Chapter 236: 236 Traps

“Rin! Focus! Start from the right!”

“There are too many of them!”

“You’re slow! You can easily dodge these!”

Rin gripped her sword hilt tightly as she stared at the three wolves snarling in front of her.

The three wolves tried to pounce on Rin, but they couldn’t move properly due to a force resembling transparent spiderwebs clinging to their fur.

Rin grumbled under her breath that Ian’s instructions were easier said than done.

However, it was also somewhat irritating because, looking at it coolly as he said, they weren’t exactly impossible to dodge.

Rin put some distance between herself and the wolves struggling in the webs, then swung her sword down on the one isolated on the far right.

The wolf, which had already been quite wounded during the fight, finally collapsed under Rin’s blade.

“Rin! Look left!”

“…!”

Ian, who was observing the situation from behind, shouted.

When Rin turned her head, two new monsters that had been drawn by the noise of battle emerged from the bushes.

“More, more showed up! Should we run?”

“It’s fine, we can win this.”

Ian calmed Rin down as he identified the two newly joined wolves and checked the remaining HP of the monsters they were already fighting.

To Rin, who had to do the actual fighting, Ian’s mindless insistence that everything was fine felt like an absurd demand…

But based on her experience fighting under his command several times now, the truth was they had always won somehow, making it hard to argue back.

“Use a Paralysis Orb.”

“Uh, let’s see…”

“Not that one, the gray one! Aim for the one on the left.”

“Take this!”

The orb thrown from Rin’s hand hit the monster squarely in the head.

Mist bloomed from the shattered orb, and the two newly arrived monsters froze in their tracks.

Seeing her thrown orb hit its mark, Rin let out a sigh of relief.

These “orbs” were convenient items that activated the magic contained within just by being thrown and broken.

Using them wasn’t much different from throwing a stone, but the problem was the price.

Considering the cost of a single one of these items, Rin couldn’t help but have her hands tremble every time she pulled one out.

Ian said that’s what consumables are for and that it’s okay to miss since mistakes happen in the heat of battle, but…

With Rin’s commoner sensibilities, if she wasted such an expensive item by throwing it in the wrong place, she wouldn’t be able to complain even if the Captain cursed her out all night.

Of course, Ian didn’t seem like the type to do that, but how could she possibly throw something so expensive with a light heart?

“Rin. Take out the first two in forty seconds.”

“…Yes!”

Since the monsters she was originally facing were already covered in wounds, she was able to quickly take them down one by one in the order Ian specified while the newcomers were paralyzed.

The instructions for the orb warned that the duration of paralysis could vary depending on the monster or situation.

However, Ian timed the remaining duration as if he could actually see how much effect was left, giving Rin precise priorities.

“Phew…”

Rin, who had truly defeated all the monsters by herself, slumped to the ground.

She had been on several missions since joining the mercenary group, but she just couldn’t get used to this kind of combat.

Even if the result was successful, these battles were far too chilling for a rookie mercenary who, until recently, had been proud of fighting a single goblin one-on-one.

The mercenary group still only had two members.

Since the Captain, Ian, didn’t participate in combat except when it was truly dangerous, Rin was essentially facing the monsters alone.

Rin worried about whether she could really pull it off, but…

Thanks to Ian unhesitatingly using consumables so expensive they made her jaw drop, Rin’s battles were so smooth it almost felt wrong.

She wondered if this was the power of magic items.

Just as Ian said they would be useful, they were expensive, but they truly lived up to their price.

While Rin took a short break, Ian, who had collected the wolf fangs required for the mission, sat down beside her.

Rin, who hadn’t had the peace of mind to speak earlier while frantically fighting monsters, asked Ian belatedly.

“Um, Captain. Are we not using the trap we dug yesterday?”

“We don’t need to go that far.”

“…”

Rin spoke while recalling the trap in the forest they had struggled all day yesterday to complete.

If they had lured the wolves into that trap, they could have caught them easily without needing to fight like this.

“It would have been much easier if we’d lured them that way.”

This mission had two objectives:

Set a trap in the wolf habitat,

And hunt the wolves.

They even received the installation costs and necessary tools for the trap.

To use Ian’s expression, it was a “guide mission” meant to introduce the “trap” object. Among E-rank beginner missions, there were often tasks designed to let mercenaries utilize such installations directly.

“If we weren’t going to use it, why did we make it?”

“Making it was the request. We were paid for the installation too. Not making it would be embezzlement of the request funds.”

“No, I mean… if we used the trap, we wouldn’t have had to use the orbs, right? Those are so expensive…”

“We can save the trap for when we need it later.”

If you looked closely at the mission, they had to set the trap, but there was no condition saying they had to use it to catch the wolves.

As long as the trap was made, the mission was a success regardless of how the wolves were caught.

In this case, the unused trap would remain right where it was installed.

Traps were bothersome and took time to set up, but they were highly effective and lasted a long time.

Not just Ian, but most players who had played through a few times naturally realized the most efficient way to use traps.

When they found a trap for free through a mission or one abandoned in the field, they would save it for later instead of wasting it on trash mobs.

…Of course, most of those saved traps ended up being forgotten and abandoned anyway.

Rin looked as if she couldn’t understand the idea of using the trap “later” at all.

She felt she could slightly understand why the village elder back home hated nobles, claiming they were stubborn and knew nothing.

* * *

After returning from the mission and settling up at the guild, Ian pointed toward a shop that was still open and said to Rin.

“Let’s stop by the shop for a bit.”

The shopkeeper had been running out to greet them the moment he spotted Ian from afar.

Every time they returned from a mission like this, Ian immediately replenished the items they had used without fail.

Thanks to that, Rin, following Ian around, could see exactly how much in consumables they had spent on today’s mission.

“…Um, Captain?”

Rin didn’t want to interfere in the management of the mercenary group for fear of appearing impertinent, but she could no longer hold back her curiosity.

It had been a short time, but having lived together, she felt he wasn’t the type to get angry over a question like this, so she asked cautiously.

“I’m receiving my pay properly, but…”

It wasn’t that Rin knew much about financial management, but she could at least feel that the current balance didn’t add up.

Ian was leaving only the minimum operating costs, such as wages and living expenses, and reinvesting everything else. Even his own share.

“Aren’t you making no profit at all, Captain?”

Weren’t mercenary groups… ultimately there to make money?

All mercenaries came to this city for gold.

Among them, those who became mercenary captains were the ones who wanted to earn much more money than a regular mercenary.

Without such a reward, who would take on the hassle and responsibility of managing a mercenary group?

In that sense, Ian’s management style of leaving nothing for his own share was incomprehensible.

“It’s fine. Now is not the time for money to be important.”

As soon as the reward came in, Ian was buying items necessary for combat, leaving only the essential amount.

If there was even a little left over, Ian would fill the gap by buying a new kind of item.

The funds were always scraping the bottom, but in a game about nurturing characters, money was also part of the growth resources.

How efficiently and thoroughly one spent their money determined the player’s skill.

The result was…

[Rin] (Lv. 8)

Almost Level 10.

Because he had specifically sought out opponents slightly higher level than Rin but vulnerable to orb effects, Rin’s growth speed was among the top for E-rank.

Usually, mercenaries grew significantly every 10 levels, gaining several new traits, so if she reached Level 10 like this, the mercenary group could aim for a D-rank promotion.

“The rewards we get for E-rank missions right now are on the lower side.”

“I-is that so?”

From Rin’s perspective, the rewards they were getting now at E-rank were already a huge amount of money.

Compared to the pocket money she earned doing things like sewing in her village, it was shocking.

…Of course, the cost of living in this city was just as murderous, but either way, thanks to the generous pay, Rin had become comfortable enough to buy snacks while paying amounts that would have made her faint in the past.

From Rin’s point of view, the financial sense Ian was talking about was in a realm she couldn’t understand at all.

“Once we hit D-rank, we’ll get several times more than now.”

“Several times?!”

“Think about it, Rin. Isn’t it much more profitable to promote as quickly as possible and do more D-rank missions than to do E-rank missions while trying to save money?”

Rin looked as if she almost understood, yet didn’t.

Even if she did understand, it wouldn’t have lasted long.

Because even when they reached D-rank, she would be met with the same logic that it’s more profitable to reach C-rank quickly.

“Let’s head back for today.”

“Yes… Oh! Let’s buy those on the way! I’ll buy one for you too, Captain!”

Rin’s eyes were fixed on the grilled skewers at a street stall, and she tugged on Ian’s sleeve.

It was dusk, the time when hungry mercenaries returning from missions crowded the streets.

It was a wicked trap set by merchants that Rin could never pass without getting caught.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep