Surviving as a Trash Bard in a Game

The village we arrived at was much shabbier than expected. It was smaller than the village where I met Nisha and Propertius, and it even seemed smaller than the village near the Forest of Songs where I first opened my eyes.

"Seriously, it would be better to sleep in the carriage."

That's what Skyler said as soon as he saw the guild building. This two-story wooden building, which was said to sell alcohol on the first floor and use the second floor as an inn... the hygiene was very questionable.

"Are you sure it's okay?"

"Anyway, as long as we give the coachman enough money, nothing will happen."

As he said that, Skyler slightly loosened his purse, counted the number of silver coins, and clicked his tongue.

"...Tsk."

Every time he does that, he seems strangely old. The appearance and personality didn't mesh well, and it felt like my brain was experiencing cognitive dissonance.

Anyway, the fact that Skyler clicked his tongue probably meant that he didn't have enough money to pay the coachman.

A scroll-user is a profession that always replenishes scrolls, and the price of scrolls was never cheap... even if he had the money, he probably couldn't use it now.

"Do you want me to lend you some money?"

"I didn't want to borrow money from others."

"Are we others?"

"It's more of a problem because we're not others. We're traveling together. When friends are a little late in repaying money, they start nagging right next to you."

This guy, he must have some experience.

"...Couldn't you just pay it back right away?"

"Ah."

Skyler stared at me blankly for a moment.

He was looking at me with a look that said, 'I can't believe I was logically defeated by such a person,' and it made me feel strangely bad.

"How much do you need?"

"One denarion."

"That's cheap."

"We're just renting it for a day to stay overnight. One denarion is expensive. Why don't you try to develop some economic sense now?"

"Speaking of which, I thought of something I wanted to ask you."

"Yes?"

"Improving physical strength or health... I mean, how much do enchanted accessories or items cost?"

Skyler was silent for a moment, then seemed to be thinking deeply about something.

This kid remembered that I coughed up blood, so he probably associated it with that.

I waited patiently.

"It depends on the strength of the effect. It also depends on what item it's applied to. We also need to consider the year of manufacture..."

"Roughly speaking, if you express the strength of the effect as a number?"

"If the effect strength is level 10, you would need 80,000 ducats."

"...What?"

"In the first place, items with level 10 effect strength are impossible to make artificially. There are only three in this world?"

"What are they?"

"One is the holy sword stuck in the forbidden area, the other is the cross necklace held by the first saint, and the last is the holy kingdom's branding iron used to burn the eyes of sinners."

...There seems to be an item that doesn't quite fit the genre?

Anyway, if it's an item that only exists three times in the world, the high price is understandable. Anyway, all I need is an item that can solve my minus status.

'I need 3 levels of strength and 5 levels of health right now, right?'

-

[ Strength : 0(-3) ]

[ Health : 0(-5) ]

-

As soon as I finished thinking, the status window immediately summarized my two statuses.

It's always fast at times like this, but it never shows up when I need it. It's a little annoying.

'There's a way to raise it through exercise or the proficiency system... but in this state, the efficiency would be extremely low. How can I raise it when I'm exhausted after just a little movement? It would take forever.'

Why didn't they introduce a level system like other games? To enjoy watching the players writhing in pain?

No matter how much I think about it, I keep thinking that the game developer is a masochist.

'No, that's not what's important.'

Let's ask Skyler about the prices of other items.

"Roughly how much would it cost for levels 3 to 5?"

"That level could be made artificially. A rough calculation... the very cheap ones are about 2 ducats."

…That's cheap.

Cheap enough for me to buy.

No, strictly speaking, it's not cheap. If one silver coin is about 200,000 won, that means I'd be spending 1.8 million won on one item.

With that much money, I could buy decent armor, a sword, and a shield, and still have enough money left over to buy accessories.

'Let's think about it.'

I don't need it right now, and I can't get it until I reach the capital anyway.

As I stood there with a serious expression for a long time, Skyler stopped walking and circled around me. His expression also looked complicated.

"Do you need it?"

"Huh?"

"I am a scroll-user, but I'm also a mage. One from the Magic Tower, at that."

"Can you make it?"

"If I get my heart back, that is."

"So you can't make it."

"Yes."

"Then why did you bring it up?"

"If I push myself a little, like when I teleported us last time, I might be able to make it."

"Are you joking?"

"Of course, I have no intention of doing it, but if you were on the verge of death and there was no other way to save you other than risking my life, I would at least try."

"...Why?"

"If someone I adventured with dies, I'll have bad dreams."

Skyler answered with a slight smile and ended the conversation. He cut me off as if to prevent me from finding out more about him.

I felt a little strange.

At that moment, someone else's face overlapped behind Skyler's smile. It was like a handsome man looking at me with a faint smile.

Suddenly, my chest felt tight. I wanted to get away.

"...I'll stay at the guild for a bit."

"Okay. Don't be too late. I'll park the carriage near the guild, so you can find it easily."

"Okay."

My choice was to avoid the situation.

I felt like if I got on the same carriage with him now and shared that small space, it might cause some problems.

My eyes stung a little.

I rubbed them roughly with my hand.

***

When I opened the door of the guild and entered, there was only an awkward silence.

'My god, this is a guild?'

As soon as I entered, the smell of dust hit my nose, and there was even a spider hanging from the ceiling. I understood why Skyler avoided this place.

If the purpose was to offend my sensibilities, it was a 120% success.

I understood why Skyler, who had no money, went straight to the carriage without even going near the guild door.

In a normal situation, in a normal city, in a normal guild, I would have definitely come in to see if there were any requests... but this was too much.

"...Huh?"

From a slightly distant table, I saw an adventurer looking at me with his head turned.

'He looks familiar.'

He looked like someone I had definitely seen somewhere before. Neatly trimmed hair, a rugged face, a tall and sturdy build, and a rough, unkempt beard.

Who was it?

No, I think he recognized me too. He just made a sound.

Wait... a rugged face?

There aren't many people with rugged faces that I've met at the Adventurer's Guild.

"......Haroon?"

"To see you in a place like this."

It was the adventurer who had picked a fight with me in the village near the Forest of Songs, the village where I first opened my eyes.

I did insult his parents because of the clumsy habit, but we apologized to each other and ended things amicably. He looked like that, but he had a pretty good personality.

'…A silver tag, just like me.'

To think that I'm treated the same as a guy like that, there must be something wrong with the Adventurer's Guild's ranking system.

"What brings you to this backwater?"

"Oh, I... I have some business in the north."

"So quickly?"

"I asked a mage to teleport me."

"That must have cost a fortune. Are you a noble by any chance? Whenwe first met, there was talk among the guild adventurers that you might be a young lady out experiencing commoner life."

"That's not it. I made some money as a bard, not as an adventurer."

"...Are you into that kind of thing?"

"No, no, I'm not. I just purely perform, okay?"

"My apologies."

"Anyway, why are you here?"

"I came to take a break. I can't just keep taking requests all the time. By the way, did you raise your rank? I thought you might have since you disappeared with that little mage."

Ah, I've been waiting for this moment.

I took out my adventurer's tag from my pocket.

The silver tag with my name and profession on it.

"How about it?"

"...You defeated a silver tag adventurer with that body?"

"W-well, for now."

Ah, wait.

Was that information also written on it?

Let's just make something up for now.

The conversation continued for a while, and time passed.

How much time had passed? It was time to get up. To be more precise, I wanted to get up.

"By the way, how long are you planning to stay in this village?"

"I'm going to stay for one day and then go to the next city."

"Hmm, I see. If you had time, I wanted to do a request together. Are you still traveling with that mage?"

"Yes."

"I see. If you come to the guild tomorrow, how about the three of us chat for a bit?"

"Yes?"

"...Since I'm resting in this small town, I don't see any familiar faces."

"I'll ask Skyler first."

"Alright. I'll be waiting. I'm here almost all day, so you can come anytime."

I said a casual goodbye and left the guild.

In the end, I couldn't find any useful requests, and I just bought some bread and milk sold on the street and got on the carriage.