NOVEL NEXT Chapter 601 –The Power of Alcohol (Dwarf limited)
Author: Eguchi Ren
Eguchi Ren: Apologies for the inconvenience, but I will be busy from the start of October, so updates may be delayed. I’ll still try to update the best I can, so I appreciate all the support.
Gumihou: The raw chapter was uploaded on the 27th of July 2022 and the anime was out about six months after, I think? Eguchi-san must have been really busy because of this.
It had been a week since we returned from the Green Dragon hunt.
Meanwhile, I had been busy preparing the offerings for the God of Creation and doing some general shopping around town.
Speaking of which, Fer and the others had been making noises in the corner of the room, going ‘this is so boring~’ and more worryingly, ‘I want to go hunting~’.
Never mind, I heard nothing.
As for the High Elves… well, despite my fears about them being a bunch of arrogant elitist species who looked down on regular humans (you know, like the way they treated me that first time Jorgen saw me), they had been getting along quite well with my other, er, employees.
Since the houses have not been built yet, I have been housing them in the main building. Their meals etc had been provided by Aiya and Teresa. Apparently, the High Elves had taken the initiative to pay my employees to make their meals. Which was surprisingly decent of them, given that they could probably demand food from the ladies without much repercussion.
The ladies asked me if it was alright for them to accept payment for this extra service. Personally, I had no issues, but, “Won’t it add to your burden? You’re already cooking for everyone else.”
“Oh, there’s not much difference in cooking for 15 or 20 people.”
“That’s right, we just need to add another pot of potatoes or rice to the diet and one more dish.”
Since that was their answer, I gave them the go-ahead for it.
Speaking of which, I also topped up [Net Super] limited seasoning and ingredients as well as their supply of meat and other fresh ingredients. I wanted to top up their petty cash for flour and vegetables that were not available from Alban’s field but was firmly refused.
“We have more than enough money.”
“That’s right, Mukouda-san provided us with a lot of things!”
In other words, this was how my existing employees now regularly dine with the High Elves at the same table.
[1] I think part of the reason why the High Elves were so excited about leaving the island was because of the good food. Regardless of their special skill sets, not a single High Elf could cook a decent meal, apparently. Although the job was taken on heroically by the female High Elves, the result was…according to Jorgen’s whispered confession, mediocre at best.
Still, it was interesting to see how quickly the High Elves got together to present meat and other ingredients for Aiya and Teresa to prepare, with the promise to deliver the money once their dismantling salary from the Adventurer’s Guild came in.
At first, the ladies were a little wary about using the much more ‘expensive ingredients’ since they were not sure about cooking separate dishes with special ingredients just for the High Elves. However, the High Elves quickly reassured them with:
“It’s fine, it’s fine, we have plenty.”
“This is our contribution to the community meal, so please use it without hesitation~”
“The only rule is that it must be delicious!”
“We’ll settle for edible- oww!”
“It must be decent at the very least.”
“As for the recipe, we’ll leave it up to you~”
Even after this heartily delivered permission, Aiya and Teresa looked to me for permission. I coughed and said, “Well, if neither side has any problems, I don’t see why not…”
Aiya and Teresa looked at each other for a moment before nodding, “If Mukouda-san says so, it shall be so.”
While it was a little intimidating to have them defer all their decisions to me, I was glad that things worked out between the High Elves and my employees.
It was a great relief to me that the main conflict was… how to make the other side more at ease.
Haha.
Not long after this conversation, I received a message from Bruno-san about starting construction work at my place.
Clank, clank, plonk-
Sounds of construction was heard throughout the property.
“Woah, these guys are fast…”
It had only been three days since the start of the construction work, but the building frame had already been completed.
“If we keep at it like this, we can construct the whole house about that size in about 10 days,” was what Bruno-san told me when I asked for a timeline.
Still, 10 days to build a two-storey house from the ground up was quite incredible. Especially one that has its own bathroom, piping, magic stoves and other conveniences powered by magic in place of electricity.
It was only after Bruno-san had commented on this that I realised that the previous owner of this mansion had really taken care of his servants by equipping them with such wonderful houses. Although the ‘servant’s quarters’ were not overflowing with luxury, they had a lot of conveniences and facilities that most normal people would never see in this world.
Well, since I wanted to build more of the same type of houses, might as well have all the same facilities as well.
“Still, if not for that ‘mezonet-to’ thing you wanted, we could be been done in 5 days or less,”
“Haha,”
That’s right. I introduced the concept of a ‘maisonette-type apartment’ into this world. [2] Unlike modern maisonette apartment from Japan which has their own kitchen and bathrooms, certain facilities would still be shared since the High Elves can’t cook anyway and the concept of toilets and bathrooms was still quite new in this world. However, each room would have their own entrance, sitting room and bedroom.
I had Bruno-san build two new houses that were identical to the others on the outside, with one of the houses built in the maisonette style for couples to stay in while the other was built in ‘dorm-room style’ with one entrance, a much larger living room for recreation and relaxation and smaller bedrooms.
The reason why I had one house built in the maisonette style was due to the High Elves. The three couples plus Tabitha and Peter would occupy the four maisonette rooms, while the rest of the single men, aka Luke, Irvin and Bartel, would move out of the original house to the dorms.
From what I had heard, mostly through Luke and Irvine’s complaints, their sister had gotten quite serious with Peter. The relationship was apparently ‘sizzlingly hot’ and that they ‘can’t stand the couple’ any more. I… sympathised with them, hence why I had the maisonette rooms built so that the couples could do their couple-y things out of sight.
Speaking of which… [3]
[3] “So, will you two be getting married?” Lotte-chan had asked.
[3a] My ears perked up. Fine, although their relationship had nothing to do with me, I was still curious because… well, just because! I mean, Peter was not particularly handsome or intelligent, but he still managed to snag a hot babe like Tabitha, which was kind of mind-blowing, so it was normal for me to be curious, right?
Right?
[3a] Wh-what I’m trying to say is that although I am sad about being single, I have no prejudice against couples. Yeah. I just don’t want them to rub their couple-ness into my face every time. Surely that’s a perfectly normal reaction?
A-anyway, once the new houses had been constructed and the couples, as well as the singles, moved to their new places, there would be one vacant house left. I plan to, ah, purchase another family of servants. Just look at Alban and Tony’s family, both were especially happy and motivated when working together. The work ethic was incredible too.
In short, I’d like to reserve that house for my next set of servants. The dorm or boarding-style house will be reserved for single people.
“I can’t believe you’re forking out good money to build luxury facilities in the slaves’ quarters,” Bruno-san muttered as he looked through the blueprints again.
“Hahaha…”
[2] What Bruno-san thought of as ‘luxury facilities’ were ‘basic necessities’ in my eyes. Back in Japan, there was no way I could pass those rooms as studio apartments without necessary facilities such as a toilet and a cooking area. It would only pass as a ‘share-house’ at best.
Regardless of Bruno-san’s opinion, since I have plenty of money thanks to Fer and the others, I decided not to skimp on the necessity ‘luxuries’.
While I was busy contemplating over whether I should have equipped the couple rooms with their own kitchennette and toilet, someone slapped me hard on the shoulder.
“Eh, it’s your money after all. You are free to decide the kind of spaces you want built. I, Bruno, will do my part to fulfil my end of the deal. As for Mukouda…”
“I know, you want the usual, right?”
“Ohoho, looks like the paymaster is a sharp one. Gahahaha!”
“Ha ha ha,” I forced myself to laugh along with Bruno-san.
What is ‘the usual’ you ask?
Well, part of the ‘construction fee’ was to be paid in whisky.
For those who are familiar with the Dwarf drinking culture would probably not be surprised by this. Also, it was thanks to whisky that I managed to get Bruno-san to come and work on the construction of the houses so, hey, all hail to the power of whisky!
Dwarf limited only, of course.
[Gumihou: Kind of filler-ish, but tried to make it interesting nevertheless.]
[1] Re-word this line ‘Not only when we were on the island, but even compared to eating out in the city, Jurgen, Verder, and Radimir, the male High Elves, have delighted expressions because they can eat delicious food here.’
Make it more about ‘Mukouda’s assumption’ rather than a ‘fact’
[2] Explain a little more about the ‘maisonette-style apartment’
Maisonette in UK – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ridxgOeEQRc
Maisonette in Japan – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgVlTKmcetU
[3] Bring up the topic of marriage in a more natural style
[3a] Mukouda being an asshole when it came to women seems to be a thing, so built on it.
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