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Volume 2 Chapter 30 - End of Joint Request

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For two days starting the next day, Allen and Rebecca went along with Iseria, who needed to continue defeating treants for several days, and they continued to defeat and dismantle treants.

Thanks to Iseria's cooperation, Allen and Rebecca were able to secure enough building materials on the first day that would take them three days to gather, so in order to repay her, Allen planned to minimize the dismantling and join her in defeating treants.

However, Iseria herself refused, saying that defeating as many as they did on the first day was fine, so as a result, Allen ended up continuing his lifestyle of dismantling treants, collecting their magic stones, and making building materials out of them, just like he did on the first day.

Since they only needed to defeat as many as they did on the first day, that was, about half a day’s worth, in one whole day, Allen was able to continue dismantling treants with plenty of leeway without half losing his consciousness like he did on the first day.

In between, Allen cooked meals for the two of them and created simple toys that could be donated to the orphanage, making it quite a fulfilling lifestyle. This was not what one would expect from the life of an adventurer in a dungeon though.

As Allen was sitting on a wood scrap that had been cut to look like a horizontal bench and was shaving the corners of a toy so that it would be rounded so that small children at the orphanage wouldn't get hurt, Rebecca came back with a treant in tow.

“Len-nii, I’m adding more.” (Rebecca)

“Oh, roger. I'll dismantle it once I’m done with this, so just leave it there.” (Allen)

“I got it─.” (Rebecca)

Hearing Rebecca's reply, Allen was about to resume his work, but a shadow had formed in front of him, so he raised his face. There was Rebecca, bent over, looking at Allen's hands with a nostalgic look on her face.

“Len-nii, you really are overprotective. You did the same thing to the wooden blocks we used to use too.” (Rebecca)

“Ah, come to think of it, I did that, didn’t I? You’re talking about those wooden blocks that Nick gave us, right?” (Allen)

“They have different shapes, so it takes some tricks to stack them.” (Rebecca)

“That guy was still an apprentice when we got them after all.” (Allen)

Allen and Rebecca laughed as they talked about this and reminisced fondly.

It had been more than 15 years ago, Nick had just become an apprentice at Brandt Workshop, and he made wooden blocks from scraps for Allen's family.

However, at that time, Nick's skill was only slightly better than an amateur, so the shapes were irregular, their surfaces were frayed, and the corners were still left as is, so there was little consideration for safety.

As expected, since he received it for free, he couldn’t place an order, so he thanked Nick, and painstakingly shaved off the dangerous-looking corners himself. As a result, the balance became even more unbalanced.

“But he's a full-fledged craftsman now. He's married and the father of a child too.” (Allen)

“Len-nii, are you okay with that? About, um... marriage, and children?” (Rebecca)

“Marriage, huh... well, I guess if I had some luck. I’m fine being alone either way. As for children, you guys were like children to me, so I can’t really tell that now. It was a struggle, but when I look back on it now, it was quite fun, and while I was happy that everyone became independent, I also felt lonely, so I wondered if this was how parents felt.” (Allen)

Allen laughed in response to Rebecca, who was unusually reserved, and stroked her head as he answered with his honest feelings.

Certainly, Allen had to grind his body to dust to raise his younger siblings. But it wasn't all suffering. Just like the wooden blocks mentioned earlier, Allen had many fond memories of the time spent with his siblings.

“I see.” (Rebecca)

As Rebecca was stroked on the head by Allen, she laughed softly, and then stood up. Her face had changed into a refreshed one.

Rebecca then looked at the magic bag that was casually placed next to Allen and looked a little troubled.

“But Len-nii, isn’t Iseria-san's magic bag amazing?” (Rebecca)

“Yeah, even with all the building materials I made in the past two days, it still has plenty of room. Makes you wonder how much capacity it has, right?” (Allen)

“Un. It's something a peddler would be envious of. The price is probably not a laughing matter, though.” (Rebecca)

“I know, right? It probably cost more than I can even imagine.” (Allen)

The two of them looked at each other and let out a deep sigh at the same time at the fact that such a valuable item was placed so casually.

It might be good to hear that they were trusted, but both their common sense agreed that the amount of money they were talking about probably needed more trust.

In fact, if one wanted to buy this magic bag, it would cost well over several hundred million zenny, so their perception was not wrong.

“Well, there’s no point in us worrying about it.” (Allen)

“Guess so. But as expected, does Len-nii also admire this?” (Rebecca)

“Are you talking about the magic bag? Well, it's the mark of a first-class adventurer after all. It also makes exploring dungeons easier, and the amount you can take back increases, so the rewards also increase. Just as it's true for peddlers, for adventurers too, a magic bag is the one item they want.” (Allen)

“I see.” (Rebecca)

Seeing Allen say that, Rebecca grinned.

“I have one, though.” (Rebecca)

“I know.” (Allen)

“I won't give it even to you, Len-nii. No way, I won’t do it even if you make that hungry-looking face.” (Rebecca)

“I’m not making that face!” (Allen)

Rebecca tried to hide her own magic bag strapped to her waist as she put some distance from Allen, so he couldn't help but make a tsukkomi at her. Perhaps satisfied with that reaction, Rebecca’s smile widened as she turned around.

“Then I'll go collect some treants.” (Rebecca)

“At least say you'll subjugate or defeat them.” (Allen)

Allen smiled as he replied with those words to Rebecca, who waved her hand in carefree mood as she left, and then he stood up to begin dismantling the treant that Rebecca had brought earlier.

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.

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The day after the three-day investigation ended, the three returned to Lilac City, exchanged words of gratitude and parted ways.

By the way, Iseria's magic bag, which contained a large amount of building materials, was currently in Rebecca's hands. Iseria handed it to her because she thought it would be more convenient that way.

Allen didn't miss the twitch in Rebecca's expression when she handed it to her.

Allen was still relaxed at the time because it wasn’t handed directly to him, but when he heard the place designated as the return address, his cheeks also twitched.

This was because he learned that the return address that was the inn where Iseria resides in this city was the best inn in Lilac, where even the lowest-ranked room costs 100,000 zenny a day.

When he met Iseria as Nella, they basically met up in front of a dungeon, so Allen had no idea where Iseria was staying.

Although the magic bag he received was much larger in value, the fact that he was surprised by the realistic price of the inn spoke volumes about Allen's sense of money.

When Iseria politely said her greeting and left, Allen and Rebecca were half stunned as they saw her off. Then Rebecca let slip a few words.

“I guess that's what they call someone who lives in a different world.” (Rebecca)

“I guess so. If it were me, I'm confident that I'd be happier if I ate delicious food with the money I’d spent staying at an inn.” (Allen)

“No, what kind of confidence is that, Len-nii? Or rather, isn’t the food at that kind of inn top-notch after all?” (Rebecca)

“Isn’t the amount you can eat different?” (Allen)

While having such a whimsical conversation, the two of them continued to see Iseria off until she disappeared, but since they couldn't stay like this forever, each of them began to move.

“Well, now that I've brought Rebecca back to the city safely, I'm heading back to the dungeon. I’m pretty late with the old man’s herb collection request after all.” (Allen)

“Roger. I'll get my own food, so don't worry about me. I have things to do myself anyway.” (Rebecca)

“Ou. Take care of yourself.” (Allen)

“Un, I know.” (Rebecca)

After a short exchange of words, Rebecca saw Allen off as he headed outside the city again. Then she turned around, closed her eyes for a moment, and let out a breath. With just that, her expression changed to that of a merchant.

“Then I guess I'll go too. There's also Ojii-san’s request after all.” (Rebecca)

After muttering that declaration in a small voice, Rebecca started walking. The destination her feet was heading to was the house of the obstinate old man who was the client for the medicinal herb collection request that she and Allen had visited a few days ago.

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