Tim semi-reluctantly spent the day resting. He felt hale and hearty, though he admitted that he needed to do some serious shopping before he went back to the Dungeon. He had accrued a dragon’s hoard in stones and items, even after losing his backpack on his most recent jaunt. He had to pay a dragon’s hoard, in turn, for the medical care that he had received and to replace his armor, backpack, and items. These expenses cleaned him out, which prompted a question for his “divine” patroness when he got back from his shopping trip:

“How much was the sword?”

When he asked that, she seemed to freeze up a bit, suddenly unable to look him clearly in the eyes.

“…300…”

He raised his eyebrows at that. There was no way that this beauty was only 300 vals. It must have been 300 thousand then.

“300 thousand isn’t bad for such a nice weapon. Might take a sunrise or two to pay that off, but-“

“300 million. It was 300 million.”

Now she was really struggling to meet his eyes. His widened eyes.

“I hate to tell you this, lady, but we may be in this basement forever.”

He was a little irritated that she hadn’t consulted him before getting their Famillia into such crushing debt, but he appreciated the sword enough that he let it slide. He didn’t need fancy pillows or big houses anyways. So long as he figured out how to juggle the debt and buy good items, he would be fine. He didn’t know if she felt the same way, though.

“Don’t sell yourself short, Tim! I believe that you are more than capable of earning enough to pay off the debt and make a nice home for the Famillia. I managed to convince Hephaestus to make the loan interest-free and delay the first payment until a year from now. In fact, I bet you could pay off a full home within a year, before you even needed to make a single payment on the sword!”

“You are really set on getting a proper house, aren’t you?”

“Please, Tim, I’m begging you. I know it’s selfish, but I can only take this little place for so long! Just a tiny house, that’s all I’m asking. Somewhere with a proper fireplace, at least!”

Now she was gazing at him with puppy dog eyes, while he was fighting back a sigh. It seemed that the various “divinities” of Gekai billed themselves on embodying a given concept. Combat, Water, Beauty etc. Kind of like an Icon that took the form of a person. Since Hestia was the “Hearth” she was meant to be the embodiment of homecoming. Or something. Tim wouldn’t normally care about any of this, but it could possibly affect him so he had done his research. Goddesses of Beauty, he had heard, could be especially troublesome.

It also seemed to affect Hestia a good deal, and the lack of a genuine hearth made this “home” of hers seriously lacking. Hence the pouting about the lack of proper accommodations:

“It’s not that I care so much about being made fun of, but not being in a real home absolutely drains the life out of me, so-“

“Alright, Alright, I get it. We will buy a cheap house. Something I can pay off within a year, or so. We can start saving up for the down payment immediately.”

She looked excited at that, but he held up his hand, forestalling any further comments as he continued:

“But! That means that you don’t look too closely at my methods. I promise that I will be careful, but juggling all of this means that I may have to do some moonlighting. Not every night, but occasionally. Understand?”

Finally, he had some leverage. She gave him a wry grin and nodded, conceding the point.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

What she had said to him back at Babel’s hospital truly had affected him, and he wasn’t planning on throwing his life away or burning himself out. But that didn’t mean he could afford, monetarily or figuratively, to avoid adventures entirely. No matter what Hestia or Eina said. Speaking of Eina…

“I’ll have to ask her advice on earning more money.” He mused.

But that was a problem for tomorrow.

The next morning, he was sparring with Aiz again, relishing the minor bump in strength that he had received from his more recent growth spurt. He was definitively faster and stronger, forcing Aiz to speed up. She needed to use slightly more of her actual abilities to lengthen the gap and keep him on the defensive. After an hour or two of back and forth, they took a break to sit down and have a few swigs of water. Neither of them were very talkative, so they typically spent these kinds of breaks in a companionable silence.

Now, though, he noticed Aiz shooting him strange looks as they sat with their backs to the wall of the tower. When he raised an eyebrow at her, she was finally prompted to speak. Her voice was low, her enunciation slow but pleasant to the ears as she said:

“You’re growing quickly. How long have you been an adventurer?”

“Around two and a half weeks, now. Am I that unusual?”

She stared at him, cocking her head to the left thoughtfully:

“I think you’re pretty impressive, compared to most. Any idea why?”

Normally it was bad form to inquire about the secrets of your fellow adventurers, but Aiz was truly curious about her enigmatic trainer. Adama knew that spilling your secrets to everyone was a good way to wind up dead, but he couldn’t help but trust and like his newfound disciple. He figured telling her a few things shouldn’t be a serious problem.

“I’ve been working hard, but I’ve probably gotten a boost from this skill…”

He told her about getting Predator and what it had done for him. As he did, her eyes grew wider and wider. By the end of his recap, she had crawled closer to him. Her eyes were fixated on him in total focus, and her head had come within inches of his. Her breath tickled the facial hair he had grown in the hospital and hadn’t bothered shaving:

“How did you get this skill? What did you do?”

“…I killed monsters.”

Now he was confused and disconcerted as she stared at him, her expression shifting to one of frustration and what looked like a bit of envy:

“I do that already.” She pouted.

“Maybe you should try killing more?”

He suggested, sardonically. But she looked at him like he had imparted heavenly wisdom on her and nodded seriously.

“Now,” he continued, “you should give me a hair of personal space unless you want to give me the wrong idea.”

She blushed, only a little but noticeably, and was back in her original position quick as lightning. They went back to training soon afterwards and finished their session with no additional notable events.

He had an appointment that afternoon with his Guild-issued advisor. Since she had given him that crash course on the basics, he hadn’t needed to bother her with questions about Upper floor monsters and geography, since they were pretty simple anyways. Now, though, he had a new and very different problem looming on the horizon:

“You want to know how to make more money?”

She looked at him quizzically for a moment, before narrowing her eyes in a smile:

“If it were that easy, then I wouldn’t be doing this job. I'd be on a beach sipping cocktails and reading my book. Kidding! You have more options than I do. If you’re getting a bit stronger, then you could consider hiring a supporter to gather even more magic stones.”

He made a “go-on” motion and she elaborated:

“Oftentimes, stronger adventurers will hire supporters. These are low level adventurers who lack talent in combat and have consigned themselves to a supporting role in dungeon exploration. They typically carry the bags, harvest the monster cores, and do all the dirty work that adventurers normally do. This allows the fighters to do what they do best, without distractions! Think of how much time you spend on non-combat related activities. Cut that out, and you will make a lot more money.”

She looked at him questioningly now, though:

“But you shouldn’t need a supporter so early. You're still a newbie! You could always work as a supporter if you really wanted to, though. No shame in handling the mundane tasks, after all! Much safer as well.”

He was already shaking his head at that:

“I’ll be dead and buried before I lug around a pack for some other idiot. I’d consider hiring a supporter, though I prefer to work alone.”

Her inquisitiveness had only gotten stronger now:

“That’s fine. You didn’t strike me as the supporter type, anyways. But what’s this about hiring one? How many monsters are you killing and where? Are you already running around the third floor? Don’t tell me you are trying for the fourth!”

He had had this conversation one too many times recently, so he just ignored the question and stood up:

“Thanks for the advice. I’ll think about looking into a luggage person. But I’ve got work to do now.”

He left her spluttering as he exited the office and headed off towards the Dungeon.

As he walked through the streets of Orario, he reflected on their conversation:

“Hiring another person might help with some things, but it causes its own problems in turn.” He mused as he mulled over the question.

Sure, having someone to take care of the dirty work would be nice, but it would have to be someone he trusted. They would see him fight and, even if they didn’t stab him in the back right then and there, they would get a good understanding of what he could do. That information could be used against him. And even if he thought he could trust them, he didn’t want to worry about protecting someone else in a place where it was a chore to keep yourself alive, much less another.

On the other hand, the help would be very useful, and it did look like he would have money troubles going forward, so he would have to keep his eyes peeled. For now, he would do what he did best, kill monsters.

And he’d do the dirty work on top of that, too.