He returned to the merchant association with the jittery cat-eared maid, Ramantiel.
Along the way, Ramantiel had turned entirely into a startled little cat, her tail and ears standing perfectly straight.
She jumped at the slightest sound, tightly clutching the bundle in her arms.
Upon entering the merchant association, they spotted Tedela in the first-floor lobby.
It was clear that the merchant association was not doing well. Tedela was frantically rushing around, dark circles weighing down her eyes.
The moment her eyes landed on Li Xiuman, they lit up instantly.
“You're back.”
Though she did her best to suppress it, Li Xiuman could still read the sheer excitement buried deep in her eyes.
“Mistress, Lord Skeleton gathered them!”
When the feline Ramantiel blurted this out, one could feel the bustling lobby instantly fall dead silent for a brief second.
Then, a wave of excited chatter erupted.
“For real? He actually went down to the twenty-first floor of the dungeon all by himself and mined Octagonal Fire Crystals?!”
“No way, he must have been part of a party, right?”
“No, no, I saw him enter the dungeon alone with my own eyes at the Landmark Tower!”
“Is he a Tier 2 classholder?!”
“Maybe. What was his name again? There aren't many adventurers in White Bear City who can dive over twenty floors deep into the dungeon alone.”
“Apparently he calls himself 'Skeleton,' using it as a code name. What an odd fellow.”
...
The crowd stared at Li Xiuman as if he were some rare, priceless treasure.
Realizing she had spoken out of turn, Ramantiel instinctively tucked her tail and flattened her ears.
“I'm sorry... my tongue slipped,” she said timidly, seemingly terrified of being punished.
“It's fine. It was bound to get out sooner or later anyway.”
Li Xiuman patted the cat-girl's head, comforting her.
There was no way he could ignore a downcast cat-eared maid and not comfort her.
“Yes, anyway, it's great that you successfully harvested them.”
“I'll give you your share of the profits after we sell them.”
Although it was a staggering sum of money, Tedela was more than satisfied just to have saved her merchant association.
Besides, Li Xiuman was her savior.
“However, knowing that guy's style of doing things, he won't let things go smoothly for you,” Li Xiuman warned. After all, it would be child's play for a noble to crush a small merchant association in White Bear City.
“...We'll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it and deal with whatever he throws at us.”
Tedela sighed, feeling somewhat helpless.
She didn't understand why that merchant was so utterly obsessed with her.
While she possessed a fair amount of beauty, she was far from the only pretty face in White Bear City.
“If you can use these Octagonal Fire Crystals to complete the delivery, let's turn my share of the money into an investment for shares in your merchant association,” Li Xiuman suggested.
“Oh!”
Tedela's eyes sparkled.
This was an incredible proposal.
Li Xiuman through this dungeon expedition had already demonstrated his formidable strength.
Binding such a powerful ally to the merchant association's interests would yield immense benefits.
“You don't have to do this just to be polite. Larger merchant associations would offer far better treatment to someone of your strength,” Tedela said, suppressing the temptation of potential profit as she shook her head in refusal.
“You know my situation. Joining those big merchant associations is out of the question for me.”
Li Xiuman shook his head.
Only then did Tedela remember that the individual standing before her was not a human, but a genuine skeleton.
Because Li Xiuman carried himself so much like a human, she always found herself involuntarily forgetting this detail.
Yet, Tedela couldn't help but feel a tinge of disappointment. Li Xiuman wasn't partnering with her because he wanted to, but simply because he had no other choice.
“Though, it's not entirely out of desperation either. Your merchant association offers plenty of freedom. Besides, I see potential in your business. Consider this an investment in your future,” Li Xiuman added, as if reading her mind.
He read my thoughts? Am I really that easy to read?
Can this skeleton actually read minds?
Afterward, Li Xiuman left the merchant association.
This dungeon trip had netted him a massive hoard of gold coins, more than half of which came from Ilu's commission fee.
In total, he had acquired three hundred and thirty gold coins, twenty silver coins, and a handful of copper coins.
In this world, the purchasing power of a single copper coin was roughly equivalent to half a large loaf of bread or a bowl of thick corn soup.
Half a large loaf of bread was enough to fill the belly of an average person.
Its purchasing power was actually quite impressive.
An average person could live for about a month on roughly a quarter of a gold coin, which was two and a half silver coins.
If housing costs were factored in, that would require another quarter of a gold coin.
Li Xiuman's main goal in heading out today was to rent a house.
After all, staying in the merchant association's guest rooms was highly inconvenient for a skeleton, not to mention that the space was far too small.
He wanted to rent a quiet, secluded house with a large bathroom, and ideally, a small courtyard and a basement.
Obviously, finding a place that met all of these criteria wouldn't come cheap.
But now, Li Xiuman could confidently declare that he was absolutely loaded.
In fact, he could even be considered quite wealthy.
The heavy weight of his gold coins granted him an unprecedented surge of confidence.
Following Tedela's recommendation, he tracked down a real estate agency.
Upon hearing that he had been referred by Tedela, the agents warmly welcomed him and immediately dispatched someone to take him on a site visit of the properties he picked out.
Before long, Li Xiuman selected a property in a suburban area just three streets away from the Reby Merchant Association.
It was an exquisite two-story house with a small courtyard enclosed by a wooden fence.
Since it was located in the suburbs, there were almost no other houses around.
As a result, the landlord offered to expand the wooden fence of the courtyard if he desired a larger yard.
The house contained two bedrooms, an attic, and an oversized bathroom that was virtually the size of a standard room.
The living room had an open floor plan, with a separate outdoor kitchen and an outhouse set slightly apart from the main house.
Well, those last two features would be entirely useless to him.
Whether pretty girls used the restroom remained a mystery, but skeletons definitely didn't.
Beneath the floor lay two dark basement rooms. The skeleton instincts in Li Xiuman's body instantly fell in love with these gloomy spaces.
Once cleaned up and organized, this basement would become his personal bedroom.
As for the rent, given the sizable plot of land, it certainly wasn't cheap.
It cost one and a half gold coins per month.
Monthly payments weren't accepted; the only options were quarterly or annual payments.
Li Xiuman generously shelled out nine gold coins to cover six months of rent upfront.
Who knew when Lucia might track him down here? He had to be ready to pack up and flee at any moment, so there was no need to commit to a long-term lease.
White Bear City's dungeon didn't have that many floors to begin with. Once he fully conquered this dungeon, he would move on to tackle other deeper dungeons.
Since the contract carried magical validity, Li Xiuman was required to sign with his full name.
Specifically, the surname he had received upon being transformed into a skeleton by the evil bone dragon, Pound.
Li Xiuman Pound.
Signing his full name with a twinge of irritation, Li Xiuman finally stepped into his own little home.
A thick layer of dust coated every surface, meaning the place was in desperate need of a deep cleaning.
Li Xiuman raised his wand.
“O spirits of water, reveal your great power and bloom a miracle here.”
“Cleanse!”
Since there was no one else around, Li Xiuman didn't have to worry about looking ridiculous. He let loose and chanted the chuunibyou incantation with dramatic flair.
It gave him a satisfying sense of liberation.
Spending a generous amount of mana, he utilized Wind Magic and Water Magic to clean the entire house from top to bottom.
It seemed that An In-Depth Explanation of Tier 1 Elemental Magic wasn't filled entirely with flashy, useless spells.
Some of the foundational spells were actually quite practical.
Li Xiuman threw back his hood, sprawling out star-shaped on the floor as his skeletal skull pressed against the ground.
“This feels... amazing.”
Next, he removed his magic light armor and leather armor piece by piece—the items designed to protect his vitals.
After that came his undershirt, which was riddled with holes.
It was too worn out, so he tossed it aside.
In the end, he sat cross-legged on the floor, wearing nothing but a pair of boxers.
The magic light armor was highly valuable and exceptionally durable, escaping the ordeal entirely undamaged.
The leather armor had sustained minor damage, but it was far from ruined. If anything, the battle-worn aesthetic gave it a somewhat rugged, formidable look.
He pulled out a clean, intact t-shirt and slipped it on, then stepped into his slippers.
Boxers, a t-shirt, and slippers.
He felt completely like a skeleton on vacation.
Living alone and not having to worry about anyone else was truly the best.
Having spent so much time cooped up in the dungeon, he desperately needed a good, long rest.
It was a shame that skeletons couldn't eat, otherwise he would have loved to treat himself to a delicious meal.
Rate on N.U.
