Livelihood Dungeon! (English Version)

A gentle, humid breeze drifted through the clear and tranquil morning.

The lush, fluttering leaves danced gracefully as they welcomed the refreshing gusts of wind.

From afar came the contented clucking and playful commotion of the unruly flock of chickens. They ran freely across the fragrant meadow, joyfully basking in the picturesque scenery of the vast landscape during their fleeting moment of freedom.

Beneath the shade of the lone tree, strange sounds of long, drawn-out slurping could be heard.

Meanwhile, a charming little butterfly had been circling around the tree for quite some time until it could no longer resist its intense desire. It landed upon the long, yellowish fruits beneath the fluttering leaves.

Beneath the thick trunk of the tree, the repeated movements of a gigantic chocolate-colored mass streaked with traces of foliage could be seen.

The massive figure was actually a peculiar kind of wolf—a variant. A rare wolf that had evolved into a resilient Terrestrial Wolf.

And this wolf was one of Peter's two battle-specialized companions: Ichiro.

The wolf sat there in a relaxed manner, completely contrary to its intimidating appearance as a gigantic creature. Its tail spun rapidly like a propeller while its head repeatedly moved up and down. It was enthusiastically licking Peter all over the face, who had turned pale and kept his eyes tightly shut.

Meanwhile, the Regeneration Slime named Iyashi still had not left its master's right shoulder ever since the incident last night. Peter's shoulder had nearly been torn away from his body back then.

The Regeneration Slime's intense worry was obvious, even if it could not express it due to its lack of facial expressions.

Peter still had not regained consciousness despite Iyashi managing to prevent his severe injuries from worsening. After all, Peter had lost quite a significant amount of blood during the brief moment his wound had split open.

"Wah!"

The two companions jumped in joy when their beloved master finally opened his eyes and regained consciousness.

Peter coughed as an unidentified liquid entered his open mouth. He also tasted a mixture of something fishy and earthy. Upon sitting up from the ground, he firmly wiped his soaking wet face.

"What did you two smear all over me, Ichiro and Iyash—"

His words were abruptly cut off when the two suddenly pounced on him at the same time.

"Ugh," Peter groaned.

His back, neck, and chin hurt even more after being violently knocked flat onto the ground. But instead of getting angry, the master of the two simply laughed. He merely allowed the oversized wolf to continue licking him nonstop.

He knew this was its way of showing affection.

The master of the Livelihood Dungeon laughed even harder when Iyashi suddenly attacked Ichiro in the face without hesitation.

The Regeneration Slime had gotten annoyed after being accidentally flung away when Ichiro hit it during their simultaneous pounce on Peter.

Peter's heart warmed at their simple yet sincere interaction.

At that moment, he once again realized just how dangerous the new world he now lived in truly was. He had nearly died.

In this world where he was alone and had no one else to rely on, the unconditional love of his two companions was the only thing giving him the strength to keep moving forward.

He had proven that to himself last night.

The two had not abandoned him during his weakest and most vulnerable moment.

Because of that, he became even more determined to cherish them.

He was willing to risk even his own life for the sake of his only family.

...

Exactly one week had passed since that dreadful night.

That night, he was fortunate enough to still manage closing the dungeon's passageway using nothing but the last remnants of his courage before ultimately losing consciousness. Otherwise, it might have caused a serious problem.

Peter frowned in sadness and let out a deep sigh.

He remembered something.

Peter recalled how he had said they would go to the Eternal Forest to train. Back then, he had boldly promised that he would protect his family, yet even now, he still had not stepped outside the Livelihood Dungeon to see the real Eternal Forest beyond it.

He felt deeply ashamed of himself.

It turned out that speaking boldly was easy when one had nothing to show for it.

He had been traumatized by what happened that night. At first, he thought everything would be easy, but for several days now, he had kept telling himself that he would leave the dungeon tomorrow instead.

That was his justification and excuse for his cowardice.

Every time he uttered the key word to open the passage leading outside the dungeon, he would immediately feel a throbbing ache and chilling sensation in his right shoulder.

And whenever fear stopped him from going outside, he simply buried himself in work within the dungeon instead.

Truthfully, he had an overwhelming amount of tasks there—jobs that would have been impossible for just one or two people to finish in a single day.

He watered the crops two to three times each day.

He cleared the dirty areas of the dungeon that still needed cleaning.

He replanted the plots of land that were ready for cultivation.

He harvested the crops that were ready to be gathered.

He fed the chickens and cleaned their coop.

He also collected the eggs and separated them into fertile and non-fertile containers.

Peter wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve. He sat beneath the shade of a banana tree to rest for a while.

He opened the basket containing the food he had prepared. He took a boiled egg that he had peeled earlier and began eating it.

Meanwhile, his other hand picked up a soft loaf of bread from the basket as well. He took a bite out of it.

It was nowhere near as soft as the bread on Earth, and its taste was somewhat bland. Still, that was hardly surprising since he alone made the bread he ate using the wheat he personally harvested and milled.

He lacked essential ingredients such as salt, milk, and yeast.

He also gave one piece each to the two companions staring at him with pleading eyes.

The two happily ate the eggs and bread.

Peter first fixed his companions' drinking water before taking a drink himself. The man let out a satisfied breath after drinking the cold water. That water came from the fountain Peach had recommended.

Peter happily watched his companions busily eating.

After a short while, Ichiro and Iyashi suddenly rushed toward Peter and began licking him all over once again.

He hugged the two and gently patted them.

"Playtime is over. Let's go!" he reminded the two.

He stood up, dusted himself off, and cleaned up after their meal.

Peter walked along while whistling to himself.

He needed to keep his spirits up to gather enough energy from every corner of his body to endure the seemingly endless work inside the Livelihood Dungeon.

He needed to work twice as hard.

As the days passed, his responsibilities only continued to increase.

His chickens kept multiplying because he continuously bred them to obtain more eggs. At the same time, he also had to increase the number of crops he cultivated to keep up with the growing needs of his companions.

Peter suddenly jolted when he heard a thud from behind him.

To his shock, he saw Ichiro slightly stumble.

The vigor instantly vanished from Peter's face at the sight of that.

He took a deep breath as he steadied his resolve.

He repeatedly slapped his own face as punishment for his weakness.

Because of his hesitation and indecisiveness, even his family was beginning to be affected.

Slowly, the dungeon master opened his mouth.

"Open."

Peter motioned for his two companions to follow him.

He needed to feed Ichiro some meat. It was the only way to get rid of its lethargy since wolves were natural carnivores.

Together, they passed through the passageway.

"Gwe?!"

Peter turned toward the source of the voice.

"Eh?" he reacted in surprise as well.

The two shocked beings stared at one another, their faces nearly touching.

Peter had not expected to immediately encounter someone upon leaving the Livelihood Dungeon for the Eternal Forest—much less someone standing that close.

The mysterious creature reacted the same way when Peter suddenly appeared out of nowhere right in front of it. Startled out of its wits, it fell onto the ground.

The two stared at each other once more.

Peter was bent forward, staring at it.

Meanwhile, the innocent-looking creature gazed up at him with widened eyes and a slightly parted mouth in shock.

It somewhat resembled a human, yet the differences were enough for it to be called a strange creature.