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Volume 13 Chapter 4 Part 3

For the time being, I’ll probably be trying to persuade her to stop since she has no chance of winning. In other words, if we can win, it’d be a different story.

I can’t oppose it forever though. If I oppose it too unreasonably, I might be judged as the enemy of her parents along with the Duke of Hartz. And I was engaged in the operation anyway, so it wouldn’t be strange if she turned her hostility towards me at some point. For now, I’m grateful that she is directing her hostility towards the Duke of Hartz, thinking of him as the sole enemy of her parents.

I prefer to maintain that status quo for as long as possible, and that’s why I can’t actively oppose her. As for the rest…. Well, I guess time will solve it for me.

「Apart from that, we are also considering a direct reward. 」

「A direct one? 」

「For Rutina in the future, I think it would be good to give her equipment that can be used together with a staff. 」

Cassia suggested. She’s talking about the equipment that Rutina can use when she becomes a Wizard. But just like the Duke of Hartz, she doesn’t need to know that Rutina has already become a Wizard. I didn’t even inform the old hag about it yet, because I have no way of knowing whether she’ll start actively spreading the word about it or not.

「Okay. 」

「Is there anything I can do? 」

If Cassia is offering a reward, of course there is no reason for me to refuse.

「Recently, all the equipment updates have been for Rutina. I guess it can’t be helped since she only just joined. Still, I wonder if it’s okay to only strengthen Rutina so much since it affects the Party balance. 」

The other members might or might not mind it that much though. Roxanne probably wouldn’t mind too much. In fact, we’re trying to advance to higher levels with our current equipment, so we should just try to see how far we can go with it. In fact, we shouldn’t be trying too hard. Strengthening our equipment right now would be over-speccing, or at least I feel like that.

In Sherry’s case, the right way to go is for her to strengthen her equipment herself by fusing Skill Crystals, so she wouldn’t be envious of others.

I guess Miria and Vesta would have a right to complain, although they’re not the type to complain to someone’s face, so it should be okay for them to complain about a thing or two. Vesta in particular is fighting hard in the front line even though her equipment hasn’t been updated at all, and on top of that, Roxanne is pulling her to higher floors of the Labyrinths all the time.

She should start complaining. Go ahead and complain, Vesta. Tell Roxanne everything that you’re really thinking. Miria’s conditions aren’t all that different. I did give her the Estoc of Petrification though.

Vesta isn’t the type to mainly dodge attacks, but rather to absorb them, so I think it’s pretty worrying that she’s moving to higher floors without updating her armor at all. You can complain as much as you want about that, Vesta. After all, it doesn’t seem like it’s a good idea to keep updating only Rutina’s equipment.

「I see. That may be the case. 」 Cassia agreed.

「Choose one piece of equipment from the castle’s armory and take it with you then.」

「The armory… 」

「Well, we take out the equipment that has users and lend it out, so there’s nothing particularly valuable here. You can take it as leftovers without hesitation. Still, these are items collected by the Duke of Hartz, so there should be something useful to Lord Michio’s Party in there. 」

I have been given the reward of being allowed to rummage through the armory. It’s unclear how much they actually have in there, though. Certainly, any equipment that could be used would have been used instead of kept in the armory, so what’s left is definitely going to be leftovers.

At the very least, they won’t be items of everyday usage in times of peace. The Duke of Hartz and his knights are fighting the Labyrinths every day, after all, so they probably can’t afford to let usable equipment gather dust in the warehouse.

The equipment in the armory is currently unused, so losing it won’t hurt them that much. Not to mention that if there was anything particularly valuable in there, they’ve probably kept it safe somewhere else. You’re going to give it to me just like that? No strings attached? No, that’s probably impossible.

「Thank you. 」

I have no choice, so I’ll take what I can get. It’s certainly cheap compared to the profits from selling mirrors, but there’s no point in having so much money now when I don’t have anything I want to spend that money on.

The platinum coins are just gathering dust in my Item Box, after all. I probably won’t have to worry about food for the rest of my life. Whether I’ll ever have money or not is another matter.

A long time ago, a rich man said that poor people would struggle to get 10 or 1,000 yen, but the rich would struggle to get 100 million or 10 billion yen. I thought that was a sarcastic remark, but in a way, he was right.

I probably won’t have to worry about food for the rest of my life, and I’ll never have to worry about 10 or 1,000 Nars, but I might have to worry about 100 million Nars. Anyway, I won’t have to worry about the profits from selling mirrors. Rather, I’ll probably have to worry about things that money can’t buy.

In fact, in order to buy equipment at the Imperial Liberation Society’s lodge, you need to sell valuable equipment such as Sacrificial Misangas instead. There are few chances to get equipment, so it’s better to take it. At worst, it’s fine as long as it’s equipment that can be sold at the Imperial Liberation Society’s lodge, since the origin of equipment in this world is not questioned.

「I see. In that case, that’s quick. I’ll have Gozer show you around now, so go to the armory and take whatever you want from it. 」

「Right now? 」

He’s as impatient as ever. It’s annoying. Gozer is having a hard time too.

「If we take too long, he might suspect that we’ve moved something valuable from the armory. 」

「I don’t think so. 」

「Lord Michio wouldn’t complain, but you never know what someone else might say. 」

「I see. 」

So it’s a den of iniquity where nobles gather. I guess it’s normal for nobles to slander, defame, and criticize others. In light of that, we can’t give those who are opposed to us an excuse to do so. It seems that the Duke of Hartz is having a hard time too.

By the way, I do think they’ve already moved everything valuable and left only the junk in the armory, but that’s just my guess. For times like this, they probably have two armories prepared, one for the general public and one to store the truly valuable items. Since it’s a castle, there’s plenty of space to add one or two rooms, and it’s hard to imagine that they wouldn’t have the funds to build more like that.

Increasing the number of armory rooms might make security more difficult, but if they connected it to the back of the Duke’s usual bedroom with a single path, it wouldn’t be that much work. In fact, it would be a good place to hide in case of a surprise attack.

If Rutina wants to exact revenge on the Duke of Hartz, it might be a good idea to let her know about that possibility. Even her father did something similar, except that he went and hid himself in the charcoal shed.

「Take two of whatever is in the armory. 」

「Is that really okay? 」

「I owe you a favor, so yes, it is. 」

Perhaps this is a way to deal with the gossipy nobles around these parts. When it comes to the Duke, it seems he can’t just take everything for himself.

「Well then, thank you. 」 I’ll take whatever I can get if he offers.

「Lord Michio, please come this way. 」 said Gozer, offering to guide me to the exit of the room. Let’s go right away.

「Lord Michio, thank you very much for your guidance to Palmasque. 」 As I was about to leave, Cassia bowed her head to me once more.

「Oh no, I am glad I could be of any help to you. 」

「Yes, of course. 」