It seemed Baltore’s information was not enough to satisfy the girls, and he frowned slightly. Even his vast temper did have its limits, it seemed. However, it seemed this Rex was quite famous in Freelea.
Chisha shook her head in exasperation and said, “Ugh, you guys really were living under a rock, weren’t you? Listen up, Rex is...”
❈❈❈
The stories Chisha and the others told about Rex were hard to believe. Supposedly he’d rescued an adventurer party from Ars before it was conquered. After that he’d dueled a powerful demi-fiend in order to protect that party and slain it despite sustaining grievous wounds. Then he’d trained that same newbie party up to an insane level of strength in just one month, so much so that they’d been able to clear the Rainbow Lava Caverns. Next, with the help of his comrades, he’d slain one of the Demon Lords that had revived. Craziest of all though, he’d apparently defeated Nirva the Invincible Blademaster in a one-on-one duel.
There was no way a single person could accomplish that much in just a few months, unless they were some legendary hero or something. But perhaps the most unbelievable thing about his string of exploits was that he’d accomplished them all in the three months since the goddess’s oracle.
“Are you sure you guys are talking about a real person and not the protagonist of some novel?”
“Of course we are! If you don’t believe us, just check out the Guild training grounds. He shows up there at least once every two days,” Ai said confidently.
It didn’t seem like she was lying to us.
“Ai’s always hanging around the training grounds, so she knows his schedule like the back of her hand. Since she’s got a crush on him and all!” Chisha said with a grin.
“H-Hey, don’t tell these guys that!”
“Aha ha ha!”
We watched on as the two girls fooled around. It was clear from their attitude that they considered Rex an established part of Freelea’s landscape.
“By the way, if you think all of that is impressive you’ll shit bricks when you hear what else he’s done!” Ai said, and my expression stiffened.
“Hang on, there’s more to this Rex guy’s achievements?” I asked.
“The next part is the one that matters the most, at least to us.”
Chisha once again started listing Rex’s accomplishments, and as Ai had predicted, we did indeed shit bricks. Apparently, all of the recent changes in the Guild were thanks to the information Rex had provided everyone. He’d discovered that Arts could be activated by hand, shown everyone that stats could be displayed as numerical values, had proven that everyone had innate growth values for each stat, and had even listed the requirements to class change into any of the classes in the class change temple. Any single one of these discoveries would have been revolutionary, so the fact that one person had found them all was mind-boggling. Rex was also the one who’d started up the equipment rental system in collaboration with the Guild. All of the equipment that was rented out was enchanted equipment that Rex had found, or special equipment that was on Rex’s List.
“So, getting back on topic, what exactly is Rex’s List?”
“That’s not it’s actual name, it’s just what we all call it, but basically...”
It seemed that the information Rex had given the world was wide-ranging, and there were a few pages in a notebook that had a list of uncommon items that initially seemed useless but had important purposes, along with explanations of what they were used for. The most important among them were a number of items that Rex had actually commissioned the Guild to find for him. Two months ago, he’d offered a total reward of 300 million wen to adventurers who could gather him a bunch of equipment that at the time was all considered worthless. At first, everyone had thought he was an idiot. But then his achievements started racking up and his fame began to spread, and soon enough people began to realize those worthless items were actually priceless.
“Anyway, all of the items that were on the list he gave the Guild when he commissioned that request are what we all call Rex’s List. Naturally, all of those pieces of equipment sell for super high prices now, and even 300 million wen wouldn’t be enough to get all the things he got back then.”
“I-I see...”
I felt as though I’d heard about what should have been centuries of progress for mankind happening in the span of a few months. It turned out comparing myself to Urashima from that story had been a more apt analogy than I’d realized. The scary thing was that the entire city of Freelea had progressed so much in this short period of time. It wasn’t just one small enclave somewhere that had become technologically advanced or something.
“Hang on, if that’s the case, then don’t the adventurers Rex commissioned to get him all that equipment for cheap resent him now?”
I knew I’d be pissed if someone bought stuff I thought was worthless off of me for cheap then suddenly made it into a super valuable commodity.
Chisha chuckled and replied, “I mean, yeah, some of them do. But they’re the ones at fault.”
“Huh? Why?”
“’Cause Rex even mentioned in the request that the equipment he was searching for was really valuable. If those adventurers went out and still sold them to Rex for his asking price, then they’re to blame. If they want to complain that they didn’t realize what they were selling was supposed to be valuable, that’s basically like admitting they can’t read. Some of the smarter adventurers actually did realize what was going on and hung on to the items they farmed instead of turning them in for the quest.”
“I-I see.”
It seemed this Rex was quite an honorable fellow. Either that or he was extremely crafty.
“Do you get what kind of person the great Rex is now?”
“Y-Yeah. For the most part anyway, I think.”
Honestly, everything Ai and Chisha had told me sounded so crazy it still didn’t feel real.
Chisha seemed to read my thoughts, as she smiled and said, “Don’t worry. Since we promised to teach you, we’ll stick with you until you actually get it.” She walked up to me before adding, “We’ll take you to a place that’ll teach you stubborn old fossils what the future looks like.”
I felt a shiver run down my spine.
❈❈❈
“Wait, this is just the Guild library!” I shouted as the girls led us back into the Adventurers’ Guild.
A few people turned and gave me sour looks.
“Don’t you know you’re supposed to be quiet in a library?! You really are a barbarian,” Ai whispered furiously to me.
While I didn’t like being called a barbarian, in this case I was definitely the one in the wrong.
“S-Sorry.”
I was just so shocked that after hyping it up so much, the place Chisha had led me to was the library on the second floor of the Adventurers’ Guild. In the past, the only books that could have been found here were old reference materials and adverts no one gave a shit about. Could you blame me for being surprised? Though I had to say, the place was pretty packed right now.
Adventurers typically overwhelmingly preferred going out and getting hands-on experience over book learning. Reading didn’t make you any stronger, after all. Maybe all of the newbies who’d recently joined the Adventurers’ Guild thought reading might actually help them.
I glanced around the room and saw a group of adventurers all huddling over a single book.
God, they look like kids getting all excited over finding their first porn mag.
Although...I had to admit I was curious what kind of book was holding their attention.