"Sigh..."

  I couldn’t accept the reality before me.

  My expectations in this world had always been based on FBO as the standard.

  And while I fully understood that games and reality were different, I had assumed that predictions might deviate slightly from that baseline.

  "Uh, Ingrid?"

  I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down first.

  It had already been a week since we started hunting swamp dragons. My daily routine consisted of raising skill proficiency, gathering materials, and adding new hunting grounds.

  Amidst all this, I had sent a letter to His Grace the Duke, and in his reply, he mentioned that if I had any swamp dragon materials to spare, he’d like to purchase them. So, I gathered some easily obtainable bones and scales and had Ingrid deliver them to the ducal household.

  The very next day, the payment arrived.

  "Liberta-sama, please address me as Ingrid.""No, I mean—wait, that’s not the point!"

  My initial estimate was around 1,500 zeni per scale (about 150,000 yen) and double that for bones—3,000 zeni (about 300,000 yen) each.

  This time, I had sent five scales (enough to make a small shield) and three bones (enough for a spear).

  Of course, other materials like wood and steel would be needed, but even this much would allow for some decent equipment.

  This house had even more materials than that, and I was even considering taking some to Ganji soon to have armor made.

  "What… is this?""As I mentioned earlier, this is the payment from His Grace for the swamp dragon materials.""Isn’t this… too much?""...Yes, it is slightly above market price.""Slightly?!""Indeed. Each scale was valued at 250,000 zeni, and each bone at 400,000 zeni. The average auction price is around 200,000 zeni per scale and 300,000 zeni per bone. Compared to that, this purchase price is somewhat higher. Is there a problem?"

  I had hoped for some upfront money, but who would’ve expected a heavy bag of gold coins to come rolling in?

  "No, wait—my brain’s still catching up to reality."

  Right now, I envied Amina’s innocence as she poked at the pile of gold coins with her wings, utterly amazed. Nel, who knew the value of gold, kept rubbing her eyes every time she looked at them.

  My estimated income had been 7,500 zeni for the scales and 9,000 zeni for the bones—a total of 16,500 zeni (about 1.65 million yen).

  "The total amount is 1,950,000 zeni."

  But reality? That was 195 million yen.

  Who could’ve imagined that swamp dragon materials would fetch roughly 120 times that amount?

  "Yeah, I can do the math. The problem is, I don’t understand the Duke’s intentions behind handing over this much. What, is he going to dump some troublesome task on me? If so, I’m returning this money immediately.""It’s likely that some of this includes his apology from the previous letter. But beyond that, it’s simply the payment for the materials.""He really didn’t need to worry so much about the bamboo spear incident. But then again, casually handing over this kind of money to a commoner is just what you’d expect from a ducal family."

  My wallet had suddenly swelled.

  No, "swelled" was an understatement.

  It was more like a fountain of wealth had sprung up.

  If the reason was simply an apology for losing the bamboo spear I had entrusted to them (which they were still searching for), then this felt like way too much.

  "Hmm… if there’s no ulterior motive, then this is a huge help. With this, maybe I can even aim for higher-tier skills?"

  Still, unexpected income was always welcome.

  The thought of drastically shortening my pnned progression chart made my heart race with excitement—

  "But… commoners can’t get into the royal capital’s auction house, huh?"

  —only to crash back down when faced with the reality that rare skill scrolls and materials were only avaible there.

  In the game era, the auction house was a staple sub-event, offering everything from rare skill scrolls to dungeon loot.

  The problem? In my current state, I’d either be turned away at the door or worse—thrown in jail by the guards.

  "You can enter.""Huh?""I said, it’s possible for you to participate in the auction."

  Just as I was resigning myself to buying scrolls from the skill shop, Ingrid’s voice slipped smoothly into my ears.

  "Seriously?!""Yes. My family may ck funds, but we have credibility. If I act as your guarantor, you can participate.""The Gryure family is amazing!!"

  In my head, I had been dreading the tedious event chain required to unlock the auction. But this? This was practically a cheat code.

  To put it into perspective, the fastest speedrun record for unlocking the auction in the game was five days and three hours—real time.

  And that was with full prior knowledge, optimized routing, and perfect preparation.

  The average pyer? About ten days.

  If Ingrid had existed in the game, she would’ve been worshipped as a goddess.

  Even I had taken nearly six days back then.

  I couldn’t help but shout my praise, and though Ingrid remained expressionless, I could swear there was a hint of smugness in her demeanor.

  "I’m gd to be of service.""Service? This is a game-changer! I’d given up because I cked the funds, but with this windfall? It’s my time to shine!""Haven’t seen you this excited since the swamp dragon.""True."

  Even her usual deadpan expression looked divine to me right now—probably because I was riding such a high.

  A legitimate payout and access to the auction?

  This was a golden opportunity to acquire skills I’d previously written off.

  My excitement was more than justified.

  "Phew… finally calmed down a bit.""That was quite the maniacal ughter.""Yeah, it was kinda scary. Like a vilin.""I was worried your jaw would dislocate.""Stop—getting called out like this is embarrassing!"

  Thanks to that momentary pse, I was now on the receiving end of some mildly concerned looks from the girls.

  "Anyway, with this money, we can get Nel’s axe skills, upgrade Amina’s alchemy tools, and even get Ingrid some new gear. Heh heh heh… Even after all that, we’ll still have plenty left. This is the best."

  No matter how much I tried to calm down, the mountain of gold before me was irresistible.

  "He’s ughing again.""So this is another side of him. I should take notes."

  As I counted off my shopping list on my fingers, my face kept breaking into a grin.

  "Here, Liberta. Your shopping list.""Thanks."

  Even though I’d just been muttering to myself, Nel neatly wrote down everything I wanted to buy.

  Having it all id out like this helped avoid oversights.

  "Still, the Duke’s generosity is insane. Who just hands this kind of money to a commoner?""A normal noble wouldn’t, that’s for sure.""Yeah, Liberta isn’t normal.""Indeed. Someone who sys dragons so effortlessly ciming to be ‘normal’ is a bit of a stretch."

  As I vowed to myself not to waste money and double-checked the list, the girls unanimously agreed that I was anything but ordinary.

  "Well, fair enough."

  Not normal.

  Being reborn as a child with an adult’s knowledge from another world already made me abnormal.

  And the fact that I was happily leveraging that knowledge in this world? That just cemented it.

  Calling myself "normal" would be easy, but I was self-aware enough to accept their assessment—meant in the best possible way.

  "For now, the immediate priorities are this and that. Let’s all head to the skill shop ter, then the alchemy store.""Sounds good. We’ve maxed out our levels and skill proficiencies, so getting new skills will be great.""I still need to work on my alchemy, so I’ll be busy with that.""Liberta-sama, aren’t you getting any new skills?""Of course I am. Scythe skills are top priority. With this much money, I can afford a little luxury, right?"

  Honestly, receiving this much from a noble already proved how abnormal I was.

  "Liberta-sama, when shall we depart?""Let’s go now. I’m curious about the skill scroll turnover at the shop too.""Understood. I’ll arrange for a carriage. We’ll need it to transport our purchases.""Please do."

  Until now, we’d always walked or used a cart for shopping. But this time, we could afford a carriage.

  Well, not a noble’s carriage—just a freight wagon.

  "Oh, right. Nel, Amina—anything you two want?""Want?""Yeah. We’ve bought combat gear and daily necessities, but nothing beyond that, right? We’ve got plenty of funds now, so if there’s anything you’ve been wanting, consider it my treat."

  With shopping pns set, it suddenly struck me—we’d never bought anything personal for them.

  Sure, we’d visited food stalls and markets, but never anything girly.

  Clothes, accessories—nothing like that.

  We’d bought leather armor and combat accessories, but…

  "Hmm… not really. Oh! Then let’s go buy Liberta some clothes!""Huh?""That’s a great idea. I don’t have anything I want right now, so let’s get you some new outfits. You always wear the same thing.""…?"

  Nel and Amina were girls their age. I’d assumed they’d be interested in fashion, so I’d mentally prepared myself to loosen the purse strings and py pack mule.

  Instead, the focus had somehow shifted to me.

  "I believe that’s an excellent idea. I, too, have been somewhat concerned about Liberta-sama’s ck of personal belongings. This is a good opportunity to expand your wardrobe.""Ingrid too? Wait, it’s not like my clothes are dirty or anything. I wash and rotate them properly!""That’s not the point.""Exactly. Liberta, you’re way too careless about anything non-adventure-reted.""Indeed. While you’re meticulous about equipment, your civilian attire gives off a ‘good enough’ vibe.""Wow, that harsh?"

  Was my personal life really that bad?

  Well, now that I thought about it, Nel and Amina always wore different outfits in their free time.

  As girls, they probably wanted to dress up. That made sense.

  But Ingrid? She’d been in her maid uniform ever since arriving here—I’d never even seen her in casual clothes.

  If even she was worried, just how terrible was my personal life?

  I looked down at my current outfit.

  Wrinkled? No.

  But old and made of stiff fabric.

  Clean, but questionable in taste.

  I’d gotten so used to the rough texture (nothing compared to Japanese fabrics) that I’d stopped caring.

  Brown pants, navy shirt.

  The epitome of loungewear.

  One of the few secondhand clothes I’d bought since coming to this world.

  Normally, I wore armor over it, so it hadn’t been noticeable.

  But now…

  "…Yeah, this is bad."

  Seeing myself objectively, I really had been neglectful.

  I wasn’t aiming for fashion, but this wasn’t fit to be seen around girls.

  "Alright, let’s go shopping.""Good. Where should we go?""The market?""Or perhaps the tailor on the main street?"

  Once I became aware of the issue, the desire to fix it came naturally.

  And the moment I showed enthusiasm, the girls somehow became even more motivated than me.

  Well, that was inevitable.

  My usual selection criteria were performance-based—defense, speed, skill bonuses.

  But this time, it was about appearance. Casual wear.

  That meant my usual drive for optimization was absent.

  Sure, I’d put in some effort after being called out, but I wouldn’t obsess over details.

  If anything, I’d prefer the quickest possible purchase to save time for skill scrolls.

  (Do mannequins even exist in this world?)

  I had no confidence in satisfying the girls’ shopping enthusiasm, so the best course was to let them take the lead and treat me like a dress-up doll.

  "Then let’s check the market first. If we don’t find anything, we’ll go to the tailor!""Yeah!""Understood."

  With that in mind, we set off for our shopping trip.