"Don't be so discouraged, Raul! You're super excellent, and doesn't the Captain always say so? That you'll absolutely become a vital pillar of the Loki Familia in the future!"
"Yeah, thank you, Aki. You and the Captain are both way too kind to me."
'God, I can't even watch this shit,' Noah just silently shook his head.
Raul, a supposed "pillar" of the massively wealthy Loki Familia, couldn't even easily obtain a single basic grimoire to actually explore his own hidden potential, yet both members of the completely broke Hestia's Familia were totally set up with incredibly expensive grimoires right when they were just Level 1!
The sheer gap in luck between people in this world was truly immense.
The market price of a real grimoire was conservatively estimated to be well over a hundred million valis, a totally absurd price that even Noah could currently only look at with intense, watery-eyed longing.
"You've clearly shown us such an incredibly powerful ability, so can I safely assume that you will continue to reliably provide us with this exact support?" Riveria asked a rather crucial question.
Even though it had just been one single battle lasting less than three minutes, literally everyone present had already clearly seen just how insanely powerful that tactical support actually was.
If this deep-floor expedition had such incredibly powerful logistical support the whole way down, it would undoubtedly increase their overall safety and clearing efficiency immensely.
"Naturally, that's exactly the case! It's just... my specific combat style is honestly a bit incredibly expensive to maintain. The custom ammunition obviously has heavy material costs to forge, so... could you guys maybe help me cover the corresponding portion?"
Noah made his totally shameless proposal with a slight hopeful hint of anticipation.
The actual cost of mass-producing his mana bullets definitely wasn't actually that high, but consumables were still consumables, and they did indeed have a solid baseline cost to forge.
But in turn, this was also a perfectly flawless way for him to smoothly pass the elite expedition team's strict threshold.
Compared to the completely massive profits naturally gained from a deep-floor expedition, the actual cost of producing his custom ammunition was truly just a tiny drop in the ocean, without a single ounce of exaggeration.
Especially after successfully reaching the deep floors, the valuable magic stone dropped from even a single random monster was easily worth the total production cost of several thousand of his mana bullets!
The base materials definitely weren't expensive at all; it was his unique technical skill that was truly priceless.
In reality, his little plea for funding was basically just a massive joke.
However, in Riveria's eyes—since she obviously completely failed to understand the broken nature of the Spell-Weaver skill—Noah's hesitant proposal was actually surprisingly reasonable.
Because when directly compared to an incredibly fragile magic sword that easily cost millions of valis for a few swings, the overall cost-performance ratio of the totally reusable buffs Noah provided was several, or honestly even dozens of times better!
"I completely understand. Then how exactly about this? After the expedition successfully ends, I'll personally make the decision to let you have the very first pick of ten percent of all the spoils we gather. How does that sound?"
"Huh?!" Noah was stunned.
'Wait, even though this is totally different from what I originally imagined, isn't this deal way too good?!'
'This was the literal Loki Familia's official expedition team!'
'Even if it was currently just the second string! But even so, this was a massive expedition straight into the deep floors! Wasn't this insane rate of return just a bit way too high?!'
It honestly even made him want to desperately correct what he had just shamelessly said earlier.
'What costs?! I was literally just bluffing for a few extra valis, I barely even use any mana to make these things!'
Having the absolute first pick of a full ten percent of all the deep-floor spoils was just way too much; in fact, it was totally, absurdly overly generous!
Just look at Tsubaki sitting over there, she was practically scared silly by the offer!
Could this insane offer actually be a highly calculated gesture of immense goodwill directed straight toward him?
The famous "Nine-Hell," a literal high royal of the proud elven race would actually do something incredibly generous like this?
How the hell could he possibly refuse... there was absolutely zero reason to ever refuse a deal like this at all!
"...I understand." Noah flawlessly followed his greedy heart's absolute desire and firmly replied.
"I will totally do my best to heavily support everyone in every single battle to come!"
'Suddenly, I feel so completely full of total motivation!'
'Is this the massive psychological difference in mindset between being a lowly salaried worker and an actual corporate shareholder?!'
The totally greedy thought that the elite Loki Familia's second string had now essentially all become high-tier tools violently working just to make him rich suddenly made him incredibly terrified that his precious "toolbox" might actually get damaged down there.
...
After spending a mostly quiet night securely resting on the 18th floor, Riveria promptly woke literally everyone up at the absolute crack of dawn the very next day.
"Everyone, listen up closely! We will now proceed directly deep into the lower floors in one massive go. According to Finn's original plan, we were strictly supposed to switch over to Formation A starting from the 24th floor onward. However, I fully intend to temporarily completely change that plan right now," Riveria announced loudly and firmly.
"We will strictly maintain Formation B the entire way down. Except for you, Ais."
The golden-haired girl's totally blank expression instantly froze.
A rare, highly visible hint of pure confusion heavily flickered across her usually totally doll-like face.
"You will immediately withdraw from the aggressive vanguard and safely move all the way to the rear guard. From now on, you are strictly responsible for Noah's safety."
After hearing the totally unexpected order, Ais slowly turned her head just to look right at Noah, who was currently standing there looking even more completely bewildered by the sudden order than she was.
Noah honestly really wanted to loudly say that this arrangement was completely and utterly unnecessary, considering having a Level 5 like Tsubaki standing right next to him was already more than enough protection.
Riveria's weird arrangement was a complete and total waste of the team's absolute highest combat power...
'Huh? Wait, no.'
'Could it literally be that Riveria actually just wants to completely dump the totally unstable, highly explosive bomb that is Ais directly onto me to manage?!'
If left completely to her own devices out there, the girl would recklessly charge headfirst straight to the very front lines to violently butcher monsters.
Even the genius Finn purposefully formulated his highly complex battle plans and combat formations specifically with this annoying trait in mind, simply because not even Riveria herself could ever successfully persuade that incredibly stubborn little girl to hold back!
But smoothly changing her official tactical duties like this was totally still possible!
Moreover, through their deeply revealing conversation yesterday, Ais now clearly understood Noah's immense tactical importance to the entire group.
Therefore, she absolutely wouldn't ever think that strictly protecting him was just some totally fake, annoying tactic to keep her out of the fight!
Instead, she would absolutely carry out this critical protection mission with all her heart!
'What a totally insane manipulative move, Riveria!'
'You've really got it in you!'
'You definitely haven't lived those ninety-something years for absolutely nothing you sly old hag!'