"Hello." I greeted her, my eyes still on the three goblin stones in her hands. "I helped you, right? Shouldn't I deserve some of the loot?"
I thought hard about it. Three goblin stones couldn't be divided in two, no matter how you cut it. Since I'd saved her life, I should be entitled to at least two stones, right? She owed me, after all. If it were me, I'd probably give up all the stones as thanks.
"Huh? Oh… you're right… here." She looked at the three stones in her hand, deliberating over whether to give me any. Then, with a trembling hand, she passed me a single stone.
I was about to complain, but her next words made me pause.
"You killed one, so here you go. Treat this like a party."
"…Is that so? So you get the stone from the monster you kill. Is that how it works in a normal party?" I asked. That didn't seem fair to defenders or scouts.
"Normally, that's the custom. You need to discuss it beforehand if you want to split the rewards differently," she said.
I glared at her, and she turned away bashfully. I wanted to push the issue, but after thinking it over, there was no point fighting over a single stone. There were still goblins in the dungeon.
Looking back, if I were in her shoes, it would suck if a rescuer took all my stones just because they saved me. So I let it go. I came here to make connections first and foremost. More party members meant a higher chance of survival, especially since I wasn't contracted to any guild.
"That's acceptable. Sorry. I'm new to this dungeon exploration thing. I see you're using a beginner sword too. Would you mind if we partied together?" I said with a smile, extending my hand.
She paused, contemplating whether it was worth it.
"Alright. But my portion will be two-thirds, alright? I'm the vanguard, after all."
"Huh?" I was flabbergasted—but I stopped myself. Instead of getting angry and complaining about the unfair split, I should leverage the situation. Unlike her, adventuring was just a side job for me. As long as I could pay back the loaned sword with a little extra, it didn't really matter.
"Ahem. Fine by me," I said. "However, I can't promise I'll stay in the party for long, alright? I'm still enrolled in school. Are you in school as well?"
"No. I dropped out two years ago. Why study when you can kill monsters? The pay here is much better," she said.
I tilted my head. Her words were true in every sense, but I somehow felt she didn't really mean them. It was as if she'd been forced into this life.
Now that I looked more closely, this girl was quite cute. Her short blue hair gave her a tomboyish feel. If only she weren't so miserly, she'd be a perfect contrast to Sakura—like those track-and-field girls. If Sakura was a beautiful Madonna, then this girl was a cheerful sports type.
"Do you have a phone? I'll let you know when I'm available. Ah—sorry, where are my manners? I'm Makoto Tanuki."
"I'm Yuuno. Kurayama Yuuno. Nice to meet you, Makoto. L-let's begin. As your senior, I'll lead the way," Yuuno said. From the way she occasionally stammered, I guessed she was a bit shy in her everyday life.
"By the way, Yuuno, I saw you adventuring alone without a party. May I ask why? Sorry, but I thought most blessed people formed parties through guilds."
"Hm? Then why aren't you in a party, Makoto? I see you're alone too."
"Well, I only intend to treat adventuring as a side job. I don't plan to quit school yet. Most adventurer guild contracts require commitment, right? Like working or adventuring at least fifty hours a week. I didn't want to lock myself into anything. I'd heard adventuring was lucrative, but seeing how many people die in dungeons made me hesitate," I answered.
"All the more reason to register with a guild, then. If you pay a severance fee, you can cut them off at any moment," she said. Oh… so some of them had severance fee, huh? That was unexpected. But I guess that's preferable to letting troublesome adventurers run amok using their name.
"Um… no. I'm not that rich, you see. I do consider making adventuring my main job, but I want to see whether I'll succeed first. A trial run, to say the least. My skills were… not that great."
"I see. i understand what you are feeling. I am not exactly a hero either."
"Let's stop talking about me. What about you, Yuuno?"
"Well, how should I put it… I'm actually in a guild. But it's basically a black company now. I made a mistake. Hehehe." Yuuno said.
I gaped at her. I knew these guilds couldn't be trusted. Two years of adventuring, and she was still using beginner equipment—unacceptable. She should have been at least mid-rank by now, somewhere around C or B rank, not stuck at F-rank.
"Couldn't you just… I guess you couldn't, huh? What kind of contract did you sign?" I asked, partly for reference.
"The contract said I must submit at least ten F-rank stones—or the equivalent—daily. If I were D-rank, it would've been simple. But my parents fell into debt around that time, so I couldn't afford to purchase higher-tier weapons. Since my contribution to the guild was minimal, they only gave me this beginner equipment," she sighed. "I thought I could escape poverty after becoming an adventurer, but I guess it wasn't that easy."
"…My condolences."
"We're still partying, right?"
"Of course! I'm fine with our current agreement. I'm not exactly a millionaire, but I'm not that pressed for money right now."
"Great! I'll teach you all I know!" she said. "I'll show you my experience! Let's dive into the second floor. We should be able to handle it."
"Okay. If I may ask, what's on the second floor?"
"Just goblins. Same as this floor, but there'll be archers sometimes."
"That's bad, right? We don't have any ranged attackers."
"I can bait them. Once they're onto me, you can clear them easily. They won't attack you unless you attack them first. Goblins are stupid. Ah, my special skill is Taunt. What's yours?"
"I don't have a special skill, but by completing system missions, I can upgrade my stats. That's why I don't want to join guilds at the moment."
"Hee… a growing system, huh. Amazing."
"Is it rare? I thought it was common."
"Well, I have a growing system as well, but I need Arcane Stones to gain XP."
"…You really fucked up your build, huh?"
"Don't say it! I don't want to hear it. My build was designated by the system! It chose me to become a tanker! Tankers are the weakest in low-ranking parties!"
"I see. I don't think you're useless. Those goblins are quite vicious. It's vital to have a tanker—or defender—against them," I said, trying to calm her down.
"Yeah. For single-digit stats like ours, they could seriously injure us. We must be prudent. Ah, here are the stairs to the second floor. Are you ready?"
"Ready." I pumped my fist.
The second floor wasn't much different from the first, except it was far wider, with a ceiling easily over ten meters high. As I wandered through it, I spotted a bridge overhead.
"Careful. This floor has balconies. Goblin archers can shoot from above or hide in ambush behind those rocks," Yuuno said.
"Got it. What happens if goblins come from above? How do we retreat?"
"You chase them. The stairs to those balconies and bridges are usually right next to them," Yuuno replied as we traversed the dungeon. But as time passed on, we grew weary.
"There's nothing…" I sighed. We'd been moving for almost an hour now. I checked my phone—it was already noon, even though I'd arrived at seven. I still needed three more stones just to break even on the loaned sword. As expected, dungeon adventuring was less profitable than I'd imagined.
"Yeah. The advance team wiped them out. But don't worry. Sometimes, new spaces or monsters spawn. That will be our prize," Yuuno said.
"Oh! So the place where you were fighting before was new?"
"Yes. It wasn't on my previous map. I've been here for a week, by the way. I've already memorized the dungeon layout up to the third floor."
"Oh. How dependable. I'll be relying on you in the future too."
"Of course! Goblins are nothing!" Yuuno puffed out her chest. She wasn't as big as Sakura, but she had some volume there. I wondered how soft her bountiful fruit was. Too bad I could designate only one target. I needed to progress more with Sakura next week so I could upgrade my skills.
As we marched on, a crack appeared in the wall, and four goblins emerged.
"Hurry! We're lucky—kill them while they're spawning!" Yuuno took the offensive. I followed from behind as she decapitated a newly born goblin. I followed suit, stabbing it in the chest. The other two goblins leaped back, brandishing a spear and a knife.
"I'll take the spear. You take the knife goblin."
"Got it."
We separated. Yuuno expertly deflected a goblin's thrust with her buckler, closed the distance, and lunged with her sword. Her movement was fluid, born of experience. Meanwhile, I hesitated. I lunged, but the goblin evaded. It was only thanks to my sword's reach that it was kept at bay. Once it was cornered, it lunged at me with a desperate charge, and I finished it with a stab to the chest—just like how I'd finished my first goblin.
"Phew. Damn, that was scary."
"Is this your first day? Then I must say, you're not bad," Yuuno said. "I'll give you some pointers. A goblin tends to favor offense over defense. It will thrust with a knife or sword when it sees you take a defensive stance. Conversely, it will try to dodge and flee if you chase it. So instead of attacking, you should wait for it to strike, then deliver a counter."
"Easier said than done. Just look at its jaw. I think it could swallow my head whole. Those teeth too—I'd definitely get typhus or tetanus if it bit me."
"…Yeah, understandable. You need some training to get used to it. This isn't game, after all," Yuuno said. "A perfect victory. Let's continue until night."
I nodded, and we explored until the end of the second floor.
All in all, we encountered two more groups of goblins. The first group had an archer and two sword-wielding goblins. Yuuno baited all of them while I delivered attacks from behind, killing the archer first. The second group had two archers, and we charged at it, killing them with ease. They had only knives as secondary weapons.
All in all, we defeated ten goblins.
I sighed at the exit. So much for my first adventure. I'd only gotten five stones today. I glanced at Yuuno—she sighed as well at our meager harvest. If I recalled correctly, she needed to deposit ten stones daily, right? Unless she had started before sunrise, she couldn't have defeated that many goblins before meeting me. I wondered whether she was even breaking even. How did she usually hunt anyway? She'd had trouble with those three goblins earlier…
Anyway, it was time to meet Sakura the next day. Today had been a tiring workout.