Water Magician

Chapter 57: Buying time with money

Five days after the Great Tidal Bore was suppressed.

An inspector general arrived at the Adventurer’s Guild from the royal capital, and various inspections were being conducted.

Since the guild staff had to fulfill all the inspector general’s needs, the already busy guild staff were at the height of exhaustion.

An announcement that the dungeon would be closed for at least a month was not only released within the guild but throughout the City of Rune.

In the meantime, the adventurers had no choice but to accept surface requests.

Not many adventurers had enough money saved to take their time to rest just because the dungeon was sealed.

Usually, there would be one or two subjugation requests left on the bulletin board but now they would all be taken up.

Not to mention escort requests that were even more popular.

In the first place, requests open for F-rank adventurers … would be about collecting herbs and minerals that could always be found on the board.

Despite that …

“We’re in a pickle …”

Niles took his eyes off the bulletin board, scratching his head.

The request for medicinal herbs and minerals, which previously would always be on the board, had been suspended.

“I’m sorry, Niles-san. Yesterday and the day before yesterday, E-rank and F-rank adventurers all seemed to have gone out to gather those … so we received instructions from the purchasing department to stop the request.”

“Y-yes! No, it’s not Nina-san’s fault! The bad ones are the purchasing department, so …”

Niles was flustered, not realizing that the receptionist he had a crush on, Nina, was right next to him.

Etho chuckled at his action without stepping in to help.

And Amon was smiling wryly next to him.

The three of them were not so poor that they would have to worry about not being able to eat today or tomorrow.

However, with the announcement that they couldn’t enter the dungeon for at least a month, they didn’t want to cut into their savings as much as possible.

Ryo came out from the purchasing department and passed by the three of them.

“Oh. Are the three of you taking up requests?”

“Apparently even the collection requests had ceased.”

Etho replied on behalf of Niles, who was still frozen and unable to react to others after talking to Nina.

“Is Ryo looking for something? You looked like you came out from the purchasing department.”

“Yeah. I came to see if the ore used for practicing alchemy was sold, but they don’t sell it … I couldn’t find it in the general stores in the city and the alchemy workshop was closed … It could easily be found on the fifth floor of the dungeon so I was planning to get it from there and didn’t focus on it. Now I’m stuck.”

“Fifth floor … magic copper ore?”

“Yeah, that’s it.”

Ryo nodded.

“That would be quite expensive if sold in the city, isn’t it …?”

“When I saw it at a general store before, just a fist-sized one cost 500,000 Florin.”

“Fifty gold coins …”

Amon was stunned when he heard the exchange between Ryo and Etho.

“It’s produced on the fifth floor of the dungeon, but the adventurer’s guild doesn’t buy it, right? It’s said that it’s because they don’t get along with the alchemy guild in the city. That’s why the purchasing department here doesn’t sell it and it cost a surprising amount of money even in the city.”

Etho explained why it was so expensive.

When he heard that, Ryo agreed and fell into thought.

And after thinking a little, he opened my mouth.

“Why don’t the three of you take up a request from me?”

“Huh?”

Except for Niles, who still hadn’t returned to reality, the other two unanimously sounded surprised.

“I heard that there is a possibility that magic copper ore can be collected nearby apart from the dungeon …”

“Yeah, at the abandoned mine in the village of Rusei, half a day’s walk west of the City of Rune.”

“Four gold coins per person, twelve gold coins for three people. I will pay even if you can’t collect any. Twenty-five gold coins per fist-sized magic copper ore. I’ll pay extra if it’s bigger; if it’s smaller … well we can discuss when that time comes. The condition is that all three of you return safely to the City of Rune. How about?”

“Ok, we’re in!”

Niles, who had returned before anyone realized, replied.

“Well, the conditions are great, but is that okay with Ryo?”

“Yes. It is 37 gold coins even when totaled up. That’s cheaper than buying it in the city. Moreover, it’s out of stock now. But this doesn’t go through the guild, so there won’t be any achievement record …”

“No problem!”

The three bought preserved food and left immediately.

Ryo could have gone himself but money was what made the world go around.

Besides, it would be awkward if he had decent meals while the three of them couldn’t earn any money …

Although it would be okay to treat them once in a while, Ryo thought that it wouldn’t be accepted if it continued for days.

Of course, it would be even worse to give them money for no reason …

He felt that was a line that must not be crossed as a roommate.

However, there would be no problem if it was a proper request.

The three worked, collected what he needed, and Ryo paid them money in return.

A very healthy exchange.

Ryo was quite wealthy thanks to the Wyvern magic stones.

『Buying time with money』

That was an activity practiced by the wealthy class on modern Earth.

Ryo hadn’t touched a millimeter of that lifestyle on Earth but at the moment he was able to experience what that meant on Phi.

While the three of them gathered that, he could do some research and perform other experiments with the materials he could buy at hand.

Ryo being himself, there was a feeling that he could spend his time meaningfully.

While the three from Room 10 left the City of Rune, Rin was in the library on the north side of the city.

While the South Library had a large selection of books for the general public and beginners, the North Library was a library with only specialized books.

Within the library, there were places where access was severely restricted.

A section called the 『Forbidden Archive』.

A special section where only those with special permission from the Margrave, aristocrats, and adventurers of B rank or above were allowed to view.

There were various books and materials that should not be shown to the general public.

For example, the advanced spellbook of Water-Attribute Magic, and the highest grade spellbook.

What Rin was looking at was a spellbook containing the sort of thing commonly known as the 『forbidden curse』.

“It is not listed after all.”

But she couldn’t find the spell she wanted.

Of course, she thought it wouldn’t be there from the beginning.

The magic of creating an ice wall in a location far away from yourself …

In the central nations, all the spells used by Magicians were summarized in spellbooks.

Along with the chant to cast that spell.

Beginner, intermediate, advanced, and highest grade.

The 『Bullet Rain』 which Rin used to defeat the Goblin King was also listed in Wind’s highest grade Spellbook. Along with a huge chant that was almost unrealistic.

Advanced magic and highest-grade magic require considerable magical power and could only be used by Magicians who were accustomed to magic.

If a weak Magician attempted to chant the spell, their magic would go berserk or the Magician would be swallowed by the magic and disappear.

Therefore, the advanced and highest-grade spell books were kept in places like that away from the general public eyes.

The magic used by Ryo was not listed in the advanced and highest-grade spellbook.

In other words,

“Original magic …”

Which was essentially impossible for magic.

Magic occurred by chanting a fixed spell chant and the determined magic would be activated or generated, which then causes the corresponding phenomenon.

If it’s beginner magic, anyone who had an aptitude for magic could cast the specified magic by chanting the spell for the attribute that suited them.

As it moves up to intermediate and advanced levels, they could activate it if their body becomes 『accustomed』 to magic.

Magic had a predetermined framework in that way.

However, original magic lay outside that framework.

In the first place, it was unclear how magic could be generated without chanting, so original magic was even less understood.

In the past, she would have discarded the thought as ‘some misunderstanding’.

However, in the current central nations, there was a famous Magician who manipulated what seemed to be original magic.

“He’s like a Water-Attribute version of the Explosive Blaze Magician …”

The Fire-Attribute Magician who manipulates high-powered magic that the Magicians have never seen or heard of before.

His alias was 『Explosive Blaze Magician』.

The moment Rin sighed, she was called out.

“Oh, Rin, it’s been a long time.”

When she looked up from the spellbook, she saw a woman of unmatched beauty.

Large green eyes, platinum blonde hair, 170 cm tall, one or more heads taller than the petite Rin, and outstanding proportions.

Her characteristic ears were exposed because her platinum blonde hair that extended to her back was tied up.

Slightly pointed ears … a characteristic of elves.

She was, as Abel called her, the only elf living in Rune.

The only member of the B-rank party 『Wind』.

“Hello, Sera-san.”

Rin wasn’t good at dealing with Sera.

Sera didn’t do anything in particular to her.

However, when facing Sera, she felt a variety of inferiority complexes.

As the same Wind-Attribute Magician.

As the same B-rank adventurer.

And as the same gender.

“You’re in an unusual place looking at something unusual.”

Sera was a bookworm so much so that she was even called the lord of the North Library behind her back.

Sometimes she could be found in the large reading room or sometimes she would be in the forbidden archives like today.

Of course, she knew that what Rin was looking at was the highest-grade spellbook of Water-Attribute Magic.

“I was doing some research. But I couldn’t find what I wanted in the end.”

“I see, that’s a shame.”

For a moment, Rin was tempted to ask Sera.

Elves were said to have a lifespan of over a thousand years.

She didn’t know how old Sera was but at least she knew more about magic than Rin.

Even more knowledgeable than Rin, who could cast the highest-grade magic of the Wind-Attribute.

But Rin didn’t ask.

She didn’t know what the reason was, but somehow she didn’t want to ask her.

She asked something else.

“Sera-san, I heard you were away from Rune at the request of the royal capital.”

“Yes. I finally came back yesterday.”

Sera said and smiled a little.

To Rin, that smile was dazzling …

“Ah, I’m sorry, I’m keeping the librarian waiting. See you next time.”

Then Sera turned around and walked towards the large reading room.

After a deep sigh, Rin returned the book and left the library.