Chapter 82 - The Jet-Black Judgment
The Kingdom of Sepans was, as always, brimming with energetic chaos.
First of all, the male First Unit was fiercely split in opinion.
Normally, when the First Unit returned home from some massive dungeon in a foreign land, they were granted a month-long rest period—during which they did nothing but—
Uoooooooooooooooooo!!!
WOMENWOMENWOMENWOMENWOMENWOMENWOMENWOMENWOMENWOMENWOMENWOMENWOMEN!!!
FOODFOODFOODFOODFOODFOODFOODFOODFOODFOODFOODFOODFOODFOODFOODFOOD!!!
DRINKDRINKDRINKDRINKDRINKDRINKDRINKDRINKDRINKDRINKDRINKDRINKDRINK!!!
…spend about a month indulging to their heart’s content, squandering their pay in a whirlwind of hedonism, before returning once more to the dungeon.
But this time, their opinions clashed.
Some stuck to tradition—women, food, and drink—lounging away in the capital’s pleasure district to stretch their wings.
Others believed that food and drink were far better deep inside the No-Hunger Dungeon, and so, even while officially “on leave,” they holed themselves up in its depths.
Then there was about half the group who simply couldn’t accept that Captain Touji’s female knight squad had caught up to them in strength, and began digging for information about the so-called Hot Spring Dungeon.
“This training-enhancing bath on the tenth floor—we have to bring that back first!”
So declared Captain Hitou, poring over materials on the Hot Spring Dungeon at the dungeon archive.
“No, but listen, Captain Hitou... how long would it even take for Captain Touji’s unit to haul that thing all the way back to No-Hunger Dungeon?
Even if we dedicated all our remaining leave to training, the time’s too short—barely a drop in the bucket.”
“Exactly. Unless we can stay in the kingdom like Captain Touji, there’s no point...”
“Ghh... so even if I petitioned Her Majesty Yuzha for a stay permit, it would be pointless.
The Hot Spring Dungeon can be conquered just fine with Captain Touji’s unit, and Her Majesty would surely welcome the strengthening of her personal female knight corps.
Even if we claimed it was all for the noble cause of gaining the strength to clear the twenty-seventh floor of the Weapon Dungeon...
Given the current state of the country, Her Majesty would likely demand more iron from the Iron Dungeon instead of some so-called legendary sword from floor twenty-seven.
...Damn it, I want to stay, but I’ve got no excuse to do so.”
Training with buff meals was theoretically possible right away, but there was no way around the shortage of training days.
And besides, the very existence of these buff meals was currently classified information—nothing about them had been published in the archives yet.
In the end, Captain Hitou ordered the subordinates who had followed him in hopes of training to give up and rest properly.
He had a feeling this particular “vacation” was going to leave a stubborn thorn of frustration lodged in his throat.
♨♨♨♨♨
“A new floor in No-Hunger Dungeon? And not just one—two of them?”
“Yes, Vihita. Apparently, in the deeper levels of No-Hunger Dungeon, some of the drink-loving men of the First Unit were gorging themselves on chicken and liquor at the bottom floor when they stumbled upon a new one.
And this—this is what they found.”
With that, Auf took out a bottle of mentsuyu and a jewel-encrusted ornament.
“Whoa! Amazing! That’s an insanely beautiful tourmaline, isn’t it?!”
Vihita all but squealed, leaning forward in excitement.
“That’s one of the most popular gems among noblewomen, right? Especially since it’s never been found in any dungeon before.
Ahhh, I’m so glad I wrote about this in that letter to the Hot Spring Dungeon! They must have read it and responded to me!
I only scribbled it in a tiny note, and yet they read every single word! I’m so happy!”
The fact that she was a duke’s daughter—a noblewoman among noblewomen—and still said “popular among noblewomen” as if it had nothing to do with her was almost comical.
But apparently, what truly mattered to her was that the Hot Spring Dungeon had read her letter.
“That’s right! The great hero Kujo and his beloved Daio—the gem that brought those two together was a tourmaline, and...”
Vihita began passionately recounting the plot of one of the most famous romance novels, not just in the Kingdom of Sepans, but on the entire continent.
Auf had read it too, at least in passing, but her reaction was closer to, ‘Oh right, that was a thing, wasn’t it?’
In any case, there was no denying that this was one of the major reasons why tourmaline had become absurdly popular among noblewomen.
“Siigh... so this is something you can get in No-Hunger Dungeon nowadays...
If you happen to find one on a day off while living inside the dungeon... you have the right to claim it as personal property, don’t you...? Which means... the chances of me getting one just like this are actually quite high? Ufufu... ufufufufu...”
Vihita stared at the beautiful gemstone with a sly, almost sticky glint in her eyes.
It was not the look of someone admiring beauty for beauty’s sake—rather, it was the greedy smile of someone certain they would one day call it their own.
“...And this,” Auf added.
“Hmm? Ah, yes. And... what exactly is that black liquid?”
Drawn completely into the gemstone, Vihita had forgotten about the mentsuyu entirely until now, only to turn her gaze toward it.
“I don’t know.”
“...Is it... a drink?”
“I don’t know.
But the container is amazing!
It’s incredibly light, doesn’t leak a single drop, and... it’s tough—doesn’t shatter like glass!
The material feels similar to the lid of the pepper jar, but to think it could be made transparent like this...”
To Auf, the PET bottle that held it seemed far more impressive than the tourmaline gem.
In the world where the will of the Hot Spring Dungeon had once resided, such containers were commonplace.
“Oh, you’re right. The bottle itself is so light that most of the weight is from the liquid inside.
...This would be perfect for a canteen.
Especially for carrying water from the ninth-floor hot spring—when poured over a complicated bone fracture, it doesn’t heal the break itself, but it restores the bone’s position and shape to normal.
Very handy to have as a treatment item.
...By the way, should I try pouring out that black liquid?”
“Yes. Drink just a little.”
“Alright then... here goes.
Hmm...
...What is this?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well... I mean, it is tasty, I guess, but... what is it?”
“...Maybe some sort of seasoning, like fish sauce?”
“As a seasoning, isn’t the flavor a bit too weak?”
“Hmm... I suppose we’ll just have to leave it to the cooking instructors and gourmet experts.”
For people from a world where “good cooking” meant masking the smell of bad meat with heaps of salt and pepper, creating a bold, in-your-face flavor...
...the subtle umami of kelp broth was still far beyond their grasp.
♨♨♨♨♨
Later on, certain renowned chefs—those said to possess the “tongue of a god”—and some influential gourmet nobles in the Kingdom of Sepans would lavish extravagant praise upon the taste of mentsuyu. But such admirers were few.
Some gourmets even began dividing their peers into two categories: those who understood the delicate flavor of mentsuyu, and the fools who did not.
The result was constant quarrels—almost full-blown brawls—within the noble gourmet circles.
Eventually, mentsuyu in the Kingdom of Sepans came to be nicknamed “The Jet-Black Judgment”—meaning, the judge that exposes the tongue of a fool.
Of course, due to the way inter-world language translation worked, the Hot Spring Master would still hear it as just “mentsuyu.”
Had he heard the Kingdom’s nickname along with its meaning, he probably would have burst out laughing.
Deep within No-Hunger Dungeon, a dish began to spread among adventurers—one where you sautéed chicken and onions, cracked in some eggs, and simmered it all with mentsuyu. It was unbelievably delicious.
Thus, the oyakodon was born.
The adventurers living in the dungeon’s lower depths, feasting daily on only the finest ingredients, were now developing more refined palates than many so-called gourmet nobles of the Kingdom.
They were gradually mastering the use of mentsuyu.
Even so, mentsuyu itself was still treated like an odd “miss” among alcohol drops, though adventurers did recognize it as very tasty.
What’s more, the nobles above ground had grown stubborn—insisting that appreciating its taste was a matter of status, rarity, and gourmet pride.
This drove its market price to absurd heights, making it a fairly profitable find.
Still, descending just one more floor for gems yielded far greater returns, and whisky remained more popular, so...
Mentsuyu began to carve out its niche as an ultra-rare seasoning—something adventurers brought back only occasionally, and often by accident while hunting for liquor.
At that very moment, in the royal palace, Her Majesty Yuzha and the kingdom’s top officials were holding a council meeting.
“Haah... in the middle of this gods-damned busy season, and those fools go and stir up some pointless commotion...
Each of you, report this week’s noteworthy developments.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. Captain Hitou’s First Unit had once again set out for the Iron Dungeon.
The demand for iron was still immense. Thanks to the profits from the gemstones discovered this time, we expected to be able to double the amount of iron we could purchase on the market.
Likewise, we had arranged to buy large quantities of cloth and thread from the Thread Dungeon, funded by the profits from the liquor trade.”
“Commander Shield of the Kingdom of Marponwear and her party had requested an extended stay in our kingdom’s dungeons.
Officially, the reason was that one of their female knights wished to train herself to be able to carry Queen Teta to the bath on the eleventh floor, using the hot spring on the tenth floor for her training.”
“Officially, you say?
Is there something behind that?”
“Yes... it was well-known in private circles that Commander Shield was a hopeless lover of drink.
When Her Majesty Queen Teta visited some time ago, she had given her a bottle of liquor from the No-Hunger Dungeon... and it seemed that it had ruined her.
Unable to forget the taste, Commander Shield apparently once plotted to abandon her post, her home, and her country, and live as an adventurer here in the Kingdom of Sepans...”
“...Sight.”
Her Majesty Yuzha listened to the report with a look of utter exasperation.
“Of course, it was obvious that such a thing could never be allowed, given her position.
So, while keeping her title and position intact... she apparently made the request for an extended stay under the pretense of the reason given earlier.”
“...I see. I’m not exactly thrilled about letting one of the rare women from another land who can reach the deepest baths of the Hot Spring Dungeon stay here long-term... but since we’ve already opened our dungeons to other nations’ militaries, we’ve no grounds to refuse.
We’ll have to accept it. Next.”
“After strengthening the lighthouse’s beam, the number of merchant ships calling at our port had doubled.
We’d had reports of many trading vessels that had never dealt with our nation before, so there was great hope for expanding our trade routes.
However...”
“However?”
“We had confirmed fleets from a continent utterly unknown to us, and, it seemed, unknown to them as well.
This could very well be the harbinger of something monumental—whether for better... or for worse.”
“Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! So it turned out there were still undiscovered continents out there across the vast sea!
They might become splendid trading partners, bringing us unknown civilizations... or invaders that we’d have to face, perhaps even in alliance with other nations...
Aaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!”
When Her Majesty Yuzha let out a bizarre scream and slammed her hands on the desk, the gathered ministers all sighed, as if to say, “Here we go again.”
“In the middle of this gods-damned-gods-damned-gods-damned busy time, you bring me a first-class disaster like that?!
Oh, I can already see it—years spent keeping my guard up in my gut while smiling pleasantly on the surface to deal with them!
And in the meantime, the dungeons will just keep popping and bubbling and growing however they please, won’t they???
Every single time, bringing along some incomprehensible effect and some ridiculous item that throws the whole world into chaos!
‘The Jet-Black Judgment that Exposes the Tongue of Fools,’ my ass! Why the hell does a single item like that turn every tea party into a murderous brawl?! It’s just a tasty condiment, damn it!!”
Her Majesty Yuzha vented her grievances until she had wrung herself dry.
This sort of royal outburst, once the burden of busyness pushed her past her limits, had become something of a regular feature of recent council meetings.
And so, the Kingdom of Sepans bustled on, as cheerfully chaotic as ever.
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