"Storage, you say...?"
Just like the previous time, the Sage showed a strong reaction to Ren's report. He widened his eyes and stood up, then cleared his throat when he noticed Ren's group looking at him. He sat back down and asked,
"What is the capacity? Has the same amount of power been granted to them as to us?"
"No. It's probably about a quarter of ours."
After testing, the capacity was roughly that much. In Mei's case, once she put in her mace, there was only room for a few stones, and that was it—a storage capacity that was "better than nothing."
The Sage murmured, "I see."
"Judging from the content of the stone monument, the capacity may increase gradually from now on. I felt the path to the twentieth floor was long, but the dungeon's creator is showing some generosity."
"Yes. Just being able to carry her own arrows is a huge step forward!"
This meant Ren and the others could now put other things in the space previously used for Iris's arrows. Since managing the storage was tough when they acquired heavy drop items, this was honestly a great relief.
"Yes. The unsealing of Storage will significantly narrow the gap between the native generation and ourselves. This is undoubtedly good news."
The Sage interlocked his fingers and began to ponder something. A smile he couldn't hide was plastered on his face.
"You've done well. Your reward this time will be more generous than usual. With this, we can take another new step forward."
"A new step forward? Do you mean you plan to send more children like Shou-kun and the others?"
"Of course. Even if we don't let them dive to the lower levels, if many children can gain experience up to a certain floor—say, the fifteenth floor—our lives will become much richer."
Storage in dungeon raiding is "a convenient place to pull out equipment only when needed," but in daily life, it also becomes "a means to easily move heavy objects." Shop owners and craftsmen could carry goods easily and in large quantities, and moving house would be simple if they mobilized a few people with Storage. By filling their storage and carrying as much as possible in their hands, one person could achieve more than twice the transport capacity of two people.
"There are many benefits, even considering the acquisition of fragments. I want to select candidates for the third wave of explorers urgently."
"The third wave, huh..."
The first wave was, needless to say, Iris and Mei, and the second was Shou and Ken. It hadn't even been a year since they started, yet things were progressing rapidly. Was this what the Sage had called a new movement? Increasing their combat power was not a bad thing. In fact, fostering a feeling of "let's all conquer the dungeon!" was something Ren welcomed, but...
"Hey. Don't you think you don't need to rush so much?"
Ren felt a strange anxiety, a sense of unease. The middle-aged man, the town's leader and the oldest of the transferred people, frowned at this.
"Why? It's better to be sooner if possible, isn't it? Of course, I intend to proceed cautiously, including the selection of instructors. I have no intention of needlessly letting the children die."
"Then you should prioritize safety above all else. Constantly sending out new people one after another makes it seem like you're mass-producing soldiers."
The reason Ren felt uneasy was probably because she had seen Shou and Ken's tearful faces. Iris and Mei were excellent, and Ren could watch over them within her reach. But those boys were just promising rookies who still needed a lot of time to grow. Excluding the first wave as a special case, the results of the policy to "let the native generation explore the dungeon" had not yet been realized.
"How about waiting until Shou and the others clear the tenth floor? Of course, even that shouldn't be rushed. If they die, everything is lost."
Furi nodded in agreement with this. "That might be true."
"Constantly sending out new kids with the expectation of, 'At least reach the fifteenth floor,' puts pressure on the selected children. Maybe it's better than not being expected to succeed, but expecting too much can lead them to push themselves."
"The dungeon is not a safe place, even with an instructor. They volunteer knowing this. I would like them to bear some difficulty."
"Hmm... how can I put this? Shouldn't you clearly decide whether you want them to achieve results, even if it means pushing them a little, or if you want to watch the children grow?"
The Sage looked at Ren's group with a startled expression. He paused for a while, seeming to think, then said,
"Our generation carved out a path from nothing. Is it arrogant to judge their situation as 'too easy' in comparison?"
"I can't say anything that grand, but if you arbitrarily tell them, 'Bear our hopes as well,' they're going to want to say, 'I don't care.'"
There's a complete difference between willingly bearing a burden and being forced to bear one. Ren wanted to share Iris's feelings for her parents, but she disliked being told by this somewhat extreme old man, "We suffered more, so..." The reply didn't come immediately. A few seconds later, what was exhaled with a heavy sigh were words tinged with loneliness.
"...We don't have much time left."
--------------------
"Did I say something bad?"
After returning home. Ren, sitting at the living room table, answered Furi's murmur with, "Maybe."
"Iris's dad isn't young anymore. That old man must be even more so."
"Hmm... I thought he'd easily live for another thirty years."
In reality, he might live for another thirty years. However, that was truly a calculation of "until death." The Sage had already retired from the front lines. His physical strength would continue to decline, and he might even start to become senile. There was no guarantee that the dungeon would be conquered while he could still call himself the leader. Furthermore, the man was also looking ahead to the possibility of failure. He must be impatient, feeling he has to create an environment where he can be certain that "people can continue to live in this world" before he loses his ability to act. Ren couldn't imagine a world after her death. She couldn't help but think that death from old age was still a long way off. She didn't understand the Sage's feelings, not logically but in terms of concrete experience.
"...I guess that's why they keep telling us to 'have children quickly,' too."
"Yeah. ...Well, that doesn't mean I'm going to say we'll have kids right away."
Ren thought she should at least respect the words of the elders a little. In the end, the issue of deploying the third wave was settled by the elders agreeing to discuss and decide on a policy. If the adults decided to "add more" and children volunteered to enter the dungeon, it wasn't something Ren's group should strongly oppose.
"But eventually, there won't be enough instructors either."
"Maybe they'll ask people older than us for help?"
In terms of trying various approaches, that might be an option.
"Well, we should just continue as we have been."
"Agreed. There's no point in rushing. Nothing good comes from dying."
After that. Whether Ren's group's opposition had an effect or not, the discussion regarding the third wave didn't reach a conclusion immediately. The decision to proceed with a new group, and the discussion of who that would be, only began after Shou and the others had cleared the tenth floor—a little later on.
--------------------
"February is over in a flash, huh?"
"Time really flies, doesn't it?"
It felt like they had just celebrated Christmas and New Year's. Repeating the cycle of exploring the dungeon and then resting made them lose their sense of the seasons. Seasonal events were very useful in times like this.
They did observe Setsubun (the bean-throwing festival), at least. It was a rather questionable affair where they threw suitable beans and then immediately picked them up and ate them, making one wonder, "Is this right?" Besides, a Succubus felt more like a demon or devil, one of the creatures to be driven away, so thinking too deeply about it was a loss.
And there was one more big event in February.
"Hey, Furi? Do they have Valentine's Day here too?"
"Ren, bringing up Valentine's Day... Do you want some?"
"Of course, I do. It's chocolate from the girls I like!"
Though she didn't know if she could call them her girlfriends, they were girls she was close to. She would undoubtedly be happy to receive chocolate from them.
"But, you know. If there's Valentine's Day, I have to make chocolate too."
"Good, good. You're a good girl for not forgetting you're a girl now."
Furi, who smiled and genuinely patted Ren's head, then tilted her head and said, "But you know..."
"Chocolate is ridiculously expensive."
"Ridiculously?"
"Yes, ridiculously. Maybe enough to buy a house."
"That's way too expensive!?"
Ren had heard stories that pepper was as expensive as gold in some eras and regions.
"The ingredient, cacao, is the problem. Apparently, it sometimes drops on some floors, but it's too difficult to cultivate, so they haven't been able to mass-produce it yet."
Cacao won't grow without high temperatures and humidity. The area around the town was more of a cool climate, making it unsuitable. On the other hand, they didn't have enough fragments to move far enough to reach a different climate. They might be able to grow it in a greenhouse with magic to supply water, but even that would require sacrificing some land and valuable personnel.
"So, only the dropped amount is in circulation... or rather, most people put it in Storage to keep it fresh, and it's exchanged in something like black market deals."
"Ah. It wouldn't rot if it's in Storage. And beans are light."
But still, a black market deal...
"So I guess I have to give up on chocolate."
"Yeah. If we're going to make something, maybe cookies? Want to make them together?"
"Will you teach me?"
"Sure. It sounds fun to make them together."
Fortunately, Furi readily agreed, so Ren was able to make cookies to share with everyone. Then, the juniors also joined in.
"Um, I want to make them together too!"
"It sounds interesting, so may I also participate?"
"Okay. Then let's all make them together."
It was almost Ren's first time baking sweets. Since her cooking experience was limited to home economics class, she was anxious, but...
"This is more fun than I thought."
"Surprising. Ren, you're quite good."
"What do you mean, surprising?"
When Ren gave Furi a deadpan look, Furi laughed and said, "Sorry, sorry."
"You're surprisingly coordinated, Ren. It's not strange that you can make sweets."
"You said 'surprising' again."
"Speaking of surprising, it's also surprising that Mei-chan is clumsy."
"I am caught unprepared. It seems I am not suited for tasks that require delicate control of force."
Being too strong was also a problem. Mei could be careful enough not to break cleaning tools, but dainty movements were apparently outside her expertise. Iris, who had made them with her family before, was skillful, so they somehow managed to get the cookies into shape.
"Wow, they're done...!"
"The heat control is thanks to Iris-chan."
The finished cookies turned out quite well, considering the insufficient equipment. In addition to very ordinary, simple ones, they made some with dried fruit and some shaped into various forms using Mei's special molds.
"We all made them together, so it's not clear whose is whose, but that's okay, right?"
"Yeah. It was fun, and it's fine if we all eat them together."
They saved a portion for Mariabelle, wrapping it nicely, and enjoyed the rest as a snack. Perhaps because sweets were rare in this other world, or because her taste buds had changed after becoming a woman, sweet things tasted better than before. She ended up eating too much, even though she didn't need to eat thanks to Energy Drain, and everyone chuckled at her. But she didn't mind that either.
"Wait? In this case, what about White Day?"
"Ah. ...I wonder?"
Since they all gave gifts to each other on Valentine's Day, the return gift was, in a sense, already taken care of. There didn't seem to be a need to force a White Day celebration, but...
"Since we have the opportunity, why don't we just bake sweets again?"
"I agree!"
"Then let's do that. Is that okay with you, Ren?"
"Ah, of course."
The next time, they decided they had milk, so they would make ice cream. It was white, too, so it fit the theme perfectly. Wishing for the climate to get a little warmer in a month so ice cream would taste good, Ren looked forward to the next day they would all bake sweets together.
In addition, it should be noted that Mariabelle returned with cookies from the big sisters at the brothel, creating a new need to make White Day return gifts.
============
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