Chapter 120 – Majolica – Part six

“My name is Taliyah, and I will be under your care.
Lad… I mean, Leila has explained everything to me.
Thank you for having me.”

A young woman wearing a long maid uniform with an apron in front politely introduces herself and gracefully bows.
Impeccable.
Is she a pro?

Taliyah the maid and Talia the adventurer have names that are pretty easy to mix up.
It’s kind of strange.

“Likewise.
Thank you very much for coming.”

She’s laughing.

“Mister Sora, you are my employer.
Please speak normally.
I have heard a lot about you from Leila.”

Her smile feels piercing for a moment.
Is that an adult’s charm? It makes me kind of nervous.
Leila’s stern eyes are kind of uncomfortable too.

“Generally speaking, we will be under your care while we’re in the dungeon.
But what are you going to do while we’re around?”

“Leila has told me how your cooking has a unique taste.
If possible, can you teach me? If you can, I would very much like to sleep here.”

We have four rooms, so that shouldn’t be a problem, should it? But then again, I need space.
I can’t practice alchemy in everyone’s living space.

“I can share a room with Elsa and Alto.
It will be more convenient that way for me to teach them.”

“All right.
Hikari, can you call Elsa and Alto?”

They’re out removing weeds with Mia.

We explain the situation to them.
If they say they want to stay in the same room as Mia because they’re attached to her, I’ll consider it.

But Elsa actually bows to Taliyah and says they’ll be under her care.
Alto looks nervous and grabs Elsa’s clothing, but does the same as Elsa.

We take the opportunity to assign rooms to everyone.

First, me.
I’m alone.
Alone, not lonely.

Hikari and Mia will stay in the same room.
I guess Mia is interested in hearing Hikari talk about all the secrets about how she fights and whatnot.
Although I get the feeling that those conversations tend to veer away from fighting monsters and focus more on how to look for the tastiest food in stalls.
I guess for Hikari that’s a sort of fighting style.

Sera has her own room, like me.
It’s perfect, because if Rurika and Chris come here, they’ll have a lot to talk about, and this way they can stay together.
For better or worse, they’ll have a lot to say to each other.
She’ll be on her own until then, but I guess she’ll stay with Hikari and Mia from time to time.

Sera, Rurika, and Chris should talk about what they’re going to do from then on when they meet again.

Then there’s Taliyah, Elsa, and Alto.
Elsa looks very motivated.
So much so that Taliyah says she’s going to get her a maid uniform too, so I leave that up to her.

The next day, Alto is wearing a maid uniform too for some reason.
Should I say something? Or should I just not touch the subject? No one seems to care.
Is it just me?

This is also when Taliyah starts educating them.
They focus on all sorts of domestic chores, but she also teaches them to read and write in their spare time.
I guess in a way that’s necessary, because they won’t be able to do things like go out and buy food if they don’t know how to handle money and do simple calculations.

“I’m thinking of going to the dungeon once Elsa and Alto are settled in.”

“What if Sera’s friends pass by this city while we are not here?”

“I asked the guild to relay a message, and told them about this place.
Plus, we’re getting to the point where we need to start earning money.”

I keep spending it, and I’m starting to see the amount of money I have in hand go down.
I wasn’t really that serious about conquering the dungeon, but the situation is different now.
Of course, I’ll be careful not to overdo it.

I’m not thinking about going to the front lines, but it’s important to save up money for living expenses and for the future.

Mia looks like she feels guilty, because she probably understands the reason, but it’s not like I wasn’t on board with it.

I also check where Rurika and Chris are, and see that it will probably take them a while to get here, so I figure it will be fine.
It’s too bad I can’t use this more, because I have no idea how long it will last.
I think I should at least be able to use it one or two more times…

The next three days are very busy.

We buy more furniture that we’re missing and fix up the placement of everything in the house.

I teach my style of cooking, mostly to Taliyah, check what monsters appear and what materials can be picked in the dungeon up to the tenth floor, check deliver quests… Then at night I do alchemy, and make a replacement necklace for Mia.

Apparently the last one activated a barrier in response to long distance attacks.
It seems to be because the first time she was attacked, it was from a long distance.
I guess I unconsciously got it in my head that a sneak attack has to be from a long distance.

This time, I make sure to think about a close quarters attack too.
But this magic stone isn’t a good quality one, so I have to tell her that this won’t completely stop an attack.
The most it can do is weaken its momentum to lessen the damage.

I also make sure to warn that it’s dangerous to rely on this, and to be careful.

Other than that, I also make magic items that I think might be useful.
I end up with few magic stones because of this, but it’s necessary.

“Well then, we are planning to stay in the dungeon for about ten days.
I’ll leave the rest to you.”

Elsa clenches her fists, ready to do her best.
I still don’t really understand Alto, but he sees us off while waving his hand.
Taliyah says to take care with the same attitude as always.

We’re heading to the dungeon early in the morning, and there are already adventurers and explorers here ready to go.
I see people carrying a lot of luggage, and others pretty lightly equipped.
Most parties range from ten to twenty people, and some groups have matching equipment.

Me, Hikari, Sera, and then Mia.
We all take turns touching the jewel an employee is holding with our cards.

“Party of four.
Name… None.”

“Do we have to pick one?”

“It would be easier for us to remember you if you did, but it’s not strictly necessary.”

Should we talk about that later? Maybe after we meet up with Rurika and Chris and decide what to do.
We might even say goodbye to Sera then.

Speaking of Sera, she takes the lead as we enter the dungeon.
It feels strange when we step inside, like we just crossed some sort of boundary.

There’s one, suspicious looking path stretching straight ahead in front of us.

Is the gate to hell? Or a vault with dormant treasure? I feel anxious, but excited too.
I also feel like I’m really experiencing a fantasy world right now.