Read Novel Full Chapter 49
Chapter 49
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Chapter 49 – A World Where Hard Work is Rewarded
“Oh! I see you’re back safe and sound.”
“It was my first expedition, so I was pretty tired… but I was surprised that the monsters were weaker than I thought.”
“Fuhahaha! I told you you’d be fine at first. It’s just like a hairy place in Palmera. The only danger is the magic of the Air Mantis. And the material―it’s only about half of a large basket.”
“The monsters are weak, but having too good a view is a problem for me. I couldn’t place the basket anywhere, so I faltered in the second half.”
In the end, after forcing myself to swallow portable food, I could not increase the number of defeats much in the second half.
It is not that my stomach got sick.
It is true that the food was too bad, but it was simply because the material was so heavy that I could not move freely over a wide area.
The head of the Air Mantis and the tail of the Poison Mouse were not that heavy, but the head of the Poison Mouse was heavy enough, and since I could handle a large number of them, my shoulders and back were heavily strained in the second half of the day.
And even though each of the magic stones is small, they are still stones, so when they are piled up, they become a considerable weight.
When about a third of the basket was filled, I gave up running around with the basket on my back, and as a result, I chased all the enemies around me, which drastically reduced my efficiency.
“All that’s left is grass, monsters, some rocks, and not even a decent tree… That’s why people who go there usually take a special luggage carrier with them. You’ve seen them, right?”
“Yes. They were at all the parties I saw.”
The first four parties and the ones that came later.
The first four parties, as well as the ones that came later, always had someone like Potta-kun in Zink’s party.
With a basket, he took care of all the luggage and increased the amount of materials and rewards obtained in a single expedition.
“But, well, Loki was solo, right? That’s more than enough. Normally, a party of three or four would go on an expedition, and the amount of materials would be half to two-thirds of the basket. It’s rare to find people who fill their baskets half to two-thirds full.”
I thought to myself as I looked at Roddy-san’s hand, which was checking the materials as he said this.
“(In the end, I have no choice but to go solo…)”
I don’t think I pushed myself too hard, but I was the only one running around the hunting grounds.
There is no convenient nearby respawn like in the game.
When you kill the monsters around you, you have to go to the next place where the monsters are.
And even if you hire a porter, it’s useless if the porter can’t walk to the hunting ground.
But… just by looking at Potta-kun, I can guess that it is not realistic to run around with a lot of luggage.
So, the move that reduces the experience and halves the reward would be a waste of time for me.
And are the other parties being cautious, or do they think that as long as they can cover their daily expenses, it’s okay?
From a distance, it looks like they are hunting monsters slowly and at their own pace.
It would not be too much for someone who has been hunting in the Rocker Plains for several years, and in the worst case, they could be fatally wounded by Air Mantis’ magic, so it might be natural to say that.
The same goes for working in my former world.
Once you get used to doing the same thing for a number of years in a stable life, you only do the minimum required for daily routine work, and there are far fewer people willing to increase their workload or take more risks.
“(Now all that’s left is to have a goal or not…)”
I can look at my status screen and see how many more I have to kill to get to the next skill level.
I can set a goal that if I kill at this rate per day, I will be able to increase my level in a few days.
But for those who can’t see that, it’s just fumbling around.
As the Goddess said, there is no way to quantify the return on effort, just as if you were grasping at a cloud.
If you do it, you will grow.
If you work hard, you will grow.
Even if people around you hear such things, if you don’t know how hard you have to work to get clear results, you won’t be motivated, and even if you are, it will be very difficult to maintain.
In this sense, I think the ability to see the status screen is quite excellent in terms of increasing motivation.
“All right, that’s it. There were 21 Poison Mice in total, and one of them was either stabbed in the head or its poison bag was broken, so there was no reward. On the other hand, the remaining 20 mice were all fine, with material rank A. Check it out.”
Roddy-san handed me a wooden board as he said this.
“As I thought, that one was a no-go.”
“There’s a bag of poison in the back of its cheek, but if you stick it up there, you can’t do anything. Is that the first one?”
“Yes, that’s right. It was slower than I thought, and I was out of control.”
“Do you feel like Poison Mouse is already slowing down… then Lulub, no, that’s not a place where you can get by on speed alone, so you’d better stop right now.”
“Orcs, of all things, are the power types, aren’t they?”
“Yeah. You’ll get blown up no matter how big you are, no matter what you do to defend yourself. It’s not the same as the Rocker Plains, so don’t even think about going there. The mortality rate here is by far the highest.”
“Uh… don’t worry, I won’t go there until I’m strong enough to be satisfied with the Rocker Plains. I don’t want to die.”
“That’s the best thing. The other thing you need to think about is celebrating. There are some who go to the Rocker Plains alone, but Lulub is not worth the money if you go alone, you know?”
“Is that so?”
“Because the most profitable thing there is orc meat.”
“Ah, I see. It’s a problem of how much meat one person can carry.”
“That’s what I mean. The money from the magic stones and the evidence of subjugation alone will be less than that of the Rocker Plain, so why take the risk of going all the way there?”
“That’s right… I’ll think about it.”
After saying that, I parted ways with Roddy-san and went straight to Amanda-san since it was the first day of the Rocker Plains.
I’m sure I could figure out the reward if I hit the calculator myself, but it’s a pain in the ass, so I’ll just redeem it for today.
“Amanda-san, can you please help me with this?”
“Ara, how unusual… aren’t these the Rocker Plain monsters?”
“Yes. I went there today to see what it’s like.”
I see. You finally formed a party. Who are you with?”
“Hmm? No, I’m working solo.”
“Eh?”
“Eh?”
“Loki-kun, do you remember what you told me? You said that you would think about the party if you decided to go to Rocker Plain, right?”
“Y-yeah… I thought about it, and I think I can still go solo…”
“Huh… well, if you can hunt this much on your own, I won’t complain. Whatever! It’s impossible in the Lulub Forest, you know! You should start looking for a party while you still can!”
“Roddy-san told me earlier that it would be lower in terms of… rewards.”
“That’s right! The only person going to the Rocker Plains alone right now is Loki. At least hire a porter so you can concentrate on the battle!”
“Well… by the way, is there any porter who can run all the time?”
“Of course not!”
“Right, and then I have to go solo at the end. I’m running from one hunting ground to another.”
“…I’ll take care of your payment; just wait a minute.”
Phew, it’s always hard when Amanda-san catches me.
For now, I approached the lady at the food stand and bought a skewer of meat and a cold version of fruit water.
As I sat back in my chair and exhaled, I somehow looked around at the other hunters and noticed a party I had seen on the Rocker Plains earlier today.
“(It’s a party of three: a guy with a sword, a guy with a spear, and a porter, I guess…)”
“Adent-san, we’re done with your payment~!”
The person with the spear stood up at the sound of the young receptionist’s voice.
Apparently, he was the leader of the party.
After receiving the money, he immediately came back and started distributing the money on the spot.
The same thing had happened to Zink-kun and the others, and I guess the basic procedure of the party was to distribute the money right there.
“A total of 124,400 beeke! We’re doing pretty well today!”
“So… how much is that per person?”
“I had it calculated. It seems to be 41,400 beeke per person and a little extra.”
“Oh! That’s good. We can take it easy for the next three days.”
“No, let’s take at least two days off. I have something I want to buy.”
“Then let’s take two days off and return in three days, okay? I want to make sure I have enough savings.”
“That’s fine. Let’s just drink better alcohol instead.”
“(I’m learning a lot from this…)”
With my current lifestyle, 5,000 to 6,000 beeke a day is enough for me.
If I switched to cheaper accommodation and a more frugal diet, I could probably get by on 4,000 beeke a day.
If that is the standard for the average person, it seems to me that people in this world live on an income of about 10,000 beeke per day.
Unlike in Japan, there will be no insurance or pensions, so there is some concern about sickness and old age, but if people die gracefully when they get sick and do not expect to live long enough to think about their old age, that may be enough.
“Loki, it’s over.”
While I was thinking about that, Amanda-san called me, so I went to the reception desk.
“Today’s reward is 155,900 beeke… It’s even more.”
“Yes…”
“I’ll put your reward in a leather bag just to be on the safe side, but you shouldn’t tell too many people about it, okay? And please return the leather bag when you can.”
“S-sure… I think this is the third leather bag, so I’ll return it later.”
I only had to kill four Air Mantis because I killed every easy-to-find Poison Mouse I could find.
And since today was the first day of my unfamiliarity with the area, I might be able to take down a few more once I get used to it.
With that kind of room for growth, the amount of rewards is…
In Japan, it would be unimaginably high.
I think it might be because I was putting my life on the line, but when I was a salaried employee, I was also thinking about the phrase “death by overwork,” so in that sense, it might be similar.
“(If you work hard, you’ll be rewarded… It’s a great world, really.)”
The downside is that even with the increased rewards, I don’t have much use for them right now?
Since there is no entertainment, the only thing you can do is spend money on equipment or food.
Oh well.
It’s better to have money than not.
It’s a little cramped to live a life where you have to worry about what’s in your wallet.
I have exactly a million beeke on me right now. Most of it is hidden under my bed at the inn…
Still, I could probably live on that money for almost half a year.
Then I’ll start saving tomorrow without worrying.
Aiming for… maybe a million beeke?
With this new goal in mind, I returned to the inn.