Chapter 242: Meal in the Dungeon
Translated by Zzonkedd
Edited by Gumihou
“”Aruji~ I’m hungry~“”
“”Umu, me too,“”
“”Me three! Foood!!“”
The moment we stepped onto the 10th floor, everyone started clamouring for food.
Well, we did just conquered a major obstacle, the 9th Undead Monster Floor, so it should be alright to take a break for a bit. [5]
“Elland-san, is there a place for us to rest here?” [5]
“Hmm, if I’m not mistaken, there should be a safe room nearby. Follow me, please.”
[4] “Thank you, Elland-san. It’s definitely nice to have an experienced guide to take us around.”
[6] “Hoho, my pleasure,” Elland-san looked very pleased.
[6] Just then, something appeared in the passageway in front of us. It looked like a huge white worm with horns. When I say huge, I mean huge! The thing was about one and a half meter long and was inching slowly towards us.
[4] “Ugh, what’s that thing?!” I blanched, it looked disgusting.
“A White Caterpillar,” said Elland-san. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.” As he put away his sword, Elland-san continued. “White Caterpillars move slowly, but don’t underestimate them. They could spit out sticky threads that obstruct movements. The threads are also really difficult to remove so it’s better to keep a distance when attacking.”
“That’s good to know,” I nodded, glad that I don’t have to get close to that huge worm thing.
Elland-san smirked at me, “Like so.” He extended his hand and called out, “Wind Cutter!”
Swish! Swish!
The White Caterpillar was sliced to pieces with a high pitched, “Kiiii!!!”
[6] After that, pieces of the White Caterpillar flopped to the floor, oozing weird green liquid before disappearing. Man, am I glad that dungeons could absorb the corpses of the dead. It would be so disgusting to step through the remains of that fat worm thing.
As we continued down the passageway, Elland-san said, “There’s also a Grey Caterpillar. You have to be more careful about that one. The Grey Caterpillar has some kind of hair on its skin that causes paralysis. Any part of your body that touches that hair will become numb or paralysed. If you get too close to it, it could also shoot its hairs at you.”
[4] “Ugh, a caterpillar that could shoot paralytic hairs? The more I hear about them the more disgusting they become,”
[4] “Hoho, the paralysis only lasts for 30 minutes at most. Though, of course, in a dangerous place like a dungeon filled with deadly and poisonous creatures. 30 minutes of paralysis could mean death.”
I could feel my face twisting with revulsion, from here on down to the 17th floor more and more poisonous monsters would appear. I’m really, really glad that I have [Abnormal Status Nullification].
Even though those bunch of Gods and Goddesses were annoying, I’m still grateful for their blessing.
~
We soon arrived at the safe area.
It was a fairly large room, about twice as large as one of Doran’s safe rooms. However, there was no visible spring or water source anywhere.
According to the information I got, the 8th, 10th and 12th floors were fairly popular with Adventurers, and this was reflected in the number of people resting at the 10th floor safe area.
Despite the large number of people, we still managed to find a private corner to rest.
“Fuh, shall have our meal now?”
“”Food, food~“”
“Umu, hurry up,”
“”Food, food, fooood!!!“”
“Yes, yes,” my hungry familiars are hungry. Let’s see, I should get something that’s fast and easy to prepare.
Hmm… let’s go with Onigiri Meatroll as well as the pork soup that I had made much earlier. [6] Food won’t go bad in the [Item Box], but I still prefer to clear out older food first. I guess it’s a habit I can’t really shake off even now. I took out my familiars’ usual plates but then paused.
These were special porcelain plates bought from Neihoff and… I glanced at the uneven stone floors and blanched. Just the thought of setting down those precious plates on such terrible floors made me nervous. Not to mention, well, what would Elland-san and the other Adventurers think if they see me feeding my familiars on expensive porcelain?
Hahaha, better not court trouble from that side either.
Let’s use our old wooden plates instead.
I placed wooden plates piled high with Onigiri Meatrolls in front of my familiars, along with fairly deep bowls of soup.
“Alright, there you go.” [5]
“”Mu, where’s my usual plate?“”
Ara? Fer unexpectedly liked his plate? “”It’s a porcelain plate, using it on such a rough surface could crack or break it, so, it’s better to use wooden ones instead.“”
“”Umu, I guess it can’t be helped,“”
Despite his slightly disappointed tone, he ate with gusto as usual. [5]
“Let’s have our meal too,” I said, setting out smaller wooden plates of food for myself and Elland-san. I also set out a porcelain pitcher of clean water bought from [Net Super] down alongside some wooden cups.
This pitcher was bought at Neihoff. The place we stayed at Neihoff has a pitcher there too and thought ‘I should get this’ and immediately got myself one just before we left town.
Since then, I’ve been transferring drinkable water from plastic bottles into this pitcher.
Am I glad to have that pitcher of water ready, [6] it’s not like I could simply take out a 2-litre plastic bottle of mineral water in front of all these people, right?
“Elland-san, please go ahead,”
“Ooh, it smells good. Looks delicious too.”
I stabbed one of the Onigiri Meatballs with a fork. Onigiris were meant to be eaten with one’s hands, but since there isn’t a culture of eating with hands in this world I made do with a fork. It’s a little awkward, but manageable.
In keeping with the local custom, I drank soup with a spoon instead of tipping the bowl to my mouth as I would back in Japan. I guess, they considered this way cleaner?
Ahh, but the Onigiri Meatball with its Spicy Teriyaki sauce really hits the spot. Hmm, hmm, very delicious.
Elland-san clearly never seen an Onigiri Meatball before, but he imitated my actions and ate the Onigiri with his fork too.
“Hah! This is pretty good! This sweet and sour taste is irresistible. To think that I get to eat such delicious food during a dungeon challenge, how luxurious~”
“Hehe, I’m glad you like it,”
“”Seconds!””
Ahaha, time to do some work.
“”Give me the meat wrap thing only,“” Fer demanded. Apparently, he didn’t like the soup since it has vegetables in it. Well, he still ate it though, so I decided to indulge him and pile on the Onigiri on his plate.
“”I want both, just half the soup thing though,“”
[6] Yare, yare, my familiars have gotten into the habit of giving me orders now. [5]
“”Aruji~ Sui wants both too~ Same amount~“”
Once I gave the familiars their seconds, I continued with my meal. Ahh, the savoury notes of a good hearty pork soup are divine…
“There are quite a lot of ingredients in the soup, it’s very delicious,”
I beamed, [6] “It’s one of the few ways I could sneak vegetables to my familiars,” I am very proud of this. “Of course, it has to be delicious or they won’t eat it.”
[6] “Hoo, that’s interesting,”
“Would you like seconds?”
“Oh, please, if you don’t mind.”
Gulp.
Eh?
Ahem, I’ve been trying to ignore the looks from other Adventurers since we got here, but I guess it can’t be helped. I’m serving fresh food while they’re gnawing on dry rations after all.
[6] If it was one or even two parties, I might have shared my food, but there are too many people in this safe area. Food is too precious a commodity in the dungeon, sorry guys. Fer and the rest will probably stomp you to death if you ate all their food.
[6] Let’s just ignore them.
Thus, under the intense stares of the people around us, I continue to serve ‘seconds’ to Fer and Sui until they’re satisfied. We rested at the safe room a little while longer before setting out to explore the 10th floor.
[Gumihou: Those poor Adventurers, lol]
[1] Structural Change: Combine 2 paragraphs
[2] Structural Change: Combine 3 paragraphs
[3] Structural Change: Combine paragraph & dialogue
[4] Structural Change: Change passive sentence to dialogue
[5] Delete Repetitive or Pointless Information
[6] Additional Information for Aesthetic Purpose
[7] Add Dialogue Tag