The next morning, today was the day to decide on the distribution of the guild rewards.
El, Ashera, my mother, Marl, and I were all heading to the guild together.
As for why Marl was coming along, it seemed she wanted to see firsthand how rewards were divided, how materials were assessed… in short, the real scene of business.
She was determined to transfer to the commerce department after the long vacation, and recently she had been studying the flow of money in the past by looking at the ledgers in the archive.
Of course, the act of looking at the ledgers of a noble family was almost taboo.
The reason both Grandpa and Dad agreed was probably that they were among the few people who knew she intended to become independent in the future, and they already considered her part of the family.
“Aldo, what is that container?”
Actually, I had brought one container of honey preserves to let everyone have a taste.
I had originally planned to bring Apoll’s safe honey preserve, but I carelessly forgot to mark what was pickled in each container.
By now, even I didn’t know what was in the containers.
I told Ashera about it, and since all the honey preserves looked delicious to her, she responded with a huge smile, saying, ‘Any one is fine.’
‘These are preserved foods. I made them hoping to improve our meals a little. Let’s taste them later.’
‘Preserved foods made by Al, huh…’
Mother looked at the containers with intrigue, but she seemed to lose interest quickly, probably thinking she’d get to eat them later anyway.
That was close. If the Ice Witch had targeted them, they might all have been eaten up…
With that, we arrived at the guild.
When I entered the guild, it became quiet for a moment, but the clamor returned immediately.
Usually it would be completely quiet… I tilted my head in puzzlement when I heard Joe calling from the tavern.
Apparently, Joe’s bold words the other day had worked.
From a distance, they were keeping an eye on us, but they must have realized that if we didn’t provoke them, we wouldn’t do anything.
“”””Good morning””””
“”””Good morning””””
“I won’t disturb you, so please allow Marl to sit here for study purposes.”
At my words, Ms. Naga and Joe’s group nodded in agreement.
“By the way, Marl is El’s fiancée, so it would be helpful if you treated her as such.”
Ms. Naga wore a troubled expression, and Joe’s group looked a little surprised.
After we took our seats, Ms. Naga began to speak.
“Once again, thank you for your hard work in exploring the labyrinth…”
From there, it moved on to the profits from selling the Sly Ape claws and magic stones. I explained the expenses used for exploration.
In the end, Joe and the others each received 2 platinum coins and 3 gold coins. As for us, each of us received 3 platinum coins and 1 gold coin.
Per day, Joe and the others earned 23,000 yen, and we earned 31,000 yen. Considering it as 10 days of work, it was a bit iffy?
There were also preparation days like today, and weapons and armor wore down. When I thought about it this way, the system called ‘guild requests,’ which carefully examined information and clarified objectives, probably ended up being a profitable job after all.
No one complained about the distribution of the rewards. According to Naga, that was ‘unusual.’
Normally, even if it was decided in advance, it seemed common for people to argue a bit to get extra rewards.
Apparently, that could happen even in a party where trust existed.
We have been in a party for a long time, and there are two things that usually trigger a party’s dissolution: issues between men and women, and financial issues.
I pay careful attention to the distribution of rewards for that reason.
“The reason we don’t fight over rewards is that you three don’t say anything.”
“Hm? What do you mean?”
“In this expedition, you, Elphas, and Ashera hunted most of the monsters, right?”
“Hmm. Well, that was the role we were supposed to play.”
“Exactly.”
“Exactly?”
“Normally, people try to get more because they hunted the monsters, but you three don’t say anything.”
“Of course. Each of us is acting according to our role, so isn’t that the reason we can hunt the monsters?”
“That’s the point. Many people don’t understand that. You may form a party with others as well, but you should expect that disputes over reward distribution will happen.”
“…I understand.”
I could agree with Joe’s words. It was fine for now since we weren’t struggling for money, but if we were at a level where we were in financial hardship, we couldn’t afford to be so particular.
That ended the discussion about the reward. Next was the second dungeon exploration, scheduled for five days later.
“About the next dungeon exploration…”
It had already been decided that during the next dungeon exploration, we would aim for the Earth Dragon.
In that case, having Joe and the others come up to the fourth floor would be meaningless.
Rather, Joe and the others’ role would come after that: transporting the Earth Dragon to the royal capital and cleaning up the monsters after the exploration.
If the dungeon’s Miasma Stone was taken, the dungeon would cease its activity.
The monsters currently in the dungeon would remain as they were, but no new monsters would appear.
The monsters would also be released from the dungeon, climb the stairs that normally separated the layers, and overflow toward the surface.
Food was also a necessity, and Boah would probably end up being food for the lower-level monsters.
We would have to move on to exterminating the monsters as soon as we took the Miasma Stone.
The battle with the Earth Dragon > the monster extermination battle would continue consecutively, and we would have to push ourselves quite hard.
That was why I wanted Joe and the others to somehow handle at least the upper-level monsters.
Even if monsters actually started overflowing from the labyrinth, it wouldn’t be a matter of just one or two days.
At first, they would be confused by being released from the labyrinth, then gradually learn to eat due to their first hunger, and finally climb higher and higher in search of prey.
It should take more than ten days for the Minotaurs on the 9th floor to overflow.
Conversely, it would take only one or two days for the wind wolves on the 1st floor to overflow.
“I’d like to ask Jogna and the others to handle the monsters that are about to overflow.”
“Overflowing monsters, huh? For us, Sly Apes on the 4th layer are the limit. A Mad Bear is manageable one at a time, but if they come in a group, we can’t handle them.”
“Understood. Even if the monsters are above the 4th layer, please retreat if you feel it’s dangerous.”
“Sorry.”
“No, don’t worry. Normally, it would be much more serious, so this is a big relief.”
“I’m glad to hear you say that.”
We were almost done deciding Joe and the others’ roles and were wrapping up the meeting.
“Then, lastly, let’s have a tasting of the preserved food.”
Everyone looked at me with interest.
“Aldo, preserved food is generally nasty. Is there any point in eating it here?”
“Then, Joe, does that mean you won’t eat it?”
“Huh?… Got it. Fine, I’ll eat it, okay?”
“You really don’t have to push yourself.”
“Alright. I’ll eat. It’s okay.”
“I understand…”
I thought we would be down by one person, but it was Joe.
After I handed out the wooden skewers I had prepared to everyone, I removed the cork stopper from the container.
At once, the sweet smell of honey and strawberries spread around.
“Is this preserved food?”
“Yeah, it’s honey-pickled Stroh berries.”
As I explained the contents to Joe, it seemed that this container was actually a strawberry container.
“So sweet~. Aldo. This is amazing. I’ve never eaten anything like this.”
While I was talking with Joe, at some point, the Ice Witch had started eating.
Following the Ice Witch, Ashera, Marl, El, and Ms. Naga also started eating.
“Sweet. Aldo. This is amazing!”
“Delicious! How did you make a dish like this…”
“Big brother. It’s delicious.”
“Sweet… in my 40 years of life, I’ve never eaten anything this delicious…”
I hid the bowl in my bosom so that they couldn’t eat any more.
“Please wait. It’s for tasting. I need to check the preservation state and other things.”
They must have realized that I was serious. As expected, everyone calmed down.
I placed the bowl on the table and checked the contents, the straw fruits.
Color, smell, no problem. To check the taste, I tried to skewer one straw fruit and eat it… everyone’s gaze was terrifying.
“I really am just tasting…”
I murmured a word and nibbled a bit… sweet.
It didn’t seem to be rotten.
I checked the bitten cross-section as well, and there was no discoloration or strange smell.
Eating the rest all at once. Sweet and delicious.
It seemed to be fine. Well, even without being soaked in honey, it would last about a day, so that was expected.
“It seems to be okay.”
I had to nail it down since everyone was about to swarm over the honey-soaked food.
“Take turns.”
Since Mom was trying to eat first as if it were natural, I took the bowl from her.
“Take turns. Joe, you go first.”
“Can we eat too?”
“Of course. We’re a team, right?”
Joe and the others scratched their cheeks, looking embarrassed.
“Then, we won’t hold back…”
As the three of them ate in turn and looked satisfied, Ice-san started complaining.
“Al, that’s enough. Hurry up.”
Why did she always act so big… it was a mystery.
From there, we ate in order, but Joe and the others were overwhelmed by the women’s momentum and declined.
By the time El and I had eaten the second one, we too gave in to the pressure from the women.
“My share should go to Ashera…”
“And my share to Marl…”
Before we could finish speaking, extraordinary killing intent was released from the Ice Witch and Ms. Naga, silencing El and me.
“‘Nothing at all…'”
Ms. Naga, you too!
In about ten minutes, the tasting was over, but Mother started saying something terrifying.
“There was a wooden box in the garden, so I wondered what it was… and it turned out to be this…”
She said that while smiling slyly.
“Mother, you can’t do that. We’re still checking the shelf life, you know.”
“But there were so many of them~”
“I’ve been checking the fruits too, all four kinds. Please, really, stop.”
“Then just make them again.”
“I don’t even know if the honey is available… If you even try to eat them, I’ll never, absolutely never, cook again!”
“…Alright, fine.”
It seemed like they had somehow understood, but… since it was the Ice Witch… I felt uneasy.
“I’m thinking about some other things too, so please, don’t eat them at all.”
Ms. Naga asked if I would reduce the jerky and black bread in the trial preserved food that I was bringing, but since it was still under testing, I told them not to count my food in the numbers.
“Ah, would that make it harder to transport… should I reduce the amount of my preserved food…”
“No way!”
“Aldo! No.”
Mom, Naga, and Ashera opposed it, and it was decided that all of my experimental preserved foods would be taken along.
With this, all that remained was for El’s and my armor to return, and preparations would be complete. I planned to drop by the chef’s place occasionally to check on the progress of the frankfurters, and if there were any that turned out well, I definitely wanted to take them with me.
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