kscans

Chapter 4 - The Auction and the Mercenary Guild

Hayato arrived at the town closest to his headquarters.

The town's name was "Grandbell."

It wasn't a large town, but it had a full range of facilities, which Hayato found very useful.

It was rather remote, so there were few players. Most players lived and adventured near the large cities known as the Royal Capital or the Imperial Capital. There was likely no reason to come this far unless they had specific business.

Hayato had wanted to build his house near a town with more players, but at present, there was no such land available.

My old Clan's headquarters was in a good location. I don't know if they would have given it to me, but it might have been better to have asked for the Clan headquarters. I was the one who built it, after all. Oh well, it's too late now.

The place where Hayato's former Clan headquarters stood was right next to the Royal Capital, along a road that players often used.

Since the shop sales system had a product search function, players could find out about products and prices from anywhere. And they could teleport, so it didn't really matter where the shop was located. But customers who just happened to browse the storefront also contributed to sales.

The location where Hayato had built his log house this time was remote. He had resigned himself to the fact that only players coming for a specific product would visit.

They'll come by teleport, so it won't be much trouble for them, but some people might find even that a bother and just buy from a closer place. Like a convenience store. I've lowered my prices by about ten percent from the market rate, but will they come? A production player is nothing without money, so I need to earn even a little. But I feel like I'm stuck in a lot of ways... Maybe I should get a job after all. No, I don't want to work.

With such thoughts, Hayato walked through the town. And he arrived at his intended facility.

This was a facility where he could use the auction system.

The building looked like a small coliseum. It was circular, with nothing but reception windows at regular intervals. Each of these windows served as a point to handle auction procedures.

Sellers would set an item, a minimum price, and a maximum price. They would also specify a time. While 24 hours was often chosen, it could be set for up to 72 hours. So, a maximum of three days.

When the specified time passed, the player with the highest bid would win the auction. However, if a player paid the maximum price set by the seller, they would win the auction immediately without waiting for the time to expire.

If there are no bids at an auction, you just get charged the commission fee, so the maximum price is usually set at a level that guarantees a sale. I'll check here before I check the shops.

Hayato moved to one of the reception windows.

He displayed the auction menu and searched for Dragon Bone-in Meat.

Minimum of ten thousand, buyout at twenty-five thousand, huh... That's expensive. It's an ingredient for Dragon Steak, so I suppose that's to be expected. It's a good thing the same player has several listed at the same price.

In this game, food dishes provided some sort of temporary positive effect. While some, like coffee, had no effect, most worked to the player's advantage.

Meat dishes were favored by warrior-type players as they increased attack power. Among them, Dragon Steak boasted an exceptional increase rate. It was even said that being able to prepare it for a Clan War could change the odds of victory.

Dragon Bone-in Meat, being an ingredient for such a dish, was quite expensive, partly due to the difficulty of obtaining it.

My old Clan members could defeat a dragon, but now it's just me, so there's no way I can win. I could ask for help, but they're probably busy preparing for their own Clan War... I guess I have no choice but to solve this with money.

Hayato decided to treat it as an initial investment and bought four pieces of Dragon Bone-in Meat at the buyout price. He paid a total of 100,000 G.

If five-star is 25%, I should be able to make at least one if I try four times. There's a chance I'll fail all four times, but I want to believe in my luck. Even if I can't, if the attack power increase is high, the rarity will go up and I might be able to sell it for a decent price. Even if it's low, there are quite a few rare item collectors, so it should sell.

In the same way, he bought four Dragon Eggs. These were the same price, so he paid another 100,000 G.

Hayato then bought the finer ingredients from NPC shops, gathering everything he needed.

With his immediate objective accomplished, he decided to head to the Mercenary Guild facility next.

Since he now knew he could have an NPC participate in the Clan War, he thought he might be able to hire mercenaries as well.

The Mercenary Guild was a place to accept Escort Request Quests.

Quests were requests from NPCs, and by completing them, one could obtain money and items. Until now, it had been thought of as just a place to receive such quests.

Of course, Hayato had thought so too, but not anymore.

If NPCs can request escorts from us, then maybe we can request escorts from NPCs. I think there's a good chance they could participate in the Clan War, too.

After walking for a while toward the center of town, he saw the Mercenary Guild building.

It was a three-story brick building, looking quite new and of a considerable size. At the entrance, NPCs who seemed to be mercenaries were coming and going. Many of them had stern faces, but to Hayato, they looked reliable.

The first floor of the building was like a dining hall, with a reception counter at the back where several receptionists were seated.

Hayato approached and spoke to one of the receptionists.

"Excuse me. Is this the reception?"

"Welcome to the Mercenary Guild. How may I help you today?"

"Um, how do I go about hiring a mercenary?"

"Hiring a mercenary? In that case, please check this menu. The people currently available for hire and their prices are listed. By the way, the price is for a one-day hire."

"Thank you."

So I can just hire them normally. I heard from everyone that this was a place to take escort quest requests... No, wait, mercenaries and adventurers were always hirable, weren't they? I've heard you can pay them to go gather materials. But what I want to hire them for isn't that. It's whether they'll fight in a Clan War. I should check just in case.

"Is it possible for the mercenaries here to participate in a Clan War?"

"Yes, it is possible. However, in the case of a Clan War, the fee structure is different. Also, if there are no open slots in your Clan, you won't be able to hire them in the first place, but is that alright?"

"That's fine. Could I see the fee structure?"

The receptionist said, "Here you are," and handed a paper to Hayato.

Hayato's face twitched as he saw the contents.

No way, a million minimum for one battle? I can afford it right now, but if I hire several people, I'll run out of money. Even if I get through this one, I'll probably be ruined by the next Clan War... Huh, what's this? Free of charge?

"Is this person on the list free?"

"Um, that person is a mercenary who can be hired under special conditions. They are seeking a highest quality Elixir. It seems they will work for free if they can be given one."

Elixir. Also known as an All-purpose Healing Potion, it's the highest-grade medicine in this game. It completely restores not only HP and MP but also all status ailments. If there was a downside, it would be that it cannot be used consecutively.

Magic and items have a Recast Time or Cool Down Time that restricts their reuse. You can't use the same magic or item consecutively in a short period.

For items, the higher the quality, the shorter that time is. A highest quality Elixir has a five-minute reuse time. Considering the lowest quality Elixir has a reuse time of one hour, its performance is exceptional.

I have a few Elixirs, but none of them are the highest quality. Even if you max out your skill and equip production support items, the probability of getting the highest quality is only 2%... If you could mass-produce something like that, you'd never lose a Clan War, so I guess the probability is understandable.

Furthermore, the ingredients for an Elixir are also mostly rare materials. If he were to try and make them until he got a highest quality one, even gathering the materials from the auction would bankrupt him, so Hayato had given up on that long ago.

A highest quality Elixir would probably sell for ten million at auction. If I could make one, I'd sell it.

Just as Hayato thought that.

"Hey, you. I heard you say 'free.' Are you maybe trying to hire me?"

Hayato turned around at the voice from behind him.

Standing there was a blond-haired man in black armor, carrying a large sword on his back.