What They Want
“Allen, Elena, I have two questions for you.”
“”What is it~?””
“It’s almost your birthday.”
“”Seven!””
“That’s right. So, we are going to celebrate with everyone again, what would you like to eat then? That’s the first question I want to ask you.”
Allen and Elena will soon celebrate their seventh birthday.
We plan to throw a birthday party of sorts, but as expected, it will not be a surprise this time. So, I discussed the food to be served at the party with them. I want something that both of them would want to eat.
“The second question I have, is there anything you want for the celebration?”
The other thing is birthday presents. I have my own ideas, but I will ask if there is anything they want, just in case.
“”N~…””
The two of them tilted their heads and began to seriously consider my questions.
“”……””
“W, well, you don’t have to think about it so seriously, just feel free to say whatever comes to mind, okay?”
“”Nn~~~””
There was no response from Allen and Elena, who were still troubled.
“”Ah!””
“Have you come up with something?”
“”Yea!””
The children, who had been thinking for a while, gave me a look that said, “Got an idea!”, so I immediately asked them what it was.
“Something you want to eat? Some item?”
“”Item!””
Apparently, they had a better idea of what they wanted as a present.
“”You know what, you know what!”
“Allen.”
“Elena.”
“”Wants a dungeon!””
I was astonished to hear their answers.
“D, dungeon…?”
“”Right! Dungeon!”
“That’s something you wish for?”
“”Wish for!””
That was something too unexpected.
As you can imagine, I can’t give them a dungeon as a gift~
“I, I don’t think dungeons can be owned as private possessions, so I don’t think that would be possible~…”
“”Can’t~?””
“… Yeah.”
I was wondering how I could get Allen and Elena to understand that it was a no-go, when—
“”I see~””
The children seemed to be convinced in a matter-of-fact manner.
“Eh… perhaps, you knew that it was no good?”
“”Somehow?””
“… I, I see.”
I didn’t need to explain, they both knew. They are very understanding children, which is very helpful.
“Wanna go.”
“To a dungeon.”
“We have already promised to visit a dungeon the next time, no?”
“”Wanna go more!””
“……”
They gave up on the private ownership of a dungeon, but they are asking me to take them to more dungeons instead?
The twins say it like it’s going to an amusement park or a zoo, but… basically, dungeons are basically dangerous places, you know~
“Any, anyway, let’s discuss which dungeon we should visit next?”
“”Yeah!””
We have a promise to go to an advanced dungeon to look for a magic ring, but we haven’t decided where to go yet. Let’s decide on that in detail while we’re on the subject.
“Let’s see, the advanced dungeons that the Guild is aware of right now are…”
I took out the list of discovered dungeons given to me by the Guild.
“Oh, come to think of it, we haven’t been to the advanced dungeon of Guardia yet~”
There are a total of five dungeons found in Guardia. The Lower level dungeons: “Dungeon of Earth” and “Dungeon of Snow.” The Intermediate level dungeons: “Dungeon of Ripples” and the “Dungeon of Large Animals”. The Advanced level dungeon, “Dungeon of Scorching Heat.” There are two that we haven’t been to.
“Wanna go there!”
“Where is it, where is it?”
“Dungeon of Scorching Heat. It’s a fire-type dungeon, and it’s located… just between the Capital and Town of Bailey.”
“When do we go?”
“Right now?”
“We cannot go right now~ We’re celebrating your birthdays, and I was planning to go to the auction after the New Year.”
We can’t go right now because I have already made plans.
“”Auction? What’s that~?””
“I didn’t tell you two about that yet, did I? If I say auction, you wouldn’t understand, would you? Let’s see… it’s a gathering where a lot of rare items go up for sale and they are sold to the people with the highest bid. I’m supposed to go together with Al-sama.”
“”Rare items?””
“That’s right. I’m going to go there because there might be some things I’ve never seen before. Do you two want to go?”
“”Hmm, wanna go!””
Good. I wondered what I would do if they said they didn’t want to go to the auction with me.
“Then, the next dungeon we will go to is the Dungeon of Scorching Heat, and we will go there after the auction.”
“”Alright~””
I’ve never been to a labyrinth with the fire attribute. Just hearing about it, it sounds like a hot place, so we have to be prepared for the heat! But I have no idea what to prepare. For now, let’s prepare a lot of cold drinks and ice cream.
“Ah, what to do! We have decided without consulting Joule and others~”
“”Ah!””
“They probably wouldn’t say no, but…”
I immediately decided to call Joule and the others and talk to them.
(I’m fine with that place!)
(Yes, me as well.)
(I don’t mind!)
(I don’t care where, as long as I can go to the dungeon!)
(I fine with that, too!)
“I see. That’s good. Let’s go there after we finish our scheduled activities.”
Then, no one objected. The contracted beasts were all good children, too.
(But I’d like to go back to the wooden dungeon we visited before.)
(The Entwined Dungeon.)
“Yes, I remember we talked about going there again.”
(Takumi Nii, I would like to continue with the Dungeon of Colors, too!)
(Me too, me too! That place looked amusing, so I wanna go there again!)
“That’s for sure. It was a dungeon that made you wonder what the next floor would look like~”
“”Was fun!””
The “Entwined Dungeon” and “Dungeon of Colors”, huh~ There are many places to visit!
“”Oniichan, Oniichan.””
“N? What is it?”
“Is that all dungeons.”
“In this country~?”
“There’s still another dungeon in Guardia that was discovered, the Lower level dungeon, ‘Dungeon of Snow’.”
“”Let’s go there~””
“Eh?”
I thought all agreed that we could not go to a dungeon right now because of our schedule, but… were they not actually convinced?
“Lower level!”
“Will be over soon!”
“Nn!?”
(That sounds good! If you let me and Feat take care of the transportation, it won’t take too long, and the Lower level dungeon will be easy to conquer!)
“Ehh!?”
Ah, darn it! The Lower level dungeon won’t take too long to conquer, so let’s go there in between our schedules!? Is that what they are saying!?
“Allen and Elena’s birthday!”
“A little further away!”
“Ahh, yeah…”
Are they saying… to postpone the celebration to a few days late?
“”Oniichan!””
I couldn’t say no to the appealing look in their eyes.