CH 162

Chapter 162 – Restore Your Energy

After the first day’s exploration, we decided to take a quick bath and gather in the dining hall. Incidentally, the bath I built on the north side is divided into two. They are exactly the same size and relatively large.

The reason I took the trouble to divide it into two is because, aside from Isla, the Harpies, and Grande, I couldn’t take a bath with Shumel, the other two demon girls, and Ms. Zamir.

I suggested that we build a large bath and stagger the time we take a bath, or that I build two baths, one for me and one for the women, but Isla shook her head.

“No, because I, the Harpies, and Grande want to take a bath with Kosuke. Besides, if we decide to leave this facility here later, we can reuse it as a men’s bath and a women’s bath. You should make the two the same size.”

As Isla said, it would be better to build two bathhouses for later convenience. So the baths built on the north side were divided into two.

“In the ruins full of ghouls, there is a Lich one in the back…”

“It was a typical ruin search, wasn’t it?”

“It’s been a tough first day. But I’m glad it was a great success with no injuries.”

“…..”

The Harpies who heard my story were all talking about it… No, one of them was silent. The brown-feathered Harpy, Eyja, is certainly a silent character. I feel like I’ve hardly ever heard her voice. Judging from her facial expressions, she seemed to be quite excited about the story itself.

“But was it okay to defeat the Lich who came out at the end? I think it could have been used in various ways, such as to get information about the time.”

“We can’t trust him. The mind control at the end was only able to be prevented by the marebito Kosuke. The other four might not have resisted and would have been taken over. In the first place, if he had planned to solve the problem peacefully from the beginning, there were many ways he could have done it. And yet, he was playing dungeon master by encouraging the ghouls. If things had gone badly, the ghouls would have torn us apart and killed us.”

“That’ s right… Well, don’t you know that? Grande-chan has already found the underground ruins.”

“It’s been hundreds of years since he became a Lich, and he’s alone in the dark with a bunch of ghouls. It’s doubtful that he was even sane in the first place.”

“It’s definitely doubtful. If it were me, I wouldn’t be able to stay sane. Well, you know what? It doesn’t matter now.”

I’ve already shot him with a submachine gun. There’s no point in worrying about the past.

However, even though it looks like a skeleton and tries to manipulate me with weird magic, I have no idea how I could pull the trigger without hesitation… I guess that means I’m well into this world.

After letting Grande soak in the bathtub, which was soaked with a full body wash by the Harpies, we all got out of the bath, wiped our bodies, and changed our clothes before heading to the dining room. I feel refreshed.

“That was a long bath.”

“Y-you were doing something naughty in the bath, weren’t you?”

“No, I wasn’t!”

I yell at Bella, who is strangely excited about something. She’s supposed to be a taciturn woman, isn’t she? No, she’s not taciturn if she asks me straight out…? I don’t care. I don’t really care.

“I’m sorry for making you wait. I was just talking about the pros and cons of dealing with the Lich.”

“Oh, yeah, that. Well, that’s okay, isn’t it? I don’t like to say this, but I don’t feel safe adventuring with that guy.”

“Even if he seems to be rational, an undead is an undead. In the end, we’re incompatible.”

“Yes, I agree with you.”

“Is that right? I have a feeling that if we talked to him properly, we could get along.”

Bella tilted her head. It seems that she is the only one who has a different opinion than the others.

“If so, he was hostile to the Elves. It’s impossible to make him one of us when we’re on good terms with Sylphy-ane and the Black Forest Elven Village.”

“I guess you’re right. More importantly, I’m hungry. Who cares about those bones anyway?”

“That’s right. Let’s eat and drink and get ready for tomorrow’s exploration.”

I took the food out of my inventory and laid it out on the table in the dining room. The main dishes are hamburgers and hot dogs, a favorite of Grande and the Harpies, and Shumel’s favorite sausage platter, as well as steaks and salads.

“It’s like magic in a fairy tale.”

“Oh, yes, indeed. You know, the one where the magician conjures up a feast out of thin air.”

Oh, like the pumpkin carriage, the house of sweets, or the magic lamp? I wonder if such fairy tales exist in this world. Perhaps it’s a story told by a marebito from the past.

I took out a small barrel of liquor and some bottles and prepared them for the party.

“So, thank you for your hard work today. Let’s toast to the success of our first day of exploration.”

“Cheers!”

Each of us raised our cups and drank our first drink.

“We didn’t do anything, though.”

“We just tended to the fields.”

“Just don’t mind the details!”

Bella hands out plates of food to Pirna and Capri, who have subtle expressions on their faces. Don’t show off your unexpected feminine power, you dumb Oni.

“What was the loot like?”

“Hmm, here’s the list.”

I know what it is because I read it out loud, and Isla recorded the contents in the list, but I also looked into the Isla that Isla brought out with Shumel.

Most of the items seem to be silver candlesticks, tableware, gems, and jewelry. Silverware is good if it’s recognized as a work of art, but if it’s not, it’s no different than a piece of silver. As for the gems and jewels, many of them were in bad condition, so I’m repairing them at the blacksmithing facility. There were no cursed items, so we should be able to sell them.

There were also a few daggers for self-defense, but many of them were also in bad condition. Some of the daggers were stuck in their scabbards because they were rusted. However, many of the daggers had glittering ornaments on them, and if they were restored, they could be sold for a reasonable price, so they were being repaired like jewelry.

We found a few other weapon remnants, but nothing that we wanted to keep until it was repaired. They had probably been used in internal battles within the facility and left unattended to rust and decay. If it had been made of mithril or mithril alloy, it might have stayed, but unfortunately, there was no such thing.

We also found what seemed to be coins from the Omit Kingdom. The reason why I say “seemed” is because, aside from the gold and silver coins, the copper coins were rusty and decayed into a lump. I heard that the beautiful ones could be sold to collectors, so I kept them. The copper coins that have turned into lumps of copper can only be… cast down and reused.

I also found some other magic tools, but none of them were worth much. They were more like household goods, like lamps and water supplies. In addition, these miscellaneous household items are now being made into more sophisticated products.

There are magic tools and romance of ancient times, but in reality, they are treated like obsolete home appliances from generations ago. Even so, there are some things that can be purchased at a premium, and some of these parts are made of high-purity mithril, which can be worth a good deal of money.

In addition, there are some jewelry, grimoires of unknown content, diaries of people of the time, and a few books for entertainment.

“There’s a lot of things that could be worth a lot of money.”

“Hmm, all together, it’s a bit of a fortune.”

“I don’t want anything that’s worth money. I want the scriptures. But just looking at the list of treasures is exciting.”

“Oh? You know what you’re doing. Kosuke, I think you’re a good adventurer.”

“I’m aware of that. But I have Sylphy now.”

“It’s hot…”

Shumel raised her hands as if to say, “It can’t be helped.” That’s probably true. It is for this reason that I am currently digging through the Great Omit Wilderness in search of old Adelian scriptures.

“Kosuke Kosuke, do you have anything sweet?”

“It’s too early for dessert…”

While I’m looking at the inventory with Shumel and Isla, Grande comes charging at me with a hamburger in her hand. The corner of the hamburger is sober and sticks in my side and hurts.

“The hamburger is delicious, but I want to eat something sweet too!”

“All right, all right.”

I controlled my inventory and took out a plate with an assortment of fruits and a bucket of pudding from my inventory. This bucket of pudding is one of the desserts I made for Grande before she was able to take her current form.

“Pudding!”

“Don’t try to eat it with your bare hands! I’ll give you a spoon and a plate, and you can eat it with those!”

I caught Grande about to jump on the bucket of pudding and put out plates and spoons for the number of people on the table. When I did that, they all started to crowd around the pudding.

“What’s this? What’s this?”

“It’s sweet and plump and… delicious.”

“…..”

“…..”

Bella and Tozume’s eyes sparkled as they looked at the pudding for the first time, while Ms. Zamir and Eyja took the pudding to their mouths with great speed. Ah, don’t, don’t be like that, customers! Ah! Customer, customer! Please refrain from eating straight from the plate!

Another bucket of pudding was added, and the chaotic situation was brought under control. By the way, Ms. Zamir and Eyja have a thing for pudding… Or rather, Ms. Zamir has a thing for all food made with eggs. I wonder if Lizardmen like eggs.

“Don’t eat too much, or you’ll get a stomach ache, girls.”

The girls were not able to hear my voice as they were confronted with the sweet treats… No, they were all fine after the meal, though. I prepared quite a lot of food, but in the end, they ate it all. Putting aside Shumel and the others, the Harpies are pretty big eaters for such slender bodies.

In this way, we were greatly relieved from the fatigue of the first day’s exploration.