Chapter 3: I Underestimated Dungeons A Little
Chapter 3: I Underestimated Dungeons a Little
“And so, Fel and Dora-chan now have the blessing of the War God Vahagn, and Sui has the blessing of the Blacksmithing God, Hephaestos.” Once we’d finished breakfast, I told Fel, Sui, and Dora-chan about the events of last night.
Well, to be honest they pushed the blessings on to me. But even if I had them......
Even the (small) blessings were extremely useful, so I was doing just fine, and if I did get more, I probably wouldn’t be able to make use of them. Even with the War God’s blessing, I wouldn’t want to fight. Of course, I would if I was in danger, but that kind of violent stuff was usually better left to Fel. And on top of that, Sui and Dora-chan exist as well. Since that was the case, having everyone else get the War God’s blessing was much more effective.
As for the Blacksmithing God’s blessing, I’d never blacksmithed in my life, either. And I’m not that handy in the first place. I just reflexively named Sui at the time, but it might actually unexpectedly suit the slime, since it can already do pretty much anything.
《Really?! The War God’s blessing? That’s super cool! Nice!!》 Dora-chan was super happy after hearing about the blessing. In his excitement he started flying acrobatics across the room.
“The War God’s blessing, huh? That is pretty nice. You did well.” It seemed that Fel was quite happy with the War God’s blessing as well.
《The Blacksmithing God’s blessing—? Sui got the Water Goddess’ blessing, so Sui can use Water magic, but what did Sui get now?》 It looked like Sui was also curious as to what it could do with its new power.
“For now, I’ll appraise everyone and confirm your blessings.” I started with Fel.
【Name】 Fel
【Age】 1014
【Race】 Fenrir
【Level】 910
【HP】 9877
【MP】 9523
【Attack】 9106
【Defense】 9807
【Agility】 9726
【Skills】 Wind magic, Fire magic, Water magic, Earth magic, Ice magic, Lightning magic, Holy magic, Barrier magic, Rending Claws, Body Reinforcement, Physical attack resistance, Magic attack resistance, MP Efficiency, Appraisal, Battle Boost
【Blessings】 Blessing of the Goddess of Wind, Ninrir; Blessing of the God of War, Vahagn
Yep, Vahagn’s blessing is on there. There’s also a new violent sounding skill called Battle Boost as well...... Huh? It’s a little higher?
“Hey, Fel, did your level go up?”
“So you noticed. The higher one’s level goes, the harder it is to go higher, though. It did not even show a hint of going up these past several years, but I have gained four levels since I have contracted with you. Not only do I get to eat good food, but this happens as well. It certainly was not a mistake to make a contract with you.” Fel, who had confirmed that he had gone up in level, was in high spirits.
Still though, these stats are amazing. There’s definitely nothing that can oppose him. Thank goodness I’m on his side. Next is Dora-chan.
【Name】 Dora-chan
【Age】 116
【Race】 Pixie Dragon
【Level】 126
【HP】 895
【MP】 2879
【Attack】 2652
【Defense】 865
【Agility】 3269
【Skills】 Fire magic, Water magic, Wind magic, Earth magic, Ice magic, Lightning magic, Healing magic, Bombardment, Battle Boost
【Blessings】 Blessing of the God of War, Vahagn
Dora-chan’s also got Vahagn’s blessing. He also has the same violent-sounding skill, Battle Boost. Looking at this again, Dora-chan sure is strong. He doesn’t look that way since he’s so small, though. Looks like he’ll get even stronger with Vahagn’s blessing. Next is Sui. I get the feeling he’s gotten a lot stronger for some reason...
【Name】 Sui
【Age】 2 months
【Race】 Big Slime
【Level】 16
【HP】 989
【MP】 980
【Attack】 964
【Defense】 973
【Agility】 985
【Skills】 Acid Bullet, Potion Creation, Cloning, Water magic, Smithing
【Blessings】 Blessing of the Goddess of Water, Rusalka; Blessing of the God of Blacksmithing, Hephaestos
Yeah, Sui has Hephaestos’ blessing. It even has a new Smithing skill. And it does exactly that, doesn’t it? Sure, since he’s the Blacksmithing God, he would confer blacksmithing, but how would Sui even manage that?
“Sui, you’ve gotten the Smithing skill now since you got Hephaestos’ blessing, but can you do anything new?”
《Hmmm — wait a second. Uhhhmm, ehhhh...... it looks like Sui can do a lot of stuff with metal, now.》
So he can make a lot of things with like iron and stuff? Makes sense, since it’s smithing.
“I see. So? How do you do it?”
《Uhhmm, you know, with like iron and stuff, Sui will do like this and that with it in Sui’s belly.》
This and that in its belly, huh? ......Does that mean Sui can make it if he takes in stuff like iron ingots or iron ore? I’m not really sure what that would be like without testing it.
But it’s not like I have any iron ingots on me. I don’t even have any iron ore......... Ah! I have that, though.
The mithril ore that I had picked up after Fel defeated the mithril lizard.
I took out some mithril ore from my Item Box. “Sui, can you make something with this?”
《Yeah, probably...》
“I see, then... Uhhhh, this should be good, I think......” I took out the knife that was in my belt scabbard.
“Can you make a knife like this out of this rock?”
《Yeah, that’s fine — but it’ll take a while, probably.》 Sui said, 《Then, Sui will start,》 before absorbing the mithril ore.
Ten minutes later.
Sui said that it would take a while, but is this okay?
“Mm? Are we not going to the dungeon yet?”
《Yeah, let’s hurry up and go—! I want to see how awesome the War God’s blessing is already.》
“Wait a second. Sui’s testing out its new skill that it got from the Blacksmithing God.”
“Mnn... then it cannot be helped.”
《Fiiiinneee—.》
Both Fel and Dora-chan reluctantly decided to wait.
“Sui, are you okay? You don’t have to push yourself too hard.”
《No, Sui is fine. Master — it’ll be done in a bit, so just wait.》
“Sure, I’ll wait. You don’t have to hurry too hard or anything.”
《Yeah, okay!》
Oh, right. I already know what the War God’s blessing does.
“Right, right. So, the War God’s blessing boosts all your stats by 50% during battle, apparently.”
《Really? That’s awesome! Am I gonna get even stronger?! The War God’s blessing really does fit me perfectly, after all!》 Hearing about the 50% boost, Dora-chan was quite happy.
“Hohhh, that is quite nice. Just the perfect blessing to get for dungeon diving, no?” Fel said, grinning broadly. He didn’t actually start laughing, but from the air around him it felt like his grin implied he was laughing intrepidly.
That’s probably kinda bad. It might have been a mistake to give Fel the War God’s blessing. I mean, he’s already ridiculously strong, and now he gets another 50% boost?! .........Ahh, thinking about it now, I’m starting to feel sorry for the monsters... It’s looking like Fel’s ready and raring to go murder them, too. Please don’t rampage around too hard, really, please......
Ten more minutes passed while we talked about those kinds of subjects.
《It’s done—!》
“Ohh! Sui, you’re finished?!”
《Yeah, it’s done—! Here—!》 Saying so, Sui pushed forward a knife that glowed blue-white with its tentacle. I took it and appraised it.
【Mithril Knife+】
A well-made mithril knife.
There was no mistake, it was a mithril knife. Not only that, but it was well made. Is that why there’s a plus on it? Well, anyway it’s amazing. To think that Sui would make such a good knife.
Our Sui really was amazing.
《Master — how is it? Sui’s knife?》
“It’s really well made. Thanks. Sui, you really are amazing, to make something like this.”
《Really? Is Sui awesome?》
“Yeah, super awesome.”
《Eheheheheh, Sui is awesome. Sui is so happy—!》 Sui started to bounce around joyfully.
Ahh~, Sui’s so cuuuute! Sui is my source of healing.
“Mn? If it is done, then we are going to the dungeon.”
《That’s right! Let’s go to the dungeon! The dungeon!》
Fine, fine.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
The party of Fel, Sui, Dora-chan, and I were currently on our way to the dungeon. From what I’d heard out of Elrand, we’d see where the entrance was ourselves if we followed the walls surrounding the town to our right from the gate where we entered the city.
Uhhh, is that it?
We ran into a place where a lot of people were gathered after following his directions for around 500 meters. I couldn’t tell why, but there were a lot of stalls selling food and general goods lined up. Ahead of that, there was what looked like the entrance to a dungeon surrounded by stone walls. There was a pair of armored knights flanking the door.
“Looks like it’s here.”
“Indeed, there is no mistake.”
At the entrance to the dungeon, there was a long line of adventurers waiting to get in. As I watched, adventurer after adventurer poured out of a building right by the entrance and lined up.
Oh yeah, didn’t Elrand say that there was a branch of the Adventurer’s guild nearby, and that you can’t enter unless you register yourself as an entrant first? I see — so that must be the Adventurer’s guild branch.
“Apparently, we can’t go inside the dungeon unless we register at the Adventurer’s guild branch there. So let’s stop by first.”
After informing them, I took everyone into the branch. There were three lines, so I chose one and got in.
“Excuse me, I’d like to register for the dungeon.”
“All right, dungeon registry, is it? Oh my, if it isn’t the rumored tamer, Mukohda,” said the receptionist in front of me.
‘Rumored tamer’? Huh? What the heck does that mean? Is that what they’re saying about me?
“Ahh, sorry. I heard from my friends at the main Adventurer’s guild. Specifically, that you, sir Mukohda, are an amazing tamer who has strong familiars under his command, and that you are a shining star of an adventurer whom we have high expectations for.”
H-Huh? Ehhh? Really? All that does is spell trouble for me though......
“Nooo, in my case, I’m not the one that’s strong, but my familiars.” In reality, I couldn’t hold a candle to any of my familiars.
“What are you saying? That’s part of your strength. Changing the subject, you have very little baggage, don’t you? Are you sure you’re alright?”
Hm? What does she mean?
“Could it be the first time you’ve been in a dungeon, sir?”
Well, I was forcefully taken into a newly formed dungeon, but it’s true that this is my first time in a dungeon this big.
When I nodded, the receptionist replied with, “Thought so,” and started explaining things to me.
It seemed that entering the dungeon required a lot of preparation. I was told that if we were to enter the dungeon, the first thing I would have to do is estimate how long we would be down there. It depends on the adventurers, but most people enter for three days on the short side, and up to a month on the long side. If the goal was to retrieve some drop items out of this many-floored dungeon, one would have to explore for at least that long to see some return, after all.
And so, since of course we would be spending that long in the dungeon, appropriate preparations would be in order. Especially for food, the accepted practice was to bring a large amount, since one may never know exactly what will happen in there, and your planned return date may not necessarily be correct.
It was a story from long ago, but apparently there was a party that didn’t prepare enough food and was annihilated because of it.
“All the stalls that are lined up around here sell food and stuff aimed at adventurers, you know? There are also at least somewhat accurate maps up to the 15th floor, so there shouldn’t be anything that bad happening up until then, but if you go lower than that you should exercise the greatest caution. It’s also safer to carry more food than you think you’ll need.”
I see.
When I asked about obtaining food in the dungeon, I was told that some monsters dropped meat, but that was up to luck. Apparently, rather than leave that up to luck, it would be better to properly prepare food.
Well, of course that’s the case.
Also, it seemed that this dungeon had 30 floors in it, but the current leading party was only up to the 22nd floor. As for how they knew about the 30th floor, apparently there was a party in the past that got that far. When I asked further, I was told that, surprisingly, that party was the one the current guildmaster, Elrand, was in, as well as Krehl’s guildmaster, Rodolfo. Apparently, the last boss room had a behemoth waiting in it, and after some discussion, Elrand and his party decided on a brave retreat.
It’s a behemoth, of course you’d retreat. It’s last-boss class even in games, you know? Actually, it really is this dungeon’s last boss, haha.
《Hohh, a behemoth, huh? How fun.》 Fel’s telepathy rang in my head.
Don’t you go reacting to the word ‘behemoth,’ Fel. It’s not fun at all, geez.
I went with the flow when my familiars were all raring to go, but I underestimated dungeons a little. I would never have thought that it was the sort of thing to stay multiple days in. My familiars would probably just defeat any enemy in the dungeon, but the matter of food was entirely different.
Our biggest enemy would be rations.
At the very least, I had my Online Supermarket so we wouldn’t starve to death, but there was no way I could freely use it in front of other adventurers. With that in mind, it was necessary to properly prepare (especially in terms of food) for entering the dungeon.
“Excuse me, I think I really will refrain from the dungeon for today. From what you’ve said, we really aren’t prepared for it.”
“I see. If you really aren’t prepared for it, that would be best. Well then, I will be returning your guild card.”
When I accepted my guild card back from the receptionist, Fel and Dora-chan contacted me through telepathy.
《W-What?!》
《Whaa—t, we’re this close and we aren’t going in?!》
《You two heard too, didn’t you? If we don’t prepare first, we’re not gonna be able to eat anything decent.》
《What do you mean?》
《Fel, you know that I can get food from my world, right?》
《Indeed.》
《Hm? Oh, is that what that square box that always appears in front of you is? I totally thought it was your magic or something.》
《Oh right, I hadn’t explained it to you yet, Dora-chan. I was summoned from another world. So you see, it’s called “Online Supermarket.” Well, it’s basically a skill that lets me get stuff like food from my world. The food I make uses a lot of spices and seasonings and stuff from my world, get it? That’s why it’s so good. So imagine: what would happen if I use that in front of other adventurers?》
《If they’re especially greedy, they’d try to get otherworld stuff out of you even if they had to threaten you to do it. We wouldn’t let that happen, though.》
No... well, with Fel around even I don’t think that would probably go through. But in a place like the dungeon, there’s no absolutes, right? There’s gotta be a lot of blind spots and the like, and who knows if they attack while Fel’s fighting or something.
《I mean, I know that Fel’s not gonna let that happen. But what about if they attack me while Fel’s fighting some monster? We don’t even know how strong the adventurers in the dungeon are. So I really don’t want to use my skill in the dungeon if I can. My stock of pre-prepared food is dwindling, too. If it runs out, then the only things I’ll be able to make are meat grilled with salt, or meat and vegetables boiled with salt to make a soup, you know? Are you guys fine with that?》
After I said that, Fel and Dora-chan fell deep into thought. Just as I thought, they really were attached to good food.
《That’s why, just for a little while, I’m thinking three days, we put off going into the dungeon so I can make some preparations.》
《Is three days not too much time?》
《I think so too. One day is fine, right? 1 day?》
Fel and Dora-chan both hesitated at the thought of waiting for three days.
《Uhhh, well, we don’t know how long we’ll be in there once we enter the dungeon. So, before that, I want to get in some sightseeing, as well as make a lot of food to keep for later. Three days is definitely necessary for all of that.》
Fel reacted to the mention of the behemoth in the 30th floor, so he was definitely planning to go all the way down. If that was the case, I had no idea when I would be able to see the light of day again — so I wanted to get in a bit of sightseeing in the city beforehand.
《Mn? The food preparing aside, what do you mean by sightseeing?》
《Fel, you just reacted to the mention of a behemoth, right? You totally intend to go all the way down to the 30th floor and fight it, right?》
《Of course.》
《See? If you do that, I have no idea when I’ll be able to come back out. Before that, I want to sightsee a little. I’ve finally come to a place this big and all.》
Even though I’d traveled all this way to this place, it would be way too boring to end it with just making meals and then going into some dungeon. Personally, I’d rather go and look around.
《Why not just bear with it for three days? If you do, you’ll be able to eat good food even in the dungeon, you know?》
《Mnnrrrrr, even if you tell me that... Fine. Only three days, though.》
《Both master Fel and I are weak when you bring up food, huh? Oh well, 3 days it is.》
I somehow managed to persuade Fel and Dora-chan. “Now that that’s decided, today will be sightseeing—!”
Onwards, to the city of Dolan!
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
We walked around the city of Dolan. I was getting stares because of Fel and Dora-chan, but people were a lot calmer than I expected. Just as one would expect of a dungeon city, there’re a lot of adventurers, and even though tamers were rare, sometimes one would be seen bringing along some familiars, so the people of this city were probably used to it.
“Still though, there’s a lot of people around. Just what you’d expect out of one of the five largest cities in the country.”
I continued walking along the street while looking around at the stores that were lined up. The local flavor of the stores in this dungeon city were of course, mostly dominated by weapons and armor shops.
If asked if I had any interest, I would say, ‘a little,’ but as I was right now, I had no use for any of it. I had strong allies in the form of my familiars, and Sui also got a blessing from the Blacksmithing God, as well. The mithril knife I had Sui make for me was really well done, and it was pretty, right down to the design on the hilt. Truthfully, I wanted to hang it off my belt right now, but thanks to it being made of mithril its cutting edge was nothing to scoff at. The scabbard and belt I was wearing were made out of giant deer leather and very tough, but since there was a possibility the knife would just slice right through it, I regrettably had to shut it in my Item Box.
And so, my idea was to coat the scabbard with a thin layer of mithril. Luckily enough, the scabbard part of the set was removable, so if it was possible to coat the inside of the scabbard with a thin layer of mithril, there would be no need to worry about my blade cutting through it. When I tried asking Sui about it, the slime said it was probably doable, so I was thinking of trying it out tonight. After that, I was considering having Sui make some more mithril swords as preparation, since it was made painfully clear to me that preparation for the dungeon was important.
While walking and looking around at the stores and thinking deeply about various subjects, something caught my eye. The store itself was apparently a store that handled magic tools. As if it was drawing me in, I got closer to the store.
What caught my eye was a 【State-of-the-Art Magic Stove】 that was carefully, even reverentially, placed to decorate the storefront. It had four stovetops lined up horizontally, and a fairly large oven in the bottom.
As for its shape, it was more of a rectangle than a square thanks to the horizontal stovetops. On its longest side, it measured slightly shorter than 2 meters, and was about 80cm wide. It was a little big, but that size was used for the oven in the bottom.
“Welcome. You have a nice eye, to be attracted to that state-of-the-art magic stove.” While I was looking at the stove, I was approached by what seemed to be the shopkeeper.
“Excuse me, how powerful is the heat on this?” It probably used magic stones since it was a magic tool, but if the power on it was weak there would be no point.
“Just as you can see, this state-of-the-art magic stove does not use any old magic pebble, but a carefully selected one that allows it to have enough firepower for all your needs,” he said, pointing towards the center of the stove. There, a magic circle was drawn, and in the center was a black magic stone around 2cm in diameter. According to the shopkeep, this magic circle was one of fire, and the magic stone in the middle provided the power to light the fire.
I see, so that’s what magic tools are like.
“On top of that, you can freely adjust the strength of the fire from low to high. Also, since it uses a magic stone of this size, even if you use it every day, the stone will hold for 10 years before needing to be replaced.”
I can keep using this as-is for 10 years? Wow.
“I’ll light the stove for you; take a look.” Saying so, the shopkeep pressed a button on the front of the stove and lit the fire.
“Press here, and add in a little magic power only when starting the flame. Once the flame is lit, you can use this knob here to adjust the power. Even the use of it is simple.”
It looked like turning the knob (which was to the side of the button) to the left lowered the heat, and turning to the right made it stronger. Just as the shopkeep said, it was easy to use, and its power was more than enough.
“Each stove has its own control, so you can cook several things at once.”
Right? The portable stoves I’ve been using up until now have been... fine, but their power leaves a little to be desired, I had been thinking recently. It looked like this magic stove would solve all my problems.
“Also, the bottom of this stove is an oven, and the controls for lighting it and adjusting its heat are here. They work the same way as the ones for the stoves. Oh, and there’s a timer here, you won’t have to worry about burning anything, either.” The shopkeep pointed to the right of the oven door that was on the front of the stove.
I see. So, there’s a timer, too. It’s basically the same as a regular oven.
“With an oven this big, you can even roast a whole cockatrice. Not only that, you could even make soup on the stoves above, while the oven below bakes bread or something.”
Whole roasted cockatrice, huh? ......Cockatrices are about 1.5 meters in length, so this should be able to do it. Roasted chicken... how nice...... fresh bread, too...... sounds so good... since I have my skill, I can get flour and dry yeast easily, so handmade bread might be a good idea, actually. At any rate, having this looks like it will increase the range of dishes I can make by a lot. I might... want this...
“Looks good. So, how much is it?” That was the most important point. It was probably expensive though, since it used magic stones.
“860 gold.”
“............Huh?”
“860 gold.”
Don’t say that with a smile on your face, please...... 860 gold, huh? Yep, that sure is expensive. But... I want it. Hrmmm, what should I do...?
《Hey, are you not done yet?》
《He’s right! It’s boring out here. I’m hungry, too.》
Fel and Dora-chan, who were waiting disinterestedly, finally ran out of patience and started complaining over telepathy. By the way, Sui was asleep in my bag, as always.
《Sorry, I was just wondering whether to buy this.》
《Hm? What would you even do with such a large thing? It would only be in the way.》
《It wouldn’t. This is a magic stove, and it’s for cooking. But it’s really expensive, so I wasn’t sure if I should get it.》
《You say that, but you have been cooking just fine up until now, have you not?》
《That’s true, but with this I’d be able to make a larger variety of dishes. There’s an oven in the bottom, so I’d be able to make things I wouldn’t have been able to do before. But it’s a whole 860 gold, you know? So I’m a little hesitant.》
It wasn’t like I didn’t have the money, but 860 gold was a lot. It was more than double the already expensive bathtub I bought.
《Alright then, buy it.》
......What?
《You will be able to make new delicious food, yes?》
《W-Well, yeah......》
《Then there is no problem. You have money, do you not? Just buy it.》
I mean, yeah I technically do have the money... Fel sure doesn’t waver, does he? Saying that I should buy it anyway if he can eat good food...
《What’s going on? You can make good food if you have that? Then of course it’s better if you buy it.》
Even Dora-chan, huh? Hmmm... then should I just get it? I do actually want it... Yeah okay, let’s buy it.
“Excuse me, I’ll buy it.”
“Huh? Really?”
Could you please not be so surprised after pushing it so hard? Well, he probably didn’t think I had that much money just from looking at me, I guess.
“Yes, I will. 860 gold, right?” I produced 3 bags packed with gold coins. Each bag had 300 gold in them. After taking out 40 gold from one of them, the total became 860 gold. “This should make 860 gold; please confirm the amount.”
The shocked shopkeep came to at the sound of my voice and started counting the money.
“Sorry to keep you waiting. It certainly is 860 gold. Where would you like me to deliver the stove?”
“Ahh, you don’t have to worry about that. I have an Item Box, so I’ll be able to fit it, if only barely.”
Really though I can fit that and more...
“Ohh, I see. This town has a lot of people, so it’s not like Item Boxes are especially rare, but I see that yours is fairly large.”
Hehh — so big cities really do have more people with Item Boxes in them. But still, this size is pretty large, huh? The only large-ish things I’ve had to deal with so far were monsters, and those I’d only take out in front of guildmasters, and the like, so I didn’t have to worry about this before, but I should probably be more careful who I store and take out large objects in front of.
I stored the 【State-of-the-Art Magic Stove】 in my Item Box and left the store. The shopkeep saw me off with a, “Thank you very much!” and a huge grinning face.
After that, we had a look around at the food district. The vegetables on sale were all familiar to me; only their names were a little bit different. Cabbage was cabbagg, carrots were carrotes, and onions were oneions, and the like. The vegetables on sale here were less fresh that what I would get from my skill, but it was all cheaper, so I bought a lot. I bought cabbages and carrots, onions, and they also had potatoes, so I got those too. They even had something that looked like a mini onion, so I bought that as well. Each one of those was 1 silver for a 1 meter wide bag full of them.
It might actually be better to buy vegetables from here instead of my Online Supermarket from now on...
I bought some black bread as well. Black bread is hard, but it has its own crunchiness and texture, so it wasn’t exactly bad.
After that, I kept looking around at the stores lined up on the street, but Fel and Dora-chan were getting bored, and started complaining, “I’m hungry,” so I decided to go back to the inn.
Time to try out this 【State-of-the-Art Magic Stove】 now.
I was thinking of borrowing the inn’s courtyard to use the new stove and cook, but all three of my familiars were complaining of hunger, so I had to tide them over with pre-made karaage and pork cutlet first. It was my fault that I got absorbed in shopping and forgot the time, after all. Oh well.
While everyone was eating, I was going to try using the oven to make something. Since I couldn’t take too long, I decided on a vegetable and meat oven bake, which only needed me to cut the ingredients and cook them.
I’ll need... cooking paper, right? Oh, and also olive oil and herb salt from the Online Supermarket. After that, it’s the vegetables, right? Anything would be fine for this, but when I made it before, I used potatoes, carrots, onions, shimeji and eringi mushrooms, and paprika for color, if I remember right. If I’m going to try and emulate that and make the same thing, I’ll need the mushrooms and some paprika, as well. Right, that should be good.
~◇~◇~◇~
First is the meat; I go with rockbird this time. Cut the meat into large bite-sized pieces, poke holes in the meat with a fork and season with salt and pepper.
Next, cut the vegetables. For hard vegetables like potatoes and carrots, peel off their skin, and cut into discs so that they are cooked more easily. For the onions (this time I’m using the mini onions that I just bought), peel the skin and leave it whole. Take the base off of the shimeji mushrooms, and render into appropriately-sized pieces. As for the eringi mushrooms, just rip them into nicely-sized pieces with your hands.
Spread a cooking sheet on the sheet pan in the oven, and fill the pan with a nicely formed arrangement of the meat and vegetables. Then, spread some olive oil around the whole thing, and make it rain herb salt.
After all that’s done, bake it in the preheated oven.
~◇~◇~◇~
I had no idea how this oven would act, so I kept watch on it as it baked, and took out the pan to check the food once the surface showed signs of being burned.
“Ohh, it’s baking nicely. The heat’s gone through both the meat and the vegetables. Yeah, it’s done.”
After serving the finished vegetable and meat oven bake onto some dishes, I placed them in front of Fel, Sui, and Dora-chan.
“So you used what you just bought, right? Oh, so this has vegetables in it......”
Fel, stop complaining just because something has vegetables in it.
《It smells nice, though.》 Dora-chan was sniffing the food, his nose twitching with anticipation.
It’s because I used herb salt.
《This isn’t just salty — it’s just as good as it smells!》 Sui already started eating.
The herb salt went over pretty well with them.
Now then, Dora-chan should be fine with just this, but Fel and Sui will probably ask for more, so I’m gonna have to make more. But the sheet pan is large, so it might be enough after just this next serving. They’ve already eaten some karaage and pork cutlet, after all.
I baked another pan full of the vegetable and meat medley. This time, I added some cheese on top of the finished product. It looked really good, with the cheese being melted into a gooey state by the residual heat. I secured a little of the pan for myself; Fel and Sui put down the rest of the bake and were satisfied.
《That was good—!》
“Indeed, it was quite fine.”
All that was just fine? Well, whatever, he did eat all of the vegetables.
“There’s still time until it becomes dark, so I’ll be making food for the dungeon for a while.”
It looked like everyone else was going to take a nap. So they’re just gonna sleep after eating their fill? I’m jealous.
Now then, time to make food for the dungeon. The stuff I had stored from before got eaten up just now, after all. First up is rice.
The pot I had right now was on the large side, but it wasn’t enough. I bought more of the same size until I had ten pots. I also bought more rice than I would be cooking, so I would be able to use them later in the dungeon without having to use my skill.
After washing the rice, I started to prepare the fried foods while the rice was soaking in water. Both Fel and Sui were quite fond of the fried stuff, and from the way Dora-chan was eating it earlier, he liked it too. So I would need to at least make some karaage and some other fried food to store.
I used all that was left of four kinds of meat — red serpent, black serpent, rockbird, and giant dodo — marinating them in a soy sauce-and-salt-based tare marinade. While I was using three of the four stoves for steaming rice, the last one I left to fry foods. This time, I was even going to fry up the Hamburg steak cutlets that I had left without frying in storage.
I diligently steamed rice and fried foods.
“Whew~, with this we should be fine on rice and fried stuff.” I heaved a sigh after storing it all in my Item Box.
“Now then, let’s make some simple beef bowls.” I was going to make the bowls using bloody horn-bull meat, and I also thought to try wyvern meat in the bowl as well this time. It was a little bit of a waste to me, but I had a lot of it.
Before I started, I got a new pot. I’d been using the biggest one I could with the portable stoves, but now I had this huge magic stove, so I bought an even bigger pot. Of course, they wouldn’t be selling those huge cylindrical pots they used in eateries, but I managed to get one half that size. Even so, it was quite a lot bigger, so it was good for me. For now, I got two of them, and I was planning to buy more depending on what I would make tomorrow as well.
I stuffed the pot full with the bloody horn-bull and wyvern meat to make the bowls. I tried to make the wyvern meat a little less strong in flavor, since wyvern meat was good enough that it would be plenty delicious after just grilling it quickly.
After that, I started on a roast giant deer for dinner. I still had quite a lot of giant deer left, after all. After preparing several chunks of giant deer meat, I slathered each chunk thoroughly with liberal amounts of olive oil and seasoned it with herb salt. Then, I spread a cooking sheet on the sheet pan and roasted them in the preheated oven. Since the oven was so large, I managed to fit a lot in at once.
Once the surface of the meat was well browned, I took the meat out and wrapped it in aluminum foil to let the residual heat continue cooking it. Then, once the meat cooled, I sliced it thin, added some sauce on top, and it was finished. The residual heat did its job: not only was the inside still pink, but it was well roasted anyway.
When I tried a little, it was soft and amazingly delicious — enough so that it didn’t even need the sauce. But I still prepared some anyway, just in case. (Although it was just a simple mix of ponzu and onion flavored steak sauce.)
By the time I’d finished the roast giant deer, the day had gone completely dark.
“It’s do-......” I didn’t even have to call them, they were all already waiting behind me.
“Ohhh! This is amazing!” said Fel, his cheeks stuffed full with the thinly sliced roast giant deer.
Heheh, it really was a good idea to buy this stove.
《This sauce is really nice with its acidity.》
That’s ponzu, Dora-chan.
《This meat is soft and delicious!》
That’s because I didn’t over roast it and let its own heat cook itself. I was pretty happy at Sui’s evaluation, as it had pretty sharp tastes.
Fel and Sui each had several more servings, but since I’d managed to make so much at once, I didn’t have to roast anything extra. It was really nice.
I really made a good decision getting this stove.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
Today I’d be spending the entire day making food for the dungeon.
Even if I could make food in the dungeon in a pinch, I still wanted three or four days’ worth of food prepared beforehand. I’d already fed everyone breakfast, so I had time.
By the way, I just gave everyone bloody horn-bull steaks since it was something simple that only needed grilling, but everyone enjoyed it and called it delicious. It seemed like having steak right in the morning wasn’t a problem. Of course, I wouldn’t be able to stomach something like a steak in the morning, so I just had some instant soup, bread, and coffee.
Now then, what should I make today? I made the fried stuff and some beef bowls yesterday already...... It’s really nice that they go for bowls, don’t they? It’s really simple since I just have to put the stuff on top of rice, and it’s good anyway.
Thinking like that, ginger-fried pork or pickling something with miso might be a good idea. Wait, now that I think about it......... Oh, there it is.
I had completely forgotten about the miso-pickled orc general meat I had prepared before.
There’s quite a bit in here. So I grilled all of it and got my miso-grilled stocks secure.
Next, I started on ginger-fried orc general. It was a simple dish, since it was just grilling the meat with the usual company’s ginger-fry tare.
After that, for something that goes well with rice, the pork chops that I made before were simple, so I went with those — especially since they would get even more delicious if I were to use the orc general’s meat.
If we’re talking about a combo with rice, I really want to eat curry already. Since I was part of the pork faction when it came to curry, I really wanted to try it out, especially since I still had orc general meat left.
But the smell...... Curry smell is really strong...... I’d definitely get complaints if I were to infect this entire area with the smell of curry.
What should I do...? Something that uses pork......... Ah, why not tonjiru?
Tonjiru has a lot of stuff in it, and personally I was a fan of warm soups.
Not sure how Fel and the others will take it, but it should be fine as long as I use extra orc general meat.
First, I’ve gotta get some stuff through the Online Supermarket. I’ll buy another one of the half-sized cylindrical pots from yesterday, and for the frying pan, I kind of want something bigger than the 28 cm ones I’ve been using up until now... Oh, they have a new type of frying pan. Let’s get four of these to go with the four stoves. And I’ll need some lids to go with those.
And since I was already getting stuff like that, I also got some bowls and sieves, and other kitchen and dining wares like ladles and spatulas.
And I’ll also need the rest of the ingredients for the tonjiru, too. Potatoes and carrots and onions... oh, and sesame oil and granulated dashi I already have, so I just need daikon radishes and greater burdock and konjac, and also miso, I think.
After all of that, I refilled on ginger-fry tare from the usual company, as well as the ketchup I would need for tare to use with the pork chops.
Wait a second, I have both ginger-fried and miso-fried pork, right? So no matter how we eat that stuff, won’t it need shredded cabbage?
This world has cabbage, but eating it raw is...... I bought pre shredded cabbage with my skill.
If it’s to be eaten raw anyway, might as well use store-bought stuff... But if that’s the case, then I feel like the cabbage I just bought is going to waste, huh? A dish that cooks the cabbage and is also simple...... what about twice-cooked pork? If I just use the twice-cooked pork tare they sell online it’ll be simple, too. Right, let’s make it.
...Hrmmm, that was pretty expensive. That might just be because the pot and the pans were a pretty good price. That being said, compared to how much I currently have it’s not actually that much. Now then, let’s start cooking.
Let’s start from the tonjiru which’ll be the most work.
~◇~◇~◇~
Cut the orc general meat into thin slices about 3 centimeters wide.
Cut the potatoes, carrots, and daikon into the shape of gingko leaves, cut the onions roughly into about 5 mm wide pieces, and render the greater burdock into long, thin shavings before exposing it to water. Cut the konjac into wide strips and give it a preparatory boil.
Once all the preparation is done, throw some sesame oil into the large half-cylinder pot and start cooking the orc general meat. Once the meat changes color, add in the vegetables and konjac and start cooking some more to familiarize all the ingredients with the sesame oil. Then, add in water and the granulated dashi, and simmer while scooping out any lye that forms.
Once the vegetables get soft, add some miso that’s been dissolved in broth and bring it to a boil again to finish the dish.
~◇~◇~◇~
Now then, how’s it taste?
*Slurp* Mm, that’s good. It’s been boiled enough that the vegetables are soft, but it might be better to go for a little longer to let the flavors settle a little more.
Tonjiru varied a surprising amount from house to house. I used sesame oil here, because that’s how it was always made in my family, after all. It not only added to the smell, but also the taste of the dish.
The fillings also changed a lot depending on who made it. For my family, the recipe was just as I made it, but without the onions. I only began to add onions after I started living on my own. The onions added a little sweetness, and I liked that, so I started throwing those in. Substituting the potatoes for taro or sweet potatoes was also a good idea sometimes.
It might be nice to change up the recipe and make tonjiru again, actually.
I decided to let the tonjiru sit like this for an hour before simmering it some more and storing it in my Item Box. After that, I grilled up some ginger-fried pork, miso-fried pork, and pork chops. Once those were done, I plated them and stored them in my Item Box as well.
“Whew~, this much should be enough.”
Next is the twice-cooked pork.
~◇~◇~◇~
Cut the orc general meat into slices that are slightly larger than a mouthful. Roughly cut the cabbage. Oil up a frying pan, and start cooking the orc general meat. Once the meat’s color changes, add in the cabbage. Once the cabbage starts going soft, pour on some of the twice-cooked pork tare and mix it around so it coats everything. Give the dish a little more cooking time, and the dish is done.
~◇~◇~◇~
That was super easy.
I also cooked these before plating them and storing them in my Item Box.
Now then, it’s just about lunch time, so I can take care of the shredded cabbage after lunch.
Of course, I had already given the tonjiru a second simmer and put it in my Item Box.
“For today’s lunch...... why not just steak again? Let’s make it a rice bowl this time, a— w-whoah!!” Feeling something behind me, I wheeled around to find all three of my familiars lined up and waiting.
“I am hungry. Food.”
《Give us food! Foo~d.》
《Master—, Sui is hungry—.》
Wow, the clocks in your stomachs are accurate.
I ended up making wyvern steak bowls for lunch. All I had to do was lay the wyvern steak on top of some rice, add in some garlic-flavored steak sauce, and it was done.
Everyone ate it while singing its praises. I also partook, and it was delicious on top of being very easy and simple to make.
Meat is great, after all. This kind of thing feels like luxury in the afternoon, it’s nice. Although I’m gonna have to continue cooking some more after this.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
Hmmm, what should I make now? Oh yeah, didn’t I just buy some black bread? What about some sort of stew or soup that would pair with it? Ah, why not that beef stew I made before? That went over well. It went over so well that the entire pot ended up being one meal’s worth, so let’s make two pots this time. I have pretty much all the ingredients already, too, and I can just take care of shredding the cabbage while it’s boiling, so that’s good.
After buying another two half-sized cylinder pots, I also refilled on the butter, cans of demiglace sauce, and red wine that I needed to make the beef stew.
Right, let’s get started.
*Clankclang* *Swishish*
“...Now all that’s left is to simmer it until the vegetables are soft, add in the demi-sauce can and the ketchup, and then simmer some more.”
While the vegetables were simmering, I started to shred some cabbage. I single-mindedly shredded cabbages, washed them, and then shredded more cabbages. I spent a lot of time part-timing at restaurants since they had staff meals, so I was pretty used to this kind of thing. That said, I still wasn’t a pro. But there was a sort of charm to having a larger piece every now and then.
In the middle of it, I stopped to add the demi-sauce and ketchup to the stew, changed the heat to low, and continued to simmer the stew.
And while that was simmering, I went straight back to shredding cabbage.
“Whew~, this should be it.”
After stuffing the huge amount of shredded cabbage into my Item Box, I took a peek at the beef stew. Since I had it simmer until it was bubbling while stirring it every once in a while, I felt like it turned out better than before.
Now what should I make next......? I want to make some Hamburg steak patties, but I used all the ground meat on Hamburg steak cutlets...... And it’ll take time to grind out more meat. Hrmmm... Ah!
I just remembered something from my part-timing days. It was about the char siu we would make while I part-timed at a ramen shop. That stuff was good whether it was eaten with rice as a bowl or even alone. It took a while to make, but it was just boiling, really. And I can softboil some eggs while I’m at it, too.
With that decided, I’ll need another one of those cylindrical pots, won’t I? And let’s get some octopus thread, spring onions, garlic, and ginger. Oh, and some eggs.
~◇~◇~◇~
Start off by wrapping the orc meat with the octopus thread. It’s fine even if it doesn’t look exactly like a mesh net or something. Since honestly, it’s a lot of work to do that. The point is to form up the meat and stop it from falling apart while cooking, so as long as the thread is wrapped in a way to secure the meat’s shape, it’s all okay.
After that, oil up a frying pan and grill until the surface changes color.
Take the half-sized cylindrical pot and add in water, soy sauce, sake, mirin, sugar, and then the pale parts of the green onions, the leftover onions, odds and ends of carrots, crushed garlic, and thinly sliced ginger before bringing it all to a boil and simmering from there. Then, add the surface-seared orc meat and bring the whole thing to a bubbling simmer.
Meanwhile, start on the soft-boiled eggs. By the way, poking a small hole in the bottom of the egg before boiling it makes it easier to peel. Before, I would use a safety pin to do that, but now I have the tool I once found at a 100 yen shop thanks to my skill, so I start using that instead. (I had thought that it might be there, and it actually was when I looked, so I went and bought it. It wasn’t quite as cheap as 100 yen, but it was still only 3 copper, so it was cheap enough.)
After opening a hole in the shell and rolling it around in the water so the yolk would be in the middle, I have it boil for around six minutes before soaking it in cold water to cool, and then peeling the shell. After that, all I would have to do is let it soak in the char siu’s cooled broth for a night and the eggs would be done.
I guess I should make something else while the char siu’s doing its thing. Since it’s just roasting a lump of meat, I can make some roast beef.
After coating a chunk of bloody horn-bull meat with olive oil, cover it with some grated garlic, salt, and coarsely ground pepper. Once that is done, lay the chunk out on a cooking sheet spread on top of the sheet pan from the oven, and start roasting it in the preheated oven. Watch the meat as it roasts, and take it out after it gets well browned. Then wrap the meat in aluminum foil to allow its own heat to cook it the rest of the way — basically the same recipe as the roasted giant deer from yesterday.
This time, since I have garlic on me, I go with that and regular salt and pepper instead of herb salt.
~◇~◇~◇~
I took one of the chunks of meat and tried cutting into it a little, and the middle was a vivid pink. It was clearly on the rare side and well roasted.
*Owmp*
Yeah, it’s good.
“Is dinner ready?”
《I’m hungry~.》
《Food, food~.》
Yep, these guys really are on top of when it’s time for food. Actually wait, this roast beef isn’t for dinner. Still though, I haven’t made dinner...... Ah, roast beef sandwiches would be a lot bigger... I have to protect this roast beef no matter what.
“Wait a second.” Before I start on the roast beef sandwiches, I need to turn off the heat for the char siu.
Peeking inside the pot, it looked like the char siu was doing well. All I had left to do with it was cool it and let it sit for a night. And if I added the eggs in as well, I’d end up with flavored eggs on top of all that.
Right, the char siu is good for now, let’s get started on those roast beef sandwiches.
I bought some white bread, butter, and Japanese onion dressing.
~◇~◇~◇~
After toasting the bread lightly in the oven, spread on some butter and lay a bed of shredded cabbage on top. Then, layer on the roast beef, and spread the Japanese onion dressing on top before closing the sandwich with another slice of toasted bread. Steak sauce would also work, but since the cabbage is there, dressing with acidity in it pairs better overall.
~◇~◇~◇~
After making several sandwiches, I plated them all.
“It’s done.”
Everyone immediately dug in.
“This meat is delicious. Can I not just eat the meat?”
Fel, my friend, you know as well as I do that if I did that it’d all be gone in an instant. Just make do with that for today. I’m protecting this roast beef with my life.
《You don’t get it, do you, Fel? It’s delicious because you pair the meat with these vegetables in the middle,》 said Dora-chan, with a triumphant look.
Dora-chan, you genius! Could Dora-chan’s taste be better than I thought?
《It’s so good with the acidic tare and the vegetables and the meat~》
Just what I’d expect out of you and your good taste, Sui!
Fel and Sui went back for several more helpings, and I somehow managed to make do with only losing two of the chunks of roast beef I made.
I somehow managed to protect my roast beef. I should hurry up and put it away in my Item Box.
Putting the soft-boiled eggs into the char siu pot, I temporarily moved the pot into my Item Box. I was going to take it out again in my room and let it set for a night there. Let’s also put this stove away.
“Well then, I’ll be going back to my room. Ah, tomorrow we’ll go to the Adventurer’s guild after noon.”
“Hm? Did something happen?”
“Something? We have to go back and get the earth dragon meat, remember? Elrand said it would take three days.”
“Ohh! That is correct, I nearly forgot. So I will finally be able to enjoy some earth dragon meat. Make sure you cook the earth dragon for dinner tomorrow.”
“Fine, fine.”
Dragon meat, huh? I wonder how it tastes.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
After returning to my room, I unloaded the char siu pot from my Item Box onto the desk. After that is... oh right, I have to ask Sui.
“Sui, there’s something I want to ask of you, is that alright?”
《Whaat, master—?》
Sui’s a little sleepy, isn’t it? Sorry.
“You see, I want a sword just like the knife you made for me yesterday. Like this.” I produced a short sword I bought before from my Item Box.
《Got it — it might take a little longer than the one I made before, is that okay?》
“Of course it is. Then, I’m counting on you.” I handed over some mithril ore to Sui.
1 hour later———
《Master, it’s done—!》
The sword Sui handed to me was like this.
【Mithril Sword+】
A well-made mithril sword.
Yep, yep. Amazing. As expected of my Sui.
“Thanks, Sui.” I bought Sui some strawberry shortcake, pudding à la mode, and cream puffs as a reward. “Sui, this is a reward for your hard work. You can eat it.”
《Really?》
“Yeah, really. Go ahead. But keep it a secret from Fel and Dora-chan.”
《Yeah, a secret~.》
Saying so, Sui absorbed the strawberry shortcake.
《It’s so sweet and delicious~.》
Yep, Sui really does love sweet things. Good, good.
Thanks to Sui, I now have a weapon for emergencies, so I might just be able to make do in the dungeon now. Still though, this mithril sword looks really sharp. Just like the mithril knife, too.
Actually, I had thought to ask Sui to make a mithril kitchen knife, but I was a little scared of how sharp it would be. I do mess up sometimes, so something that sharp might just lop off a finger or something with ease.
As it was now, the knife I bought with my skill worked just fine, too. I wasn’t that cautious with actual weapons, though. After all, I would definitely need to be able to protect myself in case of emergencies. With a mithril short sword, even I would be able to do something as long as I could land a hit with my awful swordplay.
Really, it’s all thanks to Sui.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
Now then, today will also be just for making food for the dungeon.
Tomorrow we were going in, so I’d have to make as much as I could today. But I was going to have to head over to the Adventurer’s guild after noon. Since that was the case, I worked my butt off grinding meat yesterday before I slept. I was thinking of using that ground meat to make Hamburg steak patties and cabbage rolls. The base of Hamburg steak patties and cabbage rolls weren’t that different, after all.
And so, I used my skill to buy another half-cylinder pot, some canned cut tomatoes, soup bouillon, and melty cheese.
~◇~◇~◇~
After making the base by kneading the ground meat, use half of it to form the Hamburg steak patties stuffed with cheese while making sure to get rid of any air pockets inside.
The remaining half is for the cabbage rolls. Core the cabbages from this world and peel off every leaf before boiling them. Cut off the hard stem attached to the leaves, and wrap the leaf around the ground meat base before stopping with a toothpick. (I also make some with cheese inside.)
Layer the cabbage rolls into the cylinder pot so that there’s no extra space, then add in the water and canned cut tomatoes until the cabbage rolls are hidden. Crush the soup bouillon in your hand and add it into the pot, as well as a little bit of ketchup. Once all that is done, start boiling the contents of the pot. Start off with medium heat at first; then, once the water reaches boiling, use aluminum foil to form a lid that rests on top of the food. Continue to simmer on low heat for another 30 minutes while it bubbles, and the dish is done.
~◇~◇~◇~
While the cabbage rolls were boiling, I grilled the Hamburg steak patties. That work continued all the way to noon.
After that, I enjoyed lunch with everyone before heading to the Adventurer’s guild. By the way, for lunch I made a simple dish using the leftover ground meat: a sweet and spicy Chinese miso stir-fry bowl using the ground meat, bean sprouts, and peppers.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
After getting to the front of the line at the Adventurer’s guild, I was told to head to the storehouse. According to the receptionist, Elrand was waiting for me there. Actually, it was probably that he couldn’t leave his station.
When I reached the storehouse, I found Elrand in the corner of the building that he had secured for the purpose of taking apart the earth dragon.
Are those the earth dragon materials, all lined up in a row there? He’s just staring at them though, like he’s in a trance......
I... REALLY don’t want to go in there...
“U-Uhmm... Elrand......”
Oh my, he hasn’t noticed me at all. Yep, he’s totally in his own little world right now.
“Wow, just what I’d expect from dragon blood. This deep, crimson color, so wonderful! I just want to stare at it forever......” Elrand was muttering those dangerous sounding words at thin air while holding a bottle filled with red liquid with both hands.
That’s just the creepiest, you know that, right Elrand......? Is this guy really all right in the head? He’s apparently doing his job as a guildmaster just fine, but was it really a good idea to trust him with that earth dragon?
“Elrand!”
“Hm? Ohh! It’s you, Mukohda!” Elrand finally noticed my existence after I raised my voice.
Don’t “it’s you” me~!
“Uhm, so the earth dragon......”
“Yes, of course I’ve managed to take it apart without a hitch. It was my happiest time yet in my entire long, elven life......” Elrand said, sighing as if he’d thought about something that I was probably better off not knowing about.
I hope you’re just exaggerating with that happiest time thing. Actually, would that be all right as your happiest time? Let’s just... leave that alone for now. “Uhhh, so what about buying some of the materials?”
“Yes, this was the most perplexing problem in my entire long, elven life. But! After racking my head over it for so long, I’ve finally decided!” stated Elrand as he clenched his fist powerfully.
“Y-Yeahh, okay. So, what parts do you want?”
“That’s a good question. I really, reeeallllyyy racked my head over it. Since each and every material is something that I’d sell my own arm and leg for. But what I chose was...... first up, the earth dragon’s blood!!” Elrand held up one of the bottles filled with red liquid that was lined up on the workstation.
“You see, dragon’s blood is good enough to be one of the ingredients for elixirs, so it’s a sort of panacea. If you mix it in with other medicinal ingredients, it makes the thing’s effects a whole level stronger. In addition, eating a pill that has dragon blood mixed in not only provides very robust nourishment, but it’s also said to prevent you from getting sick at all for an entire year!”
I-I see~... You’re way too excited, Elrand. Calm down.
“Two bottles. I’d like to buy two bottles for 150 gold each.”
...............What? 150 gold... each? W-W-W-Wait a second. So let’s see here, those corked bottles that look like sake bottles, those are about 1 liter each, right?
I scanned the work station.
Wow that thing is packed full of those bottles...... There’s more than a hundred of them, aren’t there?
“By the way, I managed to get a hundred and sixty bottles worth of earth dragon blood,” Elrand said with a smile.
O-O N E H U N D R E D A N D S I X T Y......... 150 gold for one bottle, and one hundred sixty bottles. How much is that even? Just by thinking about it...... urghh...
My stomach, it started hurting.
“And next what I’d like to buy: the liver. It has the same panacea effect as the blood, but it’s said that its effects are several times stronger. Since that’s the case, it’s something that I’d do anything to get a hold of. However, the whole liver is something that is far too expensive for me to be able to afford, so unfortunately, TRULY UNFORTUNATELY, I’d like to just buy half of it. I’ve priced half the liver at 1500 gold.”
H-Half for... 1500 gold............ Please help, m-my stomach......
“Mann~, this earth dragon was quite the magnificent specimen, no? Its liver was so clean, and not only was it large, it had a good color on it, as well. Most likely its liver wouldn’t go for less than 3000 gold. At that much, of course I’d be done with just the liver if I bought it, so although I am extremely sad about it, I made my peace with just half the liver.”
One liver is 3000 gold... 3000 gold... 3000 gold...... What the hell is up for a single organ to be worth this much? Since we use everything in a dragon, there’s other organs too, right? Just how much is the whole thing even worth...... Nope, no good. My stomach is screaming. I’ve underestimated dragons. Completely. They can’t even be compared to other monsters.
“As for the last one, I’d like one of the dragon’s fangs. I’ve set the price to 2000 gold for it. To tell you the truth, I was quite torn over whether to choose an eye or a fang, but in the end, it’s got to be the fang.”
One f-fang, just one... 2000 gold...... Hahhh~ ...All I can do now is sigh.
“You know, I’m thinking of asking a famous blacksmith in town to make a sword out of it. It’ll turn into something pretty great, I’m telling you. I’d say it’ll be something that any swordsman would make it a life goal to hold in their hands at least once before they die. Mmhheheheh, a dragon sword... I’ve only dreamed of a dragon sword until now, a dragon sword...”
......That’s totally just what you want, isn’t it, Elrand? You’ve totally said it out loud and everything. Like, of course it’d be the dream of anyone who talks about dragons as much as you do; you’ve basically got all your greed on full throttle right now.
When I asked what he was going to do with the dragon sword, apparently he was going to decorate the guild with it.
“Did you know? Dragon swords can equal the magic swords that come out of dungeons. There’s no doubt that it would become a great attraction for the guild. Adventurers gather because of the dungeon, but the dragon sword will bring even more adventurers in. Dragon swords really are a dream sword for any sword wielder, after all.”
From what Elrand said, adventurers seemed to be the type to want to see cool weapons. The reasoning was that anyone who heard of the dragon sword would at least come to take a look, apparently. And this town has a dungeon, too, so there really wasn’t any reason for an adventurer to stay away. It seemed that since this town was already full of adventurers, having more come would only make things better, so they were all welcomed.
Though it looked like he was at least somewhat thinking about the guild and the city around him, no matter how I looked at it, Elrand himself wanted the dragon sword most of all. He was even currently grinning while muttering, “Dragon sword......” to himself. Just from his looks, he was a really beautiful man, so the feeling of disappointment was not small.
“Uhhh, then I’ll be taking all of this.” I gestured at the earth dragon materials left on top of the workstation. Among those was the earth dragon’s magic stone, which was surprisingly large.
I just want to leave already. Having to deal with this guy is making me so tired.
“Sure, take all the materials here, and the guild will be taking the stuff on this table.” It looked like he’d already pre-sorted what the guild would be buying.
There were two blood-filled bottles, a brownish pot, and a huge fang put aside on a separate table.
“So I’ll be paying you your due now. With the amount being what it is, I’ll be using large gold coins. The blood, liver, and fang all come out to 3800 gold, so that’s 380 large gold coins.” Elrand handed me a bag stuffed full with gold.
When I checked inside, it was indeed filled with large gold coins.
“Oh, that’s right. How much will the butchering fee be?”
“No no no, I don’t need anything like that. Really, I should be paying you for letting me butcher it. Mannn~ these three days were like a dream, it was so nice. I got to take an earth dragon apart with my own hands......”
Y-Yeah... o-okay... Well, if it’s free, I won’t look a gift horse in the mouth...
I stuffed all the leftover materials on the workstation into my Item Box. There were 158 bottles of earth dragon blood... another bottle with eyeballs in it... and a pot with its organs, and the like. It looked like the bottle with the eyes and the pots were filled with preservation fluid.
Just as the name implied, it was a liquid used to preserve the freshness of things, but apparently it was impossible to make unless you had at least some knowledge in pharmaceutical studies. But it looked like Elrand did just that while he was an adventurer, as this liquid was made by him. Although the main reason seemed to be that dragons were an ingredient in elixirs.
He’s really drunk the kool-aid and everything if he’s learned all this just for dragons.
I proceeded in my quest to stuff all the materials that came out of that dragon into my Item Box. In went a fang... and lastly, its huge hide.
“Earth dragon hide... so nice~... Of course, it’s way too expensive, so I couldn’t buy any, but I’ll never get tired of just looking at the pattern on those scales.”
Elrand, I think you’re the only one that can say that.
“I’m sure that this hide won’t go for less than 10,000 gold with how big it is.”
...............What? “U-Uhhh...what did you just... say?”
“10,000 gold?” Elrand replied with a smile.
“............Ten... Ten thousand?”
“Indeed. 10,000 gold.”
T-Ten thousand...... ten thousand...... ten thousand... N-Nooo~, my stomach... In the first place, i-is there even anyone that would buy it at that price? “By the way, you say 10,000, but is there even anyone who would buy it?”
“Hmmm, it’d probably be hard for the level of powerful nobles. No wait, Duke Boven in the south might be able to do something about it. Other than that, you’d just have to sell it to a country itself.”
So it’s so expensive that there’s almost no one to buy it, isn’t that basically the same as being worth nothing? Like, there’s no point if it’s valuable but no one’s gonna buy it. And I don’t really want to be going around begging people to take it... I’m not that troubled for money in the first place. Yeah, for the time being I’ll just leave these earth dragon parts to sit. Although other guilds might buy the blood, at least. Let’s try asking Elrand about that, actually.
“Oh, also, the earth dragon’s meat is being stored in a refrigerated space. It’s here.”
I followed after Elrand, as he opened up a door in the back of the storehouse. Cool air wafted out from beyond the door. There was a ditch along the wall of the refrigeration room, and it was filled with ice. It looked like someone who could use Ice magic would come in regularly to remake the ice here.
“As you might have suspected already, it wouldn’t fit inside here whole, so I’ve split the body into three parts.”
Even separated into three, each chunk of the earth dragon’s meat was considerably large. I stored the meat in my Item Box.
“Mukohda, the earth dragon’s meat, please let me......”
Oh right, there was that, too.
“Sure, I’ve already promised you, after all.”
“Really?! Well then, let’s go!!”
“Huh? Where?”
“Of course, to go eat the earth dragon’s meat!”
“Hm? So it is done. So, we are going to eat the meat now?”
No no, not now......
《Meat? We’re eating meat? Meaty meat~!》
Stop with that, Dora-chan.
“You’re going to cook, right, Mukohda? Then let’s go to my house. If people found out that we were eating dragon meat, I have no idea what kind of people would gather. My house would be best for eating in a calm and peaceful setting. Now then, let’s go!!”
I mean, right now? Aren’t you still working?
“Elrand, it’s still the middle of the day?”
“What?! There’s nothing more important than tasting dragon meat!! Also, for this guild, everything will be fine as long as the sub-guildmaster is around!”
Huh? Did he just say that there’s nothing more important than eating dragon meat? Wait, actually, you’re the guildmaster here, do your job.
From what Elrand just said, he was fully intending to push all his work onto this sub-guildmaster.
“Now, let’s go!!”
Woah!
I left the Adventurer’s guild, being pulled along by Elrand. On the way out of the building, I spotted a slightly chubby old man with a balding head staring at us, dumbfounded.
That must have been the sub-guildmaster. He sure has it hard.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
Elrand dragged me to a residential area that wasn’t too far from the Adventurer’s guild.
It seemed to be a house provided for Elrand by the Adventurer’s guild, and it looked like a two-story townhouse that belonged on the streets of London (in Japanese terms, it would be a tenement or a rowhouse).
“This is my house. Here, here, come in, come in.”
Just what one would expect out of a guildmaster’s house, it was larger than all the rest.
“The kitchen is over here, but I don’t cook, so......”
It was almost amazing how empty the kitchen was; there were no traces of it having ever been used.
Hmmm, this place is...... Ah...... From the window in the living room, I saw a small garden.
“I’ll use my own tools for cooking, so can I do it out in the garden?”
“Sure, whatever you like.”
Having gotten Elrand’s permission, I headed into the garden. There, I revealed my magic stove.
“Ohh! I knew you must have had a pretty large Item Box to be able to fit an earth dragon inside of it, but to think this was inside as well. I also have an Item Box, but it would only fit about half of this.”
Apparently, Elrand also had one.
“So you have an Item Box too, Elrand?”
“Yes, a lot of elves have large amounts of magic, so there’s quite a few of us with Item Boxes.”
Hehh—, is that so? It’s true that elves have an image of being good at magic.
Elrand also apparently was good at Wind magic, and the elves’ special Plant magic. According to the person himself, he managed to pile up victory upon victory during his adventurer days using those two types of magic and a sword. Of course, this was coming from the person himself, though. This was also just my impression, but I had thought from a certain movie that elves would be good at bows, though it appeared that Elrand was a swordsman. That might have been why he looked so excited at the prospect of a dragon sword. Well, that was probably more because of the dragon materials than because of his swordsman’s spirit, though.
Even so, when I heard that Elrand used to be an S-ranked adventurer, I still could not imagine a strong version of him. I’d only ever seen the disappointing side of him, after all. I wouldn’t say this in front of the guildmaster, but the only impression I feel like I can have of him is of a slightly dangerous elvish man who is far too into dragons.
Whoops, more importantly, the dragon meat. Gotta get to the dragon meat. How to cook it, though...... It should be steak here, right? A real dragon steak using genuine dragon meat.
I’ll start off with just salt and pepper, I think, and I’ll use that with the dragon meat. If I remember right... got it.
I brought out the sun-dried salt and black pepper in a grinder that I used with the wyvern steaks. Then, I also brought back the earth dragon meat and started cutting them into thick steaks. The earth dragon meat was a beautiful red with a good amount of speckled marbling.
This thing’s very red, like the bloody horn-bull, so let’s try grilling these in a similar fashion.
After lighting the magic stove, I oiled a frying pan and set it on high heat. Right before I started grilling, I seasoned the steaks with the salt and pepper.
*Ssszzzllll———*
I started grilling the earth dragon meat in the burning hot frying pan. The smell of cooking meat started wafting through the air.
*Gulp*
I reflexively gulped down some drool.
After about a minute on high heat, I turned the heat to low and kept cooking for another minute. Then, I flipped the steak and did the same to the other side. After that, I plated the steak, wrapped the whole thing in aluminum foil, and let it rest for five minutes.
Nice, it should be just about time. Let’s have a little taste......
*Mgmg*
W-What the hell.........?
“S-So good. This meat, it’s way too delicious......” The first dragon meat I’d ever tasted was so delicious that I felt like it moved heaven and earth. It was a different kind of meat than beef, pork, or chicken.
However, it was like it combined just the good point of all three of those things, and after every chew the absolutely divine meat juices flooded out. I almost reached out to try more, but everyone’s voices stopped me.
“Stop eating by yourself. Give me some too.”
《He’s right, stop that! It’s not fair to be eating by yourself. Give us some too.》
《Master — Sui is hungry, too—!》
Ugh, sorry...... It was so delicious, I just...
I hurried to grill servings for Fel, Sui, and Dora-chan, and Elrand as well. “Here you go.”
All three of my familiars immediately dug into the dragon steak as soon as my hand left their dishes.
“You too, Elrand.” I placed Elrand’s portion on a table that was positioned on a terrace facing the garden.
Elrand stuck his knife in rather nervously, with a, “Well then.” Then, he carefully cut out a bite and put it in his mouth. At the same time, his eyes opened wide, almost as if they were leaping out of his head.
Right, right? I know that feeling. It’s good, right? I was surprised, too. Like, ‘what the hell? Why didn’t anyone tell me dragon meat was this good?’
“So delicious...... to think that dragon meat was this good.........”
Right right? I totally get it, I do. It’s actually moving how good it is, right? Wait, I should be eating my steak, too.
I bit into the dragon steak that I’d only seasoned with salt and pepper. Hahhh~, so good...
“Just as I remembered, dragons are amazingly delicious. Give me more. This time with that.”
Just as Fel said, dragons are great. By “that,” does he mean the steak sauce?
《This is earth dragon meat, right? Never knew that earth dragons were so delicious... Give me more, too.》
Huh, so Dora-chan wants more this time, too. Oh shi— didn’t Dora-chan say the same dragon... No, wait, he was talking about pixie dragons, right? So this isn’t cannibalism?
《Master — dragon meat is tasty. Sui wants more too pleeeaaasseee.》
And there goes Sui too. Well this meat really is good. Eat a lot, got it?
Just as I was going to go and cook up a second round of steaks for everyone, I heard a teary voice.
“Uuuggh...... uguh......... I’m so happy... I’ve only ever dreamed of being able to eat dragon meat...... *Sniff* And on top of that, it’s sooo good......”
Elrand...... This guy was crying while eating his steak.
“Mukohda, thank you so so sooo much. Not only did you give me a chance to butcher an earth dragon and let me have a chance to obtain some of its valuable materials, you even let me partake in its meat......... thank you so so much. I’m so glad I’ve lived this long............ uguh...”
Okay okay, I got it, thanks. Please, just stop crying while you eat.
“Fel’s the one that hunted it. You should be thanking him.”
When I said that, Elrand actually did turn to Fel and thanked him.
“Indeed. Dragons are delicious, after all.”
No, I mean, I don’t think that’s what he’s thanking you for, though. It’s not that he’s thanking you because the dragon was delicious... well, whatever.
I cooked up a second round of dragon steaks for everyone. Of course, this time I used the steak sauce. It still didn’t look like Elrand had his fill, so I cooked up another one for him. When I slathered on the steak sauce, the already delicious dragon steak got even better, and he started crying again.
After that, my three familiars asked for even more and enjoyed the dragon steak to its fullest. Even I went for another steak even though they were quite large, since I was entranced by the taste.
I received payment for the dragon steaks I fed him as we went to leave, to the amount of a full 100 gold. Of course, I told him that it was too much, but Elrand would hear none of it, saying that there would be no compromises for something as precious as dragon meat. He even tried to pay extra on top of that since he ate two steaks, but I really couldn’t take that, so I refused it.
I mean, it was just a steak, and he already paid 100 gold. No matter how precious dragons were supposed to be, I couldn’t shake the guilt of charging 100 gold for just two steaks. Any more than that, and I really would have to pass on the whole thing. And so I only accepted 100 gold from Elrand in the end.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
Fel, Sui, Dora-chan, and I returned to the inn.
Sui got sleepy after eating so much, so it was already sleeping inside my bag. Dora-chan also ate too much and currently couldn’t move, so he was riding on Fel’s back. He was lightly complaining, like, “It was so good that I ate too much......” Fel, as always, never wavered, only saying, “Just as I remembered, dragons are delicious,” with a satisfied look on his face.
Of course, he was right. From now on, let’s use the dragon meat for really important occasions.
I wanted to just fall asleep still in my good mood as I reached the inn, but I had another job to do. Since we were diving into the dungeon tomorrow, it didn’t seem like I’d have time to do it with the eyes of other adventurers on me and everything. And I had no idea what they’d do if I tried to wait until after I got back from the dungeon, either.
Let’s just hurry and get this over with.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
After I was safely in my room, I called out just as usual.
“Uhhh... are you around, goddesses—?”
As soon as I called out to them, I received an immediate reply.
＜Hm? You are faster than usual this time, aren’t you? This is a good change of heart. I’ll call everyone over, so just wait a little.＞
After a while, I heard the gaggle of everyone’s voices.
＜Hello otherworlder boy, you’re quite quick this time, aren’t you~? I’m happy though, since I have things I want to ask for, too.＞
＜She’s right. We’re happy about that on our side, though.＞
＜......Food and snacks.＞
＜OOOHH! We’ve been waiting! Man~, that otherworld alcohol is the best. Hey, War God, let’s discuss what kind of alcohol to get this time!＞
＜Hey, so the otherworlder’s here! That’s right, Blacksmith God. The stuff from the other world is all good, so it’s hard to decide, no?＞
For some reason, it seemed like everyone was ready and raring to order. Hephaestos and Vahagn even started to talk amongst themselves about what alcohol they wanted.
“To tell the truth, we’re planning to go into the dungeon tomorrow, and I don’t think I’ll be able to offer anything while I’m down there. Since I don’t want anyone else to see my unique skill.”
I really just wanted to avoid being seen by other adventurers.
＜Well, that would be wise, wouldn’t it? After all, it’s a weird skill that lets you get stuff from another world, but depending on its use it could produce absolutely massive profits. Though thanks to that, I’m able to enjoy the other world’s sweets.＞
＜Right~? We’re able to get stuff from your world thanks to this, though.＞
＜Certainly. It’s a skill that even we gods have never heard of. To think, a skill that lets you get stuff from another world.＞
＜......Otherworld food and snacks.＞
I’m thankful to this skill since I get to have all the stuff I need from my world. But even though there’s a lot it helps me with, it’s also attracted all these gods......*cough* Gotta get back to the offerings.
Well, in exchange I’m getting blessings, though.
“At any rate, I can’t afford to be seen by other adventurers, so I’ve decided to make my offerings before I go in. So then, I’ll be taking everyone’s orders. Ah, remember, it’s 3 silver per person, okay?”
＜Indeed. We understand. Well then, I will go first. As always, sweets!＞
This person (goddess) really doesn’t change, does she? Really, just how much do you like sweets?
I opened up my Online Supermarket, and started choosing the sweets that Ninrir asked for. After focusing on Ninrir’s favorite dorayaki, I also chose other western and Japanese sweets, as well as other candies and carbonated drinks.
“Next.”
＜It’s my turn, I’m Kisharle~. The stuff you bought me before was very good! Especially the cream. Just like you said, when I spread on a little extra during the night, I woke up with just the best skin! It’s like all that dryness was just a lie. Thanks to you, I’m looking forward to checking myself in the mirror every day~!＞
Hahh, that’s great. I can just imagine Kisharle getting entranced just looking at herself in the mirror. W-Well, it’s great that it’s all passed muster with Kisharle, she’s really picky about her beauty.
“So? What would you like?”
＜You see, I’d like more things for maintaining my face. What would be good?＞
Hrmmm~ I’m not a girl, so I can’t think of anything off the top of my head...
“I’ll take a look so please wait a little.” I started paging through the skin care section.
It looked like she was a fan of the creams, so what about this?
“You liked the cream, right? What about another cream? Just one will be your entire allowance, but it’s full of ingredients for beauty and the amount you get matches what you pay for it, looks like.”
＜F-Full of ingredients for beauty, you say?! That one! Definitely that one! Give it to me!!＞
You’re way too excited, Kisharle.
I added the 3 silver cream into the cart, just as Kisharle wanted.
＜What? You used your entire allowance on just 1 thing? I didn’t expect you to be so stupid. Eheheh.＞
＜Wow, she’s right. You should have asked for a lot of different stuff instead.＞
＜......*Nodnod*＞
＜Just leave me alone, please. I’ve awakened to the awesomeness of beauty.＞ Kisharle was being made fun of by her fellow goddesses, but it didn’t seem like she was fazed at all.
I’ll just say this now, Ninrir, 3 silver for just a cream is only the beginning. There are creams in the world that cost several tens of thousands of yen for just one.
My sister, who was obsessed with beauty products, bought a cream for 30,000 yen. She even stated that it was her policy not to mind the price for beauty *schwing*, or something. She then started to stress the beauty ingredients they used or something to explain its price or whatever. Well, of course I thought of my sister as an idiot for getting a cream that costed 30,000 yen for just one. But I didn’t say it out loud; I would never. If we existed in the same world, Kisharle would probably have been good friends with my sister.
“Ehhhmm, next is Agni, right?”
＜Hey, it’s me. I want the same alcohol as last time. There’s a lot of different kinds so I don’t get bored, and it’s all good, too.＞
Agni wants the same thing as last time, huh? But it’ll be boring with all the same brands and makers, so let’s make it a little different. The flavor changes with the maker, after all.
“Then I’ll make it the same types of alcohol as before, but I’ll choose different makers, okay?”
＜I’ll leave that part to you.＞
So I did just that.
“Next is Miss Ruka, right?”
＜Food and snacks.＞
And Ruka’s the same, too, got it.
＜That beef bowl thing was good. If you have it, I want it.＞
Beef bowl, huh? I get it, the sweet and spicy beef matches well with the rice, right? She said she wanted some if I had it, and I do. I made it to serve in the dungeon, though.
＜Also, that thing where you put meat on a stick and grilled it was good too.＞
Ahh — the yakitori, huh? Okay then, let’s get some more of that, too.
After that, I also got her some of the karaage I fried for the dungeon, as well as some beef stew and cabbage rolls. I used the rest of the allowance on the usual white bread and snacks.
“Next is......”
＜Yo, it’s me, Hephaestos. It’s my turn now. As for me, I’d like some of that strong whiskey. That was great. Just as you said, it was good with ice, or even cut with water. It was even delicious straight. Otherworld alcohol really is great, isn’t it?＞
Whiskey for Hephaestos, huh? Yeah, if he likes the strong stuff, whiskey would be just right for him, probably.
＜It’s Vahagn. For me, I’d like something other than whiskey. Even better if it’s different from what you offered last time. Blacksmith God, that’s good, right?＞
＜Sure. Whiskey’s great, but I want to enjoy all different kinds of their alcohol, after all. You’re good with that, right, War God?＞
Oh so these two are cooperating to get their alcohol fix, huh?
＜You two sure get chummy when it comes to alcohol, don’t you?＞
＜Really~.＞
＜Man, it’d be fine if you just chose stuff you liked, though. You guys sure are crafty when it comes to alcohol.＞
＜......Booze bad.＞
The goddesses sounded exasperated. From the way the goddesses talked, these two must have done some crazy stuff in the past for alcohol.
＜Hah! Say anything you like. We don’t compromise for alcohol.＞
＜That’s right. We’ll do anything we like for good booze, and that includes cooperate. Also, Ruka, booze isn’t bad at all. It’s the most delicious stuff in existence.＞
＜Yeah, he’s right. It’s the water of life for us, right? Gahahah!＞
These two are unparalleled alcoholics, huh? Well, let’s just hurry up with this.
Hephaestos wants whiskey, right? This time, I got three bottles of whiskey, from an American and Scottish maker, as well as a Japanese whiskey from a different maker than before.
Vahagn wanted variety, right? Different from what was offered from before. Since that was the case, I got some locally brewed sake, as well as some vodka and rum since the two of them seemed like they favored the strong stuff.
＜Ah, that’s right. You’re going to the dungeon, right?＞ Vahagn suddenly asked.
“Yes, the plan is to dive into the dungeon tomorrow.” When I replied, the gods all started talking amongst themselves.
＜Hey, you guys, that otherworlder has some sort of defensive skill, right?＞
＜Defensive skill, you say? Why ask, Vahagn?＞
＜Wait, you guys didn’t give him any defensive skills? What the hell are you all doing?!＞
＜He’s right, you know. This one absolutely needs a defensive skill, for our sakes as well as his.＞
What are Vahagn and Hephaestos saying now?
＜What are the two of you talking about~? It’s fine, isn’t it? We’ve already given him our blessings.＞
＜Right. He has mine, Ninrir’s, and Kisharle’s blessings already, and he’s also got a Fenrir under him so he’s fine, right?＞
＜......As well as a slime that has my blessing.＞
＜＜*Sigh*~＞＞
＜You guys are all too careless.＞
＜He’s right. Or rather, these ones just don’t get it. Vahagn, tell them.＞
＜Oh well, fine. You know, that otherworlder is going into the dungeon tomorrow. Ehhmm, the Dolan dungeon, right? The Dolan dungeon is on the tough side, and the monsters there are pretty strong and dangerous. You all said that he’s fine since he has your blessings and some familiars, right? Certainly, the Fenrir can use barriers, and the slime can make potions — you’re right. But still, no matter how much magic the Fenrir has, he won’t be able to keep up the barrier the entire time they’re in the dungeon, right? And the potions the slime makes are all fine while he’s not dead, but that’s just if he doesn’t die before he can use them. For example, what if he takes an attack that instantly crushes his head, or something pierces his heart? He’s dead instantly, right? In that case potions won’t do anything.＞
＜Indeed, it’s as he says. So that’s how it is.＞
＜If the otherworlder dies......＞
＜If the otherworlder boy perishes......＞
＜If the otherworlder gets killed......＞
＜...............＞
＜We’ll never again be able to get stuff from his world, no?＞
＜＜＜＜That’s terrible (it is!) (~) (shit!) (*Nodnodnod*)＞ ＞＞＞
＜For otherworld sweets, I’ll give him a defensive skill!＞
＜Right! Terrible wouldn’t even begin to describe it if I couldn’t get my hands on beauty products anymore!＞
＜This is no joke, I can’t risk not being able to get otherworld booze anymore!＞
＜.........(*Nodnodnodnodnod*)!＞
＜We want to keep enjoying alcohol from his world, too, you know? It would be extremely awful if this one were to die. Right, War God?＞
＜Yep! There’s so many kinds of otherworld alcohol, and they’re all delicious, to boot. If we couldn’t taste it anymore, I might just go and destroy the lower world.＞
＜So that being the case, I propose giving the otherworlder a Perfect Defense skill, how about it?＞
＜No objections here.＞
＜Of course.＞
＜Yeah, of course it’s fine.＞
＜Hurry up.＞
＜Good. Otherworlder, take this Perfect Defense skill.＞
......I’m not really sure what’s happening, but it looks like they’ll give me a skill.
＜Great! Now we’ll be able to enjoy his world’s alcohol for a while yet, War God!＞
＜You’re right! I’m looking forward to it, no? Blacksmith God.＞
＜Muheheheh, sweets... sweets!＞
＜Beauty products...＞
＜Booze...booze!＞
＜Food and snacks.＞
............Gods please. You guys are all more worried about your profits than you are about me, aren’t you? Hahh~, gods just might be like this naturally since they’re such absurd beings, but...... Dealing with these gods just makes me so tired. Let’s just hurry up and make these offerings.
I checked out and hurriedly set up the cardboard box altars.
“Vahagn, Hephaestos, these two bottles are really strong so be careful. This one should be drunk straight. And this one can be drunk on the rocks, or straight, your choice.” Just in case, I warned them about the strong vodka and rum.
“These are your desired offerings. Please accept them.”
As the offerings disappeared off their altars, I heard the gods and goddesses up there raise their cheers, as always.
Hahh~ it’s finally over. This is always so exhausting. Let’s just sleep.