The Starving Beast 3

Filling Han Se-ah's inventory with provisions was hardly a problem. With no reason to worry about money, all they had to do was walk into a reputable trading house and buy in bulk.

Dried meat to rehydrate and eat, flour for stews, dried fruit for calories, thoroughly dried oats and barley… The total came to twenty sacks, enough to make the merchant dealing with them jump out of his skin.

"Hoo, I was wondering why you'd order such a quantity — so there's magic like that, is there?"

"Our party's mage is pretty talented."

The merchant's jaw dropped as the dry rations vanished one after another into thin air. And just like that, the usual round of praising Han Se-ah's inventory kicked off again, with the viewers flooding the chat in perfect unison. Last time, someone had even made a meme splicing Grace and Han Se-ah's faces together — maybe another one would drop today.

Given that this was a parallel world, it made sense that something like over-the-top Japan-obsession existed here too. A photo of a wide-eyed white woman covering her mouth with both hands. Just that image of a shocked white woman paired with the five syllables "Sugoi Japan" was enough to understand the parallel universe perfectly.

The editing was polished enough that the post had rocketed to the top of the network's board as a trending thread. Just looking at it again was enough to make me snort, so I hastily closed the board. My mouth twitched at the corners, but luckily both the camera and Han Se-ah were focused on the merchant, so no one caught me.

Drinking water could be handled with magic, and pots and dishes were already in the inventory, so packing the dry rations finished their exploration prep. The merchant kept chattering with a bright smile, saying even people heading out on long-distance expeditions didn't buy this much.

Even when adventurers bought dry rations, they bought them by the pouch — nobody bought them by the sack the way they had. Selling twenty sacks of premium, quality-guaranteed goods at once was bound to put him in a good mood.

"Roland, what kind of person is Rebecca?"

"…Exactly what she looks like."

"Come on, don't say it like that. The way she acts, you can't help but wonder what she's really like."

"Fair enough."

Grace had gone to maintain her bow and arrows, Irene had gone to the Temple to check on the child, and Kayden had slipped off somewhere. Even so, Han Se-ah — who had skipped the night entirely — couldn't just sit around doing nothing and end the stream.

Which was why, to the viewers' enthusiastic cheers, she turned her questions on me. She'd met all kinds of 5-star characters — the Guildmaster, mages, the information guild — but she'd gotten tangled up with Rebecca the most, so of course she was curious.

My connection with Rebecca went back to when I'd barely shed my rookie status, back in my Intermediate-grade adventurer days. Personal commissions started becoming available at Intermediate-grade, so I'd joined a mercenary company — and the company I'd joined just happened to be Rebecca's, which was preparing to enter the Tower—

"If I had to put it in one word, she's an honest person."

"Honest? Hmm, not wild?"

Han Se-ah looked doubtful at my choice of words. But after all the years I'd known Rebecca, I couldn't think of a better description.

Rebecca was honest. Not in the sense that she never lied, or that she stammered and rolled her eyes every time she tried to lie the way Han Se-ah did, getting caught immediately from sheer awkwardness. She was honest because she laid her true feelings bare and then followed through on every word that left her mouth.

"Rebecca doesn't hold anything back once something crosses her mind. And she puts most of what she says into practice."

"Uh… isn't that a good thing?"

"If she mutters that she's going to kill those motherfuckers, she goes and actually kills them."

"……Ah."

Back in the past, before Rebecca had even earned her stars, when she was still wandering around looking ragged. A dirty girl with a good figure who was a mercenary company captain — that alone was enough for her to take all kinds of insults. Mercenaries lived even more chaotically than adventurers, and they used insulting others as a way to show off their own strength.

Inevitably, some of them crossed the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠line, and when Rebecca saw them, she ground her teeth and spat out every curse she could think of about how she'd kill them. Things like ripping their arms off and shoving them up their ass… or those useless eyeballs… that kind of specific, graphic stuff.

"And whenever a clash broke out during a commission, she carried out every word she'd said out loud. After that, the people picking fights with her vanished completely."

No mercenary wanted to play a game of chicken with a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠crazy bitch who made art installations out of corpses — that was a suicide applicant, not a mercenary. Han Se-ah's face darkened as she listened. Rebecca had ground her teeth ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and sworn she'd kill the orcs that had raided her supply wagon, after all.

"So Rebecca is going to sincerely hunt down the orc chieftain and turn the 20th floor upside down. Just like she said — to kill them."

"Then we'd better hurry with the exploration starting tomorrow."

"Yeah. Even if the competition is Upper-grade adventurers, you can't just sit there and watch a once-in-a-lifetime jackpot slip away, right?"

My words seemed to stoke her motivation for the quest, and she burned with fresh determination. We parted ways to our respective lodgings, but through the stream I still got to watch Han Se-ah, getting roasted by chat the whole time, grit her teeth and declare she wouldn't let anyone steal the quest last hit.

The kind of attitude that just might take her all the way to the top of the Tower. Excellent.

"Welcome, Roland. Heard you pulled off another one?"

"Just like I told you through the crystal ball. Any commissions from the guild itself?"

The next day, when we headed to the guild to pick up a commission, Elise was already waiting for our party at the corner table that had basically become our reserved seat. Kayden, Irene, Grace, Han Se-ah… as the party members joined one by one, she held out a sheet of paper.

The first thing that caught the eye was a bright red wax seal stamped with the guild's emblem. Curious, I leaned in for a closer look, but Elise lifted the paper and launched into her explanation.

"Like I said, the guild is planning to post a commission. Orc settlements have been spawning randomly and causing some trouble for the supply wagons heading upstairs."

"Is it bad enough for the guild to move right away?"

"From observation, the first ones to appear are orc shamans and orc warriors. Just like goblins spawn in groups and build huts, orcs appear in packs and start raising palisades. The problem is, if they spot an adventurer or a wagon before the palisade is up, they turn into raiders on the spot and charge in full force."

"Annoying if they spawn along the supply wagon routes."

"If you're unlucky, you end up face-to-face with a band of dozens of orc bandits hitting your rear or your flanks. So the guild and the Magic Tower put up commissions."

It was honestly impressive that they'd already figured out everything from the orc packs' spawning patterns to their behavior — maybe some mage had hired adventurers for it. Then again, for mages obsessed with research material, hanging something like CCTV magic in the forests of the 20th floor wouldn't be strange at all.

You know, the way people set up trail cameras on paths where wildlife frequently passes — the mages had probably installed something similar in the wide open spaces where orcs were likely to appear.

"The guild's commission is to eliminate the orc shamans and track down why they're appearing. The Magic Tower's commission is to collect as many byproducts from orc warriors and shamans as possible."

"Very guild. Very Magic Tower."

"Always is."

The guild, pinching pennies, only required the elimination of orc shamans rather than warriors and announced they'd only buy mana stones. The Magic Tower, on the other hand, was ready to scatter money in the streets if it meant securing more research materials. The two organizations really did work hand in glove, in their own way.

In the end, adventurers made their money from the Magic Tower and got their career credits recognized by the guild, so nobody lost out. With her explanation finished, Elise left the table and trudged over toward the notice board.

"New commission?"

"Probably the orc thing on the 20th floor."

"You mean the orc hunters?"

"What'd this guy even come here for if he's already going on about hunters?"

"Wouldn't be bad to form a party alliance and clear it together."

Adventurers immediately started murmuring and rushed toward the board. Not having to squeeze into that crowd because Elise had already briefed us was one of the small perks of bribing her with desserts.

We were about to leave the guild with the noisy adventurers behind us when someone casually slipped into our group.

"…What brings you here, Miss Charlotte?"

"I'd like to commission Adventurer Hanna's party."

It was Charlotte, smiling brightly, with the maid Mary trailing behind her as expressionless as ever. Whether her sudden talk of a commission was genuine or not, she directed it at Han Se-ah rather than me. When she held out her palm behind her, Mary pulled a heavy pouch from somewhere in her clothes.

A long-skirted maid uniform with belts dangling all over it — the peculiar outfit of a maid-adventurer. The moment she produced a money pouch from somewhere around her side, the viewers erupted.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"You're planning to head to the 20th floor, aren't you, Miss Hanna? I'd like to join and observe. Strictly speaking, it would be an escort commission for me. I'll just be tagging along."