Reincarnated in the game world ~ A gamer's beginning to [Dungeon job hunting recommendation]

Vol. 5 - Chapter 264 - Master-Planner Princess's Negotiation. Neverending Trembling of Zephyr's Heart

"Yes, it's about the request Phyllis-sensei passed to us, I wanted to hear about it in detail."

I replied to Dean's question and put the request's document on the table.

However, there wasn't a slight change in his expression when I quietly glanced at him.

"Is this the direct quest from the Dean to our guild, Eden?"

"No. It's a quest requested by another guild through the academy. The situation demands a quick resolution, so I thought Eden would be able to clear it."

I see requests made through the academy.

I had briefly discussed the use of QP and how a guild could request another guild.

However, when a request's scale is too large or it has been issued to several guilds, it is no longer within the range that a guild alone could manage it.

In cases where the guild was unsure what to do, it could instead use the academy's system to quickly issue a quest. The academy, on the other hand, would select the guild best suited to their information and pass it on to them.

It seems a high-ranking guild happened to be using the system this time due to the large-scale quest.

Furthermore, it is via the Dean quest.

Was it that important, or maybe they just needed to have it completed quickly? Is it one or the other? Or both?

"I see. It certainly is a request with only five days left before the deadline. But isn't it difficult to collect that much in just 5 days? Wouldn't it have been better to issue the quest to several guilds?"

The biggest issue with these quests was the short deadline to complete them.

It's possible if we use ‹Official Hidden Tactic - Boss's Farming› but conversely speaking, it's impossible otherwise.

Well, it's a guild-based problem.

In that case, wouldn't it have been much faster to issue the request to several guilds? Just like the large-scale quest Phyllis-sensei mentioned in the morning assembly.

I don't see any reason why it had to be left to a guild that's only composed of freshmen, and what's more, that guild happened to be something recently created.

Before proceeding, I needed to clarify why they didn't issue it on a large-quest basis. Our discussion wouldn't proceed anywhere.

"I see. Actually, I have issued the request to other guilds that have flutes. However, their dungeon is not the one Zephyr-kun has been asked to visit."

Oh, this is my first time hearing that.

"So that much is left even after passing it on to others?"

"That way, it must be easier for Zephyr to do, too, no?"

"!"

I understood everything from just this simple request.

They got me there once.

Dean knew that we, Eden, had some sort of method for defeating bosses multiple times and even increasing the drops.

On the basis of that, he's implying he will not meddle with whatever we're doing and acknowledging ‹Official Hidden Tactic›.

They haven't issued this demanding request because they wanted to probe us, but because they have admitted its existence and want our cooperation on this request.

In short, it could be said that they were at their wit's end about the request and thus decided to request Eden for it.

Even in the large-scale quest, the number of flutes might have become a bottleneck too.

They must have another guild with a flute on the run for a request, so they could only approach us.

I see. I'm quite thankful for that.

Honestly speaking, having ‹Official Hidden Tactic - Boss Farming› was almost a prerequisite if I wanted to aim for the top. It was something indispensable.

As a result, if the contest for boss on the deepest part began by spreading this method, it would be game over.

Though I couldn't confirm what Dean thought of the ‹Official Hidden Tactic - Boss Farming›.

Is this what they call the wisdom of age?

However, it could be seen that the harvest was quite plentiful.

On the other hand, I had more or less considered what I was going to do should Dean ask me to pass the information, but I didn't want to use that method if possible.

I'm glad my preparation was for naught.

"For now, I understand why you asked us. Also, thank you very much for considering our situation."

"Ho-Ho. Even the academy is a bit packed because of all sorts of discoveries and other reasons at present. There are some who want to collaborate with Eden too."

Was he implying that I shouldn't reveal any more explosive information?

Well, I understand the reason. The recent ruckus was just because the manifestation condition for a high-ranking job was discovered.

It appears that the Academy's management was also quite chaotic.

However, ‹Labyrinth Academy • Main School› was garnering fame from all sides thanks to that. The chasm between them and branch school was now evident, or rather, main school was now overwhelmingly in lead.

However I was a bit curious about the ‘at present’ part in his speech. Maybe he's asking me to pass more information once the situation calms down?

Hmm, I guess I will throw out some explosive information which doesn't affect us even if made public in that situation.

Then I just have to make sure the information is systematic rather than wondering about how to deal with information, which of course wasn't a problem for me.

I just hope they're ready for a tumultuous situation again when I pick up another small amount of information to pass out.

Don't look down on the knowledge of ‹Dungeon Activity› players. They're not only limited to just the ‹Official Hidden Tactic›.

Anyway, I received the answer to what I wanted to hear the most.

Now is the time to haggle over the price.

"Also, the reward is ‹20,000QP› but that's a bit low given the work we have to do. It has to be at least ‹30,000QP›."

If I were to be honest, I wanted to increase the reward amount by a bit even though I was internally content. I just wanted to try this.

This would have been an incredible bargain in the time of ‹Dungeon Activity›.

The magnitude of these points was such that I wasn't sure how many days and how many quests we would have to take to earn that much, especially at E-rank.

That's why I gave a bit of an overinflated price and was hoping it would be nice if I could at least make it to 25,000QP by negotiating. I was seriously considering that.

However, this was real ‹Dungeon Activity›.

There were people who objected to my wild idea too.

It was Rina who was silently looking at the situation while sitting next to me.

"Zephyr-san, forgive me, but you're still too kind on such matters."

"Wha?, Rina?"

"Zephyr-san, if possible, can you let me handle this negotiation? I'm sure to not incur any loss."

I was stunned. The price I thought was exceptional was easily dismissed as nothing more than a loss. She even said I'm going easy. Huh? Did I miscalculate something?

Let's go over it once again. The reward is 20,000QP. If it had been game time, I would have accepted this request without question and at face value.

But according to Rina, it was a losing business.

I see, I didn't get it at all!

What? She wants to fish for more reward? Didn't I just say 30,000QP? Was it really fine to increase it?

I hurled such gaze at Rina but it seemed like she misunderstand the meaning and instead said,

"It's alright. I have been taught by my father on how to handle this sort of negotiations. Please leave it to me."

She said it confidently. It seems she's going to ask for more.

Oh, so that was fine.

"Hn, then I'm leaving it to you, please do so."

"Yes, just leave it to me! I will do my best."

And so, the seat for negotiations was transferred to Rina.

I think Rina should be able to negotiate since she had already asked me about the aforementioned gathering of ‹Electric Bear-cum-Squirrel› materials on our way to the Dean's office.

Rina then turns to face Dean.

"Dean, we can't accept this request unless the amount at least has to be 40,000QP and including ‹Flute›, all the costs for necessary items like recovery have to be borne by you."

I shuddered internally.

Really? Was she serious? All the costs for recovery items, etc., were paid by students from their own pockets in the game.

I had never heard of a case asking Dean to shoulder the expense.

However, Rina's negotiation continued, regardless of how much I was shivering inside.

"It would also be a challenge for us to make it on time if we didn't have the support of engineers. Furthermore, the amount of flute we have might not be enough to achieve that much volume. We would like to request an advance payment from the reward to procure the necessary number of flutes."

She's even going to ask for payment for the flutes too?

It was now worrying me that my legs might reveal how much I was shuddering.

"Hmm? Even with this, the amount has increased by a margin. It also pertains to the reward for other guilds. It would be hard to increase the reward just for Eden. Besides, the flute... "

"But that's just proportional to the amount of material we have to gather. I think it wouldn't be a problem to give Eden a bit more preferential treatment given how Eden has much more responsibility than other guilds. Just 20,000QP isn't enough for Eden to push themselves so hard."

Dean grimaced, but Rina's momentum was unstoppable.

"To begin with, just the time limit of five days in itself is the biggest challenge. But of course, Eden can achieve that impossibility. Isn't it so, Zephyr-san?"

"Ohh! Of courze."

I spoke out in a strange manner when the baton of discussion suddenly passed to me.

I was worried that my voice was shaky.

"Dean, if you agree to this request, I promise we will absolutely be able to achieve it. What do you think?"

"...hmm. I understand, I will relent on this. However, we will reward you for one flute, while two flutes will be loaned to you. That's the best the academy can do."

And finally, Dean caved in!

My mental state was at its peak from the trembling.

"Thank you very much. Also, how about you also take the extra materials that would be left? I will consider delivering them to the academy depending on the QP or Mir."

That wasn't the end of it!?

Rina seemed to be in the mood to push the benefit to its maximum. She was even asking for too much money.

"Fufufu. Very well. Most likely, extra materials would be welcome for that guild too. But just in case you can sell them to the academy, we wouldn't mind having extra materials delivered to us. As for QP, how about this much?"

Dean quickly noted down the assessed value on the memo pad and showed it to Rina, but she shook her head.

"That's low. Dean should be well aware that we have to fight the rare boss at least 30 times to gather the stipulated amount. Now, when we consider the short time frame and the amount of effort required, I believe it should be around that much.

Rina added a newly assessed part. All I could do was silently shiver. It was most likely another huge sum.

"I see. It would be a loss for the academy to accept too much QP, even if you brought in too much. Remember, this is at best the excess amount that exceeded the stipulated amount. This much…”

"Alright, that's acceptable. So we will accept it."

With the negotiation, there was a drastic but amazing change in the amount of QP reward.

Well, marching for the rare boss farming was quite motivating. But I wonder why I couldn't honestly rejoice at this fact.

They also decided on other minor things, and the rewards for ‹Mechanical Carriage› too were changed to ‹78,000QP›. It was ‹30,000QP› in the beginning, but now it is ‹78,000QP›.

There was also a request for further support regarding carriage. My heart was throbbing and shivering equally. What the hell is with this QP amount? I know it's expensive, but...

Rina questioned whether it was okay for me to deliver the carriage, but delivering a single carriage was not a problem for me.

After all, we have the recipe. There's no problem since it's not public.

Besides, it would be the Eden who would break through the staggered state of advanced dungeons first, no matter what.

It doesn't matter how much another guild uses the carriage; they would still need to spend time leveling either way without the ‹Official Hidden Tactic - Boss Farming›. Well, it's not a problem for us. Rather, I was rooting for them to do their best.

We were told to redesign the carriage so that it would be fitting for someone like royalty to ride on; I will have to remind Gant-senpai about this. It would be Gant-senpai's original design to remodel it for royalty purposes, so it's necessary to request it from Gant-senpai again.

Wait, did Gant-senpai give our carriage its original decoration in anticipation of that?

If that's true, Gant-senpai's scheme was fearsome.

After sorting out everything and whatever we had to confirm, our discussion with the Dean was thus over, and so we excused ourselves from Dean's office.

"Dean, please pass our message; we're cheering them on for their advanced dungeon exploration."

"! Fufu. Thank you."

It was obvious in which case another guild would need such a huge amount of material; it must be to create the thunder attribute weapon and armor, that too, for a large group.

Their goals are limited if they're desperately gathering so many materials.

I intentionally said that to confirm my guess, and it seemed I was spot on.