After the exchange, I pulled Marie-senpai to the second floor, where our storage room was, and pulled the certain recipe from one of the «Item Box.»
"This is the stuff I was talking about, Marie-senpai!"
"Woah, three of them?! This is the first I laid my eyes upon so many at once! And look at all, they're just up to my job's speciality!"
I showed Marie-senpai three recipes. They're all drops from rare boss «Iron Mountain Beast - Donkonga».
All of a sudden, the recipes vanished from my grasp within a blink of an eye. Of course, the culprit was Marie-senpai. But... wasn't she too quick with her hands for her good?!
As rare boss drops, the recipes were certified «Gold Chest» qualities. Well, the majority of these drops were more or less byproducts. I had Nico with her «Treasure Sense» skill, but much of the drops were unfortunately miss, not the equipment I had wanted.
Recipes were like SSR in this world, always in demand among the productioners since it was their lifeline.
The recipes I took out were cut above league, each with quality comparable to advanced-grade, and vehemently expensive. In a time where even a single recipe of this quality would earn eye-popping reaction, it was no surprise Marie-senpai would go completely feral.
"Say, Mister. Can I just, buy them all?!"
Marie-senpai clutched all three recipes in her hands, and gave me 'till death apart us' gaze.
"Come now, obviously not. It's a deal of one, you know that already, don't you?"
I firmly refused.
"Wha—?! Whaaaaaat?! How can you be so cruel, Mister?! How do you expect me to choose one when three of them are out!?"
Marie-senpai reeled back as if she'd just been told something utterly unbelievable. Mhm-mm, now that was a totally expected reaction. Alas, she will be walking out of the door with disappointment.
"You know, all of them are obviously... I mean, do you even realise even a single one of them is worth a hell lot of money?"
"I know, of course, b-but—!"
I could understand the dilemma. They're rare boss's drops. The buyer's line would end up spanning the whole academy if they’re put up on sale. If anything, giving one for simply some advice would have them crying blood out of their eyes. Three of them were impossible. Like IMPOSSIBLE level of impossible.
Offering even one was a strategic move, considering the future. The help also included post-setup support until the shop got off the ground.
It was still an incredibly good deal, though. Apparently, most people couldn't
get their hands on these, no matter how much they offer. I only made this
offer because it was Marie-senpai. I knew she'd be desperate for them, and I had another goal in mind for her.
Just as I expected, Marie-senpai was practically drooling over all three. Two of them were body armor recipes, and one for leg armor. All could be crafted from fur, perfectly suited for her «Magical Outfit Tailor». I'd deciphered them ourselves, using the «Let-Me-Look-chan», a deciphering item that I had obtained while taking over storage of Temple Saber, so this was the first time she was seeing them.
And sure enough, it'd completely hooked her in, Kuhahaha!
Marie-senpai hugged the recipes to her chest, backing away as if to guard them with her life. Where was she trying to go?
I slowly closed the distance. What kind of game was this? It was actually kind
of fun.
"Alright, fine. I'll take one, and I'll buy the rest. I'll pay
anything!"
Hook, line, and sinker! Exactly as I'd planned. Hehehe, but not yet. I
steeled my face, suppressing a smirk, and decided to play hard to get.
"Sorry, but they're not for sale. I can't sell them for any price. I'll be
taking back anything you don't choose."
"What did you say...?"
Her voice trembled. She was shaking like a leaf.
"Th-then how about this—"
Marie-senpai tried several more times, changing her tactics, but I remained firm.
"Grrr, you're being so mean today, mister!"
She finally groaned. I think, that's enough pushing...?
"Since you're so adamant, Marie-senpai, how about this; if you agree to my condition, I'll give
you all three."
"YOU WILL?! G-grrr, wh-what's your condition?"
She stared at me with eyes that looked ready to sell her soul to the devil. Hmm, she clearly thought I was about to make some outrageous demand. Uh-huh, the trust between us ran so thin... not that she was wrong, I guess?
I'd set this all to push her to current state because I had an extremely important deal for her. And she plunged into my trap straight. She retreated further, until her back was against the wall.
...Strange. Why did it feel like I was doing something very... un-brave? No, it must be my imagination.
Shaking off that distracting thought, I pressed my advantage.
"Marie-senpai, I want you to have this—oops, my hand slipped!"
I feigned clumsiness, letting something slip from «Item box».
The moment she recognized it was a recipe, it vanished from the air before it could hit the floor. She swiped it at a lightning fast speed, even I couldn't capture her moment! Heck, she was supposed to have cornered herself against the wall, but here we were, she now within my reach,
Then, when she finally checked what it was, she shivered like anything today!
"Wh-what in the world, Mister?! This is... a Set Recipe, isn't it?! And it's from a rare boss's «Gold Chest» to boot! H-how... what's all this?!"
This was her loudest scream of the day. Mhm-mm. What a magnificent reaction.
The item I had *accidentally* dropped, and Marie-senpai had so swiftly retrieved, was the complete set recipe for the «Female Bushido Series». We'd find this among the drop of rare boss «Samurai Ogre» of «Mighty Demon Mountain Dungeon». Of course, I'd never brought this, too, to senpai till this moment.
This was a big deal to productioners. The typical recipe often only contains a method for one piece of the armor.—head, body (part 1), body (part 2), arms, or legs.
But a recipe that contained all of them? Its value was immeasurable. After all, completing a series unlocks powerful set skills. Furthermore, it's no easy feat to gather an entire set, making those who do the envy of all.
"My heart's going to be snatched away! Whether you want to grill me, or burn me, do as you wish!"
Marie-senpai declared, having seemingly reached a state of complete surrender. Full capitulation. What a wonderful reaction. But, of course, I was not going to push any unreasonable request.
I pulled the next item from my personal «Item Bag (S)». It was a piece of paper with a dragon drawn on it—«Advanced Job Ascension Ticket».
This was my personal asset, unlike the other guild asset. This was also the first ever ticket I had ever acquired from the hidden room in the tutorial dungeon.
As a matter of fact, I had long since decided to whom this ticket would belong.
Eden had always been confirmed of its goal. We'd been striving for the Crown of this academy, the S-rank, and to be conqueror of this academy's highest difficulty level dungeon, a.k.a Ultimate Dungeon. But to fulfil that, we couldn't do without proper advanced-grade items or equipment, crafted by equivalent job holders.
Alas, the world as it was now only pushed for the combatants to go through job advancement. Meanwhile, there were at least three production jobs that were pivotal for our goal.
1. «Alchemist» - We'd Hannah for this.
2. «Blacksmith» - I'd secured Alulu.
And the last, «Equipment Maker». I had long since thought of having Marie-senpai take this role. Without the selected three production job categories, it was impossible to clear advanced dungeons. So, that's why I set up Marie-senpai.
Albeit, as the non-guild member, I couldn't splurge guild assets on her. There was no such restriction on personal assets, however.
The academy did prohibit selling or buying of «Advanced Job Ascension Ticket», but donating them or using them on others for free was not a part of it. So, there was no problem with me using this on Marie-senpai.
Yep, completely free. Well, the free was not truly free, though. It's more that she would owe me a huge favour. A perfect plan, wasn't it? Hehehe!
And so, I made my proposal to Marie-senpai.
"Marie-senpai, will you please acquire the advanced job «Mage Cross Adept» and work exclusively for «Eden»?"
T/N - Hello, everyone. Due to occasional api issue, which leads to readers unable to read until the access is manually granted, we have begun to update the series on Patreon as well. It's simply to save readers the hassle if anyone is experiencing. Of course, the site will be getting update too.
