Dream Life Vol II Chapter 55.2: “Reward for Aiding”

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“You’re claiming ownership of a monster that we’ve made immobile with our magic. And that’s when you stabbed the ant with your sword. That’s what it is, right?” (Zack)

 

 

 Neville turns his head away in disgust, but Emilia breathes in, “It belongs to the one who killed it, doesn’t it?”

 

 

“But it could just be one that was dead because of our magic, and you just stabbed your sword through it. How do you prove you didn’t do it?” (Zack)

 

 

 Emilia snaps, “The kid is messing around.”

 

 

 I ignored Emilia and asked Marion the same question.

 

 Marion countered, “How are you going to prove that it’s your kill? It’s not right that we’re the only ones who have to prove it.”

 

 I knew he would say that. I kept my voice as calm as possible,

 

 

“The ones who are felled by our magic have a clear burn mark on them. We can prove it, but how are you going to prove that you are the one that killed them?” (Zack)

 

 

 Marion froze at those words.

 

 I thought it was about time,

 

 

“Well, let’s do it this way. We’ll take the rights to the one who got hit by our fire magic. We’ll take the Soldier Ant’s magic stone… We’ll give you all the materials for all the soldier ants we have lying around… We’ll be square with that.” (Zack)

 

 

 Emilia was still mumbling something, but Marion was silent and seemed to be doing the math in his head.

 

 I play the part of a frustrated man, to get him to make a decision.

 

 

“If you don’t like it, I’ll give you everything! In exchange, I’ll sue you in the guild for taking everything from us. In this situation, the orb–a magic tool for identification. If they check the orb – which records when you commit a criminal act, etc. – it will say that you took someone else’s reward. If you still want to do that, go ahead! Beatrice, let’s go!” (Zack)

 

 

 I took advantage of the fact that the guild’s rules included a section about not taking away from others’ accomplishments.

 

 This is an obvious rule, but it happens rather often. In particular, there are veterans who unfairly distribute rewards to newcomers. The clause was designed to prevent this, and of course, they must know about it.

 

 Neville snapped at my words.

 

 

“Wait a minute. I’m fine with the terms you just gave! Marion, Emilia, you’re on your own! But I will never work with you again! I’m just ashamed that I was rescued by a child. Even, I have pride, too. I’m not going to argue with you anymore!” (Neville)

 

 

 Marion conceded, “All right, I’ll agree to that.” Emilia glared at Neville and Marion, then at me, but Beatrice glared back at her and she looked away.

 

 

“Then I’ll check again. The dead ants in the middle with traces of magic on them are ours. Instead, all the Soldier Ant materials here belong to you… We’re done!” (Zack)

 

 

 Neville nodded with a look of satisfaction, Marion with a look of being beaten, and Emilia with a look of not being convinced.

 

 

“Well then, we’ll first strip off the material you recovered the magic stone from. Someone come with me. I don’t want any trouble later.” (Neville)

 

 

 Marion followed, saying, “I’ll observe it.”

 

 Beatrice said, “It’s a big loss. It really is,” she muttered, but I didn’t mind.

 

 When I retrieved the magic stones from the Soldier Ants that were burned by magic, there were twenty-five in all. There were thirteen more Soldier Ants, so there were thirty-eight in all.

 

 Then, we started on the biggest one, the Queen Soldier Ant. As expected of such a large monster, we were able to get a large magic stone.

 

 After confirming that we had taken the magic stone, Marion was about give an order to strip the Queen Soldier Ant.

 

 I said, “Wait,” and restrained her with my hand.

 

 

“This is ours. I just told you. I told you before that we would give you all the materials for the Soldier Ants… But the Queen Soldier Ant is one we defeated alone, so the material is ours.” (Zack)

 

 

 Marion opened his mouth but was speechless.

 

 Beatrice laughed loudly and slapped Marion on the back, “That’s what you get for thinking he’s just a kid and letting your guard down.” Marion wanted to say something, but he just shook his head and said nothing.

 

 It must be frustrating, but they can’t afford to argue with the guild with us when they check the orb. Because they have declared that they were satisfied with my terms, it will be recognized as stealing if their orbs were investigated.

 

 

 I didn’t want to get into trouble over a little bit of money.

 

 When I thought it was about time, they laughed and said, “Just kidding. We’ll split the sale. Everyone should get a quarter of the appraised value of the material,” I told the four of them, including Beatrice.

 

 The four of them looked at me as if to say, “What are you talking about?”

 

 

“That’s great Zack. That’s good. I’m fine with it, too. But I’m going to report this to the guild. Don’t try to cover it up.” (Beatrice)

 

 

 She said that and laughed.

 

 

 I was annoyed by Marion and the others’ response, but I took a pragmatic approach, thinking about the future.

 

 

 First, I would make them realize that I was shrewd by being able to monopolize the Queen Soldier Ant.

 

 But if I let it end like this, they would still hold a grudge because their pride was hurt by a child like me. That would be troublesome later, so I’ll show them my generosity by making a compromise with them.

 

 Aside from Emilia, who seems to be greedy, Neville and Marion should not be able to say anything now.

 

 We will report to the guild that we took credit for defeating the Queen Soldier Ant this time, so they will confirm it when we come to sell them the materials. Furthermore, there were no fire magic users in their party, so they would immediately know we were involved by looking at the burnt husk. Since we have nearly a third of the Soldier Ant’s magic stones, it is easy to know that we were the most active.

 

 

 Even if they tried something in this situation, the other adventurers would just evaluate them as petty guys who forgot their gratitude for the help, and no one would ever help them them. On the contrary, since there will be no party that tries to partner with them, they should not do anything else.

 

 

 In fact, Neville has declared that he will not team up with Marion and the others, and it is highly likely that he will spread this rumor in the tavern. If that is the case, both Marion and Emilia should be quiet, fearing the spread of any more strange rumors.

 

 

(However, it’s a troublesome matter, isn’t it? I’m sorry to say this, but we’re not that in need of money. If only they hadn’t said anything at the beginning, we would have told them to give us only a quarter of the magic stones. Because of their strange greed, they made us feel bad and lost a lot of money…) (Zack)

 

 

 In the end, the Soldier Ant magic stones were sold for fifteen C Krona (=15,000 yen) each, for fifty of them, it’s 750 C (=750,000 yen), and the Queen Soldier Ant magic stone for 50 C (=50,000 yen). In addition, each person received 200 C as a reward for defeating a fourth rank monster and 400 C as a bonus for defeating the Queen Soldier Ant. That alone was a lucrative job worth 500 C (=500,000 yen) per person.

 

 

 Furthermore, the outer shell of the Soldier Ant was sold for 32 C, and the material for the Queen Soldier Ant was 400 C, so there was a share of 100 C.

 

 Of the nearly one hundred Soldier Ant materials, Marion and the others brought back about fifty of them in good condition. Even so, each of them brought back less than 300 C.

 

 I could see how efficient our party was.

 

 

 Come to think of it, the fourth rank party we started the journey with, they only hunted five Soldier Ants.

 

 This time, the reward for hunting a swarm of Soldier Ants was set as the fourth rank. It was necessary for each person to kill at least three Soldier Ants, or an average of at least three in the case of a party. Therefore, they received only 10 C per monster, the usual sixth-rank reward for subjugation, without receiving the 200 C per person reward.

 

 Beatrice had this to say to them.

 

 

“It’s better that they came back in one piece. At that rate, I was afraid they would get seriously injured. I give you credit for knowing when to back off. But with Zack and Sharon, you didn’t scout what they were capable of…” (Beatrice)

 

 

 She told me that I should be proactive in gathering information on fellow adventurers for times like these. I neglected that point myself, so I couldn’t say anything.

 

 

A/N: I managed to reach 100 chapters.

Thanks to all of you readers. Thank you for your continued support.

 

As I wrote in my Activity Report, my work has become absurdly busy.

For the time being, I will be writing on Saturdays and Sundays, and on some weekdays, I will be traveling back and forth between my office and hotel.

I don’t know how long this will last, but I guess I have to be ready that it could be about six months.

I’m going to try to keep updating one chapter a week instead of one every two days.

Thank you for your continued support.

 

 

 

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