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 though there were D-Rank adventurers and below training in the upper floors as ever, there were adventurers at the C-Rank level diving into the dungeon to target the Iron Golems. At the moment, it was a bit unreasonable for them to hope for magic sword blade golems.
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?
Exceptions like me could be summoned through the gacha, but there shouldn’t be any things that are non-monster people (What Rokuko calls ‘humans’) or beastkin. [2]
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?
Eh, but I received permission from Rokuko-sama?
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?
Eh? That… other than the additional traps, everything went into my enhancements.
… 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…
… But we have newcomers—though they’re working here as a job—so I guess Rei using the rest how she wanted isn’t a problem?
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.
What is it? You want to use the Godly Comforter?
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.
But it’d be bad if our inn’s secret was exposed though?
It’s not like we’d tell the part-time employees something like that. It’s also not like our inn’s shady. Right?
What about the golems?
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.
What about the cooking?
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 onsen…
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.
It also feels like I was told about something…
Hmm, maybe I should have a talk with them too?
Could you call them over now?
Eh? Hmm, well, it should be alright if it’s right now. It’s about time they got off work.
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.
Footnotes:
This is sort of a joke. He said
Goshuushousama (My condolences), soshite (and) gochisousama (thanks for the treat).
Just one difference in the phonetics. ^^ Return
Note that Rokuko only ever refers to humans with ‘ningen (human)’ in katakana, rather than in kanji. It hasn’t been important to the story so far, so I haven’t mentioned it, though… Return
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.
