Chapter 18 - Raphdonia (2)

Back at my lodgings, I studied every inch of Erwin's slightly tipsy body.

Of course, I never broke my oath to her sister. Not that such an oath meant much when I was only a warrior in body.

"Erwin, spread them a little farther."

"Nngh, that's easy for you to say..."

At the moment, I was forcing Erwin to stretch.

"Aaagh! My shoulder! You're going to pull it out of its socket!"

"Hmm."

"I-it never bent this far before! I swear!"

"Are you certain?"

"Y-yes! On my clan's name!"

When I finally eased my grip, Erwin immediately flopped onto the bed.

So even Flexibility +4 didn't make that dramatic a difference. Then again, hadn't it been the same in the game?

"I-is there more?"

"No. Rest for now."

[Dungeon and Stone] was not a user-friendly game.

Just look at its stats. Physical, Mental, Ability. Those were the three main stats, but clicking the [+] button beside them brought up thousands of substats.

For example, raising Strength, a Physical substat, improved carrying capacity, physical attack power, and so on.

Flexibility? It slightly increased evasion and critical hit rates.

Sight? It increased the range of ranged weapons and the character's field of vision.

Smell served as a scaling factor for any relevant Abilities, while Precision was exactly what it sounded like.

As a result, even two characters with the same Physical stat of 50 could do entirely different things depending on their substats.

"..."

For the record, I'd figured all of that out myself. Neither the developers nor any overseas players had provided that information, so I'd had to conduct countless experiments and compile my own statistical data.

All because I wanted to beat this game.

Fuck. Back then, I never dreamed that passion would come back to bite me like this.

'Whew. Now I'm pissed off again.'

Anyway, I was a hardcore veteran with nine years under my belt. Even so, there were a few stats whose effects I'd never figured out.

A prime example was the Fixation +7 listed on the goblin archer's Essence. Other than being a Mental substat, everything about Fixation was a mystery.

"Erwin."

"You just sighed, Mister, and it's making me nervous. Can't you just not say anything?"

"Have you noticed anything different since leaving the Labyrinth? Something that keeps lingering in your mind, perhaps. Something you find difficult to resist."

"... W-well? Maybe there is?"

"What is it? Tell me."

"Cookies...? Yes, cookies. Come to think of it, I bought and ate a ton as soon as we got out..."

"Did you dislike sweets before?"

"No, I've always liked them. But I do think this is the first time I've eaten this many in one day."

"I see."

Perhaps Fixation meant stronger desires. That would explain why it hadn't done much in the game.

My thoughts were getting tangled. With the transition to reality, the other substats might have gained additional functions too.

Take Flexibility. Just as in the game, moving more fluidly made dodging easier. In the right circumstances, you could even land a critical blow by pulling off a move you couldn't have managed before.

But was that all?

Greater flexibility would also make it easier to squeeze into tight spaces, and a supple body would absorb the impact of a landing better than a stiff one.

Those weren't things I could learn from the game. Which meant I'd have to factor all of that in and reassess my build.

"Mister, I'm sleepy now..."

Oh, had I let her rest too long? Her eyes were already half closed.

I'd also wanted to check whether using an active skill tired her out, how long she had to wait to use it again, and things like that...

"All right. Go to sleep."

"Okaaay..."

I blew out the light and lay down beside Erwin. Neither of us thought anything of it. We'd already seen each other at our best and worst in the Labyrinth; being awkward now would have been ridiculous.

SNORE!

Despite all the sleep I'd gotten, my eyes were drifting shut again.

Belatedly, I remembered her sister telling me not to sleep with her...

Well, no need to worry about that. She hadn't meant it this way anyway.

* * *

[07 : 35]

I woke fairly early in the morning. Though calling it early was a bit misleading when I'd spent most of the past two days asleep.

"Mister, some water..."

Erwin woke up just then too, so we gave our faces a quick wash, ate a simple meal downstairs, and headed to her lodgings.

The city was so huge that walking there alone took over an hour.

"At least we're in the same District!"

I agreed. If we'd been on opposite sides, it would have been a long journey even by carriage.

They called Raphdonia a fortress city, but its sheer size was absurd.

"Please stay here and keep quiet, all right? My sister's still the only one who knows about you and me."

"I will."

I waited in an alley three blocks from her lodgings until Erwin came trudging back, struggling under two backpacks.

They belonged to the leader and the crossbowman who'd ambushed us just before the end of day seven. We'd crammed everything in so haphazardly that they wouldn't close, leaving weapons sticking out.

"I'll carry those."

"Oh, thank you!"

She really didn't know how to turn down an offer. I didn't think she'd been like that at first.

"Weapons here, armor here. Keep the tools and consumables together in a separate pile."

"Yes!"

Back at my lodgings, we spent some time checking and sorting the backpacks' contents. It took about an hour, but it was pretty enjoyable. Maybe because it was loot?

Erwin and I sat side by side on the bed, surveying the items neatly arranged across the floor.

"Are you selling all of it?"

"Everything we don't need."

"Then can I keep the leather clothes and belt you gave me?"

"I don't mind, provided their value comes out of your share."

"Then please do that!"

Once we'd sorted out what to sell and what to keep, we headed back out into the city.

We'd agreed to split the exploration supplies and consumables, such as potions, apart from duplicate tools like watches and compasses. As for the equipment, we'd decided to sell practically all of it.

Better to turn it into money and buy something else than use gear that didn't fit. It wasn't as though we couldn't afford to anymore.

"Here it is!"

Our destination was a weapons shop Tersia had recommended.

We were selling a katana, two longswords, a crossbow, a two-handed hammer, two daggers, and three utility knives.

"That comes to 350,000 Stone."

The personal recommendation had actually made me more wary, but they offered the best price of any shop we'd visited to compare, so I sold the lot.

"Woooow..."

The moment we left the shop, Erwin let out the exclamation she'd been holding back. I felt much the same.

"Mister, this isn't a dream, is it?"

Excluding the magic crystals we'd taken from others, we'd probably earned only around 100,000 Stone from seven days of hunting.

And now, 350,000 Stone? Before we'd even sold the armor?

... Now I understood why those explorer bastards went crazy whenever they saw another person.

Equipment meant money. A hell of a lot of it.

"Mister, how much is my share, then?"

Erwin's eyes shone with a hunger for money.

"Wait. We've still got plenty left to sell."

Our next stop was an armor shop ten minutes away.

"Here's 180,000 Stone."

There were more pieces of armor, but their total value was lower than the weapons'. Apparently, used armor was hard to resell, so the purchase prices were low. That made perfect sense. Weren't we selling it all because of sizing issues ourselves?

"I'll sell at that price."

"Decisive as any barbarian. Come back if you get more goods like these. I'll give you a fair price next time too."

"I will."

After stopping at a general store to sell the assorted supplies we'd deemed unnecessary, I had the enormous sum of 1,450,000 Stone in hand.

Well, it wasn't all mine.

"Here. Take this. 45,000 Stone."

"Huh? Isn't that a little too much?"

I'd deducted 20,000 Stone for the leather clothes and belt, then added exactly 7,000 Stone.

It wasn't because she was pretty. It was her tenth of the magic crystals the lanky guy and the samurai had been carrying.

"I don't know their exact value, so I based it on what you gave me for the other two."

"Oh, I see! Thank you!"

Anyway, after all the deductions, my total assets came to a whopping 1.4 million Stone.

It felt a little strange. No, very strange. Even in the game, I'd rarely acquired this much money on my first expedition...

A good start.

"Then let's part ways here."

"What?"

Why did she look so surprised? We'd settled all the money, so it was time to go our separate ways. My plans had gone awry because of her, and I had plenty to do now.

"Well, we can walk together as far as the central plaza."

"Okaaay..."

Erwin suddenly went quiet. We kept walking until we reached the central plaza, where our paths would split.

"Huh? Why are there so many people all of a sudden?"

Unlike when we'd passed through earlier, the place was teeming. Half were soldiers; the other half were prisoners bound with rope.

Though perhaps calling them criminals wasn't quite right.

"Mmph, mmph! Ngh! Nnngh!"

They weren't violent criminals guilty of murder, rape, or arson. The charge against these gagged, trembling people was "failure to pay taxes."

In other words, because they had no money, that young woman in her twenties, that man old enough to have children, and that elder with wrinkled hands who must have worked harder than anyone all their life had become condemned prisoners.

"The executions will now begin!"

At the tax collector's shout, the soldiers placed a man's head beneath the guillotine.

Then...

SHICK!

With a chilling sound, the man's severed head dropped neatly into the wooden bucket set in front of him.

Several nearby onlookers soaked the bread they'd brought in the falling blood and wolfed it down.

"Hic!"

Erwin started hiccupping at the bloodshed that had unfolded so suddenly before her eyes.

"Wh-what are those people doing?! Why are they dipping bread in human blood?"

"There's a superstition that drinking the blood of someone executed by a tax collector brings good fortune in money."

Erwin frowned in utter incomprehension. Apparently, that shocked her more than watching someone get beheaded.

"Erwin, how much is the first-year tax?"

"For nonhumans, 700,000 Stone."

"I see."

It had been 600,000 Stone in the game. A slight discrepancy, but close enough.

"Still, you don't have to worry, Mister. You've earned so much."

Huh? Well, that was true...

But that was rich coming from someone with her sister backing her up. Besides, I had no intention of saving this money for next year's taxes.

The reason was simple.

"Erwin, how much is the tax from the second year onward?"

"800,000 Stone. And they start charging exchange fees too."

Taxes kept rising until you reached a certain number of years. That meant now was the time to invest in myself.

The first year, with its waived exchange fees and relatively low taxes, was the best opportunity for rapid growth.

"Aaagh! P-please spare me!"

"Put that gag back in properly!"

"Next month! I'll have the money next—mmph, mmmph! Mmph!"

Anyway, this was fortunate.

Wasn't there a saying that humans relied most heavily on visual information?

SHICK!

Seeing it with my own eyes really drove it home.

Returning to my original world.

Rather than some unrealistic goal like that, I needed to set a clearer intermediate goal and work toward it.

For example, supposing I lived to ninety. Supposing I never found a way home and had to spend the rest of my life here.

'Just how much money would I need?'

Well, I'd have to do the math.

To live in a home with a kitchen, get treatment when I was sick, retire at fifty, and spend my days comfortably raising three dogs or so...

"The sixth floor."

By my calculations, I'd need to hunt on at least the sixth floor and save like hell until retirement.

Right, so—

"Huh? What did you just say?"

"Nothing."

For now, let's at least reach the sixth floor.

Whether going home was possible or not could wait until after that.

* * *

「Received 630,000 Stone from Grade 6 explorer Daria Wittember de Tersia.」

「Sold equipment.」

「Sold equipment.」

「Total Item Level decreases by -43.」

「Sold equipment.」

「Sold equipment...」

「...」

「...」

「TIP: Your character currently has a total of 1,403,520 Stone. Use it to raise your character's Overall Combat Index!」