Bab 93: Ikumei's Outburst
Hey, Shun here!
Whilst the idea of making an inn is great and all, don't I have to worry about the supposed people who got 'summoned' to this world as 'Soldier of Gods' from their own Earth or something?
Well, given my current strength that could pretty much rival Chloe, an A-rank adventurer, I think I'd do pretty well even if someone comes. If worst comes to worst, I'd just eliminate them if they turn out to be a pain to deal with.
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(Shun's POV)
"I totally forgot about the quest's submission!" My scream echoed throughout the temporary dungeon core room. I suddenly remembered that there is that investigation quest about my dungeon that I haven't submitted yet.
If I don't report by now, I might be considered dead and a new batch of adventurers will be sent to investigate our dungeon. Right now, we're still not quite ready to receive guests so I have to delay it first by sending a report that nothing in particular changed about the dungeon.
Haku did say that we should do that since we haven't even built our inn yet. Speaking of our inn, I think I'll need a few employees for that.
"…Guess I should pay the town a visit."
By the way, I'm not gonna get employees that could help me in constructing our inn, nope. I'm gonna search for people who could tend to the customers while also doubling as a teacher to Zenko and Ikumei.
Why would I need someone to teach Zenko and Ikumei, you ask? Well, I just noticed that the two are quite out there when it comes to common sense and such so I wanted a native of this world to give me a helping hand in teaching them.
You see. Right now, our squad consists of me, three lolis, a noble amongst all bunnies, a bunch of golems, a bunch of rabbits, and a bunch of rats. As you could probably tell, we weren't equipped to deal with customers.
For starters, I, for one, can't stay behind the counter since I have lots of quests to complete. To do finish them all, I'd probably need to venture out often.
At the same time, customers wouldn't take the inn seriously if they were greeted by receptionist lolis. Customer service was too complicated for golems while our resident bunny and her entourage of rabbits and the rats were just out of the question.
There's also that fact that our inn is, in truth, a part of our dungeon. There were countless secrets we needed to hide, and we couldn't just tell a normal person to keep those secrets.
That leaves me with the last option. Yep, you guessed it. Slaves. I would buy a slave.
I would need to feed and shelter the slave, but thanks to Contract Magic, I didn't need to worry about them spilling our secrets. Zenko and Ikumei are the living proof that slaves could also be great workers.
Well, the main reason why I took them in was because they're cute but let's not touch on that topic. It's a personal preference.
"And so, I'm planning on going to Tsia City. Since we're also going to be in need of employees, I'm planning on buying some new slaves while I'm there." Looking at everyone's expressions, it seems like Roluko was quite cool about all this. Well, I told her what my plan is so it's gonna be more of a surprise if she was clueless.
Zenko is also unmoved by my announcement. This girl is rather mature for her age so I bet she knew what my intention is for buying a new companion for them.
"A-Am I not good enough?!" Ikumei raised her voice in panic. This is the first time I've seen Ikumei really assert herself. She tends to be quiet most of the time so I'm actually quite happy to see her voice her opinion out.
"I-I learned how to read and even use magic! I-I… I'll be even more useful to you, Master! E-Even at night, I'll…!"
Whilst I would love to hear her opinion very much, her words are starting to get quite off topic so I had to stop her by patting her head. It did work out as she eventually calmed down.
Look how cute she is, she's even rubbing her head against the palm of my hands. Oh, Zenko seems to want some head pats too.
Man, doing this is making me miss Pochi and Tama. They like head pats as well.
"It's okay Ikumei, I'm proud that you're doing your best to improve yourself. Self-improvement is always a good thing. Along with Zenko, do your best in helping out your fellow comrade, okay?"
"Yes, master!" It's not Ikumei who gave an immediate answer but Zenko who seems to be enjoying the head pats still.
"Wh-What? Y-You're… You're not going to sell me?"
"Of course not. I won't sell you. So calm down. Listen, I wouldn't have taught you magic if I planned on selling you to begin with. Plus, you know way too much about our dungeon and what's going on behind it. At this point, you wouldn't be able to leave even if you wanted to."
"…Th-Then, I get to be your slave for the rest of my life, right?!" Ikumei spoke happily while wiping away her tears. I guess she's quite right about that. That's an odd way of putting it though. Well, I'll just be happy for her if she's happy.
"Hey, just so you know, there are ways to keep being his slave even after you die. The King-Rank Darkness spell called [Necromancy] can help with that."
"Yes, please use that on me!" Rokuko, come on. Did you really have to say that? You know that you're just putting some farfetched ideas inside of the girl's head, right?
And besides, according to the catalog, a [Necromancy Scroll] costs about 800,000,000 DP. I don't think we'll be able to buy that anytime soon.
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After exchanging 100,000 DP for one thousand silver coins, I put them into my [Wallet]. This should be enough to buy a decent slave, I think?
That's what I hope…
"Are you ready, Shun!?"
While I was packing up the stuffs I needed to take with me before putting it inside [Storage], Roluko came up to me while beaming. It looks like she really like to go around places, now that she experienced it once.
"Yeah. I'll just put this inside my [Storage] and I'll be ready to go. What about Ikumei and Zenko?"
"They're ready as well!"
"Squeak~! Tsuka, too~!" Tsuka said while popping out of Rokuko's head. I don't think you needed to bring anything with you though, Tsuka.
So, after we finished packing our things, I ventured to Tsia City again with Ikumei, Zenko, Rokuko, and Tsuka.
Nothing really eventful happened during our travels as I made sure to clear up the monsters surrounding our dungeon territory everyday, along with the girls who also wanted to learn and help.
We arrived at the city and, coincidentally enough, the same gatekeeper as last time was there.
"Oh, Your Hi—… YOU'RE HERE again, with your friends…" He called out to me. Is he about to say something else?
Anyway, when he asked me why he doesn't seem surprised that I came back late from a quest, he said that it was just normal for adventurers to come back later than planned. This is a world without any trains, after all.
While we were conversing with each other, Tsuka suddenly popped out of Rokuko's shoulders and stared at Mr. Gatekeeper intently
"O-Oh! The rabbit is also here as well, it seems…" We all showed our Adventurer's Guild cards. Tsuka doesn't have one of course.
She actually pouted when she didn't receive her own Adventurer's Guild card. It was kind of cute and interesting, to say the least.
Once we're inside Tsia City, I decided to start things off by heading to the Guild, where I could submit my report regarding my quest and get info on where I could buy a slave.
The same Ms. Receptionist was sitting behind the Guild's front counter so I decided to greet her. However, it seems like her cold personality knows no bounds.
"Oh my, I see you're still alive. Welcome back." Saying something harsh before saying welcome back… Don't you think you got infected by the barbarous way of speaking of those hooligan adventurers, Ms. Receptionist?
"Yeah, some things happened and it took longer to get back than I thought. Oh, right. I would like to submit my report regarding the investigation on the dungeon called [Ordinary Cave]." By the way, this quest is a quest that we all took. I had to help Rokuko, Ikumei, and Zenko to rank up fast the last time we went here in order to be able to take this quest with us as a party.
And so, I began spouting some random excuse that I could think of regarding how everything was normal around [Ordinary Cave]. Of course, I tried to be as vague as possible and didn't say anything that the lie-detecting magic would label as a lie.
"Congratulations on finishing your first F-rank quest as an F-rank adventurer." As usual, she congratulated my quest completion using her cold voice without a trace of warmness in them.
"Thank you, I guess? Oh, right. I want to buy a slave. Do you perhaps know where I could get one?" I tried asking Ms. Receptionist since she's a native of this world and, most importantly, she works at the Adventurer's Guild.
I could probably rely on the Adventurer's Guild introducing me to a good place to buy slaves. It was apparently fairly common for adventurers to use slaves. Ms. Receptionist would definitely know of a place or two where I could buy some good quality slaves.
"…It depends on what you wish to use the slave for. Do you have any plans for them?"
"Plans? Well, yeah, I have quite a lot of things planned for them. I want one with a lot of life experience. Preferably a smart one, too. And… Right. They have to be a girl." Hey, don't look at me like that. While I definitely wouldn't mind having a male slave, that big sister of Rokuko would make a huge fuss if I were to buy a male slave.
As obvious as it already is, she hates men. She apparently 'allows' me to stay with Rokuko since she is assured that I could be a great help to her.
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※~To be continued~※
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Author's Remarks:
※ Alright. One chapter down. Ikumei's a slave, and from the slums one at that. After feeling some warmth, she would obviously do anything in her power to keep it.
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