I Was Kidnapped By The Strongest Guild
Chapter 261: Father's Heart

Jung Yu-na would make magic arrows from the mana stones I brought back.

Compressing the mana stones could produce even stronger arrows.

The price of a single arrow I fired at the swamp rats was 100,000 won.

In reality, they were much more expensive, but Jung Yu-na only charged me for the mana stone materials when making arrows for me.

This was the result of my insistence that she at least accept payment for the mana stones, even though she had offered to make them for free.

'I used up all the ones I brought...'

I carried five lightning arrows with me.

That meant I'd spent a total of 500,000 won on hunting.

And for all that, we got one swamp rat mana stone.

"This isn't good..."

Bubble bubble-

I stared helplessly at the bubbling swamp.

I knew there were plenty of mana stones below the surface, but I had no way to retrieve them.

I'd drown the moment I entered the swamp.

Today's hunt was a massive failure.

I'd heard this happens to adventurers sometimes, but experiencing it firsthand was utterly devastating.

"My lightning arrows..."

Thud-

I flopped onto the ground, spread-eagled.

Unlike the sticky swamp, the sky was bright and clear.

We'd dealt with all the nearby monsters, after all.

Maybe I'll just lie here for a bit.

Thump thump-

I pounded the dirt floor with my fists, as if throwing a tantrum.

Gaeul approached me.

"Squeak squeak."

Gaeul was holding a rat in her mouth.

It was our only gain.

"We only caught one, huh."

At my dispirited words, Gaeul smiled.

She was wagging her tail furiously, seemingly delighted for some reason.

"Excited! Excited!"

"You're excited?"

"Good!"

"Y-yeah..."

Looks like Gaeul had fun.

There was no need to spread my negative emotions to the happy Gaeul.

Though I was still upset, I forced a nonchalant expression.

"Shall we head back for today?"

"Like."

We left the dungeon carrying the swamp rat.

Gaeul hugged the swamp rat to her chest as if it were a precious object.

We sold the swamp rat's corpse whole to a nearby merchant.

I wondered what they'd use it for, but apparently it was used as research material for magic.

"Bleh bleh."

Gaeul said as she put down the swamp rat in front of the merchant.

The merchant's eyes widened at her provocative gesture of sticking out her tongue slightly.

"Bleh?"

"She says swamp rats don't taste good."

"Ah, right. The taste is awful."

He reached under the desk.

After some rustling, he pulled out two ball-shaped candies.

"These will taste good."

Complimentary candy.

I guess it's okay to accept this much in exchange for selling the rat.

I politely received the candy with both hands.

"Thank you."

"Sure, good work."

"Yes."

After exchanging brief greetings with the merchant, we returned home.

I gave all the candy to Gaeul.

"King! King!"

Levinas greeted us as if she'd been waiting.

Saebyeok also staggered towards us.

It looked like she'd just been sleeping.

"King, did you catch a lot today too?"

"About that..."

Today's loss was obvious to anyone.

As I hesitated to speak, Gaeul moved first.

"This."

Gaeul held out the ball-shaped candy she'd received from the merchant.

She placed the unwrapped candy on the table and started tapping it with a stainless steel cup.

Crack crack-

The candy shattered into several pieces.

Gaeul picked up the smallest piece and ate it.

"Yummy."

Smiling, Gaeul offered us the candy pieces.

It seemed she'd broken it into small pieces to share the insufficient candy.

"! You're giving some to Levinas too!"

Levinas ate the next smallest piece.

Then Saebyeok took the next smallest piece.

I was proud of the children for being so considerate, even with a small piece of candy.

"I'll have one too."

As I reached for a candy piece in Gaeul's hand, a high-end flyer on the table caught my eye.

Weapons, armor, consumables, and so on.

It announced the opening of a new store selling adventurer equipment.

The location was quite close to the guild building.

You could say it was right next door.

'Looks like that building they were constructing nearby.'

I thought the building was getting taller, but it turned out to be a store for adventurers.

As an adventurer, I couldn't help but be interested.

I should visit the store in the afternoon.

I wonder if I can replenish the arrows I used.

I considered my financial situation.

I might be able to buy a few arrows.

Newly opened stores often have sales, after all.

---

---

I entered the adventurer store with the children.

It was a large store about the size of a five-story hypermarket.

"Wow..."

The interior was quite luxurious.

Many non-adventurers were browsing around too.

"King, King."

Rattle-

Levinas approached, pulling something.

It was a cart often seen in the food section.

Saebyeok and Gaeul were inside the cart, and thanks to their small size, there was still empty space.

"King, get in too!"

"Uh, won't we get in trouble if I get in...?"

I looked around.

People and staff were watching us with warm smiles.

The atmosphere didn't seem angry at all.

"Levinas asked earlier and they said it's okay!"

"R-really?"

"Yeah! They just said to be careful!"

So it's okay for children to ride?

I grabbed the cart Levinas was holding.

I thought I'd just pull it, rather than getting in myself.

"I'll pull it. Levinas, do you want to get in too?"

"Is that okay?!"

"Yeah. I like pulling things."

"Wow!"

Levinas hopped into the cart.

With three of them, it was quite full.

"Look at that."

"They're so cute."

Click click-

I heard the sound of someone taking pictures of us from somewhere.

Since this happens often these days, I decided not to pay attention to it.

"Heave-ho."

I pushed the cart towards the arrow section.

I wondered if I could pull all three of them, but the cart was lighter than I expected.

"Welcome..."

The employee who spotted us blinked.

She made a blank expression like Gaeul's for a moment, then quickly put on a bright smile.

"Are you here to look at bows?"

"Ah, no, arrows..."

"Oh! You're here for arrows!"

She guided us to a section of the store.

There were more arrows there than I'd seen in my entire life.

"Wow."

I wonder if they have lightning arrows.

I looked around the magic arrow section.

Fire, poison, and so on.

Among the numerous magic arrows, I found the lightning arrows.

A monitor on one side was showing the power of the lightning arrows.

The range of the compressed electricity was about 10 meters.

The power seemed weaker than the arrows I'd been using.

"Huh..."

Jung Yu-na is an exceptional wizard, after all.

A wizard's handmade items can't be beaten, I suppose.

What mattered most to me now was price, not power.

"The price is..."

[200,000 won]

200,000 won per arrow.

Did I read the price wrong?

I rubbed my eyes and read the arrow's price again.

It was still 200,000 won.

Levinas, who had a good sense for money, gasped.

"Uh..."

What's this?

Why is it so expensive?

I held the lightning arrow and looked up at the employee.

Her eyes were so kind it made me feel sorry.

"It's very cheap, isn't it?"

"I-is it cheap...?"

"Yes. Anywhere else, you'd have to pay at least 50,000 won more."

So the original price is 250,000 won?

The price of adventurer equipment is beyond imagination.

My hand holding the arrow started trembling.

"Um, you see..."

I don't have money now, so I'll come back later.

It wasn't easy to say those words.

I felt like I'd been playing with the employee's kindness.

"W-well..."

What should I do?

Should I just close my eyes and apologize?

I found myself nervously glancing around.

My timid heart was pounding.

---

---

One of Kang Jinho's daily routines was checking the internet.

He wasn't particularly fond of the internet, but he started checking it often after the children began staying at the guild.

It was because people frequently uploaded photos and videos of the children.

"Hmm..."

This time, Kang Jinho saw a rather unfortunate video.

It showed the swamp rats Gyeoul had worked hard to hunt sinking into the swamp.

After finishing the hunt, Gyeoul looked around brightly, then her tail shot up in surprise.

Bubble bubble-

The swamp rats sank, making bubbles.

Gyeoul ran towards the swamp rats, but by the time she arrived, everything was over.

Hundreds of swamp rats were lost like that.

Gyeoul lay spread-eagled on the ground in despair.

She also pounded the ground with her cute little limbs.

People who saw the video of Gyeoul's failed hunt expressed their disappointment.

[BeastkinLover: T.T]

[PotatoEater: Oh no, she worked so hard ㅠㅜ]

[Aurora: No, my little squeakers!!!!]

[FroggyParty: Why is Gyeoul so cute even when she's pitiful lol]

[└PotatoEater: That's Gyeoul's charm ^^...]

[CatIsBest: But aren't those arrows super expensive?]

[└BeastkinLover: Yeah, probably over a million won per arrow?]

A million won per arrow.

The actual price was even higher than that.

Of course, Gyeoul was only charged a few small mana stones for them.

Even those few small mana stones must be a huge burden for Gyeoul.

'Arrows, huh...'

I remember there were a lot of good arrows in the store.

Kang Jinho moved to the bow shop in the store.

And there, he found a frightened Gyeoul.

She was trembling while holding an electric arrow used by novice archers.

Her eyes kept darting to the price tag.

Did she come to look at arrows and get scared by the price?

Her characteristically timid personality probably prevented her from saying she wouldn't buy it.

'...I should give her some arrows.'

Should I just give her all the arrows in the store?

Kang Jinho seriously considered this idea.

After all, the building and everything in it belonged to Kang Jinho.

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