Grail’s Miscalculation

After firing his useless childhood friend Ios, Grail greeted this day in high spirits.

Because he was going to meet up with the pair he had scouted.

（……Losing Misha hurt, but…… well, it should be fine. There are plenty of replacements for mere mages.）

Taking the scout and priest with him, Grail visited the Adventurers’ Guild.

He approached the familiar pair who had arrived before him.

“It’s been a while. It’s me, Grail.”

As soon as they saw Grail, the pair bowed.

One was a male ranger. He was a scout who specialized in the bow. He had a rare skill called “Hawk Eye” that improved the offensive performance of bows.

The other was a female warrior. She had a rare skill called “Absolute Defense.” If she grew, she would likely become a good shield for the party.

（If these guys join, our combat strength will clearly improve. They don’t even compare to that rare-but-useless trash skill called Schrödinger’s Cat!）

Grail held back the urge to laugh.

As expected, I was right to fire him!

After their introductions ended, the five of them gathered around a table.

“I was looking for excellent members like you. With this, promotion to E-rank, no, D-rank will come into sight!”

Grail spoke passionately, but the pair’s reaction was weak.

The ranger opened his mouth.

“……I’m pretty sure I heard it was a four-person party with a mage……?”

“Ahh…… That’s what I said, but the mage left. Sorry about that. But we’ll get a replacement right aw—”

“Huh? There’s no mage?”

The ranger spoke in a displeased voice.

“Then there’s no point, is there?”

“What do you mean?”

“We decided to join you because we heard you had a mage—a mage with the ultra-rare skill ‘Ruler of the Four Great Elements.’ If that mage isn’t here, this deal is off!”

Grail felt as if a needle had pierced his heart.

（Th-this is bad……! I have to stop the deal from falling through……!）

He hurriedly spun his words.

“F-fine, I did say that! But ‘Ruler of the Four Great Elements’ isn’t even that big a deal! She wasn’t any different from an ordinary mage! Any other mage would be more than enough as a replacement!”

“You don’t understand the value of that skill!? You people might be aiming for D-rank, but we’re aiming for A-rank and S-rank!”

“Wait. Wait a second. But I have the Swordsmanship skill too. These guys also—”

The female warrior, who had been listening silently, snickered.

“Swordsmanship, lol.”

Having his own skill mocked, even Grail could not stay silent.

“You! Did you laugh at me!?”

“Sorry. But, well, sure, it’s a skill you can lord over people with in the lower layers, but in the end, you learn that after raising your warrior level for a few years, don’t you? You have no room to grow.”

Grail’s head went bright red with anger.

A skill he could lord over people with in the lower layers—that was why he had strutted around during adventurer school and in this party.

A twisted self-consciousness he had nurtured by laughing at Ios forever and ever.

His swollen pride could not endure even a small counterattack.

“Don’t screw with me!”

As soon as Grail stood up, he grabbed the female warrior by the collar and yanked her up. Then he punched her face with all his strength.

“Guaaaaaah!?”

However, the one who screamed and collapsed was Grail. Pain like he had punched iron ran through his right arm.

“Suddenly punching a woman in the face is seriously the worst.”

The female warrior looked down at the fallen Grail with cold eyes, as if looking at something filthy. With calm movements, she fixed the disorder in her clothes and rubbed her punched left cheek.

“But, like, punching someone with the Absolute Defense skill barehanded? Are you stupid?”

Ahahahaha! The female warrior laughed.

The ranger stood up.

“This isn’t what we were told, and you suddenly started swinging. You’re finished, man. ……Well, I’ll apologize for her mouth, at least.”

After saying that, the pair left quickly.

“Son of…… a……!”

Grail spat that out as he got up.

（……To think Misha had that much value……! It’s Ios’s fault she left! All his fault! Don’t screw with me!）

The scout spoke to Grail, who was raging.

“……So, what are we gonna do? Misha left, and the pair didn’t join. What are the three of us supposed to do?”

“I’m thinking!”

He spat that out.

There were many other adventurers on the first floor of the Adventurers’ Guild. Their eyes were watching Grail. Watching the pathetic man whose deal had fallen through. Watching the pathetic man who had tried to hit a woman and been beaten back instead.

Those eyes—

Were laughing.

（Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!）

His spinning thoughts eventually converged into one.

“……I’ve decided.”

And then Grail said this.

“We’re leaving this crappy town! We’re going to Piptat! To a big stage worthy of us!”

Changing bases was financially troublesome, but—

Grail had 300,000 in savings. He spent money roughly, but he had often mooched off Ios, so he had room to spare.

（……Ios, this is thanks to you! I let you earn money, so it’s fine, right? Well, you might be out of money and dead in a ditch by now!）

The next day.

Misha and I both had painful hangovers, but it was an easy job that only involved defeating a Gray Ghost.

We quickly hunted one, collected the Alchemy Stone, and returned to the surface.

“Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh!? An Alchemy Stone dropped again!?”

The woman in charge of buying and selling at the Adventurers’ Guild let out a ridiculous voice.

“……Yes, well……”

I scratched my cheek.

“Wow, mister, you’re lucky! To make 200,000 gold in two days…… I’m jealous of your nice, warm wallet!”

My savings increased again to 370,000.

This means it’ll increase by 50,000 every other day……

After we left the Adventurers’ Guild, Misha muttered quietly.

“Hmm…… We need to think about how to sell the Alchemy Stones……”

“Do we?”

“I mean, this is at the level where you can get one if you’re super lucky, right? A miracle happening twice in a row is one thing, but three or four times would be way too crazy, wouldn’t it?”

“Ahh, well, yeah……”

The guild staff member had been incredibly surprised too.

“Wouldn’t it be fine to explain honestly? That my skill lets me choose items.”

“N-no…… I wonder…… Well, it’s kind of beyond common sense, so I feel like it’d be better to keep it hidden a little longer. ……I think it’ll become troublesome in all kinds of ways.”

I did feel that was true.

Maybe we should watch the situation a little longer.

“……So, where are we headed?”

I changed the topic. I was following behind Misha, but it felt different from the usual inn.

“We talked about it yesterday, didn’t we? That we’d go look at weapons and armor.”

“Ahh, we did talk about that.”

“We have money! We can buy good equipment! So, we’ll beat up monsters with money!”

Misha raised a finger and declared that.

“Attack power and defense power—numbers don’t betray you, after all!”