Kkachireyu(?) Party, Sortie!
Adventurers who grow faster than others often share one trait. It has nothing to do with boring stories about effort or talent. No, the real secret is that they excel at aggressive reinvestment.
“This body only spent a thousand Dallant a day on living expenses until reaching the minimum level needed to explore the Red Zone, nyang!”
“Then did you save the rest of your Dallant?”
“Nope, nyang! I spent every leftover Dallant on gear and items right away, nyang!”
“Whoa....”
To receive the Goddess’s blessing of growth, one must either surpass their own limits or accomplish a feat worthy of the Goddess’s nod. Our resident veteran insists that the best way to do this is to push your body to the limit while you’re still weak and inexperienced. That’s why aggressive reinvestment is necessary. In short, if you want to grow fast, don’t skimp on equipment.
“If the feat required of veteran mercenaries or master knights is slaying a single monster, then the feat demanded of a street urchin who used to pick pockets is simply setting foot inside the dungeon entrance, nyang!”
So theoretically, someone with no combat experience but plenty of money can level up extremely quickly. Damn it. I should’ve taken the contractor straight down to the Green Zone that day and power-leveled like crazy. What a waste.
Our current contractor has already spent nearly a year in Terraforming under my past self, racking up all kinds of experience. She might need to accomplish far more than ordinary mercenaries or knights. But… that’s fine. A familiar’s achievements count as the contractor’s achievements. I’m optimized for mass slaughter, so I’ll just carry her. I’ll do the proxy hunting myself—kill anything that looks too strong and leave only the monsters she can handle with some effort. It’s a flawless plan.
“My Dallant....”
“...?”
Once my thoughts were sorted, I looked up to find the contractor kneeling in a corner of the plaza in front of the dungeon. Her black-and-red eyes were as empty as a dead fish’s. What the hell happened in the few minutes I zoned out? When we first entered the potion shop she’d looked like a middle-schooler out shopping with a friend, all excited. Now she resembled a ruined gambler. Did she lose everything to some street swindle while I wasn’t looking?
“Hey, rogue. Why’s the contractor suddenly like that?”
“Eutsha! Probably because she spent more Dallant than planned, nyang. Even though we only bought what we really needed, nyang!”
As she spoke, Sion dropped an enormous backpack I’d never seen before at my feet. It was far larger than the worn-out pack the contractor usually hid under her robe. Whatever was inside made the bag swell like grass after rain.
“What’s this?”
“Food and items bought in preparation for exploring the Green Zone, nyang!”
I’d considered buying separate gear for the contractor, but after remembering the performance she and Kkachi showed at the rank-up exam, I decided it wasn’t necessary. She’d only purchased basic exploration supplies. And even that filled such a huge pack? Now I understood why other adventurers hired porters.
“You bought quite a lot. How much did it cost?”
At a glance it looked like at least a million Dallant.
“Including this body’s Dallant, a little over four million, nyang!”
I must have misheard.
“...Four hundred?”
Beep-beep-beep. The moment I heard “four hundred,” my half-dead brain reluctantly started doing math for the first time in ages. The first profit from selling mana stones to the Adventurer’s Guild: 6,840 Dallant. The check from the rude adventurer Jackson who drove monsters from the Green Zone into the White Zone: 100,000 Dallant. The check donated by the fear-vaccine experimenter who scammed the contractor: 400,000 Dallant. The contractor’s registration reward after applying for the rank-up exam: 2,100,000 Dallant. And finally, the one million Dallant I received for curing Sakana’s pyrophobia at the Rainbow Cup. In total, we’d earned roughly 3.6 million Dallant since arriving in the dungeon city. Yet we’d spent four million?
I stared blankly at the sky in a daze, then helped the contractor to her feet and asked as calmly as possible.
“...Contractor. How much Dallant do we have left?”
She must have left at least an emergency fund, right?
The contractor took my hand and stood up weakly, her voice trembling.
“Nothing.”
Ah.
“...Not a single coin?”
“Not even one Dallant. Thanks to that, the backpack feels so light I could probably run backward.”
“Oh.”
We’re bankrupt.
Sion, that crazy cat, had laid the groundwork with talk of aggressive reinvestment and finally bankrupted us. Was this some kind of last stand? Damn that rogue who thinks she’s like Hanshin. With empty pockets, there was no turning back. To live comfortably we had no choice but to dive into the unknown darkness and struggle.
“Looks like we’ll be living in the dungeon for a while.”
“I packed ten days’ worth of food and a simple sleeping bag, so it should be fine.”
“Good. Let’s wipe the Green Zone clean.”
“Though my help is meager, I shall lend this hand.”
“Kkyu kkyu kkyu!”
“Everyone’s got the right mindset, nyang! Once we reach the Green Zone we’ll earn way more than in the White Zone, so don’t worry too much, nyang! Our investment will definitely pay off, nyang!”
“Yes...!”
“Rogue, I shall trust and follow only you.”
“Trust only this Sherpa Sion, nyang!”
But…
“So what are we doing with this backpack? Adventurer? You said there was a way to carry heavy loads, so we prepared a bit extra. Were you planning to make the crow carry it, nyang?”
...Me?
Sion tapped the giant backpack with her palm and looked at the contractor as if the solution was obvious.
“Ah, about that.”
After covering the pack with a green waterproof tarp and fastening the buckles, the contractor called Kkachi.
“Kkachi. Please.”
“Kkyu!”
At the contractor’s command, a thin shadow slid down her leg and slipped beneath the massive backpack. The black line touched the pack, and after a moment—
whoosh.
The backpack sank into the shadow as if swallowed by a swamp.
Oho. Kkachi, you can do that too? A living inventory, huh. Wait, you didn’t happen to swallow the guns I lost, did you? Sorry, but mind if I cut your stomach open for a second?
Kkyu? (Father?)
“...So there really is a way to carry everything even if we buy a lot, nyang! What can’t Kkachi do, nyang! I wish I had an all-purpose familiar like Kkachi too, nyang!”
Sion shuddered at Kkachi’s versatility and gently patted the crow’s head, which was peeking out over the contractor’s shoulder.
“Kkyuu~”
Kkachi let out a short cry, apparently enjoying Sion’s soft palm. Normally the familiar was extremely wary of anyone except me or the contractor, but Sion had been with us long enough that light contact was now tolerated.
“Shall we head out, nyang?”
“Yes.”
“Let’s go.”
With the luggage problem solved thanks to Kkachi, we set off toward the dungeon with light steps. The first time we headed to the dungeon our heads had been full of worries, but now anticipation and excitement outweighed them. Unlike back then, we now had the contractor—who had grown astonishingly in Terraforming—and the reliable veteran Sion.
Kkyu!
Ah, and the capable Kkachi as a bonus.
‘Just wait a little longer, monsters.’
I’m going to slaughter you all.
The Kkachireyu Party is sortieing.
Chion you idiot.
“Don’t give our party such a trashy name, nyang!”
“...I agree, that’s a bit much.”
“Kkyu.”
“Too much.”
The name Kkachireyu was unanimously rejected. What a shame.
“Let’s gooooo!”
“Kiyahoo!”
“O Goddessss!”
Some adventurers steeled their resolve alone while others charged toward the black pool with their reliable party members. This terrifying place, where everyone hurled themselves into a collective fall as if they’d lost their minds, was the dungeon’s one and only entrance—the Black Hole.
Our party lined up in front of the black portal, accompanied by an eerie sound like something from a deep cave playing in the background.
Then—
whoosh.
“Unyaaa! Crowwwww! I’ll get my revenge, nyaaaaang!”
“Contractor, it’s safe now.”
“I finally feel a little relieved.”
After tossing the beast that might attack us from behind into the dungeon entrance—the Black Hole—we turned to each other.
“Ready, contractor?”
“Yes...!”
The contractor and I clasped hands, nodded lightly, and leaped in together. There was no hesitation in our steps.
An adventurer has entered.
Party Member List [3/5]
1. |Pathfinder/Dungeon Sherpa| –【Strangler】 Sion | 5T (*Party Leader)
2. |Contractor/Survivor| -【Talented Rookie Adventurer】 Yuri Alcast | 1T
【Indescribable Terror (Fragment)】 Kkachi | 2T
3. |Plague Doctor/Familiar| -【Mad Demon】 Raven | 2T
“Ah, they’re in.”
Having confirmed through the shared vision with Kkachi that Raven had entered the dungeon, Sith paced anxiously. With every step she took, faint ripples spread across the transparent liquid.
“I wonder if that guy will provoke Raven for no reason.”
Touching Raven was one thing. The real problem arose when someone laid a hand on what he cherished.
“He wouldn’t do something crazy like targeting Raven’s contractor, right?”
Normally, if a contractor died, the demon would be forcibly returned to the demon realm. But for Raven…
“Raven’s real body is that thing.”
...that rule didn’t apply. If the contractor died, the contract would simply end; Raven would remain in this world. And if he were left alone like that…
“He’d erase the dungeon from existence.”
Maybe even this world.
He already possessed more than enough power to do so, even after we forcibly lowered his rank and introduced the leveling system.
“That must never happen.”
What she aimed for was everyone’s happiness, not the world’s destruction. She desperately wanted to step down from this tiresome position, but she had no desire to sacrifice the children. How could a mother cast aside her own offspring? Therefore, for the sake of the future…
“We need to make the trigger—Yuri—even stronger....”
She had already assigned an excellent Sherpa, strengthened Kkachi, and sent Yuri to Terraforming for training, yet it still wasn’t enough. Even to prevent Raven’s wrath.
“...What should I give her for the next blooming skill?”
The plan to strengthen Yuri had to continue.