kscans

Chapter 435 - Money-Making and Event Investigation

A week after Rick was able to log in, Parfait and her friends logged in as usual to find Rick waiting for them at the base.

When at the base, Rick wore his butler uniform. He was dressed the same today, but for some reason, his face was more serious than usual. When Rick was like this, Parfait and her friends grew cautious. He was too serious, with no room for fun.

Such a Rick turned to them with a smile. That alone raised their alert level by one.

"I've thought of a money-making strategy. I'd like you to listen for a bit before we go on our adventure."

"Ah, y, you did? W, what kind?"

"Why are you so on guard? Just to confirm, Parfait, you have the Taming Skill, right?"

"I do. Right now I'm trying to tame the Black-Clawed Bishamonten in Azuma, but it just won't warm up to me. That's what's so cute about it, though."

It was possible to befriend event monsters with the Taming Skill, but the probability was low. She had tried many times, but she had yet to succeed, losing battle after battle.

Rick nodded and then turned his gaze to Natsu.

"Natsu, you can create Skeletons with Create Undead, right?"

"They are not Skeletons! They are Chaos Soldiers! I recently changed their name to that!"

"Whatever."

"...I do not expect a clever response from my friend Rick, but is there some significance to my being able to create Skeletons?"

Rick nodded and placed a stack of papers on the table.

Parfait and the others tilted their heads as they looked at the stack of papers. On them was written a method for making money. While Parfait and Natsu were too surprised to say anything, only Chris voiced her admiration.

"This is wonderful. Did you think of all these money-making methods in just one week?"

"I didn't think of them. I just researched the money-making methods that other clans often use. However, whether we can do them is another story."

"But they are broken down so that even we can do them. I see, so there is a way to have pets and Skeletons do various things for us."

Depending on the Taming Skill level, pets could be placed at the base to do various tasks. This was an effective method as they would do it automatically even when the player was logged out.

The same was true for Skeletons created with Create Undead. This also depended on the Necromancy skill level, but they could be stationed at the base permanently.

"The things that pets and Skeletons can do are limited, but if they can automatically do things that make money, we have to do it. If we could create Golems or Homunculi, it would be even easier, but that's difficult for us right now, so that's a money-making strategy for later."

Parfait raised her hand.

"Um, what's this about me raising a cow and a chicken?"

The contents of the document stated, "Parfait will raise a cow and a chicken."

"If you raise a cow, you'll get milk regularly. A chicken will give you eggs. Both are in high demand among players. Probably because they're necessary for making sweets. I'd like to make cheese if possible, but the equipment for that costs too much. With a cow and a chicken, as long as you have feed, you can get a near-permanent income. And they're cute."

"Cute is important!"

"And you have the Cooking Skill, right Parfait? With milk and eggs, you should be able to make high-demand processed goods. Eventually, they can become ingredients for the sweets you'll serve at the cafe."

"...Rick-kun, come to my real shop sometime. I'll have my dad make you coffee."

"I'll have you know, this is something every clan does."

This time, Natsu raised her hand.

"What will become of my Chaos Soldiers? I believe they will not do farm work. Surely you do not mean to crush them and sell their bones?"

"Why would I do that? Skeletons can do logging and mining."

"Hm? Logging and mining?"

"Skeletons can move from the base to a designated location, log or mine, and then bring what they've gathered back to the base."

"So the Undead were the best after all...! This is the dark side...!"

"Why don't you know that, Natsu? Never mind that, but since they go outside the base, there's a possibility they'll be defeated by monsters. If that happens, you won't get anything."

"...Is it alright if we defeat them?"

"That's right. With strong Skeletons, you can get a stable supply of lumber and ore. And there are a lot of trees around here. You should be able to get lumber without fighting monsters. Even regular lumber, the Woodworking Guild should buy as much as you can get."

Rick adjusted his glasses once, then looked at Parfait and the others.

"There are other methods, but they require an initial investment. We should start with the easy ways to make money, and once we've earned a certain amount, we can move on to the next."

"You're amazing, Rick-kun! By the way, how much money can we make a month with these two methods?"

"Unfortunately, it won't reach a hundred thousand G. And this month is already half over. I'd say about thirty to forty thousand G."

"I see. But that will still make things a lot easier."

"That's right. Plus, there's the income from video streaming and the farm's profits, and since Parfait is a ranker, there's also the prize money payment. Putting those together, I'd estimate at least seventy thousand G. We'll have to earn the remaining thirty thousand G separately."

"Yeah, if it's that much, I can earn it by going to a dungeon!"

In order to increase their adventure time, it was necessary to be able to earn money easily, but Rick's money-making strategy was better than expected, so Parfait was convinced that soon they would be able to pay the land tax without doing anything.

And the idea of pets working to earn money was also fantastic. This time it was more like animal husbandry and dairy farming, but for Parfait, who wanted to run an animal cafe in the future, it was like a preliminary stage.

As Parfait was daydreaming about being surrounded by animals in an animal cafe, Chris raised her hand while looking at the document.

"Rick, what is this about streaming combat videos? It does not seem highly recommended."

"Ah, that. Parfait's combat videos seem to be quite popular, so I thought we could earn a decent amount by putting out another video. However, it would be a problem if we stood out too much, so I don't recommend it highly."

Parfait, who had returned from her daydream, looked at the document and said, "Hmm."

"I'm not really interested in rankings and stuff. Besides, I probably wouldn't be able to win if the combat style wasn't realistic, and my opponent might not accept."

"There probably are not many players who would accept a realistic style. But in the combat videos, your opponents would be Natsu and Chris, you know?"

"Eh?"

Parfait hurriedly looked at the document again. It certainly listed Natsu and Chris as her opponents.

"Why?"

"Because you're popular. Right now, the hottest thing is realistic-style combat videos, and among them, Parfait's videos are extremely popular. So, I thought that if Natsu or Chris, who would likely put up a good fight, were the opponents, the video would get a lot of views with the theme of a battle between current high school students."

"That's kind of complicated..."

"As I said before, I don't recommend it because you'll stand out. There are also players who stream videos of singing, dancing, eating contests, and playing with pets, so you could earn money that way, but that would also make you stand out."

"Singing and dancing...!"

Natsu reacted to the words singing and dancing. Rick's reaction to that was complicated.

"By the way, the streaming player with the most video views in the singing and dancing genre is 'Miracle☆Donuts'."

"That is my mother!"

"She has the position of a mysterious music streamer even in the real world, so the fact that one of her works is here in AFO has made her extremely popular. And since she posted right after the in-game video streaming service was launched, it's said that it's impossible to surpass her view count."

Natsu started searching for the video with a complicated expression, looking both happy and regretful.

Seeing this situation, Parfait had a thought.

"I don't think so, but the eating contest videos..."

"Ah, no, it's not them. The famous streamer in that category is someone we don't know."

"Thank goodness... I'm so glad...!"

Parfait let out a happy sigh, as if she had some thought on the matter. Chris patted her on the back.

Rick also smiled wryly, but continued.

"Video streaming has its fads, and even if you post regularly, the number of views will gradually decrease. Since it's unstable, it's better to choose a more stable way to earn money."

"You're right. Thanks to you, Rick-kun, I'm grateful that you're also considering things like a foothold for an animal cafe."

"I'll have you know, when we have more money to spare, I plan to buy a bit more of the surrounding land and grow cacao trees, coffee trees, and sugarcane. I plan to have those cultivated and harvested automatically as well."

"But to have cultivation done automatically, we only have Golems or Homunculi, right?"

"No, that's not the case. There's another way."

"Really?"

"Yeah, using summoning magic."

"Summoning magic, you mean like calling familiars or spirits?"

Rick nodded and took out another document. Everyone leaned in to look at it.

"Automation of cultivation and harvesting by employing demons?"

"Among summoning magic, there's something called demon summoning. If you use that, you can give more detailed instructions. In other words, they'll do farm work for you."

"Wow. But no one has the demon summoning skill... oh."

At Parfait's realization, Rick grinned and adjusted his glasses.

"Ginny will be able to log in by the end of this month, right? There's no doubt she'll be summoning demons."

"Ooh, to think you've thought that far ahead... Rick-kun, you're a cunning one!"

"Why cunning? Anyone can come up with something like this. Besides, we won't know if it'll be profitable until next month. Until then, just earn money normally. I'll be doing farm work and gathering information in Azuma."

"You've done all this, and you still need to gather information?"

"The event starts tomorrow, right? The officials have said they'll be implementing a large-scale update to go with it, so investigation is necessary. I won't miss out on information for making money. A strong start is important in these things."

"You're reliable but scary... But in that case, wouldn't it be fine to start investigating tomorrow?"

Is there any point in gathering information before the update? That's what Parfait thought, but Rick shook his head.

"The officials haven't told the players what kind of update and event there will be. But the staff have been informed in advance. I hear some of the guilds are preparing in a hurry."

"Really?"

"I hear the food and beverage industry is in a rush. The Chef's Guild in particular is making suspicious moves. It's just a guess, but there might be a major update to the Cooking Skill."

"Could it be that more recipes are being added!?"

More new sweets. That was the wish of most female players in this game. Parfait was no exception.

"It's possible, but it's a 'large-scale' update. I don't think they'd exaggerate that much just for adding recipes. It's possible that a new system will be introduced to the Cooking Skill."

"...I don't know why, but I'm getting really excited...!"

"Sorry to get your hopes up, but it might be completely unrelated. It's just my prediction, so don't get your hopes up too high."

That might be so, but for Parfait, it was her first update and event. Although it was Rick's prediction, the fun of imagining such things only grew.

Unable to contain her excitement, Parfait, along with Natsu and Chris, charged into a dungeon to make money.