“You guys set me up, didn’t you, Senpai?”
Kaido-senpai slammed his hand on the table, clenching his fist. Although the surroundings drew curious glances, people quickly lost interest when they saw what was on the table.
“Ugh.”
Karen-san covered her mouth, silent. Even if she averted her gaze, the scene spread across the table kept intruding on her peripheral vision.
“It’s too sweet. My mouth is just overwhelmingly sweet. I never expected it to be this bad,”
Minami-chan covered her mouth too. She took a sip of coffee, and hadn’t reached for the dessert in front of her for a while. The hands that usually wielded her staff now lacked the courage to even hold a spoon.
“…”
This is how our party found itself on the brink of annihilation.
Normally, they were the ones who bravely challenged monsters, but now they were struggling against monsters from another dimension, being cornered by the minute.
Only Amelia-san, who moved her spoon with a blank expression, was an exception. Her expression hadn’t changed from the beginning. Even the heavy, booming sound of something being placed in front of her didn’t faze her. She merely offered a sad smile, as if to say, “Here it comes again.” The area around her was steadily decreasing at a constant pace.
As for me, I was eating much slower than Amelia-san, but I was making progress little by little. The balanced sweetness, made with a generous amount of fresh cream, had become cloying before I knew it, and I felt like I was developing indigestion.
I’d stop for a moment, then reach out again.
We were about to be defeated, and we hadn’t even reached the halfway point.
“This is bad, Senpai. We’re going to be late for work if we don’t leave soon.”
“Ugh, but what about leaving this behind like this?”
“But realistically, our stomachs have no room to store this after eating pancakes. I was careless. I never thought it would be such an outrageous item.”
If only we had more time, we might have been able to manage it. But we didn’t. A glance at the clock showed our scheduled time was fast approaching.
Considering the travel time, we had about thirty minutes left.
The three of us, unable to eat anymore, huddled together to discuss what to do next. But if they had that kind of time, they should have been eating more.
It had been about an hour since we started eating, but the “Magical Deluxe Wonderland Parfait” still retained its shape and form, except for the parts we had eaten. The container itself was also special, with a double structure. The gap at the bottom contained dry ice, so there was no worry about the parfait mounded on top melting.
Furthermore, it used an abundance of fresh fruit, and to add color, it incorporated cookies and over a dozen types of ice cream to create characters like buildings, roads, and snowmen, forming a world within the dessert. As its name suggested, a true wonderland was created in this container. The skill of the staff here, who could create such a world in such a short time, was truly masterful.
I glanced towards the kitchen and saw the store manager with a confident smile. His expression seemed to say, “You can’t possibly eat this.”
“Tch.”
In reality, we, who were trying to eat this world, were on the verge of defeat. Leaving food behind goes against my principles. But despite my feelings, my hands wouldn’t move.
As I panicked about what to do, time continued to slip away.
“I give up! I can’t eat anymore!”
“Me neither.”
“I can’t either, gozaru!”
Our fighting strength dwindled, leaving only Amelia-san and me. But even I was reaching my limit. My spoon faltered and lowered.
Just as I thought we were done for, it was the signal of our defeat.
“We look forward to your next visit!”
We left the store, seeing off by the manager who gave us an oddly cheerful smile.
“I don’t want to see anything sweet for a while.”
“Me neither.”
“I don’t want to see anything sweet until I’ve burned off this calorie count, gozaru.”
“Yes, I never want to come to this store again!”
“I remember the taste, but I didn’t know there were dishes in this world that I wouldn’t want to recreate…”
“Can you recreate it?!”
“Really?!”
“Are you sure?!”
After eating so much, I could vaguely guess the ingredients used. If I could practice the container and the plating method, I thought I could make the same thing. But I doubted I’d ever have the chance to.
As I was spacing out, thinking about such things.
“Oh, look, it’s Suzuki-kun.”
Amelia-san exclaimed in surprise, as if she had just noticed something.
“Is that an acquaintance?”
Karen-san replied to her. As Kaido-senpai and I turned to confirm,
“Ah.”
“Why is he running away? Is he going through puberty?”
“What kind of puberty is that? Is he like a heroine from a rom-com manga from a decade ago, gozaru?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
By the time I looked, only his retreating figure was visible.
“He’s a classmate of mine.”
“Hmm, perhaps he was embarrassed to be seen by you privately?”
“Maybe he was on his way back from buying something precious for a man. If that’s the case, it makes sense that he’d run away.”
“Kaido-senpai, I’ll sue you for sexual harassment. Or I’ll tell Amili-chan and the others all sorts of things!”
“I’m so sorry!!”
So, to distract Amelia-san, who was watching her classmate run away with a hint of sadness, Kaido-senpai tried to joke around. But it fell a bit flat, and Karen-san’s icy gaze pierced him.
“Heh heh, that’s too sweet, Kaido-senpai. These days, all those precious items are digital. Carrying them around is nonsensical, gozaru. He was probably flustered by my allure and ran away.”
“Al-lure?”
“Oh, you said something delicious? I take that as a declaration of war. When we get back, I’ll fight you, and it’ll also help with burning calories. I won’t stop hitting you until your life points hit minus ten thousand, even if you lose all your health from my debuff combo. I’ll make you experience the terror of a trap technique against a backliner in full course.”
Kaido-senpai, I really don’t think those words are appropriate. Minami-chan has been trying hard with fashion and things lately. She used to just wash her hair with shampoo on sale at the drugstore, but now she’s started using shampoos and conditioners from brands I don’t even know, trying to improve herself. Although, due to compatibility issues, there are a few bottles she’s tried and abandoned.
“No, Katsu, why are you looking at me with such a lukewarm gaze, gozaru?”
“It means Minami has grown, too.”
“Are you looking at me like a father?! No, in Katsu’s case, it’s like a mother!?”
“Minami.”
“What is it, Kitamiya?”
“It seems there isn’t that much of a difference between you and me.”
“Grrr!! Is this the downside of childhood friend privilege?! I didn’t want to know it in this way!”
“Minami-chan, you have it tough too.”
“In this situation, who’s at fault, lo?”
I looked at Minami with a gentle feeling, but for some reason, I found myself receiving disapproving glances from Kaido-senpai and Amelia-san. Why?
“…I’m grateful that Kitamiya is here just for this moment, gozaru.”
“This isn’t exactly a good situation, is it?”
Minami and the others, noticing my behavior, sent me similar looks. Did I do something wrong?
Confused, I returned to the company and headed to the Party Room. Along the way, I exchanged greetings with the familiar employees of different races, my mouth still slightly sweet, and changed into my work clothes to prepare for my duties.
“Today’s plan is the Machine King’s Dungeon, right?”
“Yes, we’re challenging the seventy-seventh floor without Jiro-san.”
“That area has a lot of small monsters, so it can be quite troublesome, gozaru.”
“But the improvement plan for that area was proposed by Minami-chan, wasn’t it?”
“Ah, I believe she referenced a movie for it.”
“It was *The Mummy*, gozaru. I thought it would be annoying if small beetle-like golems swarmed out, so I proposed the improvement.”
“And it’s incredibly effective against frontline fighters like you, Senpai, who can’t perform area annihilation. It’s hard to say whether Amili-chan, who created these small, high-performance, and inexpensive golems, is amazing, or if Minami-chan should be blamed for that proposal.”
“I have no regrets and no apologies, gozaru!! Because this is my job!!”
“How can you say that so boldly? We’re going to challenge that place next.”
We changed into our respective outfits, which could be considered work clothes.
“Oh, Katsu-kun, is that gauntlet new equipment?”
“Yes, the gauntlet I was using before broke during our last dungeon attack, so I got a new one.”
“Katsu-kun’s attacks are primarily melee, so your gauntlets wear out quickly.”
It’s become routine for them to point out new equipment so casually.
“Yes, this time it’s an alloy made primarily of mithril with a little orichalcum mixed in. It conducts magic power better and is more durable than the previous one.”
“Wow, that must have been expensive, right?”
“It was quite pricey, but I saved up for it.”
“Well, we’re all quite well-paid now, aren’t we? I could buy a foreign luxury car outright with cash if I wanted. Though I have no use for it.”
We have a general understanding of each other’s financial situations due to our party’s salary distribution method. Therefore, we don’t worry about money just because someone bought new equipment. Even Minami, who is considered to have a terrible spending habit, has developed a certain level of saving awareness. Even when faced with sudden large sums of money, she doesn’t go on a spree or waste it. In some cases, she saves more money than Katsu. The same applies to Kaido-san, Karen-san, and Amelia-san, whose finances are managed by her mother. While those present here may have a different sense of money than most, they haven’t become excessively extravagant. This gauntlet, though it cost an amount that could easily buy a luxury car, was purchased at a discounted price through a connection, keeping the cost down.
“Honestly, even with this much money, there’s not much to spend it on besides university…”
“I know what you mean. We have a place to live, and we don’t have expensive hobbies. The only thing that costs money are our work tools, but they don’t wear out much if properly maintained. It’s probably the same for you girls, right?”
“Hmm, I once went all out and spent a fortune on a gacha game, felt like I lost, and haven’t spent money on games since, gozaru. If anything, clothes cost money. What about you, Kitamiya?”
“For me, it’s the same. I’m saving up to repay my university fees to my parents. I don’t buy many clothes, and I prefer finding clothes I like over branded items. Ami-chan is on an allowance, so she probably spends even less than us?”
“Yes! When it comes to big purchases, I go shopping with Mommy! But the most recent thing I bought was a light car for Mommy to use for shopping!”
“For me, it’s just this gauntlet. Otherwise, it’s mostly ingredients and consumables.”
It turned out that Kaido-senpai and the others were similar. Even with some occasional splurges, their spending habits weren’t excessively extravagant.
“I’ve heard whispers that some Testers are struggling financially.”
“Oh? Is that so?”
“Weren’t we like that when we first started? Potions, weapon wear and tear, there were a lot of expenses.”
“That’s true. Fortunately, in the First Division, Senpai makes sure we can get consumables at a low price, so we don’t have to worry too much, but other divisions are apparently still quite disorganized in that regard.”
It was a day to feel relieved that the strict saving habits they had cultivated were still proving useful.
Today’s Quote: When there is still much you can do, cherish the basics.
Thank you, as always, for your comments and for pointing out any typos. If you enjoyed this story, please consider leaving a review, rating, or bookmarking it.
I am also currently serializing another work: “Pandora Pandemic Panic.” While Pandora’s Box has been opened again, we’re fighting back with various things from our secret base! Please check that out as well!
