“I’ll hang this Empress Ant’s Horn here.”
I hung the Empress Ant’s Horn on the wide wall of the club room.
It looked cool like decorating armor.
I liked it.
The decorative effect I discovered feels pretty good too.
「Empress’ Blessing: Increases the amount of Rene obtained during hunting and gathering by 1%.」
1%.
It may seem trivial, but it’s quite a decent effect.
The effect of increasing Rene acquisition amount from the four-leaf clover given by Rose.
And when various effects such as the facility usage fee reduction for the Christmas tree that will be completed someday are combined, it really makes a huge difference, doesn’t it?
Anyway, Sunday morning passed quickly as we decorated the club room and brought in furniture.
Sunday.
While it might be a rest time for others, for those in debt, it’s no different from Monday or any other day.
My life is Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday-Monday-Monday-Monday.
Month by month, month by month, grind, grind.
(TLN: Average War Thunder player.)
A life working like a dog.
But making money feels good.
The really awful thing is having a lot of debt and no work to do on certain days.
In that sense, I wanted to head to the 「Tropical Jungle」 I visited yesterday.
But it seemed like Victoria and Enio were busy, as I couldn’t get in touch with them.
How strange.”
Those guys who used to come to the club room so annoyingly when they didn’t need to.
Maybe Melvin or Dearmid could fill in for the party, so I went to their dorms, but all I heard was, “They said they were going to a dungeon…?”
So, as someone who couldn’t find a party of four, I had to take a break from dungeon exploration today.
Can’t work because I have no friends.
Nike said, “Victor, since you were so hurt yesterday, it’s better to rest today!” and seemed rather pleased with this fact.
I’ve fully recovered from yesterday’s injuries anyway.
Self-recovery ability of 83 HP.
Really amazing.
So today, I’m reorganizing things in the club room.
━Creak!
━Beeee, beeee.
“Right. That’s nice.”
“….”
I watched Nike in the club room, wondering what she was doing.
She was shaking or petting a large bee and a spider she held in her hands.
Are they being tamed well?
How much time will it take for those guys to be able to harvest spider silk or Bashkir honey?
Thinking that, I checked the inventory.
“Only half of the Flavor Herbs usual amount has come in. By this time, there should be enough for 40 servings. Nike, do you know what’s going on?”
“I don’t know…. Seems like the Flavor Herbs didn’t grow much today.”
Could it be?
Or is it because we’ve been plundering too much usually, and the seeds are drying up?
“….”
It’s plausible.
Honestly, we’ve been tearing into it too eagerly lately.
We’ve harvested almost all the “Flavor Herb” in the Mysterious Forest to the point where it wouldn’t be strange if it went extinct.
Have humans destroyed nature out of greed…?
If we can no longer obtain Flavor Herb, I need to come up with a plan.
No matter how much I plan, it’s never enough.
“There are plenty of substitutes.”
Materials that can perform as well as 「Flavor Herb」 might be obtainable in the latter part of the episode.
If there are items that can be used as similar substitutes, I’ve gathered quite a few of them.
You have to constantly devise ways to survive.
“I should focus more on developing new menus. In that sense, Nike, try to tame those guys as quickly as possible.”
“Yeah! Just give me a few more days! I’ll definitely be a big help!”
Isn’t Nike already being a big help?
Even during the Empress Ant incident, it was easier to catch them because Nike prevented them from flying off into the sky.
It’s regrettable that Victoria and Enio didn’t see Nike’s splendid performance.
Yet Nike said, “I’m relieved they didn’t see it.”
Still, having witnessed this process, I decided to boost Nike’s self-esteem.
“Nike, you’re already a big help. Meeting you was lucky for me.”
“R-really? Hearing you say that makes me feel really sorry. I feel like I haven’t done anything…”
Without Nike, I wouldn’t have been able to use 「Flavor Herbs」 so much until now.
Thinking about it now, meeting Nike in the forest was like having a cheat.
What would I be doing now if I hadn’t met Nike back then?
Of course, ‘what if’ is a useless thought for me now.
I don’t want to waste my imagination on things that haven’t happened.
Imagination can also be depleted like grass.
My imagination is already reserved just by thinking about the future that lies ahead.
My future is a prosperous life with golden Rene jingling.
There are things I must do first for that.
“Well then, I have a place to check out, so I’ll be leaving for a bit.”
I heard that place had opened up.
If you want to find new ingredients, this is the place to go.
It might cost some money though.
* * *
Underground Market.
If you’ve played RPG games, there might be a scene that pops into your head at this mention.
Tents scattered all over.
Vendors shouting and shady customers.
Extremely suspicious merchandise.
Sale of strange plants and animals whose origins were unknown.
And various activities such as the dominance and extortion by the ‘Thieves’ Guild’.
The game “D&A” also never deviated from that path.
Located in the dungeons, prisons, or open spaces beneath Ludens, a large and safe area where civilians gathered to form a market.
A wide variety of items are traded there.
“Could you do me a favor and give Vance from the restaurant a little hit? Just a tap on the back of the head and then run away. If news of success reaches me, I’ll give you 50,000 Rene. Don’t ask why.”
“By any chance, could you get me some handkerchiefs from Ludens’ female students? 100,000 Rene for one….”
Something like that.
It’s a place where you can buy and trade strange things, but surprisingly, there are also many ordinary shops.
“Selling strawberries.”
“Selling rice balls. Eat them on your way out!”
There are quite a few merchants who have been pushed into this underground world because they couldn’t afford the rent on the surface, even avoiding sunlight ─ that’s the setting, probably.
But the size of the underground market I faced was even larger than what I experienced in the game.
It seemed about 1.5 times larger.
Considering the reality of Ludens, where life is even more impoverished than in the game, the scale of the people who have hidden underground is probably even larger.
“Oh, isn’t that Victor? Is he here for an inspection?”
“Hey, that guy isn’t an executive committee member anymore.”
I heard someone whispering and calling my name.
As I turned my head, a few students dressed in deep robes were surprised and fled around a corner.
“It’s usually common to hide your identity like that.”
If rumors like “Victor bought some strange books at the Underground Market” were to spread. How could I show my face on the surface?
Of course, I don’t care about my face.
Why should I hide my face when I’m not going to do anything illegal?
“Do you have any socks?”
“Cough! Cough!”
The shopkeeper, who had wrapped himself in a robe, coughed as if he were very surprised by my question.
When I asked if he was okay, he replied calmly, regulating his breath.
“…Whoa, it’s the first time I’ve seen a student ordering like that with a bare face. This is a sock shop, but, um, it’s a bit different from your typical sock store, you know?”
“I know.”
I need to buy socks to hang on the Christmas tree.
Just having that will secure some money for the future.
In the long run, it’s not an exaggeration to say it will secure tens of millions of Rene.
Unlike popular Luke, it’s really hard for lonely Victors like me to get socks from ten people.
I’m not sure if this method will work or not.
But there’s nothing wrong with keeping an eye on items, right?
“Show me what you’ve got.”
“These are the white socks that came in not long ago from Miss Domina, a female teacher. It wasn’t easy to get them. They’re 50,000 Rene.”
“That’s expensive.”
“The more expensive ones go up to 500,000 Rene. Like these ones from Ornia. They’re really hard to get. If you come and buy them in person, you can be sure of the product.”
“If it’s Ornia, then it’s the 23rd student from Class A of the 2nd year, right?”
“Hehe, as expected of a student like you, you know well. Since you’re here in person, you can be sure of the product.”
If you take it off in front of someone, it means it’s used.
Who buys something like this?
I need new socks.
New socks that someone handed over.
I suddenly became curious.
“By any chance, do you have socks from Victoria or Enio?”
“Are you talking about the two princesses? There’s no way you can get something like that. What are you going to do if you lose your head!?”
“I see. Then, maybe next time.”
I decided not to rush with the Christmas tree for now.
Instead, I focused on achieving my goal for visiting this underground market.
Items sold only in this underground market.
「Tofu」 「Noodles」 「Ham」 「Sausages」 「Rice Cake」
I purchase these items from wandering merchants who appear randomly…!
For someone like me who has memorized all the random movement points, it’s a piece of cake.
While wandering around the underground market with that feeling, I heard a strange voice.
“Luke, are you sure this is the right way?”
It was an unfamiliar voice.
But the slender voice didn’t sound unfamiliar when it mentioned a name.
Instinctively turning my head, I saw a woman and a man walking around the underground market together in the distance.
The man was Luke Merceris, the protagonist of D&A.
And the woman…
Who is she?
Even I had never seen her before.
Before I knew it, I was approaching them and starting a conversation.
“Meeting in a place like this, huh?”
“You must be Victor. Nice to meet you. You’re carrying quite a nice sword.”
Luke greeted me rather coolly, to my surprise.
However, the woman standing next to him didn’t hide her wary gaze when she looked at me.
“You, Victor…! Wait, are you here to do something to Luke with that sword of yours!?”
Pumpkin-colored hair braided forward.
She was an impressive woman with a band wrapped around her forehead.
Was she wearing tights under her skirt?
Full body tights?
But more importantly, she was wearing a school uniform, which meant she was a student at Ludens.
I’ve never seen such a student before.
“Who are you?”
I asked, and Luke replied.
“This guy is Yumi from Class C. My childhood friend.”
Childhood friend? I
I’ve never heard of such a setting.
Is it an added setting for DLC?
A new heroine?
A childhood friend heroine, it’s too cliché.
“You said childhood friend. Where did you grow up? How did you meet? Are you two dating by any chance?”
“That’s…”
When Luke was about to say something, the girl named Yumi abruptly covered Luke’s mouth with her palm.
“I have nothing to tell you! I’m not obligated to tell you anything! And we’re wearing our school uniforms neatly, and we haven’t done anything wrong!”
I just asked out of curiosity, why is she so defensive?
There were many more questions I wanted to ask, but it’s probably better to just leave.
I shouldn’t interrupt their date.
I’m not that clueless.
But Luke, calling her his childhood friend.
You’re stepping into an unknown route, aren’t you?
Could it be the additional DLC route I wondered about?
I should probably watch what kind of route this is.
Hi-Hi.
“Lu-Luke, that guy is giving me suspicious looks…!”
“Suspicious…? He looks pretty normal…?”
Anyway, I roughly finished shopping in the underground market like that.
I spent almost 500,000 Rene on ingredients, but it was a reasonable expense considering the potential to earn from it.
Now, I can make it.
「Tteok-bokki」.
「Rabokki 」.
「Budae-jjigae」.
Developing three menus simultaneously is not an easy task.
But if the demand for 「Spice Soup」 decreases, I have to do this.
“I wish I had more hands to help.”
It’s been over 15 days since the new semester started.
I wonder why new students or current students aren’t applying to clubs.
I’ve been too busy to pay attention until now, but is there some special reason?
Honestly, our club is active in many ways, isn’t it?
Even if there were one or two juniors saying, “Wow, I should join too!” it wouldn’t be strange, right?
But there weren’t any.
At this rate, we’ll have to hire part-timers.
How much should we pay part-timers?
The labor cost must be considerable.
With such thoughts in mind, I stood in front of the club room.
“Nike, I’m here.”
As I tried to open the club room door, I felt a bustling atmosphere.
At that time, I opened the door with an annoyed feeling, wondering if Victoria or Enio had come to bother me again.
“What a wonderful thing…! This Arnoy has spent eight years in this Ludens, and I have never seen such a fine spider…!”
━Kung-Kung!
It was a strange voice.
Soon, the person turned her head to look at me, her orange eyes squinting.
“Now you come? To make Arnoy wait for an ordinary student, this is an intolerable situation!”
She was quite noisy.
“Although this nymph-disrespectful situation should receive proper reprimand, I, Arnoy, can overlook it if you indulge in that ‘fruit shaved ice’!”
She just came to eat fruit shaved ice.
I replied calmly.
“A bowl of fruit shaved ice costs 30,000 Rene.”
It’s for three servings.
However, the peculiar eighth grader with strange orange hair who identified as Arnoy visibly deflated at the cost.
“…Expensive… Arnoy’s allowance, it’s insufficient…”
You’re a Delegate, but you don’t have much money?
Well, if she’s an eighth grader at Ludens, she might not have much money because of tuition fees.
“I just want a bowl of snow shaved ice. Make it that.”
“I-I see, then…”
I handed a 「Snowflake Shaved Ice」 to Arnoy.
She examined the bowl of snow-white ice as if it were snow falling, seeming deeply moved. Soon, she greedily devoured it.
Arnoy soon gobbled it up.
“…Nymph-Victory, devouring ice!”
What’s she saying?
She’s really a strange person.
“This… even Arnoy is tasting this for the first time! This is snow shaved ice! Then, how delicious would fruit shaved ice, no, honey candy be…!”
Still, Arnoy couldn’t help but admire the dish I made.
Her trembling body seemed genuine.
“If I join this club, can I eat desserts like this every day…?”
Not really.
We don’t eat the food we sell much.
But within me, labor costs, manpower for new menu development, etc., surged.
“Not every day, but maybe occasionally. We’ve decided that Fridays will be club dinner nights.”
That’s not a lie.
“Then quickly enroll Arnoy in this Victory’s Cook Club!”
“…”
Really?
Is it okay though?
Even though the pay isn’t great?
As I didn’t respond immediately, Arnoy seemed impatient.
“Student Victor! If it weren’t for Arnoy, you might not have been issued a weapon permit! So repay that favor…!”
“According to Victoria, I heard you were the only one who opposed.”
“T-that seemed that way, but in reality, I persuaded other Delegates behind the scenes…!”
“I see. Alright then.”
With this feeling, ‘8th-year student Arnoy’ became the fourth member of the club.
She was quite strange and had many peculiarities, but it’s better than having no one.
