Partnership

I'm sorry for the late release. My midterms started and I barely have time to write. So for the next 2 weeks, I won't be able to release chapters as usual. Sorry for those who are invested in the story.

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"I've been meaning to ask, what's up with your crossbows?" Cassian inquired to the supporters.

All three of them were carrying a crossbow. Arren and Robin have smaller crossbows, that could be wielded with one hand, while Durlin had a heavier, two-handed crossbow. What intrigued Cassian was that the crossbows packed a lot more punch than he expected. They could even pierce and kill silverbacks, although they struggled against the hard armored and crystal mantises.

"Ah, these little beauties. They're not regular crossbows, they're bowguns." Durlin answered.

"Bowguns?" Cassian's eyebrows rose in confusion.

He knew that guns existed in this world, more primitive than the ones from his previous world, but that's because they never had a reason to develop much. This world's greatest powers were held by monsters, and their mortal equivalents, the adventurers. And even modern guns would be utterly useless against the vast majority of monsters. A silverback has skin durable enough to shatter a steel dagger on contact. Most handheld guns's bullets would simply bounce off of its skin. And a silverback is only a high-level 1 monster.

Therefore, mortals never had the incentive they did back home, to develop them. Thus, guns were mostly novelty weapons utilized in places where the presence of gods and adventurers was thin.

Adventurers did use bows and they were effective, but that's because the force a bow could produce scaled with the adventurers because it depended on their own physical strength. Theoretically, as long as the materials used were tough enough, there was no limit on how much power a bow could yield, as it depended on its draw weight and the adventurer's ability to harness it.

Guns were dependent on other factors, so their power was hard to raise. Cassian imagined that crossbows would be the same, but apparently not. Plus, no matter how he looked, they looked like ordinary crossbows. When a bowgun was mentioned, his mind jumped to Monster Hunter bowguns, but apparently, the design resembled an ordinary crossbow here.

"Yes, the Goibniu familia specializes in their production. They look like ordinary crossbows, but they're not. The Goibniu familia craftsmen use special materials from the dungeon to increase the performance of their crossbows by a great amount, and allow them the power to punch through the dungeon monsters." Arren explained.

Then Durlin took over while caressing his bowgun. "And these bowguns are even more special than them. A few of the Goibniu familia members are capable of making these. They use magic stones to enhance the yield even further, as they utilize the magical energy in them to boost the kinetic energy in the fired bolts."

"That's… impressive, and interesting. How effective can they be? What's their upper limit?" Cassian was intrigued by the possibility of adding a useful secondary, ranged weapon to his arsenal.

"Level 2 or 3 if sufficiently high-tier materials are used. That's the best bowguns that have been produced." Robin chimed in.

"Can you tell me who I can contact for one if I'm interested?" Cassian asked. 'Level 2 or 3 is pretty good at the moment. It would certainly provide me with more options in combat.'

"The ones we have were made by a girl named Marco Powell. She's the daughter of a friend of Durlin's. I'm sure he can put in a word or two for you, right Durlin?" She asked with a teasing tone and smile. Seems she enjoyed messing with the dwarf.

"Bah, fine! But only because you're earning us this much money!" Durlin grumbled.

"That would be helpful, thank you."

"Heh, didn't know you prickly elves knew how to say thank you."

"And I didn't know that beardless dwarves existed."

"Will you knock that off already?! I shave, okay?! I can grow a beard just fine! My beard is just shaved!"

"Uh-huh, whatever you say cleancheeks." The chorus of laughter, made Durlin go even redder.

--- The Guild ---

"70,000 Valis! Holy shit! This is more than I've made in a month!" Robin exclaimed as she weighed the money pouch she was given.

The total earnings of today were 1.4 million valis, so the supporters got 70,000 each.

The supporters' average payout per day ranged from 1,000 to 5,000, if the party they accompanied was especially skilled. This was taken from the 5% share of the final profits. A good amount for a normal citizen, considering a street stall employee would be making 300 valis if they worked 10 hours per day. However, a big portion of that money went back into investing in their job to sustain it.

Maintenance, repairs, possible potions, or items they consumed. At the end of the day, most supporters walked away with scraps, which then went to rent, food, debts, and so on. Most supporters were broke for a reason. And that's if the adventurers they worked with, were decent professionals. Some of the supporters who had to work in shady circles or were just less lucky, could be completely screwed over and be denied their share at all.

That's what separated the lower dregs who only go into the dungeon, because that's all they're good for, from actual professionals. The stupid adventurers who screwed with their supporters might gain an extra couple thousand valis, but at the cost of their reputation going down the drain. As a result, no supporters, except the desperate ones, would work with them in the future. However, those kinds rarely lasted for long.

Regardless, a payout of 70,000 valis was enormous. Almost thrice the amount of an average level one party. For supporters, this was an incredible gain.

"Finally, I'll be able to have proper ale for a drink, instead of the usual horse piss!" Durlin was jubilant and so was Arren, though he kept it cool.

"I'm assuming all of you are satisfied with your cooperation?" Rose, who handled the conversion and division, asked them. Though she already had an answer to it, and this was just a formality.

"More than satisfied. If this is the norm of this party, then I can speak for all of us, that we'll be happy to continue this contract. What do you say, Cassian?" Arren spoke up.

"The three of you have more than proven your worth. Our earnings almost doubled thanks to you and we still haven't gone to the end of the middle floors. I'm hoping we can keep the team up in the future."

"Double your earnings, huh? I must say, you guys are pretty damn lucky. The amount of drop items we got was beyond any other party we've worked with." Robin spoke with an amused tone. She certainly wasn't exaggerating. The frequency of a drop item appearing today was more than twice the usual amount. It was ridiculous. Sticking with this trio was the best choice. If Durlin did something stupid to sabotage it, she'd beat him half to death herself.

'That's the luck perk at work.' Nico smirked. That one was easily one of their best boons.

"It's a deal then. See you tomorrow?"

"Yes, same time."

With that, the supporter trio went home.

"You two go ahead and head back. I've got something to speak about with Rose." Cassian addressed the two.

"Are you sure?"

"It's nothing to worry about, Nico, just something I'm curious about." It was clear Nico didn't fully believe him, but nodded his head and went away with Leo.

"You had something to speak with me about?"

"Yes, can you tell me all you know about Eos Familia?"

Rose narrowed her eyes. "I'm not exactly supposed to reveal… sensitive information regarding another familia or adventurers. Any particular reason for you asking this?"

"If there was someone willing to screw Eos over that much, they may not be happy about this and try something in the future. Not guaranteed, but I rather got the impression that deities can be quite vindictive. I like to cover all my bases."

--- Main Road ---

Cassian was done with his discussion with Rose and was now making his way back to the Styx Manor. Hecate should have already moved everything they possessed there and booked out at the inn.

He was deep in thought when he heard someone calling out to him.

"Hey, Cassiaaan!" Looking up he saw an unexpected person running over to him. Though, after looking around he saw the Hostess of Fertility down the road. In hindsight, he should have expected this. The main road leading to his new home, passed by the Hostess, so he'd most likely be passing this place every day.

"Hey, Syr, sorry I was lost in thought and couldn't hear you."

"Jeez, I've been calling you for a while. I thought you were ignoring me!" She pouted cutely.

"Sorry about that." Cassian chuckled. Freya wasn't so bad when she was like this, he thought.

"It's okay, as long as you don't ignore me, mister!" She waved her finger in a mock threat, though Cassian wasn't sure how much of that was a joke considering her… temperament. "Anyway, what are you doing?"

"I was heading back home after a dungeon dive."

"Oh, to the inn you guys stayed at? And where's Leo and Nico?"

'I never told her we were staying at an inn.' Cassian smirked at her slip-up and then answered her. "No, we moved actually. We couldn't stay at an inn forever, so we purchased a place. The two went ahead before me. I had something to take care of."

"You bought a place already?! That's amazing! Most new adventurers have to stay at rented places for a while unless they join an already well-established familia."

"Thanks, we get by."

"Oh, come in the Hostess then to celebrate then!" With that, she grabbed his hand and started leading him inside.

"You do know that elves are usually reserved about touching with others?"

"O-Oh, I-I'm not… I-I'm sorry, I got ahead of myself." She stuttered despondently and lowered her head as she let go of his hand.

Cassian snorted and patted her head. "Don't worry, I wasn't telling you off, just a friendly reminder."

He watched as Syr's face burst into flames and became as red as a tomato, as she started stuttering more.

'Cute.'

"Weren't you taking me to the Hostess?" Cassian was hungry, so he might as well eat good food.

"Y-Yes! Follow me!" She exclaimed a bit too loudly and ran off towards the door, as Cassian watched her, amused.

Walking inside, a familiar sight of a lively bar filled with activity and cheer greeted him.

"Over here!" Looking over, he saw a somewhat recovered Syr pointing at a bar seat for him to take.

Obliging her, he walked towards it, as he felt the eyes of all the waitresses on him. They were extremely interested in exactly who managed to reduce their usually confident Syr to this state. In particular, he could feel the sharp eyes of a certain elf.

Taking a seat, he suddenly found himself face-to-face with a truly gigantic dwarf. He wondered how one could get to this height.

"So, you're the brat responsible for Syr becoming a bumbling fool and screwing up the orders all the time." The dwarf bore down on him with a glare. Cassian felt his back break out in cold sweat from the pressure the retired level 6 was outputting but managed to keep a straight face, which seemed to surprise her if her slightly raised eyebrows were any indication.

"MAMA!" Syr screamed out of embarrassment, going red once more and closing her eyes.

"Tch, fine, fine, but you mister will eat till you burst here tonight. Got it?" She glared down at Cassian once more, but this time with a menacing smile.

"Heh, I welcome the challenge. Give me your best juice as well."

"Oh, too much of a pansy to have a real drink, elf?"

"Nah, they're all weak and can't get me drunk anyway, so why waste money on them-" His sentence was cut off by the sound of a wooden cup being smashed between Mia's hands.

"Is that so…?" Her face had a fake, irritated smile now.

'Ah, crap. Should've kept my mouth shut.'