The day after the tournament ended, Fors is still crowded with people. But this is not lingering excitement from the tournament, it’s because people who came from other towns and villages are leaving.
People from villages far from Fors could also participate in the tournament, and those villages were provided with travel and lodging expenses.
Of course, there is a limit to how much they could provide, and there was also a limit to how many they could send.
And with the tournament over, they are now buying things that are uncommon in their hometowns.
“The beast king thought of everything.”
Ryuryu tells me this system was put in place to dig up rough diamonds in these places.
“King End’s policy is wonderful, but he leaves dealing with all that to everyone else.”
Says Ryuryu in response to Mia’s praise.
Apparently her sister, the king’s wife, along with many retainers have been regulating this. But they seem to be doing it not because it came from the king, but because they like the idea.
“So what now? It will be hard to go around with so many people here.”
Says Rurika while peeking at the tower… The dungeon.
I’m sure she’s raring to go after yesterday’s intense display. Hikari and Sera look like they feel the same way.
“…It’s a little early, but how about we get something to eat and then go to the dungeon? Ryuryu, is there somewhere you recommend?”
I think we’ve gone through all the stalls, but not restaurants and stuff like that.
When we’re in a city, we usually eat either at stalls, or in the inn where we’re staying.
“Yeah, let’s make it a place with some nice variety.”
She looks at Elsa and Alto, and makes her decision. By the way, Shizune isn’t here, for once. It felt like she really didn’t want to leave them.
Ryuryu takes us to a buffet, which is rare in this world.
I see, this does look like the place to go when you want to taste various things.
It’s not just Elsa and Alto, even I’m happy about this.
I’ve actually learned a new skill called Analysis, so I can learn how to cook things as I eat them.
The Cooking skill allowed me to know to a certain extent, but it’s like I understand better, I guess?
I also get more information when I use Appraisal and People Appraisal because of it.
But even if I understand, I don’t tell Elsa and Alto, because they like to do it through trial and error. Mia is the same way, so they often cook together.
“What are you doing in the afternoon?”
“…We’re going to the dungeon? What about you Ryuryu?”
“I’m going back to the castle. I need to see if King End is actually resting.”
She then grumbles about why she has to look after him, but even though it seems she’s always being pushed around by him, he says she’s one of the few people who listens to him.
We say goodbye to Ryuryu, and then head to the dungeon.
It was empty during the tournament, but there are a lot of people near the entrance now.
And there are faces here I recognize.
“Hey, Sora. What’s up?”
Says Siphon when he sees us. Argo also calls out to us, so a lot of eyes fall on us.
People probably remember their fierce fight in the tournament. Their party members are also here, including Geitz, and Shun is also nearby.
Shun just fought yesterday, so is he all right?
I also see other participants. They must be here because they earned the right to enter the dungeon with their parties.
“We’ve got time, so we’re going to the dungeon. Are you all planning to go too?”
“Yes, but we’re going to take it easy going up.”
It sounds like Argo and Siphon’s parties are going together. And Naoto and the others are going too, Shizune included.
“We’re going to take it easy too. I haven’t hunted monsters in a while, so I need to get that feeling back.”
Naoto also says he asked Shizune to hold off on using her magic for this reason. But of course, she’ll use it if there’s any danger.
Kotori is also in their party, so I think they’d have more than enough firepower even without Shizune. At the very least until the twenty-sixth floor. Let’s not forget that they conquered the dungeon in Prekes.
We say goodbye, and enter the dungeon first. Apparently there’s a line for people who want to go to the first floor, but we’ve been here a few times, so we don’t have to wait.
In fact, there are few people going to the upper floors.
Now let’s get our dungeon conquest going again.
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Thanks for the treat.