Can't You Just Give Me the Money?

One of the mirror portals standing across from us shattered, and in its place a new portal bloomed open in the shape of a question mark.

"Princess!"

I was already walking toward it without thinking when Mitsu stepped into my path and stopped me cold.

"Huh...?"

"That portal is too dangerous ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for us to enter alone."

If Mitsu was warning me this seriously, I figured I should check with the others. I asked Unddung and Corneline.

"If you're going, please leave me out of it..."

I absolutely will not go I absolutely will not go I absolutely will not go

"Ahem~ This Angel is hardly frightened in the slightest!"

What a bunch of cowards, every last one of them.

Everyone except Corneline clearly didn't want to go.

Is it because she's EX-Rank like me?

Which meant that portal was only survivable if you were at least EX-Rank?

I'd put it on hold for now. I had plenty of other things to do besides this.

"Ahaha, we'll give that portal a proper shot later!"

"I'll be back a little later with some enhancement content~"

I ended the stream. I was planning to rest alone in my newly enlarged room, but...

"Why are you guys still here."

"Guarding Your Highness's side is this humble one's destiny."

"It's lonely being by myself, y'know..."

"This body demands that you teach it this 'streaming' business at once!"

My kin refused to leave my room. I'd even made them their own private rooms! Why wouldn't they just go?!

After the Awakening, China had fractured into countless factions — guilds of ambitious hunters carving the continent into pieces. In a nation that had all but collapsed into anarchy, the guild wielding the greatest influence was Tianming.

They were infamous for stopping at nothing in pursuit of the guild's interests.

"An EX-Rank awakened has appeared in a small nation, sir."

A brief silence fell over the Tianming Guild's conference room.

"The familiar she recently acquired has also been confirmed as EX-Rank."

Tianwei frowned, clearly displeased with his secretary's report.

"We turned the entire continent upside down for decades and never found a single EX-Rank ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠— and now one shows up first in some tiny little country."

Tianming Guild Master Tianwei tapped the desk irritably as he spoke.

Tianming's strength had been steadily draining thanks to the ongoing civil war with the guild that called itself Qin Shi Huang.

"I don't care what methods you use. Get her into Tianming."

Dragging an EX-Rank onto their side would be enough to seize the entire war in one stroke.

"She's already refused every overseas contact."

Tianwei rested his chin on his hand for a moment, then let out a short, sharp laugh.

"Then there's only one method left."

They'd have to take her by force.

"Yay~ Hello everyone! Today we're going to enhance some S-Rank magic stones!"

After getting plenty of rest, I went live under the title S-Rank Magic Stone Enhancement Show.

I'd received a whopping fifteen of them as a reward for clearing the Distortion Phenomenon. I'd considered selling them off, but...

Nothing looks easier for hitting Masterpiece than these.

The Masterpiece title only attached after twenty successful enhancements. The enhancement material for Mitsu's Exclusive Weapon, Dark Red Shadow, was none other than S+-Rank magic stones, so I needed to conserve every last one. Exclusive Weapons had a 100% enhancement success rate, so once I gathered the materials, +20 would come easy.

"I bought the tendon at the auction house~"

It was a drop from some mob on Easy Mode Floor 42, I think. It'd popped up on the auction house, so I'd immediately dropped a fortune on it.

"Alright then, no more stalling — let's enhance!"

"Whoosh!"

I brought the hammer down on the first S-Rank magic stone.

"......?"

It succeeded instantly, before I even had a chance to turn it into content.

I shot Mitsu a look, and she handed over her Exclusive Weapon.

A single enhancement had changed a lot. The most striking differences were the newly appeared rank and the dramatically boosted stats.

And then there was the newly appeared ability, Blood Sword Dance.

The status window is juicing the stats that hard?

It had to be a powerful technique, given how many penalties were attached to make it hard to use.

"Princess..."

To think even I would receive Her Highness's grace!

When I bestowed Dark Red Shadow upon ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Mitsu, she took it with trembling hands.

I could die now without a single regret.

"...Please don't die, though."

"This blade shall guard Your Highness's side for the rest of my life."

With those words, Mitsu slid the now-sleek Dark Red Shadow into its scabbard.

Watching all this, Corneline casually stepped forward.

"Ahem."

She let out an unnecessarily loud cough and planted both hands on her hips.

"O Savior!"

"Yeah?"

"Surely there is something prepared for this Angel as well?!"

"...You mean an Exclusive Weapon?"

"Yes! So that is what they call it!"

Corneline puffed out her chest with complete confidence.

"This body's rank is the highest of all, so this Angel trusts that you have already prepared one for her as well!"

"...Do you even use weapons?"

"What do you take this Angel for! Prepare a bible at once!"

Corneline pouted and started grumbling to herself in the corner. She was EX-Rank, after all — equipping her with at least one artifact did seem like a good idea. Maybe I should make her Exclusive Weapon something like a magic orb?

"U-um, I have one too, y'know."

"And what about you."

Unddung raised his hand as he spoke.

"Master promised to make my Exclusive Weapon first, she did."

Why'd he suddenly start calling me Master. Was he trying to get on my good side?

"W-what nonsense is this! Obviously this Angel's should be made first!"

"That ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ain't how it works!"

"Silence! You lowly goblin!"

"This humble one also agrees with Corneline's opinion."

A cute little sister like Cornel is far better than that goblin.

With Mitsu taking her side, Corneline grew even more brazen.

"Ahahaha! As expected, Mitsu Unni knows what's what!"

Since when did these two become unni and little sister.

After a moment of thought about who to do first, I opened my mouth.

"I'll do Unddung's first, like I promised."

"Hell yeah! That's my Master! I believed in you!"

"What is the meaning of this! Mitsu Unni, say something!"

"Obey Her Highness's command."

If Her Highness wishes to do the goblin first, then so be it.

Abandoned by the Mitsu she'd been counting on, Corneline's face went slack with betrayal.

"W-why! Why not this Angel first!"

The reason was simple. Unddung did more of the actual fighting, for one.

"Because Unddung's weak."

"Excuse me?"

Compared to Mitsu and Corneline, Unddung was significantly weaker. I had to boost his stats somehow.

"Indeed, he is far too weak to guard Her Highness's side."

"Hah, then I suppose it cannot be helped."

This body is strong, so receiving an Exclusive Weapon late is of no consequence!

A world where nobody got their feelings hurt had been achieved.

"......"

Is this... a good thing?

Unddung would be the happiest about this, at least.

"I'll make Unddung's Exclusive Weapon on the next stream!"

With that closing line, I shut off the stream and opened the Hunter Gallery's message window. I'd deleted every message except one, so it was easy to find.

The Hunter Gallery's head admin. Time to talk with the Association President.

The reason I was reaching out was simple.

"It's about time I made a guild."

Clearing Distorted Portals with just my kin was too dangerous, and leaving all those idle portals unused would be a waste. I'd recruit trustworthy hunters as guild members, then raise them until they could clear Distorted Portals.

"It'll take a long time, but..."

And once I raised them and ran two teams? Rewards and enhancement materials would double! On top of that, if I gathered a bunch of no-name blacksmiths into the guild, stacked enhancement EXP steadily, and monopolized the entire equipment distribution pipeline?

"Ehehehe..."

I could already picture myself duplicating money and enhancement EXP.

"I originally wanted to do it all on my own."

But after enhancing this and that, it was going to take forever. Magic stones had to be used as enhancement materials, and trying to save up enough money for a guild through enhancement work alone was going to take way too long.

"But what should I even send."

They said they'd give me unconditional support, so maybe I could just get straight to the point? After thinking about how to phrase it, I ended up typing the simplest sentence possible.

If I sent it like this, they'd understand exactly what I wanted in one shot!