My Room Has Become a Dungeon's Rest Area (LN) - Book 3: Chapter 1: (1)

Returning to my apartment with even more friends

A 2LDK apartment for 30,000 yen a month… I moved to an apartment block that was dirt-cheap  for its location (Tokyo’s Tachikawa City), but immediately after moving in, I discovered why the rent was so low.

Believe it or not, the entryway of my apartment was connected to a dungeon in the other world.

I was glad I’d become friends with people from the other world I’d met in the dungeon: Ria the lady knight, Deet the sorceress and Shizuku the white slime. But they’d ended up staying in my apartment.

Not only that, but Enami, the NNK man who’d come to collect my licence fee, had travelled into the other world from my apartment. On top of that, he’d been mistaken for a dangerous orc by the Adventurers’ Guild, who’d put out a call to bring him down.

In order to get them at least to change the mission to capturing him instead, Ria, Deet, Shizuku and I had headed all the way up from the fifth floor of the Dungeon of Yomi, which was connected to the entryway of my apartment, to the surface, where the Adventurers’ Guild was.

Along the way, we’d ended up travelling with the orphan Nick (whom we’d helped out in the slums of the first level) and his sister Mary, as well as Miri from the Thieves’ Guild. Finally, we’d managed to reach the surface.

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The secret dungeon exit was at the top of a hill.

「Anyway, let’s go down the hill into the town!」

I agreed with Ria. Below the hill, we could see the town of Herakleon. The air above the hill was pure, and the natural surroundings were beautiful, but the scenery was the same kind of scenery you might see in Europe, for instance, back on Earth.

Beneath the panoramic blue sky, we set off for Herakleon.

♦︎ ♦︎ ♦︎

So this is a town in the other world, huh? The whole of Herakleon was surrounded by walls.

Among the people coming and going, I could see not only blondes but people with red, blue and pink hair, as well as half-human, half-animal folk even fluffier than Miri, and lizards walking about on two feet. There were no cars; once in a while, a cart went past.

This really is the other world. This is probably the first time in human history that a human’s made it to the surface of this world.

I wanted to share my excitement with Ria and Deet, but unfortunately Miri was with us. She didn’t know that I was Japanese.

「All right! First of all, shall we go to the Adventurers’ Guild right away and get them to change the mission to bring Enami down into a mission to capture him?」

Let’s get that task out of the way quickly so we can properly enjoy the other world!

But Deet, looking unhappy, said, 「Ugh, do we have to go to the Adventurers’ Guild right now? I’m tired. How about we rest for a bit at an inn?」

「We can’t. We have to get to the Adventurers’ Guild fast! If Enami gets brought down, it’s all over.」

I’m so excited, I won’t be able to sleep at all. I wanna go and explore.

「But look.」

Deet glanced behind her. Little Mary, who was riding on her back, had fallen asleep. Deet was unexpectedly good with kids. Nick, holding hands with Ria, also looked sleepy.

It looked as if we were going to have to go to an inn and put those two to bed, at any rate.

We arrived at an adventurers’ inn. It was built out of stone, and had four beds to a room. It looked pretty comfy.

「Not bad! I suppose the rooms have four beds because they’re meant for adventuring    parties.」

「But your sleeping bags are more comfortable, Thor. This inn provides dinner, so let’s sleep until then.」

Apparently, Deet was intending to sleep on top of the bed, in a sleeping bag.

「What the…?! What’s this material?」

Miri got very excited when she saw the sleeping bag that Deet was using.

「Shut up! I’m trying to sleep, so can you be quiet?」

Well, I suppose even if there are sleeping bags in this world, there won’t be any made out of synthetic fibres.

「You can have mine.」

「Really?」

Miri also put the sleeping bag on top of one of the beds and got in.

「It’s so warm! What the……?!」

Miri’s breathing quickly settled as she, too, fell asleep.

Nick and Mary took up another bed between them, so there was only one bed left.

Ria and I looked at one another.

We had slept together in my apartment, but we hadn’t done that since she got her mithril sword back.

「Wh-what shall we do? Shall I sleep in a sleeping bag on the floor?」

「N-no, no way! I mean, the bed’s pretty big…」

「…The bed’s big?」

I couldn’t just say ‘shall we sleep together?’.

「S-since we’ve come all this way, I’d like you to show me around the town until dinner, Ria……erm…」

「Yes, of course!」

Ria beamed back at me.

Leaving a note that said we’d be back for dinner, the two of us stealthily left the inn.

But when I’d had a good think about it, I realised that, though I wanted to explore the town, Ria might be tired.

「I’m so happy I get to show you around town, Sir Thor.」

「Huh?」

「You see, I’m still indebted to you.」

「Don’t be silly!」

「I’m completely serious, which is why I want you to have a good time in my world today.」

For various reasons, the two of us had never walked around the streets of Japan together.

When you come to Japan, Ria, I’ll show you around.

「First, let’s go to the temple.」

「Huh? I’m not really that interested in……」

Just when I thought I was going on a date in the other world with the lady knight, I was suddenly being invited to join her religion.

「Oof. Is this really happening……? What a shame…」

「Let’s head quickly to the temple first of all, so you can learn our lingua franca!」

「Huh? What do you mean?」

From listening carefully to what Ria said, it seemed that the telepathic language used by people from the other world was a kind of skill.

In addition to knowing the language of their own country or region, they were equipped with a translation skill which had telepathic effects.

Since monster language was Japanese, I just needed to be granted the effects of that skill.

「Will I be able to talk to Nick and Mary normally?」

「Yes, you will.」

Nick and Mary weren’t adventurers, so they didn’t understand monster language.

It looked like, by going to the temple, I’d be able to speak like everyone else immediately. And I’ll be able to turn it on and off at will. I’d better turn it off when I get back to Japan. This other world is pretty convenient!

After we’d been walking through the town for a while, I saw a particularly large building at the end of our path.

It reminded me of a church back on Earth.

「Is that the temple?」

「Yes.」

「It’s pretty big.」

「They get a lot of money in donations.」

I see. I understood without asking. I bet I have to give them a donation in order to get this language skill.

「There are priests in the temple who heal people’s wounds through holy magic.」

Apparently, it also acted as a hospital.

「So are there priests who are also adventurers?」

My heart swelled with anticipation as I asked her. A lady priest is just as romantic as a lady knight.

However, Ria looked surprised.

「U-um… Priest-adventurers? I’ve never heard of any, but maybe they exist.」

「Huh? But having someone who can do healing magic in an adventuring party would be really helpful.」

「It certainly would, but those who use sacred magic have enough work to do without going on dangerous adventures. They’re the kind of people the temple hires.」

「O-of course…… But what about their level? Aren’t there any priests who go on adventures to make their level higher?」

「They get a little experience from using healing magic to cure wounds, so of course their skill level increases in the normal way.」

Come to think of it, I had the feeling that I’d heard that kind of thing about skill levels before. So the people with profitable skills don’t do the dangerous jobs? The other world was weirdly real – or, in other words, similar to Japan.

The inside of the temple created a peaceful atmosphere, but there were so many visitors that, in reality, it was smothered in noise and bustle.

I saw at once that most of the visitors had some kind of injury. The men and women were split into separate lines.

「Why are men and women separated?」

I had an unpleasant hunch about that.