TLN Note: The amount of times the word “I see” appeared in this chapter…
After a day of hard work was completed in the dungeon I went back by the Transportation Room, and as I opened the door Elza suddenly appeared in front of me.
[Welcome back Ryouta-san.] (Elza)
[Elza. Where you waiting for me?] (Ryouta)
[There's a guest here to see you.] (Elza)
[A guest?] (Ryouta)
[The Association Leader has come to see you.] (Elza)
Even I know that much, as he furrowed his eyebrows, showing wrinkles.
It was Clint from the Dungeon Association, coming here unnoticed. All this time he would meet up with me urgently if something is happening.
Thus, I'm pretty sure that's the case for today as well.
[Is he inside the mansion right now?] (Ryouta)
[Yes, in the living room. And also.] (Elza)
[And also?] (Ryouta)
[At the garden, there's a large sum of sugar.] (Elza)
[Eh?] (Ryouta)
After Elza finished her sentence, I looked out the window.
Just as Elza described, on the garden basking in the dawn of the sun, there were large piles of sugar cubes stacked amongst each other.
Estimating at around 2~3 truckload of them, was it the 1 Year Supply of sugar cubes Clint was always going on about.
This is too much. If it were otoshidama (red packets) then I'll gladly receive a year's worth of it.
[So he's paying upfront first huh. Must be a large case this time.] (Ryouta)
[Yes, a rather troublesome issue has arrived.] (Elza)
[Oh, does Elza know about it?] (Ryouta)
[I've heard it back at the shop(The Swallow's Repayment). I've only heard bits and pieces of it so I'm too sure either.] (Elza)
[Fumu………] (Ryouta)
Even though Elza said that, but it might be a possibility that the situation would get worse as I heard it top to bottom.
Mentally preparing myself as I thought, I head towards the living room.
As I entered the living room, sitting on the sofa, 'munching' sounds could be heard, as I saw Clint gnawing at the sugar cubes on his mouth like a rodent.
Before he could finish the current sugar cubes on his mouth, he had already stuff another one onto his mouth and swallowed it whole.
…….Your throat, would it be alright.
Clint stood up, and greeted me with both his hands spread open.
[Ooh, you finally came back Satou. I was waiting for you, you know. Shikuro's Benefactor.] (Clint)
[I'll refuse your request for now.] (Ryouta)
[You're mean!] Clint said as he showed a dejected look on his face.
Well that's because I know what would happen after this. If this were to be the norm when we meet all the time, then if something enormous happens, how would I escape at that time?
[Even though I believed that Satou wouldn't be that sort of human!] (Clint)
[Anyways, what did you come here for? Bringing in that mountain-load full of sugars with you.] (Ryouta)
Sitting on the sofa, Clint sat back down as he told me his story.
[Are you familiar with the Clifford Family?] (Clint)
[Clifford? Nope, not at all.] (Ryouta)
[It's the family that virtually monopolised the 6th to 10th floor of Bismuth.] (Clint)
[Bismuth.] (Ryouta)
There are 7 dungeons in total own by Shikuro.
Teruru, Silicon, Arsenic, Bismuth, Borane (mistaken as Bolan previously).
Also Nihonium which drops absolutely nothing, plus Selen that is outside of the town which makes that 7 in total.
One of them was Bismuth. Thus far, I've never needed to head there thus never stepped foot into that dungeon before.
[So what's the matter with those Clifford guys and Bismuth?] (Ryouta)
[Do you know that Bismuth's 6th to 10th floors mainly drop wheat?] (Clint)
[And?] (Ryouta)
[The only place dropping wheat are there in Shikuro.] (Clint)
[…….Did they block up the dungeon like the previous case?] (Ryouta)
[It's slightly different from before.] (Clint)
[? Care to elaborate.] (Ryouta)
[The method to defeat the monsters on the 6th to 10th floor of Bismuth are very special, not everyone could do it. And the only adventurers that were issued to do so were the Clifford Family which gathers 97% of the entire market amount. And so, those Clifford Family would price the wheat at a very high price which disrupts the economy.] (Clint)
[I see.] (Ryouta)
Having 97% would basically meant monopolising everything.
[Honestly I'm troubled by it. They didn't take this into an extreme measure. Simply put, "I won't work if it was less than this price." is what they said.] (Clint)
[So it was different from the strike from before.] (Ryouta)
Cliff nodded.
Previously, some idiot tried to monopolise the rice by prevented others from entering, but this was a different case.
Because we're the only ones doing it best, thus we could control the price as we pleased.
[In a sense, it follows the market principle.] (Ryouta)
[But that would be a problem. If the wheat isn't produced anymore, the citizens would make a huge fuss about it.] (Clint)
Well, that's true.
Rice, wheat, and potato.
These are the top 3 primary products that would cause a huge uproar if it were to disappear.
Rice and wheat are staple foods, not to mention, potatoes, though this would be the case on earth, it is one of the top calorie intake surpassing rice even.
Well putting all those aside, losing the production of wheat would cause an uproar to the city.
[If the prices were to increase, then what would happen?] (Ryouta)
[I want to clear this problem before that could happen. Anyways, we want to stabilize necessity items in the market as much as possible.] (Clint)
[I see.] (Ryouta)
[If such a story were to be broadcasted, and something similar were to happen again, confusion would happen all the time.] (Clint)
[You have a point.] (Ryouta)
If it was a luxury item then do whatever you want with it, but something like wheat, it's best to stabilize the prices as much as possible.
It's easily understood.
[Thus.] Clint looked at me.
[Can you do something about it?] Clint said as he tossed an unreasonable challenge to me once again.
[So, that was the gist.] (Ryouta)
Evening and in the living room, I gathered my friends to talk about the story that Clint brought.
Emily, Celeste, Alice, Eve, and Elza who has been dispatched here, and our newly added Cerberus.
I've gathered everyone and explained the situation.
[Bismuth's 6th to 10th floor huh.] (Celeste)
[Do you know something about it, Celeste?] (Ryouta)
[Yeah. Well, it is a rather famous place. Information is circulating, and everyone can't do anything about it.] (Celeste)
[Can't do anything?] (Ryouta)
[Yeah……it's a bit different. If one were to seriously do it, no matter how much effort they put in, but the payoff is too little.] (Celeste)
[I see.] (Ryouta)
I sort of understood the story.
What is most important to adventurers in this world is [efficiency].
A world where everything is dropped in dungeons, meaning [farming] the same monsters to get the same drops everyday to earn a living.
Plus, farming is also meant to exclude [danger] from sight.
Adventurers in this world would not risk themselves to do things that wouldn't benefit their effort.
Looking at it from a gaming perspective, if you're playing an RPG game then even when you're level 10 you would still defeat things lower level then you, that's how the adventurers are in this world.
[So is there some way to do this?] (Ryouta)
[It's possible.] Celeste said.
Amongst us, she is the most knowledgeable and answered immediately without hesitation.
[What should we do?] (Ryouta)
[The strategy is simple, everyone support Ryouta-san and defeat it in one go.] (Celeste) (TLN: Wow it really is, THAT simple.)
Finishing her sentence in one go, I immediately understood her idea.
[And then it's alright to just fire Repetition afterwards right.] (Ryouta)
[Yeap. This could be possible because Ryouta-san having the Ultimate Farming Magic Repetition and Unlimited Recovery Bullet at his disposal] (Celeste)
I see.
[As expected Yoda-san is great nodesu. The problem at hand has already been decided that it would succeed nanodesu.] (Emily)
Emily added. It's true that Repetition and Unlimited Recovery Bullet is a fearsome combo to mass produce stuff.
[Doing it all the time, is bothersome.] Eve pointed out.
It's nice to shoot Repetition with Infinite Recovery Bullet, but this time I would have to fill in the 97% gap that the Clifford Family is holding.
And 97% is the consumption of the entire city which is flourishing.
Speaking of work, this would be an enormous amount of work.
But.
[I think it would be fine.]
This time Elza said.
[In the case of "We're the ones capable of doing it thus we control the price", if someone else were to be able to do it then they would retreat as they would collapse.] (Elza)
[That's true.] (Ryouta)
[The problem that we should be worrying is being attacked by outsiders.] (Elza)
[Outsiders?] (Ryouta)
[Taking the opponent's family as hostage, those kinds of things.] (Elza)
Aah, that's what she meant.
[If that were the case, please leave it to me. I would protect the mansion in Master's stead.] (Cerberus)
[Aah, I'll leave that to you Cerberus.] (Ryouta)
[Yes!] (Cerberus)
As the watchdog of our home said so, 'Gurururu', as he growled loudly.
If there aren't any lightning, he would be pretty reliable.
[As such, let's move immediately, shall we.] I said as my fellow friends all nodded in agreement.
Bismuth Dungeon, 6th floor.
Alice and I arrived here with the Transportation Room.
I was surprised the moment I entered the dungeon.
[This is…….amazing.] (Ryouta)
[Yes, it's beautiful!] (Alice)
Agreeing with Alice's feeling, it is indeed a beautiful dungeon.
There is a thing called a Bismuth Crystal.
Similar to that, the Bismuth Dungeon has an angular structure which shines entirely in rainbow colour.
The stone that broke the wall of the dungeon is also a product of it, which made it beautiful as well.
Alice and I who came here were the first group.
Rather Alice is important for this mission, as Celeste said.
[Still, there really is nobody.] (Ryouta)
[This place seems difficult.] (Alice)
[Moreover, not a single adventurer nor monsters are on sight.] (Ryouta)
I looked around the vicinity of the dungeon.
Yeap, there weren't any monsters.
Amid the vast dungeon shining in rainbow colours, only me and Alice were standing apart.
[That's not true, ermm…..] Alice said as she looked around the dungeon.
[Aah, over there. Counting down from 5, 4, 3, 2, 1……….] (Alice)
Alice looked straight and counted down.
As soon as the countdown reaches zero, a monster appeared as if seeping out from space.
It was a small sized chameleon.
[So that's the monster?] (Ryouta)
[Yep, it seems to only appear for 5 seconds every ten minutes.] (Alice)
[Oh that's true, it's gone now…….I see, this is rather inefficient.] (Ryouta)
I sort of understood it now.
This mass production is difficult unless you have a special way to produce it.
I looked at Alice.
[The countdown just now, it means you know the timing of when it would appear right?] (Ryouta)
[Yeap. I can grasp it. Look, over there, in about 15 seconds one ahead of me would appear.] (Alice)
Looking at where Alice pointed, another individual appeared as she declared.
It appeared, then disappeared again after 5 seconds.
[It appears that you can't attack it when it disappears, and it's pretty hard to spot something of that appearance, so if you make a slight mistake, it would quickly escape.] (Alice)
[I see, this certainly is annoying.] (Ryouta)
I comprehended the scenario.
And was relieved at the same time.
Repetition doesn't even need a second to trigger, and if Alice could point out the spots for me, it would be easy to do so after the second one.
If we could defeat one then the rest would be no problem.
I could see [victory] before my eyes.
Thus, I'm thinking about how to make the maximum firepower necessary to defeat the first one.
[Where is the next one coming?] (Ryouta)
While asking Alice, I proceeded with preparations.
TLN Note: Heeey, finally a cliffhanger!