My Room Has Become a Dungeon's Rest Area (LN)

「T-This is very different from the above world that my comrades had described to me. 」

「Uhm, actually, about that, this is a different world. But I’ll explain it to you later, OK? 」

「I understand! 」

She didn’t ask me for any details or follow up questions or anything. That’s proof that she was clever.

「For the time being, I’m going to tell you some stuff I want you to memorize. 」

I pointed at a car.

「That’s called a car. It’s kind of like a horse-drawn wagon, but the speed is different. Oh and, If you get hit by it, you’ll die, so be careful. 」

「Yes! This is also written in the doujinshis! 」

But I feel like the kind of cars she’s read about in doujinshis are probably the type that takes you to hotels. I taught her about sidewalks, roads, traffic lights, and other things while heading to the family restaurant I worked at.

「Alright, so this is my workplace. 」

「I understand! From the Japanese style room, Master takes 20 steps to the left, then 123 steps to the right, crosses at the first traffic light… 」

That surprised me. I didn’t know the exact distance by steps, but she got the general directions and everything else correct. Because it’s 3 am right now, there probably isn’t anyone around. It’d be the perfect time to stop in and mess around for a bit.

「Okay! After we head inside, I want you to stay quiet and pretend to be my clothes. 」

「Okay! 」

I opened the front door of the family restaurant that I worked at and then I rang the bell at the front of the restaurant to let the staff know we were here.

「Welcome! Hey…isn’t that Suzuki? 」

Ms. Kuno came over and welcomed me into the shop.

「Sorry about dropping in so suddenly. I even went to the effort of getting time off, but I’ll be able to come in starting tomorrow. 」

「You were moving, after all, can’t help that. Speaking of, how was the apartment? Was it really haunted? 」

「N-No. There aren’t any ghosts… 」

「Huhhhhh, really? That’s sooo boring. 」

But there are slimes and female knights. Ms. Kuno was a 30-year-old woman who worked here part-time. She was brash and had a bad mouth sometimes, but she looked after me. She was often here at this time because the late hours of the night paid more money.

「So anyways, I’m coming back again tomorrow, so I thought I should come over and organize my locker in advance. 」

「Hoo, I’m impressed. Were you always so diligent with your work, Suzuki? 」

「You know me. After all, I really enjoy cooking. 」

「Fair enough, you do like cooking. 」

It seemed like she was convinced with that.

「By the way, is there anyone in the kitchen today? 」

「Just the manager. It was Segawa earlier, but he had some urgent business come up suddenly. Knowing him, it was definitely about a girl, right? 」

I see. Segawa has the tendency to take time off because of women. And the one who had to make up for it was always our poor manager.

「I’m going to go say hi for a second. 」

「Oookay. Catch ya later. 」

I walked away from Kuno and called out to the manager from the hall near the kitchen.

「Ah, Manager. Good evening! 」

「Oh, Suzuki? Weren’t you coming in tomorrow? Are you finally ready to start working again? 」

「Yep! Just like the shift schedule that I turned in. 」

「That’s good! You moved to such an interesting place after all. There was a rumor going around you probably wouldn’t be able to make it back to work alive. 」

I wasn’t sure what to think of that rumor. These kinds of strange things always came up at work.

「Hahaha, it’s… just an ordinary apartment, I swear. 」

「Oh? You can get an ordinary apartment for only ¥300 a month? That’s lucky~ maybe I’ll save up some money and we can be roomies! — I wish hah! 」

By the way, this manager here is the only management we have at this family restaurant. He’s the top guy, but he’s surprisingly really nice. Before I started working, I thought the manager was really cool, but he’s always picking up the slack and cleaning up after other people’s messes, so I feel really bad for him. It feels like Kuno is more in charge around here.

「Anyways, you’ve got it rough tonight. I can’t believe you’re working here this late at night to cover for Segawa. Weren’t you also here in the afternoon? 」

「Yeah that’s right. But Segawa is a college student, you know. Rather than working at a family restaurant, girls take priority. Plus, I’d be in more trouble if he quit on me. 」

This might be my chance. He’s feeling used and abused right now!

「Oh, that’s right! I know I said I’d be on leave until tomorrow, but how about you take a quick break for a bit? I’ll take over the kitchen for an hour or so if you’d like? 」

The manager gave me a relieved and happy smile.

「R-Really? B-but I can’t pay you anything… 」

「It’s fine, it’s fine! There’s some stuff I want to prepare for tomorrow anyways. I’ll go get changed. 」

After saying that, I headed to my locker and showed Shizuku the kitchen uniform.

「I should transform into this, right?」

「Exactly. You’re pretty smart. 」

Shizuku became my kitchen uniform in a flash, and I headed back to the kitchen.

「Alright, go take it easy, Manager; I’ll take over from here. 」

「O-Okay. I have to do some office work, so I guess I’ll leave it to you. I’ll come back in 30 minutes okay? 」

The manager is a pushover, so I thought he’d give up after I changed clothes and came back. I’ll have to leave in a little under an hour then. I watched the manager exit the kitchen and then spoke to Shizuku.

「Alright, watch the food I prepare and dish out carefully. Also, how you make it is written right here too. 」

I guess the main thing about my family restaurant is, everything is made and prepared in this central kitchen. And the oven is an induction style one. So, all you really have to do is remember how to prepare stuff. You didn’t have to worry about the equipment and being seen. I trusted in Shizuku’s memory and went and accidentally taught her everything in one go. She was listening quietly.

「Well? 」

「Yes, I have memorized everything. 」

「Really? That’s pretty impressive Shizuku. 」

「I’m so overjoyed to be praised by Master! 」

Hehehe, if that’s true I’m really thankful, but come on, there’s no way you were able to memorize all of this cluttered information I gave you in one go. And as I was thinking that, something happened.

「Suzuki! The “Late Night Kids Group” just came in! 」

「What? What about the Manager? 」

「He stepped out for a smoke or something I think. I’ll have to leave it to you! 」

The “Late Night Kids Group” isn’t hostile or violent or anything like that, but they’re sometimes really discourteous and come in annoyingly large numbers.

「They aren’t exactly the type of customers I want to handle while I’m unpaid, but I said I’d do it so might as well…」

「I will handle this! 」

Huh? My kitchen uniform, or rather Shizuku, had said that in a rather positive and uplifting voice. Before I had a chance to react, my body started to move on its own.

「Wait wait wait! 」

「Please watch me, Master. 」

Shizuku moved my body on her own. I was thinking about what I should do when my body started automatically cooking orders with ease.

「S-Seriously?! The food is all being prepared flawlessly! 」

「Ehehehe~」

It looks like she seriously remembered everything after seeing it just one time! I thought I would just leave everything to her, but then I suddenly saw something and had to speak up.

「Ah, wait a sec before you put that gratin in the oven… 」

「P-Pardon me. Am I making a mistake, Master? 」

「No, it’s right. But sprinkle on two more pinches of cheese and leave it in the oven for 10 seconds longer. 」

「I do not recall these procedures being listed in the manual though… 」

「That customer always orders the gratin. They like it when the cheese is a little more browned. If you leave it in a little longer, the customer will be really happy and they’ll keep coming back, so in order to insure they keep coming back, you have to adjust the recipe properly. 」

「I understand! I knew it, Master is really kind! 」

「Ehh, you think so? 」

「Yes, it is wonderful! 」

With that, after a long night of cooking and explanations, we were finally able to head home around 5 AM.