Chapter 16
Chapter 16
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: Gold Solis Party
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A little after three weeks ago.
So, two days after the day I had confidently assured the Goddess that I'd find work right away.
"Tesgiri? They entered the dungeon about ten days ago. They must've reached the lower floors by now, right?"
"...I see."
"Want me to pass along a message when they get back? That Arjen came looking for them."
"No, thank you. Sorry for the trouble."
Tieria, Luelan, Korbul, Grimhild, Tesgiri.
These were named advanced parties active even in the lower floors. Naturally, they had fixed support members, but they didn't have enough people to tackle the dungeon every time, so they occasionally hired external mercenaries just for support roles.
That made them my main clients.
But all of them were currently out in the dungeon.
And it wasn't just them.
Right now, in the dungeon city, not only the named parties operating in the lower floors but even the number of mid-tier parties active in the middle floors had sharply decreased.
"...I'd forgotten how little time is left until the Festival of Receiving Flesh."
In this world, unlike my previous life, the concept of 'gods' truly existed.
The gods of this world were said to have once had physical bodies long ago, but they used those bodies to create the dungeons and now existed as spiritual entities in a place called the 'Celestial Realm'.
Honestly, I still didn't understand the exact mechanism.
I just understood it as some kind of transcendent existence that, unlike ordinary lifeforms, could persist in that form simply because they were called gods.
And the 'gods' and 'humanity' had a symbiotic relationship.
The gods were beings of immense power, but they lacked physical bodies to manifest and spread that power into the world.
Humanity had physical bodies but were frail creatures with limited strength.
Through faith and offerings, people provided tributes to the gods, nourishing their powers, and in return, the faithful received portions of their god's power.
My relationship with the Goddess was the same.
And in a world governed by such laws, there was one festival that everyone held most sacred and important.
The Festival of Receiving Flesh.
That was the reason all the promising crawlers in the dungeon city were heading into the dungeon.
The dungeon was a massive stopper crafted from the gods' flesh and powers.
And the materials from the monsters that emerged from it could, in a sense, be called the gods' blood and flesh.
Well, not exactly blood and flesh—more like fragments of cells.
Each church order gathered monster materials throughout the year and offered them to the gods, allowing them to temporarily descend to the earthly realm in imperfect vessels. That was the Festival of Receiving Flesh.
How grand a vessel one prepared for their god depended on the quality of their faith and offerings, which determined the god's manifested power. So, it was also an annual event where denominations poured immense effort into proclaiming their god's greatness and showing off to rival faiths.
That was why, around this time, crawlers favored by the gods—practically great warriors—desperately gathered more dungeon materials than competing denominations by outsourcing to clans and such, leaving proper manpower in short supply.
But.
-...This was usually a day I wouldn't pay much mind to.
"..."
The Goddess's soliloquy had no subject, but I silently agreed.
Our denomination of the Goddess of Mist and Dew had only me as its crawler, and we weren't wealthy enough to lavish the dungeon materials needed for the Goddess to fully incarnate on earth. So, the Festival of Receiving Flesh had no real connection to small-time denominations like ours.
Until last year.
"...We'll figure something out somehow."
But now, with interest piling up by 9 gold every month just from breathing due to the loan, the situation was suffocatingly dire.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ And that was three weeks ago—now.
I still hadn't found a proper party.
To be precise, it wasn't that there were no parties looking for a supporter.
"...The level is too low."
Lower floors? Total wipeouts, obviously.
Middle-floor parties were rare as hen's teeth, but even those weren't satisfactory.
Upper-floor parties were plentiful enough, but...
'If I'm just exploring the upper floors, I'd rather go solo.'
The money from upper-floor materials barely covered the growing interest, if at all.
"...This is really troubling."
The Festival of Receiving Flesh was now just under two months away.
I could look for a party after it ended, but...
With compound interest ballooning monthly and that silver-haired collector watching my every move to see if I'd pay up honestly...
-That child always had an unsettling gaze fixed on you.
"Hmm..."
-My divine foresight tells me you'll be in big trouble if you show any weakness!
"Ugh..."
But no matter how I thought about it, there was no answer.
Deep in debt with no jobs—like the anguish IMF-era fathers must have felt.
To soothe my troubled mind, I lit up specials from Clonter Workshop: mana herb Malrusso, one after another. But even that didn't bring the usual refreshment.
"Arjen?"
While wandering aimlessly down the street, a voice called my name. I turned toward it and saw her holding a paper bag stuffed with baguette loaves, staring my way.
Cute features, large eyes with vertical pupils.
Two cat ears sprouting from her head and a spotted tail.
It was Miella, the thief from Kaiden's Party, whom I'd dungeoned with up to the 22nd floor not long ago.
"Where you headed?"
*Shake shake.*
"Just out for a walk, then?"
*Nod nod.*
"What’s with that attitude? When talking to people, take the cigarette out of your mouth and speak properly. It's rude."
At my words, I listlessly removed the cigarette from my mouth. Miella furrowed her brow and said,
"Why do you look so dead inside?"
"It's my usual face."
"Heh. If you went around with that expression normally, it'd actually be entertaining."
She grinned mischievously, then nodded slightly as if remembering something.
"Come to think of it, you've been looking for parties lately, right?"
"...Word spread that fast?"
"Eh, sort of."
Miella averted her eyes as if recalling something at my words.
Probably nothing good.
Just the nickname 'Rusted Silver' they'd slapped on me was enough to make me unpopular among other crawlers.
They were probably gossiping that it was satisfying to see me act high-and-mighty before, only to now scramble desperately for party members.
"How about you and Kaiden's party...? Still on a long break?"
"Yeah. This dungeon run was... easier thanks to you, but we still need a rest period."
She added that Kaiden was thorough about such things.
'...No luck with Kaiden's Party either, huh.'
It might not rake in big money, but a party that could reach mid-middle floors like Kaiden's would at least cover interest and some principal before the festival.
In the current dungeon city's manpower shortage, Kaiden's Party was a solid choice.
Leader Kaiden was reliable, reasonable, and sensible for a crawler.
But that's exactly why he wouldn't head into the dungeon for a while.
He'd take a full rest to recover from accumulated fatigue and digest insights from the run.
In my past life, martial artists and fighters followed safety rules with weeks to months of rest after a single big match.
How much more for two weeks of life-or-death monster slaughter with swords drawn?
"Aren't you pushing yourself too hard?"
Her casual remark carried a faint undercurrent of concern that I couldn't miss.
'Has she grown fond of me after those two weeks?'
Half the training camp duration, but nothing builds understanding like rolling together.
"If it's about money, I could lend you some."
Her follow-up made my eyes widen instantly.
I closed the distance to Miella in a flash, leaning in nose-to-nose, and asked,
"How much... exactly... can you do?"
"Huh? Whoa, you're kinda scary... Um, is it really about money?"
"..."
"H-How much do you need?"
Miella's question had my mental calculator whirring.
The full 500-gold loan?
Impossible.
A middle-floor crawler like her wouldn't have 500 gold lying around.
Then... 100 gold?
No, still absurd.
40 gold?
A bit low, but... it might tide me over until after the festival...
So...
"3... 30 gold?"
I flashed my brightest smile at Miella.
And she responded with a smile so soft it curved her eyebrows...
"Bullshit."
Spitting the retort like venom.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ In the end, borrowing from Miella concluded with her snapping out of it, calling me crazy, and swinging a hard baguette at me.
'...You really piss people off every time we meet.'
After a brief tantrum, Miella calmed down, sighed softly, and said,
'I don't know what you need 30 gold for, but I don't have that kind of money. Hell, who lends out sums like that anyway?'
Fair point.
'...Not that you'd go hungry or anything, but if you can't even eat, I'll buy you a meal. ...If you really need cash, I can spot you up to 2 gold.'
With that, she handed me the baguette she'd been wielding, told me to stay strong, and scampered off.
-What a good kid. One of the ones you bonded with on that dungeon run?
"Yes."
I smiled faintly down at the baguette bearing Miella's handprints and replied.
"Goddess."
-Hm?
"About that 22nd-floor Floor Lord's Orb Mal I offered last time."
-...
"Goddess?"
-....
"Goddess? Goddess?"
I desperately called to the Goddess for a while, but the quick-witted one gave no reply.
For a full day.