like that’s the only kind of spell she can use, right?” Fiss asked, breaking my concentration as I tried to remember who it was that used darkness-based magic.
“I guess? But I feel like she would’ve also made her presence known right then and there. It’s clear that she defended this place, she has no reason to be coy about it.” Whatever, I can think about that later.
“What about the fox woman?” Fox woman? I think there’s only one person she could mean.
“You mean the one people caught sight of once the snakes hit? I mean isn't everyone saying that she uses a sword and that’s about it?” There’s barely any evidence on that front. I also think that’s a bit too simple of an answer. “So, what do you think about this whole experience overall? That’s kind of the whole point of the two of us going inside.”
“...It’s alright.” …That’s all she has the say about the whole thing? Really?