Volume 3 Chapter 4 Part 1
After slaying the monster which had been terrorizing the pioneer village, I ended up travelling to the other world whenever there was a holiday and I had consecutive days off work.
At this point, pretending to be an adventurer had become a hobby of mine.
「It’s all thanks to you, Tooru! You really helped us out!」
「Not at all. All I did was accompany you.」
My party and I had just returned to the Adventurer’s Guild after defeating a monster that had been laying waste to some farmland.
「If Tooru hadn’t killed the giant boar so quickly, one of us would definitely have gotten badly hurt. But since you’ve already slayed a death grizzly, this must’ve been a piece of cake for you, right?」
「Well, bear hotpot tasted good, but so does boar hotpot.」
「Hahaha. The only thing you talk about is food, Tooru.」
「That’s probably true. Hahaha.」
Without Ria or Deet’s support, I never took any difficult requests.
I only accepted quests after gathering every last bit of intel and ensuring that my level was well above the necessary threshold. Which essentially meant that I would always team with low levelled parties.
It was pretty similar to those high level players in online games who would help beginners complete quests.
「What should we do for tomorrow’s quest?」Asked the party leader, who was the main warrior in the group.
「Hmm. As long as Tooru is with us, we can probably even exterminate the hugger ants that’ve been popping up near the magic stone mining area.」The magic user, who was the primary brains of the group, answered.
「Ah, I can’t do tomorrow.」
「Eh? Why not, Tooru?」
「I have part-time work at the family restaurant.」
「’Part-time work at the family restaurant?’」
I had decided to never reveal the fact that I was an other worlder, but even if I brought up terms like ‘part-time’ and ‘family restaurant,’ they wouldn’t know what I was talking about.
If my sole purpose was to earn money, it’d be much more efficient to just complete quests in the other world. However, it was only right that I hold a stable, honest job as well. Therefore, I continued to work diligently at the family restaurant.
Bidding farewell to the party, I headed back towards the dungeon.
「Today was fun as well.」
「Fufufu. That’s good to hear, Master.」Shizuku, in her slime-armor form, said happily.
The dungeon entrance I normally used was located outside the town, around a two hours walk from the Adventurer’s Guild’s hall. Quite the inconvenience, I must say.
I wondered if I could hide an offroad bike somewhere around here. As long as I equipped it with an extra tank for storing gasoline, it might work. I didn’t have a license though.
Eventually, I arrived at the dungeon and made my way deeper in. As I neared the iron door, behind which was the room that led to my apartment, I saw a woman wearing a pointed black hat and a black mantle pacing back and forth in front of the door.
I got the feeling that I recognized her from somewhere.
「Is that Deet over there?」Apparently Shizuku had the same feeling as me.
「I think so too. What’s she doing? Well whatever. I’ll just ask.」
I carefully snuck up behind Deet.
「DEET!」
Deet jumped in surprise, whirling around.
「T-Tooru.」
「What’re you doing?」
「N-nothing.」
For some reason, she was slurring her words. She didn’t look very good either.
「Aren’t you acting kind of strange?」
「A-are you sure? I’m acting normally.」
「Anyway, let’s not talk out here. Come with me to my room.」
To put it nicely, the first floor of the dungeon was a bustling area that had declined in prosperity over the years. To put it bluntly, it was a slum. If we were going to have a conversation, I wanted to have it somewhere else.
Not to mention the fact that we shared a secret known only to a certain few.
「I-I can’t go…」
「Eh? You can’t go? Why?」
Deet sounded like she was about to cry. 「Because I lost it gambling…」
There were several casinos on the first floor. She probably incurred some big losses there. But what did that have to do with coming to my apartment?
Huh? Wait… don’t tell me…
「It’s fine, just come on.」
「I’m telling you…」
I grabbed Deet’s hand, pulling her through the door.
「I don’t care about money, so come on already.」
「R-really?」
Deet always gave me money when she came over.
Adventuring as well as living in Tokyo were both costly affairs, so I always accepted the money. However, it seemed like Deet had begun to think that it was a necessary payment for coming over. And now that she had none, perhaps she felt she could no longer come.
I’d assumed that Deet was the most brazen out of anyone, but it turned out that she also had the strongest sense of honor.
Though now that I was earning money in the other world, I guess…
「I have enough money, and it always makes me happy when you visit, so don’t think of it as an obligation.」
To be honest, being left to my own devices would probably cause me trouble in the future, but I’d deal with that when it came.
「T-Tooru~…」
「Are you hungry, by any chance? We can go Ton Skijote for banana chocolate cream crepes.」[1. TL Note: Previous chapters had it as Tonskihote, but since it’s a play on the popular Japanese store Don Quijote, I’ll refer to it as on Ton Skijote (still pronounced Ton Skee-hote)]
「Yeah! Ah, I’m so happy~!」
Deet grabbed my arms. I felt two heavy and springy objects press against both my arms.
「Steal from the fat pig.」
The guard opened the door for us, and we headed towards the back of the warehouse, behind the pile of equipment, stepping through the entryway to my apartment.
「Wah~ there’s no place like home!」I said happily.
While the other world was enjoyable in its own way, nothing could match the comfort of my own home.
「Alright. Let’s change clothes then we can go to Ton Skijote togeth… wha-wha-what!?」
As I spoke, I suddenly felt Deet pushing me into the Western-style room.
「W-what is it?」
「After… resting.」
「A-ah.」
For me, a Japanese person, walking to Ton Skijote was no big deal, requiring very little effort or thinking on my part. But for Deet, that probably wasn’t the case.
「Want take a nap? You can use my bed. I’ll go buy groceries for dinner and crepes.」
「That’s not it~」
「Eh? What’s not it?」
「J-jeez… I want to sleep with Tooru!」
「Ehhhh!? Wha-mrg!」
A hand suddenly clamped down over my mouth.
「Mrgh mrgh mrgh!」(Translation: What’re you doing!」
「Shizuku lives in the Western-style room closet. If you yell, she’ll hear you.」
Huh? I mean sure, Shizuku had indeed made her home in the cardboard box containing my doujins, but currently, she was in her slime armor form, taking up position as the leather armor I was currently wearing.
Which reminded me. Shizuku was being awfully quiet.
「Ria and Miri aren’t here right now, so it’s fine right?」
「Mrgh mrgh mrgh!」(Translation: Shizuku is right here though.」
「I’m begging you! It’s lonely, so I don’t want to sleep alone!」
Deet, whining like a spoiled child, pushed me into the Western-style room and onto the bed.
Where had her usual arrogant attitude gone?
「Y-you promise that you’re just going to sleep, and nothing more?」
「Yeah. All I want is to sleep next to Tooru… fufufu.」
「A-as long as that’s all…」
For some reason, it seemed that Deet’s dere-mode had been activated. Maybe this was her default mode whenever it was just the two of us.
I smiled and patted Deet’s shoulder.
♦︎ ♦︎ ♦︎
We were at Ton Skijote. Deet was sitting on a bench with her head cast downwards.
「I didn’t realize Shizuku was your armor. Why didn’t you say anything?」She sniffled.
「Because you were covering my mouth.」
「Shizuku didn’t say anything either!」
「Well, Shizuku couldn’t really speak up when we were on the dungeon’s first floor, and after we came back, I guess she was trying to be considerate?」
Probably due to the shock, Deet hadn’t even touched the chocolate banana cream crepe yet, despite it being her favorite food.
「Don’t worry about it. Shizuku is watching the apartment right now, so it’s just me here this time.」
「Y-yeah.」
「Anyway, let’s eat!」
「Okay!」
The two of us sat on the bench, grinning together and enjoying our crepes.
「Alright. Shizuku’s probably waiting for us so let’s head back home soon.」
「Yeah.」
Deet continued to cling onto my arm on our way back.
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