Chapter 372: A Silky Set
A Silky Set
I guess I screwed up somewhere during my visit. Was me unilaterally deciding that Dyne would handle the negotiations too much for a figurehead of a Village Chief?
Oh well, at least Wozuma should think I'm too crappy of a Village Chief now, so my workload should decrease. He even asked me to not do anything~, aaah, so nice, I want to work oh~ so~ much~ but my hands are tied here~. Oh well~.
And so I decided to sleep two or three more times, but...
"Kehma, I'm wanting to summon some more Silkies. At least two."
"Huh? I don't mind, but why?"
"Our two part-timers in the dining hall are saying that they'll be quitting soon. I've been wanting to talk to you about it for a while now, so I wanted to take this chance for more capable hands to handle the inn's tasks."
Setsuna and Nayuta, huh... they're our only part-timers, after all. They're actually Wakoku spies, so I guess them staying here for so long is starting to be an issue? It's been fine until now though...
They'd already stopped for the past several days due to their shifts, but I guess they decided to disappear.
"Which is why I wanted to try asking you about this, but..."
"A Silky Set, 80,000 DP...? Isn't that fine?"
"... You don't see anything strange about that?"
"Strange?"
I looked at the image in the Catalog, it definitely showed three Silkies for 80,000 DP...
Just then, Rokuko pointed directly at the 80,000 DP cost.
80,000...
Wait, three for 80,000 DP?
"Weren't Silkies just 10,000 DP each?"
"Exactly! But these are 80,000 DP. There definitely has to be something about them!"
Rokuko breathed out heavily in excitement.
I see. There probably is something about them. I mean, it'd be weird if they just costed more for nothing.
But like... this menu was made by that [Father]. There's a chance he'd just be like [Just kidding!].
"Well, we have a good bit of margin when it comes to DP nowadays, so I'd say go for it. Want to summon them in the Master Room?"
"Yay! Oh. And I was wanting you to think of their names to be like Kinue's relatives since they'll be working in the inn."
"... Let's have Ichika handle that. I probably shouldn't name monsters that aren't going to be part of our management."
And thinking of three people's names... definitely annoying. So I decided to have Ichika name them in a way that wouldn't sound weird to this world.
I've gotta avoid the Meat Tragedy.
*
""" We're looking forward to working with you, Master! """
"Yeah. Same to you all."
I'd called for Ichika and summoned a [Silky Set (80,000 DP)].
They looked like a bouncy group of three youthful Silkies, practically middle schoolers... but well, let's leave their Special Ability investigation to later.
They had the same light green hair color and green maid clothes as Kinue-san... It felt like Kinue-san was a one off and that these girls were mass production-types. Hmm, yeah, so all three of them look the exact same.
"Alright Ichika, you can take care of training them."
"They'll fill the hole left by Setsuna and Nayuta, leave it to me! I'll teach 'em everything about what they need to do~. Prepare yourselves!"
""" Kaaay! """
The Silkies energetically raised their hands and responded. Even their breathing was in sync.
"Ah, Goshujin-sama. Could I get some colored hair ornaments? To tell 'em apart."
"Sure. Alright Ichika, I'll leave their names to you."
With that, I passed set of white, red, and yellow hair ornaments to Ichika. For their names, she decided on Hanna, Nakoru, and Pio. According to Ichika, they were all the names of food.
Two people leaving, three people coming... well, it should turn out alright if they get brought up to speed. We've even got one extra.
With this, even if Setsuna and Nayuta leaving so soon, the Silkies should be able to pick up the slack right away. Well, it may take them a little time, but not long.
But those two were already half-villagers, them not being here sounds a bit sad. Particularly Setsuna, she'd often have practice matches with Meat. Thanks to her, Meat's already at the point where she can throw fully armored men about like sacks of potatoes...
... Yeah, isn't this kid of ours getting too strong? Young superhumans are scary.
Then, looking as if she just remembered something, Rokuko clapped her hands.
"Oh yeah, Kehma. Are your Boss Spawner experiments going well?"
"... Yeeeeeah."
I'd actually done nothing but sleep.
I did try making a thumb-sized Orichalcum Golem and registered it on the Boss Spawner. Then I smashed the heck out of it with [Create Golem].
It's been five days since then and it still hasn't respawned. For it to take this long for one the size of a thumb... I can't switch it during the cooldown time—the time until it respawns—but man, I wish it'd at least show the remaining time on the cooldown. Is it going to take longer than a Red Dragon (2 Weeks)?
A thumb-sized Iron Golem only took five minutes, so I guess it being pure orichalcum is definitely what's caused the difference.
"—which is why it looks like the whole orichalcum mass production plan is a no go."
"Father said that you could use DP to rush the respawn, but we don't know how much it would take or how fast it would go, huh... Actually, if we think about it reeeeally carefully, wouldn't a thumb-sized Golem made out of pure orichalcum be crazy? Would people normally be able to beat it?"
"Hmm...? Now that you mention it, it is orichalcum."
Orichalcum's a metal so tough that even a hair-thick wire would be practically unbendable. It's to the point that adding a handle to a suitably long wire would make a super strong rapier.
And this was a Golem—one the size of a thumb.
It was made out of pure orichalcum, so its physical performance would be great. Its small body would make it exceedingly hard to hit it with an attack strong enough to damage it. Now that I'm thinking about it, it didn't even have a Magic Stone, so it wasn't like the Golems that could be killed by destroying their Magic Stones. Would magical attacks even be effective? I get the feeling that orichalcum is strong against magic, too...
"You'd have to strike it down and disperse all of its mana to defeat it... but even so, wouldn't you need an orichalcum weapon to even think of doing that?"
... Holy crap, I just made our dungeon's Last Boss.
Just then, Rokuko smiled.
"Hey, Kehma. Those Golems you make... how small can you get them?"
"... Oi, Rokuko. You just thought up something crazy, didn't you?"
"Fufufu. Imagine putting a grain-sized Orichalcum Golem in that huuuuge Boss Room, it'd be hard just to find it! ... Sooo? You going to praise me now?"
Rokuko looked self-satisfied. But like, the gimmick was so brutal that it was worth being satisfied at.
I don't know if I could make it that small since I've never given it a shot, but I could probably handle about the size of a ring. It should be able to fit inside a crack at that point.
Then even if they find it, it would still be incredibly hard to beat.
"... Yep, that's worth praising. You're awesome, Rokuko."
"Fueh!?"
I pat her on the head. Her blonde hair felt nice.
"W-Wait, Kehma... isn't this where you ask if I'm really me or something!? I-I didn't think you—you'd actually praise me!"
Rokuko's face was beet red. Seeing that, I couldn't help but continue moving my hand about on Rokuko's head as I pat her.
"No, really, you're amazing. You've grown up, Rokuko!"
"Au, auau~"
"Rokuko, you've become a proper Dungeon Core, as expected of my partner! I'm proud of you."
"~~~—! W-Well, I'm your partner, Kehma! Of course I did!"
"And you're so cute. Goood girl, good girl, I'ma pet you pet you pet you!"
"Kyaaah!? W-Wait, a-are you making fun of me after all!?"
"How rude. Do you not like me giving you my praise? Both hands? You want me to use both hands? Alright, I'll pet your legs too from here on."
"Wouldn't the only one of us that'd be happy about petting my legs be you, Kehma...?"
"Yeah, that leg part was a joke."
I really would be a bit happy, though. I have a leg fetish, after all.
Well, I guess that's enough teasing her.
"H-Hey, Kehma. If you're going to praise me so much, umm, c-could you, a reward..."
"Hmm? What about a reward?"
"... Could you? A-A kiss, or something..."
Her saying that with a red face held such destructive power that it pierced right through my chest.
"W-Well, next time, yeah."
"Alright. It's a promise."
Rokuko nodded, a small smile playing at her lips. She just manipulated me into that, didn't she?
... I think I'm going to have to resolve myself.
In various meanings.