I’ve Been Reincarnated as a Tentacle Slime~ I Want to Live a Comfortable, Secure Life and Do Whatever I Want~ - Chapter 106

[Kouga POV]

By the time my sister Uri and I arrived in the city of Spada, night had already fallen.

When we left the old man’s village, the sun was already setting, so this is about right. Even at 200 km/h, it takes about 30 minutes!

We quickly entered the city and headed toward the dungeon.

I am in human form, and Sister Uri is in wolf form. I thought I’d be the one to become a wolf, but our old man said Sister Uri is too beautiful and would stand out too much. I’m pretty good-looking too, but it’s natural that a woman draws more attention.

“It’s already night, so as lower-ranked adventurers, you shouldn’t overdo it.”

When we tried to enter the dungeon, a soldier stopped us. It’s commendable to be working until this time of night.

“We’ll be hunting near the gate, so it’s fine.”

“Ah, wait a moment――――”

I said that and pushed past the soldier’s attempt to stop us, entering the dungeon.

[Honestly, I wish they wouldn’t interfere when they are weaker than me!]

[It can’t be helped. Don’t get distracted by unnecessary things; let’s move forward quickly. I also remember the map, so no need to give directions. In unpopulated areas, I’ll also use [Flight], so Kouga, please attach your tentacles to the corners so you don’t slow me down.]

[Got it. Shall we defeat all the enemies on our route?]

[That’s right. But there’s no need to kill them cleanly if it slows us down. Don’t forget the primary goal is reaching the 5th floor.]

[Yeah! Older brother Gabe’s request was to bring Dad to the 5th floor by tomorrow morning, right!]

[Exactly. However, we don’t need to wake up Father-sama. I doubt any crucial information will be gained just by getting to the 5th floor.]

Near the gate on the 3rd floor, a few parties were camping while killing monsters that came close.

Glancing sideways at those guys, we moved ahead.

–

I changed my equipment to the same bronze armor as in the village. This is to give the appearance of an adventurer progressing in the lower floors. With this, even if I meet a party moving to the next floor, I can deceive them.

[Kouga, at the next corner turn right. Then do a 180-degree turn and go down the left passage.]

[Understood! Sister Uri!]

Together with Sister Uri, I searched and took out turtles using sound, heat, and moisture detection as we moved forward. We clung tentacles to the walls and turned corners just like three-dimensional maneuvering.

[Sister Uri?!]

I sensed something besides turtles. Of course, Sister Uri appeared to have noticed it too.

[It’s humans. Lets slow down.]

After turning the second corner ahead, we approached the point where we would encounter humans――――

“We’re adventurers too!!”

I shouted loudly, conveying that we weren’t hostile.

“We’re adventurers as well! You don’t have monsters with you, do you!?”

“No! It’s just us!!”

Of course, turtles get skewered before they can even extend tentacles down the corridor and be seen!

When we turned the last corner, we encountered a five-person party. Two men and three women; the men had shields likely made from turtle shells and were heavily armored, so probably frontliners. Two of the women held staves, maybe mages? The last one was lightly equipped but carried an iron hammer, perhaps a striker?

“Are you―――alone? And that equipment, is it from the 25th floor by chance?”

“And if it is, so what?”

I intentionally keep my answer vague, to keep them from taking it as confirmed that I’ve reached the 25th floor.

“No… I just wondered why an upper-mid-level adventurer would be in a place like this…”

The man who seems to be their leader and judged me as skilled changes his demeanor.

“I’ve got a reason I have to be in a place like this. Don’t worry, I won’t interfere with your progress!”

“I see…”

I reply coldly, cutting off any further questioning.

Looking at their campsite, there were two triangular tents (maybe one for men and one for women?), one rod-like object with a fire magic stone, and one with a wind magic stone, placed between the tents.

“Huh, you’ve got some pretty nice stuff.”

I don’t really know what they are, but they’re probably necessary for camping. I complimented them hoping to get some info.

“Thank you! They were expensive, but they let us camp safely! The hard part is getting the magic stones they need…”

No good. I didn’t get any useful information. I can probably ask the guild about the tools used on the 3rd floor anyway.

I pretended to reach into my backpack and recreated one fire and one wind magic stone that I had absorbed earlier.

“Here you go! Sorry for disturbing you while you were camping!”

I tossed the two magic stones to the leader-looking guy. There was nothing else worth noting, and I probably wouldn’t get to see inside the tents. Any more time here would be a waste.

“Are you sure!? These are expensive, you know!”

“Yeah, I don’t mind giving you that much! See ya!”

About 30 meters ahead, there was a turtle, so I threw a bronze hammer at it, and it hit with a cracking sound like its shell shattered.

“There’s a turtle I just took out around 30 meters ahead. I’ll give you the materials. If you don’t need them, just leave them!”

“Thank you very much, I’ll take them!”

–

[That was well-handled. But are you sure it was fine to give them the magic stones?]

[You think it was wrong? I just didn’t want them talking bad about us since we interrupted them, so I handed over the stones!]

[Given the distance, I’d say they’ll take another two days to finish 3F. We’ll be past the water zone by then, so there’s little chance we’ll meet again.]

[Right, no point stressing! More importantly, getting that info about the weird equipment was a big win, right?]

[You’re right. Let’s gather more info and report it to Father-sama.]

After that, we didn’t run into any more camping parties like earlier and safely reached the 5th floor before exiting the dungeon.

It seemed to be around sunrise, and the night was beginning to break. The soldier had changed, and it wasn’t the same guy as before.

“Good work! Make sure you get some proper rest!!”

“I will! Thanks!”

I responded and headed toward the guild.

–

The guild wasn’t open yet, so I waited a little. Still, there was a crazy amount of people despite the sun just rising…

Most of them headed for the bulletin board, so the counters were pretty open.

I went to a random counter and asked about the mysterious rod. Since the receptionist was a human woman who wasn’t Natalie, the chance she’d suspect a connection to my old man was low.

“Hey, I’ve got something I want to ask about conquering the dungeon, do you mind?”

“Of course. If it’s within my ability to answer, ask away.”

“When setting up camp overnight, is there anything that’s good to have?”

“Let’s see… For wooden-tag adventurers, it’s good to have a light-type magic tool, a warding magic tool, and a water-supplying magic tool. A tent and dried food are also essential. On the 1st and 2nd floors, you can keep monsters out with wooden fences even without warding tools, but from the 3rd floor, they might break in, so the warding tool becomes a must.”

Magic tools? So that kind of thing exists, huh.

“Where do you get something like that?”

“We carry them at our guild as well. Of course, the commercial guilds also carry them, or you can negotiate directly with the magic equipment guild.”

The warding tool sells for 10 silver coins, and both the light and water ones for 5. That’s surprisingly cheap!

“Are those three magic tools enough for floors 1 to 5?”

“Yes, with just those, you won’t have any problems.”

Hmm, I guess that’s enough information.

[Should I sell off a few materials?]

[Yeah, since you just came back from the dungeon, let’s sell a little.]

I took out 10 broken turtle shells from the dummy backpack.

“Can you exchange these for money?”

“Yes, please wait just a moment.”

They gave me 50 copper coins. Isn’t that even cheaper than the 2nd floor rabbits?

“How much would this go for if it were an unbroken shell?”

“In that case, it’d be 15 copper coins per piece. It’s hard to get clean shells using blunt weapons, which are the turtles’ weakness.”

That would make it twice as much as the rabbits, so it’s worth a decent amount.

“Hmm~, then can you tell me the price for materials from the 4th floor?”

“Wolf meat goes for 5 copper coins per animal. For pelts, it ranges from 5 to 20 copper coins depending on quality.”

[25 coins from a single one, huh. I guess it really does pay to move deeper quickly.]

[Right. Michael might’ve expected this outcome too.]

By the way, golems go for 25 to 50 copper coins. Crushed cement ones are worth less, apparently. Still, they say even 25 coins is because golems are heavy, so you can only carry a few even with a cart!

“Sorry for asking so many questions! I’ll drop by again sometime.”

“Of course! Please come again anytime!”

Alright, time to report what I’ve learned to my old man!

・If the monster’s materials are in good shape, the buyback price more than doubles.

That’s because the effort to defeat them cleanly is reflected in the price.

That’s why slime tamers, who can kill cleanly, are strong and bring in high-quality materials, are valuable members to the guild.

Chapter length 3713 characters.

TL Note: The next two chapters are a Christmas side story. At the time the author was writing the series it was Christmas, so he slotted two chapters in with a Christmas theme.