BobOfTheHedgeField
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Getting Paid
🕑 Added 2025-05-30 06:21:23 +0000 UTCI’d walked through the city of Orario with Hestia at my side. I had a Guild to cash in my check at! There was one thing in this world I swore I’d defeat no matter what. That was debt! My older cousin taught me such wisdom as though she were a great sage. That great sage taught me that no evil is greater than Student Loan Debt! I had taken a debt now, and I had to repay it as soon as possible before it became the final boss of the Dungeon!
“So Goddess do you know how much all of this is worth?” She looked inside the bag and gave me an embarrassed laugh.
“Nope! You’re my first adventurer and I was bunking with a friend until now.” My Goddess isn’t just penniless, she’s a bum too! Fear not my faithful companion, I too was a bum before coming to this city! My younger brain rotted cousin said I had the sword autism, and he couldn’t be more correct! My parents wanted me to get a part time job, but I had forfeited all mortal possessions in pursuit of the blade!
I gave a nod to the Goddess as we approached the Guild. There were way more people here now and I couldn’t help but smile. This really was the Adventurer’s Guild of myth! I entered and waved a hello at Rose.
“Hi Rose! I lived!” Her eyes widened slightly, oh ye of little faith! Her face was still expressionless but she gave me a nod to acknowledge me before getting back to work.
“Get in line with the rest.” At her comment a shorter man with a beard looked up to me with intrigue. Was this a fabled ‘dwarf’?
“First time in the Dungeon?” I gave the man a large smile as I patted the pouch at him.
“Yep! It went pretty well.” His eyes turned into dollar signs as he stared at my bag before looking up to me with a grin.
“Say kid, how about you give me some of your cut and I’ll teach you an important tip!” A few other adventurers eyed us but didn’t say a word. Was this a hidden master about to teach me a secret technique? I reached into my bag and pulled out a Kobold nail as his hand snatched it from mine with a cruel smile.
“Never trust another adventurer! Now with that lesson taught I’ll be taking this!” My jaw dropped as he laughed with cruelty in his eyes.
“Better you learn this lesson now than later!” I rubbed the back of my head and laughed along with him.
“Thank you for the lesson senior!” He blinked dumbly at me when my words registered. In a way he was right. It was better that I learn this lesson now, but that didn’t mean I would stop being kind to others just for a little slight like this.
The man grumbled and walked off as I greeted Rose.
“Hi again Rose!” She tossed me a light glare and crossed her arms.
“You shouldn’t have done that, you are going to seem like an easy mark now. Drops like that are also very rare, you could have paid off your debt with that alone.” I just gave a shrug and a light smile to the red head.
“That’s alright, I can always get another. It was just a drop from a Kobold anyways, what I’m really interested in is getting a drop from one of those Two-Headed Kobolds!” My laugh made her perk up in shock.
“You spotted a Two-Headed Kobold on the first floor? Did anyone handle it?” She was already seeming to write a report before I spoke up.
“Well yeah, I killed it.” She slowly turned up to me in disbelief before shaking her head.
“I understand you’re trying to be friendly with me, but don’t lie about something like that.” My expression twisted in confusion at her words before I took out the large magic stone and set it in front of her.
Her pen froze, then she froze.
“Wasn’t this your first time in the Dungeon?” I nodded with a smile causing many adventurers behind me to freeze as well.
“It gave me a little bit of trouble but I won.” I held up my bloody sword and thumbed the chip in the blade. “I’ll need to fix up this sword though.”
“Do you have a skill?” An adventurer put a hand on my shoulder with an odd smile on his face.
“Don’t answer that.” Rose batted the hand away before holding mine, the man voluntarily moved his hand away at Rose’s gesture and Rose opened the counter and pulled me through.
Someone had tried to step through with green in their eyes but a massive man with two swords blocked the way. He must be one of the Guild appointed guards then to handle stuff like this.The offender was knocked to the ground and kicked in the face before being thrown out.
Rose then took me to a back room before sitting me down in what seemed to be her office. She didn’t forget to grab the magic stone of course! The guard gave us a nod before going back to his post with a grunt.
“Thank you!” It's important to thank people who are nice to you!
“How did you kill a Two-Headed Kobold?” I held up my sword and smiled.
“I used my sword and it died after getting cut up a lot.” She nods for a moment before frowning.
“You’ve made yourself a target Andrew. If you are capable of such feats at level one people will try to either kill you or get you to join their familias.” I tiled my head at that.
“Was what I did really that big of a deal?” She let out a small sigh as her eyebrow twitched.
“Yes. It usually takes a party of experienced level one adventurers to take down a two-headed kobold and even then they usually lose. For a level two it's no problem but doing that as a level one, especially on your first delve is unheard.” I pondered it for a moment before sending her a smile.
“Thank you for worrying about me, Rose. I’ll follow your advice!” Her expression froze as she looked at me, then she let out a small sigh of acceptance towards my words.
Rank 3: Quality Insurance - Wielded equipment becomes more durable during combat. This effect ends after combat is finished.
Eh? A rank up right now? I’m not complaining, just confused! Also this is very shounen esque. My weapon falling apart after a fated clash against a legendary foe! I can picture it already!
“So what should I do?”
“First of all, hide your earnings from other adventurers. Bring them to me and I’ll make sure you are properly compensated for what you bring. Secondly, don't do long dungeon runs. Go in, and get out after an hour if need be. Finally, . .” She paused as she looked dead into my eyes.
“I highly recommend you switch to a larger Familia.” I laughed at the notion. Abandon my Sun? Impossible!
“Sorry Rose, I can’t do that. I’d not only be breaking my sacred pact to the world, I’d be breaking my promise to a friend.” Breaking a promise to a treasured companion might as well be sacrilege! I’m glad Rose has my best interest in mind though.
Her expression twisted in annoyance before she pointed at my pouch.
“What else did you get?” I poured the contents on the table and she scanned them for a moment before turning back up to me with surprise.
“This is a lot of monster drops . . . this will be about 40,000 Valis total. With more than half of that amount coming from the Two-Headed Kobold Magic Stone.” I blinked and smiled.
“That’s a lot right?” She nodded.
“An experienced Level One party makes about 25,000 Valis a day . . . this is also enough to pay off your debt.” Tears left my eyes as the woman’s heavenly voice reached my ears.
She gave me a weird look before continuing.
“Do you want me to handle that during the exchange?”
“Please do.” Debt was the greatest evil after all! She left for a moment and came back with a pouch that she handed to me.
“I recommend going to the Tower of Babel and buying some better equipment. Equipment that will help you escape is also vitally important. Don’t forget single use items like potions, and especially don’t forget a backup weapon.” I nodded as I drank in her words like fine wine.
Looks like I had some shopping to do.
“Thank you Rose. Your help means a lot.” She stared at me for a moment before scoffing and turning her eyes away.
“Just come back in one piece.” I gave her a thumbs up, it would be weird for me to start losing limbs this early!
I’d gotten out of the guild with surprisingly little trouble, maybe it was the guards helping to watch my back. Though perhaps it was the idea that I secretly had an ‘ultimate skill’ that I could unleash at any time!
The only skill I had was the power of friendship and stabbing real good!
“Hi Hestia!” I greeted my Goddess with a smile as we made our way back to the Abandoned Church. I don’t think we had enough to buy a house or anything like that, but I could at least buy us a good meal.
“Did everything go alright?” I gave her a nod, things went weird. But they didn’t go bad!
“Yep we have quite the haul today.” We entered the church and I jingled the bag of Vali’s in the air.
“This is about 31,000 Vali’s. I don’t know how much that is but-” I was slammed into by a hug before I could finish. The greed in Hestia’s eyes was obvious. Is she really not a Goddess of Wealth?
“You’re amazing Andrew!” I blushed lightly as I thought back to the encounter with the beast. I honestly have no idea if I would even be able to perceive its movements as well as I did without Hestia’s third rank.
“It was all thanks to you!” My blush deepened a bit and her eyes widened as she looked up at me. Then she turned scarlet.
Rank 5: Those Moments we Share - Increases Growth of All Social Stats.
She really does make me better in every way! I gave the Goddess the biggest hug I could muster as I sat on one of the pews. She really was very holdable!
“A-alright.” She didn’t resist this time! The Sun has accepted defeat! Then suddenly she perked up, her head rolling back as I stared down at her.
“I still need to update your Falna!” Oh do I get to assign experience points now? Cool!
I set the woman free and she turned towards me with a smile as I was already taking off my shirt. She started a little longer than needed and I flopped on my belly in order to allow her to work her Goddess powers.
The warm liquid dropped onto my back again and I felt a slight surge of power burst through my physique. Woah, Goddess powers are awesome!
“Just one moment . . . and there!” She held up a paper to my face and I looked at it in awe.
Level 1
Strength: 0 I -> 55 I
Endurance: 0 I -> 21 I
Dexterity: 0 I -> 42 I
Agility: 0 I -> 33 I
Magic: 0 I
Skills:
μακρινός ταξιδιώτης: Increases Excilia gained.
Magic:
I don’t know if that’s good or not but I like it when the numbers go up! Though I tilted my head slightly at the magic section. Where were my new awesome fire powers? Ah, perhaps it was considered outside of the Falna then.
“Hestia, is this considered good growth?” She just gave a shrug and sat back on my lap with a smug smile.
“I don’t know, but considering its you I wouldn’t be surprised if this was way out of the norm!” I don’t know if that’s a compliment or an insult. So I’ll take it as praise!
“Thank you Goddess!” I pumped a fist in the air as I eyed the pouch of Valis. We’d gotten our first paycheck, so tomorrow we're going shopping!
But as for tonight, some sleep was in order!
“Alright, let’s get some rest then. We’ve got a big day of shopping tomorrow.” She faintly blushed as she looked into my eyes again.
“You know you don’t have to sleep up here right, you can sleep with me in the only bed.” I pondered it for a moment before nodding. Not only would it be for comfortable to sleep with a treasured companion, it might also increase my rest benefits for literally sleeping close to the Hearth as rank one of her confidant would imply.
“I’d love to! Thank you Hestia!”
Rank 6: Next to the Sacred Fires - Increases Fire Magic Affinity. Increases the strength of Rituals.
She’s letting me sleep in a comfy bed and I get a Rank up!? Hestia is the best!
I gave the Goddess a tight hug with a radian smile on my face.
AN: Vali pricings in Danmachi basically have no common rule so I’m watching the anime and desperately trying to pick up on literally anything I can find on the wiki as well. The economy is a war and I’m fighting the best I can. At least we are out of debt! Only for Hestia to soon put us back into it . . .
As for the status, most adventures gain maybe 10 points a day at max so Far Traveler and him challenging that Two-Headed Kobold was quite the feat for a first timer!
Being a shounen protagonist comes with being denser than cobalt, it also might be the head injuries he got as a kid. He’ll wise up over time but currently that is not the case!
Feel free to leave any comments or questions as I love to read them all!
Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time!
