A few days have passed.
The number of customers at Eris hospital still hasnt increased. Its not zero anymore, but raising the fees back to market price seems to have had a pretty severe impact. Only one or two patients show up.
Eris would prefer for me to work at the hospital too, but under these conditions she cant even afford to pay me what I was making previously. Although on occasion I received independent physical payment for the share of the treatment that I helped with.
Besides, right now I have a job thats overwhelmingly more profitable than the hospital.
Thats right, Huge Slime subjugation. For the past few days, Ive been meeting up with Eight, Geyser, and the adventurers I treated from the last time, and hunting nothing but the Huge Slime. Even today weve been doing the same thing.
For some reason our luck is better than usual, and were able to obtain many rare drops. Its somewhat fewer compared to when I was taking back Eris hospital, but even so its a huge windfall for the party as a whole.
We made out like bandits today, oi!
Geyser cheerfully smacks my shoulder as we walk through the labyrinth.
Yeah, 5 Slime Drops even after dividing it up thats at least 100,000 Zeni each. Awesome, this is awesome!
On the other side of Geyser, Eight calculates the profits from todays hunt.
Theres some danger involved when hunting the Huge Slime. You cant leave the boss room until the boss is defeated, and on top of that theres the risk of getting severely injured if you dont handle it well. But thats exactly what makes it profitable.
In terms of Japanese currency, 100,000 Zeni is about a million yen. Thats a huge sum of money for an adventurer whos barely scraping by.
Indeed, Ive obtained a huge pile of money.
Yet the lifestyle Im currently living doesnt require much money. As far as clothing, I always wear the same type of habit. For food, I can eat as much as I want and not spend more than 500 Zeni per day, and on top of that Eris has been preparing portions for me and Yuel lately.
And for shelter, we live at the hospital, so there are no expenses at all in that column.
Theres no need for me to set aside funds in case of illness or injury, since I can maintain my good health with healing magic.
In short, that means that I can do whatever I want with this huge pile of money. I can use it however I like, and it wont matter.
So why dont I have a little fun with it?
Ive been trying my hardest. Although that time I went looking for Yuel was my mistake, I desperately plunged through the labyrinth while braving injury. I also recovered Eris hospital by making clever use of my healing magic.
Wouldnt you say its about time for some recreation?
Ive made all the necessary arrangements to prepare for this day. When I head to the tavern after this, the barmaster will tell Yuel, were shorthanded, so wed really like you to help out. Theyre not actually understaffed, but thats the arrangement.
Once Yuel starts working, Ill come up with a suitable excuse and leave. Then Ill thoroughly enjoy myself at an adult establishment, properly wash off all the evidence, and head back to pick up Yuel. This way, Yuel will be none the wiser.
After that, well return to the hospital as if Id been with Yuel the whole time, and Eris wont find out either. Its a perfect plan.
As Im elaborating on my fantasies-
Oi oi, can you believe it, 100,000 Zeni! Awright, wanna hit up the flower shop? You coming too, Shiki? We got the place rented out.
-Geyser spouts that out while twisting his fingers into that shape and makes a big grin.
Apparently Geyser was thinking along the same lines.
Yuels too young to understand this, but flower shop is a euphemism for a brothel. Intentionally speaking in code must be Geysers way of being considerate around Yuel.
But it backfires.
Renting out a flower shop, Master? What will you do there?
Yuel asks me with bright, sparkling eyes. On the contrary, it would seem shes very interested in the term flower shop.
Of course the idea of renting out a flower shop wouldnt make any sense if you didnt know the meaning behind it. Right now, is Yuels imagination filled with thoughts of her master surrounded by flowers, having a tea party with a bunch of gruff adventurers?
I dont understand why that would make her eyes sparkle like that though.
Welll, you see
I cant exactly tell her what were up to. Id come up with a suitable deception, but nothing good comes to mind. Yuel might not realize it, but shes tugging on my clothes again in search of a response shes already completely curious about it.
So she was looking for me. Now that I think about it, I never told Ruruka that I returned to the hospital. Well, we dont have any contact outside of meeting at the tavern by chance so its not like there was anything I could have done about it.
Yeah. So what brings you here today, dont you need any treatment?
To suddenly come looking for me, I figured she was hurt, but apparently not. No matter how you look at it, she seems perfectly healthy.
Ahaha, you should know already. Cmon, its that, yknow, that.
That?
What, letting me rub her breasts? But Yuel is here right now, so Id rather wait until the next opportunity. If a certain thing happens while Yuel is on my lap, I wont be able to look her in the eyes anymore.
Ehehe. I heard you were making a killing from the Huge Slime? Wontcha lemme in on a piece of that?
Ruruka grins as she solicits me. Its a nice, flirtatious smile. I see, so thats what it was. But too bad, her timing is off.
Ah, about that, they just stopped buying Slime Drops today. Im not doing any more Huge Slime hunts. Its a shame, huh.
Its a shame for me too. If they hadnt suspended purchases, I wouldve been able to set suitable conditions for joining the Huge Slime hunt. If a price cut on healing magic is worth a breast massage, just how far would a boss hunt with tens of thousands of Zeni in profit have gotten me?
Im awfully curious.
Eeehh!? No way, that cant be true? I-I even tried so hard to persuade Fran and bought a new weapon
Its true. Bad luck, huh.
Hahhh now what should I do maybe Ill take that request from the board
The request board? Dont those have pretty poor rewards?
The request board. A bulletin board at the entrance of the adventurers guild, where commission notices are displayed. However, just because its in the adventurers guild doesnt necessarily mean the guild is involved.
Many of them are individual requests written by townspeople, just pieces of paper stuck to the board with a contact address and reward amount listed.
And the remuneration is generally poor. Important jobs like monster extermination along the highways and bandit subjugation are the duty of the knights that guard the city, so not many ever make it down to adventurers.
The ones that do reach adventurers are mostly small-scale, personal requests like guarding a field or exterminating pests.
I dont know how far Rurukas party has made it into the labyrinth, but I think exploring the labyrinth would typically be more profitable.
Umm, apparently there have been more monsters outside of town for some reason yknow? And theres an unusual request from the knight brigade. Seems unexpectedly lucrative. Its just small fry like goblins, but supposedly the knights are giving a nice reward for subjugation.
Ordinarily, the knights bear the burden of defending this city. The fundamental duties of the knights are to patrol the highway, drive off bandits, and periodically thin the number of monsters in the nearby forest and mountains. However, this area doesnt usually have many monsters appear.
There havent been any wars lately either, so I heard that the number of knights isnt that high. Perhaps they werent able to handle a sudden explosion in the monster population.
Huh. But, arent there dangerous monsters outside the town? Will it be alright?
The knights act as a group, and whats more they all meet a certain standard of ability. If a fairly strong monster appeared, they shouldnt have any problem dealing with it.
Besides, adventurers are comparatively fewer in number, and their proficiency varies widely. Unlike in the labyrinth, theres a possibility of suddenly running into a powerful monster outside the town. If your party encounters a monster thats beyond your ability, youre out.
Its cause there arent many strong monsters around here. Ive subjugated monsters plenty of times outside of the labyrinth, so I think itll be fine?
Well, be careful.
By the way, whats with those flowers? Not just the ones on Yuels head, theyre all over the place.
Ruruka asks while looking at the garland on Yuels head. Shes wondering about it after all.
Yeah, these are
What should I do? I cant answer poorly. Yuel is here and we went to buy them together. If I say something vague, Yuel wont be comfortable with it.
While Im worrying about it-
Its because he rented out a flower shop! Right, Master?
Yuel answers with a smile.