The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter

Chapter 12 – Eat Meat, Get Strong

After Emma regained control of her shaky feet we went over to the rabbit to cut off its horns, the quest’s proof of subjugation.

“Hey Noir, I heard this monster’s meat is super delicious.”

“Oh? I’d try it, but I don’t think we can carry this one back.”

“True…, guess we can’t.”

“Actually, wait.”

In this world there are skills with a focus on item storage. I believed they were called 「Storage Subdimension」 and gave skill creation a try.

What followed was a rank system that went from C to S with LP costs like…

「Storage Subdimension C」 400

「Storage Subdimension B」 1000

「Storage Subdimension A」 1500

「Storage Subdimension S」 3000

Going by the skill description, it seemed like even C rank had a fairly large storage volume, also making its stored contents deteriorate slower than

normal. The storage’s size and deterioration rate improved as one went up the ranks. S was pretty amazing, offering huge capacity without deterioration.

But well, I was happy with C.

“Emma, I have a request. Let’s do today’s greeting.”

“Nh.”

I had her kiss with me while we hugged each other. The LP gain wasn’t that huge, but the turnout seemed to reset after a day so I wanted to make it a

daily thing.

Having earned some more LP I created the skill and tried using it by touching the dead rabite’s body.

Poof, the huge rabbit disappeared.

“Whoah!?”

“Gave myself the subdimensional storage skill. Let’s take it back to the guild and have a butcher prepare the meat. We might be able to eat some big rabite meat today after all.”

“Noir’s the best!”

With more emotion than she knew what to do with Emma hugged my side, happy enough to rub her cheek against my upper arm.

We were going to leave the grasslands like that, but that’s when we encountered a problem we couldn’t overlook.

Yet another big rabite had appeared.

“Looks like one of them had already brought along its friend.”

“I’ll try defeating it on my own again.”

“Take care.”

Emma knew how to learn from her mistakes, so a mess-up like earlier was unlikely to happen. She probably wanted to test her new skill, too.

Their unfolding battle was completely one sided. Just like last time Emma dodged the big rabite’s horns while utilizing the gaps between its attacks to carve into its flesh.

However, while she wasn’t able to cut through the monster’s thick meat before, this time its movements were clearly getting slower. The cause were the deeper wounds it received with each of Emma’s swings, and that despite using the same weapon. Without much struggle she delivered the final blow and achieved victory.

“Was that the skill’s support? It became super easy to cut.”

“Yeah, your cutting technique might’ve improved.”

“And it’s because of your help, thank you.”

“I can also bestow skills, so we’ll get stronger together in no time. Although, in return…”

“Yes, yes, I know. Kisses and stuff, yeah?”

“And stuff, right. Less appropriate things give more LP.”

‘B-but not the ears…’, while Emma glanced aside mumbling, I collected our second big rabite.

When we arrived back at the guild Lola was all smiles, beckoning us over to her.

“I was waiting for you, how did it go?”

“Here’s the requested proof of subjugation. There were two, but we defeated them both.”

Mostly Emma.

“Already had companions with it, I see. I’ll report that to the guild master afterwards, we might be able to get you an additional reward for it.”

After the paperwork was finished I told Lola about our plans to eat some big rabite meat.

“We do have a contracted butcher so letting us take care of the preparations should be fine. The service is free of charge if you’re willing to trade some of the raw meat for it.”

“Alright, I’ll let you handle the big rabite then.”

“…? And where is it?”

It seemed quicker to just show her than to explain it, so I opened the storage space and made the big rabite appear on the floor.

“Huh!? D-don’t tell me, a storage skill?”

“One of those, yeah. So, will that do?”

“Well, certainly, this will do, it’s just…”

Lola wasn’t the only one surprised. The adventurers nearby gathered around us all at once.

“You a subdimensional storage holder? How about partying up with me, let’s go!”

“Not bad for a rookie, nice work defeating a big rabite!”

All of Odin was in such high spirits I wondered if it was because the meat was as delicious as Emma had heard.

Since we were new adventurers it seemed like a good idea to buy their favors.

“We’ve actually got two of them. If you’d like, how about all of us eating them together?”

“””Would that be fine!?”””

“Of course. In exchange I’ll be relying on your help if the time ever comes.”

“Uoohhhh! Let’s get the preparations done, everyone!! You can go ahead and call the butcher, Lola!”

Everyone worked together to carry the big rabites into the guild’s backyard and things turned into a BBQ party.

People showed up carrying all kinds of spices with them.

The butcher that was brought along handled the meat with skilled cuts, and after letting the meat sizzle on a heated iron plate we sprinkled some salt on it.

“After you, general!”

“Oh you guys, I could nev- Thank you for the meal!”

I started the feast with a big bite.

And it was delicious――――!!

Similar to chicken meat, but a little lighter in taste and tougher in consistency. It felt high quality, and as though the more you ate the more you wanted another bite.

‘Wahahaha!’, everyone laughed as I smacked my lips in satisfaction. One after another they began to eat as well.

“That’s mi-, I said that’s mine!”

Emma and the other adventurers snatched meat from each other like they were fighting over it.

«BBQ is War» by Emma Brightness.

Half an hour later I patted my inflated belly. Aside from being tasty it also brought me LP, so I was in a great mood. If there was something left to ask

for, I was thinking that some dessert would be nice. Right then an adventurer walked up to me.

“Hey hey, want to try this?”

“Eh-, don’t tell me those are…”

“Oh, they are. Rabbit eyes.”

Two completely black, candy ball looking things were placed on the plate I was shown. As I drew away from the sight he picked one up and threw it in his mouth.

“Kahaaa――, that’s the stuff.”

‘N-no way,’ I couldn’t believe it was that delicious. However, his expression didn’t seem faked either.

“The meat was basically thanks to you, after all. Although I’ll be glad to take it if you don’t want to?”

“…I’ll eat it.”

“There we go.”

I remembered master’s words, that story about disgusting looking delicacies being an efficient way to raise LP. With a resolved mind I ate the rabbit eye in one bite.

The eye was hot, probably boiled before-hand, and even softer than I could have imagined. It went sploosh when I chewed it and juice came out of its inside, spreading throughout my mouth.

“Sweet, but salty… or salty but sweet?”

“Tasty, right?”

“Yes, a lot more than I thought!”

“These sort of delicacies aren’t too popular, but a good amount of them are actually great. Make women and children scream, though.”

“Thank you for telling me about these.”

“No problem.”

With a feeling like I discovered a new world that day I became a little more of an adult. Or if nothing else, I certainly did grow in regards to my LP.

‘Seems I’ll have to thank the adventurers of Odin.’

『Current LP: 2200』

◇ ◆ ◇

The next day I took a break from adventuring and entered the Hidden Dungeon while it was still morning.

After hunting a couple gold slimes and raising my level I headed to master on the second floor. Right as I entered the room, master’s ridiculously shrill voice echoed in my head. Or roared, rather.

『You――! Whaddaya think ye were doing――!』

“Why the scolding and why with a dialect?”

『You’re the one that left me alone here, hmph.』

“Yes, yes, I apologize. I joined Odin’s adventurers and got busy.”

“Ohh, ain’t that the place I was part of. Take’s me back~”

“You became a legend there, master.”

“I guess I did my part~”

I asked her about the things she did at Odin and a long story began. Reforming a guild that was close to ruined, liberating towns from monsters, even disciplining a tyrant, and more. ‘You might as well become queen at that point,’ was the impression I received.

『By the way, are you feeling like going deeper into the dungeon today?』

“Yeah. I could use the treasure, and I’m still aiming to get stronger.”

Although I’d rather not push myself.

『Next up is the fourth floor, was it. How about picking up 「Dungeon Floor Movement」? After setting foot on a floor once you can travel straight to it. Although its usage is limited to within dungeons.』

“Was there something like that? Wait, could I just create a skill that let’s me travel to floors I haven’t been to yet?”

『Quite the thinker, ain’t ya. But the LP cost is so high it’s realistically impossible.』

That wasn’t surprising, otherwise you could just go straight to the dungeon’s deepest layers and what not. But the earlier skill was already plenty convenient.

「Dungeon Floor Movement」 600 LP

It should come in handy so I took it.

“Now if I reach the fourth floor today it’ll be smooth sailing from next time onward.”

『Third floor’s just the dead reaper, right? Plenty smooth sailing already.』

“That might be the case for you, master, but in my case it’s too risky of a fight unless I use up 200 LP.”

Creating thickheaded and passing it on to the monster, that alone made up 200. Well, thanks to yesterday’s food my LP were in a pretty good shape so it wasn’t a big deal.

『Oh, were you struggling with the dead reaper? With 「White Flame」 it’s over in one shot so you might as well pick that up.』

“White flame?”

『It’s a relatively useful fire magic spell that doesn’t require too many LP. The thing is that its flame has the “holy” attribute and dead reaper’s are weak to holy magic, you see~? Against higher levels you could also bestow the weak to holy skill before burning them with white flame.』

Hm, hm. Master’s battle lectures certainly were helpful.

Sounded like just burning them with white flame as they are should be fine for levels around 100.

「White Flame」 800 LP

With this, my remaining LP were 800.

『Good luck, work hard~』

Focusing on my desire to go to the third floor I used the dungeon floor movement skill in front of master. Shortly after, a pitfall looking thing appeared on the ground before me, surprising me a little. As a man of the scared chicken kind I was a little worried about whether jumping into it would be a smart idea.

Could have been a deep drop, or something.

『Ahahaha, got cold feet didn’t you~, it’s safe so go ahead.』

“I’ll be trusting you.”

With a little jump I let myself fall into the hole.

For a single moment my field of vision turned black, and in the next I already had ground under my feet.

Luckily I didn’t end up spraining my feet from some high fall.

And thus, the staircase was right next to me.

‘Ooh, looks like I really did arrive at the third floor in an instant.’

Sure was convenient.

________________________________________________________________

Thanks for reading. Next chapter sometime. Special thanks to everyone pointing out typos and mistakes.

||