Supplies for the temple’s expansion are being brought in. Lord Dardale had arranged for the temple’s expansion even before the negotiations, and many supplies and people are entering the village. It’s a helpless old lady.
The temple knights are using their martial skills to clear the forest, and in no time, nearly twice the area of the original temple grounds has been cleared. Since the temple is made of stone, the felled trees are being used to build simple sleeping quarters for the craftsmen or as firewood.
“First of all, I apologize for making it so that we’re only going to explore the dungeon after such a long time due to my schedule. I’m really sorry for causing trouble to both of you,” I say, apologizing to Ben and Charmy in front of the dungeon entrance.
“We’ve hardly been exploring for about a month,” I say, as I stand there, apologizing.
“What are you saying? You’re still young, but you’ve got a lot on your plate. My old man said that,” Ben replies. “He said he hopes you don’t go bald.”
Ugh. I definitely don’t want to go bald…
“I’ve been reviewing what I felt was lacking in our previous explorations, so this works out perfectly,” Charmy says.
What great companions they are… Ben is just quoting his old man though.
“Just don’t do anything, okay?”
“I understand,” they respond.
As I try to enter the dungeon with Ben and Charmy, three temple knights follow us. Their job is to guard me, so even in a dungeon—especially a dangerous one—they follow me. It’s better than having them follow me into the bathroom…
“Alright then, let’s go!”
“Yeah!”
“Yes!”
We proceed through the first floor of the dungeon, moving quickly. On the first floor, the village children are hunting monsters, so there are none left for us.
“Slime!” Ben, who is ahead, steps forward without hesitation and squashes a slime.
The slime is a disappointing monster as it doesn’t yield any materials when defeated. We usually just leave its remains behind.
The slime dies, its gelatinous body spreading across the ground. If I wanted to collect it, I could, but I don’t bother.
Then, I suddenly have a thought. I realize I haven’t processed the slime’s corpse through information conversion. Its gelatinous form is actually pretty rare.
When I use information conversion, I’m surprised to find that the slime can be converted into materials for many different things. I need to take it with me.
“Hey, are you really going to take that slime?” Ben asks.
“I want to try something,” I reply.
“If you say so, but… ew, that’s all slimy.”
“It’s actually pretty cool and surprisingly comfortable.”
I pack the slime into a cotton bag and throw it in my backpack.
After that, there are no more monsters, and we enter the second floor. There are slimes here as well, but the children are hunting them, so we don’t need to.
I think I wanted a few more slimes, but I’ll hope for some on the way back.
When we enter the third floor, we run into Kozumi and the others.
“Hey, isn’t that you, Thomas?” Kozumi says.
“Yo!” everyone greets.
“It’s been a while, Kozumi-san, everyone,” I say.
“Yo, old men,” they respond.
“Hello.”
All five of them have large, stuffed backpacks. It looks like they’ve had a big hunt.
“Did you find these on the tenth floor?” I ask.
“No, the eleventh floor,” they reply.
“Woah!” Ben, Charmy, and I exclaim together.
“You guys are amazing, old men!” I say.
“Stop calling us old men, we’re not that old!” Ben protests.
They start arguing, and I can’t help but laugh. Kozumi doesn’t say anything more, just wishes us luck, and then walks away.
As we explore the third floor, we soon encounter a monster—a Big Hand, a monkey-type magical beast.
Its arms are as thick as my torso, and its hands are enormous.
The attack from the Big Hand is not something to take lightly. When Ben blocked it with his shield, the shock distorted his face from the force.
I fire an arrow, but the Big Hand dodges it.
“I pray to the Great God of Light, Ritelide! Light Javelin!” Charmy shouts, and her Light Javelin strikes the Big Hand’s right shoulder, seemingly predicting its movement.
“I won’t lose to that!” Ben shouts, and with his Morning Star, he knocks the Big Hand back. I take another shot, this time hitting its eye. I aimed for its left shoulder, but it worked out in the end.
The Big Hand thrashes in pain, and Ben seizes the opportunity to leap into the air and slam his Morning Star down on its head.
Since we can’t take the Big Hand home as it is, we skin it right there. The dissection is quick and efficient.
The meat of the Big Hand smells bad and is not edible, so we leave it behind. There doesn’t seem to be any use for it according to information conversion either.
While we’re exploring, we find a treasure chest.
Dungeons don’t just spawn monsters—they randomly place treasure chests as well. How it works is a mystery.
“I didn’t expect to find a treasure chest on the third floor,” I remark.
Treasure chests are usually found on deeper floors, so this is rare.
“Thanks to Deuro-sama,” Ben says as he opens the chest. I’ll have to officially make Ben the first disciple of Deuro-sama.
Inside the chest is a pair of gauntlets.
Iron Arm Gauntlets: Increase strength (small), +30 life points.
Items that are magical tools can be viewed using “Status Open” while touching them, just like people do. Some magical tools are cursed, so it’s always necessary to check.
If no flavor text appears, it means the item is not a magical tool and is not cursed.
“This would be good for Ben,” I say.
“Really!?” Ben responds eagerly.
“It’ll boost your strength the most. Charmy, would you want them?” I ask.
“I’m fine with that,” she says.
“Alright!” Ben says excitedly, taking off his gloves and putting on the new gauntlets. From then on, he’s been a real powerhouse.
