𝗏xt.𝗇t
“Mam, are you sure that you want to focus on the second floor today? It’s not going to be easy clearing it at the moment. All the surviving bloodfury rabbits have grouped up densely rather than being more spread out than they were before. We would need to face hundreds, if not thousands, of bloodfury rabbits mam!”
There were several Martial Squires in a room listening to a conversation between their manager and their leader.
“It’s a more attractive prospect than going down deeper floors at the moment,” The red-haired woman calmly replied. “Floors become exceedingly harder to clear for adventurer parties when most of the floor is already cleared, that is why everyone is avoiding the second floor and going straight down to the tenth floor, correct?”
“Yes!” The grey-haired man whined, readjusting his spectacles. “There are more monsters herded together for less loot and plunder. It makes sense to go to deeper floors, that’s what every adventurer party is doing!”
“It’s because that is what every adventurer party and every individual adventurer is doing that makes it clearly the universally recognized superior option!” The man desperately explained.
“That is only true if you’re trying to earn more money,” She replied, unfazed by his vigor. “There is far greater competition in the deeper floors because no one is interested in defeating thousands of bloodfury rabbits to gain access to less plunder than you would gain access to if you only defeated a hundred monsters in the lower floors. If we go to floors nine, ten, or eleven; the three frontier floors, then we would also have to compete with other adventurers and adventurer parties!”
“With your caliber as an S-rank adventurer, you should have no problem!” The man insisted.
“Enough.”
The air grew chill as she expressed a portion of her mental pressure in response to his constant nagging.
The man shivered as he straightened up, lowering his head reflexively, yet he managed to retain his voice. “S-Squire Fren, I am the liaising representative of Ridlen Mercurite Co. Your patron. Desist from engaging in this mental suppression. Our patron will be displeased to hear that you’re not going to be pursuing avenues of greater yield.”
Fren narrowed her eyes as she stared at him. Unfortunately, despite being a disgusting little worm in her eyes, he was right. The significant patronage that she had received from the Ridlen Mercurite Corporation was not something that she could simply ignore entirely.
“There are also other reasons why I wish to pursue the second floor of the Shionel Dungeon,” She continued. “First, the floor has not yet been cleared. Any adventurer or party that successfully clears the floor will gain a significant amount of prestige and esteem, which will naturally funnel to our patron, given how exceedingly explicit his patronage of our party Saberstrike is. If we succeed clearing the floor, then it would be of benefit to Lord Ridlen.”
She pointed to several places on her Martial attire that bore the trademark of the Ridlen Mercurite Corporation. It was definitely the case that any attention directed to them would inevitably attention directed to the Ridlen Corporation.
“Thirdly, I am a veteran beast hunter Martial Artist,” She said with pride. “Our entire Saberstrike party is comprised of experts who have experience against beasts and monsters. Thus we will simply perform better and mitigate risks. Entering a dungeon is not a picnic, after all. I have plenty of sound reasons to go for the decision that I have chosen to go for. Please inform the president of the Ridlen Mercurite Corporation of that.”
“Understood, Squire,” The man bowed and readjusted his spectacles before leaving abruptly.
“Haaaah…” The spectating Martial Squires broke their silence.
“Tsk, why are they getting all up in our business?” A gargantuan man with brown hair tutted. “We don’t tell them how to run a corporation, and they should stop telling us what to do after we enter a dungeon!”
“That arrogant man dares try to order us just because he gave us money and resources, I ought to kill him right now,” A purple-haired woman coldly remarked.
“Calm down, Darbun, Seli,” Fren replied, not losing her composure. “It’s the way things work here, things do not work here as they do in our homeland the Republic of Gorteau. Money is the heaviest currency in this nation, and we knew that before we came here. But to think that they would be this bold is a little out of my expectations.”
“Whatever it is, we managed to get our way this time, but it probably will be the last unless…” Another dark-haired Martial Squire remarked, drawing everybody’s attention before continuing. “Unless we succeed in our claims and clear the second floor of the dungeon.”
“Fuuu…” She narrowed her eyes, as she steeled her will. “We will.
The remaining Martial Squires shuddered as their hair stood up on end as a tsunami of pressure crashed into them.
None of them were particularly weak, in fact, they were all A-rank adventurers in the Shionel Confederation according to the Shionel Merchant Guild.
But the might of an S-rank adventurer, a grade-ten Martial Squire, exceeded even theirs.
“We will crush all those disgusting rabbits, and claim the glory that comes with clearing the dungeon,” She sternly declared. “Failure, will not be tolerated. That goes for all of you as well as myself equally. That goes for us.”
The four members of her Saberstrike Party nodded solemnly.
“If we’re successful enough…” She continued. “We can break away from this patronage and obtain success going solo. That is my ultimate goal.”
She gestured at the contract on the paper. “If we’re able to hit pinnacle success without any patronage, then that is worth pursuing. At the very least we won’t need to give squirming weakling like that man the time of the day.”
That alone was worth pursuing this option for!
The other reasons she provided were definitely true, but aiming for their current level of prestige and success without patronage was the greatest incentive.