Journal from Another World

黒森ダンジョンの攻略の準備編

With the matters of Eldership finally over, there was finally a peaceful morning for the Lover’s Nest. Maybe it is the other way around, since the Romaria has finally reclaimed the townspeople’s trust more costumers have been coming and days in the diner has become hectic.

Thankfully, we’ve gotten ourselves more waiters and waitresses. Some of the orphans who were older needed a place to work. There were some who still had doubts with the orphans used for petty crimes, so to ease those doubts. We hired some of orphans at the Lover’s Nest and other establishments to show the public that the children have come back to society.

With two waiters and three waitresses, the diner could finally manage even if me or the twins do not join in. For the first 6 days, I had trained the kids, and soon enough they were doing everything I thought them without supervision.

Of the three waitresses, that had joined the diner, one of them was not an orphan. The young Alma Mesner who is 8 years old has joined the work force under the pretext of learning how commoners work so that she can feel the troubles of their lifestyle. Apparently, the idea came from Molba’s wife -Glesda Mesner.

According to rumors, when Molba was still ‘Town Elder’ Glesda could not voice her thoughts. She was meek to all of Molba’s whims and demands. However, ever since Molba lost the Eldership and her daughter instated as the new town Elder she has gotten some courage to go against her husband and has now essentially become the new voice of the house.

She apparently did not want her child to grow up like her husband so she made sure that the Romarias would educate Alma. Whether she just wants to butter up to the Romarias or this is her genuine feelings are beside the point. She is moving for a change in the Eldership of Amarante and that is a good place to start.

Well, this scenario was also perfect for our situation both for Alma and for Amarante. Without a doubt Molba had definitely received the ire of the Viscount, there is no telling what the viscount or his cohorts would do to bury their shame. Therefore, the little Alma working at the diner was also another way to ensure her safety. We did not tell Glesda, Molba or Alma this but Glesda, as a mother – with her instincts, probably felt the need for Alma’s protection.

With this, the diner has the working force to manage the diner without me needing to interfere too much.

*****

Now that that is out of the way, I have another matter that require my focus. The Twins –Ran and Len. The attack in the diner still lingered on their minds. The twins seem devastated by their defeat at the claws of the [RAVENOUS FOREST WOLF] and the two wanted to retrain.

For 2 days now, the twins had been trying to sneak past us to go out and do some harsh training regime. There was even one time where the two had skipped a meal to do some marathon. While I can see their motivations, what they’re doing actually counter productive to their training. It was just plain rash and had no actual merit as a training regime.

The twins did not even bother to check that surviving a Monster Threat Rank C at a Source Level 5 and 3 was already a feat only few could do. The fact that they gained a unique skill meant only for them was already a joy to this world. But, for some reason they are getting too worked up for their own good.

“Well, if you really feel like that, how about you join the Guild as a Hunter?” There was an idea. The one who proposed it was their father -sir Heid of course.

“…and while at it why don’t you train yourselves at the dungeon?” Sir Heid’s next words made two types of reaction.

“Darling! That’s dangerous, what are you thinking?” clearly, his other half presented her retort showing that of anger and worry.

“We’ll join!” and “We’ll get in the dungeon!” Ran and Len’s voices overlapped with joy.

Now how will the head of the family reconcile these reactions?

“Dear just think of it this way, 5 days from now I will officially become Amarante’s Guild Overseer and it should be my job to ensure the route for the ‘Dark Forest Dungeon’.” This was sir Heid’s argument. As the overseer, he has the power and authority appoint recommendation quests. Mapping an uncharted dungeon should be one of his duty and responsibilities. I personally like this idea but…

“But… Don’t you think it is too early for these children to go a dungeon” This was my concern. My personal agenda aside, I think it is illogical to send young children to a dungeon run.

“Dear I can understand your worries…” Sir Heid pacified the worries of his lovely wife. “But if this keeps up, the two will without a doubt be going to dangerous waters. If they have to do it anyways, I would like to have them go supervised.” At this, he then looked at me. “We’ll have Ace to guide the two. Clearly, they will be alright as long as they don’t go too deep and with Ace as their escort, right.”

Spoken like a true bureaucrat sir Heid was able to compromise things. The twins wanted to become stronger than they are now, so he will by sending them in the dungeon, and train. The couple wanted to them to be safe, so I will be going as their escort and ensure that their training supervised. With me as the twins’ guide, the couple have assurance that they will be safe. With this scenario, this will place the twins’ escapades put to a stop all the while for them to recover the confidence they once had.

…And I will be able to enter the Dungeon. This is a win-win-win situation, what more could you ask for?

Well, my hidden agenda aside, I think this was a good setup. All it needs is the approval of the matriarch.

“Papa, Thank you! I love you! Mama, please let us go!” Ran in her enthusiasm manage to say those words in under a tick.

“Mama, we will do anything Ace tells us, please let us go!” Len who was closer to lady Anna sends her his puppy eyes eventually convincing her.

“I see…” she was clearly still hesitant, after all they were her adorable son and daughter but, she also knows that she has to let them choose a path for themselves so… “But remember to be careful, okay? You have to do everything Ace tells you and once this is over, you will not go on those rash training regimes without consulting us, am I clear.”

The matriarch has spoken.

“Yes!”

“Okay let us make it official, Hunter COPPER Rank Ran and Hunter COPPER Rank Len you are to make a map of the Dark Forest Dungeon’s first floor.”

With that, the three of us needs to prepare for our dungeon run.

*****

“Okay you two we need to prepare for our run.” Well, we can’t really enter the forest just immediately, we still need to prepare. For the next few Bells (Hours) I had given them instructions on our preparations.

Survival. Using the knowledge, I’ve learned on that Nameless Island Forest I then put up a few lists for the success of our dungeon run.

First on the List for Survival is ‘knowledge of survival’. They say that knowledge is power, and the books right in front of us will provide us with those powers.

Using our combined finances, Me Len, Ran bought few of those survival books. One of the books is a knowledge that will help us safely forage food in forests, specifically the fruits, vegetables, mushrooms, and other edible food in the Dark Forest. Since we do not have an infinite source of funds, we will need to forage in the forest for our immediate food.

Another is a book for bestiary that will help ease our hunts. Again, this is a list of the known monsters in the [Dark Forest] and some regular beasts. With this, we will be able to exploit weaknesses from known Monsters that would attack us. Truthfully, the accounts I have written in my Monsterpedia were accurate and detailed. For the twins however, this should be enough.

Another is a book about basics of Dungeons. Personally, this was a great find. Dungeons are mysterious places that first needs mapped before a complete run. Knowing some knowledge about dungeons in general should help us determine its dangers. ‘I need to buy a few copies of this myself.’

Second on our survival list is a way for us to stock on food, water and camping tools. While I have some camping tools prepared in the Detachment Room, the twins need to understand that while preparation takes time, it will save them the trouble in the long run. We each bought backpacks to store our goods and camping equipment and canteens to store our waters.

While we were still in the preparation phase, I also had the two learn from Lady Anna the proper way of dismantling. For the lady of the house, she was quite the expert in dismantling. Apparently, she had learned dismantling from her grandfather who was originally a hunter before he took the Eldership post. Apparently, she learned it by heart because she wanted to dismantle cooking ingredients herself. That and because it was her grandfather who taught her.

Last on the Survival List were weapons. Personally, I think the wooden weapons I had carved (with my above average Wood Craft skill) was better than most weapons. However, Lady Anna did not have an eye for that matter. She even extended her own earning to allow us to be better equipped both in weapons and in gears. She even threatened us saying - “Take this money and buy equipment or no Dungeon.”

In order to assure the matriarch, we had to buy weapons and gears fit for the dungeon run.

Ran bought two short iron swords for her main weapons. For her gears, she bought leather armor and boots from processed Rank E monster [ADULT WARGS]. Since she did not want to obscure her visibility, she forgoes the purchase of any headgear. She however bought a number of knives for throwing.

Len on the other hand bought an iron staff for his main weapon. Equipped also the same Warg leather armor and boots, same as his sister. He also did not buy any head gear, instead bought a bow, a quiver, and a number of arrows for munitions.

Allow me to digress a bit. About Len, he had studied magic from lady Anna, while they are basic fire magic, they should be able to enough for E rank monsters. Ran on the other hand learned magic from sir Heid who taught her elementary land magic. However, since she had trouble reciting the chants, she could not use them practically.

To further digress on the discussion, when the incident in Amarante was still ongoing I went to a lot of places and studied about the skills that remained crude due to lack of basic knowledge.

Grim-chan gave me a rundown of the skills when I asked her about the skills that leveled up.

• BOW CRAFTING : LVL 9
• CARPENTRY : LVL 10
• METAL CRAFTING : LVL 10

• WOOD CRAFTING : LVL 10
• DISMANTLING : LVL 3
• BLACKSMITH CRAFT : LVL 3

You have a nice repertoire there, master.

Finally, I’ve gotten myself the Blacksmith Craft and should be able to create a more aesthetic and functional bladed weapons. I would have liked to forge for the twins, but since this time was only to map the first floor, we should not need for anything stronger than their current weapons.

While it was not completely necessary, I should also make sure the twin would learn to harness the power of KENKI by letting them use Wooden Trial Series for the Dungeon Capturing.

“Now let’s go map the first-floor dungeon.”

“Oh!!!”