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.

I used the excuse that the tatami had been excavated from the dungeon and freely laid them in my room. They cost 300 DP each from the DP Catalog. Fufufu, a little luxury.

And with the tatami installed, a trap activates! No shoes allowed! In this domain, you must remove your shoes… Kukuku, meaning I get to feast my eyes on freshly bare feet to my heart's content!

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

I'm not a lolicon, but my eyes end up following their feet anyway… What a sad fate.

Alright, let me think about this the other way around. I'll make an employee break room and lay it with tatami. And to lure the employees in, I made a certain something.

The winter demon, Kotatsu-sama.

"So you made this, Master?"

"How should I clean this?"

"I helped make it～… Making the magic formation lines' thickness adjustable with a dial to control the heat output… What another revolutionary idea～… Ahh, so warm～"

A square, low-table-style Kotatsu-sama for four. Nerune sat in directly across from me.

Since Nerune helped make it, she had already fallen prey to Kotatsu-sama's magic ahead of the other employees. First one to the break room. Her plain brown socks were pretty nice.

"… Then shall I join in as well? Pardon me, Master."

"I'll join as well. It's not mealtime right now, after all."

Rei and Kinue-san took off their shoes and stepped onto the tatami. Rei was wearing black stockings. Very tasteful. Kinue-san was green overall, with green socks too. Not a color that personally gets me going, but keeping her color scheme unified scores high marks.

But they were immediately hidden under Kotatsu-sama.

… Dammit! I can't admire them like this?!

The kotatsu… was that a mistake? I should have stopped at just a Japanese-style room. What good is Kotatsu-sama now, tch.

"Ooh, this is warm…"

"It's a comfortable temperature."

"Fufu～fu, getting this temperature just right was a lot of work, you know～"

"Yeah, that's… right… Haah, well, whatever."

I let out a resigned sigh, accepting that what I couldn't see, I couldn't see. But well, having a kotatsu alone was achievement enough.

Just then, something touched my foot.

What? I grabbed it and heard, "Hyan?!" … It was Rei's foot. It seemed she had tried to stretch her legs and bumped into me.

"I-I'm sorry, Master. It seems my foot bumped into yours."

"Don't worry about it. That's part of what makes a kotatsu great…!"

"You can stretch your legs out in it? Then if you'll excuse me… ah. Sorry."

"No, no, no need to hold back, Kinue-san. Under Kotatsu-sama is basically extraterritorial."

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

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

"Hm? Oh, Rokuko. Want to get in too—wait, all four sides are full."

"Hmm… 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 close enough for that, you and me."

"That's right, my partner who shares one body and one mind… Maybe I should have made it bigger."

This time I made it square, but maybe rectangular would have been better. Or just make it bigger. Crawling under with just your head poking out has its own charm, too.

And so, Rokuko squeezed into Kotatsu-sama, pressing up against me more than necessary.

"Ooh, this is warm… Hey, your feet are in the way, so move it."

"Eeh～, no way～. I don't want to leave this warmth～"

"Indeed, this is a spot I cannot yield…"

"Besides, is that really alright, Rokuko-sama? If we leave, you'd have to move to the empty spot, you know?"

"… Ah. Then forget it."

Good to see the Dungeon Core and her monsters getting along.

… Hold on, they didn't just ignore the Dungeon Core's orders because they were drowning in Kotatsu-sama's magic, did they? I don't recall having them make such a dangerous magic tool, okay?

After that, people were so reluctant to leave the kotatsu that the shift schedule nearly collapsed, so I had to strictly order the employees to keep to their shift times.

And so, with a slightly sweaty Rokuko pressed right up against me, I thoroughly enjoyed Kotatsu-sama.