Volume 4 Chapter 3: The old man prowls about the maze.

Eight hours have passed since we went down the hidden staircase.

Right now we were at least four levels underground in a labyrinth area. In this labyrinth, there would be a magical exit at the end of the labyrinth however if we were to go down the wrong path, we would reach a dead end and sent to the entrance and start over.

And we had just got teleported back to the entrance

[Yuuya-niisan, we’re starting all over again!? I’m sick of this.] (Til)

[Yuuya, Luna also wants to cry. However, Luna will do her best. Let’s go Til, let’s take the right path.] (Luna)

Looking at the start point we visited numerous times, Til let out a sad voice looking at the forked road ahead of us. She has already been mentally defeated being sent back to this forked road. To make matters worse, every time we’re sent back to the beginning, the monsters that we defeated on the way will be revived, causing our physical strength and resources to be slowly sapped as time goes on. This would be an ideal farming spot as the number of monsters we could hunt are endless however I’ll have to give up on that.

Although as expected, even with my knowledge I won’t be able to remember the exact path for this labyrinth. Thanks to this, we’ve returned to the entrance numerous times and forced to fight the same battles over and over but this time it looks like we can finally clear it.

[Wait a moment, the two of you. That’s a trap. Although this forked road looks exactly the same as the entrance, it may actually be the exit instead. If we assume that we are at the entrance and head right, we’ll just end up back here eventually. The correct way to go here is the left. Look carefully at the left path. Do you vaguely see the torches illuminating the wall?] (Yuuya)
[There’s no way you can notice that!] (Til)

Til lashed out as her elven ears turned red.

[Yuuya-ojisama, is the person who made this labyrinth a devil or something. His character is way too bad to create this dungeon like this.] (Selene)

[I think so too. You can’t help but feel like hitting the guy who created this labyrinth.] (Yuuya)

As I was despairing returning back to the same location over and over, I barely managed to notice the mechanics of this labyrinth although it took a lot longer than expected. I really felt like killing the person who made this labyrinth. However, it was finally over.

Although I had forgotten the details, I remembered that the first and final battles were extremely impactful. Thanks to that I remembered that we would be able to head to the fifth floor by heading to the left road. However, we won’t be progressing any further today.

[We can stop here for today. We’ll spend the night here and clear the dungeon by tomorrow. Let’s take a break.] (Yuuya)

After hearing my words, Selene let out a sigh of relief as the two girls collapsed on the spot. Experiencing an extremely long series of battles on the fourth floor, their fatigue, and mental strength have reached their limits, making it extremely difficult to continue forward.

This was a good spot to set up camp as the environment’s cooling and safe because monsters won’t show up. This is one of the three camping spots present in the Temple of the Primal Flame.

[Phil, could you please do that?] (Yuuya)
[Sure, leave it to me. I’ll blow away everyone’s fatigue. In this kind of situation, having a delicious meal is the best.] (Phil)

I took out the magic tent as Phil began preparations for dinner.

[Take a look. This is the magic tool we got from the boss’s treasure chest.] (Phil)

Phil took out a bunch of ingredients as well as a large metal bag from her magic bag. It looked like a metal attache case and a bunch of pans, knives and other kitchen essentials housed within. Once the contents were taken out, Phil pressed a button present on the bag causing the case to deform and form a grill and a water valve. This was a tool that was basically a portable kitchen. Thanks to the power of magic, water could flow out endlessly and the flames could be burnt without fuel, allowing the user to clean all their utensils without any worry.

Once Phil began boiling water on the stove, Luna and TIl jumped on the spot.

[Yuuya, that’s weird! There are water and fire coming out.] (Luna)
[With this around, we’ll be able to eat onee-chan’s delicious food anytime and anywhere!] (Til)
[Yes, this is a convenient item as it allows us to cook the meat we obtain from hunting monsters as well as being able to access a fire source or water source at any time.] (Phil)

It is a mistake to neglect the importance of water, food, and fuel in dungeons as you would often enter a dungeon for dozens of days, making it important to pack that many days worth of food. However, if you were to go for a long trip you would want to secure space in your inventory for materials obtained in the dungeon. Thus this portable cooking set is a great way to reduce your luggage which was why Phil and I were disappointed when she had sold her’s away.

[Onee-chan, what will you be cooking today?] (Til)

[I intend to use the chicken meat dropped earlier to make pasta.] (Phil)

[Phil, is that delicious?] (Luna)
[It’s very delicious, Luna-chan.] (Phil)

The two children began their mysterious dance. I thought that they had reached their physical limits but it turns out that they were fine.

Phil’s cooking skills were great as she placed the dried pasta into the pan, crushed the chicken meat before seasoning it. Then she placed the butter into a frying pan as she peeled off the chicken skin and fried them. It felt quite luxurious for us to be able to boil dry pasta in a dungeon using water. She then placed the chicken into the frying pan and as the chicken was cooked, she put the boiled pasta into the frying pan with fresh cream, eggs, and seasoning before putting it on a plate.

Just by looking at it I could understand that it was delicious. All while she was doing this, she had also prepared her homemade soup on the side.

[Luna-chan, Til. Could you take out the dishes?] (Phil)

[Food, Food!] (Luna)

[Food, Food!] (Til)

The two children were busy moving around with an atmosphere that didn’t feel like we were in a dungeon. As expected of Phil who had a great cooking skill as well as the portable cooking set.

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It was finally time to eat as herbal tea and chicken pasta with the soup was placed on the table.

[Phil, this is delicious!] (Luna)
[As expected of onee-chan!] (Til)

[This is really very delicious. I can’t imagine that this was made with plain ingredients.] (Yuuya)

I also let out my opinion as it was really amazing. The taste of the fat of the chicken skin, as well as the spices with the meat, matched perfectly. Furthermore, the pasta was entwined in fresh cream allowing it to slide down the throat easily.

[Please eat much as you wish since there’s enough for another party.] (Phil)

At once, the two children rushed to Phil requesting for seconds as Phil anticipated that, making a large amount of food earlier. Just like this, we were blessed as we were able to eat to our heart’s content in the dungeon. Back when I didn’t have a magic bag, I could only carry a limited amount of food and their taste was light and bland whereas recently I’ve found myself enjoying meals in the dungeon more often. Magic tools such as the magic bag and portable cooking set are just far too valuable not to have.

I’m glad that these girls didn’t have to go through what I went through back then. After the meal, Phil presented the baked meringue with egg white and honey which she didn’t use for the chicken pasta. It had a pleasant light texture with tender sweetness as the sweetness spreads throughout my body which was tired from the consecutive battles, releasing my mind from the fatigue.

[Phil, it was extremely delicious! Thank you. With this I’ll be able to do my best tomorrow!] (Luna)

[Uhn uhn. The power of delicious food is really amazing!] (Til)
[Luna and Til, you should be very thankful towards Phil as even if the body is forcefully healed with potions, your mind and heart won’t be. Thus a good meal is as effective as an expensive potion.] (Yuuya)

There have been many parties that I was a part of that neglected this aspect resulting in our demise in important situations. It is also important as I wanted these girls to have an enjoyable time adventuring rather than slug their lives out. Phil began collecting the dishes and placed them into the attache case. This also made it very convenient to clean up as the dishes would be clean once we opened up the case the next time.

[Yuuya, you’re going overboard with your praises. Is the pace of our exploration going great for now?] (Phil)

[Ah, it’s going according to plan. At this rate, we’ll be able to clear the dungeon by tomorrow. It’s great that we managed to clear the labyrinth today as it is an important milestone for this dungeon.] (Yuuya)

Our goal was to reach the seventh floor of the dungeon. Since we were currently on the fourth floor, we had already cleared half of the dungeon. However, our consumables were also decreasing rapidly as we just survived a battle of resources in the labyrinth whereas the monsters will just become stronger as we progress deeper into the dungeon.

[It’s all okay! With Phil’s delicious food we’re all energetic!] (Luna)
[Uhn uhn. My arrows will show up sharper than ever tomorrow!] (Til)

[Til, you look like you’re in great condition. Let’s start replenishing our arrows using Arrow Generation for now. If we drink potions that naturally increase our mana regeneration, then we’ll be able to regenerate all of our mana by the morning.] (Phil)

[Yuuya-ojisan, would you like to tell me more about the monsters and traps we’ll be encountering tomorrow before we go to bed?] (Selene)
[KYUU!] (Erik)

I was afraid to enter this dungeon as I thought that we weren’t ready but it seems that everyone’s mind and body were much stronger than I thought. If they keep this up we may even become a top tier adventurer party within a year. I let out a small laugh as I began the briefing for tomorrow. It’ll be much tougher than today but I’m sure it’ll be fine tomorrow.