The F-Rank Guild Master Has Too Much Money Chapter 71

 

 

“Guild Master.”

 

“They’re not monsters that cause harm. And besides—”

 

They had gathered their courage to approach us, but they were so frightened that even the dandelion stalk in their hands trembled.

 

Perhaps noticing this as well, Choi Tae-hyuk set down his pen and came to stand beside me.

 

Now only a step away, the Plarin spoke.

 

“Mya– myamya myamyamya myamya.”

 

It seemed to be trying to say something while flailing its arms and legs, but I couldn’t understand a word.

 

I glanced at Choi Tae-hyuk, wondering if he understood, but he shook his head.

 

“I don’t know either.”

 

When we simply stared at them for a while, they must have grown frustrated. They shook the dandelion stalk and spoke again.

 

“Mya! Myamya myamyamya mya!”

 

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I think I just had a heart attack from the cuteness. There are so many adorable little ones.

 

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I didn’t know you had such taste. You made them so cute. ㅠㅠ

 

“Hmm.”

 

As I let out a low murmur, one of the Plarins that had been trembling in the corner approached the one explaining things to us, shaking its flower stalk. The two exchanged a series of “mya mya” sounds, then held out the dandelion stalk they were carrying.

 

“Myamya myamya.”

 

“What do you think that means?”

 

“I think they’re telling you to take it.”

 

When I pointed at the dandelion stalk and then at myself, the Plarin nodded vigorously.

 

“Looks like they really do want us to take it.”

 

“It could be dangerous.”

 

Even if they looked like fairies, a monster was still a monster. Choi Tae-hyuk’s caution wasn’t unfounded.

 

‘What if it explodes the moment we let our guard down?’

 

With that reasonable suspicion in mind, I used wind magic to lift the dandelion stalk first.

 

‘Clairvoyance.’

 

[Plarin’s Flower Stalk (Unmeasurable)

– A stalk born alongside a Plarin.

– Allows communication with Plarins when held.

– Will wither and disappear if its owner dies.]

 

“It’s not dangerous. It says that if you hold it, you’ll be able to understand the Plarin language.”

 

As I took the palm-sized stalk into my hand, the Plarins’ expressions brightened.

 

「…Can you hear me now?」

 

The voice of the Plarin in front of me echoed clearly. It sounded like dew falling softly, and I nodded.

 

「Thank you for earlier.」

 

“Guild Master, are you hearing something?”

 

“Yeah. It’s thanking us. What’s going on?”

 

「We want to move to a new home.」

 

As I responded gently, the Plarin’s trembling finally subsided.

 

“A new home?”

 

“What do they mean by that?”

 

Instead of answering, I turned to the Plarin and said,

 

“Could I borrow one more flower stalk? This person needs to hear as well.”

 

「Ah! Just a moment!」

 

Before the Plarin in front of me could finish speaking, the one standing closest to Choi Tae-hyuk held out its flower stalk.

 

Choi Tae-hyuk carefully accepted it, and the Plarin spoke again.

 

「We want to live on the fifth floor.」

 

“On the fifth floor? Why?”

 

「If we stay here, the slimes will come again and eat us.」

 

Huh? Eat them? That didn’t quite match their whole “student and teacher” atmosphere.

 

「Today was the day the slimes were going to decide which of us they’d eat first.」

 

Maybe it was because the slimes had eaten those Intelligence Herbs. They even set up an order to eat them? Seriously…

 

“Even so, there’s no guarantee you won’t be eaten if you move to the fifth floor.”

 

「The monsters on the fifth floor aren’t interested in us. So please.」

 

The Plarin clasped both hands and bowed deeply. The others who had been watching us followed suit and bowed as well.

 

“Guild Master.”

 

Unsure what to do, I glanced at Choi Tae-hyuk. He seemed deep in thought too.

 

We had cleared the first floor easily since it only had slimes, but from the second floor onward, we had no idea what kinds of monsters we might encounter.

 

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think we can help. We’d have to fight while protecting you, and we don’t even know what monsters are up there.”

 

「We understand.」

 

“Huh?”

 

The leader Plarin tapped its flower stalk against the floor, and a blossom immediately bloomed from it. As we watched the fully opened flower, it quickly withered and transformed into soft seeds.

 

「Unlike us, the seeds are free to move. They can check what’s on each floor.」

 

When the Plarin gently shook the stalk, the seeds scattered and drifted away. As I watched them float softly through the air, the leader Plarin spoke again.

 

「On the second floor, there are deer-like monsters. Five—no, six of them.」

 

Deer-shaped monsters… those must be Antils. If they were C-rank, Choi Tae-hyuk could handle them easily.

 

If we knew what monsters were on each floor and how many there were, we could prepare in advance. After receiving such useful information, it was difficult to coldly refuse the Plarins.

 

So I turned to Choi Tae-hyuk.

 

“Let’s take them with us.”

 

He nodded, unable to ignore them either.

 

The Plarins’ faces lit up at our decision.

 

“Let’s go.”

 

「Thank you!」

 

The Plarins followed behind Choi Tae-hyuk as we headed up to the second floor.

 

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They’re like kindergarteners. So cute.

 

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Aren’t their steps way too tiny? So cute ㅠㅠㅠ

 

Just as the Plarin had said, six Antils were wandering the second-floor hallway. Dandelion petals were scattered around them—likely from the Plarins who had been eaten.

 

True to his S-rank reputation, Choi Tae-hyuk took them down with a single swing and opened the classroom doors. Inside, we found Plarins hiding in fear. Once we rescued all the remaining Plarins, a staircase leading to the third floor appeared.

 

“Looks like the stairs only show up after we rescue them.”

 

“That seems to be the case.”

 

Some dungeons only open the exit gate once certain conditions are met. It seemed this school dungeon wasn’t cleared by killing monsters, but by rescuing all the living Plarins.

 

「There are frogs on the third floor. The ground is covered in mist.」

 

“Dark Frogs, then.”

 

Also known as poison frogs. As long as you avoided the toxic mist, they weren’t particularly difficult monsters.

 

“Let’s go.”

 

By the time we reached the third floor, the hallway was filled with thick, black mist. I drew up my power.

 

Then I lifted the poisonous mist on the wind and pushed it out through the windows. As the mist cleared, the startled Dark Frogs croaked loudly and leapt toward us.

 

“I’ll take them out.”

 

“No. We’re not coming back down to the first floor anyway.”

 

I stopped Choi Tae-hyuk from charging in and summoned the wind again, sweeping the frogs straight out the windows.

 

“C–croak?”

 

After tossing out the last frog, we checked the classroom. Thankfully, the Plarins hadn’t been eaten—only poisoned.

 

The healthy Plarins rushed to the afflicted ones and touched them with their dandelion stems. Light shimmered softly, and the toxins were cleansed away.

 

“Healing?”

 

「It’s our trait. We don’t have attack power, but we can heal.」

 

Now it made sense why the slimes had targeted them.

 

Slimes rarely got injured, but once they did, their bodies couldn’t properly recover. So if a healing-type monster was right in front of them—especially one this weak—

 

Of course they’d eat it. Low intelligence, strong instincts.

 

While I was thinking that, the leader Plarin scattered more dandelion spores and said,

 

「There’s a turtle on the fourth floor. Just one.」

 

A turtle-type monster? That had to be a Turtlebook.

 

Turtlebooks weren’t aggressive.

 

As we carefully ascended, keeping our guard up in case of any unexpected situation, one of the Plarins who had been silent—aside from the leader—approached me.

 

「Um… how did you do the wind thing?」

 

「It felt like real, natural wind. Could you do it again?」

 

「How do you do that? I like it so much.」

 

“That’s my ability. If you’re asking me to do it again—”

 

“Guild Master.”

 

Choi Tae-hyuk muttered quietly. He hated it when I overused my abilities.

 

“…I guess I can’t. Sorry.”

 

「It was really good, though. Is that human stronger than you?」

 

「You’re human too, but that human doesn’t seem quite human!」

 

Not quite human.

 

I glanced at Choi Tae-hyuk. He was walking ahead, seemingly unaware of what the Plarins were saying. Pretending not to hear their chatter, I let out a soft sigh.

 

“Aren’t you afraid of me?”

 

「Nope! Not at all!」

 

「You feel different from the other humans who come here sometimes!」

 

Although Choi Tae-hyuk seemed to hear, I couldn’t stop the Plarins from talking. I continued walking in silence, and more Plarins gathered around me, chattering away.

 

“That must be the Turtle Plarin was talking about.”

 

Just as expected—it was a Turtlebook. Its shell was covered in clusters of blue mushrooms.

 

“That’s a Karang Mushroom.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Let’s take it.”

 

Unlike normal turtles, a Turtlebook’s shell is covered in moss, which allows mushrooms to grow on it. Mostly poisonous mushrooms grow there, but occasionally, useful potion ingredients also appear.

 

That’s why poorer guilds sometimes raise Turtlebooks deliberately. As for us, we had enough money to simply buy Karang Mushrooms whenever we needed them. There was no reason to go through the trouble of raising one.

 

Gumiho also believed it was better to invest in hunters who could clear dungeons rather than spending resources on raising monsters. While the Turtlebook lumbered along slowly, Choi Tae-hyuk and I harvested the Karang Mushrooms using a ballpoint pen and a mechanical pencil.

 

We had come looking for Glowgrass, but somehow ended up collecting nothing but other herbs…

T/N: Glowgrass was previously Chorongcho (초롱초) in chapter 68. If someone has a better nickname, feel free to suggest one.

 

Still, since we were already here, it made sense to take as much as we could. After finishing with the mushrooms, we began checking the classrooms from the left. The entire fourth floor was empty. By the time we reached the last classroom on the right, we finally saw the stairs.

 

“It just shows up this time.”

 

When Choi Tae-hyuk looked at the leader Plarin, it scattered its spores again. We watched as the spores drifted toward the fifth floor. Like before, we expected it to convey something—but the leader Plarin simply tilted its head in confusion.

 

“Why?”

 

「There’s nothing there. Why is there nothing?」

 

“Nothing?”

 

「Yeah. There used to be something.」

 

“What was there?”

 

「A snake.」

 

Since the Sprite Guild had already cleared this dungeon, the snake probably hadn’t respawned yet.

 

“Then let’s go up.”

 

When we reached the fifth floor with Choi Tae-hyuk and the Plarins, there were no classrooms—instead, a large door stood before us, bearing a sign that read Principal’s Office.

 

Just as the Plarin had said, the hallway didn’t have a single rat.

 

The hallway was filled with an unnatural silence. When we reached the principal’s office door, Choi Tae-hyuk placed his hand on the handle.

 

“I’ll open it.”

 

I nodded. With a creak, the door swung open, echoing through the hallway. Inside the dark offic

e, the only visible object was a large, solid-wood desk.

 

“Where’s the Glowgr—”

 

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Move! Aether!!

 

“It’s dangerous!”

 

In a hurry, Choi Tae-hyuk pulled me back and hurled the pen forward.

 

Thunk!

 

Something was impaled and dropped to the floor.