That little Pallum bastard of a supporter!!
The leader's teeth were clenched so hard his gums were aching, his eyes bloodshot and nearly bulging from their sockets.
That was the stash of Magic Stones they had bled for, risking their lives to obtain!
People like her who left their Familias to work as freelance supporters were almost universally branded as spineless cowards or turncoats. Getting the cold shoulder was the least of it; being shoved around or verbally abused by their team was considered the norm.
Yet, Lydi didn't feel his squad had ever treated her poorly. At most, they'd squeezed her on the payout split and ignored her during breaks.
And she'd made off with two whole days of their sweat and blood!!
It wasn't just Lydi; the other two members were equally livid. An adventurer's life was lived on the edge of a blade. Every foray into the Dungeon required spending coins on potions, and upon returning, there was the cost of gear maintenance and healing.
You only truly earned a profit once you subtracted all those expenses from the Magic Stones you scavenged.
Now that their stones were gone, it meant the potions they'd burned over the last two days—and the inevitable repair costs—would have to come out of their own empty pockets!?
Kill monsters to make money on the way back? They were already out of potions; better to save what little strength they had left for the next trip than to waste it here.
This time... they would be returning empty-handed.
The mere thought of it made it impossible to stay calm.
Furina furrowed her brows as well. Her weapon didn't look damaged, and since they hadn't bought any potions before heading down—strictly speaking, they had no extra expenses outside of the initial cost of her sword—her mood was still sour.
For them, the greatest gain from this Dungeon run was combat experience and growth, but that didn't mean Valis weren't important.
Furina still wanted to earn enough to buy a nice house where the three of them could live comfortably.
As for weapons, there was no need to worry; after all, Sushang had promised to help her take care of that later.
Everyone has their own hardships. Whether that young Pallum girl was acting out of revenge against the "adventurer" group due to past trauma, or simply saw the situation turning south and made a run for it, Furina decided she was going to find her regardless.
"Sushang?"
She glanced at the brown-haired girl beside her.
"She's not in the vicinity anymore." Sushang caught the scent in the air, but after realizing the supporter's trail had vanished, she pushed her senses further out.
If Sushang so desired, once she had encountered a person's aura even once, there would be no place for them to hide in Orario.
Furina nodded, withdrew her gaze, and looked back at the three gloomy-faced adventurers.
"Do you happen to know where that supporter came from?"
"No idea..."
Lydi fell silent for a moment before answering Furina's question. "Like I said before, most of these freelancers have pasts they'd rather not talk about, so nobody ever reveals their background to others."
I see. That makes sense.
Furina hadn't held much hope for that question anyway.
If they had a real name to leave behind, they wouldn't be doing this kind of thing... but she wanted to confirm something else: "Is this common among professional supporters?"
"Practically unheard of. At least, in all my time, I've never seen anything like this." Lydi was in such a foul mood he didn't really want to speak, but the two women before him had helped them out immensely, and both possessed impressive strength and potential. He didn't want to offend them.
Thinking about how these two had also lost their Magic Stones because of the supporter his team had hired, even though Lydi's heart was bleeding, he managed to squeeze out a few words of apology: "Sorry, you two. If it weren't for helping us out, your stones wouldn't have been..."
"It's alright. You guys lured those Killer Ants over to us, so in a way, you actually saved us some trouble."
Sushang, noticing that he looked like he might actually pop a vessel or faint from sheer frustration, chimed in with a comforting smile.
Though her smile was slightly awkward, her cute appearance and heartfelt consolation did wonders to lighten Lydi's mood.
Furina also spoke to the three of them. "Just as Sushang said, even if it was unintentional on your part, you did help us. How about this: we'll split the Magic Stones dropped by those Killer Ants fifty-fifty."
"Huh?"
Upon hearing this, the three of them were stunned.
A fifty-fifty split of the stones? But they hadn't contributed a thing to the fight…!
"We..."
"Besides, you answered some of my questions. Let's just call it a consulting fee—I'll be asking plenty more about this city and the Familias on the way back."
Before Lydi could interject, Furina's voice shut down any further argument.
"This..." He knew this silver-haired girl seemed to be the one calling the shots, but did she really not need to discuss this with her teammate?
Furina clearly realized this too. She was used to acting as the Hydro Archon; while the value of these Killer Ant stones was negligible to her—it wasn't like she was splitting rare loot—using them to trade for the "unwritten rules" of the adventurer world and making these people feel a bit better was a cost-effective move.
But... she had let that slip a bit too easily...
And so, both of them turned their gazes to Sushang. Furina added, a bit embarrassed, "What do you think, Shangshang?"
It was a bit like putting her on the spot.
After all, she had just played the good guy, and if Sushang disagreed, it would naturally affect her image, even though she would be perfectly within her rights to say no.
But she had to ask.
"I don't have any objections." Sushang didn't really care; putting aside the fact that she wasn't particularly bothered by a few Magic Stones, her own "back-pocket energy reserves" were enough to fuel a small army. There was no way she would ever be strapped for cash.
The only reason she had cared about the stones earlier was because quite a few of them had been collected by Furina. Since Furina didn't mind, neither did she.
"Since Fufu has decided, let's do it!"
She flashed a smile at Furina.
What a pair of good girls.
Furina felt as if a blinding radiance was emanating from Sushang. Even she felt it, to say nothing of Lydi.
"Thank you! Thank you, miss! We will remember your help, and we'll report this to Lord Ōmononushi!" Lydi said, moved.
Although these stones were a drop in the bucket compared to their total loss, they were enough to cover their dungeon expenses. Making a profit was out of the question, but at least they wouldn't be in the red.
This kind of generosity was enough to touch them and make them feel as if they were in the presence of someone extraordinary.
They were only Level 1 adventurers, yet that "aura of the strong" around them was becoming increasingly apparent.
The so-called "aura of the strong" wasn't anything mystical.
In Orario, a place packed with adventurers who lived for profit and walked the knife's edge, some were like that by nature, but many were forced into it by their environment.
And as long as you were different from that rigid adventurer stereotype, that "aura of the strong" would naturally emerge.
After all, the truly strong would never let their environment alter their core character, and therefore, the strong would always be unique.
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T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL