Chapter 58
Chapter 58
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 58
Chapter Title: Gold Rich's Gift (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
4.
Adventurers had one ironclad rule.
“Never do back-to-back adventures.”
Take a rest after an adventure ends.
El Pam's party was no different.
After adventuring Jack Rich's Tomb, El Pam's party returned straight to the port city of Lis without delay.
It was nothing out of the ordinary.
“Boss.”
Business as usual.
“The stares around us are scorching, huh?”
But the attention aimed at El Pam's party as they entered the port city of Lis was completely different from normal.
It wasn't just hot.
“It's not scorching—it's outright glaring.”
Everyone was openly targeting El Pam's party.
And that was only natural.
“Conquering Jack Rich's Tomb is impressive. Really impressive.”
Just a few days ago, tales of Jack Rich's death had filled the port city of Lis.
So it would have been strange not to draw attention for conquering his tomb.
And El Pam's party hadn't just conquered it.
A five-man party!
It was as if those who should have died had come back alive.
“They're looking at Dibo,” but there was an even bigger reason for the attention.
“Me? Ah, so my fame has spread this far? What a headache. Now everyone's gonna beg me to adventure with them.”
“Never mind that. What they're after is Jack Rich's legacy that Dibo has.”
“What?”
“Stay sharp. You never know when a knife might hit the back of your head.”
El Pam's party possessed Jack Rich's legacy.
Of course, El Pam's party—especially El Pam—had far more unique items than that.
El Pam currently held a countless array of unique items that would put even Jack Rich to shame.
But that fact had never been made public. They were things El Pam had acquired in secret.
Jack Rich's legacy was different.
Everyone knew it existed.
And now that legacy was walking around?
That was incredibly dangerous.
El Pam's party wasn't weak, but the items Jack Rich had owned were tempting even to adventurers beyond the 4th Circle.
They hadn't dared touch them while Jack Rich was alive out of fear of the Goldrich Merchant Group, but now that wasn't the case.
In fact, some were already sniffing around.
“Tsk.”
The pirate Miner caught wind of it faster than anyone.
So she spoke up.
“We can't even eat properly in this town.”
Forget dining at restaurants or taverns.
But they couldn't skip meals entirely.
They were hungry, but more than that, a proper meal after an adventure was a ritual for adventurers.
A rite to ensure the next adventure went safely.
Either way, they had to eat.
“Then let's head home.”
With that, Miner looked at the other four.
“Whose place?”
For starters, she was from the Nautilus, so she was out.
“My house isn't here.”
Kiri was out too. As a Cygnus Knight, she wasn't from Lis harbor either.
That left three.
“I don't have a house.”
But Ralph was just crashing at inns too, with no place of his own.
Now it was down to El Pam and Dibo. El Pam spoke up.
“I burned my house down.”
“Huh?”
“What's that supposed to mean?”
To their sudden question, El Pam replied.
“No reason to go home.”
It was a short, blunt answer, but no one pressed further.
That left just one option.
“Then come to my place.”
5.
It was a common sight.
“Hey, open the door.”
“Bro's home? What's that? Why'd you buy so much?”
“What else? Ingredients. Cook something with 'em.”
“Cook? Wait, why such fancy ingredients? And so expensive? Bro, you gotta save money.”
“Hey, enough. You know how much I make.”
“Fine, make a decent living and retire already. But seriously, this much? How are we gonna eat it all?”
A typical sibling exchange.
“Guests are here, so don't worry.”
“Guests?”
That everyday scene changed the moment Dibo's little sister Dineb spotted the people behind him.
“Are these your party members?”
“Who else would I bring? Party members.”
“Bro! You could've said you were coming!”
“Hey, I didn't even know!”
With that exchange over, Dineb flashed a bright smile and welcomed El Pam's party.
“I'm Dineb. Come on in. I'll have food ready soon.”
Only then could El Pam's party finally step inside Dibo's home.
Everyone took seats at the table right away.
“Wow, cute little sis. Good thing she doesn't take after her bro.”
“Gold-eyes, don't start trouble.”
“Trouble? It's just facts.”
The moment they sat, Miner complimented Dibo.
“Seeing siblings get along so well is nice.”
Kiri chimed in.
“Kiri, what about you? Any siblings?”
“I have an older sister. But it's not like this.”
“Yeah?”
And so the chatter began.
Idle talk of every kind.
It paused only when Dineb's cooking filled the table.
“Feast time!”
“All by yourself? You could open a shop.”
“Impressive. Dishes like this are rare even at fancy places.”
Everyone marveled as they dug in.
“Gotta eat big after an adventure. Obviously.”
It was a crucial meal for adventurers.
In other words, for El Pam's party, this meal marked the true end of the Jack Rich's Tomb adventure.
A sign that it was finally over.
That was why.
“So, where's the next hunting ground?”
Dibo brought up the next adventure.
“Yellow-grade, right?”
One adventure done, time for a new one.
“That's right.”
And the next one's stage was Yellow-grade.
It was a weighty topic.
It hadn't been long since El Pam's party had entered an Orange-grade Mystic Gate.
Now Yellow-grade already?
Moreover, the difficulty gap between Yellow and Orange was on another level.
For one, Yellow-grades consisted of three floors.
Unlike Orange, it meant adventuring through a whopping three stages!
Yet no one voiced complaints or doubts at El Pam's words.
“Yeah!”
If anything, Dibo clenched his fist, burning with resolve.
And it wasn't just Dibo.
The rest of the party sent back looks of anticipation and determination, not worry.
It was all thanks to El Pam.
“We took down that ridiculous monster, so there's zero reason we can't handle Yellow-grade.”
Their confidence was brimming.
“So, where is it?”
Dibo's confidence was higher than ever, especially.
It had to be.
Not only had he unlocked the 3rd Circle in one go, but he'd claimed all of Jack Rich's legacy too.
Above all, he had experience now.
Experience breaking through an impossible crisis.
“The site's the Perion Ruins Excavation Site.”
Even when that name dropped, it was the same.
‘Perion Ruins Excavation Site—where skeletons come out?’
‘Wild Boar packs on the way there.’
‘Dangerous place.’
It was the second-most dangerous spot in Victoria Island after Sleepywood, but no one raised concerns.
‘Better than that swamp.’
They'd already been through worse.
“Capacity is twenty-nine entrants.”
Their confidence swelled further at the follow-up.
Mystic Gate difficulty scaled with entrant numbers, and twenty-nine was basically the lowest tier.
“We're going in to rescue the adventurers trapped inside that Mystic Gate.”
“Pfft!”
At El Pam's words, Dibo sprayed his food across the table.
“Bro! What the hell!”
Dineb scolded him, but she was the only one.
The others didn't reprimand Dibo.
They wore the exact same expression as him, staring at El Pam.
“B-Boss? D-Did you say rescue?”
“That's right.”
And the story El Pam shared was just that shocking.
“We'll secure survivors on the first floor, then exit through the third floor's exit.”
Mystic Gates allowed re-entry as long as survivors hadn't advanced to the second floor.
Rescue wasn't impossible.
But it was extremely difficult.
A rescue request meant the adventurers inside couldn't continue adventuring.
Helping them in that dire state with even fewer people?
Honestly, impossible.
“Don't tell me.”
No reason to unless there was something special.
“You know the survivors inside?”
That was why Dibo asked, and El Pam answered.
“Pyr.”
Everyone tilted their heads at the name.
They didn't know it.
But El Pam knew exactly who he was.
‘Hero Tracker Pyr.’
The only one who'd ever found Fried's legacy.
The biggest tale that made Hero Tracker Pyr famous was the title he held.
‘Longest survivor in a Mystic Gate.’
He held the record of enduring 251 days in one.
That was the reason.
‘That Mystic Gate is conquerable.’
Why El Pam had accepted Cheryl's request this time.
‘Didn't know the Hero Tracker was with the Cross Hunters.’
The connection between Cross Hunters and the Hero Tracker was unexpected even for El Pam, but it didn't matter.
What mattered was that this Mystic Gate was conquerable.
‘Owing the Hero Tracker isn't a bad thing.’
And the Hero Tracker's value.
‘He knows more unique item info than anyone.’
In tracking Fried's legacy, Hero Tracker Pyr had uncovered traces of countless other heroes—and he knew them.
Meaning he knew where the heroes' items were.
‘Info on the heroes too.’
On top of that, Hero Tracker Pyr even had ties to the Six Heroes, whose whereabouts were unknown at this point.
Rescuing him meant no downside.
‘He's essential for unique items to enter the world.’
Far from loss, considering the unique items the Hero Tracker would excavate in the future, he was indispensable.
‘It won't be easy.’
Of course, El Pam wasn't blindly optimistic about the current situation.
No, El Pam had never once been optimistic about conquering a Mystic Gate.
He couldn't afford to.
Because at the end of everything he did loomed impossible existences: Hontail and the Black Mage.
Despair's pinnacle existed.
Optimism in its face was impossible.
This time was no different.
‘I need to gear up more.’
To tackle that Mystic Gate of unknowns, El Pam had to invest his entire fortune into bolstering their power.
Truth be told, that was El Pam's dilemma.
‘Not much meso left.’
He'd earned a ton so far, but he'd spent it all acquiring items as fast as he made it.
Even the Flame Vortex spell item he'd snagged recently had easily topped ten million meso.
This Mystic Gate run in particular hadn't yielded great profits.
Precisely, Jack Rich's legacy was worth a fortune, but he couldn't convert it to meso right away.
Nor trade it for other items.
It was a real headache all around.
Knock knock!
That's when the knock came.
“Who is it?”
Dibo shot up from his seat right away.
His face held a hint of tension as he stood.
“No one's supposed to come.”
They had to watch their surroundings now more than ever.
Especially here—Dibo's home. If a threat came, nowhere would sharpen his senses more.
Amid that tension, Dibo opened the door to reveal a man.
“From the Goldrich Merchant Group. Is El Pam here?”
Dibo turned at the man's words, and El Pam was already rising to approach.
“I'm El Pam.”
“A gift from Gold Rich.”
The man handed El Pam a flat, silk-wrapped item the moment he saw him.
“Then I'll be off.”
And with that, the man vanished.
“Boss!”
The instant he was gone, Dibo and the others stared at El Pam with rapt attention.
It was warranted.
“A gift from Gold Rich?”
Not just anyone—Gold Rich himself sending a gift like this? It couldn't be ordinary!
At the question, El Pam unwrapped the silk.
“A check.”
The first thing revealed was a check.
“A check? For how much?”
Instead of answering the hyped-up Dibo, El Pam just handed it over.
“Lemme see—gasp!”
The moment Dibo saw the amount, he yelped in shock.
“One h-hundred million meso?”
An astronomical sum, and Dibo wasn't the only one gasping.
“My god.”
“One hundred million? Twenty million each? Hey, kid. This real?”
“Miner, do the math right. It's twenty-five million each.”
“What? What're you talking about?”
“Dibo gets none. Gotta pay off his debt.”
“Ah!”
El Pam's excitedly chattering party.
But El Pam didn't join in.
He couldn't.
‘Of all things...’
He could see it.
‘Didn't expect this.’
6.
“Gold Rich, sir. It was delivered successfully.”
At Silveri's report, Gold Rich nodded lightly.
But Silveri's expression was different.
“Gold Rich, sir.”
He spoke to Gold Rich cautiously, his face dissatisfied.
“Wasn't that gift a bit too much?”
It was a startling remark.
For even Gold Rich to call it excessive meant it was an enormous gift.
And it was.
“Not even unique-grade—a legendary-grade item...”
Legendary-grade!
An item worlds apart from unique-grade, one only a tiny few in the Maple World could possess. Even by Gold Rich's standards, it was too much.
“Too much for just a gift, sure.”
Gold Rich knew it was.
“But this isn't a gift. It's to burn my son's killers to ash.”
But Gold Rich was consumed by rage right now.
That was why.
“I hope El Pam knows how to handle Apollo's Fire Arrow properly.”
The reason for such an excessive gift.