Otoko Nara Ikkokuichijou no Aruji o Mezasa Nakya, ne? Chapter 320

"Uh..This is.."

The moment the company president saw me take the {Loincloth.Of.Daring} out from my bag without even using {Detect.Magic} he was lost for words.

That's not unreasonable.

We've already washed it so the bad smell is long since gone(if you carefully try sniffing it then it'll probably still be there) but it still looks like nothing more than a worn-out and dirty piece of leather.

Even then he still took it in one to check the status and additionally used the spell {Detect.Magic}.

"..{Loincloth.Of.Daring} is it..It certainly seems to be a {Magic.Item} but...However, this..for a piece of leather that looks considerably worn out, that is..."

Here, it's a loincloth so try winding it around your waist.
Even if you put it on nothing will float into your head though.

However, just as expected from the president of a major company.
The president quickly stood up from the sofa and put on the loincloth.
Of course, it's normally not underwear.
The Mino was only wearing that so it was like underwear but you can wear it over your waist above armor almost like a miniskirt.

"I can't feel anything in particular.."

Just as I thought...
For items where the main effect has an influence on your status even if you put them on you won't feel anything.
This is something we figured out from testing the {Bracer.Of.Might}.

Eh? The only one who put the loincloth on was Zulu.
Somehow, that is..isn't it unpleasant right?
Even when I asked Zulu he said, "I don't feel anything in particular" so I thought that was the case but after all.

No~ between the bracers and the loincloth I think the loincloth is more powerful but when it comes to wearing it the slaves should start first right.
There's no meaning other than that.

The president took off the loincloth and carefully put it on top of the table.

"What do you think about that? Do you think it would sell?"

The president remained silent and looked at me before saying, "It will be difficult..however, the mana that can be felt from it is quite impressive so it isn't like there wouldn't be anyone interested in it."

"Putting aside an auction do you know anyone who might know the effect or a method to investigate it similar to the previous ring?"

"Hm~mm.. Well I can at least try asking.."

"That's true. Putting aside whether or not we'll sell it, if I can get you to even just investigate it then..there's no way to put a price on it just like that after all.."

"I understand. Please leave this item to me. The fee for the investigation will be determined based on the magic used on this loincloth and the degree of it but is that alright?"

"What kind of price do you think it'll be?"

"It's just a general estimate but the if effect on it is converted into magic levels then please think that every 1 level will add about 2,000,000 Z. Also, in the case we can't determine the effect within 2-3 months then there's no need to pay the fee."

"I understand. Please investigate under those conditions. I'll leave it in your care until then."

Miduchi and I lowered our heads to the president and then excused ourselves from Sandak Company.
Something like a lender's note for the loincloth there's no need to write one over every little thing.
We've made a number of transactions and trust each other a reasonable amount, and above all else we're even slightly distant relatives.

Furthermore, it seems they expect the payment for the amulet to come in either today or tomorrow so the person who purchased it must be from the capital.
It was decided that we'd come to pick up the payment tomorrow evening.

........................................

"That president sure is amazing at reading right."

On our way back to my company from Sandak Company, Miduchi whispered in admiration.

"That's right. He almost deserves a reward for it. And it's quite impressive that he has connections and clients that can pay that much money."

It's close to impossible for me right now.
Eventually I want to develop connections with rich merchants and n.o.bles but it's impossible for the time being.

"But, with this.."

"Yeah, if the money from this time comes in then after paying taxes I'll have just over 9,000,000,000 on hand..I'm sure that one  {Wyvern} armor will be even higher so.."

I looked at Miduchi over my shoulder and she was gently smiling.

"Yeah, that's great isn't it."

"It was really fortunate that I was able to reach my goal with money before turning 20 years old..If it was just me alone then.."

I'm sure it would have taken a lot more time.

"Isn't it fine not to worry about that? I don't think everyone would like it if you paid too much attention to things like that right?"

That's certainly true.

After arriving at the company we went up to the second floor and took a break.

However, I can't afford to laze around without doing anything.
After a short break while drinking cold tea with ice floating in it I got to sorting out the account books in the morning.
In the afternoon after having lunch I went around greeting our suppliers. Obviously bringing around something like a gift for being in their care but including negotiations for the ranch owner to move and such, there's a mountain of things to do.

......................................

Year 7447, Month 8, Day 7

"Uo..."
"Pretty.."
"How big right. Chomp..So they're harder than gold."
"Don't bite them..It's dirty right."
"This is..{Status Open}.."
"Hohou, me too. {Status Open}.."

After paying the taxes for the sale price on that {Earth.Amulet} and the remaining was 5,287,500,000 Z so I gave out bonuses.
All of the reincarnated people and Zenom excluding Rodrick and Bastoral were targets of it.

It's over 100,000,000 Z per person so I decided to give platinum coins to those people.
The size of platinum coins is about two sizes larger than gold coins with a diameter of roughly 70 mm. They're considerably thick and the weight is probably over 200 grams.

After spending some time staring at the platinum coins in my room at Boil Manor, we all went together to leave them in our lockers at the shrine.

"Hey, we made quite a bit of money this time right? Is it over 10,000,000,000?"

Ralpha asked with an excited expression but hearing that everyone's attention fell on me.

"Nn~ I'm still about 1,000,000,000 short. But, after the Wyvern armor from last month is completed it should easily exceed it."

I smiled in a good mood while replying.

"Around Spring of next year was it?"

What Gwine is mentioning is probably the period when the armor should be completed and delivered.

"That should be the case."

"But, we don't know what kind of price it will be so until then I think we should continue earning in the dungeon."

Toris nodded as he said. Bel agreed.
It seems they're thinking about purchasing some slaves as well.
For that sake it's necessary to earn a lot more money.
In order to create some surplus I want to earn a bit more and it seems everyone else is in agreement with thinking that.

Of course, it seems that the Wyvern armor will end up with an outrageous price on it so there's an extremely high chance that it'll go way over the amount of my goal(other than the 10,000,000,000 Z that I'm paying to the King I think I'll need another 1,000,000,000 Z or so that I can use for shopping and various strategies). If it doesn't reach it then we still have various valuable {Magic.Items} so it's fine to just make up for it by selling those. Excluding the {Breeze.Horseshoes} there's nothing else that I feel is absolutely necessary after all.

And the Wyvern armor will be completed in the Spring of next year. It's just a matter of diligently exploring the dungeon and earning as much as we can until then. Although, while earning is important there's also investigating that gathering terminal..though I wonder what we should do about it? Well, I have some interest in it. Though either way something like repairing the s.p.a.ceship is definitely impossible so rather than that I'm more interested in the information on Rugu 3 Orth that should have been stored in the data-bank.

There's not a very good outlook that we'll be able to find anymore information than this but I intend on investigating it until we're sure that we won't be able to find anymore information than we already have. If we don't then one day we might think, "if only I had searched more properly at that time.." I'm not the only one thinking that way. It wouldn't be strange for anyone to think of it.

..........................................

Year 7447, Month 8, Day 13

In the evening we returned to the surface from the dungeon.
Even in the middle of the summer Baldukk doesn't get very many evening breezes because it's a basin.
We met up with everyone who were wiping away their sweat as they wait for us to return and then went to eat dinner.

In order to change from our equipment we returned to Boil Manor and the head clerk called out for me.
It seems there was a message for me.
It's probably either one of the young ladies trying to get into contact with me or some random adventurer asking to join the {Slaughterers}.

Since it's always the same when I'm called out by head clerk everyone went ahead up the stairs towards their rooms.

...

"When did you take this message?"

According to the head clerk it was yesterday. It seems they said they would return after hearing that we were in the dungeon and would return today. Supposedly they came once in the morning and around noon today to see if we had returned yet.

Hmhmm~ They were quite a bit faster than I thought.

I take off my equipment in my room and Miduchi came over as I was changing.

"About Kuro and Mary. It seems they've already arrived in Baldukk."

"Eh? Ah, those people. Didn't you say it would take them a bit longer?"

I said it but that was just my guess. If you go from Kiru to Baldukk without a carriage then it takes three weeks while hurrying. If you come normally then four weeks. Even if you take your time coming it's about a month. If there's a carriage as well then plus two weeks or so I guess. They had contacted me saying they would leave Kiru in the middle of April so it comes out to them having spent over two months investigating things.

"And, where are they now?"

"For the time being it seems they're staying at Matoson Inn. Since they probably don't know Ginger or Hisu's faces I left a message at the front for them to come to Murowa if they come again today."

"Should I go and get them?"

"Nn~ even if you end up missing each other..Well I guess it's fine. Let's go together."

Then I'll hurry up and change.
A short shower is fine.
I left the message at the front just in case we end up missing each other.
I told everyone to go ahead to Murowa as Miduchi and I went towards Matoson Inn.

..............................

After arriving at Matoson Inn and checking Kuro and Mary were there but Giner and Hisu had just left. We were invited to tehir room so we went into the room Kuro and Mary were staying in. These fellows, how cheeky taking a two person room. Even though they're underage..err I guess they're already adults now.

"Sorry about that. We were in the dungeon until now."

I said that while sitting on one of the two chairs. Miduchi took the other chair while Kuro and Mary are both sitting on their beds. We finished up greetings.

"Umm, Al, this.."

Mary handed several gold and a dozen other coins to me.

"It's fine. Hold onto them. If it's just an amount of 20,000,000 or 30,000,000 then we can earn it back quickly so it's fine if you return it all to me at that time."

When I laughed while pushing back the coins and the two of them exchanged looks in surprise.

"Hey, rather than that the two of you got married right?"

When Miduchi asked them while smiling they both stretched out their hands with an embarra.s.sed expression.
I guess they mean to check their status.

"{Status Open}.."

Kroft.Baladik/5/1/7447 Kroft.Baladik/11/6/7440
Male/14/2/7428.Hyumu.Head of Baladik Family.Marquis Webdos Knight
Condition: Normal
Age: 19 Years Old
Level: 7
HP: 104(104) MP: 22(22)
Strength: 15
Speed: 20
Dexterity: 15
Endurance: 15
Unique Skill: Charm(Lv. 6)
Special Skill: Earth Magic(Lv. 2)
Special Skill: Water Magic(Lv. 2)
Special Skill: Void Magic(Lv. 2)
Experience: 59189(60000)

Marissa.Baladik/16/4/7447 Marissa.Binsil/10/4/7447
Female/14/2/7428.Hyumu.Baladik Family First Wife.Marquis Webdos Knight
Condition: Normal
Age: 19 Years Old
Level: 7
HP: 106(106) MP: 27(27)
Strength: 14
Speed: 21
Dexterity: 17
Endurance: 16
Unique Skill: Resistance(Poison){Poison.Tolerance}(MAX)
Special Skill: Fire Magic(Lv. 2)
Special Skill: Water Magic(Lv. 2)
Special Skill: Void Magic(Lv. 2)
Experience: 54196(60000)

Mu..Kuro's {Charm} has increased in level.
Sorry about that.

And Mary's ability points are still a bit higher.
It's most likely because she was able to get proper nutrition and exercise helping out around their restaurant while she was still a child.
Stuff like farming and training wit the sword are heavy labor for a child in the single digits so I guess that means the way she was raised was optimal for increasing ability points.
Just as expected other than MP there's various things before 10 years old.
Though they do say anything is bad when taken too far...

Well, it's not a significant difference and if it's just this much then after training them in the dungeon for half a year it'll be like a measurement error.
Also, it seems that the proficiency level of the ability points is completely different so I can't exactly say that it's better to have higher ability points after all.

Rather than that I can tell how much effort they've put in from their experience points.
They haven't partic.i.p.ated directly in combat during any wars and stuff like defeating monsters was at best once or twice per year.
Even that was surrounding a {Horned Bear} with several tens of people and beating it from all sides so it's still a pitiful amount.
In that case, most of those experience points should be earned from training.

Even for the magic skills they shouldn't have been able to use it to damage living creatures so everyday in and out they must have put in effort for them.

"The two of you, congratulations on getting married."
"Congratulations."

I said it blessing them from the bottom of my heart.
I thought Mary would turn bright red from embarra.s.sment and lower her head but she was just laughed shyly.

"My bride is over 20 years ol..ow!!"
"I've told you not to talk about my age right!!"

However, it's something I thought when I met him last year but the naivety I used to see in Kuro's face has disappeared.
I guess being chafed by the knight group he's grown up a good bit.
I think he should have been forced to take some amount of responsibility.
In that sort of meaning I don't think Ralpha and Gwine have grown up very much..is it my fault?

Even if they reincarnated Ralpha and them were originally high schoolers.
After that they've spent a number of years as adventurers so they don't have any of that sort of naivety but I still feel like a lot of their actions are like brats.
Adventurers aren't all that different from homeless vagrants so wandering around exploring with just Zenom, I guess she's just spent two childhoods without having to shoulder any kind of responsibility...
Until we met up with Gwine she should have been under the protection of her parents who were merchants so she shouldn't have had very many responsibilities either.
They don't seem like people who've lived for over 30 years since being born right...

Well, whatever.

I've gotten bored of smiling while watching their couple gag.

"By the way, what about investigating the Dirt Plains.."

The two of them pulled out the report made of a pile of parchments similar to the ones the dark elf gave me.

Hmm...

It seems reasonably well put together. There was no way they could take proper measurements so it was just estimates but this one actually has two tables of the estimated harvest amounts and the types of crops. They also mentioned the industries other than farming and while it's insufficient there's some notes on the types of ores that are mined.

There's also quite a few details on the army and local knight groups that are stationed in them.
Unfortunately there's not a single note about the public safety situation but it's fine to reference that from the dark elves report.

The only thing worth taking note of is that the reputation of each of the lords of the various villages and towns they pa.s.sed through are written down.

After I obtain the territory quite a few of the people who were acting as governors of those villages and towns will return to the capital as well so it's not like they all remain in my territory as low ranking n.o.bles but there's some that were originally settled in those places so they'll remain and you could say this will be a good reference point for them.

"Thanks. This will be a big help."

After thanking them Kuro and Mary exchanged looks once. And then Mary nodded once before speaking.

"Hey, because you told us we investigated it pretty seriously but what do you plan to do?"
"Yeah. What in the world are you going to use it for?"

Ah, I never told them about it.

"In the near future I'll receive peerage as an high ranking n.o.ble and receive a territory. One of these four territories will become mine and I'll raise my flag there. It's the preliminary investigation for that."

Hearing the details for the first time the two of them made expressions as if they were lost for words for a moment but soon after leaned closer to me.

"Hey, you'll take ownership of it you say? What do you mean?"
"You'll become a high ranking n.o.ble?"

I simply explained the situation and told them to confirm the small details with everyone else at the restaurant we're about to go.

..............................

I introduced Kuro and Mary to everyone at Murowa.
I had mentioned before that I threw the two of them into the knight group in my home town and Gwine and Angela had already met them before so there was no problem with them mixing in with the reincarnated people.
However, the two of them seemed a bit timid in front of the non-reincarnated members.

Well, they are the strongest adventurers in Baldukk so I guess it's to  be expected.
Rokko has the face of a good guy but his actions are pretty rough and then Kamu, Kimu, and Misu who has a bouncy image all originally gave off the atmosphere of strong adventurers so they can feel that.
Of course the other members are pretty similar as well, I guess Mary and Kuro who have barely risked their lives are being swallowed by the atmosphere so it can't be helped.

"Now then, starting next time I'll be changing our lineup for entering the dungeon a bit. It's fundamentally the same as up until now but I'll be leaving the {Saviors}. For a short while I'll be threshing these two on the 1st floor."

An unpleasant grin appeared on everyone's faces.
They must be remembering how after we absorbed {Sun.Ray} they were forced to slaughter monsters on the 1st floor day in and day out for a while.
Kuro and Mary who don't get it are confused about what part of that would cause such a mean looking smile.

"The two of you probably won't be able to keep up with everyone else at all just like you are now. Well tomorrow morning I'll check your skill so if my reading is off then I'll think about it again."

"Mu..Of course~ as an adventurer..we've never entered the dungeon but both Mary and I have officially received invest.i.ture as knights. I don't think we'll fall that far behind when it comes to using the sword or spear."

Kuro seems to be getting a bit stubborn.  Mary said as well, "I won't be luggage. Even I'm a knight you know" seeming a bit angry. Of course I didn't say it intending to make fun of them at all. In some ways I just gave out the obvious evaluation and though it would be difficult if we don't force them to earn some experience but...

"Hey now~ the two of you. It's fine for you to have confidence but you should honestly listen to what Al says. Or are you underestimating the dungeon of Baldukk? Han?"

Kevin quietly scolded them.

"But, we came here to help become Al's strength. Not to weigh him down."

Kuro argued back. I'm grateful for those feelings but you know. Don't get so on guard.

"That's right. I think the skills of the Webdos Knights are reasonably high."

Ah, I see. These two think we're underestimating the Webdos Knight Group.

"It can't be helped~ Hey, Henry, Mekku. Tell these two your history."

Binsu activated his authority as a n.o.ble and ordered Henry and Mekku.

"Yes. I, Henry.Okonnel, joined Duke Stahlz Knight Group in Devas Kingdom 10 years ago and received invest.i.ture as a true knight 7 years ago. After that I was taken as war prisoner the year before last and on that occasion was purchased by master. I had a good bit of confidence in my skill but I was far from reaching everyone else. Even though it's almost been two years since I started entering the dungeon I still feel like I'm holding everyone back. However, master. I'll definitely show you I can be useful."

Even though he was born in Devas Kingdom a foreign country, they were a bit surprised hearing that someone who's been a true knight for five years was even struggling as an adventurer.

"I, Meisun.Garuhashu, joined the Viscount Makaraito Knight Group 8.5 years ago and received invest.i.ture as a knight 6.5 years ago. After that just the same as Okonnel I was taken as a war prisoner and purchased by master. I thought I was skilled just like Okonnel but after all I'm still far from everyone else..However, I'll definitely show you I can be useful as well, master."

Since a Laios like him was the same as Henry and said he couldn't keep up with us right after being purchased Kuro and Mary were considerably surprised.
Of course, it's not like he couldn't match up at all.
Even just from learning sword and spear techniques formally under someone they were a decent combat strength right from the start.

"Don't bully them so much...Kuro, and Mary as well. It's fine if you feel unsatisfied but I need to confirm your skills first. Right after you've just married it doesn't concern just your lives but everyone else as well. And no one here is looking down on the Webdos Knight Group. It's strange putting it this way but it's fine as long as you can prove your abilities after all."

Well, even though everyone is reincarnated if the newcomer suddenly says not to treat them like luggage then it's only obvious to tease them a bit for acting cheeky. It's something they'll learn right away after all.

Furthermore, just as expected during the combined training the next day, Kuro and Mary were beaten left and right. However, I can read the feelings behind everyone. They're afraid that there are more compet.i.tors trying to enter the {Saviors} with the two of them joining. Even more-so when the two of them are reincarnated people and on top of that skilled enough to receive invest.i.ture as true knights. They aren't like Rodrick who almost automatically received invest.i.ture because he was the eldest son of a Count.

Ah, for the sake of their honor I'll add on this as well but they certainly had a decent level of skill. It's not as much as Fio in the past but they were quite a bit better than Rodrick was back then. If it's this then they should be able to manage the 2nd or 3rd floor as long as they don't let their guard down. It should be fine.

In other words, that means I can push them a bit hard.
There's no time to be taking it too easy after all.
I need to train them as thoroughly as possible in the time available.