"Master, you should have seen the look on their faces!" Fudge said, telling the story to Michael about how the HammerStone group was completely caught off guard by the current events. "Tell it to Master, Narito and Sasuki."
The former Orcanine and Orcupine Chieftain ascended from the shadows and showed themselves to Michael.
Fudge took it upon himself to name the two dignified Chieftains as Narito and Sasuki, which was extremely similar to the anime characters in his previous life.
The Orcs didn't mind it at all and embraced their new name. After all, they had no name back when they were unevolved. They simply referred to each other through the unique sound they produced from their bodies; the Orcanines slapped their thighs, and the Orcanines strummed their quills.
"Butch, the leader of the HammerStone group, had his people investigate the cause and found our Armory," reported Narito, the Orcanine chief.
"Ahem… you were leaving a lot of stuff out," said Sasuki, the Orcupine chief, with a competitive spite. "He already sent out a messenger to deliver the news back to Angora City. I had my subordinates follow their shadows and find out more."
"I wasn't done talking," Narito grunted. "I was just about to report that to our boss. Why do you always undermine me?"
"I wasn't. I was making sure that our boss got the truth. It is simply your pride thinking that."
"You!"
Michael had to appease the two from bickering any further. "So, what did the HammerStone company do?"
"Hehe, they're planning on competing with us by allowing their customers to buy their acid-proof leggings again! Ha! They tried to keep it for themselves, but seeing as everyone is buying leggings from us, they quickly changed their tactics."
Fudge was quite proud of what the Reborn Armory was able to do.
"According to our ninja Orcs, they are also planning on establishing a temporary armory in the jungle. They are building it now as we speak," Narito said.
True enough, a couple of days later, Michael took a look for himself and saw a makeshift wooden cabin on the opposite side of the Reborn Armory. It had the insignia of the HammerStone company, manned by their employees.
It was shabby and devoid of any decorations due to how rushed they had to build it, but it did its job. It displayed all the available HammerStone armor and weapon sets anyone can purchase.
However, they found that business was a little bit slower than they were expecting.
No one was buying from their stall.
This was all because the adventurers had gotten used to buying and using Reborn products. In short, they were too late.
Not only that, but their quality was a little bit lesser than that of the Reborn Armory while still being a lot more expensive.
Butch, the bald leader of the HammerStone adventurers who wore the fiery red armor set, had to lower the prices a lot to compete with the Reborn Armory.
They slashed it by about 40%, making it cheaper than the Reborn products.
This led them to finally gain customers.
As the exploration in the tomb progressed further and further, the traps and dangers increased, leading to more wrecked armor needing to be replaced. Conversely, the treasures found within became even more and more valuable, which tempted more explorers despite the increased risk.
This led to a boom in new adventurers coming in from different territories, who all needed proper equipment to brave the tomb.
Due to this, the make-shift HammerStone armory store found a problem.
Their supply wasn't keeping up with the demand.
Their wares would get sold out not even a day after they resupplied.
Normally, this would be a cause for celebration for them. However, this meant that they were losing out on a lot of customers willing to spend all their gold coins in this campaign.
All those disappointed people who left their armory empty-handed went over to the opposite side of the tomb, to their competitor, the Reborn Armory.
And somehow, that company never experienced this kind of problem at all.
They were always filled with supplies despite having 20 adventurers buying acid-proof leggings every day!
"Where did this company come from? They resupply their products too fast!"
The HammerStone adventurers looked over the map of the Queens region and found no city anywhere near the tomb. The closest was Angora City.
"Maybe they come from this place, Orcus Town," someone said, pointing at the edge of the Queens region.
"I heard that place is a ghost town. Ruined beyond repair."
"And even if they are from there, it will take at least a week to resupply their wares. They must be super close to be able to refresh their stock so fast."
Butch had to calm his subordinates down.
"This is fine," he said to them in a commanding voice. "We are not here to sell armor and weapons. We are here to explore the tomb in its entirety. Our bosses need us to be the first ones to complete the tomb so that our company gets published in the newspapers. If we do, we can finally break through and achieve that 494th spot."
…
…
…
Nearly a month after the acid incident, the tomb had now been explored by about 90%.
There were a couple of fortunate adventurers who discovered a hidden treasure room, but no gemstone or gold bars could compare to the ultimate prize at the end of the final door to the tomb.
This was when the Order of the Heavenly Knights finally sent in their own group of adventurers.
Everyone in camp was awoken by the sound of CLINKING and CLANKING as ten or so full-armored Knights came into the entrance of the cave.
"Woah…they sent in no Squires. This is serious."
"That means they are all 4-star fighters at the minimum…"
"Look! That's Sir Jon! He's a 5-star Knight!"
This signaled to the adventurers that the campaign for the tomb was nearing its closure.
Now that the Knights had appeared, they were sure to complete the exploration of the tomb by tomorrow at the latest. If anyone wanted to join the campaign, then this would be the last chance they would get.
So, a lot of adventures gathered at the mouth of the cave, just behind the Knights led by Sir Jon.
Of course, most of these adventurers knew that they would probably not get anything valuable from the main treasure room. After all, they were competing with the Knights as well as the HammerStone group, who held their own against the best.
"Who do you think will be the eventual winner?"
"I'm betting on Sir Jon. He's a Knight!"
"Here you are again being a mega-fan of the Order. I think it's going to be the HammerStone company. Did you know that their leader Butch has a secret weapon?.... I heard that his gauntlets have a small piece of Mithril relic embedded inside!"
"Please! It's not all about strength, you know. The tomb could still have some tricks and traps up its sleeve. I think that the 4-star Infernal Adventurers or the 3-star Bears Group will have the best shot at getting to the treasure room. They have the most experience with this sort of stuff."
While most of these adventures were debating with each other, a completely unfamiliar group arrived from the back made up of one eleven-year-old child and four Dragon-like individuals.