It was just past noon when some customers I hadn’t seen around the dungeon before stopped by. They were a plump middle-aged man accompanied by an escort of eight soldiers. He had rather refined attire, and a somewhat large gold ring adorned his finger.
“Is this Dagashi-ya Yahagi?”
“That’s correct. And I’m Yahagi, the shopkeeper.”
“That is good to hear. The way here was confusing, so it had me worried,” the man said, looking relieved as his eyes restlessly surveyed his surroundings. No matter how I looked at it, he didn’t seem like an adventurer who would go dungeon diving. This hot spring was likely a novelty to him.
“So, this is the rumored Hot Spring Yahagi. It is more spacious than I anticipated.”
“Are you here to partake of the hot spring’s healing effects?”
“Oh, no, no, I am not.” The man bent forward and lowered his voice. “To tell you the truth, I heard that this store sells a universal elixir. Is that true?”
“Oh, so you came for the universal elixir,” I said. “In that case, you’ll have to try that game over there.” I then explained the rules of the Dungeon Conquest game.
“So, you are not selling it at your store. It is simply a prize from that game... Then I suppose I must try it. I am sorry for the trouble, but please allow me to exchange this at your store,” he said, handing me a gold one-hundred-thousand-rim coin.
Rich people are always a handful.
“We don’t carry that much change here,” I said. “You can exchange up to 10,000 rims, but 100,000 rims isn’t very feasible.”
“Oh my! How careless of me! I suppose I have no other option.” He then turned to his convoy. “You all, lend me some small coins.”
At his command, the soldiers searched through their own pockets for small coins and gathered them up. There looked to be about 4,000 rims’ worth of silver and copper coins.
“Hm... This should be more than enough.”
“Just so you know, this is a popular game,” I told him. “If there are people lining up behind you, let the next person have their turn once you get a game over.”
“So, that is the rule on the streets. I understand.”
Though he was pretty pompous, he seemed like a harmless middle-aged man. He accepted the terms of my store and immediately started the game.
“Oh! The coin already fell in the hole!!!”
“Nooo! I can’t get past the wall on B3!!!”
“The fourth floor at last... Ughhh! There is no way to cross that bridge...”
He was a lively person. At first, the soldiers had been quietly watching him play, but they eventually started wanting a turn too.
“Baron Ethel, please leave this to me, Grante.”
“No, leave it to me, Toll.”
“I will definitely accomplish this task or else my name isn’t Venti.”
It got really noisy with all their declarations, but it died down after a while.
“How could this be...?” the man said in despair. “I have used up all 4,300 rims.”
Oh dear.
“Shopkeeper, is it really possible to reach the goal? Are you sure you are not forcing people to try a game where one cannot capture anything at all?”
“It is true that it’s difficult, but it’s possible to clear it,” I said, taking a ten-rim coin from my pocket and inserting it into the slot. I had tried this game at least three hundred times by now, so I knew everything, like the little nuances of how much force to use and the right timing. Also, as the shopkeeper, it seemed I had some special abilities coming into play, and I succeeded in my conquest with relative ease. I lost on B6 on my first attempt but won splendidly on my second run, obtaining that universal elixir.
“See? I cleared it.”
“Ooh...”
Impressed, the middle-aged man and his cohorts suddenly looked at me sternly before bowing their heads.
“Sir Yahagi!”
“What’s the matter?”
“Please bestow that universal elixir upon us!”
Hmm... So, now it’s come to this.
“I can’t do that,” I said. “It’s a prize.”
“I am a noble of the kingdom, Moe Ethel,” said the man. “Please, I request that you give me that universal elixir for the sake of His Majesty, who has long been afflicted with a sickness.”
“Baron Ethel, do you intend to present this universal elixir to His Majesty?”
“Precisely. At this rate, our government affairs will remain at a standstill, and society will continue to fall into disrepair. I implore you!”
Man, what should I do?
“Mister Yusuke, don’t you pity them?” said Mira, who had stopped by for a break and was now mediating the situation. “Why don’t you give it to them just this once?” She was nice to everyone, so I was sure she’d been moved by Baron Ethel’s earnest display.
“All right. Just this once,” I relented, giving him the elixir. “Next time, please earn it yourself.”
“Oh, I deeply thank you! With this, I am certain His Majesty’s illness will improve. This is a sign of my gratitude. Please humbly accept it.”
Baron Ethel pushed a small leather bag into my hands before hurrying out of the room. I was sure he was heading straight to the king.
“Hey, that king is under the witch Michelle’s curse, right?” I asked Minerva, who was nearby. “Can the universal elixir cure curses?”
“Nope,” Minerva answered coldly. “His condition will improve for about two weeks, but it doesn’t mean that the curse itself will be gone. He’ll return to how he was.”
“Huh. So, that means that old guy will come back again.”
“Yep. Although, that curse should be wearing off soon.”
“Why do you know that, Minerva?”
“Th-That’s because...I’ve heard it before.”
“Heard it? From whom?”
“...From the witch Michelle.”
So, those two knew each other. I thought about asking for the details of how that had come about, but he suddenly hightailed it somewhere in a hurry.