GILF Hunter - Chapter 319 Using Money on Me Now
’Who is Ian? I heard he was here.’
An A-rank mercenary who had come all the way from Labyrinth.
Frey’s gaze scanned the members in the lodging one by one.
Frey’s eyes, which had been skipping over each person, soon stopped right in front of Ian.
Even before Ian introduced himself, Frey’s eyes flickered with a strange light, as if recognizing him instantly.
Ian also took a moment to observe Frey.
A short stature that Ian had to look quite far down at.
Deep dark circles and a face steeped in exhaustion were striking.
Ian stared blankly at Frey’s appearance for a moment before speaking.
’You’ve picked up quite a lot of curses.’
After checking Frey’s stats for a brief second, Ian could also see the considerable amount of erosion and curses accumulated on Frey.
[Paranoia], [Anxiety], [Obsession with Superstition], [Nervous Breakdown], [Greed for Treasure]….
It was a state far worse than the combined conditions of his own members when they had just returned from the Labyrinth recently.
’Hm? You can see curses?’
Hearing Ian’s words, Frey spoke with a look of surprise.
Usually, people can only feel a sense of foreboding about their own bodies; being able to sense curses residing in someone else’s body was a fairly rare ability.
’He doesn’t look it, but is he the type with extremely sensitive senses?’
Thinking that, Frey approached Ian.
’If you have a talent like that, you should be a priest. Why are you working as a mercenary?’
Frey sat down unceremoniously on the sofa directly across from Ian.
Then, Frey spoke as if it were no big deal.
’It’s nothing once you get used to it. Thoughts caused by curses are obvious, so you can just ignore them.’
’Still, it would be better to treat them.’
At Ian’s words, Frey waved a hand dismissively with a look of annoyance.
’I’m going back in soon anyway, so when would I have time to lift them? If I lifted every single curse one by one, I wouldn’t be able to enter even once every two months.’
’Leaving curses neglected for a long time causes negative effects.’
’You sound exactly like a priest. You could work at the temple right now. Want me to find you a job there?’
Frey looked at Ian and gave a small smirk.
It was the exact same thing the priests or nuns she occasionally encountered always said while being absolutely horrified.
Ian didn’t say anything more than that.
She must have heard it to the point of being sick of it. Since she was a mercenary of a much higher rank, she would take care of herself.
After finishing the conversation, Frey quietly observed Ian’s appearance.
It didn’t seem like he didn’t know who she was. Ian’s attitude was quite relaxed.
’Hmm….’
Frey stood up and brought her face right up to Ian’s.
Grabbing Ian’s face with her hands, Frey peered into Ian’s face this way and that, as if inspecting a piece of equipment.
Frey’s eyes sparkled with a strange light.
’…What should we do?’
’Let’s watch a bit more for now….’
From a slight distance away, the members gathered and whispered while watching Frey.
They thought about stopping her from acting strangely toward Ian, but in truth, it wasn’t the first or second time Ian’s guests were odd people.
In the end, since Ian remained still, the consensus was to just keep an eye on things.
’Is this the whole group?’
’There are members left in Labyrinth.’
’Excluding those in charge of chores.’
’The main force is just what you see here.’
Frey’s gaze, which had been fixed on Ian, soon shifted toward the other members gathered nearby.
Rin and Lia.
Mika.
Tanya.
And her gaze even reached the fairy flying around nearby.
When Frey’s eyes turned toward it, the fairy quickly hid behind Tanya.
Frey turned her head back to Ian and asked.
’How much for you guys? For the entire mercenary group.’
’Is this an acquisition? For now, I don’t have any thoughts of—’
’I’ll give you 3,000 gold coins.’
’….’
Everyone listening was rendered speechless.
It was not a price one would casually call out for the acquisition of a C-rank mercenary group they had just met for the first time.
Ian, who had been interrupted by Frey, shook his head casually to finish his sentence.
’I’m not interested.’
’Oh. Price negotiation? I don’t call out a price twice. Everyone regrets it and tries to come back later, but I don’t take any of them back.’
’I’m not interested.’
Frey sat back down on the sofa with a grin.
At the same time Frey looked at Ian with an amused smile.
Someone new opened the door and entered.
’Captain!’
’Ack….’
Frey flinched and raised her head from the sofa.
A tall blonde woman who had entered the lodging spotted Frey and shouted.
’How can you just barge into another mercenary group’s lodging!’
’Wait just a second. I’m in the middle of acquisition negotiations.’
’What are you going to do with another mercenary group! The place you acquired last time has had nothing to do for months, so we’re just paying them base salary!’
The blonde individual, who appeared to be a member of Frey’s mercenary group, strode over and grabbed Frey, who was now shrinking into the sofa, and picked her up.
’Wait a minute, my treasure sensor is going off here.’
’Get that treated soon too! I’m going crazy because you keep touching every treasure chest you see. Before I put a mana seal on you and admit you to the temple.’
The mercenary, after finishing her lecture to Frey, belatedly noticed Ian and gave an awkward smile.
’Our captain was rude, Captain Ian. Don’t pay any mind to what this person said.’
’Ah, yes….’
The mercenary walked away carrying the limp, flailing Frey under her arm.
’Whew….’
Ian let out a sigh.
Meeting such a person so suddenly without any mental preparation had made even Ian a little nervous.
Watching the backs of the guests who had left like a whirlwind, the members gathered around Ian and asked belatedly.
’Who was that?’
’It’s an A-rank mercenary group.’
’What? A-rank?’
At the word that the person who just visited was an A-rank mercenary, everyone looked back at the door they had left through with bewildered faces.
’Why would an A-rank suddenly come here?’
’I told you the Kraken appeared. Back when they thought it was a real Kraken, they must have called them urgently from Labyrinth.’
But when they finally arrived in a hurry, they must have heard that the incident was already resolved.
That’s likely why she sought Ian out.
Ian checked the object Frey had secretly tossed to him before being dragged out.
While no one was watching, the object had flown quietly and landed accurately in Ian’s pocket. It was Frey’s business card made of gold.
’…Does she mean for me to visit her personally later?’
’I should have gotten an autograph….’
Hearing that it was an A-rank mercenary, Rin muttered with a look of regret.
＊ ＊ ＊
’Whew, home sweet home….’
After finishing the long vacation, the members arrived at the guild house and all plopped down.
It was a week where they truly experienced that one could get exhausted from playing.
Without even the energy to organize their luggage, they sprawled out on the sofas in the base’s lounge where they hadn’t sat in a long time.
’…Did you have a fun vacation?’
’Ms. Louise? You were awake.’
A slightly gloomy voice spoke to Ian.
Ian, startled, turned his head to see Louise trudging up from the basement.
Glancing at the sprawled members, Louise spoke toward Ian.
’While you left me with such unreasonable work.’
There was a very solid edge to her words.
In fact, he hadn’t intended to go on such a long vacation.
Because various circumstances had arisen, it became a long vacation that far exceeded the original plan.
’Let’s go together next time.’
’No, I hate those kinds of places so I wouldn’t have gone anyway, but….’
Louise shook her head in distaste, perhaps just saying it for the sake of it.
Louise, who had a typical alchemist’s personality, didn’t particularly like such places.
Even if she hadn’t had urgent research to do, she probably would have rejected the offer to go to the sea.
Instead, Louise smiled with a face even darker than usual.
’Hehehe…. I’ve completed it.’
A small potion bottle was held in Louise’s hand. The potion sloshing inside was a color familiar even to Ian.
’This is it, right?’
’You finished it!’
Ian quickly took the potion bottle. It was the exact potion he had ordered.
In terms of performance bonuses, it was a potion that contained efforts worth 20 gold coins. Ian’s exhausted expression brightened instantly.
’We can go straight into production then.’
’Production?’
Louise, who had asked with a puzzled face, realized she had asked a stupid question.
Well, he developed it to use it. There’s no way he only needed exactly one sample.
’Ah, right. How much will you need?’
’As much as possible.’
Louise blinked while staring at Ian.
’From now on, continuously, as much as you can make. The more the better.’
Whew….
Of course, he pays a lot of money.
But this is really too much.
Louise, letting out a small sigh, narrowed her eyes.
Louise was not Ian’s subordinate.
Although Ian was an investor who put in a lot of money, they were ultimately in a partner relationship.
…Of course, generally, an investor’s influence was powerful, but this time she had been as patient as she could be.
Louise, thinking she absolutely had to say something, was about to speak.
’Ah, right. I stopped by the guild before coming. They said a shop space became available.’
’A shop?’
Louise paused.
’The shop that was originally near the clock tower is expected to open up, so I decided to contract it. Let’s go look around together later.’
’My shop? In the Clock Tower Square?’
With a look like she was under a hallucination spell, Louise asked blankly.
’Yes. They said a spot on the first floor happened to open up.’
’On the first floor?’
’I thought you’d need a laboratory and a place to stay, so for now, I put a hold on the entire building. Let’s see it in person and decide how much of it to use.’
’….’
Louise silently returned to the basement.
