nAnother Designated Commission

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n“He really did jus’ sleep…”

nIchika mumbled something incomprehensible as we left the inn.

nI’ve gotten used to leaving after just using Cleanup. I left the room tidy this time too… That wasn’t a slip! I planned it from the start! 1

nAaah my muscles hurt today too~. As expected~. I only slept nine hours after all…

n… That’s enough monologuing.

nWell then, what to do next… I bought a slave, which was the my purpose this time. How about we head back?

n“Huh? We’re not headin’ to the guild? Not doin’ another commission?”

n“It’s fine to not be so serious about it, it’s not like I particularly want to be an adventurer you know. It’d be convenient if there was a dungeon at a rank we could dive into though.”

n“C-rank’s good then. Most dungeons have rank limitations y’know?”

nBy rank limitations, she’s talking about the guild not allowing people below that rank to enter.

nYou could still go and die at your own risk, but you won’t be given information on the place while your rank is insufficient. In the case that the dungeon is being managed, you would be treated as poaching and your loot would be seized. Furthermore, you would be fined.

n“By the way, do you know about the Imperial Capital’s White Labyrinth?”

n“Probably all adventurers know about it. It’s a dungeon you can go into startin’ at C-rank in the center of the Imperial Capital. I think there’s other dungeons near it you can go into at any rank though.”

nInside of the book written by Haku-san, Introduction to the Study of Dungeons, ‘Dungeons are natural phenomena, things that could grow. Dungeons that grow up to a certain point are able to form new dungeons, like starting a family.’ The derived dungeon was a new dungeon made by Haku-san for the Dungeon Battle.

nIncidentally, ‘A dungeon will rapidly grow up in a day, or possibly degenerate. This is called the transition phase’ was written in beautiful penmanship in the ‘Dungeon Battle things’ memo.

n“I thought about us going out to visit, so getting a C-rank one would be good.”

n“Heeh, to visit huh, amazin’ confidence… Come to think of it, it was captured to floor fifty-two when I was an adventurer… Has it progressed since then?” 2

nSince it had more than a hundred and fifty floors, I guess saying thirty percent was about right… guess it was pretty difficult?

n“So where’re we goin’?”

n“To our base outside town. We’re returning there.”

n“… Hmm, by outside of town, you don’t mean the slums outside the south gate yeah? If we have to stop for the night on the way, is the base pretty far away?”

n“That’s right. It’s in the mountains. Half a day’s run away.”

n“Then it’s common sense to say something to the guild about it anyways. Well, F-ranks don’t really go that far though.”

nCome to think of it, that gatekeeper said that ‘Receptionist-san was worried’ huh. She actually had ‘that’ attitude though.

nThough I left in a hurry to return last time, there’s not really any pressing reason this time. Why not go by to say something?

n“Alright, there’s no harm in going by to say something. I’m a bit lacking in common sense.”

n“Got it, inform them if you know.”

nIt’s important to have a colleague with the local common sense after all.

nRokuko doesn’t concern herself with a human’s common sense since she is a Dungeon Core, and Meat is ignorant of society from being raised as a slave.

nAs for Haku-san… she knows about human common sense, but I can’t just go and contact her…

nWell, mornings were rush hour in the guild… it wasn’t. The commission notice board was developing its own rush hour and was very crowded though. Maybe I should come back later?

nAlthough Meat looked at the commissions and asked me which ones I wanted her to fetch, I didn’t come to pick one up this time. Just to drop by.

nHmm? Maybe it’d be faster to just go and say something at the counter? Since I can set aside more time to sleep if I get back fast, let’s finish this quickly.

nWell, at the counter was the usual Receptionist-san—… a different person! I saw a different person there for the first time ever!

nShowing my guild card, I decided to greet her.

n“Excuse me, I’m the F-rank adventurer Kehma, but I’ll be leaving the town for a while.”

n“Yes… Ah, I’ll go and get the person in charge of you, so please wait a moment.”

n“Eh? Ah, yes.”

nI decided to quietly wait since I was told to.

nI heard Ichika ask if I did something wrong, but I didn’t really know… did me being a Dungeon Master leak out to the guild?

nAfter waiting for a few moments, the usual Receptionist-san arrived.

n“Good morning.”

n“Ah, yeah, good morning… but why you specifically?”

n“… Come to think of it I didn’t say, did I? I am assigned to you, I look forward to working with you from here on.”

nBy assigned to me, that meant she was my dedicated receptionist. It seems that’s preferential treatment to special adventurers. With a dedicated receptionist, things that would need official documents could be processed with just a few words. That, and dedicated receptionists were obligated to give priority to you over other adventurers. If they saw you lined up for the counter you would be called forward to be processed. Things like that.

nIt also seems like they would tell you economical information and advice.

nThis Receptionist-san’s disposition towards slaves aside, she did her work properly so I there’s no problem with her being my dedicated receptionist.

nBut I’ve been trying to figure out why… oh, that’s it. The Guild Head said Meat and I might be his grandchildren.

n“So, I’m told you’ll be leaving town today…”

n“I’ll be training in the mountains for a bit. I’ve been thinking about setting my sights on the White Labyrinth sooner or later… come to think of it, the Ordinary Cave was an F-rank dungeon right? Is there any problem in me going to check it out?”

n“Training? I understand… Though, even if the Ordinary Cave is definitely a dungeon, don’t be too hopeful. Other than the Dungeon Core, it can’t be called a dungeon. The result from the other day’s investigation was No Abnormalities.”

nLooks like there’s no problem with me going.

n“… Well, please let me know if there’s anything else. And please never raise your hand against the real Dungeon Core. Dungeons are very academically valuable, so they are protected objects… If you make a move against it, an announcement will go out and A-rank adventurers will head to assassinate you.”

nAh, probably a good thing to know… preventing Rokuko from being damaged by threatening others with the title of an A-rank adventurer.

nWhen I asked about its location, she showed me a comparatively crude map compared to the menu’s, saying it was somewhere around where she pointed.

n“Oh yes, by the way, another designated commission came for you.”

nReceptionist-san, who had visibly just recalled something, held out a commission ticket.

nIt was’t one for restroom cleaning. It was for procuring of rabbit meat.

n“I’m told that Kehma-sama’s delivery of meat for producing meat skewers were, rather than being of low quality, were delicious and popular… they sold very well, and sold out in the afternoon. He boasted, saying that from now on he would purchase up to six per day at the max of twelve coppers. If possible, he’d like you to tell him the secret.”

nNow that I think about it, those meat skewers we ate yesterday were from a different stall huh…?

nThat commission certainly did say that the meat was for ‘the next week’, that day was probably yesterday then.

nI didn’t know or else I would have went to that stall to eat some delicious meat skewers.

nWell, Ichika probably wouldn’t have been able to eat any since they were sold out in the afternoon.

n“Hooh! Tasty meat skewers!? You won’t overlook that right? Right? Goshujin-sama!?”

nAh, it looks like I’m going to have to accept the rabbit meat designated commission huh?

nIt’s fine though, I’m not in any particular rush to hurry back.

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nFootnotes:

nThere is supposed to be some sort of thing that sounds dirty like a ‘oops I didn’t mean that’–type thing in this part, but I can’t figure out how to make it work in English. Sorry.Return

nThe way Keima says ‘visit’ can also be read as ‘to play’, a more lighthearted way. Return

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