nLet’s Pay Back the Loan

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nThe number of staff that can manage the dungeon has increased.

nThat is in other words, the dungeon can be managed without it being unreasonable even if it was larger.

nFor the time being, let’s expand the dungeon towards Sia. The underground can be used for whatever.

nCome to think of it, I’ve been expanding the dungeon’s domain above ground, but it’ll become something hard to deal with if I don’t divide it into different floors and an intruder enters.

nI didn’t split Great Tsuia Mountain Tunnel into multiple floors at first, so I wasn’t able to remodel anything if there was even a single person inside it. I had to rush and divide it into floors by separating it into several blocks.

nEven the plaza in front of where people enter the dungeon that the inn is at is on a different floor from the dungeon.

n… It seems it can become a floor even if it isn’t divided with a staircase, just what is a floor…? I’ve been trying to figure that out recently.

nFurthermore, it takes 5,000 DP to set a floor.

nAlthough we have more income now than we used to… it’s still a pretty big expense. I wonder how much days’ profit it is?

nAdventurers that come here are between E and C-Rank. That’s around 30-80 DP generated per person naturally. Parties are somewhere between two and five people and two or three parties enter at a time.

nThe amount of DP produced doubles when they’re shut in one of the inn’s rooms too, and there’s also the inn’s income… the calculations are complicated. Should I make an accounting book? … Sounds bothersome. Let’s hope that Menu-san gets a feature like that sometime.

nAlso, Haku-san leaves stuff like payments or tips to Rokuko whenever she comes to stay even if we start losing DP, so maybe there’s not much of a reason to figure it out? That woman really does spend lavishly.

nCream soda is her favorite so she orders one immediately, one at dinner, one when taking a bath and another when going to bed. She buys each one with a gold coin and even gives Rokuko 5,000 DP tips. She has that kind of condition. She’s too kind to her imouto.

nAt any rate, I should probably add more floors and move the boss room down.

nAlthough the riddle area still hasn’t been captured, I’m a bit uneasy that the only things guarding after it’s broken through are golems.

nLet’s assume there’s an adventurer that specializes in golems. That person would win against golems easily.

nIf they went beyond the riddle area, our dungeon, Cave of Desires, would be laid bare.

n… Golems can only use physical attacks huh… At minimum, I’d like some guys that could use magic attacks.

nFor that, it’d be necessary to use DP.

n“Let’s raise some money.”

n“What’s the matter, Kehma? Why so sudden? We’re getting a lot of money from the inn and toll fee aren’t we?”

nCome to think of it, I still haven’t returned the DP I borrowed from Rokuko for that dungeon battle against Flame Cavern huh.

nRather, when I added floors in a rush to to deal with the problem of not being able to remodel the dungeon, I borrowed even more. I handed her gold coins as collateral, but Rokuko couldn’t use them herself even if she has the gold coins…

n“I want to return the DP I borrowed from Rokuko.”

n“I don’t mind. Kehma and I are partners in body and mind after all.”

n“It’s because you’re my important partner that I have to do this properly. I don’t want anything strange to happen and it get complicated.”

n“… If Kehma says so, well let’s do it properly then? Fufun, you’re my important partner after all! Don’t want it to get complicated you know!”

nRokuko looks like she’s really happy for some reason. After being alone for so many years, she’s probably happy that she has someone as a partner I guess.

nI opened the menu and checked how much DP I had.

n“Let’s see, you’ve borrowed 53,000 DP so far? I’m holding fifty three gold coins as collateral… How much DP does the dungeon have without mine?”

n“Since we summoned those three the other day… just short of 9,000 remaining.”

nI handed her the gold coins as collateral, but since they would be worth 53,000 DP if we used them as is, the loan is exactly zero’d out. But it would take an incredible 530,000 DP to get fifty three gold coins.

nSince there was a difference in the exchange rates, it’s best to use money for money and DP for DP.

nIt’s better to earn enough DP to pay it back.

n“Since we’re mostly even if I used the collateral, you could just pay it back eventually with the inn’s business you know? You even have sugar to sell you know?”

n“… Even though that’s also true, I’ve still been anxious about it. I can’t sleep calmly when I’m anxious.”

nNow then, I have an idea to make money. Remember the beet-radish field I made before?

nThose beet-radishes were finally harvested the other day. We’ll be making sugar from now on.

n“Sugar is a treasure… so it’ll definitely become a lot of DP!”

n“Oh, but you got those seeds with DP… will it be alright?”

n“Even gold coins bought with DP can turn back into DP, so it’s theoretically alright… The only question is how much DP it’ll become, I guess.”

nFirst I turned one of them into DP as-is… it became 5 DP.

n“Ooh, it went up, it went up!”

nSince one seed set (5 DP) can be harvested as fifty radishes, even just that is a fifty-fold return.

nI wonder if it’ll be worth even more when it’s refined into sugar?

n…

nHuh? How do you refine it into sugar?

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n*

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nEven though it was crazy hard, I managed to make some kind of brownish mass of sugar.

nRokuko saved me after I messed up twice by saying, “Come to think of it, couldn’t you get the recipe with DP?”… It cost 20 DP to buy.

nAfter I crushed it into small pieces, I put it into hot water to boil it down and dissolve the sugar.

n“That was very tough.”

n“Yeah, thanks for helping out Kinue-san.”

nKinue-san had also helped with the cooking work. I mean, she’s really skilled. If Kinue-san didn’t help I probably would’ve burned it a few times at the least.

n“Hey Kehma. Why do you attach San to Kinue?”

n“… Just because? Well, no, she’s turned into something like the dorm mother for the employee dormitory.”

nShe has this gentle atmosphere and loves to clean, so she’s overflowing with a motherly feeling.

nWhen I gave her a bamboo broom, she’d go outside and sweep on her own volition.

n“Now then, the sugar’s… brown, but how do you make it white?”

nUnfortunately, the recipe ended at the point of making the sugar.

nFor now, I converted one beet-radish’s portion into DP.

n… 10 DP huh. It doubled.

n“Got our money’s worth from the recipe. Guess I’ll leave it to golems… Kinue-san, please give directions to the golems.”

n“Certainly, master.”

nWell, with this forty-seven beet-radishes became 470 DP.

nWith that, 5 DP becomes 500 DP… Yep, isn’t that awesome? If I sold it to a merchant, it’d probably be even more efficient by turning the money into DP.

nThat means one hundred of them are worth 50,000 DP… Maybe I should expand the field? No, couldn’t I make a field in the dungeon?

nKukuku, the agricultural king dungeon… sounds nice. It really sounds like an idyllic and peaceful dungeon.

n“But how many days does that take? You said 500 DP, but doesn’t locking a human party up in the magic sword test room for even a single day get that a lot faster?”

n… Which reminds me. There’s that aristocrat and his party of followers that’s been locked up since yesterday. They’re giving us 500 DP a day.

nSince they’re locked up with a jail door too, with the prison effect (x3) and locked-up effect (x2), we’re getting six times the normal amount.

n“Isn’t it better to think about another way?”

n“No, well, yeah, I guess…”

nDammit, even though I thought that I’d come up with a perfect strategy…

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n*

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nAnd so I changed plans, deciding to sell Ontentoo a figurine made with a golem.

nIt sold.

nWhen I called Ontentoo—

n“I’m in possession of a Tsuia Mountain dragon figurine. How about giving it to Redra as a present?”

nThen, when I showed him the gold-plated dragon figurine—

nHeeh, that thing there’s nice, Redra’d like it.

nHe bought it for asking price.

nEven though I just started out with 100,000 DP…

nWell that’s about right yeah? Hahaha.

nHe paid it in full with a hearty laugh.

n100,000 DP. Thinking about the 5 DP sweet-roll assortment, that’d be worth around 10,000,000 yen.

nA ridiculous price! Just what the heck is he doing for income?

nAnd so I obtained 100,000 DP and repaid the loan. It ended so easily it’s kind of anticlimactic…

n… What was my anxiety for!

n“But didn’t it take you three days to make that gold-plated figurine?”

n“No no, it’s just comparing these three days’ income… against the laborious agriculture that finally gave 500 DP…”

n“You definitely aren’t suited for agriculture, you know.”

nThat’s right, I am a dungeon master after all. Agriculture is just an extra.

nBut I can still get fresh vegetables, let’s have the golems keep on working the fields from now on. Maybe I should sell the beet-radishes to merchants as sugar?

n… I-it’s not like I’m attached to it! It’s just a side job! And even dust can build up into a mountain you know!?

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