Otoko Nara Ikkokuichijou no Aruji o Mezasa Nakya, ne? Chapter 71

Year 7442, Month 5, Day 13

Last night I succeeded in employing Zenom and Ralpha after explaining things. I was a bit surprised when Ralpha suddenly said "if it's a contract let's go over the fine details" partway through but after all it was just at a high-school level. I figured she had never seen a proper contract before and that was the case. Roughly putting it

1. I give them the two of them an advance payment of a total of 400,000 Z in wages per month.

2. The duration of employment is at least one year.

3. Every year we'll renew the contract and discuss and take into consideration the wages for the near year.

4. Other than commands that could put their lives at risk the two of them will obey.

5. We take consideration the health and well-being of the other party.

6. I teach Ralpha how to use magic.

7. The preceding point continues until Ralpha can use healing magic.

8. Limited to this month as a service there's no compensation (However, any income made is split up equally).

9. Any money(including rewards) or goods earned through the process of adventuring during the duration of employment belong to me.

10. When camping outside, we fairly divide the time spent as lookouts.

Is the details that it ended up. It's too easy. There's no good faith clause, it's an extreme example but if I were to say, "Ralpha, go sell your body for a bit and earn some money", "Ralpha, let me test out this new hygiene product", "Ralpha, sell your belongings and earn some money" she can't refuse it. Since the right to refuse only concerns commands that could put her life in dangerous. Well, I have no intention of doing that though, you never know what I'll say if driven into a corner..

I obtained Ropross and Poseidon. I wonder if there's any candidates for Rodem?

I guess it's different because they're compensated.

In any case, on the way to Baldukk, we stopped by a town or village that can make contracts and had one made and settled on both of us holding one. At the very least I don't have any intention of saying any unreasonable until then. Although, in the case that I say something unreasonable, we may be able to get over it at that time but after that the contract won't expire for at most a year so I should limit saying things like that to only when I'm driven into a corner.

Well, even if I say it in the end there's not much meaning to it though. There's almost no penalty for defaulting on a contract made between individuals in this world after all.

While thinking about that, I ran beside my war horse with Zenom and Ralpha riding it. Every day I'm trying not to miss my two hours of running as much as possible. We can also make some distance as well. But, as expected it's difficult to run on the outside roads. Since I'm running while making sure not to hurt my feet I can't really go that fast so it's just a bit faster than the speed I usually let my horse walk I guess. After running for my first two hours of the day I take a one hour break. Since the horse gets exhausted from running for two hours with no breaks as well. After that we take about a 10 minute break for every hour spent running excluding lunch. I'm getting on the horse or getting off and walking so it was big that we were able to allocate the fatigue among everyone. Huh? I feel like I'm the only one losing somehow... Well, I guess it's fine. It's not good just swaying on a horse all the time while you're young.

Along the way we would rest for almost two days at decently sized towns while heading towards Baludukk, though it took close to three weeks near the end of may we were finally able to arrive at Baldukk on May 30th. Ah, we made the contract. Even though I said I would write it as long as we had a pen and some paper she said "you have to do contracts properly" and since I couldn't explain the "the reason it's not proper" we ended up having a scribe like place create it for us. I don't know why but it cost 100,000 Z. s.h.i.+t.

Year 7442, Month 5, Day 30

We arrived at the town of Baldukk in the early afternoon. It's a basin town that's at the base of the mortar shape of large gently-sloping hills with a diameter of about 6-7 km in a circle. I had heard about it but it seems that the only fields are a bit on the slopes around the town. The base of the basin is a flatland that's about 3-4 km and it seems the famous dungeon Baldukk is at the center of that. Centering around that entrance there's eight distorted roads stretching out connecting to the peaks of the hills to the surrounding roads. Each of the eight roads is connected by a thin path and it might be more appropriate to say it's like a spider's web.

Since we were heading towards Baldukk from the south after climbing a hill covered in 5 m trees or so we ended up running into a crossroad at the top. Obviously if we go straight ahead it goes to the town of Baldukk and if we were to take the left or right paths it would lead to the other roads that go around the basin. Hmm, wouldn't this circle shaped road be good for a running course? I'm thinking about such pointless things while looking at the crowded town in the basin below. I don't know from where but I hear the knocking sound of an axe hitting a tree.

Since it seems that it's the first time for Zenom and Ralpha to come to Baldukk as well they're looking at the town from the top of the hill along with me. Ralpha is saying "I wonder if this is the crater of a volcano...it's like crater." but it really is, I thought so as well. Although the crater of a volcano wouldn't have such gentle slopes like this so it might be different. But, if it was exposed to wind and rain over a long period and collapsed then it might become this smooth.

Judging from experience I'd say the height of the hill is 150 m. Even the highest point would probably only be about 170-180 m. There seems to be about a 10 degree slope on the descent of the hills below of the circular hills. The places other than the sloped roads inside of the basin are different from the outside and have gra.s.s and bushes spread out so it's a good view. Since it's only this level of a incline I thought that the hills wouldn't be oblique to the slope but putting aside the outside of the basin, the hills inside of the basin are a bit oblique. Ah, I guess it's that way in order to carry water to the bit of fields on the slopes.

I see something like a pond, or lake, or pool of water on the eastern side of the town in the center of the basin. It's hard to call it a lake. It has about three times the area of s.h.i.+n.o.bazu pond in Ueno I guess. The river is flowing to the west from there. The river runs to the west cutting through the hills and going several Km into the ocean. They probably collapsed the western hills just for that sake. I can tell that there's something like a steep cliff on both sides of the river. Since there's no bridge connecting the cliffs if I run I'll have to start going while following the river up hills that surround the basin and descend the hills on the other side of the river. Seeing as how that river flows into the ocean it seems that pond is a spring and there's a reasonable volume of water gus.h.i.+ng forth so I guess the base of the basin is a bit higher than the ground around it.

Just from looking it seems that the town is a mix of new buildings and reasonably old ones. The new buildings have walls that are plastered in mortar like the sight in Keel so it seems the foundations of the first floor at stone. I can't tell but there might be something like a stone quarry around one of the hills. Let alone three story buildings while there's only a handful there are even four story buildings. Since the land is limited I guess they're trying to rise upwards to make the most efficient use of the land there is. The older buildings are wooden and stop at two floors at best. They aren't all that different from the average building in Orth. Putting aside the fact that the roofs aren't made from tiles or thatched gra.s.s it feels like the houses look a bit like the j.a.panese houses in the Edo era. Of course it's not as if there aren't extravagant buildings with roof tiles as well.

In order to have lunch we entered the first restaurant we found. There we started discussing what we were going to do from here on out. First in order to settle down we need to decide on the inn. I thought we should take an appropriate inn since we're going to be staying here for a while but my opinion was split with theirs here. They're saying that a cheap inn with a price of 2000 Z - 3000 Z per person per night is plenty but I was thinking about an inn like Bins Manor in Keel for 5000 Z per night. Come to think of it the only inns that were open which we stayed at for a few days on our way here were about 5000 Z so there was no complaints.

However, it could said that being able place my belongings in the room without without worrying and looking after my horse are required conditions. It's only obvious that the fees would rise to match that. Not just that but there's a variety of services on the menu and it's important that they're tidy is how I explained it but in the end they still chose to stay at a cheap inn. It's a bit worrying that we can't get in contact right away if something were to happen but I have no intention of taking back those conditions so it couldn't be helped that we split up the inns, or at least that's how I convinced myself on it.

It's not like there isn't the option of forcing them to agree using the contract but it's not a hand that I can use that lightly. And there's no much meaning to obligating them over something like this. I'm sure it's hard for someone with almost nothing that could be considered an a.s.set to understand. It's not wrong to be in a state of poverty but the mentality of being okay with or satisfied with it is harmful. There's a word in the world called honorable poverty as well but I've thought it was a self-deceptive word since way back. I have no intention of endorsing a life of luxury but even if you cut down on necessary expenses that's already just being stingy. Your mentality will become poor. It can't be helped if you have no money but if you don't have any then it's fine if you just earn some. Well, these sorts of things are dependent on every individuals values so it can't be helped being too persistent with it. I have no intention of pus.h.i.+ng my way of thinking on them after all. Getting in contact will be a bit inconvenient but as long as I can approve of that then it's no problem if we both find inns that we can settle comfortably in to.

I relaxed on a reasonably high-quality bed while thinking that. After I rest for a bit longer I'll head to the restaurant we had decided on before-hand and discuss what we're going to do next. Ah, that's right, after this maybe I'll buy a big bucket. Though a bath is impossible I want to at least be able to take a slow shower without worrying about being seen. Thinking that I fell into a light sleep.

Close to the evening after being awoken by the alarm clock small magic {Cantrip}, I put on my boots wearing plain clothes and head to the restaurant that we promised to meet at. Since they still haven't come I chose a table that can be easily found from the entrance and ordered a beer. Since it's still close to evening the tables are only spa.r.s.ely filled. After observing the few customers of the other tables and I didn't see any bodybuilding types that seemed to be adventurers. They're probably just the citizens of this town coming to take an early dinner.

Since I had heard there was a dungeon in the town of Balduk and adventurers aiming to get rich quick go there in swarms so it was a bit of a disappointment. However, I realized that in order to aim for getting rich quick while challenging the dungeon you need to stay in the dungeon for long periods of time so they might still be working (?) at this time. Since it's a dangerous dungeon where lots of adventurers end up losing their lives I thought of doing some information gathering but it seems that it would be best to do that on another occasion. I sip away at my beer while eating some cooked beans. These cooked beans seem to be everywhere. They were at Doritt and Keel but I even ate them at home. I've eaten them all along the way here.

I had been thinking they were like the soul food of the Kingdom of Rombert something like j.a.pan's pickled vegetables or nattou, but since I don't have anything to deny that I'm sure that's the case. I don't hate them and since I've been eating them for over 10 years I'm already used to them.

After Zenom and Ralpha arrived they ordered the same thing. They sip the lukewarm beer while eating some beans. Around the time we finished eating and exchanged info on the inns we were staying at and preparing to make plans for tomorrow several men entered the store. They look somehow dirty and are acting a bit crudely with the light sweaty smell of body odor coming from them. I don't know what dialect they're speaking but the details are somewhat vulgar. They're adventurers. I guess these types of guys are exploring the dungeon. I wonder what level of skill they have. After casually using Identify on them they're all level 7. There's a number of guys among them that can use magic but the level of the abilities are all low at 2 or 3. Or rather I guess this is normal.

It seems they ran into a group of Gnolls on the first floor of the dungeon. Gnolls are monsters that are roughly stronger than Kobolds but weaker than Orks it seems. As expected they appear in groups and come to attack on sight. They're a monster that is like a hyena in humanoid form and they use weapons and armor as well. Zenom was telling me about how if you injure some of them they'll start to retreat while protecting their allies. As expected of Zenom, he knows everything.

In any case, the weak adventurers who were driven away by Gnolls don't matter at all. In other words this means that the first floor of the dungeon of Baldukk can be returned from alive with only this level of ability. I was thinking that while listening to Zenom's lecture on dungeons which I've heard countless times already. It's a bit long but let's review. Well listen up.

-You never know what will happen in the dungeon. Never let your guard down.

-There's a 10,000 Z tax required per person to enter the dungeon.

-The government office in Baldukk will explain a certain amount of information to you.

-Up until now 8 floors have been cleared. And that was something that happened several hundred years ago. The one who cleared them was Rombert the First. He made the foundations of Rombert Kingdom from the treasures he obtained at that time.

-A group of up to 10 people can enter the dungeon simultaneously. Any more than that and it's necessary to split the group. The reason is when you pa.s.s through the entrance of the dungeon there's an underground room and there's a crystal rod there. Everyone grabs on to that and while holding that it's necessary for someone to speak the incantation that lets you teleport into the dungeon. The incantation floats to the surface of the crystal before you grab on to it. However it changes every time you use it to teleport so there's no need to remember it. Due to the limitations on the length of the rod 10 people is the limit.

-The location it teleports you to is always somewhere on the first floor of the dungeon.

-There's a similar crystal at the location you teleport to and if you use the incantation on it just the same then it will teleport you to a room on the side of the one at the entrance with the crystal rod. However, the crystal that's in that location can only be seen and touched by the ones who teleported to that area.

-There's a similar crystal in the location that's believed to be the center of the first floor. If you hold on to it while using the incantation just the same you can either go to the next floor or the room at the side of the entrance. The incantation when you return is fixed and "return us".

-It's possible to run into other groups of adventurers inside of the dungeon. However, since it's far too wide and you don't know where you're going to teleport it's close to impossible to intentionally meet up with someone. They say that it's not impossible if both sides are considerably skilled and decide on a place to meet before-hand but...for the most part it's impossible.

-The width of each floor is tremendously vast. Just going off of the details that I was told it easily has the same amount of area as this town. It seems that they sell maps but they can't be called perfect.

-Each individual floor differs and each floor has their own characteristics. The first floor is a cave. The floor and walls are dirt or stone. There's no particularly strong monsters. The traps aren't a big deal as well.

For the time being I guess that's about it. While I do have some information about the floors after the 2nd floor but since it can't be helped mentioning them right now, I'll talk about them later when necessary. These details are ones that Zenom just heard from someone else in the past so he himself says it's suspicious how much of it is true. It's probably best to think of everything other than the first three points as fake.

After making plans to meet at this restaurant again tomorrow in order to gather information at the government office we split up for the night.