Chapter 8: Finally, Brixt!

“So that’s Brixt, huh? I guess all dungeon cities must be pretty big.”

《Finally, we arrive! We could have made it here much sooner, had I had my way.》

“I might not’ve made it here at all, if you’d had your way! Our only choice is for me to ride on your back, so we just have to live with it.” I know for a fact that I’d do something right on top of you that you’d be really unhappy about if you ran any faster with me aboard.

For all Fel’s griping about the trip taking an age, a typical carriage ride from Karelina to Brixt would take somewhere in the vicinity of two months. We’d made the trip in a total of three weeks, so as far as I was concerned we’d made excellent time.

《Oh, who friggin’ cares?! Let’s just hurry up! The dungeon’s waiting for us!》

《Yes, indeed. At long last, the dungeon stands before us! Though I am told that you humans consider them nigh insurmountable obstacles, I could hardly be more excited.》 Fel and Dora-chan’s eyes were blazing with anticipation as they proceeded toward the city gates, and I barely managed to stop them before disaster struck.

“Whoa, wait, wait!”

《What?》

《Yeah, what gives? We’re finally at the dungeon! Let’s go already!》

“No can do! You two were planning on ignoring the line and marching right into town, weren’t you? That’s totally out of the question!”

《Grr...》

《Peh! We have to wait in line after all?》

“Oh, so you were doing it on purpose.”

《Why must we waste an age in line each and every time we enter a town? I shall consent to waiting for your sake, but do not allow yourself to forget: I am a Fenrir.》

“So? What, you think that just because you’re a Fenrir, you can skip the line and walk straight into town?”

《Yes, I can. It would be child’s play. Neither this gate nor any of the humans before it could stand in my way.》 Fel snorted indignantly, his expression telling me that he thought his answer was obvious. I sighed.

“Are you planning on starting a war with this whole country, Fel? Brushing aside the gate guards and breaking into town’s the worst move you could possibly make. You’d cause a huge incident, and then you could kiss going into the dungeon goodbye.”

《Hmmph!》

‘Hmmph’ yourself! I knew that Fel wasn’t exaggerating and that he could smash his way into town without breaking a sweat, but he’d be in no position to go dungeoneering after pulling a move like that.

《Oh, so taking out the gate guards is the problem?》 said Dora-chan. 《In that case, we can just jump the walls! Sure, you told me not to in all the other towns we’ve hit up, but think about it—we’d just have to sneak around to a part of the wall you can’t see from the gates and hop right over! Nobody would even notice!》

I sighed again. Dora-chan was just as bad at anticipating the consequences of his actions as Fel was. “Do you have any idea how much you and Fel stick out in town? Even if we managed to sneak in, we’d get busted in no time and it’d turn into just as big a problem as Fel’s idea. Worst case, we could get banned from ever entering the town again! That’d mean kissing the dungeon goodbye for good.”

《Ugh...》

“When all’s said and done, the best plan’s to wait in line, go through the usual process and enter the town the proper way, even if it does take a little more time. Then we won’t have any problems with the authorities and can explore the dungeon for as long as you want.”

Fel and Dora-chan looked really unhappy about my proposal, but they plodded over to the end of the line anyway. That almost caused a problem in and of itself, of course, but a little running around and a few frantic explanations that they were my familiars later, everyone calmed down again. We found ourselves with a surprising amount of space in front of us, even though we were at the back of the line, but I couldn’t really blame people for keeping a healthy distance.

Some time later we made it through the line and finally entered Brixt proper. On our way in, a soldier who looked a bit higher on the chain of command than the rest of the gate guards nervously approached us and said, “Welcome to Brixt! I hope your time in our fair city is pleasant and fruitful!”

Apparently, the guards in this town had received the same orders from the monarchy I’d learned about at the border.

◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇

《Masteeer, aren’t we going to the dungeon?》 Sui, who had finally woken up, was practically quivering with anticipation for our long-awaited dungeon crawl.

“Nah, not yet. It’s pretty late today, and I’ll need at least a day to get our meals ready, so I’m thinking the day after tomorrow or so.”

“What?! Today may be unworkable, I grant you that, but the day after tomorrow is too long to wait!”

《Yeah! It took ages getting here, screw more waiting! Let’s go in tomorrow!》

The instant I answered Sui’s question, Fel and Dora-chan jumped into the conversation to try and overrule my plan. I understood how they felt—they’d made it very clear how excited they were—but it had taken a pretty long time to choose a house to rent, and I still had a lot of preparations to get done before I’d be ready for the dungeon.

I’d stopped by the Merchant’s guild to rent a house first thing after I got into town, as usual, but it had been a lot more time-consuming than I’d grown to expect. Brixt’s dungeon was notorious for its difficulty, but the items and treasures that dropped in it were proportionately more valuable than those you’d find in a typical dungeon. As a natural result, adventurers flocked to the city in droves.

The fact that the dungeon was so hard meant that a lot of the adventurers who came to the city were high-rankers, and high-ranking adventuring parties tended to have a fair sum of coin to throw around. Those who ended up staying in Brixt long-term would often choose to rent a house, like I always did. Perhaps thanks to that fact, there weren’t any available houses of the sort I’d usually consider.

The houses I was shown were all either too small, too old, or just too unappealing for me or my familiars. It took an awful lot of searching before we finally found the right place for us: a fifteen-room mansion surrounded by a spacious garden. It was located in a very convenient residential district that offered easy access to both the shopping district and the Adventurer’s guild, which was a prime location for my purposes.

The only downside and the only reason why it hadn’t already been rented out was the fact that its rent was outrageously expensive. A week’s stay cost over a hundred gold coins, so no wonder it was still available. Even I hesitated to pay that much for a single week, but Fel and Dora-chan took an immediate liking to it and insisted that it was perfect. Sui, meanwhile, was fast asleep and didn’t get to contribute its opinion this time around.

I rented the place for two weeks, and the guild cut me a deal, rounding off the price to an even two hundred gold coins. I figured I could just tell myself I was doing my part to stimulate the local economy. It wasn’t every day I got to feel like a real celebrity, so might as well savor it.

But anyway, the dungeon was a way more pressing matter at that moment than my housing situation. Fel, Dora-chan, and Sui were all so excited to dive in that they couldn’t bear to wait a second longer, and were raising a massive fuss about how they wanted to go tomorrow.

“We go tomorrow! Tomorrow, I say! I have waited far too long for this, and I shall not wait a moment longer!”

《Yeah, me neither! I’ve been looking forward to this place ever since I heard it’s supposed to be super hard! We finally made it here, the dungeon’s right in front of us! Why not jump in right away?!》

《Sui wants to hurry and go to the dungeon soon too!》

“Hmm... You know we’re going to be in that dungeon for a long time, though. We have to be careful about our food situation. If the place is as hard as they say it is, you’re gonna want good food to keep you going throughout the trip, right? I know for a fact that you’re all going to complain if whatever I serve you isn’t up to your standards.”

“Mnh, that may be so... B-But, of course, you can just cook within the dungeon! You have an ample supply of meat already, do you not?”

《Yeah, that’s the ticket! You’ve got that whatsit—ah, right, that magic stove, so you can cook anywhere, even in the middle of the dungeon!》

“Sure, but if I’m cooking in the dungeon I won’t be able to use anything I have to buy from my Online Supermarket. It’d be a disaster if one of the other adventurers caught me using it, you know! If you’re okay with me not using Online Supermarket ingredients, then sure, I guess that’d work! You’ll just have to live with the food tasting way, way worse.” Pretty much all of the secret flavor bombs I made regular use of—sauces, condiments, all that good stuff—came from my Online Supermarket.

《N-No way, nuh-uh! I wanna eat tasty food, even in the dungeon!》

《Sui too! Sui wants good food in the dungeon!》

“Well said, both of you! The flavor of our meals must not be compromised under any circumstances. But if the prying eyes of other adventurers pose a problem, we need only hide where they cannot find us! If this dungeon is as challenging as it is purported to be, it should offer ample space and plenty of corners to conceal ourselves in.”

《Yeah, Fel’s right! Worst case, I can fly out ahead and find a place like that for us!》

Fel and Dora-chan loomed over me, their faces pressed uncomfortably close to mine. Even Sui, who’d climbed up onto Fel’s head at some point in the conversation, said 《Masteeer, Sui wants to go to the dungeon soon!》

“Okay, okay, I get it! We’ll go tomorrow! Are you happy?!”

“Indeed, I am satisfied.”

《Hell yeah!》

《Dungeon, dungeon! Yippee!》

Fel’s massive tail was wagging up a storm, Dora-chan was taking advantage of the room’s tall ceiling to do dramatic flips and spins in the air, and Sui was jumping for joy at an incredibly high speed.

“With that decided, all that is left is for you to treat us to something befitting the occasion for dinner tonight! We must be in the best shape possible for the task ahead. Ah, I know—feed us more of your otherworldly food! The ingredients from your world make us stronger, so they seem perfectly suited for our purposes.”

“No way, not happening.”

“Wh-Why not?!”

“Because if I feed you food from my world, you’ll be way too strong to deal with! Especially you, Fel—I can imagine you being so full of energy, you’d run off on your own to conquer the whole dungeon yourself.”

《Ha ha ha, yeah, I wouldn’t put it past him!》

“Cease your laughter, Dora! You would do the same! And Sui as well, I suspect—it has developed an appropriate taste for battle, as of late.”

《You got that right. The three of us were made for fighting!》

《Huuuh? Sui doesn’t get it, but Sui wants to fight lots of bad guys!》

《Hah, yup, there it goes!》 Come on, Dora-chan, this isn’t a joke! Why’re you three so into killing stuff, anyway?

They did have a point, though—if we were going into the dungeon the very next day, it made sense to cook something that’d help us give it our all. We’d be challenging the hardest dungeon out there, so we’d have to keep our energy levels high.

“Okay, here’s the deal: I won’t only use ingredients from my world, but I will make something that’ll help you guys fight your hardest,” I compromised. Thankfully, our trip to the meat dungeon meant I had plenty of ingredients fit for the occasion without breaking out the Online Supermarket for the big stuff.

◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇

My mission was to make food that’d let them keep their stamina up and take on the dungeon at full strength. A certain recipe immediately sprang to mind as the perfect stamina food: I could make a liver and chive stir-fry! Some fresh pork livers had dropped in the meat dungeon, so it’d be a quick, simple recipe that would give my familiars all the energy they could possibly ask for.

Plus, most importantly, it’d been a long time since I’d last had any and I was sorta craving it. Liver isn’t exactly the sort of food I feel the need to eat on a daily basis, but every once in a while I get the urge to cook some up, and it’s always hard to resist. My plan was pretty much set in stone at that point, though it did feel a little silly to make a low-class dish like that in what was far and away the most luxurious kitchen out of all the houses I’d rented up to that point.

Anyway, I started out by ordering some ingredients from my Online Supermarket. I got garlic chives, bean sprouts, and those little tubes of pre-grated ginger and garlic. I could’ve grated them myself, I guess, but I felt like cutting corners. I also got oyster sauce, some chicken bouillon powder, and milk, which I’d soak the liver in to take the edge off its natural bitterness.

I had all the seasonings I needed on hand, so that was all I had to buy for the moment. I ordered the ingredients and got right to cooking.

“All right, let’s start by prepping the liver!” I muttered to myself. First, you have to clean the outer membranes off the dungeon pork livers, wash away any leftover blood, and chop them up into thin slices. Then you soak them in milk for about fifteen or twenty minutes. That helps get rid of any leftover clotted blood and majorly improves their flavor.

While the liver’s soaking, you can chop the garlic chives into roughly five-centimeter-long pieces and prepare the marinade for the livers and the seasonings for the stir-fry. The liver marinade consists of sake, soy sauce, grated ginger, and grated garlic. The stir-fry seasonings, meanwhile, consist of oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar, and the chicken bouillon powder. I like to use a potato starch slurry to help blend the flavors together and thicken the whole thing into a sauce during the stir-fry stage, so I got some of that ready as well.

When the livers are done with their milk bath, you wash them clean again, blot them dry with paper towels, dump them into the marinade, give them a gentle mix, and let them sit for another five minutes or so. Then you coat each piece of liver with potato starch and pan-fry them in sesame oil, giving them a flip to make sure they’re thoroughly browned on all sides.

After each piece of liver is heated through, transfer it from the pan to a plate lined with paper towels and let the excess oil drain off. Then you warm up some more sesame oil to cook the garlic chives and bean sprouts in. Once they’re partially cooked, add the liver back in along with the remaining seasonings and stir-fry it all together. The potato starch slurry goes in at the very end of the cooking process—once the sauce has started to thicken up, it’s finished!

“All right, it’s done! And man, does it ever smell great! This stuff goes great with rice, so maybe I should put together some rice bowls for Fel and the others.”

“Is it done? Hurry up and hand it over!”

《Yeah, hurry up!》

《Food, food!》 My familiars crowded into the kitchen, unable to wait a second longer.

“Oh, come on, guys! I just finished—I’ll bring it out into the living room, so wait there! It’ll just be a minute.” They reluctantly obeyed, plodding out of the kitchen once more. I quickly plated up their food and carried it over to them.

“Here you go, the perfect stamina food: liver and chive stir-fry! I made it into rice bowls—trust me, it’s really good this way.”

“Liver and chives? Is that truly the source of this delectable aroma?” Hey, c’mon, why do you look so upset about that?

《It smells good, sure, but is this stuff even meat?》 said Dora-chan, who looked equally skeptical. Sui, meanwhile, was already cautiously tasting a small piece of its meal.

《It’s good! Oh, wow, this is so yummy!》 it exclaimed. Yeah, I know, right? One taste was all it took to sell Sui on the dish, and it dug in without hesitation.

“See? Sui says it’s good! And yes, Dora-chan, for your information it is meat. It’s made out of dungeon pork organs—their livers, specifically. It’s packed full of nutrients, so it’s perfect for keeping your stamina up.”

“Their organs? The organ meat you prepared before was indeed delicious, I must confess, but it seems to me that this dish contains far too many vegetables.”

“Well, yeah, it’s a liver and chive stir-fry. The chives are sorta important. Same for the bean sprouts, even if they aren’t in the name.”

“Nevertheless...”

Fel was obviously still displeased with the dish’s veggie-heavy nature. I know you’re not happy about it, but I also know you’ll eat it in the end regardless, so hurry up and cut to the chase.

《Hey, Fel, this stuff’s actually pretty good! The seasoning’s really solid, and he was right about it going well with rice,》 said Dora-chan, backing me up. I hadn’t even noticed, but at some point he’d started devouring his bowl.

《Master, Sui wants seconds! It really is good, Uncle Fel, honest!》 Sui was there to help me out too. Its request for seconds drove the point in even further.

“Hmph!”

“Don’t ‘hmph’ me—just try it, okay? I’ve served you plenty of dishes with vegetables in them so far, and were any of them nasty enough that you couldn’t eat them? This one’s no exception; I promise it’s not gross at all!”

Finally, Fel reluctantly took a bite. He chewed slowly, then took another bite, and another, gradually picking up speed until he was scarfing his dinner down at his usual pace. “W-Well, it is not entirely intolerable. I would prefer it with more organ meat, of course,” he said once he’d finished, casually acting like he’d never been reluctant to try it in the first place. I chuckled, then dug into my own bowl.

“I knew it—liver stir-fry and white rice are a match made in heaven!” As I took alternating bites of rice and stir-fry, I was suddenly struck by a craving for beer. I used to have one every time I made this dish. They’re another perfect match.

I popped another piece of liver into my mouth. “The sauce is perfect too,” I observed. “It’s definitely better when it’s a little thick like this! There’s nothing super special about any of the flavors here, but they all work together so well! Man, a beer would go perfectly with this stuff!”

On the one hand, I’d be heading into a dungeon the next day, but on the other, how much harm could a single beer possibly do? I pulled out one of the chilled cans I kept stocked in my item box, popped it open, and took a long swig.

“I knew it—man, that’s good! No liver stir-fry’s complete without a beer to go with it!”

“That is alcohol, is it not? Will it not impair you in the dungeon tomorrow?” Fel, sharp-sighted as ever, caught my little indulgence immediately.

“It’s fine, I’m just having one can.”

“Then I shall not complain, but do keep in mind: tomorrow is the day. We will make for the dungeon, whether you want to or not.”

“I know, I know!”

“Good. And with that settled, I require seconds.”

《Same here! This stuff gets better with every bite!》

《Sui wants seconds too!》

“What’d I tell you? Liver and chive stir-fries are great! I made tons, so you can have as much as you want.”

We all stuffed ourselves until we were thoroughly satisfied.

◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇

Fel was already fast asleep by the time we finished our evening bath and retired to the living room. Dora-chan and Sui chugged down their post-bath bottles of fruit-flavored milk, then quickly followed his example. I guess they wanted to be in tip-top shape for the dungeon tomorrow.

I sighed. “Tomorrow... I’ll have Fel, Dora-chan, and Sui there with me, and my Perfect Defense skill means I should be fine no matter what happens, but I still just can’t stand dungeons. I don’t know how anyone can look a monster right in the eye and not freeze up. Everyone’s so excited about it, though—I can’t go letting them down now. Guess I’ll just have to tough it out!”

I drained the last sip of the can of coffee I’d been drinking, and was about to go get ready for bed when a thought struck me. “Oh, right, the offerings! It hasn’t quite been a full month since last time, but going by the usual schedule, it’s only a week away. I might end up missing it if I go into the dungeon first—actually, I’m positive I’ll miss it. No chance of us making it back to the surface within a week, considering...”

That said, it was already locked in that we would enter the dungeon the very next day, so I didn’t have the time to listen to all of the gods’ detailed requests for a month’s worth of stuff. I considered my options, and eventually settled on sending them two weeks’ worth of offerings immediately to tide them over.

Considering how Dolan and Aveling’s dungeons had gone, I couldn’t imagine that the trip would take much more than two weeks, even if this dungeon was significantly harder than the other two. I also had the teleportation stone that the members of Ark had given me. If the trip wasn’t going well, I could always return to the surface once we reached the thirtieth floor. And really, I’d only rented the house we were staying in for two weeks, so I had to be back within that period no matter what happened.

I carefully planned out my proposal. I decided to offer them a two-week advance delivery of offerings, plus the usual full month’s worth as soon as I returned from the dungeon, even if I managed to make it back quicker than the two weeks I was planning on. They wouldn’t lose anything by accepting my offer, so I figured they’d be fine with it. The deal would actually be pretty lopsided in their favor, but since I was the one renegotiating on them, it didn’t seem right to drive a super-hard bargain.

All right, seems like a good plan to me! Let’s see what the gods think about it.

◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇

“Umm, hello, everyone? Are you listening?”

The instant I called out to the gods, the sound of them stampeding over was beamed directly into my mind. ＜Of course we are!＞ shouted Ninrir. ＜Cake, dorayaki, sweets! Gimme!＞

＜Oh?＞ said Kisharle. ＜Isn’t it still a little early for the month’s offerings?＞

＜Yeah, hasn’t quite been a month yet since last time,＞ agreed Agni. ＜Not that I’m complaining!＞ she quickly clarified.

＜...Ice cream.＞

＜Woohoo, whiskey time!＞

＜I’ve been waiting for this! My whiskey stocks were just running low. Nice timing!＞

Not that this is anything new, but they showed up the very second I called them, huh? A solid half of them are ridiculously hyped up about it too. Is it just me, or do the gods have surprisingly little to keep them busy?

＜Not at all! I can’t speak for the others, but I’ll have you know I have very little free time.＞

＜Oh, sure you don’t, Kisharle! C’mon, you’re just as bored as the rest of us, and you know it.＞

＜Hee hee hee! I’ll thank you for keeping your mouth shut when it comes to matters that don’t concern you, Agni!＞

＜Yikes, don’t blow a gasket, lady.＞

It doesn’t matter how friendly the words you use are when your tone of voice is that freaky, Kisharle. “Oh, right! I made donations to your temples the other day.”

＜We saw!＞ replied Kisharle. ＜Your piety is most appreciated!＞

＜Well done indeed!＞ said Ninrir.

＜Yeah, thanks!＞ added Agni.

＜Good work,＞ concluded Ruka, several seconds after the others.

“I went around to all the goddesses’ temples, but, well...” There hadn’t been temples to Hephaestos or Vahagn in Hirschfeld, so I couldn’t donate to them. It was awkward to say out loud, but that didn’t stop the gods from hearing it.

＜Of course they didn’t have temples; those two are a couple of small-fries!＞ said Ninrir. ＜They barely have any followers, and what few they have are just barely scraping by.＞

＜Ugh... Th-The dwarves are crazy about me, though! They’re my dedicated worshipers!＞

＜I may not have many followers on this continent, but I’ve got temples all over the place the next continent over!＞

＜Go on, bluff more, weaklings! Bwa ha ha ha!＞ Ninrir was having a field day belittling Hephaestos and Vahagn, but she wasn’t really in any position to talk, as far as I could tell. Her temple had been so run-down, I was honestly shocked.

＜H-Hey!＞

Oh, whoops, guess she was still reading my mind. Still true, though.

＜Gwa ha ha ha ha, the boy knows what he’s talking about! Who’d brag about a wreck of a temple like yours?!＞

＜Aha ha ha ha, you said it! I’d rather have no temple at all than a temple like that!＞

＜Grrr! I’ll get you for this, just you wait!＞

＜All right, that’s enough of that,＞ interjected Kisharle. ＜This is going nowhere, and we have more important matters to discuss.＞

＜But these jerks—＞

＜You were the one who started it, weren’t you, Ninrir?＞

＜Grrrrrr!＞

＜That’s more than enough growling for one day, thank you very much. Let’s get back on track—why is it that you’ve contacted us early this month?＞

I could always count on Kisharle to get to the point, at least. “Umm, well, long story short,” I began, going on to summarize my current circumstances and suggest my two-week holdover offering plan.

＜I see, I see. I’ve no objections to this plan! It’s certainly not a bad deal, on our end.＞

＜I’m in too!＞ shouted Ninrir. ＜So hand over the sweets! I need cake and dorayaki, and I need it now!＞

＜Oh, put a sock in it, Ninrir,＞ sighed Agni. ＜But yeah, I’m fine with that too. You’ll be in the dungeon for two weeks tops, and if you do get back early that just makes the deal even sweeter for us. No reason to turn it down.＞

＜...I don’t mind.＞

＜Long as I get whiskey out of the deal, I’ve got no problem with that!＞

＜Same! Agni’s right, we’ve got nothing to lose here.＞

All right! Glad they all went for it. “Okay then, I’ll take your requests now! Keep it short, if you can. I’m hitting the dungeon tomorrow, so I want to get this finished and go to bed as soon as possible.”

＜A sound plan,＞ said Kisharle. ＜I’m expecting you to give this dungeon everything you have. Your next Tenant’s riding on your performance, after all! Go on, Ninrir, hurry up and tell him what you want.＞

＜What do you mean, ‘hurry up’?! You’re not the boss of me!＞

＜Then I suppose you won’t mind going last this time?＞

＜Wh-What’re you talking about?! I never said I wouldn’t tell him! I have the right to be first!＞

＜Then would you please hurry up with your request?＞

＜Grrrrrr!＞

More growling, really? Come on—I just asked them to make it quick. “I’d really like to get this done soon, Ninrir. Should I put you down as not wanting anything this time?”

＜Graaah, of course I do! I want sweets, cake, and dorayaki! What else would I ask for?! I haven’t had a single otherworldly sweet since I ate my last dorayaki a week ago! Hurry up! Cake! Dorayaki! Hurryyyyyy!＞

She ate her last one a week ago...? But I gave her tons of them—not to mention all that cake! She never changes, I swear. I opened up Fumiya’s menu and quickly filled my shopping cart up with her favorite sweets.

They happened to be running a special on cakes made with domestically-grown fruits, so I threw in all the special cakes that were tied to the event. Roll cakes and shortcakes with chunks of melon in them, a pineapple chiffon cake, a summer citrus tart, and on and on.

As usual, the cardboard box I placed her offerings in vanished the second I let go of it. A moment later I heard Ninrir squeal with glee, followed by pounding footsteps. It’s almost painful to listen to...

＜Ninrir...＞ sighed Kisharle.

“Umm, what exactly happened over there?”

＜She sprinted off toward her quarters, clutching your offering like her life depended on it. I really can’t believe that girl sometimes. In any case, it’s my turn next! I know just what I want, thankfully...＞

Kisharle, of course, requested her usual skin lotion. She also asked for several varieties of bath salts, soap, shampoos, and conditioners. I’d mentioned a while back that some people change up which beauty products they use on a day-to-day basis, depending on their mood, and she’d taken quite a liking to the concept.

Apparently the act of pondering which otherworldly shampoo or whatever would have the best fragrance for any given day was exciting for her, somehow, so she wanted a wider variety of options to choose from. She had three soaps, shampoos, and conditioners to choose from at the moment, and wanted at least five or so of each in total.

I know I’m the one who suggested this in the first place, but five of each? Isn’t that going a little overboard? I wasn’t about to second-guess her request, though. Looking through the menu, I got the impression that botanical products had been all the rage lately, and bought several of those for her. Most of the products I’d sent her up to that point had been floral-scented, so I figured something a little more herby might be nice.

I sent over her offering, which she accepted with a ＜Thank you. I’m expecting great things from your next Tenant!＞ However many expectations she piled on me, though, it wouldn’t change the fact that I had no control over whether or not a drugstore would be an option. I did warn her about that, at least. Her absolute, relentless tenacity when it came to beauty products was almost a little scary.

＜’Kay, I’m up next! I want beer, surprise surprise.＞

Agni’s request was the same as ever: a case of S-company’s premium beer, Y-bisu’s beer, and S-company’s black beer. I picked out a few random six packs to top her order off with, then sent it out.

＜Great, thanks! Time to head home and crack open a cold one! Oh, and good luck in the dungeon!＞

The only thing I’ll need luck with is not getting in my familiars’ way, frankly.

＜...Ice cream. And the same limited edition cakes as Ninrir.＞

That’d be Ruka. Coming right up! I’d gotten the impression that she was fond of vanilla ice cream, so I started out by getting her a bunch of that. I picked up a few of the little ice cream cups that Fumiya sold, plus one of each of the family-sized cartons of vanilla that my standard Online Supermarket had. I threw in the same cakes I’d gotten for Ninrir, sent it off, and heard a very quiet ＜Thank you＞ in response. Ruka was so taciturn for the most part, it always felt especially nice to hear her thank me.

＜Okay, we’re next!＞

＜You can go ahead and handle our offerings together!＞

Hephaestos and Vahagn decided to file a joint request this time around. They wanted just one bottle of their usual world’s best whisky, plus as many different whiskeys that they had yet to try as I could possibly send along with it. That was easy enough to accomplish—I just paged over to Liquor Shop Tanaka’s whiskey ranking and shoved all of the reasonably priced ones into my cart.

The first one I picked out was a bourbon whiskey known for making up roughly forty percent of the global whiskey market. Considering its overwhelming popularity, it was hardly surprising that the stuff was on the cheap end of the spectrum. It was renowned for its flavor in spite of that, though—it was brewed from corn as its base, and had a mellow quality that made it go down exceptionally smoothly. It was the sort of whiskey you could drink on a daily basis, or even at dinner time.

Next up, I chose an Irish whiskey that was known for being priced very reasonably in spite of the fact that the brand had been around for generations and was brewed with an extremely precise, refined process. It had an appealing aroma and an almost velvety flavor, making it another notably smooth option.

After that, I picked out a whisky that was supposedly the first Japanese brand to be commercially brewed. Its age alone was enough to gain it a sizable fanbase, but its pleasant, refreshing flavor earned it new fans on a daily basis as well. I also grabbed a bunch of random bottles that cost less than two gold coins all together. I was pretty sure I’d sent at least a couple of them before, but they hadn’t been too insistent about me not sending any repeats at all, so I figured they wouldn’t mind.

I sent the box of whiskey over, and Hephaestos and Vahagn said a quick thank you before stomping off, laughing triumphantly and boasting about how they were going to drink the night away.

I sighed heavily. “That went well, I guess. Just gotta send over Demiurge’s offering, and I’ll be finished.” I’d been sending him packages on a weekly basis even over the course of my trip, for the record. He was the God of All Creation, so I wasn’t about to neglect him. Not to mention the fact that he never pestered me, and always seemed genuinely grateful for the stuff I offered up to him.

He’d really taken a liking to the umeshu I had sent a few weeks back, and after a little prodding had politely requested that I send more of it, if possible. I’d taken to adding in a few bottles of umeshu along with the snacks and sake as part of his standard weekly offering.

He eventually admitted that not only had he liked the umeshu personally, he’d also shared some of it with his attendants, who’d gotten hooked on the stuff as well. Umeshu had become a powerful tool for enticing his people to work their hardest. He sounded both proud and a little mischievous as he described it all to me.

This time around, I decided to send him a three-bottle sake set. All of the bottles included in it had won first place in various sake competitions, so I thought comparing them would be fun for him. As far as the umeshu went, I chose a Japanese brand made with unripe plums that his followers had particularly enjoyed, plus a really deeply-flavored, full-bodied, almost syrupy brand that was made with a mixture of brandy, honey, and brown sugar.

I picked out a few bottles from the umeshu ranking page, as well—one was apparently made with both fresh plums as well as a plum jam, which gave it a really rich flavor. I also threw in one that was made with sweet potato shochu as its base liquor. Supposedly the natural sourness of the plums complemented the characteristic umami of the shochu incredibly well. Finally, I threw in his usual variety pack of canned snack foods.

With my preparations complete, I called out to him, “Demiurge? Your offering’s ready, if you’d like it!”

＜Oh, my! Thank you, as always... Hmm? I told you that you don’t have to feel obligated to send me sake and umeshu all at once, didn’t I?＞

“Yeah, but it’s really no problem! You’ve done a lot for me, so it only feels fair.”

＜Does it, now? Well, I appreciate the consideration!＞

“Heh, and a little umeshu means you’ll be able to motivate your helpers, right?”

＜You’re certainly not wrong about that! They’ll complain until my ears fall off on a typical day, but the moment they catch a glimpse of one of your umeshu bottles, they get right to work! Ho ho ho!＞

“Oh, while we’re chatting, I should let you know that I’m going into the dungeon tomorrow, so the next offering might end up being a little later than usual. I’ll try to get it to you on time, of course.”

＜Oh, no need to concern yourself over it! More importantly, would the dungeon you’re about to enter be the one in Brixt, by any chance?＞

“Yeah, actually, it is.”

＜I thought as much...＞

“Huh? Wait, what’s that mean? Is there a problem?”

＜Not precisely. It’s been so well-behaved as of late I’d entirely forgotten about it, but a certain creature’s taken up residence in that dungeon’s lower reaches.＞

“Huh? You mean, like, in the bottom floors?”

＜In any case, knowing your associates, I’m sure it won’t be a problem. On the off chance that it all goes to pieces, though, don’t hesitate to give me a shout! Enjoy your trip!＞

“Huh? Wait, what? You mean there’s something nasty enough in there it might make things ‘go to pieces’ for my party? Wouldn’t that have to be, like, something ridiculously terrifying? What the hell’s down there?! Demiurge...? Hey, Demiurge! Demiuuuuuurge!”