Most adventurers would just go, “Hell yeah, we’re raking it in!” in this situation, and Steve thought that was enough. He knew there was a certain kind of pleasure that came from splurging with a fortune that one had earned from staring in the face of death, though he didn’t understand it too much, as he had no fighting strength of his own.
“Well, yes. But still, is it ‘our own strength’?”
Steve snorted. “Again, thinking too much. Going forward, being recognized by Sol is the ultimate strength, but it was indeed your own strength that caught his eye. You can be proud of it.”
Even the very first round of selection, where God decided whether to give someone the power to fight monsters, was power bestowed by another. Those who weren’t chosen back then were simply now getting the same thing from Sol. Therefore, what they should have been proud of was in putting in the effort to make that strength their own and deciding what they would use it for.
The fact that the Divers worried that they weren’t doing their current strength justice deepened Steve’s confidence in his eye for people. But then again, it wasn’t like he was blindly trusting them. He knew it was possible to completely take away their powers if they went off the rails.
Moreover, the monsters in the dungeons were undoubtedly stronger than those aboveground. It would become even more obvious the deeper the Divers went. This was the whole reason no one had ever fully conquered a dungeon before. In other words, it was all too possible that it was the Divers who ultimately got the short stick. Steve knew for a fact they wouldn’t complain then, as it wasn’t in their character to, but maybe this concern that they were showing had also been inevitable given that same character.
“Recognized by Lord Sol? Who we’ve yet to meet in person?”
“Well, I recognize you, and that’s pretty much the same thing.”
“Oh yeah, you’re part of Libertadores too.”
“A fact that scares the shit outta me, but yeah.”
The Divers’ attitude toward Steve remained unchanged from when he had been just another member of the staff at headquarters, and he clearly didn’t mind. But the number of people who could casually refer to Sol without his title were extremely few. Despite joining that number, Steve still treated them the same and had even recommended them for the Divers. In other words, he trusted them.
“Well, if you’re sure, we really are gonna stop worrying about it. So, you want us to just be ourselves, right? We can do that, easy.”
The only way for an adventurer to pay back trust was with results. In this case, that meant clearing every quest and mission issued by the guild and using the rewards to get even better gear and live it up. In short, to continue doing what they had been doing.
“Yes, please. You don’t want people to say that craftsmen are bigger spenders than adventurers, right?”
“Oh, that’s not even funny.”
The Divers all grinned. They were aware that it wasn’t like them to be staring at their growing pile of money while at a loss for what to do with it. After all, adventurers were the poster children for extravagant spending. The craftsmen who were suddenly in high demand due to the reconstruction were nearly beating them in this regard, and their pride wouldn’t allow it. Since throwing money around technically helped the economy and all that, the Divers now resolved to show the soldiers and craftsmen what real splurging looked like. It wasn’t like they could take their money beyond the grave, and they already lived every day with the awareness that it might be their last. Therefore, they were going to make themselves the easiest game in the entertainment district tonight.
Steve smiled at seeing the adventurers back to their usual selves. “Now that you have gotten strong and can earn all you want, you can indulge in what got you started as adventurers in the first place, whether challenging the unknown or clearing the quests that no one wants to accept while making it look easy.”
For most people, strength was a means, not an end. Now that the Divers had it in spades, they could use it to realize all the dreams they had started out with.
“Speaking of those quests, why don’t you turn them into missions?”
“Well, that just wouldn’t be stylish, would it?”
The guild had all adventurers’ livelihoods in the palm of its hand. When it issued a job as a mission and not a quest, the assigned adventurer had no choice but to take it on, no matter how badly it paid. However, Steve didn’t want to use missions that way. For him, missions were to be used to give adventurers a push—no, a kick—in the back and say, The guild will take full responsibility, so go wild! when adventurers wanted to do something really badly but couldn’t.
“True. Being able to live stylishly at will is a blessing.”
“Glad we agree.”
Strength allowed people to live stylishly—that is, in a way that fulfilled their idea of cool. The posters relegated to a corner of the quest board in Adventurer’s Guild branches and gathering dust all represented clients in trouble who couldn’t afford suitable remuneration. It would be extremely cool, then, for someone to make a dashing appearance, resolve the problem with elegance, and say, “No need to thank me.” Everyone had dreamed of having the strength to do so before, and now the Divers had that strength.
To realize a world where this was possible, Steve did not regret the long hours and days he was spending up to his neck in work...even if he needed a bottle every so often to keep going.
✦ ✦ ✦
The age of Reconquista Oeste was one where everyone lived with passion in their hearts. One where everyone wholeheartedly believed that today would be better than yesterday and tomorrow better than today, and dedicated every waking moment giving it their all. It was a time when everyone made the effort to make their own lives prosperous instead of waiting for handouts. And this was, without doubt, one form of happiness.