We're Rich Now
We're rich now.
I couldn't help but be overwhelmed by what our Piron—no, Pin—could do. If no one else had been around, I probably would have scooped her up on the spot and gone, Pin, we're rich now!
"So you're a healer, Ellie. And not just any healer—your summon does the healing. I never would have guessed."
Yeah, tell me about it.
I would have loved to stand beside Hunter Han Yuseol, nod along, and agree wholeheartedly. But thanks to Dreamy King's Dignity, I had no choice but to act as if I'd known all along, cool and unimpressed. Honestly, that skill never let me do a single thing that might chip my dignity even a little.
"But… you said orcs just now?"
"Yes. Orcs appeared in the intermediate zone."
At the word of the man who seemed to be with the injured party, Han Yuseol rested a hand on her chin and thought for a moment. Then she nodded, decision made.
"Understood. Thank you for the report. We'll investigate immediately on the assumption this may be a gate anomaly. And if it is confirmed as such, the guild will handle treatment costs and all related compensation according to regulations."
After that she looked at me with a wry smile.
"I'm sorry, Ellie. With this coming up… if you don't mind, would you wait outside for a little while? I'll wrap this up and be right back."
Mm… so it was going to go this way after all.
Well, the moment an orc showed up—a monster that had no business appearing in this gate—I'd had a feeling. This was an Origin Guild gate, after all. Still, slipping out alone now would look pretty bad, wouldn't it?
I shook my head.
"Ah—are you offering to help?"
I nodded. My body did, anyway. Honestly, I was a little nervous. Orcs, of all things. Monsters that showed up in B-rank gates. What was I even supposed to contribute here?
Dreamy King's Dignity steadies your mind and body.
Well… thinking about it, maybe it would be fine. The hunter standing right in front of me had a long career of carving up orc-class monsters. No real reason to be scared.
"All right. Can you run, by any chance?"
Huh? No?
My physical stats were basically ant-droppings different from before I awakened. From what I'd seen of Han Yuseol's body last time, if she took off in earnest there was no way I'd keep up. Nothing I could do about that.
I shook my head hard. She seemed to understand, nodded—and then scooped me up in a princess carry. Wait, what?
"It may be a little uncomfortable for a moment, but—"
No, it's not uncomfortable at all. But wow, her chest is actually huge.
"Chaerin."
"I'm not gonna be any help, so I'm sitting this one out."
Huh? If you sit out, what then? You're Origin Guild too. If I'd known it was going to go like this, I would've sat out myself.
"Got it. Wait by the gate entrance, then. We're heading out, Ellie."
Whoosh!
With that, Han Yuseol kicked off the ground. The sound of her running was unnervingly quiet—like an assassin. Of course, she was so fast the wind pressure slammed into my whole body. The feeling was probably what a roller coaster was like. I'd never been to an amusement park, so I wouldn't know.
After a few minutes of that, a dense forest came into view. From here on was the intermediate course of this gate—and somewhere in this wide stretch of woods, we had to find the orc.
Uh… yeah…
Could we even find it? And even if we did, it was going to take forever.
That was when it happened.
Contaminated energy detected.
Your touch is imbued with Abundance.
Just like before, a soft green light bloomed from my hand. The glow drifted slowly in one direction, as if guiding us somewhere.
No way.
"…Ellie?"
I pointed in the direction the green light was flowing. Han Yuseol looked puzzled.
"Ah—is it…?"
I nodded, confirming her guess. Without another word she changed course and ran the way I was pointing. After that, finding the orc didn't take long.
Roughly five meters tall, its whole body radiating a filthy purple aura. The moment Han Yuseol spotted it, she set me down a short distance away and started to speak.
"I'll handle this qui—"
"Piiieeek!!"
BOOM!!
What happened next left both me and Han Yuseol completely blank. Another of Pin's sudden full-throttle launches. The second she saw the orc she shot off like a sonic boom—and with a crash like a dump truck colliding head-on, the orc's head simply exploded.
"…"
"…"
"Pipi!"
Then she fluttered back to me with a bright, sunny smile, looking for praise. She'd flown so fast that the wind pressure had kept the mess off her, at least—she wasn't covered in gore.
"…Your summon is incredibly strong, Ellie."
You're telling me. I had no idea my own summon was that powerful either.
Orc taken care of. Han Yuseol scooped me up again and ran us back to the gate exit. I had, for a moment there, been reduced to a young man being carried around, but she didn't seem to mind.
After that came the situation report. She told the gate manager an anomaly had occurred, ordered access closed for the day, and said to report it to the guild—and that was that. Han Yuseol and Lee Chaerin had both been off today anyway, so neither of them had any intention of working further.
Then we went to eat. Honestly, the main point of this whole outing had felt like going out for a meal together from the start.
I'd thought Lee Chaerin was the talkative type, but once the food arrived she went quiet. There turned out to be a reason.
"Mmh… it's weird, somehow."
"What is?"
"Honestly, when it's this quiet the vibe should feel awkward, right? But eating with Ellie Unnie feels… comfortable. Like home cooking. So I just don't feel like forcing conversation, I guess?"
"Right?"
Oh. Same here—and apparently I wasn't the only one feeling it. Yesterday when I'd eaten with Han Yuseol I'd worried it might just be me, but it seemed both of them felt something similar.
"Does Ellie Unnie have some kind of power or what?"
No, I feel the same way, okay? I thought that internally, but Dreamy King's Dignity kicked in and made me smile as if I knew something they didn't. That skill really commits to the bit.
"But Ellie Unnie. You took down that orc, right?"
Technically not me—Pin did. But Pin was my summon, so it counted as my kill, right? I nodded quietly, and Lee Chaerin's eyes lit up with admiration.
"Whoa… Unnie, were you a famous hunter overseas or something?"
Well… with a name like Ellie, assuming I was a foreigner wasn't unreasonable. But that kind of misunderstanding would get awkward later, so I shook my head. I'm purebred Korean, thanks.
"Not part of some big-name guild either?"
I shook my head again.
"Really? You're strong enough to one-shot an orc, and you can heal on top of that… Isn't that the kind of profile any guild would beg to recruit?"
Huh? Wait. Given how this conversation was going… was I getting scouted?
"Ellie Unnie, why don't you just join our guild?"
It really was a scout. I never thought I'd get the offer from high-schooler Lee Chaerin that I hadn't gotten from Han Yuseol. Yesterday I might not have hesitated—but now I needed to think.
I mean, I was a Healing Dragon type now, wasn't I?
Do I really need to join a guild and work myself to death?
Sure, guild work would bring in serious money. But as a Healing Dragon type, I could make enough to live without joining one. Healers were that rare. This needed some real thought—the difference between grinding hard for a fortune and working just enough to live comfortably.
Then Han Yuseol spoke.
"Ellie isn't going to join a guild."
"…?"
…I'm not?
"Huh? Unnie, how would you know that?"
"With abilities like Ellie's, she would already be in a guild if she wanted to be."
"Ah. Okay, fair."
Excuse me, I was still thinking about it. Han Yuseol still seemed to be under the impression that I was some veteran hunter with years of experience. Uh… this was getting awkward. Nobody knows the future, so I had been considering it.
If I ask them to take me later, would they still?
You know. The whole friend-of-a-friend angle…
"Unnie! See you next time!"
"I'll be in touch, Ellie."
After lunch we parted ways right there. Neither Han Yuseol nor I were the type to wander around outside for long. Only Lee Chaerin looked a little sad about it, but once we exchanged contacts she insisted we meet again when we had the time.
And with that, the day's schedule was done. I headed home without delay. Back at the rooftop house, I pulled Pin into my arms with a face full of pure emotion.
"Pin."
"Pi?"
"We're rich now."
I wouldn't have to shut off the boiler in the dead of winter to save on gas. I could order whatever I wanted to eat. Because I had Pin—my little Healing Dragon.
.
.
.
Meanwhile, Seraphin was thoroughly confused. Her queen had suddenly scooped her up, stroked her hair, and nuzzled her close, and she had no idea why.
…But it didn't feel bad. No—it simply felt good that her queen was being so affectionate with her.
"Pipi!"
Seraphin was happy just because her queen was happy.