The way to make money in [Dungeon Log] was simple.
All you had to do was sell the countless spoils brought back from the labyrinth, including monster byproducts, at a shop, and that was it.
In reality, this sequence itself wasn't all that different from the game.
However, quite a lot of tedious steps were added on top of it.
"Just how long do we have to keep walking?!"
"We need to go a bit further."
First off, we had to walk there in person to visit the market, and the distance was considerable.
"Isn't that a shop over there too?! We can just sell it there!"
"They say if you sell at places like that, you won't get a fair price."
Still, it wasn't purely boring.
The Dwarf had mentioned arriving in the city a few days earlier than the Elf and me, and it seemed he had picked up a thing or two during that time.
Before long, our trip through the city was proceeding under the Dwarf's lead, which gave me time to follow quietly behind and take in our surroundings at my leisure.
"Yuta, you're awfully quiet today?"
"Because there's someone better at the job than me."
"Huh? Really...?"
The Elf asked back in surprise, but it was the truth.
Everything I knew about this world came solely from what I had learned through [Dungeon Log], and the game dealt almost exclusively with the labyrinth.
In the city, even I wasn't much different from that idiot Orc.
"I'm a labyrinth specialist."
The labyrinth is as familiar to me as my own studio apartment, after all.
Ah, not that being in there is comfortable, though.
"We're here. That's the entrance over there."
In any case, after walking for well over two hours, we finally arrived at the market entrance.
However, several more hurdles still awaited us—
"Here to sell spoils? Come on over! Sell 'em quick so you can go rest!"
"Twinkle Dog pelts, huh! We specialize in those! Bring 'em here!"
"This way!"
"Sell to us!"
From the moment we set foot in the market, touts swarmed us from all sides.
"These are low-grade at best. I'll take 'em for 15 gold a piece."
"Don't be ridiculous! Anyone can see these are in good condition, aren't they?!"
"Then how about 20 gold from here to here?"
"Down the street, they called these top-grade! Said we could easily get 30 gold for them!"
A haggling match we had to go through at every single shop we visited.
'What is this, a fish market?'
Only after repeating that exhausting process several times over did we finally arrive at a satisfactory result.
"Haa... This isn't something to do often, either."
"We spent over three hours just since getting here."
"Fighting Goblins was easier!"
In terms of having to burn through energy nonstop, I could definitely relate to that.
In the game, all of this had been handled instantly with a single click of the mouse.
Still, it was worth the grueling process.
'We made more than I thought.'
What we had sold were the Goblin and Twinkle Dog byproducts, along with the pieces of Raider gear we wouldn't be using.
Based on the game, my expected earnings had been roughly 10,000 gold.
Yet what sat in our hands right now was 12,024 gold on the dot.
If [Dungeon Log] had been made based on this place, you could say the game's prices had lowballing baked into them to some degree.
'You really can't trust anyone.'
Makes me wonder if it's some kind of message to stay sharp outside the labyrinth, too.
"Good work."
"This is the result we earned busting our asses for a whole week, isn't it? Couldn't handle it carelessly."
The proceeds from selling the spoils were split four ways, giving each of us 3,000 gold.
Since the Dwarf had gone through a ton of trouble during the haggling process, we decided to give the remaining 24 gold to him as his share.
"Three thousand gold! I am rich!"
"It's all money that's going right back out anyway."
"That is right! I will buy gear! A strong warrior uses strong gear!"
For the first time, the Orc gave the right answer.
That saying about a craftsman never blaming his tools is complete bullshit.
The more money an Explorer pours in, the stronger they get.
***
Having finished our first expedition and settled our spoils, we now had money.
Then what was the next thing we needed to do?
The answer was: 'Spend the money to raise our specs as much as possible.'
Granted, just like when we sold the byproducts, we had to pass through the gauntlet of touts and scammers this time as well.
What had improved, at least, was that in that short span of time, we had picked up a little trick of our own to overcome this trial.
"An axe! I want to see an axe!"
"Hoho, what a booming voice, just as befits an Orc. I thought a great warrior had visited our shop."
"I-is that so! Kuhaha! Human! You have a good eye!"
"On that note, how about this axe? It's far sturdier than ordinary iron. Just right for a born warrior like yourself."
"A warrior's weapon...! How much is it?!"
"Hm... How much do you have on you?"
"I have a whole 3,000 gold!"
"Then that won't do."
"Why not?!"
"This one goes for 5,000 gold. You're way short, aren't you?"
"I-it is that expensive?!"
"Hmm... Still, for a warrior like you, I could give you a discount. Right, I'll take just half. Give me 2,500 gold."
"Oooh! You are discounting it by that much?! You are a good human!"
"In return, earn a lot next time and pay me back."
"Understood! On my honor as a warrior...!"
Places right like this were the ones to filter out.
"Urka. Come out."
When we sent the guy who screamed idiot even among Orcs in first, spotting the scammers was pretty easy.
However, there was one problem with this method—
"Somehow, every single one of them is the same."
"Actually, wouldn't it be weirder not to scam Urka? Somehow, it feels like scamming people is just the norm in the market..."
"Does that make any sense to you?"
"But... literally every single shop without exception tried to scam him..."
"...Honestly, even if I were a shopkeeper, I'm not sure I could resist either."
With this method, every shop in the market ended up getting filtered out.
"There aren't even any shops left to check now."
"There are still a few left, though..."
"You said those places are obvious without even going in."
"Haa... Makes me wonder if we ought to try a market in a different district altogether."
While we were mulling that over, one side of an alley suddenly caught my eye.
At the very end of a dead-end corner, I could see something like a small wooden sign sticking out.
"There's something over there, too."
"Hmm...? There really is. Is it a shop?"
"Let's go check."
We stepped into the alley, and once we got close enough, the lettering carved into the small sign came into view.
[Snowing Dawn]
"Unusual name."
Given the local trend where most shops simply used their owner's name, that was certainly true.
Even to someone from Earth like me, that sounded more like a name for a tavern than a shop selling Explorer gear.
Through the cracked-open door, however, I could see all kinds of equipment systematically on display.
"Urka, go in."
We immediately ran our scammer test—
"How much is this axe?!"
"Three thousand gold. Doesn't look like a weapon that suits you, though. You... use that one."
"How much is that one?!"
"Five hundred gold."
At last, a successful result came back.
Following him in at a reasonable interval, we saw the owner give us an indifferent glance before turning his eyes right back to the book he had been reading.
"A lot of customers today, for once."
"Happened while we were avoiding exhausting bastards."
"Right, look around before you go. Speak up if you're buying."
"Will do."
The owner was an exceedingly indifferent man.
In fact, he didn't utter a single word after that, focusing solely on the book in his hands the entire time we picked out a full set of gear to wear from head to toe.
And the next time we heard his voice—
"Twenty-five hundred gold."
—was when we paid.
Honestly, I half-wondered if he wouldn't even bother with that, but he still did his job.
***
'Gear' for Explorers and ordinary 'clothing' were completely different.
Because even if it was cheap 9-Grade stuff, it had to possess a bare minimum of functionality to be classified as 'gear.'
In other words, we finally looked the part of proper 'Explorers.'
"Hmm... Did I get stronger?"
"Yeah. Explorers get stronger when they spend money."
"Oooh! Then do I no longer need to watch out for those invisible Goblins now?!"
"Not quite."
For that, you'd need to wear 8-Grade or higher; the point of 9-Grade gear was limited to preventing minor injuries like scratches or light nicks.
That was a bigger deal than it sounded, though.
They still wore expressions that said they didn't quite get it yet, but once they went back into the labyrinth and fought monsters later, they'd understand right away.
"Then is our schedule for today finished?"
"For now."
In truth, there was plenty to do in the city, but without money, there was nothing we could do.
Strictly speaking, since we had to re-enter the labyrinth in a week, managing our condition in the meantime would be important.
In the game, you just skipped past it and that was that, but I couldn't do that now.
"Then I'll head over to the training grounds."
The Dwarf seemed to have a schedule in mind already.
"The training grounds?"
"It's a place where you can get basic training. The best part is that it's free."
"You mean we can get stronger without paying money?! I will go too!"
"They teach you techniques there, right? I should go too."
Liking the sound of that, the other party members followed after the Dwarf.
Since it was a very solid call for them right now, I didn't stop them either.
"What about you, Yuta?"
"I'm good."
I decided to sit it out, though.
The training grounds were a facility I knew well enough, too; in the game, its function was basically practice for the controls and building familiarity.
Here, that would translate to stamina conditioning, basic combat drills, or weapon handling.
Naturally, learning it wouldn't hurt, but for 'Yuta,' who was already way past that level, there wasn't much point.
'There aren't any events or anything there, either.'
Having heard somewhere that hitting a scarecrow 10,000 times would raise your stats, I had once used the training grounds religiously, only to get nothing at all out of it, unfortunately.
If there had been even a single thing to gain, I would've been the first to suggest going.
"Then are you heading straight back, Yuta?"
"I'm thinking of looking around the city a bit more."
"Then we ought to meet back up here later."
"Let's meet at the market entrance at dawn."
After roughly coordinating our schedule, we parted ways right there.
Once I watched my party members disappear into the crowd, I turned my steps away.
'Where should I go first?'
I had told them I'd look around the city, but my real purpose was closer to an 'investigation.'
The labyrinth city, Cladis.
Because this place was starkly different from the 'city' in [Dungeon Log], and for me, it was a place I needed to pay that much more attention to.
In a sense, couldn't you call it Floor 0 of the labyrinth?
'Maybe the library is best for starters.'
Written records were better for systematic information gathering, after all.
As it happened, I had spotted a library building before arriving at the market.
In the end, however, sitting down to read books at the library never happened.
"The library usage fee is 10,000 gold per hour."
"...?"
"Both prepayment and postpayment are accepted, so you may pay whichever way is convenient for you."
Because unlike the modern world, where a library was treated like a summer rest stop to cool off, the library here was fucking expensive.
Since there was no library feature in the game to begin with, I had never even imagined it, but contrary to my common sense, a library here seemed to be a seriously high-end facility.
For the record, that 10,000-gold hourly fee was roughly equivalent to 10 million won in Korean prices.
'I do need to go somewhere, though...'
No suitable place came to mind.
It wasn't like I could hand out surveys on the street just because I was curious about this place.
...Wait, a survey?
'Why not?'
Ah, grabbing random passersby on the street to interrogate them would look pretty weird, sure.
Still, this place is no longer a game, and I can talk to people anywhere.
And when it comes to the place where people loosen up the easiest—
'Has to be a tavern.'
With that conclusion reached, my feet headed straight for a nearby tavern.
Since it was the middle of the night, the alley packed with taverns was blazing with a lively atmosphere at its peak.
"Good luck on tomorrow's expedition!"
"Ena came back late last night wasted, and fuck... Charles's ring came out of her pocket."
"Drink! Die! Pour! Uahahahaha!"
"Uhehehehe!"
"Hey, you son of a... you baaastard...!"
Walking down the middle of it, I found a decent-looking place and stepped inside.
And the very first thing that greeted me as soon as I walked in—
CRASH!
—was a chair flying right past my face.
"What the...?"
It didn't take much effort to figure out what was going on.
"A fight! It's a fight!"
"Who is it! Who!"
Two figures stood in the middle of the gathered crowd.
"You son of a bitch, what did you just say?"
A human man.
"Son of a bitch? You're just dying to croak today, aren't you?"
A black Dogfolk.
"Bets! Place your bets!"
"I'm putting 100 gold on the Dogfolk!"
"Two hundred gold on the human!"
Sweeping through the crowd, the bookie's basket soon reached right in front of me.
I hesitated briefly, then dropped money into the basket as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Five hundred gold on the Beastfolk."
A moment later, the bookie bellowed.
"Bets are closed! Fiiiight!!!"
Day 1 of city life.
A surprise event had begun.