The man’s initial surprise gradually morphed into an expression of self-derision. “Dungeon, huh?” he muttered.
I immediately understood how he must’ve been feeling. After all, I’d lived a very similar life to his until relatively recently. Right now, he was thinking that he wouldn’t be of any use anyway.
Not in the literal sense, of course. He was still an adventurer, so he’d get by just fine in the shallow levels of most dungeons out there—but that wasn’t what he’d meant.
“Well, my life belongs to you now, anyway,” he continued. “Guess I’d better give up and take my licks. Being a meat shield shouldn’t be too much for me to handle. Are you sure, though? At the levels you probably work in, guys like us won’t be good for much more than decoys that’ll buy a handful of seconds.”
It seemed my assumption had been right; he thought I’d be using them as fodder to save my own hide. “Again with the pessimism,” I said, shaking my head. “I can see how you’d get that impression, though.”
“You don’t understand anything.”
“Until recently, I was just like... Ah, never mind.”
I stopped myself. I could’ve told him that I’d been just like him not so very long ago, but I knew that would only fall on deaf ears. I remembered hearing all kinds of encouragement and advice from those around me back then, but I’d taken none of it to heart.
No, rather than words of sympathy, I needed to offer him something more practical—like explaining exactly what I’d be having him do.
“I won’t be using you as a meat shield,” I said. “That’d be pointless anyway, like you said.”
“Ouch. I know I was the one who said it first, but it’s not fun hearing that from someone else.”
Yeah, it definitely sucked to be told your efforts were pointless. It was almost like being told your whole existence was pointless, really. The truth hurt sometimes.
“But all you have to do is become useful,” I murmured. “It’s all about that first step...”
“Huh?” The man gave me a dubious look. “What’s that supposed to—”
He was interrupted by the sound of a bell—the door to Diego’s house. Well, Diego’s store, really. The ringing was loud enough to reach us here in his living space; no doubt that was intentional, to let him know when a customer entered.
From the audible footsteps, it was clear that they weren’t trying to be sneaky—and sure enough, a pair of men eventually appeared. One was relatively tall and lanky with a taciturn look to him, while the other was shorter, plumper, and seemingly cheerful. The former’s name was Gahedd, the latter Lukas, and they were the friends of Niedz, my dispirited test subject.
As for how I knew this, it was because they’d explained all of it to me and Diego earlier after they’d woken up. We’d then sent them to do some shopping for us, which was why they were only just getting back now. Speaking of, they were currently in the process of retrieving their purchases—and they’d made quite a lot—from their magic bag and placing them in the corner of the room. Their movements were so well practiced you’d think they’d done this before.
By the way, I was the one who’d lent the magic bag to them. Gahedd and Lukas didn’t own one, and neither did Niedz. That was normal for Bronze-class adventurers. The only reasons I’d had one back when I’d been in their shoes were steady saving, a stroke of good luck, and my own haggling skills.
Naturally, I’d lent them my old magic bag—not the one I’d purchased for several thousand platinum. It was still valuable enough that it might’ve been worth running off with, but all I’d have to do then was go to the authorities, and that’d be the end of it all.
Honestly, I would’ve rather avoided giving it to them at all, but practicality trumped caution here, since they’d been sent out for far more than two people could reasonably carry. Medicine, food, and even weaponry had been on the shopping list.
In the end, the deciding factor had simply been that they seemed the honest sort, deep down—though I supposed it did help that I also had Niedz as a kind of hostage. If they cared about him enough that they’d try to stop him from committing a crime, they probably wouldn’t just abandon him and run for the hills.
Given that they’d returned without a fuss, it seemed my judgment had been correct.
“Boss Rentt!” Lukas was smiling ear to ear. “We bought all the stuff you asked for!”
The man’s features were reminiscent of a particularly plump goblin, but in a way that was oddly endearing. Surprisingly, I’d found out that he had a decent, if spotty, knowledge of medicinal herbs and ingredients. After checking the breadth of his knowledge, I’d tasked him with purchasing several plants that were best examined with a discerning eye.
“Good work,” I said. “Yeah, this looks like everything. This one here, though—looks like you grabbed something that’s slightly lesser quality.” I pointed out one of the potted herbs.
“Huh? What? But...” Lukas seemed flustered. “Look! It’s fresh! You can tell by how the leaves are all taut and springy!”
“This plant only grows in mana-rich soil,” I explained, pinching some of the dirt and rubbing it between my fingers. “And it needs to stay in mana-rich soil to maintain its quality, which is why you also take the earth around it when harvesting. It’s a delicate job. Naturally, you’d want to use that soil when potting it—but this is the regular stuff, see? It does have some mana, but that’s because... Well, take a look.” I rifled around in the dirt and retrieved several tiny fragments of stone, placing them on my palm for Lukas to see.
“Are those...magic crystals?”
“You got it. This plant withers quickly when planted in regular soil, but by crushing a magic crystal and mixing it in, you can keep the leaves looking taut and fresh for around two days. But in reality, the plant’s in a weakened state, making a last-ditch effort to absorb whatever mana it can—hence the healthy appearance. It’s basically empty of nutrients, though, so while it might look like this today, it’ll probably be dead by tomorrow.”
“No way...” Lukas looked shocked.
I patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t let it get to you. It’s one of those things you need a lot of experience to spot. Next time, take a good look at the dirt. You might not be able to tell whether it’s mana-rich or not with the naked eye, but it shouldn’t be too hard to spot any magic crystal fragments.”
The depressed look in Lukas’s eyes quickly became an excited sparkle. “G-Got it, boss!” he said, nodding emphatically. “I’ll do just that!”
Niedz seemed taken aback to see his friend’s excitement. “Lukas...”
Lukas turned, surprised. “Oh, Niedz! You’re up!” he exclaimed, as he walked over. “You had me worried for a moment there. Gahedd and I recovered pretty fast, but you looked like you were sleeping pretty deeply.”
Gahedd finished retrieving the last of their shopping haul from the magic bag and ambled over to join his friends. “Rentt and Diego said you’d wake up soon, but we couldn’t help but worry,” he added. “You look as chipper as I’ve ever seen you, though. It’s good to see.”
“I’m good physically, sure,” Niedz said, with a bitter smile. “But we’ve landed ourselves in one hell of a mess, boys. Way I understand it is, we’re in for some dungeon delving. Isn’t that funny? Even though guys like us wouldn’t even make for a good trio of meat shields.”