Chapter 67 — An Unexpected Confession

Chapter 67 — An Unexpected Confession

“You had that many rank 3 Origin Mushrooms? I thought all the Origin Mushrooms you had were only rank 1,” Sherial said.

“Well, they were. But remember, I got a new skill—Ascensio? I upgraded it to rank 2. That’s why I was able to upgrade part of the Origin Mushrooms I had,” I said.

“Yeah, you said you got a skill that upgrades magic items. But you know… I don’t believe you could upgrade that new skill so fast. Are you hiding something from us?” Sherial asked.

“Well… before my skill reached rank 2, I upgraded more than a thousand Origin Mushrooms from rank 1 to rank 2. Only after that did the skill go up to rank 2. It looked fast, sure, but I spent a lot more time and mana trying to upgrade the mushrooms to rank 3, and the skill still didn’t reach rank 3,” I replied.

“I see…” Sherial said. “And how much did you spend on that? How much time did you spend in the Training Room? The one where time is accelerated?”

“I think around five or six days. And I also bought fifty rank 4 mana potions from the Adventurers’ Guild to speed up the process of upgrading the Origin Mushrooms,” I said.

“Now it makes sense… Then it’s logical you could raise the skill to rank 2. But rank 3 would probably take much more time than getting it to rank 2,” Sherial said and sighed. “But still… we can’t accept these Origin Mushrooms.”

She paused for a moment, then continued more seriously:

“Each rank 3 Origin Mushroom is probably worth around two or three platinum coins. At minimum. And like I said, Origin Mushrooms themselves are rare, and rank 2 and 3 are almost impossible to obtain even for nobles with enormous money. If you sold even one of these pouches… you’d have enough to build a castle. Not a small one—a real, large castle. You could live on that money for your entire life.”

She carefully closed the pouch and looked at me.

“That’s why we can’t just accept something this expensive.”

“Platinum coins?” I repeated. Sherial said platinum coins… I thought there were only copper, silver, and gold. Alright… I should ask.

“What are platinum coins?”

Rem let out a heavy sigh.

“You don’t even know that…” she said dryly.

“Hey, don’t be so cruel, Rem,” Sherial cut in. “Only rich people really know about platinum coins. Nobles, major merchants… ordinary people almost never encounter them.”

She looked at me and continued:

“Simply put, one platinum coin equals one thousand gold coins. They’re almost never used in normal circulation—only for huge deals between nobles, or when trade volumes are enormous. Ordinary people don’t even hold them in their hands. And… one platinum coin would be enough for an average farmer to live for the rest of their life, if they spent wisely.”

“Whoa… So one platinum is one thousand gold?” I asked again. “Then that means one rank 3 Origin Mushroom is worth two to three thousand gold coins?”

“Yes,” Sherial nodded.

I took a step forward.

“I’m sorry… but I’m not taking this gift back.”

“We already talked about this—we can’t accept something that expensive!” Rem’s voice rose slightly. “You clearly don’t understand how much that is.”

What am I supposed to do?..

I wasn’t going to sell the Origin Mushrooms anyway. The amount is limited. Yes, I know where to get them… but if I started selling them, it would definitely attract attention from nobles—or someone worse. And besides… selling things like this is stupid.

Keep it all for myself?

…No.

In that moment, I remembered Emilia.

Damn… if I had given her Origin Mushrooms back then… Even as a simple village girl, she would have become stronger. Maybe… she would have survived. Those bandits were weak…

I lifted my gaze to Rem and Sherial. They still looked like they would refuse no matter what.

“I’m sorry… but please accept this gift,” I said quieter. “It will make our team stronger. If we use them together, the benefit will be greater.”

“I said we won’t accept them! It’s too… expensive!” Rem raised her voice.

“To hell with the money!” For the first time, I snapped.

Silence fell over the room.

“I can earn money by making healing potions and selling them. But this… I’m not going to sell. We need it for ourselves! Yes, the effect is small, but we’ll be getting stronger every single day. I want you to use them!” I said louder than I intended.

What the hell… why did I raise my voice?

Rem was already glaring at me with obvious anger.

“Enough!” Sherial cut in sharply. “Both of you—stop raising your voices at each other. Let’s talk calmly.”

Yeah… Sherial was right. I got too heated and raised my voice. Stupid of me.

“Here,” Sherial suddenly held out a handkerchief to me.

I didn’t understand why she was doing that.

“Wipe your eyes,” she said.

I reflexively touched my face. My fingers came away wet.

What?.. Why are there tears? Am I… crying? What the hell? A grown man crying in front of two girls?

“Thanks…” I muttered, took the handkerchief, and quickly wiped my eyes. “Just dust got in them.”

“Yeah, yeah, of course,” Sherial said softly.

I thought I wasn’t capable of emotions this strong anymore… But the moment I remembered Emilia—when I saw her lifeless body—

No. Enough.

“I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to raise my voice,” I said.

“It’s fine. It looks like you have heavy memories,” Sherial replied quietly.

“No… nothing like that,” I said.

I wasn’t going to tell them about Emilia.

“As you wish. But if you ever want to talk… you can tell me,” Sherial said.

“There’s nothing to tell,” I replied.

“Alright. Then let’s talk calmly. No shouting,” she said, looking from me to Rem.

Rem nodded silently. So did I.

I took a deep breath. I needed to calm down.

“You’ll have to take your gift back,” Rem said calmly.

I sighed.

“No.”

“What do you mean, ‘no’?” she frowned.

“You accepted me into the team. That means we’re one team now. These Origin Mushrooms make us stronger. I want you to take them. The stronger each of us is, the stronger the whole team becomes. And the lower the chance that someone dies…” I said, keeping my voice steady, not raising it. I didn’t even understand why I was being so stubborn.

…Maybe I just want all of us to become stronger.

“We still can’t accept something that rare and expensive… especially in that quantity,” Rem said stubbornly.

I stared at her in silence.

What do I do to make them agree?.. No. I can’t back down here.

“Alright. We’ll accept the gift,” Sherial suddenly said.

Not only me—even Rem turned sharply toward her, clearly stunned by those words.

“What are you saying?..” Rem frowned.

“I said we’ll accept Alisar’s gift,” Sherial repeated calmly.

“Don’t make decisions like that without my consent. And definitely don’t make them for me…” Rem began, but Sherial raised her hand gently, stopping her.

“But on one condition,” she added, turning her head toward me.

“A condition? What condition?” I asked.

This was a strange situation… What does she want?

“Promise that after we accept this gift, you won’t demand anything from us in return. Nothing… obscene,” Sherial said.

“What?..” I repeated, completely not understanding what she was talking about.

“Looks like you really didn’t get it,” she sighed. “Then I’ll say it more simply. After we accept these gifts, in the future we’ll split loot fairly. If you ever want something beyond your share, that’s a separate conversation. But… don’t consider me and Rem part of your… let’s be direct… harem.”

“What are you even talking about?..” I asked, bewildered.

Sherial exhaled tiredly.

“Either you’re too naive, or you’re pretending. Men who give women gifts this expensive usually expect something in return. Especially adventurers and nobles. Gifts like these are often a hint about a relationship… or an invitation to become part of a harem. It’s a way to make women indebted. And I’ll be honest—men aren’t my type. I prefer women,” she added calmly.

What the—

A harem? A relationship? That never even crossed my mind.

Though… if I remember a lot of the web-novels I used to read, that’s exactly how it often went. The main character—and a harem of girls around him.

No. I don’t have any such intentions.

“I swear!” I said quickly. “I can swear by God, the System—anyone you want. I have no plans like that. I will never demand anything like that from you… and I’m not even going to think about it. I promise.”

But… would they believe me?..

And… Sherial likes women?

I’d seen it in movies and read it in some novels, but this was the first time I’d met someone who said it openly in front of me. No, I had no prejudice or complaints about it… it’s just that where I used to live, people were too religious. I don’t think anyone could say something like that openly—without serious consequences.

I looked at Rem. She was staring at Sherial with wide eyes. It looked like those words truly shocked her.

“Well then…” Sherial said, looking at Rem. “He swore. And honestly, I think we should accept these Origin Mushrooms after all. It will make us stronger.”

Rem didn’t reply.

“Hey, Rem, you really don’t agree at all?” Sherial asked, scooting closer to her.

Rem shifted away, as if avoiding her.

“Hey, what’s with you?” Sherial asked, surprised.

“You know…” Rem said quietly. “I think we should rent one more room. I’ll get a separate room for myself.”

“What? What are you talking about? We live perfectly fine in one room. There’s more than enough space for the two of us,” Sherial said.

“Still… I think it’s better if we live separately,” Rem replied.

“Hey, stop avoiding me!” Sherial said, trying to move closer again.

“It’s better to go rent a room now, before the free rooms run out in the evening,” Rem said quickly.

Rem stood up abruptly and almost ran for the door. Without looking back, she left the room.

“Rem, don’t do that! We have enough space here for two!” Sherial shouted and immediately ran after her.

I was left alone.

What the hell was that just now? I just sat there and had no idea what I was supposed to do. The situation had turned in a completely unexpected direction.