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

Although the curtain was thin, I still couldn’t see the woman’s face through it. I could tell, though, that her breasts were just as big as Deet’s. She also had an amazing figure.

As we were standing there, Noela, who was right by the curtain, said, 「This is the second-generation Dorothea.」

「Huh? A woman?」

「Indeed.」

I suppose it’s not surprising, given the name ‘Dorothea’.

But I had never expected the leader of hundreds of ruffians to be a slim, big-breasted woman.

I liked small breasts as well, but if Miri had been this well-endowed, I might not have been able to overcome that particular crisis.

「H-how do you do?」

「I-It’s a pleasure to meet you.」

Deet and I greeted the boss.

It was Noela, the boss’ secretary, who returned our greetings.

「Please excuse our leader for meeting you like this, and for speaking through me.」

I bet she wants to hide her identity. The fact that her body was hidden behind the curtain made the silhouette that we could see all the more captivating.

Noela brought her face close to the curtain.

「Thank you for saving Nick. But I hear that, in order to do so, you behaved in a way that is likely to have caught the attention of the Bodyguards’ Guild.」

「Er, um. Yes.」

Thinking that it was best to reply, I answered for all of us.

「Our leader is planning to treat you as guests of the Thieves’ Guild.」

Miri had already told us that, if we became members of the Thieves’ Guild, the Bodyguards’ Guild wouldn’t be able to attack us easily. Being treated as guests probably means registering with the Guild. But……

「I don’t accept!」

As I expected. Ria flatly refused.

「R-Ria. Calm down.」

Deet said exactly what I’d wanted to say, but it didn’t seem to have any effect.

「I would prefer to take custody of Nick and his little sister instead.」

Noela gave a small sigh.

「If you’ll permit me to express my opinion, we didn’t force Nick to join the Thieves’ Guild in any way. You would see that if you were to ask him.」

「I understand that…… but isn’t it better to bring a child up somewhere where they can see the sun?」

From the way Nick had acted, it didn’t seem like Noela was lying. That said, there was logic to what Ria was saying.

Well, I wonder what the boss’ response will be?

Noela put her face next to the curtain.

「You. The man.」

Noela looked at me.

「Huh? Me?」

「Yes.」

Being called on suddenly startled me.

「Wh-what is it?」

「Can you promise to offer Nick and his little sister Mary a secure environment to grow up in?」

Huh? Whaaaat? How am I supposed to respond to that?

「I promise! It will be much better than the Thieves’ Guild, in any case!」Ria answered, a little defiantly.

Noela just kept staring at me.

She was waiting for an answer from me, not Ria.

「Could you wait for a moment, please?」

「Okay.」

I turned my back on Noela and the boss and looked at Ria and Deet.

「Ria, is the orphanage that you support kind to the children there?」I asked as gently as possible.

As if she had understood my feelings, Ria smiled and said, 「Yes!」

「I see.」

Since it was Ria saying it, I believed her.

「Deet, I know it’s more work for you, but will you come with us?」

「I guess I have no choice. Anyway, I don’t think it’s good for a kid’s education to be brought up in a place like this.」

Deet, looking astounded at herself, agreed.

「Shizuku?」

My armour wobbled. All right!

I turned back to the boss and Noela.

「I promise.」

When I said that, Noela nodded, looking satisfied.

「The boss says she would like to entrust Nick and Mary to your care. But please allow a member of the Thieves’ Guild to travel with you in order to ascertain whether you really can offer a secure environment for the two of them to grow up in.」

「Huh?」

Ria was surprised, and looked as if she was about to protest. But, thinking about things from Nick’s perspective – he’d nearly been sold, after all – the boss’ reaction was actually in good faith.

「Please don’t misunderstand me. If a member of our Guild is with you, it’s less likely that you’ll get into a fight with members of another Guild, and they’ll also be able to make your journey easier for you. If you have any difficulties, please inform us. The Guild will do whatever it can to help you.」

I thought what Noela was saying was right. I agreed with her.

「I understand. Well, we’re planning to put Nick and, er, Mary into a suitable orphanage, so we’ll come and inform you once that’s done.」

「All right. The leader sends you her thanks, and looks forward to welcoming you again.」

We left the boss’ audience chamber.

When we’d stepped out, Noela spoke to me alone in a low voice.

「Ria and Deet are famous in the Adventurers’ Guild for how badly they get on. They’ve really changed…… That must be thanks to you.」

「Oh, not really. They haven’t been fighting with each other since the beginning.」

「Ha ha ha. But you must be the type of person they can be honest with.」

I see.Their fights were certainly something. Did they have strange expectations of me because of that?

Miri certainly did. Not that I don’t want to see her again…

「What are you doing, Thor? Hurry up!」Deet called out to me.

Uh-oh.

Before leaving the room with Noela, I looked back at the boss to try and burn the image of that busty silhouette into my memory.

The boss was no longer there. She left without making a sound or leaving a trace…… That’s what I’d expect from the boss of the Thieves’ Guild.

We left the room, and Noela guided us to the lobby.

Miri and Nick had both gone.

「I’ll go and call Nick and his sister Mary, and the member of the Thieves’ Guild who’ll be accompanying you. Also……」

Noela handed us five imperial gold pieces, ostensibly for Nick and Mary’s immediate living expenses. That was equal to fifty Gadheus gold coins, which could each be exchanged in Japan for 10,000 yen.

Deet, who always had expenses of one kind or another, took the gold with a smile.

「H-hang on a minute, Deet. That’s for Nick and his sister.」

「If there’s any left over, please spend it as you wish.」

I wondered if it was all right to accept money from an underground guild, but since Deet had provided almost all of the money for our trip, I couldn’t refuse.

I saw that the Thieves’ Guild was the kind of organisation that would bear the cost of Nick and his sister’s living expenses, and send someone with us to make sure that they got there safely.

So they can’t be all that bad.

「The Guild member who will be accompanying you is on their way, so I’ll take my leave at this point. I’m looking forward to meeting you all again and hearing that Nick and his sister have been delivered to the orphanage safely.」

Noela bowed her head politely, and left.

We waited in the lobby a while for Nick and the others.

「Miss!」

「Nick!」

Nick came running up to Ria from the back of the building. Ria looked like a young mother.

Nick could only be five or six years old. He was about the age that his mother would want to spoil him, if she was still alive.

「But she isn’t.」

「No. Well, we don’t need to hurry on our way.」

「Yes we do! What if Enami gets hunted down? That would be bad.」

「Oh, yeah.」

Deet and I both laughed.

A little while later, a small girl appeared. She was with……Miri?!

「Huh? When they said they’d send someone with us, they didn’t mean……?」

「What?! Do you have a problem with me coming along?」

The beautiful girl’s cat ears sprang up suddenly above her golden eyes as she pouted.

It seemed like Miri was the one who was going to accompany us on our journey.

「No, not at all…」

Ria took no notice of Miri and chatted happily with Nick and Mary, but Deet looked obviously displeased.

「I’ve always lived underground, so I’ve been wanting to go on a trip to the surface. Looking forward to travelling with you.」

If Miri was with us, it would be easy to ask her to help with surveying the rooms.

「Yeah, likewise.」

「The boss said it was okay to tell you about an exit to the surface that only the Thieves’ Guild knows about. It’s right next to the headquarters, where we are.」

「No way! That’s great!」

「Well, shall we be off?」

Miri started to walk away from the headquarters. Ria was leading Nick by the hand.

Maybe I should take Mary’s hand, I thought, but Deet got there before me.

It doesn’t seem as if she dislikes kids.

Miri started talking as we walked along.

「How was the boss?」                                                                

「Oh, she was great. We only saw her silhouette, but she had a lovely figure, too.」

「Right? Tee hee hee.」

Miri was in a very good mood.

She must like the boss, too.

Okay. I’ll praise her some more.

「And she has a really big chest. Just what I’d expect for the boss.」

「That’s ri – huh?!」

I felt a sharp pain in my butt.

「Owwwwww!」

「Hmph!」

Miri had been in a good mood when I’d said that the boss had a good figure, so I thought it would be okay, but Miri went and pinched my butt.

It was probably out of line for me to compliment her breasts.

「Are we getting near the surface at last? I’m excited.」

Led by Miri, we climbed the stairs that led to the surface.

「Huh? Why? Don’t you go to the surface that often, Thor?」

「Well, various things get in the way.」

As we went up the stairs, we began to see sunlight.

Deet had planned on us getting to the surface at night-time on the second day, but we’d had to hide in the room with the iron door, and then meet the boss of the Thieves’ Guild. It looked like the sun had risen already.

Finally, I set foot on the surface of the other world. We were halfway up a small mountain overgrown with trees.

In some places, the trees had been cut down, and I could see a town below, a little way ahead of us.

In a small voice, Ria informed me, 「That over there is the town of Herakleon. But because the Dungeon of Yomi is attached to it, everyone calls it ‘Yomi Town’.」

「That’s where the Adventurers’ Guild is.」

Miri greeted the two men at the entrance.

From their manner, they seemed to have taken notice of us.

「Because this entrance is in the mountains, only the Thieves’ Guild knows about it.」

It looked like the first floor of the Dungeon of Yomi was much bigger than the town of Herakleon, and there were secret entrances everywhere.

「Our Guild has a duty to keep secrets.」

「What do you mean?」

「If you find a secret entrance, you keep it confidential. In return, you can come and go freely.」

「I see. What about the other Guilds?」

「The Merchants’ Guild takes money from you at almost every exit. With the Bodyguards’ Guild, it’s a fifty-fifty split between taking your money and not letting you use the exit at all.」

I felt like I’d heard that kind of thing before.

「By the way, what happens if you break that confidentiality?」

「Not much we can do about that. But surely that would be going against your own interests? A lot of exits have become public because people have blabbed about them.」

I get it. With things being the way they are, it seems like the Thieves’ Guild can’t help losing ground to the other underground guilds.

「Anyway, let’s go down the mountain into the town.」

Agreeing with Miri, we set out for the town of Herakleon that was spread out below us.

The surrounding area was hilly and pastoral, with cattle wandering about.

That looks like wheat. There were also some lush green fields of grain.

We still had some way to go to get to the town, but I felt like I could feel the people of the other world breathing around me as they went about their daily lives.

As I was enjoying the scenery of the surface, Ria suddenly spoke to me.

She looked worried for some reason.

「Wh-what do you think?」

「Huh? What do I think of what?」

I didn’t understand what she was asking me.

「My world…… um…… You don’t like it, do you?」

Oh, is that what she was worried about? Little by little, I understood what she was getting at.

「There’s no aircon like there is in your room, Sir Thor. No computers, either……」

Apparently, she was worried about whether or not I liked her world.

「I don’t know yet, do I? We haven’t even got to the town yet. When we get there, there’ll be some shops, and useful magic items……」

Deet gave me a slightly imploring look.

Certainly, I didn’t know yet what kind of places the surface and the towns of the other world were.

Even so……

「What do you think, Shizuku?」

I asked Shizuku, who had turned herself into my armour, her impression of the surface.

「It’s amazing – the air is pure, it’s so light, and the scenery is beautiful!」

Shizuku, part of the race of white slimes, had lived in hiding, deep, deep down in the dungeon. I’d expected her to give that kind of answer.

「Right? I think so too!」

In a flash, Ria and Deet’s faces both brightened.

「You’re so short-tempered, Ria! When we get to the town, I’ll show you around all sorts of places, Thor!」

「I’m sorry, Deet.」

If we’re all together, I don’t mind where we are, whether that’s in the other world or in the dungeon.

Even just hanging out in my room in Japan, doing nothing.