Seeker 206

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Chapter 206. I Obtained The Long-Awaited Gaia Armor!

Now, before heading to the dungeon, there was a scene. 

At the meeting, Bargamund-san said. 

"Human heroes, we would like your assistance in conquering the dungeon. However, if you venture into the dungeon, greater dangers are expected. If you agree to take on the challenge, we will pay each of you an additional ten large gold coins."

Bargamund-san approached us and requested our participation in the dungeon conquest.

This plan included not only us but also Yusefia-san, as well as half of the Dwarf warriors from the village.

We already made our decision about whether to accept this request. When we decided to take on this special mission, we had a fairly good idea of what would happen. 

What pleased us most was the additional financial reward. 

Ten large gold coins per person equated to 300 gold coins in total. 

With the payment for today's work as mercenaries, this amounted to 600 gold coins. 

We had over 700 gold coins due to various sources, including income from magic stones.

We would have at least 1,300 gold coins if we succeeded in the request. 

The price of Gaia Armor was 1,350 gold coins with a 10% discount. 

In my world, that roughly equated to 13.5 million yen, which was quite a substantial amount. 

But at this point, it was within reach with some budgeting.

With this in mind, I negotiated with Bargamund-san again. 

It's like what I did before heading to the Dragon Valley, similar to what I did with Aria. 

I proposed, 'Before we delve into the dungeon, we'd like to enhance our equipment to be fully prepared. Could we receive an advance on the reward?'.

This proposal was also advantageous for the Dwarf village, and they readily agreed. 

Of course, it was based on the assumption that they trusted us. 

The dwarves' reasoning was, 'We can tell what kind of people you are by looking at you.'.

Based on the image we have presented so far. The dwarves trusted us without hesitation.

We decided to cover the remaining 50 gold coins by selling the Elf Leather Armor I had been using up to that point.

 I felt a bit reluctant to sell the gift from the elf village, but once we obtained the Gaia Armor, it would become unnecessary, and storing it in the Item Box took up space.

The Dwarf shop owner at the armor store bought the Elven Leather Armor for the standard price of 100 gold coins.

I thought they'd disliked the elf-made items, but that wasn't the case. Yep, yep. They didn't have such traditions.

And so, I finally obtained the Gaia Armor.

Ta-dah! My excitement might be similar to Yuzuki's, but I couldn't help but be happy.

On the other hand, after paying 1,350 gold coins, my purse was quite empty, although not completely empty.

But I could earn the gold coins that I spent again. 

Therefore, I purchased new equipment at the armor store and, a while later, marched down the mountain path from the village.

We were on the march to the dungeon.

Depending on how the sun shone on it, the armor and helmet, which looked almost like they were made of gold, were quite eye-catching. 

I feel there was a retro game called, "Tower of Nantoka" with a protagonist dressed like this.

The sun, on the other hand, was about to be obscured by dark clouds. It looked like rain was imminent.

There were Dwarf warriors, clad in silvery-gray armor and helmets, making a similar clinking sound as they advanced. 

There were about 10 of them. Of course, Kazane-san, Yuzuki, Yusefia-san, and Bargamund-san were among them.

This group of 15, with my Griffin, constituted Fire and Ice Dungeon conquest members.

In the village, about 10 Dwarf warriors were remaining, led by acting chief Grunba-san.

With this level of firepower, we might not be able to handle attacks of the scale we had encountered before, but Bargamund-san had placed his bet on this decision.

As the expedition party followed the path to the dungeon, we expected that if monsters approached from the dungeon again, we wouldn't encounter them. 

By the way, I confirmed that my armor would make almost no sound when using the [Stealth] skill. 

However, it felt somewhat eerie, and I didn't want to appear strange to the people around, so I usually kept the [Stealth] skill turned off.

Wearing the complete set of Gaia Armor, including the Gaia Helm, I descended the mountain path, feeling quite delighted. 

Walking beside me, Yuzuki peered into my face and greeted me with a smile.

"You look really happy, senpai."

"Of course. And it's a bit late now, but I'm sorry for using Kazane-san and your money."

"That's so last season. We're already a shared destiny community, so it feels weird to think like that. Also, at least in those moments, instead of saying 'I'm sorry', you should say 'thank you.'"

Saying that Yuzuki, for some reason, took off her hat. 

Feeling somewhat prompted, I petted my junior's head.

"You're right. Thank you, Yuzuki."

"Ukyu! Hehe."

She had a very delighted expression on her face. 

She never got old.

On the other hand.

"Ah, Hotaru-chan sneaking off again! Daichi-kun, you're biased!"

"Huh...? No, it's not like that..."

"In that case, look, me too, equally. Mm."

"Yeah, okay."

As Kazane-san vied with Hayatsuki, she hopped before me, slightly bent down, and offered her head. 

We were walking backward down a hill, so it was somewhat precarious, but Kazane-san, with her superb coordination, had no issues. 

She was quite the talent when it came to not wasting her abilities.

I had no reason to decline when asked. So I pat Kazane-san's head. 

Kazane-san blushed and had a very happy expression.

Incidentally, the dumbfounded gazes from the Dwarf warriors walking around us and the stink eye from Yusefia-san were a bit painful.

But I had decided not to worry about it. 

You know, they say a journey's shame is thrown away, right?

Furthermore, I decided to present the merits of the new equipment to my two companions.

"But you know, I believe this Gaia Helm and Gaia Armor are worth every gold coin spent. Of course, the defense is high, but what's great is the special effect of modifying earth attribute magic power. I think it not only affects attack magic but also healing magic and such, unlike the modification value for attack magic, which only influences magical damage..."

"Um, senpai, you've become a super-fast-talking otaku."

"Yeah, yeah. It's great that Daichi-kun is so happy."

"…Yeah."

My passionate speech seemed to go in vain as they didn't quite grasp the goodness of these armors. 

Well, okay... that's fine. (´・ω・｀)

So, while all this was happening, the group eventually reached the cave with the teleportation magic circle. 

By then, the dark clouds had completely covered the sun. 

It had started to rain lightly. 

They hadn't encountered any monsters so far. 

I had a feeling that the calm before the storm was a perfect description of the situation.