Even in a Dark Fantasy, You Still Have to Eat - Chapter 7

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Haruto

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Even in a Dark Fantasy, You Still Have to Eat ◈

Chapter 7: The Mole on the Shoulder # 2

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Toast, crisped on the outside.

Top it with a golden fried egg and thin slices of ham, then squeeze on some ketchup, and what do you get?

"Yore’s Omakase, complete!"

I wasn’t sure if it was okay to have such a luxurious meal first thing in the morning.

On the other hand?

Young Master Felix only picked at a few nuts that looked like almonds or pine nuts, and that was it.

He moved around so much, yet he was making do with such a meager breakfast.

"Young Master, is that really enough?"

You had to eat properly if you didn’t want heart disease.

"Felix! Yore is right!"

Scrape.

Hammer pushed a plate toward Felix.

It held thick, long sausages and something like red beans.

"You’re still growing. You should eat more! If you collapse from hunger at an important moment, we’ll all be in trouble!"

"Hammer, I’m twenty-three. Do you really think I’ll grow any more?"

Felix was stubborn too.

"I prefer an empty stomach before work. If I eat too much, the food in my stomach bumps around and gets in the way of moving."

That made sense in its own way.

Maybe I shouldn’t have eaten so much.

"Hammer, where are we heading today? We still have a lot left before our quota is filled, so shouldn’t we make this a longer expedition?"

"Quota?"

As I tucked Felix’s untouched sausage into my pocket, I asked the question.

Hermit, who had been elegantly wiping her lips with a handkerchief, answered instead.

"You gave half the Ether you earned on your first deployment to His Imperial Majesty too, didn’t you? Every unit has a tax quota it has to pay. Ours is ten million per month."

If we had to pay ten million Ether in taxes, that meant we needed to earn at least twenty million Ether each month.

I had no idea whether that was easy or difficult.

It was my first time hunting in a party.

But this was what I really wanted to know.

"What happens if we can’t fill the quota? Do we get fired?"

"The unit gets reshuffled! Blessed are valuable personnel, so they can’t just fire us. Instead, they scatter us to more efficient units. But!"

Bang.

Hammer slammed a hand onto the table.

"Explorer units made up of people transferred in after reshuffles usually don’t end well. There’s a high chance they’re full of people who are neither diligent nor capable!"

"And if they keep getting reshuffled and still can’t meet the quota?"

"If that happens? Well... I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone shameless enough to keep failing like that. Whatever happens, it won’t be good. But we don’t need to worry about that."

Flick.

A handkerchief-sized map appeared in the hand Hammer had just used to hit the table.

Hammer tapped a spot marked with a building that looked like a castle.

"I saw a forecast saying the sun will rise over Michanic University. It’s expected to stay up for around twelve hours, so we’ll grab what we can and get out before night falls. Our tax target is two million!"

So we needed to earn four million Ether.

That meant each person had to bring in around one million Ether.

‘If I calculate Ether and won at a one-to-one rate, we need to make a million won each in twelve hours today?’

A daily wage of one million won per person.

How many Nightrings worth fifty Ether each would we have to kill?

While I was doing the math, Hermit polished the glass orb at the end of her staff with a handkerchief and spoke.

"Michanic University is like a holy land for ancient magic. Hammer, can you plan our route through places with old documents and materials?"

"That was the plan. You mages and the Mage Towers go crazy for antiques from Michanic University and pay well for them. We’ll fill two million in no time."

"Ooh! You can trade items with other people for Ether too!"

Just like trading game items!

It was obvious when I thought about it, but I didn’t know why it felt so exciting.

Hammer placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Yore, that’s why your role is important. The rooms with expensive old books and magic tools are usually locked. They’re full of traps too."

"Yes, sir! Leave it to me!"

I looked at the tattoo on the back of my hand.

「Star Key Lv.1」

「If there is a hole for a key, there is a low chance you can unlock it.」

The blessing I had received.

Honestly, the back of my hand itched because I wanted to try it so badly.

# # #

It felt like I was passing through dark fog.

When I came to my senses, I was standing on the roof of some building.

"Starting on a rooftop. Not bad."

Hammer was suddenly standing beside me, with two huge hammers resting on their shoulders.

Each one looked heavy enough on its own, but Hammer carried two.

Just looking at Hammer was reassuring. I couldn’t help respecting them.

"First, we clear the area."

Shing.

Felix drew his sword and charged toward the strange creatures nearby.

"Waaalu!"

"Walu!"

They looked like giant squid. The strange thing was that they floated through the air instead of swimming in the sea.

I thought there had been monsters like this in the game I used to play.

「+300 Ether」

「Octopus Tentacle: It smells extremely fishy, but it has a chewy texture. Quite a few people enjoy this taste.」

Octopus!

Right. That was what they were called.

These things gave three hundred Ether each.

Six times more than a Nightring!

If we spent all day catching monsters like these, earning four million Ether might not be difficult at all.

"Waaalu!"

"Walu!"

"Look at them swarm in after we kill one. Yore, stay back. You need to be around Level 10 to kill those things. Without you, our average level is 13, so we’ll be fine!"

"Yes, sir!"

Hammer was the leader, so I quietly stepped back.

Bang, bang! Slash, slash, slash! Whoosh, boom!

Hammer led the charge and tenderized the giant squid with his hammers. Young Master Felix sliced them into strips, and Hermit finished them off by firing balls of flame.

「+300 Ether」

...

Were they farming these things like they were transplanting rice seedlings?

There wasn’t even a gap for me to join in.

Still, I couldn’t just stand there and watch.

I had to prove I was useful to the party.

Whoosh, whoosh whoosh whoosh.

So I picked up a bunch of the coins scattered across the ground, along with the tentacles.

Soon, the vast rooftop had been completely cleared.

I showed Hammer my bag and lavished praise on the group.

"Hehehe. We earned sixty thousand Ether in less than ten minutes. We’re off to a great start! Everyone works together so well. Party hunting really is different!"

"Killing monsters like these is nothing. Still, Ether coins are dropping unusually often today. We’re lucky!"

"Are there times when Ether coins don’t drop?"

"Yeah. Normally, one drops every two or three kills."

What? Killing monsters didn’t always give Ether?

I hadn’t known because I got Ether every time I killed a Nightring.

That was normal in games too.

Hammer picked up the remaining coins from the ground.

"Yore, maybe it’s because of you? I heard you came back alive twice even with a rope around your neck at the gallows. You’re such a lucky bastard, so maybe that luck is rubbing off on us too!"

Bwahahaha!

Hammer laughed heartily, and I felt good for no reason, so I laughed along with him.

"Hehehe!"

Hermit poked at the wriggling tentacles on the ground with her staff.

"I did think it was strange that Ether and tentacle materials dropped every time we killed monsters. Is that because Yore is here?"

"What else could explain it? Maybe if we kill a boss monster, we’ll get Crystal Stones or Inscription Manuals right away. Then we’ll fill our quota in no time!"

Crystal Stones and Inscription Manuals!

I didn’t know exactly what they were, but they were clearly valuable items.

I wanted to see them!

But Young Master Felix shook the fluid from his sword and spoke coldly.

"Hammer, our party has no priest, so taking down a boss monster is impossible. More importantly, this is the Star Church’s territory. Nothing good will come from staying in Michanic for long."

"I know, I know. I was just saying. Felix, I can’t even joke around you."

"We can’t kill boss monsters?"

The Crystal Stones and Inscription Manuals I had never even seen felt like they were flying away into the distance.

Felix answered my disappointed question.

"Fighting a leader monster is basically a long war of attrition. Without a priest in the party, we can’t kill one. Maybe a subjugation party could."

Blessed parties were mostly divided into two types.

One was a subjugation party.

Most of them included a priest. They recovered from injuries through the priest’s healing prayers while fighting dangerous enemies for valuable loot.

The second was an explorer party like ours.

These parties usually included Thieves. Instead of fighting powerful enemies, they explored every corner and aimed for loot from treasure chests and secret rooms.

Hammer added an explanation.

"The loot from leader monsters is good, but the loot from these treasure chests is also very profitable. That’s why we go out of our way to include uncontrollable criminals called Thieves in the party."

"So you’re saying my role is extremely important and irreplaceable!"

I had never held such an important role before.

At the same time, I felt like I understood the party’s hatred for Thieves a little better.

When street rats get the upper hand over others, their default passive is to throw their weight around.

They probably wanted to make the most of it because they didn’t know when they’d get another chance.

You know that rat who hides in a chef’s hat and controls a person.

Rat-a-tat, or something?

That was exactly what it was like.

Then they messed around too much and got stabbed to death by their party members.

I didn’t want that to happen to me.

"Ahem. I’ll try to become a trustworthy Thief."

Could “trustworthy” and “Thief” even be used in the same sentence?

It sounded strange even as I said it.

Anyway, what mattered was what Hammer said next.

"Then I’ll check the map with my blessing, 「Bird’s-Eye Map」. There’s a room with a treasure chest directly below the rooftop. Let’s go there right away. Shouldn’t we give our Yore a chance to shine?"

"Ooh!"

Good!

「Star Key」 on my left hand was roaring!

Thinking that, we left the rooftop and headed to the floor below.

The moment we entered the place where the treasure chest was supposed to be...

"What the fuck are these guys?"

"This is our spot!"

Their spot...?

Some rough-looking people were holding weapons and aiming them at us.

We weren’t the only people in this strange building!

Author’s Note

I tried posting one more chapter...!!!