Extra: Blacksmith 1
(Gozoh’s Point of View)
I am Gozoh, a dwarf C-Rank adventurer.
Recently, I dove into the [Ordinary Cave]… changed into the [Cave of Desires].
Before, it was a shabby dungeon for F-Ranks to enter… no, to begin with, it was more of an ordinary cave than a dungeon. At any rate, there was only one path and one room. And now it’s an excellent dungeon.
Although it seems to be confirmed that it has up to four floors, I’ve only reached to the third floor so far.
Anyhow, it doesn’t look like you can advance to the fourth floor unless you return to the stairs, it’s something complicated that I don’t really get… Well, although I have a special skill that lets me remember paths I’ve taken before, it just doesn’t work in this labyrinth at all.
Places that I had definitely passed just before would become a wall, so recently I’ve been doubting my special skill.
Well, rather than a skill bestowed by god, it’s just a normal special skill. There are things like that though.
I leave the minor stuff to my companion Roppu, so today I’m just swinging my battle hammer.
“Stay down!”
With a dull thud, a lump of heavy iron clashed against my companion’s shield, resounding through the labyrinth.
Our opponent was something recently found out to appear in the [Cave of Desires], an iron golem. Although they had been seen before, unfortunately, it was too much a burden for D-Ranks and E-Ranks. It was something pretty hard to carry out unless you brought a cart, since you could encounter enemies while trying to do so.
Most of all, these guys are worth quite a bit of money when they’re defeated, so for me it’s a delicious opponent. I just have to beat it up with my hammer, a truly simple and easy to understand enemy. Yep, a delicious opponent.
Hitting its head several times with my battle hammer, the iron golem was defeated… Oooh, my hand is tingling. This feeling ain’t that bad, kind of that that numb feeling you get in your hands when drinking sake.
“Booyah, beat it! Seriously, finding the magic stone when it’s buried like that’s troublesome.”
“Good work, Gozoh. Let’s put it in the cart. Looks like there aren’t any enemies near us now.”
Roppu pulled the rumbling cart. This partner of mine is a human woman. She looks slender, but she’s a C-Rank adventurer like me. She’s also my good drinking buddy. It was a chance meeting that I met this girl when she went to drink at a dwarf village.
Ah, stuff like that doesn’t matter right now. I put down my hammer temporarily and helped put the iron golem into Roppu’s carrier. As expected of a human-sized lump of iron, it’s really heavy.
“Well then, should we head back?”
“Aye.”
Although I really wanted to hunt two or three of them in one go, Roppu’s carrier wouldn’t be able to hold them unfortunately.
We have to go up and down the stairs several times to start with, making us defenseless each time. It’s best to hunt them one at a time taking safety into account. It’d be great if Roppu knew [Storage]. That way we’d be able to get a lot of them all at once.
On the return trip while looking out for traps, we kept killing goblins that tried to attack us. We were able to take back a lump of iron today as well. We’ll have a few days of inn fees with this.
“Well, maybe we should live as miners for this dungeon?”
“I don’t want to though, Gozoh. There isn’t a pub here. The food is incredibly delicious, but there’s no way to get any alcohol.”
Yeah, that’s right.
This [Cave of Desires] has an inn near it, the [Dancing Doll’s Pavilion]. Rather, there’s only an inn and guild branch office here… Well, just that inn is incredible enough. It even has an onsen. It feels greaaat, enough to make you feel like a noble. I didn’t think I’d like it so much before, but now it’s a necessity.
For some reason, [Dancing Doll’s Pavilion] doesn’t serve alcohol. It does seem to use it for cooking though… Its food definitely is amazing and it has top quality beds. Excuse me for saying this again. It even has an onsen.
—It’d be supreme if it had alcohol!
Well, since it doesn’t prohibit it till the point of keeping you from bringing your own, you can get some from traders coming through the path… Rather, what’s up with [Great Tsuia Mountain Tunnel]?
That dungeon is also… a new dungeon with an unclear difficulty. That is, in the meaning that it isn’t seen as a danger.
Although new dungeons were occasionally short dungeons, this was the first time one has appeared with absolutely no danger. Even [Ordinary Cave] had goblins.
No one knows was kind of mechanism is used, but you can pass to the other side by paying money in the booth that’s there immediately after you enter. As for its interior, it’s about wide enough for two wagons to pass each other, there’s even a convenient rest area midway through. I hear that some people are suspicious about it, but it looks like there hasn’t been any problems so far.
Merchants going in with guards can be seen going in and out of it a lot recently. Thanks to that, Pavuera’s sake and salt can be bought cheaply even in Sia. I’m thankful for that.
From a merchant’s point of view, the money paid to the tunnel seems insignificant.
“Aah, sake really is the best though.”
“Sake while soaking in the onsen, that would be supreme…”
“Ask that Kehma guy, maybe he’d stock some alcohol…”
“Ah, I’d gladly use my body if I could drink sake there.”
“Please stop… Besides, you know Kehma’s preference, aye?”
“Right… he had that sex slave (Meat) huh… to like such a small kid…”
Even that guy’s a good adventurer if you closed your eyes to him preferring children…
No, let’s stop there. I don’t feel like talking about someone’s tastes. Besides, he takes good care of that Ojou-chan, she looks happy. It’d be thoughtless for me to butt my head in.
Well, while we took a rest and complained like that, the receptionist Silia-chan showed up.
“Gozoh-san. Could I have a moment? A letter arrived from Kantra-san a little ago.”
“Ooh! Kantra huh, should be a good answer.”
“The thing about the blacksmith? I also want to hear the result.”
“Aye, let’s take a look. Give me a second.”
So, receiving the letter from Silia-chan, I immediately opened and read it.
“He’s coming immediately! It’s great, Silia-chan!”
“That’s good… Ah, we still need to call over a carpenter. And consult with [Dancing Doll’s Pavilion]’s Rokuko-san about the matter regarding the smithy…”
Yeah, Silia-chan looks busy. I think it’d be fine if she relaxed a bit more though.
“Is Kantra-san doing well?”
“Hmm? Yeah, he is. His old man too.”
“If Untara-san wasn’t in good health, Kantra-san wouldn’t have time to come here.”
“That’s right too huh?”
I nodded to Roppu’s question.
Still, to finally see him after all this time. I should get some alcohol ready…