Going for a Quick Rank Up

"That's right! The 10,000 DP gachapon is pure romance!"

"Right? If you're gonna do it, go big or go home!"

After a thorough thirty-second discussion, Rokuko decided on how to spend her DP.

Is that really okay? Well, I'm the one who told her to use it however she wanted, but still.

"Here I go! Activating the 10,000 DP gachapon!!"

"Hey, wait! Don't do it in my room! Use the Master Room! If a dragon pops out, we'll get crushed!"

But my shouts were in vain, as Rokuko had already spent the DP. A magic circle deployed with a deep hum… Hey, this thing is spilling out past the walls of my room! Is this gonna be okay?!

"Ooh, as expected of 10,000 DP!"

"Please don't be something huge, please don't be something huge…!"

I prayed that the inn I'd worked so hard to build wouldn't get destroyed.

Rokuko and Ichika were getting excited. Niku stood in front of me protectively.

"Dra～gon! Dra～gon!"

"A dragon comin' out?! We're havin' steak tonight!"

"We're not eating it!"

"… A tail'd grow back if we just took that, yeah?"

"Absolutely not!"

Then the magic circle began to rotate and contract. It shrank down to the size of the room.

"Hm, hmm?"

"Oh, it got smaller?"

The magic circle continued to shrink gradually.

I breathed a sigh of relief. Looks like the inn won't get destroyed after all.

Then it got even smaller.

… Yep, quite a bit smaller.

… … Yep, now it's about the size you could hold in both arms.

"Ooh…"

"I-is this bad? Is this one of those bad ones?"

Rokuko and Ichika's enthusiasm visibly deflated.

Niku remained vigilant, still shielding me.

Then the magic circle disappeared, leaving behind a palm-sized box.

"… What's this?"

"Won't know till ya open it, yeah? Hurry it up, Rokuko-sama, hurry."

"R-right."

Rokuko opened the box nervously.

Inside was a single egg. About the size of a quail egg, at that.

"… An egg, right?"

"Gonna make a fried egg? Bet it'd be crazy delicious…"

"I'm not doing that!? … What even is this? Hmm, but it must be something really great!"

Well, at least my room survived.

"So what is this thing? Did it come with an instruction manual or something?"

"… … If we keep it warm, maybe it'll hatch?"

"That's pretty vague… We spent a whole 10,000 DP on this, so don't crush it, okay?"

"Y-yeah…"

In the end, we didn't figure out what we'd gotten that day.

For now, let's keep it warm using residual heat from the hot spring. Not hot enough to turn it into a hot spring egg, though. More like body temperature, like an incubator.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

The dungeon preparations were complete. Time to head to the settlement.

After all, there's that meat skewer promise.

And this time, I'd actually prepared a vehicle.

"Hey, Goshujin-sama. What's this thing?"

"… A golem carriage, I guess?"

"There ain't no horse! There ain't no wheels! It's got legs growin' out of it!"

That's right. What I'd prepared this time was a rectangular box with six legs attached, designed for rough terrain.

The front had a windshield made using mana potion bottles as the material. Well, it's autopiloted so it's not really needed, though.

The legs were modeled after horse legs, so it's pretty fast.

"Well, I guess it's fine? It's easy and fast…"

"By making it a fully-covered box shape, we can move quickly even through the forest. When not in use, you can disassemble it and it just barely fits in [Storage]."

"… Niku-senpai can use [Storage] too, huh. I wanna learn that…"

"You'd just become a walking pantry. Well, once we have DP to spare that'd be fine, but to get there we need to attract adventurers first."

We need to attract adventurers, but not so many that we become too famous. That balance is going to be tricky.

Anyway, using the golem carriage, we managed to reach Tsuia in just two hours.

That's including dismantling it into separate parts a good distance away, storing it in [Storage], and walking the rest of the way on foot. Wonderful. With this, even if we have to take a roundabout route to avoid being seen by the increasing number of adventurers in the future, we should have plenty of time to spare.

"Oh, it's been a while."

"We'll be going back to seclude ourselves in the mountains soon though."

Paying three copper coins to the usual gatekeeper, we headed to the guild first.

The meat skewer promise is for tomorrow, and I want to get the rank up done quickly.

We arrived earlier than usual this time, but the morning rush must have already passed since there weren't many people around.

The usual receptionist was sitting at the counter. She's always there. What a hard worker.

"Hello. It's been a week, hasn't it? What can I help you with today?"

"Ah, first, please take care of these."

With that, I submitted forty-five goblin ears… all obtained via DP exchange.

"… I heard from Ichika that with this, we can take the rank up exam, right?"

"Goblin ears… hmm, they all check out. However, this many goblins… For just one week of mountain seclusion, can you really hunt this many? Or did you find a goblin colony?"

"Something like that. Since it'll probably take a while, could we start the rank up exam procedures first?"

"… Please wait a moment."

After receiving two silver coins and seventy copper coins as the goblin subjugation reward, the receptionist left the counter to confirm the rank up exam procedures.

When she returned shortly after, she told us that we could actually take the exam today.

Normally it takes a few days to arrange for an examiner, but since we have a dedicated receptionist, being able to take the exam immediately is apparently one of the preferential treatments.

The receptionist led us to the training grounds.

There, waiting for us, was a stern-looking old man… It was the Guild Head.

"… Guild Head?"

"Umu, it's been a while. My grandchildren."

Faced with those forged muscles that were completely unsuitable for an elderly person, I hesitated to step into the training grounds.

… I don't think I could win even with Golem Assist.

And I'm definitely not your grandchild.

"Eh? What's goin' on? Goshujin-sama and Niku-senpai are the Guild Head's grandchildren?"

"It's just that having black hair means there's a possibility, that's all."

"Hahaha, so formal. You can call me Grandpa, you know?"

"I'll pass… So, the fact that the Guild Head is here means…"

"That's right. I'm your examiner. I may not look it, but I used to be an adventurer back in the day."

Seriously… Well, it's just the E-Rank promotion exam, so it's not like we have to beat the Guild Head or anything.

"I'll create a monster with magic, and you just have to defeat it."

"… Create a monster with magic?"

"It's a somewhat rare skill called [Create Golem]. It uses a magic stone and can only make clay golems, but it's very useful for this kind of examination."

Ah, I know that skill very well. I use it all the time.

Wait, so using a magic stone is the normal way, and it can only make clay golems?

The magic stones used are about marble-sized, the kind you can get for around 20 to 30 DP.

"Well then, who wants to go first?"

"I'll go first if that's okay, Goshujin-sama?"

Ichika volunteered.

"Sure. Show him your knife work."

"—That alright? Got it."

Ichika drew the magic sword golem kitchen knife I'd made.

The Guild Head also took out a magic stone and dropped it onto the bare ground.

"Ready? Here I go… Mass of earth, change your form, become my servant and obey me, [Create Golem]."

After the Guild Head's incantation, the magic stone glowed and the earth swelled up.

About two seconds later, an ordinary clay golem appeared… That was fast. It takes me about ten seconds per activation… Does it get faster the more you use it?

"Then, begin!"

"Hup."

At the Guild Head's signal, Ichika's kitchen knife shattered the magic stone glowing in the clay golem's chest.

"… …"

"How's that?"

The clay golem wasn't moving. Rather, it seemed to have returned to being just a lump of dirt.

"Ichika, was it? Promoted to E-Rank…"

Hey, that's all it takes?