[6 Days Later]

"So, how did today's transaction go?"

As Rey sat on his bed, he gazed at Noah—his trusty agent—and the Spatial Ring that sat on his outstretched hand.

They were currently in Rey's room, and business was the topic of discourse.

"It went the same as usual. They sold at the usual rate. It doesn't seem like the value has gone down at all…"

As Noah elaborated on the details of the day's trade, Rey took the Spatial Ring and poured out its content.

'Looks like all the cash is here…' His thoughts trailed as he opened the sack of coins and counted the platinum pieces.

Every day, for the past six days, Noah had been selling Monster Cores to the Black Market and bringing Rey the revenue.

He didn't take anything out of the pieces and waited tor Rey to give him his share per the agreement.

'350 Monster Cores equal 2,450 Gold Coins, which is 24.5 Platinum Coins. It's all here…'

24 Platinum Coins and 50 Gold Coins sat at Rey's feet, and he was practically unbothered about it.

Perhaps this was because he had other things on his mind.

"As agreed upon, you'll be taking 10 percent from it."

That was practically 2.45 Platinum Coins.

Rey took out 22 Platinum Coins and placed it in another pouch that he got from his Subspace.

He threw the pouch of 2 Platinum and 50 Coins to Noah, who caught it with relative ease.

"Thanks, boss!"

Rey smiled and gave a light shrug.

'So far, it doesn't seem like Noah has any intention to betray me. Since he can earn a stable source of income like this just by being my errand boy, it's not a bad deal…'

Rey realized that he didn't know everything, and that it was possible for Noah to be lying about the actual price of the Monster Cores.

For all he knew, they could have increased in value and Noah wouldn't say anything.

'But that's also fine. I won't press on a matter that I'm not certain about.'

He doubted that was the case, though.

'I should find a way to get myself a Truthseeker, though. Or maybe some kind of Skill that lets me read minds and discern the truth.'

They felt like some of his skepticism and overthinking might vanish if he had such an ability.

"Tomorrow is the day, huh? When we finally head for the Royal Dungeon…" Noah broke through Rey's thoughts with his comments.

"Yup!"

"Tell me… how is it? Is it really as dangerous as we've been told?"

Rey had told Noah that he had gotten the Monster Cores from the Royal Dungeon, but he never specified anything or gave details.

It was to reduce Noah's increasing curiosity, but Rey was careful not to overdo it.

But now…

"It's not going to be very dangerous. We have Brutus and Lucielle as chaperones. We'll be fine…"

Even though Rey said this, he had a darkened expression on his face.

It was a look or worry.

Rey knew the strongest in the kingdom wouldn't have a problem with any of the creatures he had fought so far.

That wasn't the reason behind his anxiety.

It was something else…

'The investigation is yet to be concluded, and while I'll be heading for the Dungeon alongside everyone else, I'm sure tons of eyes will be on me.'

How was he going to kill all his Hobs and gather as many Monster Cores as he could?

'I know it's impossible to have everything, and the Nation could probably benefit from harvesting that amount of Cores, but… I want my share!'

Rather than relieved by the thought of a struggling nation finally abundant resources for itself, the opposite was the case.

Rey was more worried about the United Human Alliance getting their hands on the heaps of Monster Cores in the Hobgoblin Den.

'If they harvest them in such large amounts, it'll cause an influx of Grade 6 Monster Cores in the market…'

That would render his business obsolete.

'Scarcity gives value to any commodity. I won't be surprised if the value drops to 1 Gold Coin per piece.

That would be a big loss for him.

'Argh! This is so frustrating! I should have gotten out of this hellhole by now! What is Adonis doing?'

Rey knew it was unfair to blame Adonis for all this.

The guy was currently under a lot of pressure from both his classmates and the Nation to perform flawlessly in the expedition tomorrow.

Rey heard he had been training non-stop for weeks now.

'I should cut him some slack…'

Right now, Rey had no plan. He could only wait until tomorrow and play things by ear.

"Well, you should probably be on your way." Rey sighed, making a slight wave that was reminiscent of a 'shoo, shoo' sign.

Noah didn't take any offense, though. In fact, he had the exact opposite reaction.

A knowing grin spread across his face as he stared at Rey.

"I guess you don't want Alicia to catch me hanging around here again…"

"Shut up, Noah!" Rey snapped, but not in an angry fashion.

He too was smiling.

For the six days that Rey was on house arrest, he couldn't go to the Library, so Alicia often came over with tons of books for the both of them to read.

… In his room!

Yes, Alicia White had turned Rey's room into their new reading spot. They would spend hours every day silently turning pages and feeding their brains with information while enjoying each other's company.

They rarely spoke, though it was unavoidable at times.

'She's probably doing this to make me feel better…' Rey smiled to himself as he remembered the first time she showed up in front of his room door with a pile of books.

Rey didn't even know they could borrow books from the Library, so he was shocked to see her with so many of them.

After he helped her with the books, and she entered his room for the first time, she explained herself.

Apparently, she indeed felt bad for him.

"I-I just thought you might miss the books, so I decided to bring some over for you!"

She was actually going to leave after dropping them off. However, Rey changed all of that when he thoughtlessly spouted a suggestion.

"Would you like to stay and read with me?"

Till date, he didn't know what came over him at that moment.

What could have prompted him to ask such an absurd question? It was so evident that she would refuse—any girl would!

But, strangely enough, Alicia didn't.

"Fine. I guess it beats staying alone in the library…"

And that was how their time together began.

It was a weird—no, incredibly strange—arrangement, but it worked perfectly well.

Rey enjoyed himself, and he was able to read a lot more than he normally would.

Perhaps that was because Alicia was with him.

"Do you guys really finish all those books in one day?" Noah's voice interrupted Rey's thoughts.

The latter smiled as he crashed on his bed.

"That's how it works, buddy."

A person was only allowed to borrow ten books per day. As a result, Alicia brought ten books every day to Rey's room for them to consume.

They always finished ten of them in a single day.

Once Rey was done with a book that Alicia hadn't read, they would swap. It was a crazy process that was filled with more immersion in books than actual conversation.

It was only after both were done reading that she would leave.

… And return the next day.

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Thanks for reading!