Chapter 92: That sounds perfect

A group of adventurers have come to the village.

The soldier and leader was Alec-san; the magician was Hazena-san, the hunter was Del-san; and the priest was Kamui-san.

When I told them about the dungeon, they were awfully surprised.

“A dungeon!? There’s a dungeon nearby!?”

“Yes. We’ve just discovered it recently.”

“Monster-infested areas and a dungeon…why, I think we can call this place a haven for us adventurers already…”

I also told them about the contract that would prohibit them from breaking the dungeon core.

“I’m sorry, but unless you agree to this, we can’t give you permission to explore the dungeon.”

“We understand, and we agree to it. For us adventurers, destroying a dungeon is pretty much like digging your own grave.”

And like that, I decided to guide them toward the entrance of the dungeon.

“Huh? The dungeon is within the village…?”

“Yes. I thought it’d be easier to manage things that way.”

“(…? Didn’t he say that they discovered the dungeon just recently? Why’s he talking like he built the village here expressly for the dungeon…wait, is he saying he moved the entire village here? No way, right…?)”

After a while of walking, we arrived somewhere in the southwest of the village.

“The entrance is between those buildings.”

“Huh…?”

The entrance to the dungeon was currently in the middle of four apartment buildings that were built to be inns.

“Wait, those are inns!? They’re stupidly big…”

“Yes, they’re inns. Ah, but just to be clear, these ones are exclusively for adventurers who will challenge the dungeon. I made them this big and this many in anticipation of future traffic.”

Of course, we also had normal inns. At the moment, we were offering customized medium-sized houses as inns.

Visiting merchants stayed for free in the vacant apartment units, but just recently, I decided to charge a fee and let the villagers manage it.

Everything in the village had been offered for free to the villagers, but on the other hand, they were not given coin in exchange for their labor. Such a system wasn’t sustainable. Soon enough, especially given the current size of the village as well as the rate we were growing, that system would reach its limits.

And so, wherever possible, I would let the villagers take control of services.

Thanks to our transactions with the merchants, money has been flowing into the village. Hopefully soon, enough would be distributed to the villagers that they would be able to trade with each other using money.

“By the way, we also have a restaurant in the village, so do please give them a try. They offer superb dishes made of orc and minotaur meat.”

“““Orc and minotaur meat!?”””

“Yes. We’ve obtained a lot of orc meat from the northern forest. As for the minotaur meat, we got them from this dungeon. If you’ve hunted some and want to sell their meat, we’re willing to buy it.”

A bit later, I was going to make a stall or something dedicated to buying materials from adventurers. Now that the dungeon was open for exploration, I expected more adventurers to come. Especially if we asked the merchants to spread information about it.

“They say orc meat’s delicious…they’re so expensive, I haven’t eaten one though. Same with minotaur meat… But I’d definitely give them a try once I’ve saved up a bit more.”

Both were originally super-rare meat, after all.

“Then, I’m happy to inform you that in this village, they’re reasonably priced.”

“R-really!?”

We talked like that until we reached a courtyard-like place between the four apartment buildings.

“Here we are, the entrance to the dungeon.”

In that place stood a large boulder. And at its foot was a gaping hole.

“The dungeon entrance is in this kind of place…?”

“Wait, won’t monsters come out here and attack?”

“Oh, you don’t need to worry about that. The dungeon master has set it up so that kind of thing won’t happen.”

“Set it up…?”

The adventurers simultaneously tilted their heads.

“Also, this dungeon has multiple floors, each one designed to be harder than the one before it. The deeper you go, the stronger the monsters and the more lethal the traps. For that reason, I think it’s better if you become familiar with the upper floors before proceeding deeper.”

“I see.”

“Next, near the staircases that connect floors are safe zones. It has been set up so that monsters won’t enter these safe zones. There are also small buildings there, so if you ever feel like you need to rest, please make use of those in the safe zones.”

“That sounds perfect…”