Del woke up from the couch, “Dang it, what time is it?” The sun had gone through the window. Del stood up from his couch and headed to the toilet to do his usual business. A snore was coming from upstairs. It looked like Cole took the comfort of the bed for himself. Wolfie was sleeping right beside the couch.

Del patted Wolfie’s head, “Heyya, good boy, how was the night?”

Wolfie crawled to the couch and he responded by licking Del. Del just replied with a pat. “Boy, I need to do something first, can you walk around the house for a while?’

Wolfie replied with another bark and he walked in the direction of the kitchen. Del wanted to talk with Pidma about his upgrade. He had a plan inside of his mind, but he wanted to ask Pidma first since she was somehow an adviser.

“Pidma, are you there?”

[What do you need, Del?]

“I want an upgrade to my weaponry, in particular, I want something much more ergonomic than Kar98 and MG-42. You know, something that is much more modern,” Del explained.

[Do you want an assault rifle or a battle rifle?]

“Battle rifle, the cartridge isn’t far different after all,” Del said.

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[Showing Available Battle Rifle]

[Tech Level: 3] [Total Balance: 35382.5$]

[M1 Garand] [400$]

[Gewehr 43] [500$]

[FAL] [700$]

[G3] [800$]

[AR-10] [900$]

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“Hmm, hard decision, I like AR-style rifle, but I prefer G3 to be entirely honest. It’s more reliable and it’s not like I clean my guns that often. By the way, I want to also buy additional five 30-round magazines,” Del said.

[H&K G3 comes in a 20-round magazine by default. Do you want to replace the standard magazine as well?]

“Yeah.”

[Alongside with the 7.62×51 rounds?]

“Yup.”

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[Showing Available 7.62×51 Ammunition]

[Ammunition Level: 1] [Tech Level: 3] [Total Balance: 34582.5$]

[7.62×51 FMJ] [10x] [25$]

[7.62×51 HP] [10x] [50$]

[7.62×51 AP] [10x] [80$]

[7.62×51 API] [10x] [100$]

[7.62×51 APS] [10x] [120$]

[7.62×51 HE] [10x] [150$]

[7.62×51 HEAP] [10x] [200$]

[7.62×51 IHEAP] [10x] [300$]

[7.62×51 AM-AP] [10x] [350$]

[7.62×51 AM-HEAP] [10x] [400$]

[7.62×51 AM-IHEAP] [10x] [420$]

[7.62×51 AM-APDS] [10x] [450$]

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“Fill the magazines with 7.62×51 API rounds,” Del said.

[Ok. Remaining Balance: 32602.5$]

Five magazines filled with bullets alongside an H&K G3 appeared on the couch. Del grabbed the G3 with his hand. Although he was unfamiliar with it, G3 operated similarly with MP5 which was a very famous submachine gun. The magazine release handle was located similarly to an AK-style rifle. It also had a similar safety lever as an AR-15 style rifle.

There was also a sling attached to that rifle for easier carrying. Sadly, there wasn’t any place to mount a scope on that rifle. Well, it was not like Del was going to shoot a target from one kilometer away anyway.

Still, the H&K G3 was an overall solid battle rifle firing a 7.62x51mm NATO cartridge. The rifle felt more comfortable to handle than the wooden parts of the Kar98 or the metal parts of the MG-42. Del wouldn’t complain about his own choice.

Del eventually moved to the next item that he would want to wear. He wanted to wear armor. Having a custom-made Mithril armor would cost too much money and it wouldn’t protect him from fragmentations.

Being cut wasn’t nice, but it was definitely curable quite easily. All that he needed were some bandages and a person with a healing spell and he would be done. On the other hand, if he were dealing with fragmentation, he would have to deal with internal bleeding.

As far as he knew, the healing spell usually only worked when the area of bleeding was exposed. If the bleeding was covered by skin, the healing spell wouldn’t work. If internal bleeding was left, Del could die rather easily. Basically, Del needed to undergo surgery to cure internal bleeding.

Del didn’t even know whether there was a surgeon besides Cassandra. Heck, even finding Cassandra itself would be a jarring task on its own. Cassandra might be in the capital right now, “collecting” blood samples from almost everyone.

Bottom line was, Del needed armor that would protect him from fragmentation.

“Pidma, I need to browse armor.”

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[Showing Body Armor]

[Tech Level: 3] [Total Balance: 32602.5$]

[SN-42] [500$]

[FLAK Jacket] [800$]

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“Yeah, just a jacket, please,” Del said.

[Ok]

A green FLAK jacket appeared on top of the couch. The FLAK jacket was colored green. It was the FLAK jacket that the US troops used in the Vietnam War. Del couldn’t say that it was heavy armor, but that would be decent enough for now.

A footstep was coming from the stairs. Cole seemed to have woken up. He eventually walked to the couch. The first thing that caught his attention was the G3 that Del held. Cole looked at that rifle, “Yo, what’s that? Is that another gun?”

“Yeah, it’s called the Gewehr 3, it’s chambered in 7.62×51 NATO,” Del explained.

“Cut the technocrap, is that thing strong enough for us?” Cole asked.

“Oh, it is indeed very strong, my friend,” Del said.

“Let’s test that thing out then, shall we?” Cole asked.

“This thing is reliable, we can straight go to the guild office in Alder and ask for a quest,” Del said.

“Alright, let’s pack things up and get going then,” Cole said.

==========================

The road to Alder was crowded with carriages as usual. Del and Cole were on top of their horse while Wolfie followed them from the back. It seemed that Wolfie managed to keep the bandits off them.

“Del, may I ask you a question?” Cole asked.

“Sure, fire away,” Del said.

“Why the king is not hunting you down? I meant, you are literally a banished person that somehow climbs the social strata,” Cole said.

“They have a bigger problem that requires their attention. I doubt they want to pour in the resources necessary to hunt me down. It was not like there’s any advantage in killing me either. As far as my friends are concerned, I am probably dead to them. Even if they found me, I doubt they will kill me,” Del said.

“Why are you so sure about that?” Cole asked.

“Anna.”

“Your sister? Why?” Cole asked.

“Just think about it, banishing me is probably reasonable for them, but killing me would be unreasonable for them. Anna would do a mutiny and that will cause a clash inside of the heroes party. I’m sure the king doesn’t want that, does he?” Del asked.

“That’s quite a solid point,” Cole nodded.

“To top it all off, the heroes haven’t killed even a single living person, I have. Unlike them, I have the nerve to pull the trigger when the time comes. However, with Anna on their side, I really can’t do anything with them,” Del said.

“What do you mean?”

“Technically, any attack to the heroes group will just create a distance between Anna and me. In my prediction, Anna is in an indecisive state whether she has to support the heroes or she has to support the only family member in this world, me. Of course, I also think that the king has spoken his own bullshittery to Anna, but to be honest, I don’t even think Anna would fall for it,” Del said.

“You sound so confident with your prediction. Still, you also need to prepare the worst-case scenario. I think I would be able to set something up in the demonic continent for you if the time comes,” Cole said.

“Thanks, Cole, I appreciate it,” Del said.

“Hey, that’s what friends are supposed to be doing, right?” Cole asked.

“Yeah,” Del nodded.

Eventually, they reached the guild office in Alder. The guild office was crowded as usual, as expected from a town as big as Alder. The procedure of getting quest in Alder wasn’t different from Midham.

“Ah, young adventurer, what can I do for you?” A female guild receptionist asked him.

“I am looking for a quest,” Del said.

“What kind of quest?” The guild receptionist asked.

“The kind of quest which yields around fifty gold coins as a reward,” Del said.

Unlike Midham’s guild which would ask so many questions about Del’s rank and abilities, the guild in Alder was laxer about it because the guild had so many adventurers to serve. Usually, they only asked what kind of question they wanted to take, “Sadly, we don’t have a quest that would give you fifty gold coins, but we have a quest that will grant you one hundred gold coins, will you take it?”

“What’s the job description?” Del asked.

“This is an assassination request for a certain noble, you will face a lot of threats, are you sure you want to take it?” The receptionist asked.

“Yeah, sure,” Del said.

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[Retribution] [Difficulty: Low-End C]

Firma Dela Rose is the daughter of Count Dela Rose who has turned into a criminal after multiple assassination attempts on her own sister, Lize Reed. After being convicted by the Elbanian Court, Firma is hiding in her estate located in Alendale. She has been surrounded, but she is well-protected. The army doesn’t want to spend too much manpower on assaulting the estate so they rent the adventurer guild.

Threat Details: It is expected that Firma Dela Rose employs twenty mercenaries to protect her from her assassin. More information can be gathered from a guard barrack located in Alendale.

Reward: 100 Gold Coins, Loot.

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“Ah, so this is Lize’s sister that she was talking about,” Del commented.

“Say what?” The receptionist gave him a confused look.

“Nah, I meant, I will take this quest.”