Hellmode ~A Hardcore Gamer Becomes Peerless in Another World with Retro Game Settings~

Chapter 383: Award ceremony

Raven, the leader of the mercenaries, gave the order to his men, and they carried boxes which they placed in front of the soldiers.

Everyone had a hunch of what was happening.

This was another reason why they were seated according to their ranks.

And it explained the gaps between those sitting on the front and those behind.

The mercenaries placed the chests on the front rows.

"Now, let's conduct an award ceremony to commemorate your work here, and that which is to come."

The chests contained weapons and armor.

There were rings to increase their stats as well.

General Zaurele was granted Stone Slabs for a Hihiirokane Golem, while the other 99 golem drivers were given many slabs for a mythril one.

28000 Iron Golems had been hunted already.

Thanks to that, there were plenty of items and weapons for everyone.

So far they had opened 25200 wood chests, 2800 silver chests, and 25 golden chests.

That included what they obtained before answering the distress signal from the Holy Land.

From those results, it seemed that silver chests had a 10% drop rate, and gold ones 0.1%.

Items obtained from gold chests:

-3 necklaces that increased stats by 2000

-1 lump of orichalcum ore

-3 magic device cubes

-8 Adamantite Golem Stone Slabs

-5 non-adamantite weapons

-5 non-adamantite armor pieces

Items obtained from silver chests (approx.)

-1400 rings that boost stats by 5000

-140 magic devices (large, extra large)

-280 adamantite weapons

-280 adamantite armor pieces

-560 Hihiirokane Golem Stone Slabs

-45 non-adamantite weapons

-45 non-adamantite armor pieces

Items obtained from wood chests (approx.)

-14000 rings that boost stats by 3000

-1400 magic devices (small, medium)

-2800 hihiirokane weapons

-2800 hihiirokane armor pieces

-5600 Mythril Golem Stone Slabs

-700 non-hihiirokane weapons

-700 non-hihiirokane armor pieces

First, it was obvious golden chests were extremely rare.

The odds were less than one in a thousand.

There were three necklaces that boosted stats found from gold chests.

The rainbow chest dropped by Gordino, the dungeon's final boss, contained a necklace that boosted stats by 3000. Those found in gold chests were inferior, but still useful.

Those necklaces boosted Strength, Intelligence, and Endurance, so he gave them to his friends.

They also gathered all body Stone Slabs for an Adamantite Golem.

Extra large Stone Slabs had shown up too, but no Goliath Size ones yet.

One lump of orichalcum ore had dropped before they left to the Holy Land, but none had appeared since.

Maybe it was just bad luck, or there was a limit of one lump for a party.

But at least they had obtained a large amount of items made of monster and plant parts from the gold chests.

That allowed Formar, Cecile, and Kiel to upgrade their bow, wand, and rod respectively.

There was also lightweight armor for Shea and Luck, who could not wear something heavy like adamantite.

There were only 5 pieces obtained from the gold chests though, so Allen decided to not take any since he was the most unlikely one to die anyway.

With Cecile's equipment renewed, there was nothing that could stop her magic anymore.

Kiel had low Endurance, so getting a boost with the necklace was helpful too.

Thanks to the gold chests, the party was able to compensate for Dogora's decision to rescind his shield, bringing the defenses of everyone up.

"U-umm, what are these?"

General Lucidral asked what everyone was thinking.

He could tell that it all was expensive equipment.

"That's the equipment you'll be using from now on. You can think of it as supplies provided by Allen's Army. I prepared that for you to improve your time working with us."

"Supplies…"

The current generals were Lud, Lucidral, Bunzenbark, and Zaurele.

After them were twenty captains, fifty commanders, and around 500 sergeants.

Captains led 500 people, commanders 100, and sergeants 10.

Then there was Larappa as the chief of the magic engineers, and two deputies under her.

Raven was the leader of the mercenaries, with Rita and Milsy as his assistants.

"Hm? For me too?"

Raven realized there was a chest for him as well.

"Huh? We're get one as well?"

"All three of us?"

Someone else brought the chests for Raven, Rita, and Milsy, since they carried those for the other members in the army.

Allen had prepared equipment from silver chests for the generals, captains, commanders, and officers.

Some sargeants received some equipment as well, but there was not enough for all of them.

Meanwhile rings that boosted stats by 5000 were so plentiful that all soldiers could get them, and even a portion of those on more managerial positions.

"Wear these proudly in your next battle."

"Thank you very much. I can't thank you enough for awarding us such magnificent equipment."

The rings, armor, and weapons each of them received were so valuable they would be able to live freely and without stress if they sold it.

Adamantite swords went for many thousands of gold coins, and the rings could fetch an even higher price.

The generals would probably get multiple tens of thousands of gold coins for everything.

Joining Allen's Army had nearly doubled the salaries of many, but even then such weapons were completely out of their finances.

Maybe if they saved up for decades they would eventually be able to afford similar equipment.

Lucidral thanked Allen profusely for that.

Just equipping one person like that was expensive, but to arm 5000 people like that meant there were at least fifty million gold coins worth of items there.

That rivaled the national budget of Baukis, which was the richest country in the world.

In the case of a country like Rosenheim, it was many times their budget.

That made everyone assume that it was all obviously borrowed equipment.

"I'm not lending it to you. All of those items are yours now. And ah, those of you who find it cumbersome to wear heavy adamantite armor can feel free to exchange it for something else before deploying."

Allen also mentioned how those who did not get any equipment now, would eventually get some as more silver chests were obtained.

"B-but we haven't even fought a single battle yet."

Rath still felt hesitant to accept that, considering they had not really gone to war yet.

Meanwhile all mercenaries other than Rita did not think they would get to keep the equipment.

"I see, I guess this means I need to explain a bit more what the objective of Allen's Army is."

"Huh? What objective?"

The soldiers felt like they had heard enough about their future plans already.

"As you probably know, progress on the Talent Change Dungeon is smooth, and not a single one of our men has died there."

Allen had made sure to take plenty of safety measures for the Talent Change Dungeon, and he made everyone form parties of 48 to clear the A Rank Dungeons.

His summons would accompany them as well, and he had given them plenty of Heaven's Blessings.

He took as many safety measures as he could think of.

Thanks to that, there had not been a single casualty so far.

"I'm aware, yes."

Rath was still waiting for the actual reply to his question.

It had only been two months, but he had noticed the extremes Allen went to for safety.

"I'll be blunt then. Compared to your lives, everything you see in front of you is as valuable as scrap metal for me."

"""Scrap metal?!"""

Everyone repeated in disbelief.

They tried to imagine that, but no matter how they thought about it, it all looked like treasure to them.

The price of everything in front of them rivaled the national budget of large countries, so they could not see it as scrap metal.

"Rath, if one of your men was in danger, but you could save his life by using your Extra Skill on that adamantite spear, what would you do? The spear might vanish past the horizon and never be found again."

They still could not understand, so Allen tried to explain with more realistic terms.

Rath, a deer beastman, had become a Spear Saint after undergoing a Talent Change.

His Extra Skill [Brave Lance] was a powerful spear throw.

Allen had seen him use it before, the spear would always pierce through the enemy and continue flying further away.

There were times when it would fly so far away that it was impossible to find the spear again, so Rath always carried reserve spears.

"Of course I'll throw it, if that will save his life."

Rath answered saying he valued that life more than his spear.

"Well, what if it was your life you had to save? Can you say you wouldn't hesitate to do it if your spear was borrowed?"

"...I see, I understand now."

Rath answered, carefully looking at the adamantite spear in front of him.

"That's about it. I'm sure there will come times when our lives will be in danger, but I would hate to know a borrowed weapon was the reason for casualties."

Rath finally understood what Allen meant by undervaluing the items so much.

If the weapons were borrowed, one's family would basically be indebted for life trying to repay it, making the decision to give up one's life easier to take.

There would be some who might get afraid of losing their equipment in the battlefield too.

Allen did not want his army to hesitate while fighting for their life.

When fighting against opponents with many thousands of stats points, a one second delay could mean the difference between life and death.

No matter how valuable their equipment was, Allen wanted them to always value their lives more.

Rath could tell Allen made that decision to give away the equipment after considering the effects loaning it would have.

"I, Rath, pledge my life to Allen's Army."

Rath exclaimed that out of the blue.

This was something he felt comfortable putting his life on line for.

Hearing that, all the other generals and soldiers bowed at Allen too.

(Hm? Again, that's exactly what I'm trying to avoid.)

Allen wanted to insist that he wanted them to take better care of themselves, but that was not exactly what the soldiers meant.

He decided to accept their loyalty for a bit, and the ceremony came to an end.

That night there would be a festival in all the cities too, to commemorate the finalized construction of Heavy User Island.

The soldiers carefully carried their new weapons and armor, and left the temple.

"Hey, Commandant Allen."

Habarak spoke to him, his tone a bit coarse, but still being mindful to call him by his title.

"Master Habarak? What is it?"

Since he was not a soldier of his army, Allen answered with a more polite voice.

"I finally finished one of the items you asked for."

"Ohh!! Thank you very much!!"

(That's exciting news!)

Allen was really excited hearing that.

An item which could not be bought with money had been made.