As usual, she’s like a storm.

  She properly apologized, handed over a gift of apology, and then quickly left once her business was done.

  "It’s unheard of for someone from a ducal house to personally come and apologize, let alone offer such a rge sum of money..." "Is that so?"

  After seeing Lady Esmeralda off, I looked at the magic bag left in my hands. Just receiving this item alone would already be abnormal, but on top of that, it was filled with a fortune.

  Since keeping such a rge sum inside it felt dangerous, I had just finished storing it in this house’s hidden vault.

  "What’s a noble’s apology usually like?" "To a house of higher standing, like the royal family, they would personally visit and offer their apologies. For equals, they negotiate and discuss how to settle the matter. For those of lower standing, at best, they’d send a letter of apology—at worst, they’d cover it up." "What about commoners?" "They wouldn’t even acknowledge them in the first pce. If they get in the way, they eliminate them. That’s what nobles are."

  I understood that for a noble to personally visit and apologize to commoners, even briefly, was an extremely unusual occurrence.

  "We’re supposed to meet next weekend, but I wonder if it’ll be okay..." "I don’t think there’s any need to worry, but it’s best to stay cautious." "Yeah, you’re right. Sigh… I wonder if I’ll be ready to reach Css 3 by then."

  An apology that could even be called excessive toward commoners like us, followed by a notice of a summons. At this point, it’d be stranger *not* to think something’s up—the fgs are practically waving themselves.

  "If it’s just leveling up, shouldn’t it be over quickly?" "I need to unlock skill slots too. Especially Nel—she has to upgrade either her spear or axe. I’d also like to upgrade my spear if possible."

  I suspect it’s probably some request reted to another hostile ducal house, but if I accept, I’ll likely get dragged deeper into their mess.

  The only means I can think of to counter them is to strengthen my combat abilities.

  "Well, we can decide that ter today. Where’s Nel and the others?" "They’re upstairs. They sensed Lady Esmeralda’s arrival and hid up there." "It’s good they’re cautious. Nothing good comes from getting involved with nobles." "I’m a noble too, though." "Ingrid, you’re practically family now. Exception, exception."

  Unlike in games, this world doesn’t have convenient features like logging out to cut ties. Letting out a sigh, I headed to the warehouse, reminding myself to maintain minimal retions while being careful not to get too involved.

  I don’t believe I have the ability to negotiate with nobles as equals. I’m just a humble gamer.

  The only thing I have an advantage in, compared to others in this world, is game-reted knowledge. In everything else, I’m just an ordinary person.

  That’s probably why I’m stuck in this awkward middle ground, attracting troublesome situations.

  Despite saying I don’t want to get involved with nobles, here I am keeping Ingrid by my side. From an outsider’s perspective, it’d be fair to call it a double standard.

  "Alright then, let’s set aside the unpleasant stuff for now and get to unboxing the treasures."

  Thinking that, I opened the warehouse door and approached the ancient weapons I acquired at the auction. I need a little reward for myself before dealing with the unpleasant things.

  *Don’t call it escapism*, I muttered in my heart, making excuses to no one in particur as I picked up one of the ancient weapons from the shelf and pced it on the warehouse table.

  "May I observe?" "Sure. Actually, could you go call Nel and the others while I set things up?" "Understood."

  I don’t know what skills are embedded inside. It’s completely random.

  And that randomness is what excites me. Ahh, gacha is a wonderful thing.

  The thrill before the reveal is just irresistible.

  The preparation for unsealing the ancient weapons is simple.

  Pce the ancient weapon on the table, then y a transfer paper I just bought from the alchemy shop on top of it.

  I lined up the sword-like, bow-like, axe-like, helmet-like, and shield-like items in order.

  Once the transfer paper is applied, the unsealing process can begin immediately.

  "Liberta-sama, I’ve brought everyone." "Did Esmeralda already leave?" "Yeah, she seemed to have business. This time, it smells like trouble again."

  The preparation took only minutes, and Ingrid didn’t take long to bring the other two. Seeing Amina cautiously scanning the area after hearing about Lady Esmeralda’s visit reminded me that nobles are indeed figures commoners should be wary of.

  Nel was practically sniffing the air in suspicion.

  "I hope it’s nothing dangerous..." "That’s all we can wish for. Now then! Let’s shelve the unpleasant talk. It’s time for fun!"

  I needed to ease their tension. Cpping my hands once, I tried to shift the mood.

  "Let’s go! The Unsealing Ceremony!!"

  Forcing my enthusiasm, I drew attention to the auction items on the table.

  "You call it an 'Unsealing Ceremony,' but can you really extract skills from these rusty things?" "You can—if they’re genuine ancient weapons. If they’re just regur weapons left to rust, then they’re just scrap metal."

  Answering Amina’s skeptical question, I grabbed a transfer paper, ready to prove it.

  "Alright, let’s start with the sword."

  As I mentioned during the auction, the skills embedded in ancient weapons aren’t necessarily reted to the weapon’s form.

  Just because it’s shaped like a sword doesn’t mean it’ll have sword-reted skills.

  "Please, please, give me a guaranteed performance!"

  Gently unsealing the transfer paper, I pressed it against the ancient weapon.

  This should work, just like in the game.

  "Ah, it’s glowing." "It’s pretty." "It’s a white light." "Gaaaaah—!! White!?"

  My actions at the auction and my appraisal eyes that recognized this as an ancient weapon weren’t wrong.

  The transfer paper absorbed the skill from the ancient weapon, transforming into a skill scroll. Meanwhile, the ancient weapon crumbled into sand, leaving only a small pile behind.

  "Wh-what’s wrong, Liberta? Is white light bad?" "Did you fail to extract the skill?" "No, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Liberta-sama is holding a skill scroll."

  They were more startled by my scream than the phenomenon itself. Honestly, my bad.

  But each of these cost 8,000 zeni. That’s 800,000 yen in Japanese money.

  I know the odds are low, but you can’t bme me for screaming.

  "Sorry, I just yelled because the first one was white." "Is white bad?" "I don’t *want* to say it’s bad, but... yeah, it’s a dud. Here."

  Gncing at the skill scroll in my hand, it was, as expected, useless.

  "Uh… a pedometer skill?" "What’s this?" "It’s a joke skill that just counts your steps. Maybe someone struggling with health could use it."

  I remember it being one of the meme skills in FBO—some meme-build guy used it as part of a "health build."

  There was also someone who used it to measure exact distances on the map.

  But there were proper cartography skills, and even status resistance skills that outcssed it completely. This thing is so niche it’s practically worthless.

  "How much could we sell it for?" "Ten zeni would be lucky."

  Its applications are just too limited.

  "Ten zeni… from 8,000 zeni to ten zeni."

  Hearing the drastic loss, Nel looked horrified.

  "By the way, the transfer paper costs 30 zeni, so that’s a net loss of 8,020 zeni." "That’s a huge loss!?" "But in exchange, there’s *romance*! ROMANCE!!" "Calm down, Liberta. It’s not too te. Let’s take the remaining items back to the auction." "Wait! Seriously, wait!! If we just get a rainbow—just *one* rainbow—we’ll break even!!"

  Seeing an 800,000-yen item instantly drop to less than 1,000 yen would rattle anyone. I understood why Nel panicked and wanted to cut our losses.

  "This was just bad luck! The chance of white light is 50%. That means there’s a 50% chance of getting something better next time!! Then we’ll get a proper skill scroll!" "...You’re not lying, right?" "I’m not! So please, don’t take these back to auction."

  I somehow managed to convince Nel, who was seriously about to confiscate the ancient weapons.

  If the remaining weapons *only* give white light, I’ll never be allowed to buy ancient weapons again.

  "If it’s probability, does that mean each light color has a set rate?" "Yeah, there are five colors in total. The most common is white, which, as I said, is 50%. Next is blue at 30%, then red at 15%."

  Ingrid smoothly steered the conversation away from re-auctioning, which I really appreciated.

  "White is mostly useless, but very rarely, there are skills that can be situationally useful. Blue gives decent skills—stuff like passive sword techniques. Red gives skills that are must-haves for builds. For example, there’s an axe skill called *Kongouhadan*—high efficiency, high power—that can drop from these."

  I seized the chance to restore the ancient weapons’ honor. At 30%, blue should appear once every three or four attempts. At 15%, red should appear once every six or seven.

  "..." "By the way, gold light is next at about 5%. If you get this, it’s a guaranteed win—skills that are must-haves if they fit your build."

  They were still skeptical, but at least they were listening.

  "And finally, rainbow! This has a ridiculous 0.03% chance, but if it appears, it’s worth celebrating. Rainbow skills are all incredibly powerful and versatile. One of the best singing skills Amina could learn comes from this." "Eh, a skill for me?" "Yeah, *Ten no Koe*—Heaven’s Voice. It’s a broken skill that amplifies singing effects separately from regur singing skills. With this, a busy-type idol’s performance skyrockets. The only downside? The only way to get it is from rainbow-tier ancient weapons."

  I took the opportunity to win Amina over. Right now, I’m like a dad desperately justifying his gambling losses to his family.

  To secure future budgets from our party’s finance manager, I need all the allies I can get.

  So, I name-dropped a skill Amina would find appealing.

  "Heaven’s Voice… sounds amazing!!" "It *is* amazing. Builds that compromise with other skills look pitiful in comparison." "It can really drop!?" "Yeah, the odds are low, but it’s confirmed."

  *In the game*, I mentally added, hiding the truth. But I succeeded in catching Amina’s interest.

  "Well, if skills *that* amazing can drop, I guess it’s fine." "Indeed. The funds used to purchase these were earned through Liberta-sama’s ideas, so there’s no issue." "But I’ll still y down the w. If all of these fail, you can’t just pour all our earnings into ancient weapons again, okay?" "Yes, so as long as Nel-sama keeps control of the purse strings, it should be fine. However, suppressing Liberta-sama’s knowledge entirely would also be unwise."

  Thanks to that, Nel relented, and Ingrid found a compromise. As someone who once blew in-game fortunes on ancient weapons chasing a single skill, Nel’s concerns hit close to home—but she’s right.

  "I’m sorry, Liberta. I was wrong." "No, your worries are valid. I’ll try not to go overboard."

  Having someone to rein me in is actually reassuring. From a financial standpoint, *I’m* the weird one for being willing to burn 800,000 yen like this.

  "Alright, let’s reset and move on to the next unsealing!"

  Feeling reassured by the presence of a safety net, I grabbed another transfer paper and pressed it against the bow-like weapon.

  Last time was white.

  With a 50% chance of something better, this time for sure!!

  "White." "White again." "It’s white."

  The fleeting glow of white light. Seeing it, I suddenly remembered.

  Oh yeah… my real-life luck in this world isn’t great.