Chapter 230: 215

【201st day】

I was baking bread.

From the campfire lighting up the darkness, I took out red-hot pieces of charcoal and placed them all around a mess tin stuffed with dough.

『Commencing measurement』

So said Yukikaze, the mini-pod beside me, but I was also gauging the time myself.

It needs 20 to 25 minutes.

It’s possible to get a feel for it through smell and sound. But I still lacked the experience to do that.

The 45th floor of the Odoriji spire.

Also known as the Floor of Stars.

It’s a floor with nothing but darkness and twinkling stars.

Our party has been at a standstill for some time.

We had found keyholes.

But we can’t find any keys.

We tried picking them, but they seem to have some kind of special mechanism that can't be picked. Even with the power of modern science, they’re impossible to analyze.

We’re at a complete loss.

We had been scouring every nook and cranny of the floor using the Lola strategy, but that would come to an end today.

The map displayed on the tablet is almost complete. In other words, we'd have to gather information from elsewhere after today.

Of course, the Adventurers' Guild has the strategy guide for this floor. They have the keys as well.

Needless to say, they aren't free, but require Shogaku tickets. But this time, we'd need a huge number of them.

A whopping 28,000 of them.

When I hired a powerful Guild employee in the past, it had cost me 700 tickets. This time, we would need 40 times as many.

No, to be more precise, we'd need "up to 28,000 tickets", which, to put it simply, is identical to a very infamous game system.

In essence, it's a gacha.

There are 40 keyholes on this floor and each key requires 700 Shogaku tickets.

If the right key is inserted into the right keyhole, the way to the lower floors would open.

Naturally, there's no way of knowing which key and keyhole are the right ones. The correct pair apparently changes after a set amount of time, so I'm really torn between just getting a suitable number of keys and challenging it with the expectation of starting over multiple times or going with the surefire approach of getting all 40 keys.

According to the President of the Adventurers’ Guild,

『There are times when an adventurer needs luck to――――――』

『Stop lying! It's for the Guild's benefit, isn't it?! It's such a malicious system!』

『………………』

He left without a word.

In short, that's how it is.

Last time, I was lucky enough to create ramen, which spread throughout the city, earning me a bonus of 700 tickets.

28,000 Shogaku tickets.

By my estimates, even if everyone in the party worked to complete requests for advanced adventurers, collecting that many tickets would take more than half a year.

I only have 164 days left.

Even if I were to get lucky again and again, clearing the floors themselves would still take time. Looking at it realistically, my plan of reaching the 56th floor within a year seems―――――――

『The bread is done』

「Yeah」

As I was thinking about it, time had flown by very quickly.

I pulled on a pair of thick gloves.

After returning the pieces of charcoal to the campfire, I opened the mess tin with a pounding heart.

「Woah」

The smell of freshly baked bread wafted out. Contrary to my fears, there was no burnt smell. Tapping the bottom of the mess tin, I dumped the contents onto a paper plate.

It was a little misshapen, but it was a loaf of white bread.

Just as I was about to cut a slice and taste-test it……

「To think that I’d get to eat freshly baked bread in the dungeon…… In a lot of ways, you sure have taken things to extremes」

……a man with a katana emerged from the darkness and sat down by the campfire.

「Otou-san, if it's just bread, anyone can do it」

There are many kinds of bread in the alternate world. Most of them are sourdough breads made with wholly natural yeast. I'm cheating by using dry yeast though.

「There were those who tried, but the temperature changes in the dungeon can be extreme in places. I heard that the leavening couldn't last. There also aren't many places like this where we can sit around a fire in peace」

「That’s true」

Leavening agents are living things that take a lot of work to take care of. Bringing something like that into the dungeon must be challenging.

「Somehow, things have kinda been slow lately, haven't they?」

A red-haired boy with a longsword on his back appeared, and he too sat down by the campfire.

Close behind him was a girl carrying a sword and shield and clad in knight's armor.

「Lys, disinfect your hands」

「………………」

I swatted her hand away when she reached for the bread and handed her some rubbing alcohol. Lys reluctantly disinfected her hands and sat down with a sullen look on her face.

If you get the runs in the dungeon, it could kill you, you know? Good grief, what am I to do with this girl?

「Oh, that smells so good」

「It's bread? Not rice, but bread?」

The elven sisters came over.

The younger sister was a tall, very elf-like elf with long blonde hair, blue eyes, well-shaped eyebrows, and a slender figure. She carried a bow and showed a lot of skin. Her underwear-like clothing exposed her belly, legs, arms, and shoulders.

The elder sister was petite, baby-faced, and wore her beautiful blonde hair in a braided side updo, just like her younger sister. Also, her clothes were no less revealing than her sister's.

Her white martial arts outfit, which was trimmed shorter at the bottom, offered glimpses of the bikini armor digging into her underneath. She wore knee-high steel-plated boots on her feet. Her thighs were fully exposed.

Her belly was protected by a corset made of lightweight metal and leather that emphasized her breasts.

On her back was a magician's staff and on her hip hung her secondary weapon, a pair of gauntlets that were similar to brass knuckles.

「Here's your bread, Rana. It's freshly baked」

「Haaa………………Bread, huh? That's not very filling……」

Rana looked disappointed to death.

She had grown to worship rice in a strange way lately.

「I'll show you how to make bread from rice next time, so cheer up」

「Making bread from rice?! Won't that be the greatest thing ever?!」

Her spirits rose sharply.

Really, I don't get it.

「So, Onii-chan, there's only bread?」

「There's soup too」

It was the tomato soup that was passed down directly from Misuranika-sama.

Since drinking water was precious inside the dungeon, I had stewed beans with chopped tomatoes, crushed them as they cooked, seasoned everything using chicken stock, salt and pepper, garlic, chili peppers, and cheese before adding fried bacon and onions and bringing it to a boil once more.

That was how I had made the Misuranika soup.

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「Bread and soup~? It's kinda boring today」

I got booed by the red-haired boy.

「Shuna, you've become a bit too particular about food. Go and join another party for a meal for a change. Go learn for yourself how luxurious eating freshly baked bread in the dungeon really is」

「That's right, stupid. If you have a problem with Onii-chan's food, make your own」

Shuna was ripped a new one by Otou-san and Ea.

「Right………………I’m sorry」

He seemed to regret it deeply, so I forgave him.

I made sure that everyone in the party had disinfected their hands.

By the light of the campfire, I counted the number of people, then filled enough containers with soup for everyone. With a spoon and some freshly baked bread, the day's lunch began.

Each of us offered prayers to the gods before digging in.

For the elven sisters and me,

『Itadakimasu』

Was our short prayer.

As a matter of fact, the gods of the alternate world aren't fussy about pre-meal etiquette and the like.

Well, that meal with the gods was terrible in so many ways. With the way they acted, they sure don't have any right to complain about table manners.

「Dear」

「Hmm?」

Rana, who was seated next to me, said quietly.

「The bread and soup are delicious………」

「T, thanks」

Why do you look so sad? Do you really want rice that badly?

Otou-san sipped the soup and chewed on the bread like he was really enjoying them.

「I like them too. I don't know why, but this tastes nostalgic. It sure reminds me of my late mother……well, my mother's cooking was more hearty, I suppose」

Shuna seized on a different topic.

「What kind of person was your mother, Otou-san?」

「Hmm? Though she was a woman, she worked as a hunter. She was a feisty one. Despite living in the wild, it was people who killed her in the end. She was tortured to death after refusing to be conscripted during the wars waged by the Myriad Kings. ――――Sorry. It’s not the most appetizing story, is it?」

「No, it’s fine」

Shuna fell silent, gulped down the soup, then gobbled up the bread.

After a few moments of silence, I took a sip of the soup. It tasted okay. Because I had let it cool a bit, the acidity of the tomatoes came out quite well.

I should have simmered it a little longer, I reflected.

The bread was delicious. It had a fluffy texture and its buttery flavor filled my mouth. I would say that about 90% of the credit should go to the quality of Rutsuko-san's ingredients.

Everyone had received the food favorably, especially Lys, who, despite her blank expression, was eating it with gusto. Everyone was used to eating bread, so it was a hassle to prepare rice, but for Rana's sake, I would do my best next time.

「Huh?」

「Hmm? What’s the matter, Onii-chan?」

Ea responded when I exclaimed to myself.

「No, the crazy thing is……」

I had prepared "seven" containers of soup.

Me, Otou-san, Shuna, Lys, Ea, and Rana. There are six people in our party.

Bel is possessed by Lys, so there are actually seven, but there are definitely only six with physical forms.

I looked at my party members one by one.

Across the campfire, Otou-san was sat facing me, with Shuna and Lys to his right.

Ea and Rana were seated to my left.

So……who's that on my right?

『………………』

The person was watching everyone in the party intently. Neither Ea, who was excellent at detecting enemies, nor Otou-san, who had a keen sense of intuition, and not even Yukikaze, who was laden with the best sensors modern science had to offer, had noticed the person at all.

The person looked like a swordsman, the kind of adventurer found almost everywhere.

The person had a round shield, a longsword, a horned helmet, and leather armor. Though the person’s face looked male, it had the smooth, expressionless contours of a mannequin.

No, upon closer inspection, the shield, sword, and armor weren't man-made. They were made of an oily, chitinous material that reflected the light of the fire. Much like the carapace of insects.

It was mimicry.

A perfect mimicry that could even fool human perception.

Its face opened up lengthwise and it swallowed up the bread and soup, container and all.

Then, countless eyes appeared.

A large maw with two fangs.

The mimicry was released and the sword, shield, and armor transformed into multiple legs.

It had a humanoid silhouette.

It had four main limbs and four secondary legs with narrow claws.

Eight in all.

It was a spider.

Its creepiness was making alarm bells go off deep inside me. Even though I was looking at such a grotesque and inhuman being, what I was feeling was the same affection I would feel for my party members.

I felt no hostility from it.

And that was precisely what made the beast inside me scream.

It's an enemy. Kill it.

Still seated, I unleashed an iai-draw in the truest sense.[1]

With the container of soup and the bread in my left hand, I performed a backhanded draw with just one hand. The more my skill was honed, the more the feeling that I was holding a katana disappeared from my hand. It was as if I had sliced through the enemy with my hand.

Without a sound, I split the spider in two.

The top half slid off diagonally, releasing a foul stench.

『What?!』

Shuna and Ea raised their voices. That was when the other members finally noticed.

No.

In the darkness, I saw a faint flash of silver.

I only saw a single stroke. However, Otou-san's katana bisected three spiders.

「Souya, we're surrounded」

The click of a katana settling back into its scabbard echoed faintly.

That sound elicited a yell from me.

「Enemies!」

The party leaped into battle.

[1] Many iaido forms are performed seated and with just one blade(samurais usually have 2). The exact origins of iaido are fiercely debated, but it’s generally agreed upon that it originated from the drawing of a blade from a seated position. But whether it was for practice/training, self-defense in moments of daily life, or for bodyguards in formal situations(where standing would be impolite), it’s hard to pin down its exact origins through historical records. But that’s what Souya was talking about, that doing an iai-draw from a seated position is the essence of iaido.

Deja vu? But I’d bet you weren’t expecting this slide into yet another horror sequence. It was just a funny gag in the previous side story, but there are bigger stakes this time though.

And yeah, no continuation of the Misuranika arc, and this chapter is the true prologue. Kekeke, did you think this author would serve such a juicy backstory up to us that easily? But well, it is numbered, so the continuation will come eventually…so, stay tuned!

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