Building the Inn and Employee Uniforms (Maid Outfits)

Now then, the inn is coming along quite nicely.

It's a two-story inn, and there's even a room with glass windows. I made them from the leftover potion bottles from before. Since there weren't many, I could only use them for one room though.

… I'll make this room mine. Yeah, that's what I'll do.

"Goshujin-sama, this doesn't have a kitchen or dining room?"

"I'll add them."

"U-um, Goshujin-sama. There's no toilet…"

"… I'll build it along with the plumbing."

"Kehma! Give me a room too!"

"I'll build a doghouse for you out back."

"Why am I the only one treated so badly?! I'm your partner!"

"Don't be silly. It's precisely because we're partners that we can joke around like this."

"O-oh, is that so? Then that's fine!"

While getting feedback from my companions, the inn construction progressed steadily.

And by the time the sun was starting to set, the inn was finally complete.

… No, wait. Not yet. It was missing a bath. When you think mountain inn, you think hot springs.

So on the second day of construction, I added a bathhouse building behind the inn.

To be precise, I surrounded an area with wooden walls, then added just pillars and a roof on the inside to give it an open-air bath feel. Since it was simpler than the inn itself, it only took about an hour to complete.

I heard from Ichika that in this world, people basically use [Purify] to clean their bodies, so baths are pretty much considered a luxury item. In that case, just having a bath might be enough of a selling point.

Now, the crucial hot water…

Looking through the DP Catalog, I found something called [Water Source (1,000 DP)].

I figured I'd have a golem dig a hole and install it near an underground heat source to turn it into a hot spring.

Since Tsuia Mountain seems volcanic, there's definitely a heat source down there. There's even a chance I might strike a real hot spring. After all, if there's an underground water vein flowing near the heat source, just tapping into that alone would give us a natural hot spring… Though I have no way of finding it, so it's all up to luck.

So to search for underground heat sources, I had a drill golem about thirty centimeters in diameter dig downward, grinding away at the earth.

This drill golem was a brilliant idea, if I do say so myself. Rather than just giving a golem shovel or pickaxe hands, I made one that functions as an entire drilling machine with its whole body. What do you call these things again? A crawler? It's a specialized drill for boring through tunnels, digging holes efficiently with no wasted effort.

In modern-day Japan, you'd have trouble dealing with all the excavated dirt and stone, but I solved that with the brute-force method of having the dungeon collect it in real-time. As it drills forward, Rokuko simultaneously extends the dungeon territory, collecting the dirt and rock as resources while it just keeps digging and digging.

… Seriously, why didn't I think of this sooner? If I'd come up with it during the Dungeon Battle, building the underground labyrinth floor would've been so much easier. I should've done this before making drones out of potion bottles. That way I could've gotten more sleep.

I also switched the goblin room cave excavation from pickaxe-plus-golem to drill-golem-plus-golem, which sped up the mining there too.

Originally I had them digging to gather golem materials, so there's no need for it anymore, but at this point I'm thinking I might as well just let it keep going until it tunnels clear through to the other side of the mountain.

Once the tunnel's done, maybe I could charge a toll?

Heheh, my dreams are expanding. Daydreams aren't bad either.

Separately, to add more underground dungeon floors, I've also left Rokuko and the golems in charge of digging. Thanks to the know-how from the Dungeon Battle, they're digging pretty efficiently and should be able to secure about one floor's worth of territory per day. We can add the walls with golems or DP later, so for now the priority is just securing as much space as possible.

… Yeah, our DP situation is starting to get dangerous. It costs 5,000 DP to add a floor… but I want to dig a bit deeper before we open the inn.

Currently we have two floors above ground and three underground (with the labyrinth taking up two of those), for a total of five floors.

I want at least two more floors, and estimating about 10,000 DP per floor including contents… I should expect about 20,000 DP to disappear here.

That would leave us with 60,000, huh. It's dwindling. Things are really starting to feel tight. Before long I might have to start worrying about single digits again.

 

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I prepared a cloth golem outfit for Ichika.

This time I based it on the [Navy Blue Maid Outfit Set (500 DP)]. I found it while looking through the catalog for something fitting for an inn receptionist. It was more of a cosplay-style maid outfit than a proper one, but it came as a full set with the main dress, headband, gloves, shoes, and even underwear. 500 DP for all that is actually pretty cheap, isn't it?

Oh, and of course it includes over-the-knee socks. With a garter belt too. That's non-negotiable. It's for performance, you know? Really, truly. You can't provide proper assistance without coverage going above the knee, after all～.

Turning the underwear and knee-highs into golems was somewhat embarrassing, but I sewed (embedded) magic stones into everything and properly turned the whole set into cloth golems.

As for whether this fits in this world… well, I'd heard that maid outfits exist too when I saw Haku-san's attendant wearing butler clothes, and the fabric is made from reasonably good materials available in this world. There shouldn't be any problems… probably.

"This outfit's super cute! Is it really okay for me to have it?!"

"Yeah, make sure you wear them properly."

"Aah, that's nice～. Kehma, gimme one too!"

"I'm planning to have you reign as the owner, Rokuko, so I'll get you something like the dress Haku-san was wearing."

"Yay! Thanks, Kehma! I'm looking forward to it!"

"I'll prepare the same outfit for Niku too since she'll be working at the inn. Please wear it from now on."

"Yes!"

While wondering if the size adjustments for Niku's maid outfit would work out, I handed Ichika the complete maid outfit set.

"Whoa～, lace underwear is a first for me～. Goshujin-sama's got good taste, huh～."

"My tastes lean more toward the socks than the underwear, actually."

"… So Goshujin-sama's a leg person? Was havin' nice legs or pretty feet one of the conditions when ya bought me?"

"Come to think of it, he told me he valued legs too."

"Ohoh… Hey, Goshujin-sama. Wanna watch me put on the socks?"

"… W-what did you say?"

"I'm yer slave, Goshujin-sama. Ya don't gotta hold back, y'know?"

Crap, I want to watch. I honestly really want to watch.

"… Hang on, wait. Why do these clothes have magic stones stuck to 'em?"

"Hm? So the assist effect stays active even outside the dungeon."

"Sorry, I shoulda asked this first… Is this magic equipment?"

"Magic equipment?"

It was a term I'd never heard before, but apparently it refers to equipment that produces special effects through magic power, similar to magic swords. Well, if magic swords exist, it only makes sense that there'd be equipment like that too.

If enhanced sharpness is enough to qualify as a magic sword, then movement assistance and strength enhancement should definitely count as special effects.

Apparently, magic equipment isn't something you can just whip up easily, same as magic swords, and she'd never even heard of cloth-based magic equipment before.

… If she's never heard of it, then nobody's going to figure it out. Alright, let's just say there's no problem using them freely from now on.