After finishing his "conversation" with Goji, Ryu returned to the Adventurer's Guild. Ignoring Goji's associates who tried to pick a fight, Ryu headed towards the buyback counter.

Behind the counter was Roche, a familiar face to Ryu and one of the guild staff who had always been kind to him.

When Ryu had just become an adventurer, he had mistakenly brought in medicinal herbs and poisonous herbs together. Roche had patiently taught him how to differentiate between them. Even after that, Roche treated Ryu no differently than other adventurers, despite him only bringing in medicinal herbs.

Roche looked apologetic as he approached Ryu, but Ryu raised his hand to stop him.

"I know. You've been told not to buy my materials, right?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I protested to the Master, but..."

"Don't say anything. I don't want to get you in trouble because of me. But, if possible..."

"?"

"I don't need you to buy them, but can you just assess them? I don't know the market price. It would also be helpful if you could disassemble them... Of course, I'll pay the disassembly fee."

"Ryu... I heard about it, but you seem different now. No, it's good! Oh, assessment only is no problem. The ban is only on "buying" them, right? (laugh) Where are the materials?"

"The materials are too big to fit on the counter."

"Really?! Then come with me to the back warehouse."

In the back warehouse, Ryu took out a Croudrago, a dragon-like creature, from his spatial storage.

Roche gasped in surprise.

"Whoa? A storage magic tool...? No, "storage magic"?!"

Roche was shocked, but his eyes were drawn to the material before him, leaving him speechless.

"This... This is a dragon?!"

Roche was frozen, his mouth hanging open.

That day, the Adventurer's Guild was in an uproar.

Rumors had already spread throughout the guild that Ryujin had claimed to have slain a dragon in the dungeon, but most of the staff had dismissed it as a tall tale.

But seeing it with their own eyes, they had no choice but to believe it.

Those who hadn't seen it firsthand were still skeptical, but many had helped with the assessment and disassembly. Their testimonies confirmed that the dragon was real.

This meant that Ryu's claim of slaying the dragon was true.

It was rare for dragon materials to be brought in. The Adventurer's Guild in this city had no record of such an event since its establishment.

This would generate tremendous profits... If it were true, these would be incredibly valuable materials that the guild desperately wanted to buy.

Although the dragon was a low-level species (strictly speaking, the Croudrago is not a dragon, but a lizard. Its official name is the Mimuld Great Lizard Mimuld Dragon). Even if it were a "dragon-like" creature, the buyback price would be hundreds of Gs, and if it were intact, it could be worth thousands or even tens of thousands of Gs. If it went to auction, the price could be ten to a hundred times higher.

(* 1G = 10,000 Yen)

But the guild couldn't buy Ryu's materials. It was the Master's order.

They could only watch as Ryu left the guild after having his materials assessed and put back into his spatial storage. By that evening, the Guild Master, Daniel, finally heard about the rumors from the staff and rushed to the buyback counter.

Daniel blamed Roche for letting Ryu go, but Roche defended himself by saying he had only followed orders. He retorted by asking why Daniel had made such a foolish decision in the first place.

Daniel demanded that Ryu be found and brought back, but...

"So, you're lifting the ban, then?"

"That... I can't."

"Then what's the point of bringing him back? What do you want me to do?"

" ...Bring him to me."

Daniel insisted that Ryu must be regretting not being able to sell his materials and must want to apologize.

"I'm not a monster. If he apologizes sincerely, I'll lift the ban. But as a penalty, I'll have to haggle over the price of his materials" (laugh)

The guild staff was speechless, none of them willing to go after Ryu.

After receiving the disassembled materials from the Adventurer's Guild, Ryu headed straight to the Merchant's Guild. He was going to offer his materials for sale to the Merchant's Guild.

Ryu's spatial storage was a time-stopping space, so his materials wouldn't degrade no matter how long he kept them inside. This meant he didn't have to rush to sell them. But this was also a way to get back at the Master of the Adventurer's Guild.

There was no rule stating that materials had to be sold to the Adventurer's Guild.

The Merchant's Guild also bought materials, and adventurers could also make deals with merchants or nobles privately. In fact, merchants would often pay much higher prices than the Adventurer's Guild.

The reason why adventurers usually sold their materials to the Adventurer's Guild was that their buybacks were reflected in the adventurers' evaluation points, leading to rank-ups.

However, Ryu, who had lost interest in rank-ups, had no reason to follow those rules anymore.

Daniel believed that Ryu would be forced to struggle because he couldn't sell his materials. He didn't realize that there were plenty of people willing to buy them. But Daniel, who had been immersed in his privileged position, had become narrow-minded.

"Welcome! What can I do for you today?" asked the Merchant's Guild receptionist.

"I want to sell some materials. Is that possible?" asked Ryu.

"Yes, you can go to the buyback counter over there."

To operate within the Merchant's Guild, one needed to register as a member, but it wasn't required for simply selling materials.

"Welcome! You're here to sell materials?" asked the buyback counter clerk.

"I have quite a lot, is there a larger space available?"

"Yes, we have a warehouse in the back. Are your goods outside?"

"No, I can use spatial magic."

"Oh! You're the first one I've seen who can use spatial magic. Well, considering that alchemists can make magic bags, it stands to reason that some people can use spatial magic..."

Ryu was led to the back warehouse.

Upon arriving at the warehouse, Ryu took out the Croudrago materials.

The buyback clerk's eyes widened in disbelief.

"P-Please wait a moment!"

The clerk rushed off somewhere, but quickly returned. It seemed he had called for backup.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Eil, the Master of this Merchant's Guild. It's a pleasure to meet you."

The clerk brought in the Master of the Merchant's Guild.

"Ryujin-sama, we'll immediately begin the assessment. Would you mind waiting in the reception room for a while?"

After instructing a staff member to take Ryu to the reception room, Eil and the buyback clerk began inspecting the materials.

"Hmm, there's no mistake. It's dragon materials! Amazing!"

Eil entered the reception room.

"Excuse me, sir, but where did you... ?"

"In the Eastern Dungeon, 15th level."

"Did you, sir, slay it?"

"I did."

"You're amazing! Since you can use spatial magic, this is no surprise!"

"Eil, why did you bring these to us...? This is very kind of you, but adventurers usually have their materials bought by the Adventurer's Guild... ?"

"Well, the Master of the Adventurer's Guild has been giving me a hard time. I've been banned from selling anything there indefinitely."

"What...?!"

"If they're banned from the Adventurer's Guild, does that mean you can't buy them here?"

Ryu asked, a little worried about Eil's reaction.

"No, of course not. I just think Daniel is being a fool. We'll buy them, of course. In fact, we'll pay a higher price than the Adventurer's Guild!"

The Merchant's Guild and the Adventurer's Guild often didn't get along. There was a lot of competition in their respective businesses, which was common in any city. But in this city, their relationship was particularly strained.

Ryu knew this, which was why he had brought his materials to the Merchant's Guild.

His plan worked.

After hearing the story, Eil was ready to help out of a sense of rivalry.

In the end, the materials were bought at five times the price of the Adventurer's Guild. (Even then, it was a huge profit for the Merchant's Guild.)

The news that the Merchant's Guild had bought the dragon materials spread like wildfire. Hearing this, Daniel became even more stubborn against Ryu.