The four new adventurers were Alec, the warrior and party leader; Hazena, the mage; Dill, the hunter; and Guy, the warrior monk.
“There’s a dungeon near this village?!” Alec said, totally shocked.
“Yep. It was discovered just recently,” I replied.
“The Forsaken Zones and a dungeon?! This place is an adventurer’s paradise!”
I told them I’d already spoken with the dungeon master, and they had permission to explore it if they agreed to a single condition: They couldn’t destroy the dungeon’s core.
“We can’t let you in unless you agree to that.”
“Of course, we agree! For an adventurer, smashing a dungeon core would be like cutting off our own supply line,” Alec said.
I showed them to the dungeon entrance.
“The entrance is inside the village?” Alec asked.
“That’s right. I thought it’d be easier to manage that way,” I explained.
(“Wait a minute, didn’t he say they just discovered it? Why does it sound like he moved the dungeon into the village or something? There’s no way that’s possible, right?”)
I took them to a spot near the village’s southwest corner.
“It’s in this building. Well, just outside of it, to be more precise,” I said.
“What is this place?”
The entrance to the dungeon was surrounded by four inns, which I’d naturally built using my Gift.
“They’re inns specifically for adventurers like you.”
“Inns just for adventurers?!”
I’d thought having blood-soaked adventurers at our regular inn wouldn’t be very hygienic, so I’d made dedicated areas for dismantling materials, proper shower rooms, and even a clinic, where they could get their wounds treated. The inns had everything they’d need after a dungeon dive. Plus, adventurers could stay for no cost. After all, our goal was to encourage dungeon diving.
“You’ve gotta be kidding...”
“We can stay here for free?!”
We had a regular inn that was privately run, of course, and I planned to get some villagers to run these new inns too. Until now, I’d taken care of everything and provided for the villagers directly—but I couldn’t keep doing that forever. I would hit my limit eventually, considering how much the village had grown, so I’d begun gradually delegating what I could.
Thanks to the influx of trade, serious money had started flowing into the village. Ideally, I wanted to start shifting away from our barter economy and make our own currency.
“Oh, by the way, we have a new restaurant. You should definitely check it out. They have amazing dishes featuring orc and minotaur meat,” I said.
“Orc and minotaur meat?!”
“Yep. We get the orc meat from the northern forest and the minotaur meat from the dungeon. We’ll even buy any meat you bring back.”
I was also planning to open a shop specializing in purchasing and appraising materials. Now that the dungeon was up and running, I wanted merchants to spread the word to lure in more adventurers.
Alec gulped loudly. “Man, orc meat’s delicious—not that I’ve had much of it, mind you. It’s way too expensive. But I’d love to try it again if I can muster the money. I’ve never had the chance to eat minotaur meat before, though.”
Both were considered grade A, so that made sense.
“They’re both pretty affordable here,” I said.
“Really?!”
After showing the adventurers around the inn, I led them to the courtyard between the four buildings.
“Here’s the entrance to the dungeon,” I said, gesturing to the massive boulder with a wide opening at its base.
“Huh. It really is just right in the middle of town...”
“You sure monsters won’t come crawling out of there?”
“There’s nothing to worry about,” I replied. “The dungeon master made sure monsters can’t get out.”
Technically, she can’t leave the dungeon either.
“This dungeon is a tiered structure. The deeper you go, the stronger the monsters and the more dangerous the traps. I’d recommend you get a feel for things on the higher floors first,” I said.
“That makes sense.”
“Stairs connect each floor, and there are designated safe zones where monsters can’t enter. They’re small, but we’ve set up sleeping quarters in those. Feel free to use them when you need a rest.”
“This place has everything, doesn’t it?”
“Oh, and there’s one more thing,” I said.
“There’s more?!”
They all looked overwhelmed by the information overload.
“None of you have Gifts, right?” I asked.
“Huh? Oh, yeah. Of course not,” Alec replied. “Even among adventurers, only the lucky ones get a Blessing. Either you stumble across a treasure, or you have crazy connections. And even if you do get Blessed, there’s no guarantee you’ll receive a Gift. It’s kind of a crapshoot. Only nobles can afford to throw money at—” Alec suddenly cut himself off, probably remembering I was nobility.
“It’s fine,” I assured him. “I’m just a mayor these days.”
Since I knew that anyone with the Oracle Gift could do the ceremony in under a minute, I saw asking people to donate a fortune to receive a Blessing as basically a scam.
“You can get Blessed for a gold coin at our church.”
“What was that?”
“We have a priest here with the Oracle Gift.”
“What? Seriously?! And you charge only one gold coin?!”
Making it free had felt wrong, so I’d settled on one gold coin per person as a donation. That only applied to visitors, though. Permanent residents of the village could receive Blessings for free.
“Hang on, I’ve heard Blessings cost several platinum coins! That’d be a fortune! No way any commoner could afford that—not in their lifetime, at least!”
A single platinum coin was worth a hundred gold coins. Even I’d only seen a couple of them in my life. My father had handled the donation when I got my Blessing, and we know how that had gone.
“But in return, please don’t spread the word about it too much, okay?” I said.
“R-Right...” Alec gave a stiff, awkward nod. He must’ve realized it wasn’t an official church.
It wasn’t like we’d Bless anyone who’d walked through the door. After all, if someone dangerous received their Gift, that could turn into a huge problem.
I also secretly registered them as villagers. It was no harm, no foul, as I saw it. The status would expire automatically after they’d left.
Then I used Villager Appraisal II. After a lot of trial and error, I’d figured out how to filter the results to view only the information I needed.
Alec
Age: 38
Village Affinity: Low
Recommended Job: Warrior
Gifts: (Greatsword Proficiency)
Skills: Greatsword Lv 2
Crimes: None
Hazena
Age: 18
Village Affinity: Low
Recommended Job: Mage
Gifts: (Red Magic)
Skills: Fire Magic Lv 2
Crimes: None
Dill
Age: 31
Village Affinity: Low
Recommended Job: Scout
Gifts: (Detection)
Skills: Detection Lv 3, Stealth Lv 1, Dagger Lv 1
Crimes: None
Guy
Age: 27
Village Affinity: Low
Recommended Job: Warrior Monk
Gifts: (White Magic)
Skills: Light Magic Lv 2, Rod Lv 1
Crimes: None
The biggest surprise was that all four had latent Gifts. Whether by coincidence or fate, each of their Gifts aligned almost perfectly with their profession. Maybe Gifts subconsciously affected a person’s life choices, even if they hadn’t received their Blessings.
Skills were different from Gifts, though. People earned those through personal effort and experience.
Village skills were the exception, of course, since they were linked to my Gift. It seemed like it was easier for people who had latent Gifts to develop skills of the same type, even without a Blessing.
“Well, I doubt commoners like us stand much of a chance of actually receiving a Gift,” Alec said.
“I’m definitely going to get one!” Hazena exclaimed, radiating confidence.
“Where’s all that bravado coming from, Hazena?”
“It’s just a feeling! I know I’m one of the chosen ones.”
“Ha. Well, I sure hope so,” Alec said, skeptical.
“Don’t worry. You’re all chosen ones,” I said.
“Huh? How do you know that?”
“Just a feeling,” I said, then led them toward the church.