Chapter 2: The Dungeon City of Aveling

The next morning, we had an early breakfast, returned the key to the Merchant’s guild, and left Berléand.

By the way, breakfast was a meat soboro bowl, with the soy-marinated ground meat on top of a bed of finely cut lettuce along with a soft-boiled egg. Everyone ate heartily even though it was the morning, just as usual (I was a little more moderate, myself). Still, we were going on a trip, so if we didn’t eat enough, it’d be easy to fall to exhaustion midway.

I’d already said my goodbyes to Marcus the day before, so we just left town right after the Merchant’s guild and kept going. Fel must have been really burning for that dungeon since he was moving faster than usual. And of course, no one would come to challenge this group of veritable monsters, so we met no actual wild monsters during our journey.

“For something to challenge us, it’d have to be something on the level of that troll we met before we entered the last town. Those things are huge, but their heads are empty,” was Dora-chan’s explanation.

Oh yeah, there was a troll before we got into Berléand, wasn’t there? They always end up killing lots of monsters even when I’m not paying attention, after all. I’m really grateful for the edible ones, but I keep forgetting the ones we can’t eat. Honestly, they’re of no use to us in that case...... I’ll still totally sell them off for money, though. Yeah, let’s make a sale once we get to Aveling.

Since Fel was moving so fast, we made good time. We passed several merchant caravans on our way there. The trip went so well that, on our fifth day since leaving Berléand, we could see the walls of Aveling in the distance.

“Looks like that is the dungeon city.”

“Yeah. Looks like it’s Aveling. As one might expect, it looks real lively.”

There was a long line to pass through the gates and into town. Oh yeah, Dolan was like that too, wasn’t it? I guess that’s just a dungeon city for you. That just means that if there’s a dungeon, a city will thrive, huh?

“Looks like it’ll take a while to get in like that... let’s hurry and line up.”

“Indeed.”

We hurried up and got in the line at the end.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“Whew... finally, we’re in.”

It took over an hour to get inside. Sui was fine since it was just sleeping in my bag, but it took a lot of effort to hold Fel and Dora-chan back. It only took them a few minutes to start saying that jumping over the wall would be faster... they were awful.

“This is taking too long. I have lost count of how many times I could have just jumped over this wall.”

《Me too. I could just fly over and it’d be done.》

...Both of them said, scrunching their faces in frustration.

“You’ll just be causing trouble by doing that. In the worst case, we won’t be allowed into town, you know?”

Just going in like that was probably a crime. And they’d probably be really strict about that too.

“Hm. When you put it that way, I feel like I can stand it somehow, if it means we would be unable to enter the dungeon otherwise.”

《Right, right. Being banned from here after coming all this way for the dungeon wouldn’t be funny.》

Even though it took us so long to go through the line, as soon as it was our turn, we passed through quickly. The power of the golden guild card really is amazing.

Thanks to that, Fel and the others got let in easily as my companions, too. When I showed the soldiers at the gate my S-ranked guild card, never mind a double take, they did a triple take.

It’s true that, no matter how you slice it, I don’t look like an S-ranked adventurer, though. I do think the triple take was bordering on rude, however.

After all that, we managed to get into Aveling, and of course our first destination was the Adventurer’s guild. After hanging a left on the street right on the other side of the gate, I could see a large building: that was the Adventurer’s guild.

It sure is an Adventurer’s guild for a dungeon city. It’s huge. It might be even bigger than the one in Dolan. Also, it looks new, like it was just finished recently.

When I showed my guild card to a receptionist, she left after saying, “Please wait.” And she came back with......

“Yo, so you’re Mukohda? I heard about you from Marcus over in Berléand. I’m the guildmaster for the Adventurer’s guild here in Aveling. You can call me Nadiya. Pleased to meet you.”

I stared, wide-eyed, up at the girl who appeared. Nadiya, who looked to be in her mid-30’s, had long, completely red hair, swarthy skin, and was muscular. She looked like a healthy-type beauty, but she was tall enough for me to have to look up at her.

............H-Huge! Sh-She’s definitely at least two meters tall. Over 2m-tall beauties sure have a sort of power to them.

“Gahhahaha! You’re surprised at how big I am, aren’t you? All the guys who meet me are like that. Here, we can’t talk unless you come to, so shape up.”

*THWAP*

Nadiya slapped me on the back.

It hurts...

“I’ve got a lot to talk to you about, so we’re going to my room.” Dragged along by Nadiya, we headed for the guildmaster’s room. Fel and the others followed after me.

Hey, Fel and Dora-chan, why aren’t you helping your master?

When we entered the guildmaster’s room, Nadiya and I sat down with a table in between us.

“So you really do have a Fenrir as a familiar. I’d heard about it, but to be honest, I only half-believed it until it was staring me right in my face.”

Well, I totally get that. I end up forgetting since we’re always together, but to the world, he’s a legendary magic beast, isn’t he?

“I’ve heard from Marcus already, but is it true that you’ll take on high-ranking quests that’ve been sitting for a while?”

“Yes, kind of......”

“Unfortunately, we’re a dungeon city, so we’re bursting at the seams with adventurers. That’s why we don’t have any requests for you at the moment.”

True, there’s a lot of adventurers around for the dungeon. So there probably wouldn’t be any high-ranking quests sitting around if the guild just picks out some adventurers to do it. Dolan was the same way too, wasn’t it?

“In the first place, you’re here for the dungeon, aren’t you? When are you going in?”

“Uhhh, we’re planning to go in once I’m finished preparing.”

“I see. I heard you beat Dolan’s dungeon already. This one hasn’t been beaten in 200 years either, so I’m expecting a lot outta you.”

That’d be nice. Oh wait, I have to ask her about the dungeon.

“Excuse me, but this will be my first time going into the dungeon here, so I’d like to ask about it......”

“Oh, sure. The dungeon here has 27 floors. Right now, I hear that the team that’s furthest ahead is on the 17th.”

The 17th floor? That feels kinda shallow. Or rather, I would have expected them to be a bit lower since the dungeon’s been cleared once already.

“You just thought that we’re not as far as you expected, didn’t you? It’s true though, so there’s nothing to be done about it. You know that there’s undead floors in this dungeon too, right?”

“Yes, I’ve heard of it.”

“One of those floors is on the 18th. And no matter what anyone says, the undead are hard to deal with. So people stop on the 17th floor and don’t try to go further.”

According to Nadiya, the floors in Aveling’s dungeon were arranged as follows:

【Floors 1~3】 Big rats and giant bats. These are full of rats and bats that even new adventurers can beat.

【Floors 4~8】 Goblins, kobolds. When you get to the lower end of these floors, higher evolutions appear, but apparently, no kings have shown themselves yet.

【Floor 9】 Undead floor. There are zombies and skeletons around. The boss room is three skeleton warriors, which are a higher form of skeletons. It’s been confirmed that sometimes an even higher form appears.

【Floors 10~17】 Insect zone. The lower down you go, the bigger the bugs and their swarms get. Not only that, but there are poisonous ones mixed in.

【Floor 18】 Undead floor. This floor spawns zombies, the zombie’s higher form, ghouls (apparently ghouls are faster), skeletons, skeleton warriors, skeleton mages, and wraiths. The boss room is once again higher forms of skeletons: five skeleton knights. It’s been confirmed that sometimes an even higher form appears.

【Floors 19~25】 Reptile zone. Just as its name suggests, there are lots of reptiles, from snakes to lizards to turtles. Just like the insect zone, going further down, they’ll get bigger and more numerous, and there will be venomous forms mixed in. It seems the last two floors of this section were all venomous monsters.

【Floor 26】 Undead floor. Ghouls, mummies (moving mummies, right?), skeleton warriors, skeleton mages, skeleton knights, wraiths, and liches (higher forms of wraiths that can use magic, apparently) have been confirmed on this floor. It’s expected that the boss room contains their higher forms.

【Floor 27】 The dungeon boss, a hydra.

“There’re traps too starting from the 10th floor, so be careful.”

From what I’m hearing, those undead floors seem really bad...... I get the 9th floor, but the 18th and 26th floors seem really awful. Even though undead are already almost immune to attacks, there are even higher forms that appear. I totally get why no one wants to go to them. And since it’s just speculation that higher forms come out on the 26th-floor boss room, we have no idea what kind of ridiculous thing might appear.

According to Nadiya, for anything past the 23rd floor, they only had the testimonies of the adventurers that beat it 200 years ago for reference, and truthfully those weren’t very clear, it seemed.

“We know that the 18th floor is an undead floor, so even high-ranking adventurers don’t go further than the 17th,” said Nadiya, bitterly.

From what she said, there was plenty of profit to be made on floors 17 and above, so it was understandable why nobody would force themselves into the 18th floor, since it would all be a waste if you died. It looked like most adventurers were on the 8th floor, or on the 10-12th floors. Apparently, C-ranked adventurers and above could bust through the 9th floor. And for those adventurers who weren’t confident about that, they would just stop at the 8th. It seemed that even just going to the 8th floor was pretty good for profit.

The first thought I had upon hearing of this dungeon was that we’d need to be even more careful in our preparations to dive than in Dolan. After all, with the types of monsters we’d find, there was no way to expect edible meat to drop. Let’s prepare lots of food.

When I asked after a map, I was told that there were pretty accurate maps down to the 12th floor, and those were being sold down at the counter of the Adventurer’s guild, and at the branch that was near the dungeon entrance.

Well, let’s leave aside whether I actually want a map or not; right now, I need to get a place to sleep. It seemed like all my familiars were raring to go into the dungeon tomorrow, but personally, I wanted to spend at least a full day preparing food. So I was thinking of going in the day after tomorrow. Since that was the case, though, renting a house might be a waste. I’d be fine renting a house after we get back from the dungeon, but before we go in, it would probably be better to stay at an inn.

“Excuse me: is there an inn here that you’d recommend where I can stay with my familiars?”

“If that’s what you want, just stay at the guild-operated inn right next door. We set it up to accommodate adventurers last year when we were renovating the place. There’s rooms for high-ranking adventurers like you, too, along with rooms you can stay in with familiars. It’s a little expensive, but it’s still cheaper than staying anywhere else that’ll offer you the same room.”

Ohh, is that so? Right, let’s go with that. “Then please, I’ll take you up on your offer.”

“I see. Okay then, I’ll take you there myself.”

“What? You don’t have to do all that by yourself, guildmaster. I can go by myself.”

“What’re you saying? I’m expecting a lot outta you, so I can do this at the very least. Follow me.”

Once again, I was dragged along by Nadiya.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

When we arrived at the Adventurer’s guild-operated inn next door, the receptionist was surprised, seeing Nadiya. I totally got it though — I mean, she was the guildmaster.

“I brought a promising S-ranked adventurer with me.”

You know you can afford to be a little more detailed, Nadiya.

For the moment, I greeted the receptionist with a “Pleased to meet you,” and asked her about a room where I could stay with my familiars. It was 3 gold a day. I paid for the two days we’d take until we went to the dungeon.

There was still something else I needed to ask Nadiya. When I asked her where I could get myself a spear, she recommended a store that was across the street diagonally from the Adventurer’s guild.

“That place stocks stuff for everyone from beginners to experts, so I recommend it. The owner’s a little gruff, though. Gahhaha!” said Nadiya, laughing grandly, as she returned to the Adventurer’s guild.

“I’ll show you to your room.” The room the employee led me to was on the first floor, since I’d be staying with my familiars. It was a spacious room, definitely worth the 3 gold. The room was plenty big enough for Fel and the others. Not only that, but since it was on the first floor, I could use my magic stove. That stove was pretty damn heavy, so if we were on the 2nd floor and above, I wouldn’t be able to bring it out unless the floors were particularly sturdy. The room even had its own bath and toilet.

I took a look at the bath, and of course there was no way it would be as big as the huge ones in the mansions I rented. In fact, it was slightly smaller than the one I had. But still, it was amazing that there even was a private bath. In the end, Dora-chan, Sui, and I would be the only ones to use it, anyway, and it might be a little cramped, but that could just be solved by going in separately, so it wasn’t a problem.

Now then, first, to the weapons shop......

“I am hungry.”

《Me too.》

《Sui too.》

It took a while to get into town, so it’s actually past time for lunch, isn’t it? I guess we should eat first.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

For lunch, we had beef bowls made using wyvern meat. Everyone ate with gusto.

Now then, everyone’s eaten, so let’s go to the weapons shop. I need to get an easy-to-use one for beginners. If it’s really that straightforward, then I can use it as-is, or I could even get Sui to make one out of mithril.

The weapons shop was really close to the inn, so I just left my familiars in the room and went by myself. When I entered, I saw a sour-looking old dwarf with a scruffy beard.

This one looks real stubborn, too. “Uhm, excuse me......”

“What is it?”

“Would you happen to have a spear that’s easy to use, even for beginners?”

“An easy-to-use spear for beginners?” The old dwarf looked me up and down. “You really are a beginner, aren’t you? Well, you’re way better than an idiot that tries to get something that doesn’t suit them. Okay, I’ll pick one for you. Just wait a second,” said the dwarf, as he moved towards where the spears were kept.

And he picked up......

“This’d be it. It’s something my apprentice made, but it’s a pretty good price, and not that bad a make.”

The spear he handed me was a simple-looking one, and had a handle made of wood, while the straight, sharp metal tip just screamed, “this is a spear.” It was neither too light nor too heavy, and it did seem like it’d be perfect for a beginner. The price was 1 gold. From my memory, the short sword I bought when I first signed up at the Adventurer’s guild was 8 silver, so it wasn’t overly expensive or anything.

“But remember, you have to maintain it properly. Iron weapons need to be maintained regularly or they dull right away. This weapon is something you’ll be betting your life on. Make sure you remember this.”

True, leaving monster blood and stuff on iron will rust it. Wait, then what about mithril? I haven’t bothered doing any maintenance on the mithril short sword that Sui made for me. Its sharpness hasn’t changed at all, though......

“By the way, what about ones made out of mithril?”

“Mithril? Mithril’s special. Even if you don’t maintain those, they won’t change. Mithril’s got real high affinity with magic, after all. The rarity and special effects of mithril are exactly why stuff made out of it is so expensive.”

I see. Then having Sui make a spear out of mithril would probably be for the best, huh? I’m so glad I st-...*ahem*, “picked up” all the mithril that was on the ground at that mine.

I had the old dwarf show me the mithril weapons he had on his shelves, but even the cheapest short sword was 230 gold.

“Well, you do your best so you can afford something like this.”

I mean I can, easily, but it’s not like I have to buy mithril weapons at a store.

While apologizing to the store owner in my heart, I paid him the 1 gold and left the store. Then I went back to the inn and immediately had Sui make a mithril spear for me.

“Sui, I have something to ask you. Can you make a spear just like this one?”

I showed Sui the spear I’d just bought.

《Okay—. You know, Sui’s getting really used to making things, so Sui can probably be faster now—.》

“Right then, please.” I handed the spear and mithril ore over to Sui.

Then, just like Sui claimed, it finished faster than ever before. It only took around ten minutes.

《It’s done—.》

“That really was fast. So you can make something like this in such a short time... That’s awesome, Sui!”

Sui made a spear that was so amazing, I could fall in love with it. “Thanks, Sui,” I said, and Sui bounced around happily.

I tried appraising the spear Sui made for me.

【Mithril Spear+】

Created by Sui. A well-made mithril spear. Amazingly sharp.

Ohhh, nice, Sui. It has a plus on it, just like the short sword. And it even says that it’s amazingly sharp.

Now I had a mithril spear on top of my mithril short sword. I just had to prepare food for the dungeon tomorrow, and we would be able to go to the dungeon the day after.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

After breakfast today, I left Fel and the others behind and went to the area where they sold foodstuffs, which was not far from the inn. I went around several bakeries and stocked up on black bread. I still had some left from when I bought them in Dolan, but it wouldn’t be enough.

I peeked into other stores too, but there wasn’t really anything I wanted. I went straight back to the inn, and then started diligently cooking food for our dungeon trip. I still had some premade food in stock, but with just what I had, I wouldn’t feel comfortable.

Given everyone’s preferences, especially for meat......

And so, I focused on meat dishes. First was miso-cooked orc and bloody horn-bull. My stock had dwindled quite a bit, so I added more. All that really amounted to was marinating and cooking, but the result was excellent with rice and just delicious overall. This time, I also made it with golden-backed bull meat.

Then, I made ginger-fried orc meat, as well as beef bowls using wyvern and bloody horn-bull meat. Along with the miso-marinated meats, this was basically a staple in our menu now. It was all simple to make, but delicious, and everyone liked it.

I wonder if it could be described as a taste that never gets old, one that a person could eat endlessly?

Even if I made a lot, it’d still get used one way or another, so I made even more this time. I used golden-backed bull for this recipe too, just like with the miso-cooked meats.

After that, I made a stamina stir-fry using golden-backed bull meat, as well as two kinds of vegetable stir-fry using bloody horn-bull and orc meat. Of course, for flavoring, I used the all-powerful, all-purpose yakiniku sauce. This time I went with a salt flavor.

From there, I moved on to beef stew and hashed-beef rice using bloody horn-bull. Everyone always liked beef stew, and it worked well with bread, so I figured it would be better to prepare some as well. As for the hashed-beef rice, it was a simple dish that had gone over well before, so I made it again.

Most of the ground meat dishes were used up during our trip here, so I started cooking more. I made mixed minced meat with bloody horn-bull and orc meat, and used that for Hamburg steaks, meat soboro, and Bolognese. I considered keema curry as well, but given the enclosed space of the dungeon, I figured that the smell of curry would be horrible in a lot of ways, so I nixed that idea. So what I made instead was sweet and spicy Chinese-style miso stir-fry using ground meat. I added in a little water mixed with potato starch to thicken it up, too. It’d even go well as a rice bowl.

I also made teriyaki cockatrice, sautéed cockatrice with honey mustard, and poultry soboro after mincing down some more of the cockatrice meat.

“Whew~. What should I do next......” I made a huge amount of fried stuff like karaage before the trip, so I should have enough of that. I also have enough stewed pork and tonjiru left, and I steamed extra rice, so I’m good on that front.

“And we still have quite a lot of seafood that I cooked left.” I had made just as much fried seafood as karaage and stuff before leaving Berléand, so there was still quite a bit left. And the stocks of tempura were fine, too. I even still had a lot of clam chowder. Fel and the others would eat it if I put it out, but they wouldn’t ask for more. According to them, it wouldn’t fill them up no matter how much they ate, even though I made sure there was a lot of stuff in it.

Well, leaving that aside, what should I make...... I made roast beef rice bowls for lunch, and that was it, so maybe I should cook more?

So I made roast beef using golden-backed bull meat, as well as roast pork with orc meat. With these, we could eat them as-is or even in a sandwich.

“So next, personally, I’d want more seafood...... Ah! What about seasoned rice?”

Although it seems like the three of them, especially Fel, would complain that it wasn’t enough. This’d be basically just for me, because I want it, but that’s fine once in a while, right?

I decided to make two kinds of seasoned rice. One with sea bream, and one with octopus. Still, it was me making it, so it was really simple.

I opened my Online Supermarket and bought raw ginger, granulated dashi, and mentsuyu. Then, I washed some rice before soaking it in water...

~◇~◇~◇~

For the sea bream rice, first, season the bream with salt before cooking thoroughly. For the octopus rice, slice boiled octopus legs to around 3mm thickness, and cut the raw ginger into small strips.

Then, take the washed rice and put it in with the mentsuyu and granulated seaweed dashi and mix lightly.

After that step, for the sea bream rice, just steam the rice with the sea bream laid on top, and it’s done. As for the octopus rice, mix the octopus and the stripped ginger in with the rice and steam that to finish.

~◇~◇~◇~

Mentsuyu’s pretty all-purpose as far as Japanese cooking is concerned. If you’re ever unsure of how to flavor something, just adding mentsuyu will be fine in most cases, I think. After all, there’s dashi inside, and that’s already delicious. Using white dashi to make seasoned rice is also a good idea.

Yep, I’m starting to want it. Let’s eat this for dinner. But, if it’s just this, Fel and the others might complain. Let’s make a meuniere too; it’s simple, after all.

I just coated the seafood in flour and cooked it in butter, making salmon, aspidochelone, and a shellfish meuniere using yellow scallops. And just by adding onion-flavored steak sauce on top, that completed a super easy Japanese-style meuniere.

“Now then, it’s just about time for dinner, so let’s go eat.”

I ate both kinds of seasoned rice, and both were delicious. Fel also ate the rice, but was more interested in the meuniere, and kept eating that instead.

Unexpectedly, the octopus seasoned rice really caught Dora-chan’s attention. “The texture is really interesting,” he claimed, asking for more. Of course, he chowed down on the meuniere, too.

Sui said both types of seasoned rice were delicious.

Yeah, yeah, fish are awesome, right?

After finishing what I felt to be a very satisfying dinner, there was still one job left to do.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

After taking a bath with Dora-chan and Sui, I moved to a corner of the room to do my usual work.

By the way, the rest of them were all already asleep. After all, we’d be entering the dungeon tomorrow.

“Are you all there?” With Fel and the others asleep, I naturally slipped into a quieter tone of voice.

＜We were waiting!＞

＜You kept us waiting~.＞

＜Man that was a long wait!＞

＜......Cake and ice cream.＞

＜Yo, you’re here!＞

＜You sure kept us waiting!＞

I heard the god’s voices. “Uhh, well, as you can see, tomorrow we will be entering a dungeon. And so, with the last time we went into a dungeon as reference, please place your orders for next week as well.”

There was no doubt we’d be spending more than a week in the dungeon, after all. And with that being the case, I decided to just do next week’s share now, as well.

＜W-Wait, what?!! D-D-Does that mean, we get 2 gold today?!!＞

This voice, is it Ninrir, the divine disappointment?

“That would be so, yes.”

＜Yeessss!!! Alright!!!＞

The other gods cheered, too.

I’d rather you didn’t get so excited. This is just next week’s share, too. It’s not like you’re getting more or anything.

＜Okay! I’m first! Show me Fumiya’s cakes immediately!! 2 gold worth of them!＞

Fine, fine, stop yelling just because you’re excited. You’re a goddess, at least kind of.

The first up is Ninrir, the divine disappointment, huh?

“With 2 gold, there’s quite a lot you can buy...... That’s right, how about this? It’s pretty big, though,” I said, showing her a rectangular cake made for a lot of people with a copious amount of fruit on top. And the price was 9 silver.

Maybe it really is too big, though?

＜Muhoo! Wonderful! Isn’t that just dandy! It looks so good! Okay, I will take that one!!＞

“Wha- r-really? It’s pretty, no, really big......” I’d meant it to be just a little joke, but Ninrir, that disappointment, took it seriously.

＜Indeed. It shall be fine. I will take that one!＞

I-If you’re sure, I’ll buy it. I put the huge cake into the cart.

“What else? I don’t think you’ve tried these yet......” I said, showing her the variety packs meant for gifts.

＜Mm, this is...!! W-Why it’s d-dorayaki!!!!＞

“Yes, seems that way.”

＜W-Why didn’t you tell me sooner?!＞

Hey, don’t put that on me. You’re the one that’s been going on and on about cakes.

“Actually, are you really okay with dorayaki? How many do you want?”

＜I want ten!＞

Sure, sure, ten. “There’s also dorayaki that uses ogura-an-style red bean paste and has chestnuts, and one that uses sweet potato paste instead......”

＜What?!! Give me 10 each of those too!!＞

Fine, fine, ten each. “What else? There’s castellas too.”

＜Castellas!! Of course I want castellas!＞

And one castella. “After that...... ah, how about this? They’re cakes with a little bit of alcohol in them, and they’re individually wrapped, so there’s lots of different flavors,” I said, showing her the pack of scotch cakes.

＜Ohhh! It’s nice that there’s a lot of them with a variety of flavors. Okay, I’ll take it.＞

Aaand the twenty-piece scotch cake set. “With what you have left...... how about this? It’s a type of pastry called a pie, and it’s crisp and delicious.”

＜Crisp, you say? Looks good. I’ll take it.＞

Lastly, I added a pack of pies to the cart. “Next is Lady Kisharle, right?”

＜Yes, it’s me~. 2 gold, huh? Ufufufufufufu.＞

S-Scary...

＜The facial lotion and cream you gave me last time were really good. Just like you said, my skin is in really nice condition! So I’d like some more. I definitely don’t want to run out.＞

So she wants to build up a stock. My sister did the same.

＜Also, is there a... do you call it “face-washing foam?” in the same series? I’d like it if there is. And I want facial masks, too. Using those moistens up my skin really nicely~.＞

So the facial lotion and cream from before, as well as a face-washing foam from the same series, and facial masks, too? Let’s see......

I added the facial lotion, cream, and face-washing foam into the cart. Oh, there’re facial mask packs from the same series too.

“About the facial masks, there’s a pack of them from the same series. Would that be okay?”

＜Oh, from the same series? Then, please.＞

Sure, sure. With that, there’s about 5 silver left, huh? “There’s 5 silver left, what else would you like?”

＜Let’s see, what would you recommend?＞

You really shouldn’t be asking me questions about beauty products...... Oh right, my sister used some massage cream, didn’t she? Let’s see...... oh, this might be good.

“How about some massage cream? It’s really simple to use, too.” Its product description said that the massage cream was a gel that didn’t require wiping off. “It seems that you use this gel-state massage cream and massage it into your skin up and down for about a minute. It says that you don’t need to wipe it off. As for its effects, it looks like it activates upon being massaged in, and helps your skin work better, allowing it to maintain its moisture and suppleness much better.”

＜Moisture and suppleness...... yes, that sounds nice. Please, give it to me.＞

Beauty products really are expensive. Just getting roughly a complete set puts you to 2 gold immediately. Sis, just how much did you spend each month? Just thinking about it is scary.

“Next is Agni, right?”

＜Yeah! Like usual, I want beer! The beer you gave me last time in the box, that was great. I want another box full of that. Also, the golden one was good too, so another case of that. And that one with the black circle drawn on it, I liked that flavor so give me a case of that too.＞

The “box” from last time? That’s the case of premium beer from S-company, right? Yeah, yeah, that was good. It’s a little more expensive than the others, but I like that beer a lot. And for the gold beer, that’d be Y-bisu beer, I think. I’ve been sending her a lot of that lately. And, black circle... that’d be the black label beer that S-company’s had for a while, right? Huh, she’s really got the staples down, doesn’t she? Last time I figured I’d just be sending her premium and black beer, so I sent her S-company’s black label beer for the first time.

So this is what fits Agni’s tastes. Well, given how long it’s been on sale, that just means a lot of people enjoy it, so I guess it’s good taste in a sense. Right, let’s get these cases of S-company’s premium and black label beer, and Y-bisu beer.

“What else?”

＜I’ll leave the rest to you. Give me some snacks this time, too.＞

So the rest is up to me, along with snacks. So, what should I do then? I guess I’ll make it stuff I haven’t given her before. Might be nice to put in some low-malt beer, too. What should I get...... Oh, haven’t sent this one yet. S-company’s beer that uses 100% malt because they wanted to concentrate on flavor. Let’s get a six-pack of this. Then, let’s get some low-malt beers. What would be good...... right, I’ve decided.

I chose a six-pack of K-company’s most popular low-malt beer, a six-pack of S-company’s coolers that come in distinctive blue cans, a six-pack of K-company’s coolers, known for how smoothly it slides down your throat, and a six-pack of A company’s coolers, famous for its clear taste. I used the rest for snacks, and got her mostly things that went well with beer, like yakitori and fried foods.

“Next is Miss Ruka, right?”

＜......I want cake and ice cream. But we get 2 gold today, so food, too.＞

Sure, sure — cake, ice cream, and food it is. “Then let’s start with cake. What would you like?”

＜Ninrir’s is too big. I want lots of flavors.＞

I see, a variety of flavors, huh? If that’s the case......

“If you want a variety of flavors, then how about having every one of these shortcakes?” I said, showing her Fumiya’s shortcake menu.

＜All of this...... yes, that’s good.＞

Right, that’s all twenty-five cakes off the shortcakes menu. “Also, for the ice cream, would it be alright to get all the flavors as well?”

＜Yes. Also, I want lots of the vanilla flavor.＞

So Ruka likes vanilla, huh? “Ah, right. For ice cream there’s this stuff, too.”

I showed her the ice cream cakes. “These are cakes with ice cream inside.”

＜I want it!!＞

Ruka, who is the very picture of a silent and quiet girl, is excited? She must really like Fumiya’s ice cream.

I added the ice cream cups and ice cream cake that Ruka wanted into the cart. “Are you alright with the rest being food?”

＜Yes.＞

For the rest, I bought stuff like karaage and gyoza from the Online Supermarket, and added stuff I made like clam chowder and fried seafood at my own discretion.

Whew, that should be it.

“So Hephaestos and Vahagn are last.”

＜You got it! So we have 4 gold between the two of us!＞

＜Let’s take our time choosing 4 gold worth of whiskey!＞

Th-The two of them are really excited about this for some reason...

＜First, of course, is the world’s best whiskey.＞

One of these for each of them is the usual by now.

＜Also that “highest peak” whiskey from before. That one was good.＞

＜Indeed. Its mild taste, on top of its excellent nose, makes it a really fantastic drink. We want one each of these, too.＞

I see I see, so one each of the highest peak single malt whiskey from last time? “What else?”

＜You know, War God, what do you think of that red wax-sealed whiskey we got before?＞

＜Ohh, that was good, too.＞

＜However, let us only get one to share between the two of us, and use the rest for new ones — how about that?＞

＜That’s a good idea. I want some of that vodka stuff too, this time.＞

Whiskey sealed with red wax? That should have been the whiskey that used winter wheat, right?

...Hmmm, it’s just an Online Supermarket, so the stock is limited, so it looks like I really have run out of new things.

“I think the two of you can tell looking at this, but you’ve pretty much had everything on the whiskey menu. What do you want to do?” I asked, showing them the menu.

＜Hmm, these truly are all things I remember. A liquor store would be really nice right now.＞

＜Yeah. Hey, you get it, right otherworlder?＞

You’re sounding an awful lot like you’ve got a certain job that starts with a ‘Ya-’ there, Vahagn. But well, I did get something good earlier, too...

“Yes. I don’t know if the next one will be a liquor store or not, but I’ll do my best.”

At least until I unlock the next Tenant.

＜As long as you get it, it’s fine. That is, if you really do. Blacksmithing God, I think our only choice now is to pick what was good out of these.＞

＜You’re right.＞ Hephaestos sunk into thought, muttering ‘hmmm’ all the while. ＜I like that one in the black bottle. What about you, War God?＞

＜Ahh, that one. I like that one too.＞

The one in the black bottle that Hephaestos said he liked...... is that the black-bottled whiskey from S-company? “Are you two talking about this one?”

＜Yes indeedy, that one.＞

“Yeah, okay.” I added the black bottled whiskey from S-company to the cart. “What else?”

＜Hey Blacksmithing God, I think that black labeled one is good too; how about you?＞

＜Ohh, that? That one was quite something as well. I approve.＞

Is this the black labeled one Vahagn was talking about? “Black label? You mean this one?”

＜Yeah, that one.＞

＜Indeed. That would be the one.＞

That black label is a famous American whiskey, isn’t it? I added the black labeled American whiskey to the cart.

After several more interactions like that, much more whiskey was added to the cart.

“So would one each of this vodka be all right to finish this?”

＜Indeed.＞

＜Yeah, that’s fine.＞

Two bottles of this vodka in the cart and we’re done. Now just line this all up on these cardboard altars......

“Please accept this, everyone,” I said, and the offerings I’d placed on the cardboard altars all disappeared.

Right afterwards, I heard the cheer from the gods rise up, as well as the sound of feet.

Whew~, it’s finally over. Tomorrow’s the dungeon, so let’s sleep.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“Okay then, let’s go.”

“Indeed.”

《All right! It’s a dungeon!》

《Dungeon~.》

Right after breakfast, we left the inn and headed for the dungeon.

“Ah, before we go into the dungeon, I’m gonna go report to the Adventurer’s guild.”

The Adventurer’s guild was just next door, so I decided to go talk to Nadiya before entering the dungeon, just in case. When I got to the receptionist, Nadiya was called down immediately.

“You said you were going down the dungeon today, so I was waiting.”

“You were waiting? Did you need me for something?”

“No, you see......” Nadiya looked behind her with a slightly troubled face.

Huh? What is it?

“I came, Mukohda.” The one who said that with a tongue-in-cheek tone appeared from behind Nadiya. He was an all-too-familiar elf in the prime of his life, wearing a full-face smile.

“...............Wha? W-W-Why are you here?!!”

That elf was someone I could never forget. It was Elrand, whose love for dragons was so intense it was sometimes off-putting.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

After reuniting with Elrand, we couldn’t just continue to talk right in front of the receptionist’s line, so we moved to the guildmaster’s room on the 2nd floor.

“Elrand, you......” My exasperation was out in full force, listening to Elrand’s story.

According to him, he had left for the capital as planned after we left Dolan. There, he had made his reports of the conquering of Dolan’s dungeon to the guild headquarters and to the king. During that report, he had presented the necklace that I’d gotten out of a treasure chest to the king as well.

It seemed that the king was quite happy that he was gifted a necklace with anti-poison attributes. I’d offered it as a gesture to please keep treating me well, and it looked like I did good. Let’s keep offering what I can to the king, and secure my freedom in this country... Wait, that’s not important right now.

He’d finished reporting to the king, so apparently, Elrand had decided to stay in the capital for a while since it had been some time since he had last been there. Then, a couple days later, when Elrand had gone to the Adventurer’s guild to say his goodbyes before going back to Dolan......

“The guildmaster of the main branch in the capital heard that you defeated a red dragon!! It’s a red dragon, you know?! A red dragon!! Not only that, but you were also coming here to Aveling! So I thought that if I took a fast horse, I could meet you here. With that idea in my head I just couldn’t sit still...... so I changed my destination and came to Aveling.”

Don’t just change your destination you ass. Even if you tell me that with your pretty-boy elf face, it’s still not cute, you old man.

“Geez, Dolan’s guildmaster showed up early this morning, and so suddenly, it threw me for a loop, and I wondered what was going on,” said Nadiya, smiling bitterly.

That would be the case if a guildmaster from another branch just came over suddenly, wouldn’t it? And with no prior notice on top of that. I’m not at fault here, but I still feel sorry. I underestimated this fool’s love of dragons.

“More importantly, Mukohda! The red dragon! Red dragon! Show it to me!”

Nonono, show you? No way, no can do. “You know, Elrand, we’re going to go into the dungeon......”

All three of my familiars are on standby to go in. They’ve all started sending me telepathic messages asking me things like, “Are you still not done?” or “Let’s hurry up and go,” or “Can we still not go into the dungeon?” you know? I can’t just tell them I’m delaying our trip now.

“What are you saying?! The red dragon is way more important than some dungeon!”

Oh my, this guy just claimed that red dragons are more important.

“Sorry, I can’t let that one go.”

Nadiya’s totally mad. Totally. Elrand went and said, ‘some dungeon,’ so I totally get why she wouldn’t take that lying down.

“Hey Elrand, guildmaster of Dolan, did you just say, ‘some dungeon,’ meaning that my dungeon doesn’t matter?” Nadiya said, with a flat tone and low voice.

Her stare at Elrand was sharp. Elrand must have noticed his mistake as well, since he started to recoil and fumble over his words, saying, “N-No, I didn’t mean it like that......”

An angry Nadiya is a force to be reckoned with. Let’s make sure never to get her angry.

“Even if you didn’t mean it that way, that’s how I heard it. Thanks to Mukohda here beating Dolan’s dungeon, I hear you’ve been showered with riches, haven’t you, Elrand? And that same Mukohda’s come to my city, so I’m expecting a lot from him. It might be the first time in 200 years that Aveling’s dungeon gets defeated, you know?” Nadiya’s eyes were something to behold.

“N-No, u-uhhh... M-My earlier slip was... it was just something I said on the spur of the moment, or something......” Elrand said, seemingly desperate with his eyes swimming everywhere, doing their best to avoid Nadiya’s gaze. He was soaked in cold sweat.

“‘Spur of the moment,’ huh? It sounded to me like you didn’t care about anywhere else now that you’ve struck it rich, though.”

Well, it certainly wouldn’t be strange to take Elrand’s statement that way. Still, Elrand’s treated me well all this time, and I plan to have him do the same for a while yet, so I guess I should throw him a bone here. I’d be counting on Elrand to take care of the red dragon eventually anyway.

“Either way, Nadiya, I’m not going to do anything with the red dragon right now, and I’m going to the dungeon right after this. My familiars are more than motivated enough for it, and I feel like we can conquer the whole thing, too. And Elrand, I’m going to go to Dolan after I’m done here to ask you to handle the red dragon, so just bear with it for now, please.”

She breathed out slowly. “I’ll let you off here, in deference to Mukohda. For me, the dungeon is clearly more important than some red dragon. But you know, Elrand, you’re a guildmaster. You should watch what you say,” Nadiya said, sheathing her anger.

That “some red dragon” line was probably payback for the earlier statement.

“S-Sorry. I’ll be careful.” Elrand was curled in on himself, like a housecat not inside its house.

I thought there was supposed to be some sort of dignity to guildmasters? This guy’s always been like this though. Wait... oh, yeah, he’s a guildmaster, isn’t he? Is it really okay for him to stay here?

“By the way, Elrand, you sure you don’t have to go back to Dolan? Won’t Ugohl be mad?”

No matter how excellent Ugohl iss, I don’t think there can be any good coming out of a guildmaster being absent for any length of time.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. Ugohl will take care of everything, I’m telling you. Rather than that, I’ve decided — I’ll go to the dungeon with you, Mukohda!”

............Wha? What did this person... just... say?

“Now that that’s decided, let’s hurry!”

“Nonono, don’t ‘let’s hurry’ me, Elrand! Why are you coming?! You’re a guildmaster, you’ve retired from adventuring!”

“Oh? That’s a good idea.”

Whoa?! Backup fire from an unexpected spot?! “But Nadiya, Elrand isn’t an adventurer.”

“Oh? You don’t know? Adventurer’s aren’t the only ones that can enter a dungeon. Knight orders sometimes go in for training, and those who’ve retired from being an adventurer will still go in to earn some change, too. As long as they apply, pretty much anyone can go in. Of course, they take responsibility for themselves, so it’s limited to those with a certain amount of ability. It’s not really strange for Elrand to go into the dungeon.”

Ghh, really? I didn’t know. It seems like at least, since they all have to take responsibility for themselves, only those with a certain amount of fighting ability will challenge dungeons, like retired adventurers or knights.

“Elrand’s a former S-ranked adventurer. With you, an active S-rank, and Elrand, a former S-rank, your chances of clearing the dungeon’ll go way up, won’t they?” Nadiya said, and Elrand nodded in agreement.

“That’s right. Just what I’d expect out of the former S-ranked ‘Giant Princess,’ you get it. Dungeons are something you progress through by teaming up with multiple parties.”

So Nadiya was also formerly S-ranked. Not only that, she had the incredibly obvious moniker, ‘Giant Princess.’ Wait, that’s not important right now; he said that, usually, multiple parties band together, but I have my familiars who are very reliable, so it’s not like I’m going solo.

“Excuse me... as you know, Elrand, I have my familiars with me, so I’m more than all right...”

“What are you saying, there’s a huge problem! I’m going to be blunt here, but I want to go on an adventure with Dora-chan! It’s a fun dungeon excursion with Dora-chan, you know?! I can’t just let that chance go! I’m going to follow you no matter what — got it?”

Woah, he finally let out his true colors. Don’t just throw a tantrum like a child when you’re a grown-ass adult, dude.

“N-No, you know, we won’t be coming back up for a long while when we go in...... Even if you have Ugohl, there’s no way you can be away for that long.”

“As long as Ugohl is there, Dolan will have no problems.”

No, there’ll be huge problems, you just don’t care. He’ll get mad again, you know? He’ll be super mad.

“No, see, what if something happened......... uhhh, like, if a high-ranking monster appeared or something?”

“That’s no problem at all. Even if he looks like that, Ugohl used to be a B-ranked adventurer, and Dolan has a dungeon, so there are always high-ranking adventurers around.”

That was a shocking truth. Ugohl used to be B-ranked? He totally doesn’t look that way. Wait no, Elrand’s totally planning to follow us wherever we go. Even if I say ‘no,’ he’ll just follow along anyway......

“*Sigh* ...Fine. Let’s go.”

“Okay!” Elrand was all smiles. He was giving Dora-chan hot stares, too.

“Looks like everything’s settled. Alright then, I’ll take care of the registration here. You can just go into the dungeon now. You two, I’m waiting for you to bring lots of drops or magic items back, you hear?”

Nadiya sent us off to the dungeon, saddling us with Elrand, who decided to invite himself for some reason.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

We were lined up in order to enter the dungeon. I was a little fed up with how noisy our surroundings were.

“Huh? That’s Elrand, the guildmaster from Dolan’s Adventurer’s guild, right?”

“It’s the former S-rank, Elrand.”

“The adventurer next to him with the familiars is the one that’s been the subject of all those rumors recently, right?”

“Why the hell is Dolan’s guildmaster here?”

“That guy next to Elrand, isn’t that Mukohda, that guy we keep hearing about?”

...Et cetera, et cetera. They went on and on. Everyone was whispering, but I could hear them. I didn’t know if it was because my level rose, but my hearing had gotten better. I could hear whispers now. Still, I guess we couldn’t help standing out. It’d happen even with just Fel and the others, but now we had Elrand, too. He’s the guildmaster of the Adventurer’s guild in the dungeon city of Dolan, after all... looks like there’d be a lot of people here who know him, too. And of course we’d totally stand out having Dolan’s guildmaster with us.

I guess it’d be safest to just pretend I didn’t hear anything. I can’t hear, I can’t hear... I kept telling myself that as I turned my gaze to my surroundings.

Aveling’s dungeon was a lot like Dolan’s. It was outside the walls of the city, and there were lots of enterprising merchants with stalls lined up. Closer to the entrance of the dungeon, there was also a sub-branch of the Adventurer’s guild.

“It looks like Dolan’s dungeon.”

“Most dungeon entrances look like this. This country has one more dungeon, and that place is just like this, too.”

Hmmm~, is that so? If there’s a dungeon, people will gather, so I guess there’s no way merchants would let that go either.

Hm? That’s......

“Originating from Dolan, it’s fried potatoes~. They’re warm and fluffy and delicious~.”

...Aren’t those the fries I showed off at Dolan’s Merchant’s guild? So it’s already spread all the way here. That’s fast!

“Ahh, you’re the one who taught them how to make those fried potatoes, aren’t you? It’s really popular even in Dolan. It’s a good snack for children, and it’s perfect for drinking too. I’ve eaten it before, as well. It totally goes with ale~,” Elrand said, noticing that I was staring at the fried potatoes stall.

Elrand’s already eaten it too? So there’s that many stores selling fried potatoes, huh? Well, it’s easy and doesn’t need that many ingredients. That’s why I taught them that. It’s good by itself, and perfect as a snack. There’s no way beer wouldn’t go with freshly done fries......

Wait, no, now I’m starting to want some.

“Ah, right. Are you sure you don’t need to ready any food?” Elrand asked, probably because the subject moved to food.

On the way here, Elrand said that he wanted to stock up on food since we’d be going into the dungeon, but I told him that I had lots ready and it was fine.

“It’s fine already. I have lots ready in my Item Box.” I spent all day yesterday cooking, after all. We’ll probably be fine even with Elrand here. And even if we run out, I still had my Online Supermarket, so there was no worry. Well, I’ll still have to make sure Elrand never sees me use it, though.

“Just spare me the fate of starving to death and joining the undead, please.”

“Ahaha! I’m telling you that won’t happen!”

I’m here with an Online Supermarket, so that’d never happen in a million years.

“No need to worry. I can’t compromise our food with Fel and the others around, so I’ve prepared a large amount.” I’d get beat up by Fel and the others if there was no food, or if the food was bad.

“If you’re going to go that far, I’ll leave the food to you, please.” Elrand finally looked satisfied and backed off.

But he really did used to be S-ranked, didn’t he? He knows just how important food is in a dungeon.

“Oh right, did you go into this dungeon back when you were an adventurer?”

“Yes. Still, only to the 17th floor.”

Only until the 17th, huh? I guess he stopped because the 18th floor is undead? It’d have to be. “The 17th? Is that because the 18th floor is undead?”

“That’s right. Undead really are annoying. We discussed it within the party, and decided we didn’t have to push ourselves that far, and we stopped at the 17th floor.”

Well, survival comes first, after all. But would an S-rank party have trouble with the undead? “So even S-rank parties don’t like to deal with the undead?”

“Well, of course not. Physical and magic attacks basically don’t work on them. The basic way of dealing with an undead floor is just to deal damage to them and move on when you create an opening. To be honest, it’s pretty hard. And on top of that, if you get surrounded, a war of attrition becomes inevitable,” Elrand said with a disgusted face.

Surrounded by undead...... if that ever happens, I think I’d probably die.

“At the very least you can ask the church for a holy seal to counter the undead, but honestly, it’s not that effective.”

The church’s seal, huh? I heard that it runs out after about ten swings, so for the amount of money you pay, the effect totally isn’t worth it.

“But this time you’re all here, so we’ll totally be able to bust through.”

I’d rather you didn’t just declare that, though. But with Fel and the others, as well as an anti-undead item given to me from the gods, I think we’ll be fine, at least. I’m really lucky that I got that holy sealer from Hephaestos and Vahagn.

At any rate, we’ll have to test it on the undead on the 9th floor.

“Ah, we’re next. It’s my first time in a dungeon in a while, so I’m excited. Not only that, but this time I’m with Dora-chan...... Mmheheheheheheh.”

Elrand, that’s creepy.

Now then, it’s finally time for the dungeon. Let’s go get ’em.