His Specialty Was-Spending Money

Hades smacked his lips. The salty taste had left him parched. The four Hanzos he had sent to scout the village had all returned as well, hiding inside his shadow.

According to the Hanzos' report, nothing suspicious had happened by the time the sky had grown bright. This made Hades lean even more toward the theory that Momonga was the only one from "Ainz Ooal Gown" who had come.

But it was still only a guess. It seemed impossible to find out any more for now. Fortunately, he knew where Nazarick was. Once he had made adequate preparations, he decided he would test it again.

As for preparations, he naturally needed to explore this world. Judging by those Slane Theocracy soldiers from yesterday, this world had Tier Magic just like YGGDRASIL. There was hardly any difference.

He had no idea why the coincidence was so striking, but there was little point in looking into it right now. In YGGDRASIL, even if a guild was conquered, ownership of the items inside it did not change. Some of the shared guild supplies stored in its warehouse would drop at random, while the rest would be managed by the system.

Before a guild war began, a guild's shared warehouse would be locked, preventing anyone from taking things out at will. It remained locked until the war ended. Taking advantage of this feature, many inactive guilds were caught off guard and suffered heavy losses.

Afterward, they could rebuild their guild and reclaim the supplies managed by the system. "Ainz Ooal Gown" had once taken advantage of this feature, searching far and wide for inactive guilds that had not had time to transfer their supplies, then launching attacks to obtain considerable wealth.

Hades thought of the three "Ainz Ooal Gown" NPCs he had seen yesterday. He guessed that after arriving in reality, the guild probably no longer had any restrictions. If he took down "Ainz Ooal Gown," he would gain a seemingly endless fortune.

So he could use that temptation to recruit some people and conquer Nazarick. Of course, Nazarick's members would probably realize this too. To make sure they did not transfer their supplies ahead of time, it would be best to act discreetly.

On the other hand, to ensure that he would not be betrayed by those who obtained Nazarick's wealth after it fell, he would need to have enough power and prestige to keep them from acting rashly.

Just thinking about it gave Hades a headache. Besides, although he had seen the level of those soldiers yesterday, he still had no idea where he stood in this world.

If his strength was ordinary here, he did not know whether he could keep leveling up and growing stronger. At the very least, he needed to make sure he had an advantage.

A journey of a thousand miles began with a single step. For now, what he needed to do was earn money. Once he had saved up a certain amount of gold coins, Hades wanted to test whether this world's coins could replace YGGDRASIL's, allowing him to summon mercenaries or cast magic.

Finding a job would also give him a chance to learn about this world. It would help him blend in with the locals quickly and give him a way to conceal his identity.

Although he had no idea what kind of work he could do to earn money here, Hades's strength was that he was never ashamed to ask questions. He found the attendant who had served him when he checked into the inn the night before and asked him for advice. After all, he knew nothing about this world, so he might as well ask someone.

Perhaps because he wanted to get his hands on that gold coin, the attendant was fairly helpful. He suggested several jobs in a row, but Hades found that he could do none of them. Some of them, he had no idea what they even involved.

At last, the attendant rolled his eyes and asked, "Then tell me, what's your specialty?"

"Specialty?" Hades was taken aback. He had belonged to the wealthy class in his old world, and he had no idea what his specialty could be. If spending money counted as a specialty, he could crush anyone.

He had spent a fortune on a game that was already in decline. That was exactly what Hades had done. Even when he was practically retired from the game, whenever new content came out, he would splurge, upgrade his equipment to the latest version, and then go right back to barely playing.

"Does spending money count?"

The words slipped out before Hades could stop them. But when he saw the attendant roll his eyes, he was just about to explain that he was joking when the man actually nodded.

"Of course it counts," the attendant said.

"Uh..." Hades had not expected that spending money could actually be a job. Curious, he asked, "Then where can I find work like that?"

"Easy. Go to the Royal Capital," the attendant said. "Just hang around near the royal palace. If you see the Golden Princess, win her favor. Once you marry her, your job will be spending money."

"..."

Hades had not expected the attendant to have such a sense of humor.

"Um, I was joking," Hades said awkwardly. The attendant's question had made him think back to his extravagant lifestyle, and he had momentarily lost focus because his specialty had never mattered to him.

"I'm not joking. The Golden Princess of Re-Estize is sixteen this year. She's gentle and kind, and she's given the king plenty of policies to help govern the country. I'm sure someone like you could win her over easily. Once you marry the princess, you can put your specialty for spending money to good use," the attendant mocked.

"Forget it. I'll ask someone else." Hades shook his head and prepared to leave.

"Wait, come back!" the attendant hurriedly called after him. The man had managed to get on his nerves. He really did want that finely crafted gold coin and would have been willing to buy it, but there was no harm if the other man did not want to sell. In any case, he was still a customer spending money at his inn.

So when Hades asked him for advice, he had racked his brains trying to think of every job available in E-Rantel.

But who would have thought the man would say his specialty was spending money? Anyone could spend money. He could spend money better than Hades. If Hades had not seemed to be serious, he would have stopped bothering with him already.

Seeing that the other man seemed upset, the attendant immediately set aside his personal feelings. Whatever else happened, he could not afford to offend a customer.

"I'm back." Hades turned to face the attendant. "I really am looking for a job. I wasn't making fun of you."

"But you're making this really difficult for me. E-Rantel lies where three countries meet, so it has more opportunities than other cities. But you can't do anything. How am I supposed to recommend a job for you?" the attendant said, looking troubled.

"If fighting counts as a specialty, I think I might be decent at that," Hades said with a shrug.

"Fighting?" The attendant's eyes lit up. But then he looked Hades up and down, taking in his unimpressive build, and said, "There is a job related to fighting, but it's dangerous."

"What kind of job? Don't tell me you mean gladiator," Hades said. As far as he knew, in a medieval society like this, there would be arenas where the rich could enjoy watching gladiators fight.

It was not out of the question. He could find out where his strength stood in this world, and maybe even scout out people who could help him conquer Nazarick.

"Gladiator? You mean an arena? That's not the kind of work I mean. The Re-Estize Kingdom doesn't have arenas," the attendant said, waving his hand. "I mean adventuring. If you're confident in your strength, you can become an adventurer. Once you reach adamantite rank, you can stay at E-Rantel's finest inn, the Golden Radiance Pavilion."

The attendant looked at Hades mockingly. He was clearly still annoyed that Hades had claimed his specialty was spending money. Did Hades really think reaching adamantite rank was that easy? Not with a build like his.

He could make bronze rank at best. Maybe iron, if he was lucky.