Hidden Dungeon Chapter 9

Chapter 9 - Of Headache Relief and Rainbowhoppers

After seeing how smoothly I defeated the monster the Ramuh adventurers seemed to have lost their fun.

They asked me about the stone projectile size-up method right away.
Of course, I didn't tell them.
And thus they left, leaving behind petty insults like...

Idiot, stupid! Go die to some monster――!

I didn't answer. No way I'd reply to that kind of childish slander.

From there I wandered the plains on my own and soon found a second and third goblin, both of which I took care of without problems. Thrashing them with stone projectile and stabbing them afterwards continued to prove successful.

"And number six, done!"

Sure is easy to defeat low level enemies. If they were just a couple levels higher they'd probably be able to sidestep a simple stone projectile. A high level doesn't just mean they're stronger, it also implies experience and knowledge.

By the time I returned to the royal capital the moon was already floating across the night sky above, illuminating the city while I was dashing through it at full sprint.

"Lola, I got the wrists――!"

"I knew you'd make it!"

As I headed to her reception desk Lola walked out to greet me. Now to receive the quest reward of 8000 ria.
Or so I thought, but instead Lola picked up a hand bell and rang it. What's going on?

"Noir Stalgia has successfully completed his first quest."

Despite the late hour the guild was still full of adventurers. Now, they all stood up to clap, smiles on everyone's faces.

"Congratulations!"

"Welcome to us warriors of Odin."

"Let's work hard if we ever party up!!"

Uwa, this is bad... I'm super happy!

"Thank you, everyone!"

With a deep bow I saluted my seniors. Being acknowledged as a member of the guild was an incredible feeling, as if I gained a new home.
Afterwards I let Lola know that I'd be back the next day and took my leave.


Thanks to my first completed request I also gained some money. I should be saving it, but given today's events let's buy a tasty meal for my family.
With that thought I rummaged through the merchant district, looking for the right things to take home, when――

"Have you seen Noir!?"

At one of the open air stalls three people were asking a familiar stall owner about my whereabouts... Those three people's expressions were, unlike usual,
serious and full of urgency.
I approached and called out to them.

"Father, mother, even Alice, what's wrong?"

"Uooo! What happiness, so you were alive!!――"

"Huh? Whoa-!?"

Without warning all three of them smothered me with hugs and the conversation was halted.
What happened!?
I asked them what they were on about and received an unexpected answer.

"You didn't come home no matter how much time passed!"

"Exactly, we thought you failed the hero school exam, and... due to that shock..."

"'Brother must have turned suicidal!,' basically."

"No way I would!!"

I'm not someone that would kill himself, they should know that much. I'd choose a life of shame over death, that's the kind of man I am... even though it's uncool.

But still... Humans certainly do die over trivial things, that's also true. Frankly, seeing all three of them worry about me like that made me happy.

"No need to worry, I passed the exam. Even placed third."

"Whooaoaah!? N-n-n-noir, you're not joking with us, r-r-right!?"

"Yes, father. I'm not joking."

"I'll have to brag about it tomorrow, to everyone I've met in my life!"

Father stretched his hands to the sky, filled with joy. He then went on to grab random strangers by the shoulders, going 'My son ranked third in the hero school entrance exam♪'.
Yeah, well, that's really embarrassing so please don't.

While letting my frolicking father calm down I called out to the butcher close-by and ordered some bird meat.

Now mother panicked.

"Excuse me!? That's quality meat of the 5000 ria kind!"

"Please calm down, mother. Truth is, I also became an adventurer today. I already completed my first quest for an 8000 ria reward, which also happens to be the reason I'm returning so late today."

"Which means you surpassed father on your first day then. As expected of big brother."

"Stop right there Aliceee! Think of my dignity as fatherrr!"

Father's wailing sounded like it came from the bottom of his heart.
Most nobles own land or receive some village's taxes and that way possess a source of income without having to work, that's the norm. However, not us. It's a shame, but since we're only nobles in name we have no way of earning a living without actually working.
Even so, father had his own pride and abruptly put on a tense expression. He actually looked pretty cool like that.

"...I'm still the father of this household. I'll at least make enough money to properly raise my children. Noir, how much is the school entrance fee?"

"300,000 ria by next week."

"......A month later won't do?"

"It's fine, father. I'll earn it."

"Forgive me, I'm sorry..."

Our group of four headed home to House Stalgia and then we all ate some delicious bird meat together.


                                                   ◇  ◆  ◇

"Another good request came in today, 'Deliver one rainbowhopper.'"

"Rainbowhopper, huh."

I looked at the request flyer that Lola handed me across the reception counter. Like their name let's you guess, rainbowhoppers are rainbow colored grasshoppers. Their habitat has been more or less identified, but despite that they are famous for their rarity.

"If it's you it should be an easy task. You have that one skill, right?"

"...Ah, true."

I totally forgot, but I've still got the Great Sage. This skill has the ability to tell me the answer to just about any question.

"See you later then, I'll be right back."

As I left the guild Emma's face crossed my mind. If I'm planning on using the Great Sage skill then her kisses will be indispensable.
Although, now that I possess skill creation let's try creating 「Absolute Headache Resistance」.

「Absolute Headache Resistance」 5000 LP

Expensive! For me at no more than 700 that wasn't doable for a while. However, to at least tone it down to a bearable level I tried removing 『Absolute』, which made the bar fall down all the way to 300.
Let's take it.

"Looking forward to seeing how well this works."

To see whether it will allow me to bear the headache or not.
For now there's still the possibility of another intense one hitting me, so let's not test it right away. I'll have to ask Emma to be around for――

"――Idiot don Noir!!"

As always, Emma knows how to show up with good timing. And as always, her shaking chest was something else.
Like ships on a stormy sea.
Back to topic, she looked a little upset.

"When you said you'd earn it on your own yesterday, that had the meaning of becoming an adventurer!? Why didn't you take me along――!"

Seems like she asked my family for my whereabouts and found out that I was headed to the adventurer's guild. Let's be upfront and apologize properly here... while looking as dejected as possible.

"I'm sorry..."

"A-..., no, don't feel that bad about it, okay? I was just a little sad..."

"Adventuring is dangerous, and, well, I felt reluctant about inviting you."

"We're still childhood friends, right? Did you forget our promise?"

"At the park six years ago when we swore that we'd be together as one until we die?"

"Actually six years, five months and twelve days, but yes."

I can't say I remembered its details to that extent.
It's something I said when we were playing around as kids, but looks like Emma ended up taking it pretty seriously.

"You're going on a quest right now, right? I'll come along. Even if you slap me."

"As if I'd slap you. Let's go."

Honestly, having Emma come along was a big help. I thankfully accepted her assistance and together we headed to the rainbowhoppers' habitat.

The Yumur river flowed not too far from the city. Its crystal clear water and near complete lack of any aquatic monsters made it a popular fishing spot. As a result, its riverbanks were dotted with people swinging their fishing rods.

Emma and I also walked along the river, but we weren't planning on catching any fish. Aside from fish the vicinity around Yumur was also a good place for catching grasshoppers.
But sure enough, that didn't make the job much easier.
They are so difficult to spot, it's said that when you're looking for rainbowhoppers on your own you may very well be walking the river up and down for a year without stumbling upon any.

But in return, when you do find one you can sell them for good money. Today's quest reward was also accordingly high.
Well, their only utility is marveling at them, really. It's one of those pastimes for richer folks.

"If I were to ask the Great Sage, would you..."

"You don't even have to ask! I told you, anytime is fine. Kissing is on the same level as a greeting, after all."

Emma's happy reply allowed me to consult the Great Sage without worry.

Where can we find the rainbowhopper closest to us?

「In the shadow of a large boulder 300 meters southwards from your current location.」

My head... did ache a little, but it was easily bearable. Let's ask another question.

And how many rainbowhoppers are there in a three kilometers radius?

「Three.」

...Alright, still doing fine. Compared to earlier the headache barely worsened. Just to check I tried one more question and, indeed, the pain continued to remain the same.

Great!
Given the brutal pain the skill used to cause a while ago this was some considerable progress. If the pain is only of this extent it wouldn't even hinder me during combat.

"Come, I figured out the hopper's location."

"Huh? What about the kiss?"

"I acquired some headache relief, turns out I'm fine."

"Awww..."

"But I mean, since it's nothing more than a greeting it's not like we can't do it whenever, right? Childhood friends, after all."

"True~. Alright, let's go!"

Just like the Great Sage said there was a rainbowhopper in the described location, its body separated lengthwise by seven vivid colors.
There was some difficulty because it was a good amount more nimble than a normal grasshopper, but with some teamwork we caught our first rainbowhopper.
We put it into a bag and closed the opening.

"Apparently there are two more around here, let's catch those as well and sell them in town."

Thanks to the Great Sage skill and our swift movements it wasn't much of a problem. After catching the other two we properly sealed them and contently returned to town. On our way back Emma asked.

"Hey, weren't your movements pretty quick? Did you acquire a new skill?"

"Ah, that's probably my level. Looks like I'm 33 right now."

"Huh!? That's close to twice my level..."

Emma was currently level 18.

"You're steadily getting farther away――"

"Please, that's not true."

"I want to become stronger, too! I've decided, I'll take Odin's test and become an adventurer as well. And then we'll party up! ...sounds good?"

"Sure, but first let's sell the grasshoppers. Wasn't there someone like that among the people you know? Mister Grasshopper?"

"Ah, yeah, there is! Alright, I'll go get him~"

When we arrived back in town I made my way to the guild while Emma headed to Mister Grasshopper, an eccentric person who collects grasshoppers and would probably love to get his hands on rainbowhoppers. I heard he made a fortune through business way back in the day so now he has a wealth of capital.


"Oh my, did you already catch one?"

Lola made a surprised face as she saw me enter, looking like she expected me to take until nightfall today as well. She probably thought that even with the
Great Sage skill catching the rainbowhoppers would still prove to be a challenge.

"Yes, please take one from the bag."

"You caught three!? That's beyond unexpected..."

With visible admiration she took care of all the paperwork. Apparently today's request had a lot of points assigned to it, so I must've taken a pretty big step towards D rank. I also received the reward of 50,000 ria.

"Here he is~"

"Ah, that was quick."

Emma and Mister Grasshopper were already waiting outside the guild. A stocky middle-aged man with the air of a healthy eater.
We've met a couple times before.

"Been a while, Noir."

"Happy to meet again."

"I heard you caught a rainbowhopper?"

When I showed him the bag's contents he let out an excited voice and expressed his delight.

"How about 100,000 for both of them?"

"100,000 you say..."

50,000 per grasshopper. That's the same price as in the guild, but I'm pretty confident there's usually more money involved when directly selling these.

That's when Emma and me shared a look.

"For how much did that other person offer to buy them again?"

Wink. The goal was to make him think we had another potential buyer.

You might not be able to call it telepathy, but Emma and I share a long relationship. She knew what I meant right away.

"Hmmm, yeahhh, pretty sure he said 290,000, didn't he~"

"T-two ninety!? Isn't that way too much!"

He was surprised, but even more dazed than him was I. Don't you think that's too much of an increase? What I had in mind was more in the range of 150,000. As expected, getting close to 300,000 ria like that will make even the grasshopper collector――

*Pop*

Or rather, *jingle.* He began lining up coins on the ground.

"Here's 300,000. You'll sell them to me, right?"

"Thank you for your purchase!"

By reflex I shouted like a merchant.
We handed the bag with the two rainbowhoppers over to the collector, who then went on his way with a beaming smile. With a not too different expression we waved him goodbye.

"Yay~"

"I had some doubts when you raised the price like that, but to think it would go that well."

"Of course~, he's rich like that."

"Huh, but wait a second..."


I've already earned all the school entrance fee money!


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Thanks for reading. Next chapter sometime this week. Special thanks to everyone pointing out typos and mistakes.

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