Side Story: The Winter Demon

Winter. The freezing season when snow piles up.

To save on heating costs, I opened up the hot spring to villagers for free.

Naturally, I plan to eventually collect taxes in the form of money, but for now I'm letting them off with just DP.

Despite the cold winter, my room has excellent insulation. It also has tatami flooring.

Using the excuse that the tatami were excavated from the dungeon, I freely installed them in my room. They cost 300 DP each from the DP Catalog. Fufufu, a little luxury.

And by installing tatami, a trap activates! No shoes allowed! You have to take off your shoes to enter this domain… Kukuku, which means I can ogle freshly-unshoed feet to my heart's content!

Well, the only ones who come to my room are Rokuko and Niku though.

My eyes end up following their feet even though I'm not a lolicon… What a sad fate.

Alright, let me think about this differently. I'll make an employee break room and lay it with tatami. Then I'll create something that will draw the employees in.

The winter demon, Kotatsu-sama.

"So you made this, Master?"

"How should I clean this?"

"I helped make it～… Like the dial that adjusts heat output by changing the thickness of the magic formation lines… Another revolutionary idea～… Ahh, so warm～"

It's a square, table-style Kotatsu-sama that seats four. Nerune got in directly across from me.

Since Nerune helped me make it, she got to experience Kotatsu-sama's magic before the other employees. First one to the break room. Her plain brown socks are pretty nice.

"… Then I'll join too. Excuse me, Master."

"I'll be joining as well. It's not mealtime right now anyway."

Rei and Kinue-san took off their shoes and stepped onto the tatami. Rei's wearing black stockings — very tasteful. Kinue-san is green overall, with green socks too. It's not a color that particularly appeals to me personally, but unifying her color scheme scores high points.

But they immediately got hidden under Kotatsu-sama.

… Crap! Now I can't admire them?!

The kotatsu, was it a mistake…? I should have stopped at just a Japanese-style room. What's so great about Kotatsu-sama anyway, tch.

"Ooh, this is warm…"

"It's a comfortable temperature."

"Fufu～fu, it was hard work getting this temperature just right～"

"Yeah… haah, well, whatever."

I sighed in resignation, accepting that I couldn't see what I couldn't see. Still, even just having a kotatsu is achievement enough.

Just then, something touched my foot.

What? I reached out to grab it and… "Hyan?!" … It was Rei's foot. She must have stretched her legs and bumped into mine.

"I-I'm sorry, Master. My foot touched yours."

"Don't worry about it. That's part of the kotatsu experience…!"

"So you're supposed to stretch your legs out? Then I'll do so as well… ah. Excuse me."

"No, no, don't hold back, Kinue-san. Under Kotatsu-sama is basically extraterritorial."

T-this might actually be quite good. As expected of Kotatsu-sama — my opinion just did a magnificent +180 degree turn for a full 360 degrees back to where it started.

"Ah, Kehma! I heard, you made something new again?"

"Hm? Oh, Rokuko. Want to join us… ah, all four sides are taken."

"Ahh… then I'll squeeze in next to you."

Saying that, Rokuko forced her way in beside me.

"Hey. It's cramped."

"It's fine, isn't it? We're that close, you and me."

"That's right, partners in body and mind… Maybe I should have made it bigger."

This time I made it square-shaped, but maybe rectangular would have been better. Or I could make it big enough to lie underneath with just your head sticking out. That has its own charm.

Anyway, that's how Rokuko squeezed into Kotatsu-sama.

"Ooh, this is warm… and you all, your feet are in the way, so get out."

"Eeh～, I don't wanna～. I don't want to leave this warmth～"

"That's right, I can't yield this spot…"

"Besides, is that okay, Rokuko-sama? If we leave, you'll have to move to the open space."

"… Ahh. Then never mind."

Good to see the Dungeon Core and the monsters get along.

… Wait, did Kotatsu-sama's magic just cause them to ignore the Dungeon Core's orders? I don't remember making such a dangerous magic tool though?

After that, they were reluctant to leave the kotatsu and almost caused the shifts to collapse, so I had to strictly command the employees to keep their shift times.

And so, with a slightly sweaty Rokuko clinging closely to me, I fully enjoyed Kotatsu-sama.