I held out a hand to stop him. From their perspective, we certainly were old, considering they were twelve or thirteen at most. Plus, even though we were A-rank adventurers, we weren’t famous the way Veteram was.
Also, though I didn’t want to admit it, I knew we looked pretty scary. Anna from the bar had said I looked rugged and cool, but I didn’t expect little girls to share that sentiment. The Pretty Cats had every reason to be wary of us based on first impressions, so I didn’t want to make things any worse.
“No, no, that’s not it. Umm, miss...”
I plastered on my best smile, but that only made the girls even warier of me. They huddled closer together and glared at me.
Why, I’m trying to be polite here!
Unable to bear watching us flounder any longer, Baltore stepped forward and explained, “Trust me, that’s not why we’re here. It’s just that we recognize that equipment that you rented, so we thought we’d warn you.”
This was why he was the talker of the party. Upon hearing what he said, the girls let go of each other and relaxed slightly.
Baltore nodded his head to me and I picked up from where he left off.
“Look, I dunno what the guys at the Guild told you, but that equipment’s garbage.”
The girls gave me a confused look. However, what I’d told them was the unvarnished truth. When they’d come out of the Guild room carrying their equipment we’d been surprised not because it was powerful but rather because it was so garbage we’d been left speechless.
Did Old Man Eld send us here because he wanted us to take a look at what was going on? I wondered.
Though we’d butted heads with the Adventurers’ Guild a few times in the past, we still trusted them a decent amount. But if they were renting out equipment this shitty, it made me wonder if the Guild’s new management was trying to prey on newbies or something.
It’s not really my style to tell people what to do, but I might need to knock some sense into Veteram.
It was the least we could do for the city of Freelea. True, we’d abandoned it to go exploring the unknown, but we still felt some attachment to our old roost.
“Huh? What do you mean it’s garbage?!”
Naturally, the girls didn’t believe us immediately. I met the leader’s gaze, noting her sharp scowl. “Sorry, let me explain from the beginning.” I pointed to the gauntlet the strong-willed girl to the right of the leader was cradling so preciously. “That gauntlet may look novel and shiny, but it’s made of basic bronze. In fact, it’s worse than the steel equipment you have on you right now.”
You could get a decent idea of how strong equipment was based on the material used to craft it. Bronze was the weakest metal, iron was stronger than bronze, steel was stronger than iron, mythril was stronger than steel, and orichalcum was stronger than mythril. To give you an idea of how weak it was, bronze equipment was so shitty even beginners didn’t use it. Stores didn’t even stock bronze equipment because there was no point. The only way most people got their hands on it was from low-tier dungeon drops. The main use for bronze equipment was more senior adventurers scamming newbies who didn’t know any better. Embarrassing though it was to admit, I myself had fallen to prey to one such scam when I’d been starting out.
“U-Uh-huh...”
The girls looked taken aback by what I’d said. Encouraged, I next pointed to the equipment the girl to the left of the leader was holding.
“Let me tell you about that ring. It’s called the Pretty Ring. It doesn’t do anything when equipped. All it’s good for is selling to shops for an okay price.”
At this point, the girls were speechless. Though it hurt my conscience a little to dash their hopes, this was for their own good.
“Finally, we have the last thing you borrowed.”
I pointed to the wristband the leader—who had her hair up in pigtails—was holding.
“That wristband is even worse than bronze equipment. It actually makes you weaker when you equip it.”
I recognized the wristband since it occasionally dropped in beginner dungeons, and for some reason it dropped with even more frequency in mid-tier dungeons. Though it was a trap item that lowered your stats, it could at least be sold for a decent amount. Whenever one of them dropped, I’d throw it in my Inventory and sell them in bulk next time I stopped by a city. I hadn’t done that yet this time around because our return to Freelea had been so hectic from the get-go.
Man, you never know what experiences might come in handy in the future.
I took a wristband out of my Inventory that looked just like the girl’s, as well as another trap item that I happened to have on hand.
“As you can see, we’ve picked up a few similar items during our own dungeon dives. I promise you the only use for these things is to sell them. Trust me, you guys should give this crappy equipment back to the Guild and...” I trailed off, noticing that the girls had exchanged glances and were now grinning at us like they’d found a fun new toy to play with. “Wh-What is it?” I asked, surprised by the sudden change.
These girls might be young enough to be our daughters, but the predatory look they gave us scared me a little still.
“Sorry, give us a sec to talk this out!” the leader said, holding up a hand to stall me. She then took her comrades off to a corner of the street and they started whispering to each other. But of course as a Scout, my ears were sharp enough to pick up at least half of what they were saying.
“Yikes! That’s just mean, Chisha!”
“Oh come on, everyone does it! It’s fine!”
“In that case, how about we...”
Even if I could hear the words though, I had no idea what they were talking about.
I really don’t get kids these days.
Granted I’d been bad at figuring out what girls were thinking even when I’d been younger. Now that I was a geezer it was even harder to understand young girls. And frankly I didn’t care enough to try.
“All right we’re back, old timers!” the girls suddenly said, running back.
“O-Okay...”
They were still smiling at us, but there was something about those smiles that unnerved me.
The leader stepped forward and asked, “You guys just got to this city recently, right?”
“Actually, I...” I’d been adventuring in this city since before this girl had been born. But I suspected that wasn’t quite what the girl was asking about. “Yeah, you could say that I guess,” I replied with a nod.
“I knew it!” the strong-willed girl, who I believed was called Ai, snickered.
Meanwhile, the most mature of the trio looked up at us and said, “In that case, we have a suggestion. If you old ti—I mean, fine gentlemen—don’t need that ‘crappy equipment,’ how about you give it to us?”
“Huh? I mean, yeah, it doesn’t sell for much, but still...”
I was surprised by the sudden question, but held my ground in the end. The girls’ “suggestion” was basically asking us to give them stuff for free. Sure, these trap items didn’t sell for much, but they were still worth some money.
Before I could actually refuse though, the girl added, “Of course, we won’t ask you to give them to us for free.” She held my gaze, and I found myself unable to look away. “In return, we’ll give you a special lecture on how to adventure efficiently!”
“Huh?”