“Ah, Argo’s here.”
Says a surprised Hikari, rubbing her eyes because she just woke up. But she doesn’t say any more, and simply walks over to us and sits down.
She woke up later than usual, so maybe the exhaustion really has been piling up.
Her expression looks the same as always, probably because she just slept, but Appraisal shows me her status condition is Exhaustion – weak.
Rurika and Sera are the same, but surprisingly, not Mia and Chris. It’s particularly strange how energetic Chris is, since it feels like she’s the one with the least stamina. Maybe she’s just doing a good job managing her health.
“We came here last night, and we’ll save this spot for you. You can go back to the surface… But don’t expect much in terms of mining.”
“Hn, got it.”
Says Hikari, as she starts eating from a bowl Mia handed her.
The guys around us look surprised as they see her talk to him, because they know that Argo’s party is A rank.
We’re going back, but so are the others who were mining here. It’s not because we won’t be cooking anymore, it’s because they got quite a lot of ore and they want to unload it.
The wheelbarrows are about eighty percent full.
Since Argo’s party will only be saving our spot, who knows if the others will be empty by the time they come back.
But they’re aware of this.
“Well then Argo, here’s five days worth of food.”
I take food out of the Item Box, and Argo puts it in his magic bag.
“Yep, have a nice rest.”
We head to the staircase that will lead us out of the dungeon, as Argo and the others see us off.
The area around the staircase is quickly monopolized by people right after the dungeon changes, so it takes us three hours to reach it.
But it’s also easier to find higher quality ore the further away from the entrance, so it’s important to consider what ore you’re after and convenience when picking a mining spot.
But we didn’t really consider those things, we just picked a spot without people around and started mining.
The wheelbarrows are heavy, so the guys are slower and tell us to go on without them. They feel bad about keeping us waiting.
We don’t really have to go out of our way to go with them, so we go on, but we stand out. People’s eyes are drawn to a group carrying nothing.
I hear some people saying next time they’ll ask the girls, so I think they’re misunderstanding and thinking we’re guards or are here to guard someone’s spot.
We make it out of the dungeon before noon, as expected, and head to the guild to check out the ore trade list.
The other miners told us about the market prices to a certain extent when we were resting, so we know.
They also told us that we can get it faster by paying more than the market price, but to be careful about paying too much because they’ll see us as easy marks.
I take ore out of the Item Box to check it.
It feels like magic stones would be harder to get than ore, but most people are more willing to pay money for them rather than trade them for ore.
If necessary, it would be possible to get them by going after golems after the dungeon changes.
Then I feel Hikari pull my sleeve.
“Master, I want to hunt golems!”
She’s thirsting for blood. Well, no, but she wants to fight. And Rurika and Sera are nodding, while Chris and Mia smile awkwardly.
So this time, should we get ore through a request in the ore exchange then?
I’ll list things that can be mined on the second floor, since the ore varies from floor to floor. And if there are people who specialize in the second floor and want to trade, that’d be nice.
Once we’re done here, we go back to the house we’re renting and have lunch.
“Should we rest for today?”
Tomorrow, we’ll be spending the day buying food and cooking. The issue is that from what I’ve seen, I’m not impressed with the quality of the ingredients being sold in this town.
I could use Transfer to buy ingredients somewhere else, but no. If we don’t buy anything, it might attract some weird attention to our magic bags. People will wonder just how good they are, because they don’t know about the Item Box.
They can’t take them from us, because only registered people can use them, but people might come after us to negotiate for them.
“Yes. We can rest for today and shop tomorrow. Vegetables are one thing, but what about meat?”
Rurika is hinting that maybe we should go hunt.
There is non-monster meat being sold, but monster meat is a lot tastier. Although some are pretty good.
There are monsters in the forest to the west of Avid, so we could go there in-between mining.
Maybe we could get more information about it in the guild.
I remember hearing last time we were walking around town that there’s a village in the forest where people farm. Maybe we could buy food there.
Buying on-site would mean it’s fresher and cheaper. Freshness being the most important part.
Maybe I’ll think about that next time I go mining.
Thanks for the treat.