Uzoh and Muzoh came to a new dungeon in search of a magic sword.
The area was under the Demon King’s rule. There were many yet untouched dungeons here and among them were dungeons that held magic swords.
“Were we a bit reckless this time, Uzoh?”
“Maybe, Muzoh.”
Their one-year deadline they’d made with Kehma was approaching.
Even though it was a bit reckless of them to do so, that’s why there was a very strong-looking monster walking down the passage in front of them.
It was a white wolf that was even taller than a human. If they recalled correctly, its was called a Fenrir…? At any rate, they could tell it was dangerous with just a glance. Because of that, as the room they’d escaped to was a safety zone, even though it had saved their lives—it was a dead end.
“Should we resolve ourselves here? Uzoh.”
“What do we do? We do have around a month’s food this time though.”
“Maybe it’ll head off somewhere within a month? Let’s try waiting.”
“Maybe.”
Three days passed since then, but the Fenrir was still there.
They were eating the preserved foods that had the least amount of time they’d keep for… and had a lot of free time.
“Hey, I wonder if trying to attack it from within the safety zone would work…”
“That’d be bad.”
Since they didn’t have anything to do in particular, the Uzoh Muzoh brothers decided to play dice. They’d learned that preparing ‘tools for killing time’ was a good idea as well. Dice didn’t take up much space, so they were great as something that adventurers had to carry around with them.
“Five chips, I roll two, Muzoh.”
“Roll! … Dangit, snake eyes!”
“I got a four. It’s my win, Uzoh.”
The Uzoh Muzoh brothers were exchanging a small amount of copper coins back and forth. They were limited by the what they had on hand, so it wasn’t like they were seriously betting money. Instead, it was just a normal game they used real money for chips.
When they finished, they’d reset their amounts and start another name. After playing many times, they didn’t know how many times they’d won or lost. That’s how they passed the time.
“Still though, we’re stuck in a room. This is just like with that magic sword one.”
“Least we have food this time. I don’t know if help with come this time, though.”
Bored, Uzoh started to examine the room.
Clink, clink… rolling across the floor, the six-sided die landed on a six.
“… How about we wait around another six days? If no one’s come to help and if that thing hasn’t left, we’ll try attacking it.”
“Yeah…”
It was when he tried to pick up the dice.
When he knocked his knuckles against it, it sounded as though it were hollow.
“Muzoh, there’s something here.”
“Huh? What’s up?”
He used a dagger to rip up the floorboard. When he did that, what they saw was a sword.
They also saw that it had a magic stone in it.
“Ooh! We did it, it’s a magic sword!”
“No way. This place is different from that dungeon, Muzoh.”
“No clue. Let’s try putting some magical power into it?”
Muzoh picked up the magic sword and filled it with magical power.
They then collapsed.
“O-oi!? Muzoh… fuwaaah… w-what the…?”
“Aah… I’m alright, just super… tired…?”
Apparently, the sword had the effect of indiscriminately spreading around sleepiness.
That was dangerous. The effect attacked indiscriminately, so that means that the safety zone had collapsed… no, if that sleep wound up as being regarded as an attack, the safety zone was still unsafe.
“Hey, couldn’t we beat it since it’s asleep?”
“Ah, right. Uzoh.”
… And then Uzoh stepped on something.
[Guruuuu!]
The Fenrir howled.
They fled into the safety zone at a dash, holding their weapons as faced the entrance.
“Oi, Uzoh… don’t step on its tail!”
“Yeah, sorry about that…”
At any rate, the Fenrir had woken up and was glaring at them… The safety zone appeared to still be in effect. They took a breather.
“… Phew. Muzoh, what do we do?”
“… War of attrition?”
It was at that time.
“Oh, found a Fenrir… what’s it doing?”
A youth with dark red hair came walking up from behind the Fenrir. Both casually and without any hesitation. It was entirely as though he were strolling through a garden.
“Oi, it’s dangerous!”
“Nn? … Ah, adventurers?”
He warded off the Fenrir as it tried to bite him with its fangs with the sword in his hand.
Forcefully pushed away, the Fenrir face planted into the ground.
“It’s all good with you guys if I take this one yeah? It is, right?”
“Eh? Y-yeah, sure.”
A youth even smaller than him was taking on the Fenrir like he was toying with it. It looked like a joke, but the only thing the Uzoh Muzoh brothers could do in that situation was just stare.
A few minutes later, the Fenrir that had given them such a frightening feeling collapsed onto the ground covered in wounds.
“Good, it’s not dead. Successfully captured it alive… Ah, right. Seriously, that Jiji told us to do something so troublesome.”
The youth was talking with his sword. It was clad in fire, so it was unmistakably a magic sword.
However, for him to talk with the magic sword… well, maybe there were talking magic swords?
“This should be good enough for today… Will you guys be getting in my way?”
“What’re you saying, you just saved us! Ha ha ha.”
“… That so? I’m off, then.”
Saying that, the youth left in the same way he came. However, this time, he was dragging the Fenrir by the tail behind him.
“We survived somehow, Uzoh.”
“Ah, we forgot to thank him… we have to give him our thanks next time, Muzoh.”
They didn’t know just how strong that person was, but he was definitely powerful. They hadn’t heard of him, but if he was an adventurer, his name would rise up soon enough. It’d be fine if they give him their thanks if they happened to meet him again.
Either way, with the Fenrir’s threat gone, the two were able to return to the Raverio Empire’s Imperial Capital virtually unharmed.
Having returned from the dungeon, the two carried with them a magic sword.
… With this, they’d be able to face Kehma. They finally got a magic sword for him.
“We finally obtained a magic sword…”
“Yeah, let’s take it to a shop. If we sell it, we should be able to buy another magic sword if we include our savings.”
The appraisal’s result was that its effect caused everything in the surrounding area to be indiscriminately affected by drowsiness. And that they’d buy it for a single gold coin… That wasn’t a bad price for a normal sword, but it was considerably low for a magic sword.
“Maybe we could sell it for its sleep-inducing effect, Muzoh?”
“It wouldn’t even do anything for someone that doesn’t have magical power. And keeping a weapon nearby when you’re going to sleep would just increase the danger if you didn’t know how to do it right, so aristocrats wouldn’t take it either.”
“It’s unusable, huh. So there’s no helping the price… rather, it’s obvious it would be so low. Haaah.”
He sighed.
He thought that they’d be able to buy a new magic sword if they combined its sale price with their savings, but it turned out they wouldn’t be able to… They would be able to buy a bad magic sword that had demerits like their current one, though.
“Maybe we could buy a magic sword without any demerits to it if we worked a bit more and took on some debt?”
“Maybe… how about we check the Imperial Capital’s high paying commissions?”
Temporarily putting aside selling the magic sword, they went to the Imperial Capital’s Adventurer Guild.
However, just as they accepted the commission, they came across a rather unexpected person.
“Huh, aren’t you Kehma-san? Why’re you in a place like this?”
“Hmm? Who is it?”
It was Kehma, the person who saved their lives. However, it appeared he didn’t remember them.
Once again experiencing how great of a person their benefactor was, they decided that they would absolutely repay his kindness.
Listening to him, it appeared that the dungeon had changed a lot.
It had been a year since then. Yeah, the one year time limit.”
“Ah—umm, Kehma-san. There is something that we have to apologize for.”
“We said that we’d get a hold of a magic sword and give it to you within a year, but, uhh…”
They were being awkwardly evasive about it, but Kehma seemed to have figured it out. And then—
“What, the magic sword? Don’t worry about it, I don’t mind even if I have to wait another year.”
Saying that so readily, it looked like he really didn’t expect to be rewarded for saving people.
Much like an excuse, they blurted out the thing about the magic sword they came across, despite it being a magic sword that had a demerit.
“Alright, show me it. Quick, take it out, quick!”
Saying that, Kehma was handed the magic sword by Uzoh and Muzoh to look over it. He then pulled it out of its sheathe to check its demerit.
“I’ve never seen such an amazing magic sword. I’m alright with this. No… I’m super good with this!”
—He really wanted the magic sword.
The magic sword that had a demerit. The magic sword that Uzoh and Muzoh had risked their lives to obtain.
“Kehma-san…!”
“I like it. Can I keep it?”
He looked truly happy. Right, rather then it being a magic sword, he was definitely looking at it as [The magic sword they got within the year]. Something that they got to keep their promise, making him glad.
“It’s a bit used, but here. Take it.”
“This is the same magic sword from when you guys were trapped in the [Avarice Trap].”
Of all things that could’ve happened, he gave them the magic sword that was at his waist as though to exchange it with them.
Furthermore, he gave them another one since they were a duo.
“A-are you sure?”
“Yeah, think of it as my appreciation for keeping your promise.”
Was he a saint?
They weren’t asked to give him anything back this time—but they would definitely repay this debt of gratitude.
“Golen Village, was it? Looks like Kehma-san’s the Village Chief, Uzoh.”
“Settling down in and working for the village doesn’t sound so bad huh, Muzoh?”
They didn’t need to buy a magic sword anymore, so even with travelling expenses, they’d still have room to spare.
The Uzoh Muzoh brothers decided to finish the commission they just accepted and head over to the village.
Sleepsword Siesta wound up being added to the dungeon’s named monster list.
I was careless. Looks like the magic sword was a monster.
Because of that, I headed back to the dungeon, [Cave of Desires].
I was just going through it all day-by-day, but that really did take a while. Let’s check over the situation again. After sleeping for a day, I called for Rei.
“Let me check over what’s going on, yeah?”
“Yes, master.”
First of all was the dungeon.
Even if the riddle area’s gone, making it down the spiral staircase just beyond that is a spectacular way to risk your life… Nn? There are more traps there now. Why are there places that have spears popping out from the walls?
“Ah, there were quite a few adventurers making it to the warehouse area, so I added them.”
“Hmm. Good decision. It’d be troublesome if too many of them got blade golems from the warehouse.”
So Rei’s the one that added them? She did a great job with that.
“How many people have made it to the warehouse area?”
“Eight parties. One party was annihilated at the spiral staircase, four parties just examined the Irregular Golems, and for the magic swords that the final three parties took away, three swords were stone, with the other three being iron, six swords in total. No parties made it beyond the warehouse.”
So one party was annihilated? My condolences, and thanks for the treat. [1]
So six blade golems shipped in a month… that might be a good pace? Let’s replenish them later.
“The inn?”
“We now have five people after gaining two new people, but there nothing is particularly different. There wouldn’t be much fluctuation in customers within a month, after all.”
Well, that’s how it’d be even with getting new staff. Two new people are working at the inn now. It looks like they’re staying at the inn, but maybe I should expand the employee dormitory? The Dungeon Battle’s over, so it should be peaceful for a little while.
“Come to think of it, what sort of monsters are those newcomers? They both had cat ears, so are they a were beast-type like Misha?”
“Umm, they aren’t monsters. They’re beastkin.”
… Beastkin? Could those be summoned with DP?
At the very least, it’s not in my catalog. I don’t think that Rei would be able to summon something that I, the Dungeon Master, can’t though…
“How did you summon them with DP?”
“Ah, I did not use DP. I fed and employed the passing beastkin adventurers. I went with master’s beloved policy of getting the maximum result at the lowest cost.”
Rei spoke with a smile filling her face.
“Umm. In other words, they’re not under the dungeon’s control?”
“They aren’t, but is that a problem?”
… How could it not be a problem!?
“No, wait, wait. I haven’t heard anything though?”
“Seriously? … I’ll talk to her later… well, umm. Isn’t them not being under the dungeon’s control a problem?”
“They are only doing the things in the inn, so they are temporarily employed through the Adventurer Guild acting as an intermediary. There haven’t been any problems in the last two weeks.”
It’s alright then… I guess?
“We can simply report to the guild if they cause any sort of problem, so we only need to deal with them if our secret is exposed. There are no problems.”
“Oh, so clear-cut…”
Able to think about things so unexpectedly severe, Rei is a precious existence for our dungeon. I’ve usually been making those kinds of decisions, but I’ve gotten a bit more easy-going.
I sat up and started over.
“What did you do with the 50,000 DP I gave you?”
“… Huh? Rei’s enhancements?”
“Yes. My enhancements. It was to increase the dungeon’s fighting capability.”
Hold up. That was meant to be used to summon newcomers…
Hmm, I’m a bit bothered that she used it to strengthen herself, but it’s Rei. Let’s just go with it being alright.
“That so? How are Kinue-san and Nerune doing?”
“Kinue has been working on increasing her cooking repertoire. Nerune has been absorbed in studying magic formations. She is still excited over the magic tools you gave her.”
Kinue-san’s buying cooking recipes with her salary, while Nerune’s been excitedly talking to Kantra about magic formations. Looks like they’re both living their lives to the fullest.
As for Rei, it looks like she was happy that I had left my work to her. It’s great that she’s so loyal.
I heard enough, so I decided to go see Rokuko.
Naturally, it was to talk about the newcomers.
“Oi Rokuko! Let’s talk for a bit.”
“That’s that and this is this. It’s about the new people we hired.”
“Eh, even though it’s been so long?”
It might’ve been ‘so long’ to Rokuko, but I just heard about it for the first time.
“They were just hired through the Adventurer Guild. Rei suggested it and I thought about it.”
“It’s not like we’d tell the part-time employees something like that. It’s also not like our inn’s shady. Right?”
“They’re just ordinary Clay Golems that Kehma summoned. We’re going with the pretense that you’re resupplying their magical power, it’s not weird at all.”
“Kinue’s doing the cooking. We barely use DP to get food nowadays, and although we use DP for the ingredients, it just looks like we’re getting it from the storehouse and [Storage].”
“The part-timers are entrusted with the inn’s reception and serving customers in the dining area. Cleaning is taken care of through [Cleanup] and Kinue’s hobbies, while the hot water is just seen as [Some sort of magic tool]. Ah, the reception’s register is like that too.”
Huh? Somehow… did Rokuko just defeat me in logic? I can’t argue at all.
It looks like the part-timers aren’t a problem at all. Rather, isn’t it a good idea to hire part-timers and concentrate wholly on the dungeon?
“By the way, we’re offering meals and rooms to the part-timers for free for their payment. We’re paying a bit to the guild for the handling charges, but considering the inn’s profits, it’s tiny.”
… Rokuko’s seriously grown up recently.
“By the way, were they interviewed?”
“Un, by me, Rei, and Ichika. Rather, I called for you too, but you were asleep.”
Come to think of it, there was a time when Rokuko came back here during the stuff with the Dungeon Battle huh.
Hmm, maybe I should have a talk with them too?
“Could you call them over now?”
“In that case, please call them in for an interview.”
“Got it. I’ll tell Rei. Don’t fall asleep waiting alright?”
Rokuko got in touch with Rei.
All things considered, those part-timers… what kind of people are they? I’m basically on their employer’s side, so I have to be stern… Aah, I’m getting nervous.
Author Note:
We’re finally at 200… thinking back, it’s already been one and a half years since I started this series hasn’t it? As always, thank you so much.