Chapter 4: Let’s Enjoy the Dungeon

“Hey, Fel, I got some new skill named ‘Perfect Defense’ from the gods yesterday, do you know it?” I tried asking Fel about the new skill I got from the gods while we walked towards the dungeon.

“Perfect Defense, you say? You just got a pretty nice skill, there. Perfect Defense is a skill that completely defends against any attack from a being with malicious intent towards you. You have my barriers, but it is not like I can keep them on forever. They probably took that into consideration. As expected of the gods.”

So Fel’s barrier isn’t just always on? The gods did say something like that, didn’t they?

“So your barriers aren’t just always on, Fel?”

“You fool. It uses magic, you know? Of course that would be impossible. Even for me, it would only last about five days at the longest.”

Ah, but you can still put it on for five days at a time, huh? That might just be Fel, though. Still though, this Perfect Defense skill is quite nice. Since it’s a skill that ‘perfectly defends against attacks from anyone with malicious intent.’ It’s perfect for me, especially since I’m just about to go into a dungeon. Thanks to all the gods who gave it to me.

Oh right, I just heard about the skill from the gods who gave it to me last night, I haven’t actually checked my status myself yet. It’s on, right?

【Name】 Mukohda (Tsuyoshi Mukouda)

【Age】 27

【Job】 Victim from Another World

【Level】 13

【HP】 229

【MP】 223

【Attack】 206

【Defense】 205

【Agility】 200

【Skills】 Appraisal, Item Box, Fire magic, Earth magic, Perfect Defense, Familiars (Contracted Magic Beasts): Fenrir, Big Slime, Pixie Dragon

【Unique Skill】 Online Supermarket

【Blessings】 Blessing of the Goddess of Wind, Ninrir (small); Blessing of the Goddess of Fire, Agni (small); Blessing of the Goddess of Earth, Kisharle (small)

Yep, it’s right there in the skills section.

When I concentrated on the Perfect Defense entry......

【Perfect Defense...... A skill that completely defends against physical or magical attacks from malicious beings】

Oh! S-Some sort of explanation popped up. It’s pretty much the exact same as what Fel said, though. Now that I think about it, there was also an explanation for the mithril knife that Sui made when I appraised it, too. I didn’t think it was too weird then, though. I’m not really sure, but does that mean that Appraisal leveled up? In times like this... teach me, Mr. Fel!

“Fel, there’s a skill explanation for Perfect Defense now......”

“Mm? Then the things you can appraise must have increased since you leveled up.”

“Hm? What do you mean?”

According to Fel, some skills increased their power as their user levels up. Appraisal was one of those skills, and at Fel’s level, apparently, the skill gets pretty detailed. Although Fel said that he usually didn’t look at that stuff since it was too much work.

Huh? But when I appraised the stuff I bought off of my Online Supermarket before, if I remember right it came out as ‘Otherworld White Bread’ and said, ‘Raises MP by 1% for 10 minutes;’ isn’t that an explanation?

“But when I appraised some stuff from my world before it came with a pretty detailed explanation, I wonder why?”

“Mm? Is that what happens when you appraise it? I have tried before, but all I see is gibberish that I cannot read. It has never happened before, though. Most likely it has to do with the items being from your world, I think.”

So that means that there must be some difference between the stuff from this world and the stuff that I buy using my skill?

Just eating the stuff raises stats like HP and MP, and even the trash levels Sui up, so there might just be something fundamentally different between the two. But there was no way to make that clear, so for now I decided to drop the subject since there wasn’t anything troubling happening because of it.

For now, I should just be happy that Appraisal now comes with a simple explanation.

After that, from what I heard from Fel, physical and magic attack skills like sword and spear skills, or any of the magic skills are especially striking in their growth, and as the user’s level grows they start to be able to do a lot more with the skill. When I thought about it, it was obvious though — since leveling also increases your health, magic capacity, and all other stats as well.

On the other hand, there were also skills that didn’t grow, and among my skills, Item Box and Perfect Defense fit under that category, apparently. It wasn’t always the case, but it seemed that skills one has from birth, or skills acquired through a god’s blessings usually don’t change, ever.

I see~. I didn’t really think about this stuff before.

“What about my Familiars skill?” I gained the Familiars skill thanks to contracting with Fel, but I wondered what would happen with that as I leveled up.

“No idea. Just like I have said before, you are the first one I have contracted with. Also, the elf already told you once, no? That our contracts are different from the norm.”

Ahh — Elrand did say that, didn’t he? Since apparently normal contracts don’t allow for telepathy, either. Well, there shouldn’t be any need to worry though, since it’s not like it’ll get worse by me leveling up.

I tried asking about my unique skill too, but I was immediately rejected with a, “There is no one else other than you with a skill to obtain things from another world, what made you think I would know anything about it?”

Well he was right. Not only was it my unique skill, it was a weird thing that accesses an online supermarket. It’s like, ‘Why the hell can you just get stuff from Japan even though you’re in another world,’ right?

Well, there’s nothing to do but keep watch on it, I guess.

We reached the dungeon entrance while Fel and I talked about skills.

“Okay then, I’ll go register at the branch office.”

Once that was done, it was finally time for the dungeon.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

Once I’d finished registering, we lined up behind a bunch of other adventurers, and then it was finally our turn to go in. I showed my guild card to the two knights posted on either side of the entrance, and we entered the dungeon.

“I told them that I didn’t need a map, but are you sure that was all right?” I had tried to buy a map of the dungeon before we lined up, but Fel stopped me, saying that we didn’t need such a thing. He did at least assure me that he could tell where things were through a combination of smell and presence sensing, though.

“Of course it is fine. Who do you think I am?”

Ahh, I see. Well as long as you’re sure we’re fine, then all is good.

“Looks like it is nothing but small fry at the beginning.”

“Yeah, you’re right. It looks like most adventurers go down to around the 10th to the 15th floor. From there, treasure chests start to appear, and relatively nice things start to drop, apparently.”

“I see. Well then, let us head down there at once. You, get on.”

Fine, fine.

I did as Fel said and got on his back.

“You have the Perfect Defense skill so you should be fine, but I know how timid you are. I will leave a barrier around you just in case.”

Gnnrrrnn... Don’t call me timid. I’m just careful, you should be positive about this. Well, either way, I’m grateful you’ll put a barrier around me, though.

“I will put one around you too, Dora.”

《Sure. Thanks, Fel.》

“Dora, will you be able to keep up with me?” Fel said, looking over at the flying Dora-chan.

《Fel, it’s rude to ask me that. I’m a pixie dragon, our names are synonymous with speed!》 Dora-chan replied, trying to look cool.

What do you mean, rude? Haha... Dora-chan just looked cute, so trying to act all cool didn’t suit him at all.

“Well then, let us be off.” With just Fel’s voice as the signal, we rushed off through the dungeon.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

We steadily advanced along the passages of the dungeon, surrounded by rock walls. All the monsters we encountered that obstructed us were finished off by Fel and Dora-chan. Thinking that, at this rate, things would be over quickly, I let down my guard.

*Whoosh———*

“Woah!”

There was an arrow. A-A trap?! This dungeon has traps?!

《So, this dungeon’s got traps... I got saved thanks to your barrier, Fel,》 I told the running Fel through telepathy.

《Though there would not be a problem even without my barrier since you have the Perfect Defense skill.》

Huh? It even works against traps? Doesn’t the skill I got only work against “beings” with malicious intent?

《Doesn’t Perfect Defense only defend against ‘beings with malicious intent’? Why would it work on traps?》

《Hahh... You know so little about dungeons it is almost depressing.》

Come on, don’t sigh like that. It’s true that I only have the fuzziest of knowledge on dungeons, though. All I really know is that dungeons are giant dens for monsters, that defeated monsters drop items, and that there are treasure chests and stuff.

《Dungeons use drop items gained from defeating monsters and the promise of treasure chests as bait to lure humans in, and then use the monsters or traps they birth to take their lives. Then, those that die are absorbed by the dungeon, and used as nutrition for its growth. That is why dungeons are considered a singular living thing. And so, both traps and those that live in dungeons are attacks from “something with malicious intent.”》

I see. It’s true that it sounds like a living thing from the way Fel explains it.

When I asked Fel for even more info on dungeons, I was told that dungeons had something called a “dungeon core,” and as long as it wasn’t destroyed or carried outside of the dungeon itself, the dungeon would continue to slowly grow.

《So what happens if you break the dungeon core or bring it outside?》

《That would mean the dungeon’s death. The whole space would become a mundane hole that does not birth anything. Of course, the dungeon core is constantly on the move within the dungeon, so it is practically impossible for a person to find it.》

Hmm~ so that’s how it is. Wait, by people, does Fel mean that he can find it?

When I asked, it seemed that Fel could do it with a little time. But he also said, 《As if I would do something so foolish as to destroy as fun a place as a dungeon.》

After that, there were no more incidents, though we did run across a couple traps. No matter if they were arrows or spears or anything else, Fel’s barrier stopped them all, and even if there was a sudden pitfall Fel would just jump over it. Even the floor bosses were defeated in a single blow as if we were just passing by, and we would quickly proceed down the stairs to the next floor. Our party, or rather, Fel and Dora-chan, didn’t even bother to stop.

By the way, though, Sui was in its usual spot, sleeping in my leather bag.

Once we had gotten to around the 10th floor, we finally started to see some other adventurers.

《What now? We’re at the 10th floor.》

《Hrrmm... from these presences, there are not any decent enemies around here. It seems like the floor boss here is a venom tarantula.》 Fel said unhappily.

It sounded like venom tarantulas might as well have been dirt to Fel.

《Then should we just go straight down?》

《Indeed, let us do just that.》

Without exploring the floor, we headed straight for the boss room.

In front of the boss room were four absolutely jacked guys with scary faces that looked the very picture of adventurers. They readied their weapons when they saw Fel and Dora-chan, but when they saw me, they said, “Oh, they’re familiars,” and lowered their weapons.

“Uhm, this is the boss room, right?”

I tried talking to one of them, and they said, “Yeah, that’s right,” while nodding their heads.

“We can’t go inside?” When I said that, the adventurer shook his head in exasperation.

“Could this be your first time in a dungeon?” I nodded in response to his question. “Thought so. There’s a lot of rules to being inside a dungeon.”

According to the adventurer:

The adventurer (and that adventurer’s party) that gets first hit in on a monster in the dungeon gets dibs on said monster, and of course anything it drops.

Unless someone specifically asks for help during a fight, do not interfere.

For treasure chests, the one that opens it gets first dibs.

...Or so it went.

“So that means there’s a party that’s inside right now. We can’t go in until they finish.”

I see.

“Well, even if there’s rules, there are also people who ignore them. There’s even fucking assholes that steal drop items. As well as shitstains that kill dungeon newbies like you and take all their stuff. Since the dungeon doesn’t leave any bodies, right? Well, all that means is that there’s bad people everywhere. Watch out, you hear?”

Woah, scary. Certainly, since the dungeon doesn’t leave behind any bodies, there wouldn’t be any evidence as long as there weren’t any eyewitnesses. I guess every world has its good and bad people. Let’s be careful.

While all that was happening, the party that was inside finished their fight, and the party of four with the scary faces entered. It seemed like they were having a tough time, since it was taking so long.

“Hey, do we still have to wait?”

《I know, right? Let’s just hurry up and go—!》

“Don’t be like that Fel, Dora-chan. We have to follow the rules while we’re in the dungeon.”

And finally, the party of four scary dudes finished their fight. After picking up their dropped prize, the four of them came back towards us.

“It’s your turn.”

“Huh? You guys aren’t going down?”

“Yeah. We’re stopping on this floor. Everyone has wives and kids, you know? We can’t just go risking our lives like that anymore.” After the guy that looked like their leader said that, the four of them disappeared into the floor passage.

......How the hell did people with their faces get wives and kids? Goddammit, you normies should just explode.

“Hey, we are going.”

The inside was already repopulated and teeming with a venom tarantula and other spider monsters. It was absolutely crawling with smaller spider monsters called poison spiders (though they were still around 30 cm in size), all lead by the venom tarantula.

Fel didn’t even have to do anything. Dora-chan just used Fire magic to blow the venom tarantula and all its flunkies away. It was over in an instant. I even threw in my own fireball in a fit of anger.

The venom tarantula dropped a poison sac, so I picked it up, and then we moved on.

The 11th floor was also full of nothings according to Fel, so we decided to pass through.

This floor’s boss was an orc general leading a squad of other orcs, but with Fel, Dora-chan, and this time even Sui in the mix, the battle didn’t even last a minute. Let’s just say that with everyone’s efforts, the battle for the orcs went so badly that I almost pitied them.

Everyone who was watching us fight while they were in line had their faces stiffen. I’m so sorry. My friends here don’t know the meaning of restraint.

Several chunks of orc meat were dropped, so I picked them up, and off we went to the 12th floor.

The 12th floor was similarly devoid of anything Fel wanted to fight, so we decided to pass through this one too, but the alarm clocks in everyone’s stomachs started ringing so first we went to a safe area to eat. I didn’t know where the safe area was since I didn’t have a map, but it looked like Fel could tell, so I left it up to him.

“Here.”

We were in a room that branched off from the main path. The room was a relatively large one, about the size of a classroom, and there was some water flowing along the back wall. I had heard that there would be a lot of adventurers around, starting from the 10th floor to the 15th...... but the safe area here was pretty heavily crowded.

There’s about five different parties in here, aren’t there?

We set ourselves down in an empty space near the entrance.

“Mukohda?”

I turned around because I suddenly heard my name, and there I saw some familiar faces.

“Vincent?!”

“It really is you! It’s been a long time!! He—y everyone, it’s Mukohda!!”

The rest of Vincent’s party gathered at the sound of his voice, those being Werner, Ramon, Rita, and Franka. It was the C-ranked party that escorted me across the border, “Iron Will.” I would never have expected to meet them here.

“Hello everyone, it’s been a while.”

“Hey, Mukohda. To think we’d be meeting you again here.”

I exchanged handshakes with the leader of the party, Werner.

According to him, they immediately left for this dungeon after parting with us. While continuously hopping on different carriages, they finally reached this place a couple days ago. And so, they had decided to be quick about things and enter the dungeon on the very next day.

“I see. As for us, we’re planning on heading for Berléand by the sea, but Fel said he wanted to stop by here when he heard of the dungeon, so here we are.”

The members of Iron Will were nodding their heads and going, “I see.” Since they also spent some time with Fel, they should understand that Fel would do just that.

I hope you all can understand my hardship.

“Oh yeah, Mukohda, you’ve got some more familiars other than Fel now, don’t you? Isn’t that a dragon? A dragon child?” Vincent asked, his line of sight squarely on Dora-chan.

Right? Just looking at him you’d assume he’s a child, I know.

Dora-chan and Sui were familiars I’d picked up after parting ways with Iron Will, so this should be their first time meeting. I introduced the two of them.

“This dragon’s actually fully grown at this size. It’s a rare type of dragon called a pixie dragon. It’s my familiar, and he’s named Dora-chan.”

“P-......”

“Pft!”

Hey Vincent! I saw you over there doing a spit take! You too, Werner!

Both Rita and Franka just said, “Nice to meet you, Dora-chan.”

Ramon persisted in being silent. He was quivering a little, though.

“Oh also, this is my slime, Sui. It’s a slime, but apparently it’s a special individual — it’s really strong.” I held up Sui and introduced it, as it had crawled out of my bag to see what was going on.

“Even though you were plenty amazing with just Fel over here, you went and got even more familiars, huh? I’m in awe.”

Werner, that kind of awe will only bring me trouble.

Everyone’s after my food, aren’t they? It’s just like why Fel and the others became my familiars.

“Hey, what about food?”

《I’m hungry...》

《Master, Sui is hungry—!》

Ohh, sorry, sorry.

“Excuse me, I have to go feed Fel and the others.”

Uhhh, what should I do? Beef stew should be fine. I want to try eating it with the bread I bought in town, anyway. That bread’s pretty hard, but it should go great with the beef stew.

After putting out some beef stew with plenty of meat in it onto some dishes, I served them to my familiars.

“We have eaten this before, no? The meat is so soft and well cooked, it melts in the mouth. Indeed, this is great.”

Thanks, Fel.

《Oohhhh, this is delicious, too. Really, everything you make is just great.》

Looks like Dora-chan likes it too. Woah, his mouth’s just covered in the stuff.

《This is so good, the meat is soft and the flavor is soaked in everywhere—!》

Yep, with Sui’s seal of approval this is confirmed tasty. Thank goodness.

*****Gulp*****

When I turned around, I saw the members of Iron Will with their eyes glued to the beef stew. Vincent and Rita were even drooling.

Rita, you’re a girl, stop that.

...Oh well, let’s just chalk this up to them being old friends. “Uhm, would you all like to eat too?”

When I asked them, all of the members of Iron Will nodded their heads off. I handed them the beef stew in some deep dishes along with some black bread.

“*Sigh* — I’d never have thought I’d be able to eat Mukohda’s cooking in a place like this. This is just awesome.”

“Ever since Vincent stopped being able to eat Mukohda’s cooking, he wouldn’t shut up about how good it was, right?”

“What the hell, Rita? You were the same, too!”

“Well, sure. It really was amazing, after all.”

And while Vincent and Rita were arguing......

“Hahh, so delicious. The vegetables are so soft because they’ve been boiled, and the greatness of this meat that just melts in your mouth is unassailable.”

“Yeah, it really is amazing. This stew is great when soaked up in this bread, you know?”

“This deep, strong taste...... I’d never expected to be able to eat something this good in a dungeon. As expected of you, Mukohda.”

...Franka, Werner, and Ramon started eating before the other two.

“Ah! Shit, that’s unfair! I’ll eat too.”

“Me too!”

Vincent and Rita started on their share after their friends.

“So gooooood!!”

“Amazing!”

—said Vincent and Rita, their mouths full with beef stew.

Good, good. It’s great that everyone liked it.

I also started eating my beef stew.

First, a bite...

...Yep, it’s great.

The bloody horn-bull meat was well stewed, and soft enough that it could be cut with a spoon. The soft stewed meat gradually melted in my mouth.

Soak a piece of black bread in the beef stew aaanndd... *Chomp*

The taste of the black bread that had soaked up the deep flavor of the demiglace sauce was just pure bliss.

Ahhh — so good.

“More!” 《More!》 《More!》

All three of my familiars demanded more.

Dora-chan too, huh? Apparently, he was hungry since he used some magic.

I served each of them more beef stew.

“Still though, this meat is great. What is it?”

When I replied, “Bloody horn-bull,” to Vincent’s question, he reacted with a spit-take. The other members were all surprised, with mouths agape as well.

Huh? What? Did I do something bad?

“It’s bloody horn-bull?! In this stew......”

I replied in the affirmative to Werner’s question, and......

“Sorry!! We accidentally ate such an expensive ingredient!”

They apologized to me for some reason. ......Ah, this is exactly the same reaction as last time. This is the exact same reaction that Lars and the other adventurers had back in Karelina, wasn’t it? The one where they found out that they ate expensive ingredients without knowing about it.

Still though, for us this is just normal. Or rather, we even got some dragon meat recently, yup. Somehow, aren’t our eating habits on the level of nobles since Fel’s around? And there’s no end to the meat I get since Dora-chan and Sui are around, too. Though our food expenses are that much higher for it. Well whatever, eating good food is better than eating bad stuff any day.

“No, please stop apologizing like that. I still have a lot of bloody horn-bull meat.” When I said that, Werner put on a surprised face. “Fel and Sui hunted a huge amount of them.”

It looked like Werner got what I was saying, as he replied with an, “Ah, I see.”

“Fel is so awesome!”

“As expected of one such as the great Fel.”

Vincent and Rita looked at Fel with sparkling eyes.

Even Franka and Ramon were looking at Fel, impressed.

“That’s how it is, so don’t worry about it. More importantly, want seconds?”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course.”

When I said that, Fel looked displeased. “Mnn, but that will lessen my share.”

“Werner took care of us before so it’s fine, right? I’ll grill you some meat Fel, so just calm down.”

“Ohh, then in that case, how about some drag-...... Mmmmf......... What are you doing?!” That idiot Fel was just about to talk about dragon meat, so I reflexively covered his mouth.

《You were about to say dragon meat, weren’t you, Fel? They’re already plenty shocked at the bloody horn-bull. You just try mentioning dragon meat, they’ll all faint,》 I said to Fel through telepathy.

《Mnn... Then wyvern meat is fine.》

《That’s also denied. They’ll get surprised over wyvern meat too. Just make do with the orc meat we got from a drop earlier.》

《Mm... fine. Then make it with that flavoring.》

《Fine, fine.》 Goddamn, learn to read the room a little...

“Ah, how about some seconds, everyone?”

“Is it really okay?”

“Yes, you took good care of us that last time, so I’m happy to.” After all, I wouldn’t have been able to figure out anything back when I first contracted with Fel if I was on my own. Not to mention, I felt like it was all thanks to Iron Will that we managed to cross the border at all.

“Then, I’d like some?”

“Hey, Vincent!”

“What, leader? Mukohda said it was fine, so it’s fine, right?”

While serving Vincent’s extra helping, I also asked Werner, “Would you like one too?”

In response, Werner uttered an apologetic “Please,” and slid over his dish. Then, Rita, Franka, and Ramon all asked for more in succession.

Compliments are one of the reasons why it’s worth cooking.

The rest of the beef stew disappeared cleanly down into Fel and Sui’s stomachs; and then, the rest of Fel and Sui’s appetites were appeased by cooking some orc steaks with the portable stoves. Vincent and Rita were looking like hungry puppies over there when they smelled the meat cooking, so I handed some of it over to them too.

The other adventurers in the safe area were staring at us longingly as well, but there was no way I could share food with people I didn’t know, so I just ignored them. There was a limit to how much food I had stocked, after all.

After a small post-meal break, we headed to the boss room since Fel was starting to get antsy and was pestering me to hurry up.

“Well then, take care everyone.”

“You too, Mukohda. Well, you’re probably fine since Fel is there.”

“Mukohda, are you guys going down lower?”

“Yes. Fel is totally intending to crush this dungeon, so......”

“It seems like there is a behemoth down there, you see. It should be at least a little fun to fight.”

“...Is how it is, apparently.”

The members of Iron Will all laughed. They said that it was just like Fel. Even though personally I never wanted to lay eyes on anything with the name “behemoth.”

“Well then.”

We left the safe area and headed for the boss room. It seemed like the members of Iron Will would stay and explore this floor a while longer. From what I’d heard while we were taking a break, the boss of the 12th floor was a lizardman......

Since the boss room happened to be empty when we arrived, we just strolled right in. And just as I had heard, the room was occupied by a lizardman. As its name implied, it was a large bipedal lizard. There were quite a few of them, but between my three familiars they weren’t really a challenge.

Picking up the hides that were dropped, we moved to the 13th floor.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

From the 13th to the 15th floor, it was also a great load of nothing interesting, according to Fel (it seemed like there wouldn’t be anything worthwhile until the 20th floor). And so, we passed through them. Quickly take care of the boss, and then move on.

The troll that was the boss on the 14th floor was killed by Sui, and likewise Dora-chan took the minotaurs that held down the 15th floor.

Everyone’s so strong. This party has no weaknesses, huh? ......No wait, there is one: me.

Sadly, I was by far the weakest one here.

Oh well, I’ll just have to look reality head on when it comes to that. Let’s just get through this while being protected by everyone.

As soon as we got to the 16th floor, the situation that had been the same on all the previous floors changed at once.

First, its appearance was completely different. Up to the 15th floor, the dungeon was made of proper stone walls that looked man-made, but the 16th floor looked like a tunnel in an excavated mine.

“Wow, sure feels different from the 15th floor.”

“Indeed. This is a dungeon. It differs depending on the dungeon, but there are even floors with a forest or a desert.”

Ahh, oh right, some games work like that too.

As we went along the path, there was a hole to the right. When I peeked inside, I saw a fairly large room with a dome roof, and a monster inside. There were several orc generals, and the orcs that they led.

“Hey, there’s a lot less adventurers around here, so let’s start really picking up drop items and treasure chests.”

“Everything here is so weak it would just be a huge bother......”

“What are you saying?! You know that the one purpose of even going to a dungeon is for the drop items and treasures? If you ignore that, then what’s the point of even being here?”

“For a worthwhile enemy.”

“Ahhh, sure, sure. That might be the case for you, Fel, but it’s not for me. We’re all the way here anyway, let’s just go pick up some drop items and treasures. I’ll even take your request for a meal.”

“Hm? Really? Fine then, I shall do it. I want that meat from your world that I ate before.”

Ahh — wagyu beef, huh? Wyvern and dragon meat are clearly more delicious, but is food from my world better to Fel since it raises his stats?

“Fel, you say you want to eat the stuff from my world, but is it really that much better?”

“I cannot eat that meat unless I ask you, no? I will not say it is as good as dragon, but meat from your world is plenty delicious, and, more importantly, it is rare.”

Well, he is right. It’s not like anyone else has a skill to buy things from my world. So there’s no way to eat that stuff other than to ask me. And I guess I can see that if it’s good on top of all that, he’d want to eat it.

With that settled, the orcs that were in the room were the target — and got instantly destroyed. They dropped their testes and some meat. I hesitated a little to pick up their balls. It was gross, but since it would turn into money, I ended up wrapping it in kitchen paper and forcing myself to pick them up.

After that, we went by another four rooms and picked up the drops in them. They were all monsters that appeared anywhere in between the 11th and the 15th floors. According to Fel, they had all gotten a little bit stronger.

While we were moving along the tunnel, there was a faint sound of something going, ‘click.’

“Mm? It seems we have sprung a trap.”

I could hear something rolling.

*Rollrollrollrollroll*

It sounds like it’s coming closer......

*Crasshhh* *Thudthudthudthudthud*

“Gehhh!! What the heck is that?!”

A huge boulder that spanned the entire length of the tunnel was rolling towards us.

“Be quiet.” Fel swung down his front paw and released a phantasmal set of claws made of light. It was the skill, Rending Claws, that I had seen before.

*Sllrrssshhh*

The round boulder was cut cleanly by the skill and rendered into dust.

...............Huh? That skill can... cut rocks?

Fel, in an extremely Fel-like fashion, held on to his completely unsurprised face and just said, “Let us go.”

At this point, I feel like I can probably just leave it all to Fel and we’ll be able to get through anything... Actually, including the trap just now, I get the feeling that all the traps on this floor have been a level more bloodthirsty. Let’s be careful.

From then on, we started to be careful to avoid traps as we went around the rooms and collected drops.

Finally, we’d reached the boss room. The room was almost twice as big as the one on the 15th floor. Inside was a mixed bag of orcs, lizardmen, and ogres. There was quite a number of them, but with my three familiars on the job, the fight didn’t even last five minutes.

I even fought a stray orc. I wanted to test out the sharpness of the mithril short sword that Sui made for me, so I tried fighting even with my absolutely nonexistent sword skills. I felt like I carried myself quite calmly since I had the Perfect Defense skill.

The stray orc I fought held an iron axe, but all its attacks were deflected by my Perfect Defense skill. Though timidly, I still swung my short sword.

And when I did that, the arm that the orc was using to hold its axe flew off in a flash. I was surprised at how utterly sharp it was, but looking at the screaming orc, I got the feeling that now was the time, so I finished it off. It was almost scary how easily my sword pierced its chest.

Unfortunately there weren’t any drops, but I was satisfied, having contributed to the battle, even if only a little.

Wow though, this sword that Sui made me is ridiculously sharp. That Blacksmithing God’s blessing isn’t just for show.

Looking over at where everyone was gathered, I thought there would be some dropped items there, since there were so many bodies. Once I’d finished picking up all the dropped items like hides or magic stones, we left for the 17th floor.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

This dungeon must have a lot of humanoid monsters in it, because the 17th floor was just like the 16th, in that it housed an assortment of monsters from the 11th to 15th floors. According to Fel, the next floor would be the same thing.

However, higher forms of said monsters were steadily starting to become more common. They still weren’t a match for my familiars, though. Everyone was gleefully mowing their way through monsters left and right.

I’d collected a considerable amount of drop items by now. The most common drops were hides, but I wasn’t sure how much money they would fetch. I couldn’t imagine that they were all that worthwhile though.

Oh well, it’ll be fine if they at least contribute to my food expenses a little.

After running around a couple rooms on the 17th floor and retrieving the drops inside, we finally found a treasure chest. While I was running around picking up dropped items, I saw a whitish box just kind of sitting there in the back of the room. It had gold bordering, and some ornamentation using gems.

“OHHH! Finally, a treasure chest!!”

My first instinct was to open it immediately, but I held myself back. This dungeon was pretty dirty with its traps, after all. Since that’s the case, the chances that this chest is trapped are......

For now, I used Appraisal on the chest.

【Treasure Chest】

A treasure chest that is set up so that it will release poison gas at the same time that it is opened.

......Yep, it’s a trap. Poison gas, what the hell? That’s so scary. I can’t open it like this, not at all. Especially me, since even though I have a blessing, it’s only (small). Even if it nullifies most abnormal status conditions, it’s useless when it comes to something strong like an instant death effect. This thing just says poison gas, I can sense the instant death effect inside. I’ll just leave this one to everyone else here with a full-on blessing.

“Hey, this treasure chest says it’ll spew poison gas when it’s opened. I only have a blessing (small), so someone else do it.”

“Mnn, fine.”

As Fel came closer to open the chest, I received an oracle from that divine disappointment, Ninrir.

＜Ahh — Ahh — Otherworlder, can you hear me? ‘Tis I, Ninrir. I had completely forgotten to tell you, but even though your blessings are (small), with three of them together, they have the same effect as a normal blessing when I comes to protecting you from status conditions. It’s an unusual thing for three gods to give a blessing to the same human, you see, so it took a while to confirm this. So, since that’s settled, you won’t get killed by anything minor so relax. “LET’S ENJOY THE DUNGEON!!” — like that.＞

.........You need to tell me things like that faster, you failure of a goddess. You say it took a while to confirm, but I bet that just means that you forgot to tell me after confirming it, right? Also, what do you even mean, all, LET’S ENJOY and stuff? Geez, where did you even learn stuff like that?

“Ahh, Fel, I’ll try opening it. I just got an oracle from Ninrir, and she said that since I have three blessings (small), they all combine together to have just about the same effect as your regular blessing when it comes to status condition nullification.”

“Hm, really? In that case, go ahead.”

I approached the treasure chest. It wasn’t locked or anything, just closed with a fastener on it. After readying myself, I undid the clasp and opened the box. Immediately, some purple gas shot out of the opening with a whoosh.

*Cough* *Hack* *Cough*

It was probably poison gas, but to me it was just a little bit of smoke and that was it. Thank goodness I can nullify status conditions. I usually thought of the goddesses as just a loud annoyance, but just for this occasion I was feeling grateful to them.

Peeking inside the box, I found a somewhat dirty bag inside.

“What the heck is this?”

When I removed the bag, the treasure chest disappeared.

Then, when I tried appraising it, it read:

【Magic Bag (small) ......A magic bag that has the carrying capacity of five large jute bags.】

Large jute bags mean those 1 meter square bags, right? So, five of those means this is pretty big?

I wasn’t having any problems since I had my Item Box, but this might be something that people without one would pay an arm and a leg for. It was kind of filthy and ugly, and it was also a (small) bag, but it looked like it would still sell for a pretty good price. When I thought like that, it was actually pretty good for the first treasure chest we had found.

I stuffed the magic bag into my Item Box.

We moved on to the next room, but there were already adventurers fighting in it, so we just went past into the boss room. Looking inside, there was an orc king surrounded by orc generals, all leading a countless number of orcs that were swarming around them.

“Hmph, orcs, huh? No matter how many orcs there are, they are nothing to me. Let us go.”

《Yeah!》

《Sui will beat a lot too—!》

Leaving those words behind, my three familiars charged into the orc army. Then, they started trampling that army into the ground. I stayed behind, and finished off any orcs that they missed.

It didn’t take very long for the orc army to disappear. I picked up the meats, hides, and testes that they all dropped. By the way, the king dropped its testes as well. It was gross, but of course I picked it up, since it could apparently turn into a strong vitality enhancer that would definitely result in a child, and was thus pretty expensive. I remembered this from the last time I sold off an orc king.

After that, Fel and the others cleaned up the 18th floor without any particular problems. Of course, I made sure to pick up all the drops. The different hides of all the monsters we’d beaten have started to pile up. Unfortunately, we passed into the boss room of the 18th floor without having seen a single treasure chest.

Inside the room was a mixed company of orcs and ogres being led by a special ogre with reddish skin. There were quite a lot of them in this room too, but it seemed like even this wasn’t enough to faze my familiars, as the battle was over quickly.

The 19th floor also went the same way, with my familiars making easy and steady progress through the floor as I picked up all the drops. In the fifth room, I discovered another treasure chest after it was cleared out.

“Oh! There’s another treasure chest.” Since there was a chance that this one was trapped too, I started off with Appraisal.

【Mimic】

A dungeon monster that mimics a treasure chest. It sometimes drops a decorated treasure chest after being defeated.

Oh, this is a monster and not a treasure chest.

“This isn’t a treasure chest, it’s a monster, it says.”

“Ahh, a mimic, huh?” It seemed like Fel knew of them. “That monster will attack you when you try to open it.”

When you try to open it, huh? If that’s the case, I can just get close to it with a mithril sword? “If that’s the case, I’ll try fighting it.”

Slowly get closer...... “Hup!”

“Ggehh!!”

I cut it in two in a flash. This mithril sword really is just incredibly sharp.

After the mimic disappeared, it left behind something that looked like a small jewel box.

“Ohh, it dropped something. Even though Appraisal said that it only does that sometimes.”

Taking a closer look at it, the small box had some gold ornamentation on it, and the whole thing was rather pretty. Looks like this will sell for a pretty high price, too. I happily stored the box in my Item Box.

After that, we went through two more rooms, and got to the boss room. There, the boss was an ogre king leading a horde of ogres and trolls. The 2 meter tall ogres were already large, but adding on the even larger trolls and in those numbers made my hips give out a little.

Meanwhile, the familiars around me all happily charged into the crowd. And of course, they easily won.

I suddenly had a thought while I was picking up all the hides and magic stones that were dropped. “Oh yeah, it’s only our first day in the dungeon, but we’re already at the 20th floor, aren’t we? Everyone’s so strong so we’re just breezing past this place.”

“Well, we are quite strong, after all. Monsters around these floors probably would not even be considered proper opponents for us.”

《Mwahaha! Have you come to know my greatness? I’ll keep running them over—!》

《Master — is Sui strong—? Sui will defeat more and lots of them—!》

Everyone was still not only lively, but extremely motivated. I let out a strained laugh, watching everyone being so enthusiastic. I expected to be in here about 10 days, though... It might just be that it won’t take nearly that long, I’m getting the feeling.

Going along with all my enthusiastic familiars, we explored the 20th, and then the 21st floor. Both of them were pretty much the same as the 16th through 19th floors, and were home to a mix of those monsters that showed up in the 11th to 15th floors.

Just as Fel said, a lot of superior forms were present, but everyone took care of them in a flash. I collected all of the large amounts of drop items in both floors, and we moved to the 22nd floor.

In this floor, which was currently being explored by only the foremost of adventuring parties, things were a little different than before. No, it was the same in that the walls still looked like excavated tunnels, but the scale of said tunnels was clearly different: the tunnels were more than twice the size than they were on the previous floor.

As for why that was, it became apparent when we looked into the first room. In this room, which was clearly larger than all the rooms up until now, was a group of over 3-meter-tall trolls and minotaurs that absolutely filled the room until it was crowded like nothing before.

“There’s nothing but trolls and minotaurs...... So that’s why the tunnels were so large.”

“Seems that way. From the presences I feel, it looks like this entire floor only has giants as well. Also, I think that this continues for another three or so floors.”

I see. So Fel’s saying that the giants zone goes from this floor to the next floor, the 23rd, all the way to the 25th floor, huh? I get scared looking at just one over 3-meter-tall giant, but now the entire floor is full of them? ......Ugh, this dungeon is just the worst. I thought I’d try helping a little, but that’s going to be impossible with monsters of that size. I’m seriously starting to respect everyone who can face those down and stay calm.

“Those giants might be a liiiiiiiiiiittle too much for me. And so, I’m counting on all of you.”

“Hmph, you really have no guts, do you? Well, trolls and minotaurs are not any threat to us, either. You can just stay there and watch.”

I’m just fine being gutless, okay? I got the Perfect Defense skill, but it’s not like that lets me be calm in front of over 3-meter-tall giant monsters or anything.

《Just leave that stuff to me! I’ll take care of those lumbering lugs lightning-quick!!》

Oh, Dora-chan’s raring to go. Countin’ on you, bud.

《Master — Sui will also go pew pew and get a whole lot of them—! Sui will use water magic—!》

Sui’s totally motivated, too. You go pew pew all you like.

“Well then, let us go.”

At Fel’s words, everyone leapt into the room.

*Szshhh* *Szshhh* *Szshhh*———

*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOOOMMM*———

“““Guowooaahhhh!”””

“““Moooooaahhh!!”””

Fel’s lightning and wind magic burst amongst the trolls and minotaurs.

*Thud* *Thud* *Thud* *Thud* *Thud*———

“““Grruuwooaahhhhh!!”””

Dora-chan wrapped himself in Fire magic and moved at high speed to pierce trolls through the chest over and over.

*Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew*———

“““““MOOOOAAHHHH!!”””””

Sui’s Acid Bullets melted through the torsos of the minotaurs.

Looking at Sui’s battles up until now, it seemed that the slime had learned to properly use its Acid Bullets in both long- and short-range fights. It made a large ball of acid in order to bathe the enemy in the stuff at close range, and at long range it shot out the bullets at high speed to pierce them through. Since Sui couldn’t use a bunch of different kinds of magic like Fel or Dora-chan could, it instead modified the stuff it could use.

Not sure whether to call Sui smart or skillful here. Sui’s the youngest, and is in its growth period, but it just keeps getting stronger, huh? It might even evolve again by the time we go back up.

Ah, it’s over, huh? Let’s see... okay, guess I’ll start picking stuff up. Minotaur’s iron axes and minotaur’s horns, minotaur meat, oh, and troll hides and poison claws, huh? Kinda feels like the rate of drops has increased on this floor, doesn’t it? So it really is true that the deeper you go, the more profitable it is. Of course, it’s also more dangerous for it, though.

After that, we steadily went around the rooms and cleared them to get drops.

Still though, there’s so many monsters around.

Up until this floor, it was pretty rare to see any monsters in the passageway, but on this floor, seeing monsters out in the tunnels became quite frequent. Of course, with all my familiars around, it was no problem at all, though.

Around when we had finished exploring the 22nd floor, and all that was left was the boss room......

“I am hungry.”

《Yeah, I am too.》

《Sui is also hungry—!》

It was time to feed the children. We decided to eat in the safe area near the boss room.

What should I go with this time? The orc general ginger-fried pork bowl and some tonjiru should be fine.

After molding some rice in a deeper dish than usual, I laid a thick bed of shredded cabbage on the rice, and covered the cabbage with ginger-fried pork on top to finish out the ginger-fried pork bowl. After that, I also poured some of the tonjiru into another deep dish. Then, I served the food to my familiars.

“Here you go. Dig in.”

Everyone immediately started chowing down.

“Having a meal after work makes the food taste really good.”

《Ohh! The flavoring on this meat is amazing!》

《Yeah, yeah, it’s delicious, right? This soup with the vegetables and meat in it is good too—!》

A meal after some exercise really is good, right? I should dig-in to my food, too. The sweet and salty flavoring sure does match well with the cabbage and rice here. It’s so nice that the shredded cabbage gives a refreshing note to the whole thing.

And this tonjiru, too. The vegetables have completely absorbed the flavor of the soup, it’s good. Not to mention how calming it is to have some hot soup here. Ahh~ so nice.

“More.” 《More!》

It looked like Dora-chan was full (since the serving I gave in their bowls easily equaled three human portions), but Fel and Sui still wanted more. After I gave Fel and Sui their second helping, I watched them go to town on the food. In the end, they weren’t satisfied until they cleaned out all the ginger-fried pork I’d made.

For the tonjiru, there was just barely a single serving left.

“Hey, Fel, I’m tired too, so why don’t we just call it a day here, and then go fight the boss on a full night’s sleep?”

“I see. It is probably around the time to sleep on the outside as well, so let us do that.”

It seemed like Fel could just instinctively tell the time, and that it was nighttime at the moment.

Well, his stomach clock’s already pretty accurate...

“Well, that’s that, Dora-chan, Sui. We’re sleeping here for today.”

《Sure, got it.》

《Okay—! Master, the bed?》

Oh that’s right, the futon. We’re the only ones here in this safe area anyway, so might as well.

After spreading the cardboard box bases, I unfurled the futons for both me and Fel.

I’d never have thought we’d make it so deep so fast. I made a huge amount of food so as to not be seen using my skill, but was all that wasted effort? Well, it’s making it so I don’t have to cook in the dungeon, so I guess it’s not completely wasted.

While pondering that subject as I was preparing the bedding, I heard a voice.

“Just get in the safe area!!!”

“Hurry up! Go faster!!”

“Damian, snap out of it!!”

“What happened to our potions?!”

“We already used them!!”

A party of adventurers covered in wounds ran into the safe area.

It was a party of four men and two women. There was an exceptionally heavily wounded man being supported on both sides. He was covered in blood. Looking closely, I could see that his side was cut, deep enough that I could see his innards.

Surprised and shocked at their sudden appearance, I came to when the person who looked to be their leader called out to me.

“Hey, you! Do you have any potions?! I’ll pay, so please give some to me if you have any!!”

“I-I do!” I had some bottles left over from when I bought them in Karelina, and I had them filled with all three levels of Sui’s special potions before we went into the dungeon. Along with the ones I’d had already, I currently had twenty each of Sui’s low, mid, and high-grade potions stocked in my Item Box. I took one of the high-grade ones out of my Item Box and handed it to the leader-like male adventurer.

“Hey, here’s a potion! Wake up!!!” After laying down the heavily wounded man, he poured Sui’s special high-grade potion over his cut flank.

When he did that, the man’s wound started to visibly close up. The adventurers were surprised, looking at the effects.

“W-What the heck......? Was that a special-grade potion?”

“N-No way...... There’s no way a person would own a special-grade potion just by himself.........”

The adventurer’s gazes all focused on me.

“U-Ummm... This is a high-grade potion, but it’s a little stronger than normal ones. Please spare me the questions of where I got it.”

W-Well, I didn’t lie, at least.

“I see. If it’s this strong, then I’d want some myself, but I do understand your feelings of wanting to keep it a secret.”

“This kind of thing is important for adventurers, right? We won’t just be able to get that info for free.”

Somehow, they just explained it away themselves. More importantly, is that guy all right? I saw some stuff that I feel like you should never see on a guy, you know?

“He’s still unconscious, but his wound has already closed and his breathing is calm. He should be fine now.” Saying so, the leader-like guy let out a relieved sigh.

“Good...... *Snff* ...............I thought Damian was done for......”

“Don’t cry. Well, you were really close to Damian, I guess. But still, it’s great that we managed to save him.”

“Really. As the healer, I hate to say it, but even if I wasn’t out of magic, I don’t think I’d have been able to do anything about a wound like that.”

“Certainly. Only a highly ranked priest or something would be able to heal a wound like this...... It was a miracle that we managed to save Damian.”

It seemed like the heavily wounded man was named Damian. The members of his party all looked relieved knowing about his safety.

“You really saved us, thanks.” The man who looked to be the leader of the group bowed his head to me.

“No, please don’t mind it. I just happened to have the potion.” I said it was a coincidence, but the maker, Sui, was right here, so I honestly could have made more at any time.

“Given how effective that potion was and the fact that we’re in the dungeon right now, how does 15 gold sound?”

It’s more than enough, since I hear that a normal high-grade potion is 10 gold. It was originally free for me, after all.

“S-Sure, that’s fine, but aren’t high-grade potions supposed to be worth 10 gold...?”

“The potion we just got clearly had a greater effect than a normal high-grade potion. Also, we bought it in a dungeon, which is a special condition in which such things would normally not be available; it would be unforgivable even for us to not consider that in the price.” Saying that, the leader-like man handed over 15 gold.

Given his reasoning, I took the gold. But in exchange......

“This is a freebie. Please use it.” I handed over three of Sui’s low-grade potions.

I mean, even though they weren’t as wounded as Damian was, all the members of the party were still covered in cuts. Pitiful wouldn’t even begin to describe it.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, help yourself. In exchange, would you tell me what happened?”

In response, the leader said, “Sorry,” and accepted the potions. Then, he started talking about what happened.

Their party was the A-ranked adventuring party, “Tempest.” The party was made up of the A-ranked leader and one other A-ranked member, with the rest of them all being B-ranked. It seemed like they were very proud of their accomplishments and abilities.

They started diving into this dungeon around two months ago, and apparently this time was their second time attacking it. The previous time they’d also managed to get down to the 22nd floor, but they were running out of food, so they decided to leave.

This time they had planned to go even deeper, and passed straight through the first 20 levels, it seemed. And so after exploring through the 21st and 22nd levels, they reached the boss room on the 22nd floor.

But, inside was......

“There were 3 whole damn spriggans in there. As well as swarms of trolls and minotaurs. There were clearly more than when we saw last time.”

Apparently spriggans were giant monsters even larger than trolls or minotaurs, with an even uglier face, to boot. The last time they dived into the dungeon, not only was there only one spriggan, but there were also fewer trolls and minotaurs around, the leader said.

“We know this is a dungeon, and that it’s not guaranteed that things will always be the same every time, but we would never have expected three spriggans......”

And there were even more trolls and minotaurs around on top of that. Figuring out how bad the situation was, they somehow managed to start the retreat, but at the last moment Damian took a hit from a minotaur’s axe and was wounded. As he was hanging on for dear life, they ran all the way to this safe area, the leader’s story went.

“You should also be caref- ...Actually, you guys should be fine.” As he said that, the leader glanced furtively at Fel.

Ahh, right, A and B-ranked adventurers can tell that Fel is a Fenrir.

“I had heard that there was an adventurer that managed to tame a Fenrir, so it was true.”

“W-Well... yeah...”

“Haha, you don’t have to be that wary, you know? I won’t ask for any specifics, and the Adventurer’s guild already told us not to mess with you, you know?”

I’d be thankful if you followed that, yes.

“I think you’ll be fine with that Fenrir following you, but be careful anyway. We thought we were plenty prepared and ended up like this, after all. We’d asked the guildmaster here for info beforehand on the dungeon and other stuff, and the consensus was that this floor had one spriggan on it. Even so, we thought two spriggans might be possible and prepared for it, but three was...... Well, there’s no use complaining now. After sleeping here, we’re gonna go back up.”

So they got surprised with something they’d never have thought to have expected, huh? Makes sense, since not only were there three spriggans, there were even more trolls and minotaurs than usual. This dungeon really is just the worst, what with the traps and all.

...Wait, huh? If the people in Tempest didn’t defeat the enemies in the boss room, then aren’t all the spriggans and trolls and minotaurs still in there?

I tried asking Fel and got an affirmative reply.

Ghhhh... What do we do???

“There is no need to worry. No matter how many spriggans there are, they are no match for me. Just go to sleep already. We are going deeper tomorrow,” is what he said.

It was probably fine with all three of my familiars around, and I also had the Perfect Defense skill on top of that, but I couldn’t help but get worried imagining being surrounded by giant enemies everywhere.

I forcefully convinced myself that it would be fine with everyone around and went to sleep.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

The next day, all three of my familiars were already awake and waiting for food. Once we’d eaten, it would finally be time to challenge the boss room. After seeing the state of everyone in Tempest yesterday as well as hearing their story, it would be a lie to say that I wasn’t worried.

However, feeding all my hungry familiars came first.

What should it be today...... Fried stuff is no good right in the morning... Hmm... Pork chops should be fine, I guess.

I had planned to make the pork chops into a sandwich, but when I asked my familiars for their opinions, Fel said that he just wanted the meat, so I ended up just serving him a mountain of pork chops. Both Dora-chan and Sui wanted the sandwiches, so I did as they wished.

Slice the round, black bread in two horizontally, and lay a bed of shredded cabbage on the bottom half. Put the pork chop on top of that, close the sandwich, and the whole thing is done.

It’s more of a pork chop burger than a pork chop sandwich, huh?

For now, I assembled five each for Dora-chan and Sui.

Dora-chan dexterously used his front legs to hold on to it and dig in. 《Man, the flavor on this meat is great, with its slight sourness—.》

《It really is. So good~.》

It seemed like the pork chop burgers went over well with both Dora-chan and Sui.

As soon as I thought to start on my own meal, Fel demanded another helping — and so I served him another pile of pork chops. Even though I only served Fel pork chops since that’s all he asked for, he was still eating with gusto.

You really love meat, don’t you? Now then, it’s my turn.

*Chomp*

Mm, this black bread together with the cabbage and the pork chops is unexpectedly good. Yeah, this ketchup-based tare is really good. It’s also nice that I’m feeling full just from one since the black bread was so tough and filling.

When I went to take another bite, just one more mouthful of the pork chop burger, I felt an intense stare on me.

Looking towards where I was getting that feeling......

******Gulp******

All the members of Tempest were looking at me, or rather, the pork chop burger in my hands.

Umm...... it’s kinda hard to eat like this, you know......?

“I know just how precious food is in the dungeon, trust me. But... just maybe... if you have some leeway with your supplies... We’ll pay, so can you split some of that with us?” So said the man who was the leader of Tempest.

“That’s fine, but......”

“I-I see! That’s great. So, how much will it be?”

That’s right, how much would I even charge for this stuff? 5 copper, maybe? No wait, I think 5 copper for a single burger was too expensive?

“Since we’re in a dungeon... what about 1 silver?”

“Huh?”

“So it really was too cheap...... Then...”

“N-No no! I-I’m fine with 1 silver.” It wasn’t that it was too cheap, I was just surprised that the price was set at 1 silver for a single burger.

“Okay then. Sorry, but can you give us six portions?” The leader secured 1 silver from each of his party members, and handed the 6 silver over to me.

Is this fine? I feel like I’m stealing from them, taking a whole silver each for a burger. Hmmm... Ah, that’s right, I have some hot water that I prepared to make coffee with, and I still have some instant consommé soup, I think, so I can add that as an extra. I still think it’s too much money, but I can just chalk that up to a dungeon fee.

I made pork chop burgers and instant consommé soup for six people and served them to the people from Tempest. Of course, I made sure to make the soup so they couldn’t see.

“Ahhh, so good......”

“It’s the best, eating hot food in a dungeon...”

“Especially since it’s just been hard bread and salty dried meat up until now... Comparing this to that is like heaven and earth.”

“Right? If you think about the hardest thing about being in a dungeon, it’s gotta be food......”

“I feel like this is the first proper meal I’ve had in a long while...”

“I’m so jealous of people with Item Boxes. It must be nice to be able to eat stuff like this in a dungeon.”

...Said the members of Tempest while they chowed down on their pork chop burgers. Even Damian, whom I’ve seen more of than any man should, was completely fine by now and was going through his burger with gusto. He recovered so fast... or actually, it might have been that the potion Sui made was just that powerful.

“Give me another.”

《Master — more.》

Ah, Fel and Sui want more... Whoops, there’s no more pork chops.

“Ahh, those pork chops were the last ones, so what about beef bowls?”

“Anything is fine, just hurry up.”

《Everything master makes is delicious, so anything is fine—!》

I handed Fel and Sui an extra-large serving each of bloody horn-bull beef bowl. After another two helpings of extra-large beef bowls, Fel and Sui were finally full.

“Well then, it’s been real. We’ll be heading back to the surface now.”

No no, it was our pleasure.

I somehow managed to make money even in a dungeon.

“Take care.” When I said that, the man said, “You too,” and left along with his party members.

“Hey — we are leaving.”

F-Finally, huh?

With Fel’s declaration as a signal, we set off for the 22nd floor’s boss room. After taking a peek inside......

There’s just so many huge monsters everywhere... so many...

Just as we had heard, there were three spriggans that were even larger than the already large trolls and minotaurs. And on top of that, the number of trolls and minotaurs was huge.

“Spriggans are huge... s-so huge......” They were big enough for me to unconsciously whisper that.

That thing has to be like 5 meters tall. How the hell do we beat that?

“Dora, Sui, let us go.”

《Sure!》

《Got it—!》

While I was busy making sure I was around to fight another day, my familiars charged into the boss room.

“Ah......” Man, why are they so energetic about this? I guess I should follow them...

Readying the mithril short sword that Sui made, I slowly made my way into the boss room.

“Ghhgaaahhhh!!!”

“Guoohhhhh!!!”

“Moooaaaahhh!”

It was a storm of agonizing cries. Though that was probably just because Fel, Dora-chan, and Sui were running amok. I was watching them all fight from a corner of the room.

Oh! Fel just used Wind magic. And Dora-chan’s over there surrounded in Lightning magic and charging into things. Ah, Sui’s using its Acid Bullet to its fullest.

Everyone was steadily clearing out all the monsters.

“Guooohhhh!!!”

*Thud* *Thud* *Thud* *Thud*

A sudden roar and earthquake. Hm? Ghh! A troll’s coming this way!

I immediately readied my mithril short sword.

“Guooohh!!” The troll swung its huge club at me.

Tch, shit! But if he’s this slow even I’ll probably be able to do something about it!

“Hahh!”

I dodged the troll’s club and swung at its right leg.

“G-Guoh?!”

*Thud———*

The troll, unable to endure, fell onto its right knee. I quickly slashed at its left leg as well.

“Hoohh!!”

*Thud———*

The troll fell to the stumpy remains of its left knee as well. Good, now it can’t move.

“Hyahh!” I thrust my mithril short sword into the immobile troll’s neck. The tip of the mithril sword slid easily into the troll’s throat, as if it was being sucked in.

“Guoohhhhhhhhh!!!” After heaving out a death cry so loud it made me want to cover my ears, the troll fell forward with a thud and ceased to move.

Did I do it? By myself?

“Y-Yeaahhhh!!! I did it! I totally did it!!!”

I beat a troll by myself! Even I can do it if I have to! I never had a pinch of confidence when it came to combat, but just now I might have gained some.

After a while, the deceased troll became thinner and thinner before disappearing. All that was left was a troll hide. I reverently stored the prize that I won myself into my Item Box.

After that, I started to retrieve all the other drop items that were scattered around the room. There were two drops from the newly appeared spriggans on this floor: one dropped a magic stone, and the others dropped gemstones. This time, we received a ruby and an emerald. The two of them were clear of impurities and had an amazingly beautiful color, though they were only small pebbles.

After that — and sticking in a mealtime in the middle — we went through the giants zone of the 23rd, 24th, and 25th floors. As we went lower, the number of rooms grew, as well as the number of monsters. My three familiars weren’t fazed in the slightest, though. Or rather, they were still happily beating down all the monsters that came attacking us. Of course, I didn’t slack on retrieving the huge amount of dropped items.

While all that was happening, we also found two more treasure chests. Inside these were a diamond ring and a tanzanite necklace. Jewelry was expensive, so I welcomed the discoveries with open arms.

We also encountered three more mimics. Among those, only one of them dropped another treasure chest. This time, it wasn’t a small one that was more like a jewelry box, but a relatively large decorated treasure chest. This one seemed to be worth a lot of money as well.

After continuing our exploration, we decided to end the day outside the boss room on the 25th floor.

It was decided that we would be challenging the boss room the next morning — and then, we would head straight to the 26th floor after that.

According to Fel, the presences on the 26th floor felt different from the ones up till now on the 25th floor, the giants zone. In other words, there was a large possibility that the scenery would be changing once again.

I wonder how it’ll look next......? While experiencing mixed feelings of unease and anticipation, I went to sleep.

No matter what happens, I’ll be fine with Fel, Dora-chan, and Sui around.