Chapter 338

Extra: Meanwhile, at [Cave of Desires]

Rei was left in charge of the dungeon while Kehma and the others were away .

However, what normally would have been business as usual had turned into [a bit busy due to lack of manpower] .

What about the various issues cropping up without Gozoh, the adventurers’ mediator, being in the village? All of them were taken care of by Village Sub-Chief Wozuma in one way or another . Rather, the festive mood following Gozoh and Kehma’s B-Rank promotion made it so that there wasn’t really anyone wanting to cause issues .

“…—Haah, every day’s passing by without anything happening even though Master and Rokuko, as well as Meat-senpai and Ichika-senpai aren’t here…”

“Isn’t that a good thing~?”

With her legs stretched out under the kotatsu in the employee break room, Rei laid her cheek down on the table . The other person with her was Nerune, who was enjoying some of Kinue’s green tea .

Even without creating its own heat, the kotatsu was great . At that time of year, the blanket alone was just right .

“… The adventurers are going fine… the village is great… neither the church nor the succubi are having any issues…”

“Isn’t that a good thing~? My research is progressing well too~”

“… … There not being anything wrong is a good thing, but I can’t show my ability to solve problems if there aren’t any problems to solve . What do you think, Kinue?”

“It would certainly make an impression if you solved any issues, but it would be better if no issues arose in the first place . Would Master not judge it that way?”

“Uuu, but I want to show my appeal to Master… but it’s only one or the other…! Like light and darkness…!”

Rei complained . In fact, Kehma valued Rei quite highly . It should have been clear from the fact that he’d given her DP to use for enhancing herself . There was also no mistaking that there being no issues was for the best .

… Moreover, Kehma himself definitely wouldn’t have felt like correcting any issue that might have arose .

“I’m back for a moment~ . Everything going well?”

Just then, the person himself, Kehma, made an appearance . Kehma quickly gulped down some of the refreshing green tea Kinue casually offered him before handing back the empty cup .

“M-Master!? H-Huh, you’re back already? Isn’t it still only halfway through the schedule?”

“Just for a little bit . I’ll have to head to the imperial capital here soon . ”

“Oh, okay . I guess you came back here to go there through [White Beach], then . ”

“I was thinking about heading there directly with [Teleport] after since I learned it, yeah . I have to make a massage chair after all this is over in exchange, though… Rather, Haku-san keeps pushing Dungeon Battle stuff onto me . Gah, I don’t wanna work, I don’t wanna…”

Kehma appeared to have performed some trade with Haku, a far superior dungeon . Rei and Kinue felt awed despite Kehma’s ending remarks .

“M-Master, [Teleport], you mean…?”

“… Oh, yeah . The space-time magic… But I won’t teach you it . Nerune, even if you tried to use it on just a single person, you’d absolutely suffer from mana exhaustion . I mean, even I feel the strain . It’s enough that I think I’d probably die if I was limited to the amount of magical power you have right now . ”

“U-Uguuu… No waaay~”

Nerune hung her head . Kehma once again turned to Rei .

“So, have there been any issues?”

“No! Nothing to report!”

“… Rather, Rei was just saying how she had so much free time since there’s nothing going on~”

“H-Hey, Nerune!? What are you saying!?”

“Hah . ”

Hearing Rei and Nerune’s back and forth, Kehma laughed .

“That’s good, there’s nothing better than free time . I’ll keep leaving it to you, Rei . ”

“I’ll to my best, Master!”

“Kinue, make sure to give Rei your support . ”

“Certainly, Master . ”

“And Nerune, I thought of an interesting idea for a magic tool during this trip . A convenient one . ”

“Ooooh… another thing to research, huh~ . It could take a long time to get through the stockpile, you know~?”

“Well, it doesn’t need to be a rush job . Let me know if you don’t think you can do it . Alright, I’ll be heading off . ”

Saying that, Kehma left the room like a storm .

“Let’s keep going without any issues, Kinue!”

“… Rei, you seem quite fired up now . Well, I suppose that’s one of your good points . ”

“Haah~, looks like I have a lot more to work on~… . I’ll have to train to increase my total magical power, too~ . I’ll be sinking all of my salary and bonuses on mana potions~… Oookay, back to the lab~”

“Nerune . Would you like a sandwich for lunch? Or maybe onigiri?”

“Onigiri… no, a sandwich, please~ . You can choose what kind~”

Each and every one of them felt their morale increase .

However, since what they had to do hadn’t changed—except for Nerune—there was nothing really for them to do with that morale .