Chapter 8: Let’s Go to the Meat Dungeon!

“It is about time we go to a dungeon.”

The day after our barbecue, Fel started to complain. Of course, both Dora-chan and Sui reacted to that and started piling on about going to the dungeon.

And so it was decided. I was at a complete disadvantage in numbers when it came to a vote. Everyone else liked dungeons, after all. To Fel and the others, it was like a fun attraction.

But to adventurers, it’s a matter of life and death.

Just like that, it was decided we would be going to a dungeon, and when it came time to decide which dungeon to go to, Fel immediately wanted to go to the one in Brixt.

It was a dungeon that was known for being challenging, and it was in the neighboring Kingdom of Erman.

“I am interested in that hard dungeon in the neighboring country that one adventurer we met before told us about. He gave you a teleportation stone from there, did he not?”

Fel remembers everything.

He was referring to the teleportation stone to the 30th floor of said dungeon I received from the A-ranked adventuring party, “Ark,” who we met in Aveling’s dungeon.

It was the type that had unlimited uses, meaning we could come and go anywhere up to the 30th floor. Given that, Fel immediately brought up the dungeon in Brixt.

There’s no doubt that Fel was motivated by the fact that it was rumored to be hard. But I refuse! As if I’d go all the way to some dungeon that’s hard.

From what I’d heard, it was even harder than Dolan’s and Aveling’s dungeons. So of course I wanted to avoid that. That was why I put my all into recommending a different dungeon — Rosendahl’s dungeon, known as “the meat dungeon.” It only had twelve floors and wasn’t very hard, but almost all the drops were meat, so it would be very profitable for us.

From what I’d heard, Rosendahl owed its prosperity to the dungeon, and there were a lot of good eateries thanks to all the dungeon’s meat. And it was said that there were even some meats that were only available in this dungeon. Since I had to take care of a bunch of meat lovers, the dungeon was perfect for us.

I carefully and thoroughly explained these points, which tilted Dora-chan and Sui’s interests towards the meat dungeon.

Finally, even Fel conceded. “The low difficulty of the dungeon makes it boring, but the fact that some meat is only available there makes me want to try it.” So, it was decided that we would be going to the meat dungeon.

It seemed that Rosendahl was a long ways away from Karelina, but I had Fel so it would be a lot faster than traveling by a normal carriage.

Since that was the case, I first had to talk to the people working at my mansion.

After they’d all gathered round, I told them about my intentions to go to the meat dungeon. The Tony and Alban families seemed momentarily concerned, but they seemed relieved when I told them that I would prepare food and daily necessities for them in advance, as well as pay them in full for three months before I left.

Also, I gave Tony’s son, Kosti, a certain job. Before, he had attended a free school held in a church, so he was not only literate, but he could also do simple calculations. So, I had him manage the stocks of shampoos and soaps, as well as the number to deliver to Lambert’s store.

He was perplexed at first, but I told him, “It might seem daunting, but I chose you because you’re suited for it. Do your best,” to which he gamely nodded.

I figured he’d need writing implements to help him manage the stores, so I handed him all he would need after I taught him how to use them: pencils, erasers, and notebooks. He seemed really pleased. Selja and the other children of the Alban family, on the other hand, looked jealous. That was when I thought of something.

“Tabatha, aren’t you literate and don’t you know some math?”

“Well, kind of. Why are you asking all of a sudden?”

“No, well, I was just wondering if you’d teach the children to read and write and do math...”

“Whaaaat? M-Me?”

“Yeah. You’re good at taking care of people Tabatha, I think you’d be a good teacher.”

“M-Me, huh? A teacher......”

“I’ll give you separate pay for it, so could you? It’ll be good for the kids’ future to be able to read, write, and do math.”

“For their futures, you say...... Then I’ll do it. I don’t know if I’ll do a good job, though.”

I asked Kosti to assist. It was probably a lot of work since he had to take care of the basement stores too, but he seemed motivated when I told him I’d pay him extra as well.

“E-Excuse me, I need to ask you a favor......”

Peter, who was normally quiet, raised his voice. Listening to him, it turned out he wanted to learn as well.

“I became an adventurer without ever learning that stuff...... But there’s a lot of inconvenient things that come with not being able to do all that......”

He continued on to say that whenever he needed to read a job post, he needed to have someone else read for him, and whenever he needed to fill out a form, he had to get someone to help him with that too. Most importantly, since he couldn’t work with numbers, it was easy to fleece him out of change during transactions.

Someone who couldn’t do simple math wouldn’t notice right away at least, and even if they did and complained, the other person could just play dumb. At that point, the chance was already gone and there was no proof, so in the end, an uneducated person would just have to swallow their dissatisfaction.

Are there stores that would actually do that? That was my first reaction, but they were actually quite common.

“Once someone looks at you and thinks you’re dumb and uneducated, they’ll start ripping you off without a second thought,” Luke said, his face scrunched in disgust.

“Exactly. And even if you manage to notice and bring it up, they can just say, ‘Oh, my bad,’ and that’s the end of it. They can just claim it was an honest mistake.”

Irvine and Luke also made disgusted expressions.

“Ahh, for math I’ll be having you guys help me out along with Kosti. Then we’ll all be studying reading and writing together.”

“What?!”

“Why?!”

Tabatha dropped a bomb, eliciting wails from Luke and Irvine.

“I mean, the two of you can do math, but you’re not great at reading and writing right? Especially your handwriting! It’s barely legible. You’ve been given a chance to study up after becoming an adult, so stop complaining and think of it like a favor.”

It seemed like Luke and Irvine knew that was true. They groaned when she called their writing barely legible.

“U-Ummm......” Tony spoke up. “C-Can we... Uhh... Can we also study with you guys?”

“Hm? You guys too?”

“Yes. We can’t do any of that, so if you’re teaching, then we’d like to learn.”

He continued on to say that while he and Aija could at least write their own names, the others were completely illiterate and unable to do simple calculations. Apparently, they’d never been taught any of that in the first place. Actual schools were really only available to nobles and the filthy rich. While churches offered free schools in some of the larger towns these days, there had been nothing like that when Tony and Aija had been children. Even now, the church’s free school only opened a few hours a week and taught only the basics of literacy and math. It sounded more like a kindergarten.

I see, so the literacy rate of this world isn’t that high, and it’s not weird for Tony and Aija to not be literate.

Tony and Aija were illiterate and couldn’t work with numbers, and since they had been having financial trouble, they had sent Kosti to the free school. They had actually wanted to send Selja as well, it seemed, but due to Aija’s illness, they’d no longer had the leeway to do so.

“Excuse me, please let us in too!”

That was Alban and Thereza. They’d lived in a village all their lives, so they’d had no chance to get educated. They were completely innumerate. The village chief and his son were the only ones who were numerate. Whenever there was an exchange of money or some sort of big contract to be formed, everyone in the village relied on the two of them.

But Alban and Thereza always questioned whether this was the right way to do things. It wasn’t as if they distrusted the chief or his son, but they just couldn’t shake that one idea. After all, they’d never been able to confirm anything for themselves. That’s why they wanted to take any chance to become educated.

“Age doesn’t matter. If anybody wants to learn, feel free to join. It might be hard with this many people, Tabatha, but please do your best.”

“Of course. They’ve been taking great care of us, after all.”

The understanding that they would be able to get educated dawned on them, and all four of the parents seemed happy.

“Hey, Barthel, I see you acting like this has nothing to do with you. You’re going to help out too, got it! I know you learned how to do this stuff over your looooong life!”

“W-Why me?! I’ve never taught anyone before!” Barthel, who suddenly had the ball thrown to him, panicked.

“And I’m the same. But we’re doing it anyway!”

“It’s impossible, I tell you!”

......This should work perfectly for dwarves, I thought, and instantly bought something with my skill.

“Here, take this Barthel.” I handed Barthel a cup with a brown liquid inside it.

“Liquor? Why are you giving me this all of a sudden? I’m gonna drink it, though.”

Barthel downed the entire cup in one gulp. Then...... his eyes widened into saucers.

“W-What the hell?! What is this?!?”

Mwahahahahaha! That, my friend, is my special anti-dwarf secret weapon!

It was the same Japanese whisky of reasonable price that came in a square bottle that I had given to the dwarf who made my barbecue grill.

“That’d be better than money for your payment, wouldn’t it Barthel?” I said, and Barthel’s attitude instantly changed.

“Y-You’ll give me this amazing booze?! I’ll do it! I’ll do whatever you want!”

There goes the dwarf.

“Hey, is that stuff really that good?” Luke and Irvine were full of interest.

“You wanna try some, too?” I asked, and they nodded fervently. I poured some whisky in cups for the two of them.

*Gulp*

“Wheeerrgghh—?! The hell is this?! My throat! It’s burning!”

“Ghhrrrgghh! Th-This stuff’s way too strong!”

Luke and Irvine both grimaced over how strong the alcohol was.

“Hah! The strength of this stuff is what’s good about it. And it’s got its own unique smell and taste. It’s better than anything I’ve ever drunk before, you know!”

“Stuff like this is only good to dwarves!”

“Yeah!”

“Heh, and that’s perfect for me. I’ll be keeping this good stuff all to myself!”

I tried to calm down the three of them before their argument truly kicked off.

“Now, now. So Barthel, this alcohol here is fine for your payment, right?”

“It is. I want it.”

“How about two bottles a month?”

“I want more!”

“Then three.”

“Come on, Mukohda. Think of the future!”

“No. Three bottles a month. It needs to be balanced with the others’ rewards.”

I laid down the law, and Barthel seemed a little disappointed, but he was still grinning over the knowledge that he’d be able to obtain some of my whisky.

“Ah! Wait, Mukohda, what do we do about security while everyone’s studying? Basically everyone’s participating in this, right? Even though it’ll only be two or three times a week, that still means a couple of times where no one will be on guard.”

“Oh, yeah. Don’t worry about it.”

Actually, I’d already been thinking of setting up some magic tools for security. I got some info about those tools from the guildmaster, so I was planning to get them set up before we left. I said as much to Tabatha, and she seemed relieved.

“Right, then that’s that. I need to get ready for the journey too. We’ll probably be leaving for Rosendahl in about three days, so I’m leaving this place to you guys.”

After that, I gave the same writing set I had given to Kosti to everyone else as well, and they all looked happy.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

After I reported my intentions to everyone else, things got busy.

First, I had the magic tools for boosting security set up. It was a tool that set up some sort of simple barrier — an alarm system, basically. Including installation, it cost me 850 gold, but it was necessary.

After that, I needed to let Lambert know of my plans, so I visited his store, but he had already gone to the capital. According to his wife, Marie, he was gleefully traveling to the capital with twice as many adventurers guarding him as usual.

“I heard it all from my husband. He was really excited since the deal this time is a big chance to expand the store.” Marie was smiling as she spoke.

Well, he’s going to be selling the Divine Medicine: Hair Growth Power to nobles with the earl’s introductions, so this would be a huge chance for a merchant.

I was leaving the business side entirely to Lambert, so I was really rooting for him to do his best.

I told Marie that I was heading for Rosendahl and its dungeon before introducing Kosti to her. I was going to leave the matter of the shampoos and soaps entirely to Kosti, so I told her to talk to him whenever they started running low on stock in the store. As for the payment, we agreed that they would hand over wooden tags at the exchange recording the transaction, like when I ordered my wyvern mantle, which would allow me to take all the tags when I came back to town to have them counted up and paid in full.

After that, I went to the Adventurer’s guild to report to the guildmaster.

The guildmaster tried to stop me, saying, “You could totally stay in town for a while longer though...” However, Fel and the others were already in full “I want to go to a dungeon” mode. I told him that it was already decided, and that we’d be gone for no more than three months. This caused him to relent with an, “Oh fine,” though he still complained about it.

Then, I made an express order to Johan since I wanted to secure as much meat for the trip as possible. I kind of felt bad for him though, especially given that I had foisted upon him five orcs, some blue bulls, a few cockatrices, a bloody horn-bull, and a rockbird to butcher in order to feed everyone else at the house.

I wouldn’t have minded sharing a bit more with them, but I was stopped by Aija and Thereza. Since this was precious food we were talking about, I figured that having more would be better than having less, even though I only planned to be gone for three months. However, the two of them yelled, “It’s too much!”

But they have the magic bag I gave them, so it won’t rot or anything. Isn’t it fine?

At any rate, my stores of meat had dwindled accordingly, so I needed old man Johan to work hard. I was considering saving some meat from the dungeon to split with him as a present.

I had given Aija and Thereza a large supply of seasonings, bread, eggs, and milk as well. As for flour and vegetables, I went out with them to stock up. And just in case it wouldn’t be enough, I also left them some money to use for food expenses, so they shouldn’t be in danger of starving.

The hardest thing to suffer in life is having to go hungry. So I’m giving maximum consideration to prevent that.

I handed everyone three months’ worth of daily necessities and paid them in advance as well. And because Rosendahl was supposedly quite far from here, I made a lot of food for the trip.

I reported to Demiurge and made an early offering as well. I sent him two weeks’ worth of stuff today. Specifically, I gave him the same Yamaguchi-prefecture sake three-bottle set that I’d offered before, the one that had been gifted to the American president, as well as an Aichi prefecture set, and some brandy. The Aichi-prefecture sake was said to be getting a lot of attention from foreigners.

I’d given him wine and rum before, so I went with brandy this time. I chose a bottle that could be said to be the basic brandy, one that tasted mild and was fairly easy to drink for someone new.

Of course, I also included some premium Kantsuma as well.

Like that, I spent my days busily preparing for my trip. Three days after the decision was made for us to go to the dungeon, I was finally ready.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

Everybody who worked at my house came to see us off.

“I don’t think we need to worry about you, Mukohda, but be careful anyway.”

“Thanks, Tabatha, and I’m counting on you while we’re gone. You seem the most reliable, after all.”

“I know already. Just leave the place to me while you’re gone.”

Tabatha should be able to take care of anything that comes up.

“You’re going to the meat dungeon, right? We’re looking forward to what you bring back.”

“The meat from that dungeon’s crazy good.”

The twins were grinning wide.

“Good meat?! Lotte loves meat! Lotte wants to eat some too!”

Lotte reacted to what the twins said and started hopping up and down.

“Hahaha! I’ll make sure to bring some back.”

I’m gonna have to bring back lots of meat to present to this meat-loving carnivore, won’t I?

“All right then everyone, we’re off.”

“““““See you soon!”””””

“We’re off to Rosendahl, you three!”

“Indeed.”

《Yeah!》

《Dungeon!》

We headed off to the town of Rosendahl, otherwise known as “the meat dungeon.”