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「The world’s in peril! But Super Meow is in the act!」
Cait Sith was full of energy, dashing with his cape fluttering behind him as he took to the air. But he could not defy gravity and soon enough returned to the ground, though that did not discourage him from picking up the Magic Stones. Cait Sith would always end up obsessed with the strangest things, and he seemed like he had wanted to re-enact a flying scene even though he could not fly.
Mira also started picking up Magic Stones, her only question being where Cait Sith was learning all those things.
「This is incredible, I picked up 233 Meowgic Stones!」
Cait Sith waved the sign around as he danced around the pile of Magic Stones. The job had been too easy for him, so he had gone the extra mile and counted them. He was moving so much that the sign could not be read, but it was displaying how the number had been calculated, ‘A lot + a lot + a bit more =’
It was hard to know whether the number he gave was correct or not, but there did seem to be at least two hundred Magic Stones there.
「Hmm, that’s more than I expected.」
After Mira stored everything in her Item Box, Cait Sith started saying 「We’re eating good tonight!」 so she chose to send him away too. As he vanished, surrounded in light, he mimicked a valiant voice and said 「Heroes of justice leave silently and never look back!」
「Alright… if memory serves, the market price for these started at 500 Rils back then.」
Back then, basically when everything was still a game. She recalled the smallest Magic Stones selling for 500 Rils in the market. Magic Stones were an item on high demand, being used for Magic Wares, various medicines and potions, to strengthen existing equipment, or many other things.
On top of that, most of the magic devices used by modern adventurers were powered by Magic Batteries, which were also made from Magic Stones, so there had to be even more demand for them now.
(I should’ve researched where to sell them beforehand.)
She had researched where to buy equipment and medicine and various other things, but she had not asked where she could sell things. Still, there was no way Magic Stones had gotten cheaper. So she made a quick calculation, not caring about their size and assuming they all would sell for the minimum price.
(There’s around two hundred Magic Stones and they sell for five hundred Rils, so I’ll be getting at least a hundred thousand Rils. That’s a good amount.)
Mira could not stop grinning and chuckling to herself thinking of that. It made sense in a way, she had just earned that sum just by sleeping comfortably in her mansion for one night. It did not matter that she was a Wiseman, her greed was still the same as any commoner’s. She was bewitched by the amount she would get.
(Lower floors should produce even bigger Magic Stones. I could easily get three hundred thousand, nay, four hundred thousand, just by sleeping!)
Greedy dreams filled Mira’s mind as she decided she would continue sleeping in an area where monsters spawned often, and summoned Pegasus.
「We have another day of work ahead of us!」
Pegasus was very attached to Mira, and seeing her in a good mood made him neigh happily. Mira climbed up on Pegasus’ back, and once Pegasus made sure she was straddled firmly, he began flapping his wings. They took to the air, Pegasus flapping his wings happily.
Their first destination was the cathedral leading to the fifth floor. The trip there would take around one hour on Pegasus.
「I guess there’s still plenty of activity down here.」
There were groups of adventurers fighting skeletons in the streets underneath. Just like she was told, the Ancient Underground City was always full of adventurers.
Examining them a bit more, she noticed that the groups of adventurers would remain around certain locations, without moving too far away. Later on she heard the reason for that. The adventurers would agree on where each of them would hunt, without really affecting other areas, so that everyone could hunt fairly.
That method of forming simple alliances to hunt more safely while also ensuring everyone got a share had become popular a few years back.
「I wonder how much they earn from a day of work.」
Mira observed everyone calmly, still feeling superior knowing she had obtained more than two hundred Magic Stones while she slept. Some time later she spotted an open space chock full of skeletons.
「Oh, I think the Crematorium was around there.」
Mira muttered to herself seeing that. Crematorium was the name given by players to a certain location. The reason for it was very simple. It was a plaza with white stone pavement, and for some reason it would always attract many skeletons.
Undead monsters, including skeletons, had a tendency to approach the living. Especially to those who were weaker, closer to dying.
The players who were more invested in lore and worldbuilding determined that undead monsters did not hate the living, but were actually yearning for it. And apparently there was something related to life hiding in that plaza.
No one had been able to figure out what it was though, and it remained a mystery. Some players believed the white stone used there was the most suspicious, but all investigations turned up nothing.
They could not find anything no matter what they tried, so maybe there was nothing after all. There was a possibility that the skeletons simply liked gathering there. That was the final decision from the players, and they went to research different mysteries.
After that the only players that went to the plaza were those with an ability to defeat all the skeletons gathered there at once and earn a small fortune, usually with fire. Hence the Crematorium nickname.
(Maybe an angel set up a barrier there instead!)
An angel had mentioned that before, their barriers could hide things from humans leaving no trace, so Mira jokingly mentioned that possibility. But if that was actually the case, then the barrier had been placed there for a very important reason, and it was best not to disturb it.1
「Still, there’s quite a lot of them gathered already…」
More skeletons arrived at the Crematorium as time passed. There had to be at least fifty of them there already. Mira’s power would allow her to easily clean them up in less than ten seconds. Fifty Magic Stones in ten seconds, that was quite a lot for a little bit of effort, but Mira flew past the Crematorium without second guessing herself for even a moment.
Mira was mostly attracted to money that required no effort whatsoever. She had just obtained the means of earning mountains of money doing nothing, so now she felt no interest in anything that required effort. It was a rather degenerate way of thinking, completely unlike a gentleman.2
「Oh, it’s happening now.」
As she continued heading to the cathedral, she noticed a group of adventurers walking in the opposite direction from her. There was a warrior with a shield in front, while the rest were all spellcasters.
(Burning Soul, Flame Wand, Acute Red, Evil Blaze… they’re all good fire element equipment.)
It was a good lineup considering the number of skeletons in the Crematorium. It seemed like that place still got the same use as all those years back.
She had done that together with Luminaria in the past. Reminiscing those memories, Mira left the Crematorium behind, feeling slightly moved to know that the hunting customs from back then had been passed down through the years.
