The Dreamer's POV

[00 Months: 17 Days: 12 Hours]

"M-money...?" I muttered.

Lucy Fer seemed to be serious when she looked at me with her gem-like eyes, but I couldn't help but be taken aback by her request.

"What do you mean? You're... broke?" I asked, my eyes fixed on her squeezed face.

"Urgh! Must I spell it out for you? I spent most of my Currency getting my new ring. I couldn't resist the urge, and the discount was also nice too!"

I could see her pout as she folded her arms while looking at me greedily.

'Haha... so she must have the <Spendthrift> Title, just like me.'

It made sense that she would, considering how much she pushed me to spend my Currency in order to buy more equipment and Skills.

"It's a good deal, if I do say so myself. Or should we just forget about it?"

"No, no. I completely understand!" I swiftly yelled, my arms flailing in the air.

"Haha! You better, sleepyhead."

This girl... sometimes she was downright scary, but at instances like this, she felt nothing short of cute.

Plus, was it just me, or was she... much shorter than I remembered.

No, it wasn't that she was shorter at all. I think... I was the one who had become much taller than before.

Looking down as I stared at her made me recognize that even more.

"So, how much are we talking about?" I asked, releasing all the breath I had been holding in for some time.

"Hmm... Let's see."

Lucy Fer rubbed her chin and looked at the barely moving monsters who hung on her spiky red pillars.

I could tell that she was carefully scrutinizing them.

"Since I like you so much, Sleepyhead, I'll sell each one to you for 500 Currency." She finally posited, one hand on her hip, and the other pointed at me.

"The dragon will have to be 1,000 Currency. That makes a total of 7,000 Currency!"

My jaws nearly dropped as I heard her exorbitant price.

7,000 Currency? What in the world? I didn't have that kind of money! She could see my Status Window, so she should have already known about that.

'H-hold on... what am I thinking? I have more than enough money from what was plundered earlier, don't I?'

Yeah! I was practically a billionaire at this point.

I didn't check all the sacs, but from the ones I did, there were a lot of them chock-full of Currency.

In essence... I could pay her 7,000 very easily.

"Hmph. Very well. Don't back out of the deal, okay?" I smirked, feeling the advantage suddenly shift to my favor.

'Hehe! She's gonna lose out on this deal in the end!'

Somehow I felt good—no, great—with that assumption.

"Oh? You actually have that amount? Perfect! No backing out, okay?"

She took the words right out of my mouth.

"One sec."

I activated my <Personal Space+ (Custom)> Window Interface, tapping one of the icons that contained a Sac that was chuck full of Currency.

~FWUUSH~

Just like clockwork, the sac materialized in front of me, and I held it by the mouth with pride, my grin widening.

"Hm? What's this?" Lucy Fer looked at me, and then at the sac with a confused expression.

"What do you mean? I'm paying you. You said 7,000 Currency, right? Well then—"

"Are you paying me with Native Currency?"

"Yeah? What of it?" I chuckled, opening the money bag to see the goodies locked inside.

Just this single bag would be enough to get me so many good equipment when I wanted to evolve.

"You realize that Native Currency is unrecognized by the System, right?" Lucy's words interrupted my sublime thoughts.

For a moment, my brain shut down. My perception of reality ceased to function, and my body grew so rigid that one would think I was a statue.

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"W-what did you... just say?" My words came out as a croak, barely audible.

"I mean, we can use our Currency to transact with the Natives here, but we can't use their Currency to buy stuff in the System. That means our Currency can't be gotten from anywhere but the System or fellow Survivors."

"E-eh...?" More croaking escaped my lips.

"You think I wouldn't have just robbed someone and gotten their Currency if I wanted Native money? This guy... you're hilarious."

What in the world? So Native Currency was useless by System standards?

If so, then... what in the world did I struggle for all this time?

I thought I would be rewarded and using that Currency, I would be able to buy lots of great things within the Shop.

If none of the Currency here could be used for that, my efforts—whether in plundering this place, or helping the Lyma Family—were in vain.

"Argh! My Holy Elixers! Arghhh! Nooooo!!!" I tightly clutched my hair and screamed in regret.

Why me? This wasn't fair! After everything I went through, I at least thought that the silver lining of all my hardship would be that I received so much Currency.

And yet... yet...

"H-hold on. The Invaders took the Currency as valuables, right? That means it's useful for something!" I swiftly spoke, hoping that Lucy Fer was wrong.

"I mean, you can use the Currency to transact with natives, so it's still useful. You can buy this world's equipment, and you can also get a lot with it. It's not particularly useless, but... it's not something I find valuable."

Looking at Lucy Fer's eyes, I could tell that she was definitely not going to collect the Native Currency I had on me.

"W-what if I can't pay you?" I asked, hoping that she would show me mercy.

I mean, she did allow me to take the spoils when we last saw each other in the Dungeon of Stone.

Plus, she was nice enough to make this offer. Maybe her liking me would play a big role in this.

"If you can't pay me, I'll take the reward for myself, Sleepyhead. There's only so much I can do for you, you know?"

... As expected, my luck never seemed to be good when it counted the most.

"I could at least gain one or two Levels if I killed them, you know? Plus, I'm sure they'll drop Items, so I could just take the Items and sell them in the <Shop> for money."

She made so many solid points. In fact, she was already going to experience enough loss by making me have the last kill.

"You need this more than I need your Currency, you know?" Lucy Fer's last words hammered in the cold reality to me.

I couldn't deny it.

"T-then..." I whispered, feeling my entire body tense as a result of desperation.

I didn't have enough Currency to pay her. However, this was an opportunity I couldn't pass up no matter what.

In the end, I had to make a very difficult decision.

"... Can we make another arrangement? I promise, you won't regret it."

No matter what it took, I had to make use of this chance.

It was the best way to get stronger!

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[A/N]

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