First Time in a Human Settlement

"Listen here, Rokuko. When adventurers come, only send five goblins at them. No more than that. For melon bread, use the [Sweet Bread Assortment]. You can eat up to two per day."

"G-got it. Be careful too, okay Kehma?"

And so, with Rokuko left behind to watch over the cave, I set off.

…

Come to think of it, this would be my first time leaving the Master Room. One way or another, I'd always had Niku handle things like going out to fetch soil or retrieving Tester when it stopped working.

… I wonder if there are elements in the atmosphere that are harmful to people from other worlds?

What if things like mana and magical power are actually harmful to the human body…?

"… You're not going?"

"O-of course I'm going. I'm about to go right now."

"Then hurry up and go already."

"Alright, don't push me, okay? Definitely don't push me, got it?"

"Huh? You're telling me to push? Got it."

Wait a second, translation function?! Whoa!

… With Rokuko giving me a little shove from behind, I left the Master Room.

Without any incident, I simply emerged into the dungeon proper, into the Core Room.

"… A-alright, nothing happened at all. Phew, had me worried there for nothing… wait, come to think of it, I've been using magic and stuff normally this whole time, haven't I? Yeah."

"Goshujin-sama, are you alright?"

"Ah, yeah, I'm fine? Totally fine, no problem at all."

"Then let's hurry up and go… Why are you just standing there at the cave entrance?"

No, I mean, now that I think about it, I am a Dungeon Master after all. Wouldn't something bad happen if I leave the dungeon?

I should be more careful here, be cautious upon cautious…

"Ei."

"Why'd you push?! Don't push me!"

"Eh, yes, I'll push you."

"Why?! Translation Function-san, please stop doing unnecessary work! Ah…"

My first time (step)… taken from me… by force…!

…

Yeah, of course nothing happened. There was never any reason something would.

As I stood there solemnly feeling the weight of that first step, Niku tugged at my clothes.

"Goshujin-sama?"

"A-ah, sorry. Alright then, let's go!"

And so I took one step toward the forest…

"… Should I push you?"

"Ah, yeah. Please…"

Ugh, seriously, why do I have to go outside of my own volition to a dangerous place where… well, I can't exactly call it a safety zone… my life could be in danger? I grumbled to myself while running along the mountain path with Niku.

Why am I going outside? Well, obviously it's for safety. You can't determine whether you're safe without information. This time, the weight of information won out over our current peace, which might only be temporary anyway, so I'm heading down to the human settlement.

Ahh, I don't want to work.

Of course, the only reason someone like me who barely exercises can smoothly run down a mountain path is thanks to the Cloth Golem. When I told it to "run to Tsuia Township," it ran properly.

But even though I'm just being moved along, I got incredibly exhausted and had to take several breaks along the way… How is Niku totally fine…? I'm definitely going to have sore muscles tomorrow.

I'd brought water and food in case we couldn't make it in one day, but after the first break, I had Niku carry everything. Or rather, she insisted that carrying luggage was a slave's job and asked me to let her carry it, so I couldn't refuse. Niku could actually run with ease even while carrying the luggage, while I was at my limit even with the Cloth Golem's assistance.

And so, after half a day, we arrived at the human settlement. Thankfully, nothing dangerous happened on the way.

The only thing worth mentioning was that the Cloth Golem's mana ran out partway through, so I had to recharge the magic stone with my magical power… I should have used a better magic stone instead of being stingy. I'll swap it out when we get back.

After all that, we arrived at the human settlement: Tsuia Township.

Besides water and food, I brought some money from the dungeon. It was part of what the bandits had hoarded, which we'd recovered during the raid.

A wall made of stone bricks, about five meters tall, surrounded the entire town. Solidly-built soldiers who looked every bit the part of gatekeepers stood at the entrance gate. Actually, this place is pretty big. Is this really just a town, or more of a city? I wonder how many people live here…

Checking the map, there were gates at each cardinal direction: north, south, east, and west. This appeared to be the west gate.

"Halt! State your business in Tsuia!"

As I approached the gate, the vigilant gatekeeper called out for us to stop.

No point causing problems, so I stopped.

"Ah, sorry. I'm from the countryside, so I don't know much. Do I need something to enter?"

"… Answer the question. What business do you have in Tsuia?"

"Well, I was thinking of becoming an adventurer, so I left my home to come here."

"Hmm… Is that a slave? Does she belong to you?"

"That's right, I happened to pick her up."

"Why did you come at this time?"

"Well, you know, since knights apparently came by recently to subjugate some bandits, I figured the roads would be safe. And actually, nothing happened on my way here. Peace is nice… Huh, wait, is there something going on right now that makes this a bad time? Sorry, I'm from the countryside so I don't know about these things."

I hadn't told a single lie… I'd seen a [Lie-Detecting Magic Tool (50,000 DP)] while browsing the DP Catalog, so I figured it'd be better to be careful just in case. In terms of DP, it was half the price of a [Healing Scroll (100,000 DP)], so there's a good chance it could be in circulation at important places.

I need to be careful not to say anything unnecessary.

A cave with three residents (one of whom is a Dungeon Core) is definitely the countryside. I'd decided to become an adventurer for information gathering. I picked up Niku in the dungeon, and I came here because the knights had come through and made the route (the dungeon the bandits were in) safe.

"Ah, I see. Sorry about that… There's some bigwig here right now. Related to those knights you mentioned earlier."

"Is that so? That sounds like tough work. So can I pass through? Or do I need something?"

"Do you have identification? If not, it'll be five silver coins and one copper coin for you. One copper coin for the slave. The collar serves as identification for slaves."

Ugh, that's a lot… I checked the wallet I'd brought. It had eight silver coins and about thirty copper coins. Okay, looks like I can afford it, but how much will things cost inside…?

"Ah, the silver is a deposit. If you become an adventurer, you'll get identification from the guild, so just come back and show it to get the money back… But if you've just left the countryside to register as an adventurer, you're probably short on money, right? Guild registration also costs three silver coins per person. If a soldier accompanies you to the adventurer guild and confirms your identification, three copper is enough. Just so you know, two copper of that is labor fee for the escort. I'm free right now, so we can go immediately."

Oh, so in other words… to save two copper, I could go to the adventurer guild without a guide, register, come back, show my ID to get the deposit back, then head to the adventurer guild again… Yeah, way too much hassle. Better to accept the offer.

"That would be very helpful. Could I ask you to do that?"

"Alright then, I'll accompany you… Hey, take over the watch. I'm heading out for guide duty."

I paid four copper coins. There was still a good jingle of coins left.

The guard soldiers switched shifts, and I headed to the adventurer guild accompanied by the soldier.

Getting a guide for two copper was cheap, probably.

… There weren't any gold coins in my wallet, but they must exist, right? I wonder what the currency values are?

There were gold, silver, and copper coins in the DP Catalog's treasure section, and based on that, it seemed like the exchange rate was one hundred to one going up.

Ah, but there were stalls along the main street, and delicious smells were wafting through the air. There seemed to be a lot of skewered meat, and the smell of roasting meat was mouthwatering. I wonder what kind of meat it is?

The prices were around five copper coins. Hmm, so one copper coin is worth about a hundred yen? I'll remember it that way.

"Hey, I understand how you feel, but can you hold off until you get your ID? I'm working here."

When I stood staring at the stalls, the soldier called out for me to hurry along.

This soldier is a good guy though. Even if he comes to our dungeon, I'll make sure to spare his life.

After walking for a while, we arrived at a fairly large building.

A wooden signboard hung prominently, depicting a sword, a medicine bottle, and a scroll. That seemed to be the sign for the adventurer guild.

When I went inside, there were people who looked like adventurers having a drinking party. Drinking in the middle of the day… Maybe they just got off a night shift?

Led by the soldier, I went to the counter, and the receptionist brought out registration forms. Huh, this world doesn't use parchment but regular plant-based paper? That's surprisingly advanced. The registration forms seemed to be handwritten, but I wonder if they have printing technology?

"Can you write your name? It costs one copper for someone to write it for you."

"Yeah… Niku, handle it."

"Yes, Goshujin-sama!"

I called Niku over to write for me. I can only write Japanese.

The translation function: single characters alone are incomprehensible, but sentences get translated into Japanese in my head.

However, sentences I write in Japanese don't get translated for others to read. It's really inconvenient. I'm truly glad I picked up Niku.

Hm? … The soldier and the receptionist were looking back and forth between me and Niku.

What? Is a slave who can write really that unusual?

"How surprising… even though she's such a small child…"

"Well, I had her taught thinking it might be useful."

"I-is that so?"

The receptionist seemed somewhat put off. Maybe my not being able to write is problematic for various reasons?

… This might be a bit late to worry about, but my appearance isn't exactly normal for this area, is it?

Since Niku has black hair, I thought I'd be fine, but the bandits had European-looking faces…

Well, at least my clothes are just ordinary cloth clothes.

But apparently appearance wasn't relevant to registration.

With my name written down, registration was quickly completed.

Six silver coins as the registration fee… and now I had about two silver and thirty copper coins left… that went down fast.

"I'll head back now that I've confirmed your registration."

"Ah, yes. Thank you very much."

"Don't mention it, it's my job. From now on, it'll only cost one copper to pass through the gate."

The soldier headed back after verifying my guild card.

With this, I had identification, and I could gather information while checking out the requests.

"Now then, I'll explain about guild ranks."

"Ah, yes."

The identification was ready, but apparently there was still an explanation to go through.