Chapter 195: Such is fateâs predetermined causality, or to put it simply, I donât have money so hand them over?
Day 56 â Morning, White Weirdo Inn.
ăWelcome back. You havenât slept, right? The pres said that you should take a rest today.ă
ăWe are going to wander around the middle floors with several parties, so it will be alright. Weâll make a buck~, and weâll buy lunch boxes too~.ă
ăăăWelcome back.ăăă
Which reminds me, there was supposed to be a lunchbox sale. Well, I already finished all of the preparations, whatâs left is only to fry and cook. Itâs fatty, but having high-calorie food is not a problem if they are going to wander around in dungeons. Yes, definitely not an issue. Itâs not my fault that itâs so greasy and fatty? In the first place, I announced beforehand that todayâs lunch boxes are ăGyoza and fried riceă. They should be fully resolved for what is awaiting them inside. Those daring and brave challengers. But they are probably going to lose. At the very least limit yourself to 3 boxes?
ăI also prepared breakfast. A set meal of fried fish, mushroom rice, and an omelet? Come and get it, itâs cheap? Itâs actually not, but if you believe that itâs cheap it most likely will be?ă
ăăăWeâll have it!ăăă
The day started with me obtaining a small fortune. The general storeâs shopkeeper wonât be back for a while, so maybe I should check on the old man from the weapon store? Iâd like to gather money from him, but I also would like to start mass production of weapons and armor. War or whatever, the soldiers are going to be ripped off by me through the massage chairs scheme, so Iâm not letting them die? The enemy is probably thinking of winning through high-grade gear. I canât think of any paths to victory for them aside from inducing poison and abnormal status effects. I wonder what are they going to do if their high-grade equipment gets destroyed and debuffs wonât work? And how the heck are they planning to get an army through the Fake Dungeon? Well, I have no intentions of letting them pass, and no reason to let them fight a war too. I guess the problem is Royal Girl? She is strong, but her leadership ability poses an even bigger threat. In battle, she would be a troublesome enemy, but in all other aspects, she is pretty frail. Well, she is broken in quite a few ways already, so this shouldnât be an issue. If the whole army goes ăFEEEVER!ă, itâll be over in an instant.
After dropping by the textile manufactory to check how itâs running and making some small improvements I head to the weapon store.
ăOld man, show me the money? Or rather, give me everything youâve got? To be frank, Iâll take every penny even if you donât cooperate? Such is fateâs predetermined causality, or to put it in simpler terms, I donât have money so like hand it over? Even if you donât like it, Iâm taking it anyway? It was destined to be? Sort of? ă
ăDonât you sound worse than a robber now? For now, I prepared the payment, be it in installments or whatever I still have to pay for the building, right? So just take it and go, if plunder is what you came for. Also, Iâll buy the bows you made the other day? Enchanted accessories are also about to sell out.ă
The old man is just as old, bald and man as always, but he is properly working as a blacksmith today! Well, a blacksmith busy polishing clubs was an abnormality, to begin with, but this is an unusual sight anyway.
ăWait for a moment. I finally got a supply of decent iron, so Iâm buried with orders. Well, Iâll finally get to call myself a blacksmith. ă
His spirit was smoldering all this time. Denied of iron in the frontier he had nothing to do nor any weapons to sell, so he at the very least tried to purchase clubs to provide adventurers with something. And that blacksmith finally got a supply of iron. The smoldering spirit burst into flames.
The old man has the same sour mug for a face as always, but somehow, his eyes look different, and hints of a smile can be seen in his expression. After all, he finally called himself a blacksmith. Since he had no iron he used wood and iron scraps that he was able to get to make usable weapons. It mustâve been vexing, being unable to make anything better than such makeshift weapons, since this also mustâve been a reason for the deaths of adventurers and soldiers. And now he can make weapons. Real weapons. He was finally released from the powerlessness of being unable to do anything.
Even so, he kept his spirit smoldering, even when he was unable to make a single sword, he kept his fire burning, not letting it die even once, not giving up even when he had no metal available at all, and now, he was finally set free, so such a devilish grin is only natural. After all, having all that skill and talent and keeping motivation up this whole time he finally had his long-cherished desire granted.
ăWell then, I have weapons too, but you prefer this, right? I have tons of it, and can pick as much as I want for free? Also, if there is anything that you want, then make a list, Iâll look for it.ă
He used up almost all of the iron that Iâd given him earlier, just how long has he been smithing already? So I left a mountain of iron, silver, copper, and coal. And also someăGyoza and fried rice setălunch boxes. He also has apprentices, they are likely to eat 3 boxes each, but 40 boxes should be enough. Plus some already enchanted magic stones and dust, I think he should be able to make good use of them. This old man has Alchemy and his Smithing is Lv Max. Being unable to use them was quite an extreme waste of talent, so he is probably dying to fully utilize them. And this will also help with getting rid of some of my home industry work.
Now that itâs finally time for rest, there is nothing to do.
There are lots of things Iâd like to do, but Armored Pres-san left as an observer. In other words, I have no one to do!
Slime-san also left as an instructor. Since they split into two groups, both left with them. Nothing would happen in a dungeon. Since they are already on the middle floors there is nothing to worry about. And the bigger the group gets the stronger they become. If itâs a raid group then even unlikely worst-case scenarios can be ruled out. But the war is near, which means, if Stalker Girlâs clan had time to bring information back, then the enemy also had time to send in someone. Is a beautiful female assassin finally coming? This is getting hot! No, wait, it might be a beautiful female spy as well? I have to prepare a welcome! Or maybe a beautiful female agent? This gets my hopes up! Well, as long as itâs a ăBeautiful Femaleă, anything goes? Maybe with the exception of Beautiful Female Preacher, I already have enough of that. Beautiful Female Flat Gazers are good in any numbers! I wonder if I can get 100 of them?
Since I promised that I wonât go anywhere too far away on my own, going to the Fake Dungeon would be a problem, and returning to the cave alone isnât fun. Why am I being treated as some sort of a little child that is bound to get lost on their own? Are they underestimating the homing instinct of Hikikomori plus NEET? I even have ăMapăin my skills, you know?
Sleeping at the inn alone feels lonely, and Iâd probably have a hard time trying to fall asleep without any prior exercise. Well, there is an argument to be made that there is no time for sleep left with the exercises, but Iâm convinced that a well-regulated lifestyle and sufficient exercise are extremely important! Thatâs why Iâm regularly doing my best at night! Iâm a high school boy after all!
ăHmmm. As I thought, catching a Beautiful Female Intelligence Agent would be the best. After all, lacking information can be not only disadvantageous but outright fatal. But whatâs more important, itâs a beautiful female agent! A sexy spy! Surely they would rank somewhere in the top of ăWhat Boys Want To Catch Rankingă. After all, capturing anyone else would lead to getting captured by police. Probably a close contest with a beautiful female thief, but there are plenty of winning chances. Will they come?
ăAnd as such, didnât any Beautiful Female Agents come? Up to 100 people can come it seems? Or rather, I want them to come? Like, To Ride this Big Wave? Kind of?ă
ăGuess what? It is because no one can get through that the army decided to hire adventurers? By what means do you think a beautiful female agent would be able to safely get through that dungeon? Any female agent will run away the very moment she hears the order to enter that place. And in the first place, if their arrival was known, Omui-sama wouldâve caught them already. As long as that dungeon exists no women will come. Ever! ă
Royal Girl shot down the idea. At this rate, Iâll have to install treasure chests with dresses or jewels to appeal to female customers, or any chance of getting them will be lost. Wait, could it become a popular spot if I went for a reverse approach and the place gave out new clothes for every dissolved piece of clothing? But by the time they leave it theyâd probably be in full body fishnet suits. That one is great after all.
ăAh, I almost forgot. This is the replacement for the broken equipment, and this is an apology for the dissolved clothes? Or rather, a sort of compensation dress? Since it can endure combat, a combat outfit? A battle dress, or rather⊠A lewd dress? Sort of?ă
ăIs it alright for me to take such splendid equipment?! These items⊠Are the Kingdomâs national treasure-class? They are worthy of being a kingâs personal equipment, even a general wouldnât be able to wear such gear, can I really take something this amazing? And even such wonderful⊠Clothes⊠Lewd? Eh? What is the purpose of them being so transparent and open? Fighting in this is⊠+DeF and bonus to all resistances! Moreover 20% bonus to PoW, SpE, ViT, and even MiN! This might be above the national treasure class? But, am I going to put this on? Itâs see-through here and there? And there are openings in various places? Itâs like they are trying to hide, but have no intentions to conceal? If I fought wearing this, it would show⊠things? Itâs very risky with so many see-through and open parts? Am I going to wear this? As I thought, you are planning to FEEVER! me through the night in this lewd dress! Iâm going to be FEEVERâd! through this hole! Right? Iâm going to have a FEEEVER! night in this shameless revealing lewd see-through dress, going LETâS DANCE! all night long? As I thought, giving me such a lewd dress as a present, your goal must be to FEEVER me! Having FEEEVER night going LETâS DANCE! until the sun comes! Shamelessly revealing this place, and opening that place and UNBELIIIEVABLE! that place! Right?! (Roaring wildly)ă
Getting information out of her seems impossible. She tried to protect the frontier despite being unable to go against the kingdomâs orders, and now she is trying to protect the kingdom as well. Thatâs dangerous, thatâs picking a fight with too many people. She might turn everyone around into an enemy, and then there is even a chance of having no allies too. Letâs add accessories to the equipment too. Her strength is quite adequate, as long as she is armed, and with the dress and accessories, she should be able to fight even in ordinary clothes. Since I made it precisely for her size, no one else should be able to use these. And with this design, one word of ăFever!ăis enough to completely break her, so there should be no issue even if she becomes our enemy. Rather, Iâd be more worried if she was on our side? Seriously.
The old man blacksmith can deal with the equipment for soldiers. He is excessively skilled. What such a skilled blacksmith was even doing in the frontier, which couldnât provide him with basic iron until now? I already made weapons and armor for Meripapa-san and Merimeri-san, so letâs leave it here. They seem to be out for inspection, but Iâm prohibited from leaving the town, and well, itâs not like any of this requires any special explanation.
I donât think that this guarantees their safety, but it should cover a bare minimum? Now only classmates and I remain, but⊠I want loot from dungeons after all. At the moment, items found in dungeons which then were upgraded with mithril are outperforming everything else, many of them have special effects, so there are plenty of useful items among them. And Iâd also like some, well, I wonât say a trump card, but at least some unexpected attack or something that can force a stalemate. Tentacles are enough for that, but I canât use them on middle-aged men! Absolutely no! I mean, there is nothing fun about that, and all of the sensations go to me through feedback. This is a big No for me.
I want information. What did they come up with? No matter how I look at it, they are checkmated, yet they launched an offense? Are they really this stupid, or do they have something on their mind? Are they planning to get through without passing through the Fake Dungeon, or do they have the means to safely get through it? If they have no secret weapon, did they find some sort of backdoor? There is no way they have the leeway to play with a stalemate.
ăIf the estimate is at least two weeks, then how long is it at most? Well, that is in case they can even make it here. After all, Iâm obviously going to hinder them. Iâm not going to entertain uninvited guests. Although I will receive them, I will gladly welcome them. After all, coming for killing they canât complain about the welcome? Obviously.ă
Thatâs right. They are coming to kill, right? Then, a very warm welcome is necessary. Raging fire and scorching heat will provide a jubilant welcome. Trying to kill someone means this kind of thing.