"Oh right, I'm still sore about that, so how about I tell Grandul 'the advance payment isn't enough' and squeeze every last drop out of him?"
"Information broker Sharl, you're
evil,
aren't you."
"Oh no, I couldn't possibly compare to you, Lord Alan..."
"Ahahahaha!"
"Hahahaha!"
"Anyway, enough with the little act. Turns out one of the guys in the knights had something called a Beast Slayer on him."
"That's a total dead giveaway. This was definitely all staged by the merchant guild and the knights."
"So, when I defeated the Jewel Beast, this came out. Wanna see? I think once you lay eyes on it, there's no turning back."
"Of course I want to see. There's no getting off this ride at this point. What's the point of holding back now."
"Yeah, you're right."
I pulled out a massive gemstone on a pedestal from my spatial storage.
It was so large it could completely envelop me and still have room to spare.
"What the— is this absurdly huge gemstone?! ...That blue color — is it turquoise?"
"That's right. Apparently it's called a Huge Turquoise."
"Alan, you see, among merchants, turquoise is said to bring business prosperity. And at this size, any merchant would be climbing the walls to get their hands on it. No wonder Grandul was dead set on finding it."
"Oh, I see."
Sharl stared at the gemstone for just a moment before looking away.
"Come on, enough already. Put that thing away before I go bald staring at it."
"Huh? You'll go bald?"
I couldn't help but put a hand on my head to check.
Good — still nice and full.
"That's what happens to some people when they're around absurd amounts of magical power. They can't take it and their hair falls out. Plenty of people would gladly trade their hair for a chance at a fortune, though."
Sharl shrugged.
"So, guess I'll crush the Huge Turquoise into manageable pieces and scatter them around the mine. I'll use Rock Iron Magic to tamper with it so that a little digging is all it takes to hit a vein."
"That might fix Gandbard's finances, but what about Grandul? He'll pull something again, you know."
"Hmm… I'll figure something out."
◇◇◇
While Alan and the others were discussing hair, at the Assassins' Guild, Pandemonium…
"This commission is insane… Steal valuables from adventurers who've been forcibly summoned — does he have any idea how many targets that is?"
The master of Pandemonium stared at the stack of papers listing the targets and sighed.
It was a job from the Grandul Gemstone Trading Company, but they refused to say what the valuables were. And the intelligence was that if the Information Guild couldn't figure it out either, they wanted every last one of them killed and the goods taken by force.
"So if it's 'kill everyone necessary,' does that mean we're supposed to declare all-out war on the Adventurers' Guild? Has Grandul gone completely insane?"
Adventurers of Mithril rank and above weren't weak, by any stretch.
Normally, you'd take your time studying the target, make thorough preparations, and then strike precisely at their weakness.
But with this many targets? That kind of approach was completely out of the question.
This was, without a doubt, the most reckless commission he'd ever seen.
Are they out of their minds?
The Master sighed once more as he flipped through the list.
On the last page, he found the name of Orichalcum-rank adventurer Alan.
Right. He'd turn this down.
No amount of money could make this worth it.
Well, he had been a good customer, though.
◇◇◇◇◇◇
Posted in the limited update notes for supporters:
"Chapter ??? —[Thunder God Sword]" is now live.
Skills: [Reverse][Divine Eye][Sword God][Fist God][Spear God][Blazing Magic][Freezing Magic][Clear Gale Magic][Rock Iron Magic][Holy Magic][Dark Magic][Space-Time Magic][Thunder God Sword][Gentleman Thief][Ninja Master][Seeker of Truth][Monstrous Strength][Idaten][Pain Relief][Complete Status Ailment Resistance][Dark Spirit's Protection][Super Intuition][Heaven's Gate][Abyssal Contractor][Magic Hand][Treasure Search][Seduction][Incitement][Eloquence][Great Luck][Growth Speed x10][Growth Limit Breakthrough]
Rank: Orichalcum
Thank you for reading!