Preparations
Satou here. It’s important to always be prepared. But if you overdo the prep, you’ll end up saddled with a bunch of useless baggage. I think the best approach is specific mental simulations.
“Welcome back, mister.”
When we left the labyrinth, we ran into Miss Jena of the Lovely Wings, who was leading a group of the explorers’ school students.
“Hey, Jena. You heading out for field training?”
“Yes, it’s our first time.”
Jena seemed almost as nervous as the students behind her.
Maybe I should send one or two of my kids with her? I was a little worried about her being in command on her own for the first time.
“It’s Usasa and Rabibi?”
“And Gaugaru, sir.”
Tama and Pochi spotted some friends among the scholarship students, who were too nervous to give anything but a short wave.
“Do you want to go with them, Tama and Pochi?”
“Can weee?”
“I wanna go, sir.”
I’d had them change into normal gear before we went back to section 1 with Return, so it was probably safe to let them be seen in combat. Just in case, though, I warned them not to participate in battle unless someone’s life was in danger.
“Sorry, Jena, but would you mind taking these two along?”
“I’d be more than happy to have them, but are you sure? Don’t they need a break after being in the labyrinth for so long already?”
“We’re fiiine?”
“Pochi could stay in the labyrinth for months, sir.”
Tama and Pochi puffed up their chests while wiping drool away from their chins; they were probably excited to eat grilled meat in the labyrinth every day.
“We’re bringing kids who aren’t even students…?”
“Do they think this is a game?”
I heard a few students grumbling among themselves.
“You’re gonna eat those words later, you idiots.”
“Yeah, you have no idea how amazing Miss Tama and Miss Pochi are!”
The kids who had seen Tama and Pochi in action before grinned wickedly at the others.
“We’ll be baaack!”
“I’m gonna do my best, sir.”
Unbothered by the students’ comments, Tama and Pochi waved to us brightly and went into the labyrinth with Jena and the others.
On the way home, we checked in on Iruna and the students at the explorers’ school and brought some frog meat to the orphanage as a souvenir.
Apparently, there had been some unwelcome visitors to the mansion while we were gone, including people campaigning to join our floormaster expedition and would-be thieves in the night, but the viceroy’s guards took care of the former, and the latter were caught by students who were camping out as part of their training.
During lunch the next day, Miss Iruna of the Lovely Wings appeared with a group of beastfolk in tow—two rabbitfolk and one ratfolk.
“Mister, this sorry bunch of losers is the Runaway Arrow party I told you about.”
“Don’t call us losers!”
“Why not? Anyway, mister, they’re up to their ears in debt after that chain-rampage incident, just like we were.”
According to Iruna, they’d been there when we first met the Lovely Wings in the maze-ant chain-rampage incident.
I didn’t remember their names or faces, but unlike that nasty Besso and his band of dastardly explorers, I did recall that they’d warned us to run as they passed us.
“Well, we can discuss the idea of long-term employment at…”
…Huh?
As I started speaking, something about the air around us felt strange.
Just as I checked our surroundings, a flock of birds took off from all of the nearby trees at once.
“Whoa!”
“What was that?”
“The birds—”
Before Iruna could finish speaking, the ground shook. It was probably about a magnitude three in Earth terms.
My “Sense Danger” skill didn’t react, but I was still a bit concerned, so I opened my map to look for anything unusual.
The only major change was that the Middle Stratum floormaster was gone, probably defeated by Mr. Jelil and his group.
…Huh?
For some reason, maybe because I’d rescued them as Kuro during their fight, I’d gained titles like Floormaster Slayer: Celivera Labyrinth Middle Stratum and Floormaster Ice Ivy Emperor Slayer.
“Whoa, that was a big one.”
“Are earthquakes common around here?”
“Earthquakes? If you mean earthshakes, there’s only one every few decades.”
Then what was that tremor about?
It definitely seemed like an omen of a demon lord appearing, so I turned on “Miasma Vision” to see if anything looked unusual, but there wasn’t a speck of miasma to be seen anywhere—no, in fact, it was suspiciously clean.
It was almost as if the labyrinth were collecting the miasma it needed from the outside, too.
Suddenly, the purple-furred dogfolk boy Crow came to mind.
Maybe when he disappeared like a ghost, it was because he’d been summoned into the labyrinth along with the miasma it was absorbing.
I didn’t have any proof to support this theory, but for some reason, that was the thought that crossed my mind.
“…Mister?”
“Oh, sorry. I just got a little lost in thought.”
I shook my head, ridding myself of the unanswerable questions I was pondering, and went back to the matter at hand.
“As you may have heard from Iruna, your first week will be a training period. As long as there aren’t any issues in that week, you’ll be hired as instructors. If you decide to quit, please let me know two weeks in advance.”
The three Runaway Arrows nodded.
Judging by their current debts, I could probably count on them to teach for at least three months.
Now that we had more instructors, I should probably start hiring other staff like secretaries and a principal before we opened up fully.
Maybe the guildmaster could help me with that?
“Red Dragon’s Roar has defeated a floormaster!”
Three days after we returned to the surface, I heard this announcement outside the window of the guildmaster’s office as we discussed hiring a principal for the explorers’ school.
So the information had already reached Labyrinth City.
“Looks like they beat you to the punch, Satou.”
The guildmaster turned to look at me from the window and grinned.
“I’d expect no less of Sir Jelil and his fine company.”
She was clearly trying to goad me, but I didn’t take the bait.
“Come on, my man—how can you always be this relaxed?”
“Well, it’s not really a competition.”
The person shouting outside seemed to have been sent ahead by Jelil’s party. Mr. Jelil himself and the rest of his group were still in the Middle Stratum, so they probably wouldn’t be back for another day or two.
“Now, I wonder how many of them will be coming back alive…”
The guildmaster looked anguished. She probably thought of them all as her own grandchildren.
Leaving her to her thoughts, I went about my business for the next few days: training with Mia in the afternoon so she would reach level 50 like the rest of the group and, at night, mass-producing Magic Swords for sale and airships for delivery or working on new equipment for my companions.
A few days later, Mr. Jelil made his triumphant return to the city.
The area around the labyrinth gates was packed with people hoping to see his return with their own eyes; those who couldn’t fit into the plaza overflowed into the food-stall area or in front of the guild.
Soon, a cheer arose from the front of the crowd.
According to my map information, Mr. Jelil and his expedition had emerged from the gates.
“Come up here, Mr. Knight!”
“Yeah, your little ladies can’t see a thing from there, I bet.”
Some explorer acquaintances called out to us from the roof of a nearby shop, so I took them up on their generous offer.
“Thank you very much. The view from here is certainly excellent.”
“Yeah, although you can’t hear a word.” The bearded explorer grinned.
From above, we watched as Jelil and company stepped onto a platform that seemed to have been set up just for the occasion.
He was dressed in sparkling new armor and a crimson cloak, so he must have gone out of his way to change before leaving the labyrinth.
There were special seats in front of the platform for nobles who had supported the group’s venture.
The viceroy’s wife had backed them as well, but I didn’t see her in the seats, probably because Jelil would be going to visit her and the viceroy later.
“Everyone, thank you so much for gathering today to celebrate our return!”
My “Keen Hearing” skill picked up what Jelil was saying.
Seven high-level explorers stood proudly behind him, presumably the core members who’d played the biggest role in defeating the floormaster.
The rest of the group that had participated was standing behind the platform.
Considering the size of their group when we saw them enter, their numbers seemed to have lessened considerably.
“We’ve successfully defeated the Middle Stratum floormaster known as the ice ivy emperor.”
As Mr. Jelil spoke, one of the core members held up a crimson sphere the size of a beach ball.
“Behold! The core of the ice ivy emperor.”
The crowd exploded with cheers, making it difficult to hear what Jelil was saying.
Even my “Keen Hearing” skill couldn’t make out his words amid the noise, so I had Arisa use the Space Magic spell Clairaudience and my original spell Share Information, which was based on the Tactical Talk spell, to make his voice audible to our group.
After introducing the parties who had participated and describing their hard work, Jelil read off the names of those who had fallen in battle, spoke of how bravely they’d fought, and had a priest from the expedition group perform rites for the fallen.
“Now, for those of you who wish to hear the details of our valiant battle, we will let the minstrels cover that later. For now, we shall reveal what most of you are waiting for: the spoils we won from the floormaster.”
The first item Jelil produced was an elegant one-handed sword.
The fire-attribute Magic Sword I’d lent him was hanging at his waist.
“This is an Ice Sword, the Icetree Fang.”
He charged the sword with magic, and the silver blade produced a gust of white snow, ice crystals blossoming around it.
The cheers from the crowd were so wild that I couldn’t tell if they were excited or angry.
Still, I would think an Ice Sword would give your hand frostbite after a while.
Maybe if you used it with a thick, frost-resistant glove?
“This next item is a big one…”
One of the other explorers took over from Jelil to present the rest of the spoils.
The next few included various weapons, like a halberd with a lightning effect, and magic items of all shapes and sizes. There were shrieks from the noblewomen in the crowd at items like an egg-size ruby or a tiara decorated with a large emerald; adamantite and Damascus steel ingots elicited shouts from the bearded merchants.
If this were before I’d visited the Bolenan Forest, I was sure I would’ve been cheering right along with them.
As it was, I watched fairly calmly as the spoils were being introduced, but I couldn’t suppress an exclamation at the next group of items.
“…Ooh!”
“Next we have three scrolls: the Summoning Magic spell Summon Vision, the Ghost Magic spell Create Lesser Undead, and the Space Magic spell Material Transfer!”
The crowd didn’t seem too excited, but I was dying to get my hands on those scrolls, especially that last one.
I probably couldn’t use it for making magic tools, but it sounded useful for delivering letters or evidence while in disguise as Kuro or apprehending criminals.
“Master, looks like there are some Gift Orbs next,” said Arisa.
“I wonder if they’ll have anything good,” I replied.
There appeared to be three of them, so it was possible that one might contain something we could use.
“The first orb contains Poison Resistance, a hot commodity for anyone concerned about their health.”
You mean nobles who are worried about being poisoned?
“The second orb contains Light Magic, the famous signature of Holy Knights.”
This drew cheers from explorers, merchants, and nobles alike.
When I had been drinking with Miss Helmina of the Eight Swordsmen of Shiga and her Holy Knights, they told me that Light Magic was required to become a Holy Knight, so Light Magic orbs were sold at extremely high prices.
“And the final orb is…”
The explorer who was presenting the items froze.
It must be some really incredible item.
“N-no waaaaay!”
Okay, out with it already.
“It’s the mark of a true master swordsman, a ‘Spellblade’ ooooooorb!”
“““Aaaaaaaah!”””
The explorers and merchants roared at this so loudly that I thought the earth might shake again.
It was so loud that the nearby birds flew away.
Arisa tugged on my sleeve and held out a handwritten note.
1. Really? That’s nice.
2. Please give it to me!
3. I’ll take it from you even if I have to kill you!
It was a reference to some famous dialogue tree in a console game.
Surely, nobody would actually go that far for a single orb, right?
Although I guess I’d understand if it contained Chant.
“We’re here!”
There was a celebratory parade being held after the presenting of the spoils, so I went to see it with my companions.
A succession of beautiful young women came first, dressed up showily and scattering rose petals.
Next came Mr. Jelil and company, resplendent in shining armor, eliciting cheers and envy from the young explorers in the crowd.
“This is quite a reception.”
“Sure is. But you realize you won’t always be watching from the sidelines, right?”
“…What?”
Lulu blinked at Arisa.
“Once we defeat a floormaster in the Upper Stratum, we’ll be on the receiving end of all this. So we have to start thinking about our outfits now!” Arisa grinned.
“Mew?”
“We’re gonna be like that, sir?”
Tama’s and Pochi’s eyes widened.
“But of course!” Arisa exclaimed in an old-timey voice.
“Très bieeen?”
“That’s amazingly amazing, sir!”
Tama and Pochi threw up their arms.
“We shall have to work even harder in the meantime, then.”
“Aye-aye!”
“Yes, sir!”
At Liza’s words, Tama and Pochi struck dramatic poses.
“We shall absolutely succeed, I declare.”
“Mm. Agreed.”
“Yes, let’s do our best!”
The other girls all joined the beastfolk trio in declaring their resolve.
“All right, guys, let’s do this!”
“““Woooo!”””
Arisa pumped her fist in the air, her infectious enthusiasm prompting the others to do the same.
And just like that, we headed for the labyrinth.
“All right, I’ll be back in a bit.”
Once we arrived in the labyrinth, we went to an area with relatively strong monsters so the group could practice with their equipment, which I’d finished fine-tuning.
Nana’s, Tama’s, and Pochi’s swords had been revised to use a mostly orichalcum alloy, so now they were as noticeably shiny as the armor. The swords required more magic to expand and contract now, but they’d gotten 30 percent stronger in exchange.
I’d also used blue for the magic circuits, making them resemble a Holy Sword like Liza’s Dragon Claw Spear, which I had altered only by changing the handle to orichalcum. I hoped to try to find a way to enhance Liza’s Magic Cricket Spear soon, because she wanted to keep using it.
“I want to extend invitations to your teachers and stop by the royal capital, too.”
I was planning to invite the elf teachers to witness the girls’ triumph over a floormaster.
“Are you making arrangements for the dummy troops, too? Will it take long?”
“No, I’ll be back by this evening.”
Arisa was referring to finding other members to fight the floormaster alongside our group.
It would frankly be abnormal for a single party of eight people to defeat a floormaster, so I was planning to employ some living dolls, which the elves of Bolenan often used for labor.
Naturally, the girls would be the only ones to do any actual fighting.
“Oh, right—make sure you don’t go near the magi hydra, since it can use a hypnosis attack.”
I gave one final warning before I left.
Since this monster had a magic-neutralizing race-specific ability, it would make a good mock battle for a floormaster, but I forbade them from fighting it out of fear of what might happen if they were hypnotized into attacking one another.
“Awww, c’mon. This veil would protect us from that anyway, right?”
Arisa pointed at the veil I’d added to her new armor.
Because the rear guard’s heads weren’t protected enough, I’d made a circlet with a long veil that would protect them in battle against the floormaster.
Unlike a delicate lace wedding veil, this was made out of golden orichalcum fibers, so it was as resistant to physical and magic attacks as it was beautiful.
“I don’t know for sure. Let’s wait to test it out until I get back.”
“All riiight.”
I’d enhanced the girls’ armor to resist hypnosis, evil eyes, and so on, but you could never be too careful.
I decided to stop by Paradise Island on my way to the Bolenan Forest.
There were many rumors lately about demon lords being revived, so I wanted to get some information on one such candidate, the Dogheaded Demon Lord.
Rei, who lived on Paradise Island, was the last survivor of the Lalakie dynasty and had been alive some twenty thousand years ago when the Dogheaded Demon Lord was last active.
“The Dogheaded Demon Lord?”
Rei looked down despondently.
“Yes, I wanted to know what kind of demon lord he was.”
“I was never on the battlefield, so I can’t say for sure how strong he was. But from what I’ve been told, he was strong enough to easily bring down even the floating castle in spite of its Heavenslight Protection and Divine Wrath Cannon.”
My concentrated laser had been strong enough to break through the Heavenslight Protection, too, but it had warded off the physical and magical attacks of the Sea Lord (which was related to Doghead). It was pretty strong by this world’s standards.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t be any help…”
“No, that was more than enough, thank you.”
Rei hung her head, so I thanked her.
“I wonder if you’re still suffering, longing for freedom… Cr…”
As she turned away, she murmured so quietly that even my “Keen Hearing” skill barely picked it up.
I didn’t catch the rest of the person’s name, but given the context, I was guessing the topic of the Dogheaded Demon Lord had reminded her of an old friend.
I said a silent prayer for this “Cr__” person, who had likely died a violent death at the hands of the demon lord.
“Sister? Are you all right?”
“Don’t worry… It’s nothing.”
Her younger sister, Yuuneia, pressed closer, but Rei just shook her head with a forced smile.
Rei didn’t seem to want to discuss the matter any further, so I took my leave from Paradise Island and moved on to Bolenan Forest.
“You’re going to fight a floormaster already?”
“Reckless.”
“That’ll be dangerous if they’re not at least level fifty.”
When I told our teachers about the plan, they wanted us to wait.
“Don’t worry. They’re all level fifty already.”
At that, the group exclaimed in surprise.
“You’re not doing power leveling, are you?!”
“No, except to catch Mia up on experience points occasionally.”
We’d been using high-efficiency equipment, potions, and restoring their health and magic in battle, but I didn’t think that counted, since they were referring to having someone else weaken a monster and letting a lower-leveled person get the kill to gain experience points.
“All right. Then we’ll accept your offer.”
Mr. Hishirotoya spoke on behalf of the elf teachers.
“Is there anything we can help with?”
“Actually, yes, I did want to ask a favor…”
I explained my request for dummy troops, and they agreed right away to help.
We were fighting the floormaster in three days, so I’d planned to just borrow the living dolls the elves used for labor. However, some of the spriggans, leprechauns, trolls, and other fairies who lived in Bolenan Forest volunteered to come, as well as some beastfolk warriors who lived on the outskirts of the forest.
“You don’t need to come get us. Just give this medal to Lelillil. I’ll harness the power of the dryad and the World Tree to open an Elf Road.”
This came from none other than the high elf Miss Aaze.
Even wearing a smug expression, she was so cute, I wanted to rub my cheek against hers.
“That’s very impressive.”
“Well, it’s only possible because the World Tree has bountiful magic now. That’s all thanks to your help in clearing away the Evil Jellies that were defiling it, Satou.”
Miss Aaze bashfully deflected the compliment by bringing up old times.
Opening an Elf Road straight into Labyrinth City would probably be unwise for several reasons. We decided she would link it to one of the mountains that surrounded the city instead.
“Oh, right. Miss Aaze…”
I asked the high elf if she knew anything about the demon lords who had appeared in Labyrinth City in the past.
“Mm, we rarely interfere with the outside world, so I’m afraid not…”
Besides, demons and demon lords had apparently never attacked the elf forest before.
I asked the elf teachers, too, since they’d been to Labyrinth City before, but they didn’t really have any information; they hadn’t been there for any attacks.
After Miss Aaze bid me farewell to start preparing, I headed to the royal capital to deliver some airships and Magic Swords.
Along the way, I exterminated monsters who were attacking livestock, rescued a noble’s carriage that was being raided, and other such situations that Arisa probably would’ve been thrilled about, but I’ll omit those, since they weren’t particularly notable.
While I was there for the delivery, I met with the Echigoya Company team, but they looked busy with preparing to open the storefront, arranging contracts for carriers between Labyrinth City and the royal capital, and so on, so I didn’t stay for long.
I could probably trust Miss Manager and Tifaleeza to take care of all that.
The girls in the tenement houses in Labyrinth City were beginning work as the Echigoya Company Celivera Branch, too, and I had already registered the former carrier Polina as the head of the branch.
“Satou!”
As was often the case, Mia was the first person to spot me returning with souvenirs from the royal capital. From what I gathered, teleportation spells caused the spirits to flutter about, giving her a few seconds’ advance warning.
When I’d left the labyrinth, the group was at the hunting grounds, but now they had already finished their fighting for the day and returned to the labyrinth vacation home with Arisa’s Space Magic.
“I knew it! It’s master, sir!”
“Welcooome!”
Next, Pochi and Tama came running over from the house.
These two seemed to be able to sense the shift in space or magic that preceded my teleportation. They couldn’t explain how, so I guess even they didn’t really understand what exactly they were sensing.
The three all arrived at once:
Mia jumped at me head-on with a whump.
Tama hopped up as if to clothesline me and landed on my shoulders, wrapped around my neck piggyback-style. She exclaimed, “Glomp!” as she did so, which was probably Arisa’s fault.
Pochi crashed into me headfirst, hard enough to knock out a full-grown bear. I used my Magic Hand to catch her gently so she wouldn’t smack the back of Mia’s head with her knee.
“Arisa saaaid…”
Pochi looked up at me, teary-eyed.
“…What happened?”
I tried to get her to explain, but she just kept whining and repeating, “Arisaaa…,” over and over. Liza often told them not to speak ill of others, so she sometimes had trouble voicing a problem with other people.
“Unstable.”
Mia poked her head out from behind the clinging Pochi to explain, but I didn’t know whether she meant Pochi or Arisa. At times like these, I wished she’d use a few more words.
“Flying off the tooop?”
Does she mean “flying off the handle” or “blowing her top,” maybe?
Still sitting on my shoulders, Tama mussed my hair while peering down at me.
Since I couldn’t get a straight answer out of any of them, I decided to see what was going on with Arisa for myself.
“I brought souvenirs, so why don’t we eat and talk things over?”
“Meeeat?”
“Sweets?”
“A bit of both.”
The three of them all got excited at that.
When my eyes met Pochi’s, she mumbled, “I have a separate stomach for meat, sir!” and looked away, pretending to whistle innocently.
If that was the case, I would love to know exactly what went into her “main” stomach.
“Welcome back, master.”
“Thank you, Lulu.”
I handed Lulu a Garage Bag full of ingredients as she greeted me at the door, and I gave her some instructions on how to prepare them.
As soon as I entered, I heard Arisa arguing loudly.
“Look, that’s what I keep trying to tell you! Our first attack should be a big magic blast from a distance, to take away their weapons and mobility!”
“I disagree. If that attack draws too much ire from the enemy, you and the rest of the rear guard could be in danger, I declare.”
“We could always teleport away to get rid of the aggro.”
“It is far too risky. Besides, they say it is a warrior’s honor to be the first to strike. We in the vanguard should strike to wear down the enemy, and once it goes into rampage mode, you and the rear guard can drive it into a corner with magic.”
“But, Liza, then someone could get hurt in the meantime, like you or Tama and Pochi!”
“Arisa, you should worry about me, too, I insist.”
“But you’re the tank, Nana! You took a triple attack of magic, fire breath, and fangs from a magi hydra without even a scratch, remember? I’m sure you could take on an intermediate demon just as easily!”
“That was only because of my equipment and new abilities, I declare. Any praise for that should be directed to master, I recommend.”
Things seemed to be getting pretty heated.
…Wait, had they fought a magi hydra after I’d specifically warned them not to because of its hypnosis attack?
Unless it went after them first, I’d better give them a good scolding after dinner.
“Ah! Master!”
“Welcome back, sir.”
“I celebrate master’s safe return, I declare.”
Noticing my arrival, Arisa and the others paused their argument to greet me.
“Thanks.” At any rate, I had the gist of the situation now. “So, Arisa, Liza, and Nana were debating over strategy, and you thought they were fighting, Pochi?”
“Yes, but also no, sir.”
Hmm.
“Arisa is going too far, sir.”
“Whaaat? C’mon! I just said Lulu should use her rifle to shoot down a bring bird, that’s all.”
“Arisa, it’s hard enough to hit a bring bird with my laser gun, so it’s asking an awful lot to try and hit it with an actual bullet from a rifle, you know.”
Lulu placed a hand firmly on the table as she rebuked Arisa.
“But you did it before, didn’t you?”
“With a scope, and only when it came to rest on top of a cliff. I don’t think I could hit one flying around like Pochi did.”
Lulu tapped her chin in a cute gesture of thought as she responded, then headed to the kitchen with the ingredients I’d given her.
“So Pochi hit one?”
“Yes, I did, sir…with a Spellblade Shot.”
Pochi mumbled that last part. She must have gotten impatient with trying to hit it with bullets and used the end of the rifle like a sword to fire a Spellblade Shot.
“Pochi’s amaziiing? Curved a Spellblade Shooot!”
Settling onto my knee, Tama looked up at me and gleefully reported Pochi’s accomplishments.
Tama had accidentally fired a curved Spellblade Shot before, but this time it sounded like Pochi had managed to deliberately curve it after firing, like a certain space pirate captain. I’ll have to try that, too, sometime.
“But why were you practicing with a rifle in the first place?”
“In case we need to fight something that’s too dangerous to approach,” Arisa responded.
“Wouldn’t Spellblade Shot be good enough for that?”
“Not if it has magic-neutralizing abilities. Besides, I bet some floormasters can fly, and they’d probably have high resistance to magic. So I wanted to make sure we had some long-distance physical-attack options.”
I see, so that’s what happened.
“In that case, we do have buckshot for the rifle.”
“Yeah, but then we run the risk of friendly fire, and they wouldn’t be strong enough anyway.”
“If you use accelerating bullets, I’m sure even a buckshot could do some serious damage.”
With enough acceleration, one of those could probably even take down a warship.
“Okay, that’s enough of that! We can continue this discussion after dinner, please.”
Having finished preparing the food, Lulu clapped her hands together to get everyone’s attention and declared an end to the debate, which was probably the right move. If someone didn’t forcibly bring it to a close, the discussion could go on until dinner got cold.
“Ooooh! Is this marbled beef? Where did you find it?”
“Yeah, on my way back from the royal capital, I noticed a ranch that was being attacked by giant monsters. I drove the monsters off, and they gave me this as thanks.”
The ranch apparently served the royal family, and as a token of their appreciation, they had given me meat from the Ohmi cattle the monsters had been eating.
The owner had apologized for the “damaged goods,” but it was hard to find fault with the gorgeous combination of lean and fatty meat before my eyes.
But I had to be thankful to the man’s ridiculous standards, since it meant I got paid in goods instead of gold for my services.
Now there were ten huge plates of thin-sliced meat laid out beautifully on the table. And next to that was a particularly shaped pot that was giving off steam.
“Mmmgh… I never thought I’d get to eat shabu-shabu again when I came here!”
“Mr. Meat is so flat, sir?!”
“Dieeet?”
Pochi and Tama lowered themselves to table height to confirm the thinness of the meat, then looked up at me in confusion. They probably thought that meat was best served in big, thick portions.
Heh-heh-heh. I’m about to show them how delightfully wrong they are.
“So this is called shabu-shabu, and it—”
“Forget about that! Let’s just dig in!”
Arisa urgently cut off my explanation, so I let the meal begin.
The big plates of meat were surrounded by bottles of sesame sauce and ponzu, condiment dishes, and other various accoutrements. The condiments included grated daikon radish, carrot, and ginger, as well as minced onions, green perilla, and green onions, plus the leftover sesame seeds from making the sauce, crushed nuts, wasabi, and more, each in its own bowl. This kind of meal was always more fun with lots of options.
I’d thought about preparing some crab and sashimi in addition to the beef, but since this was our first time having shabu-shabu, I decided to focus on the beef only.
“You pick up a single piece of meat with chopsticks like this, dunk it quickly in the hot water, then dip it in sauce and eat it.”
I demonstrated each step as I explained.
First, I sampled the meat with a little bit of plain ponzu sauce. I could immediately see why this ranch was the royal family’s exclusive provider of Ohmi beef.
The quality rivaled the Kobe beef and Matsusaka beef that my company had treated me to a long time ago. The tuna we ate in the south sea might have matched its melt-in-the-mouth texture, but only beef had this distinctively delicious flavor.
“You can use whatever condiments you want, but try it with just the sauce first.”
At my suggestion, Liza picked up a piece of meat and dipped it in the water, her expression unnecessarily intense.
Because some of the girls still weren’t very good with chopsticks, especially Pochi and Tama, I gave them thin tongs to use instead, since it might fall into the water if they used a fork. I made four sets of tongs, each with a different pattern imprinted on the handle: a dog, a cat, a chick, and a rabbit. Nana snatched up the chick-patterned tongs immediately.
“Mmmm. That’s gotta be at least an A5 rank! I could eat this stuff forever.”
“It’s delicious, sir. Ay-five meat is as strong as whale and tuna, sir!”
“Yummyyy?”
“The sesame sauce is invincible, I report.”
“Miss Nana, it’s delicious with ponzu and grated daikon radish, too.”
“Mm. Yummy.”
The whole group praised the meal unilaterally as they ate. Even Mia seemed to enjoy its light taste, despite her usual aversion to meat.
Liza alone was chewing in complete silence, but her eyes were crinkled shut with happiness, so she was probably just absorbed in the flavor. I was happy to let her enjoy it however she saw fit.
Arisa, Pochi, and Tama were stuffing their cheeks like chipmunks. I had over two hundred pounds of the stuff; they could eat as much as they liked, although Arisa should be careful not to overeat.
“Aaaah, sesame sauce still reigns supreme, but ponzu is so good, too! And who knew condiments could totally change the flavor like this?”
“Arisa, you can’t fool me by pushing the wasabi toward me while you say that, sir. Even I learn from experience, sir.”
Pochi saw through Arisa’s plan magnificently but then shrieked when she took a bite out of one of the meat-wrapped green peppers I’d made as a side dish. She must’ve found the spicy one I threw in.
“Sesame sauce, yummy.”
“All so tastyyy?”
“Weh, it’s so good, I’m afraid I’ll eat too much.”
It was fun to watch all of them choose different dipping sauces and condiments.
Lulu was trying to hold off out of fear of gaining weight, but the allure of the Ohmi beef was threatening to break her will.
“Delicious.”
Liza was eating hers in an unusual way: dunking it in the hot water, then adding a little wasabi and soy sauce.
I decided to give it a try. I’d normally reserve that method for sashimi, but it was actually pretty good.
“Myaaa!”
“Spaishee, shir.”
“Tricked.”
Unfortunately, Tama, Pochi, and Mia all decided to copy us, too, and rolled around clutching their mouths and noses.
I burst out laughing despite myself, prompting the three of them to pummel me with their tiny fists.
“Sorry, sorry. Here, drink this.”
I gave the teary-eyed young trio mugs of hot chocolate with extra milk to wash down the wasabi.
“Mmmm, I’m sooo full. Is that hot chocolate? Let’s make chocolate fondue and cheese fondue sometime!”
Noticing the hot chocolate, Arisa came at me with a new request. I’d eaten a lot of cheese fondue back on Earth, but I never had chocolate fondue. It might be fun to try making it once.
“What’s fun-doo, sir?”
“It’s when you put chocolate or cheese on fondue meat. The fondue bird is only found near the clearest of mountain springs, so it’s considered a mythical dish.”
“Fondue huntiiing?”
“Let’s find some, sir!”
“Doubtful.”
Pochi and Tama fell for Arisa’s tall tale, but Mia saw through it immediately.
Apparently, Daisaku the Hero had imparted the knowledge of cheese fondue unto Bolenan Forest, too.
The day after the shabu-shabu feast, I made some medicinal cooking that would be easy on the stomach, but for some reason, everyone shot it down.
“No meeeat!”
“Pochi is sorry, sir. So please give us a liiiiittle bit of meat, sir.”
Tama and Pochi looked up at me with round, pitiful eyes; they seemed to think it was some kind of punishment.
Adorably, Pochi illustrated the “liiiiittle” part by holding two fingers close together.
“Tama. Pochi. It is far beyond our station to make demands of the food master so kindly provides us.”
Liza reprimanded the two, but her voice sounded hollow.
She seemed to be equally shocked about the lack of meat.
I used chicken bones to make the broth, so it shouldn’t taste that bad…
“I don’t want this New Age vegetarian cuisine when I’m not even on a diet! Come on—give us some protein, please! WHERE’S THE BEEF?!”
To my surprise, even Arisa was upset.
I’d included tofu and beans, so there was still plenty of protein.
The other three liked vegetables to begin with, and they ate without complaint.
For the four meat lovers who demanded more protein, I cooked up some whale steaks and let them have as much as they wanted.
However, I stopped Arisa from eating too much, since her metabolism was low by nature as part of the rear guard.
The last thing I wanted was to be stuck dieting with her.
“Thank you for meeting us, Satou.”
As I waited by Labyrinth City’s south gate, I saw one of the elf teachers emerge from the sea of veria plants off the beaten path, with a few troll warriors in tow.
Trolls were a gentle fairy race of small, stout giants with green-tinted skin.
It was difficult to make out their appearance from a distance, since they were all wearing hooded cloaks.
“The others aren’t with you, Mr. Hishirotoya?”
“No, they’re waiting up in the mountains. I thought it might cause a fuss if we all entered at once, so we figured we’d come in groups of five or so, led by those of us who can speak Shigan language.”
That hadn’t even occurred to me; I was grateful for the elves’ foresight.
I used Light Magic to cast an illusion on the trolls to make them look like little giants, a more common race.
Mr. Hiya was wearing an Amulet of Humanity like the one Nana carried, disguising himself as a human.
I’d already told the guards at the south gate that I had guests visiting, so they let everyone through with just a quick check of the group’s size and their races, which of course we had disguised.
“What in the world?”
“Are those the little giants who live in the east?”
“Damn, they’re huge. Even bigger than the ogre I saw in the north once.”
As I led Hiya and company toward the west guild, my “Keen Hearing” skill picked up on the chattering of the townspeople. They had probably never seen trolls before.
“Hey, isn’t that young Master Pendragon leading the way?”
“What’s he doing now? I don’t see the little girls or that chick with the huge rack who’re normally with him.”
“Well, I heard Miss Liza of the Black Spear and Miss Lulu the Maid Queen went into the labyrinth a few days ago.”
It seemed we’d become relatively famous among the young explorers in the city, maybe because of activities like the soup kitchen and such.
“Do you think he’s bringing those little giants with him to beat the floormaster?”
“So he’s gonna let money do the talking for him…? I wonder if he’d hire us, too.”
“Don’t even think about it. If a group who can bring down a beastly areamaster without a scratch is hiring help for this, then we wouldn’t even be useful as meat shields.”
Perfect. I’d accomplished my goal of a big crowd seeing me walking around with hired fighters.
By the time we arrived at the west guild, there were plenty of witnesses.
“Looks like the trolls should be able to enter without a problem.”
The entrance to the guild was huge, so even the ten-foot-tall trolls would be able to walk inside.
“I’m Hishirotoya, a bronze-badge explorer. I’d like to register some group members.”
Hiya held up a rusty bronze badge as he spoke to the receptionist.
“O-of course. Will they be registering as wood badges?”
“That’s fine. I’ll be filling out the paperwork on their behalf, if that’s okay by you.”
The receptionist nodded, and Hiya went about registering the trolls.
We entered the labyrinth, and soon I teleported everyone to the party venue at the labyrinth hot springs with Return.
They’d completed their role already, but I didn’t want to just send them straight back, so I planned to let them enjoy the hot springs with a banquet and booze.
“Lord Satou, you’ve brought trolls first?! No wonder you wanted my help!”
Lelillil, whom I’d asked for help from the Ivy Manor, seemed very excited to welcome guests.
“Let me know if we’re running low on any supplies.”
“Don’t worry—there’s plenty of wine and mead!”
“I’ll let you take care of the welcome party, then.”
“Yes, sir! You can count on me, sir!”
Leaving the rest in the capable hands of Lelillil and her living dolls, I brought Mr. Hiya to the vacation house where the group was waiting for him.
After Hiya, I brought in the rest of the teachers along with spriggans, leprechauns, and other assorted races who were escorting them. The total was near a hundred people.
Fortunately, Lelillil’s grandfather Gillil and some other brownies came along as reinforcements, too, so we managed to set everything up without too much trouble.
I thanked Gillil and the others and brought the last two elf teachers to our original vacation home with Return.
“Yaaay, it’s Miss Poa, sir!”
“Mr. Shiya, hiii?”
Pochi and Tama spotted us first and waved their arms excitedly.
“Hey, Pochi! You been training or what?! Let’s do some practice later! Get your wooden sword ready!”
“Yes, sir!”
Pochi’s teacher, Miss Portomea, grinned as she hefted the magic Blue Rose Sword I’d given her.
Pochi scampered away into her room, then came running back with two wooden Magic Swords held above her head triumphantly. She looked like she was ready to start practicing right this second.
“Tama, you’re well, I see.”
“I’m doing great, indeeeed?! Nin-nin!”
Tama’s teacher, Mr. Shishitouya, was a samurai-like elf. He spoke and carried himself like a noble warrior, but since he looked like a child, he reminded me of a cute little middle schooler trying to seem cool.
These two didn’t look to be in any hurry to start their own training, so I took them into the part of the vacation house where some of the others, like Liza’s teachers, Mr. Gurgapoya and Mr. Yusek; Nana’s teachers, Mr. Keriul and Miss Gimasarua; and Lulu’s self-defense teacher, Mr. Hishirotoya, were waiting.
“Hey, Shiya! Poa’s not with you?”
“She ran off to the garden to spar with Pochi already.”
“Honestly. She’s such a battle maniac.”
“Hear, hear.”
Speaking as a pacifist myself, I felt a kinship with the six teachers here.
“It seems I cannot hold a candle to you, Miss Liza.”
“No, I’ve never faced an opponent so strong as you, Sir Keriul.”
“Is that not counting Satou?”
“Oh, master is in a league of his own.”
Liza and Keriul the dwarf were chatting after their showdown, albeit one that hadn’t involved swords.
The two of them were having less of a “wine tasting” and more of a “meat tasting” in a corner of the living room.
Liza was singing my praises, but I didn’t consider my palate to be anything special. I could pick up on even slight differences in taste because my “Cooking” skill was so high, but I certainly couldn’t distinguish the source or sex of the animal from a single bite like those two.
Although admittedly, I could get that information from my AR display.
Liza and Keriul weren’t the only pair who was in their own little world.
“I thought so! So the biggest threats to watch out for are Neutralize Magic and the rampage mode they enter when their HP is low.”
The shadowfolk man Mr. Seoru was teaching Arisa about some of the dangers of fighting floormasters.
Apparently, he’d been in the party of the elf sage Mr. Trazayuya in Labyrinth City as a scout.
I’d invited him along when I heard that he had experience with defeating a floormaster, too.
“Miss Arisa, you are very strong. But a floormaster is in a class all its own. Even our master, who once drove off a dragon, failed two out of the three times he challenged one. If you determine that you cannot win, it is best to retreat with the utmost haste and wait for the next opportunity instead.”
“Thank you, Mr. Seoru! Don’t worry—we’ll be fine! We’ve got more tricks up our sleeves than you can shake a stick at. We’re gonna crush it tomorrow! And afterward, we’ll make a feast the likes of which you’ve never seen to celebrate!”
Somehow, Mr. Seoru’s warnings seemed only to have stoked the flames of Arisa’s excitement even further.
That’s all well and good, but I’m the one who’s going to have to make that feast, right?
I wished she wouldn’t raise the bar on me like that. Honestly, I felt like my repertoire was starting to run a bit dry.
I knew plenty of fairy cooking that the culinary research group of elves had taught me, but these elves were probably already sick of that.
I’d mostly been making western and Japanese dishes lately, so maybe I should shift my focus to Chinese food or dishes of my own devising.
“Is everybody ready?”
The next morning, I called to my armored-up group.
The vanguard was decked out in the shining orichalcum-alloy armor that had become their recent standard, and the rear guard were similarly resplendent in their magic-boosting orichalcum-fiber dress armor.
I’d made an orichalcum-fiber battle-maid outfit for Lulu, too, but the shining gold didn’t feel right for a maid at all, so I covered it up with a plain layer of black on the outside. The bodysuit she wore underneath was made with silver hide.
Since Lulu was also in charge of protecting Arisa and Mia in case of emergencies, she was almost as heavily armored as Nana, despite being in the rear guard.
“Y-yes, master!” Liza responded in a stiff voice.
They all looked nervous about the upcoming floormaster battle, but the combat leader Liza and the commander Arisa looked particularly alarmed due to their extra responsibilities.
“Yes, sir! We’ve got plenty of box lunches and snacks, sir!”
“And bananas, toooo…?”
“Of course, sir! Bananas are in their own category, sir!”
Pochi and Tama posed with bananas in each hand.
My gaze swiveled toward Arisa immediately, but she was so nervous that she didn’t even notice the accusing stare.
“Equipment inspection is complete as well. The box lunch Lulu made me contains a chick design, I report.”
Fully armored up, Nana produced the pouch containing her bento box from her Fairy Pack and showed it to me.
You three really shouldn’t be prioritizing your lunches over your armor.
“Master, I want to open the gate to the Room of Trials.”
“All right. I’ll help you ‘see’ it, then.”
I projected an image of the Room of Trials, the site where we would battle the floormaster, into the air.
Looking at it to confirm her destination, Arisa used Portal Door to create a gate leading there.
Space Magic spells like Teleport and Portal Door didn’t require seal slates, but in exchange, the user had to know the destination very well or be able to visually confirm it.
“All right, let’s go to the Room of Trials, then.”
We stepped through the gate to the Room of Trials together.
The girls had already cleared the room of monsters the day before. Thanks to them, there were no red dots on my radar now.
I waited for the group to finish preparing with support magic spells.
“So, what do you want to do? Should I be the one to summon the floormaster?”
“It’s okay! I’ll do it!”
It was the most dangerous role, so I volunteered, but Arisa’s eyes shone as she insisted on doing it herself.
“Mr. Seoru said yesterday that you can’t move for about ten seconds after the summoning.”
“I see. Make sure you activate some defensive magic first, though, okay? And don’t let your guard down.”
“Yeah, I know. You’re such a worrywart.”
I refilled Arisa’s magic with Mana Transfer as I gave her a warning.
The group got into battle formation around the edges of the empty center of the room. The kind of magic they used would depend on the type of floormaster that appeared, so Mia was in a position where Nana and Lulu could protect her.
We’d also set up encampment areas, trenches, and pits the previous day.
“Okay! Everyone in position? Let’s get started!”
I used my Wind Magic to relay Arisa’s voice to everyone, since it would otherwise echo throughout the large room.
Arisa placed the core that would cause the summoning in the mysteriously patterned jar on the altar.
“I am one who would defy the impossible! Mortal though I may be, I defy gods and demons alike, even the very fabric of the world!”
In response to Arisa’s melodramatic incantation, red light flooded over the room and formed a summoning circle–like pattern.
“I have come to challenge a floormaster here and now, as proof of that determination!”
The summoning circle began to flicker slowly, almost like a pulse.
“Soon I shall come to thee with three proofs in hand!”
A low rumble began in time with the pulsing of the light, as well as a high-pitched noise like a buzzing in my ears.
“I am the challenger! O trial, appear before me now!”
The summoning circle lit up so brightly that it was almost painful to look at.
And then…
A humanoid figure rose out of the summoning circle.
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