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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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Chapter 23: Administrator, this isn't right.
"Ugh... Where am I?"
A man who resembled a panda was holding his head and looking around.
Since all the other staff except for Mari and Beryl had returned to the dormitory, it was easy to figure out who he was.
"Bilbo."
"Huh!"
As soon as I called his name, the panda-like man jumped in surprise and turned his head.
Despite his sluggish appearance, his movements were rather quick.
Well, considering that he would be responsible for feeding dozens, if not hundreds, of people in the future... being slow wouldn't do.
With that in mind,
'He passes for now.'
Bilbo, who showed a decent performance for a 9th-grade staff member, was accepted.
'...Now, let's see about his cooking skills.'
With a [Low-Level Cooking LV. 1], it would be hard for his food to taste bad unless he deliberately tried to ruin it.
He might have malicious intentions and mess up the cooking, but...
'There's a way to prevent that from happening.'
For now, there was only the Isolation Department, but in the future, many departments would be created.
Of course, I couldn’t manage all of them myself.
I needed capable staff who could become my hands and feet.
This was preparation for the future.
'In a way, the cafeteria will be the first newly created department...’
It would take some time before I formally divided the departments, but it didn’t hurt to be prepared in advance.
Just as I was thinking that, Bilbo stood up.
"How... how do you know my name? More importantly, where is this place?"
Where was this place?
I hadn’t really given it much thought.
Instead of answering his question, I decided to let Bilbo figure out what kind of place this was on his own.
"You remember the contract you made with the goddess, right?"
"...That whole thing about saving the world—are you saying it's real?"
Bilbo looked down at his hands blankly and then sighed deeply.
"Did I really accept that ridiculous contract?... Me?"
His confusion was understandable.
He probably only remembered the contract the goddess had shoved in front of him, just like the other staff I'd recruited.
Thud—
Bilbo plopped down on the ground and muttered sincerely.
"...What’s going to happen to me now?"
What kind of place was this?
What would happen next?
"You'll understand better by seeing it for yourself."
I headed towards the monument.
I pressed [Kobold Raid], selecting both myself and Bilbo.
Swoosh—
A blue portal appeared in front of us.
Bilbo, who was staring at the portal in a daze, quickly realized something was wrong.
He immediately turned and tried to run away... but since he’d already been selected as an employee, there was nowhere to run.
Flash—
The blue light engulfed us.
Moments later, a familiar burning smell filled the air.
"Ahhh!"
"Run!"
As soon as I opened my eyes at the sound of familiar screams, a familiar landscape appeared before me.
Thud—
Bilbo's legs gave out, and he collapsed to the ground.
"Ugh, ugh..."
[9th-grade staff member 'Bilbo' has entered a state of panic.]
I patted Bilbo on the shoulder as he sat on the ground.
[You are an absolute ruler and the world's guardian. Your words carry authority.]
"It’s okay. At least you’re not alone."
In the past, I wouldn’t have been able to stop a 9th-grade staff member from panicking, but things were different now.
As I grew stronger, so did the Foundation’s Star.
[Due to the 'Foundation's Star', the mental fortitude of your staff has greatly increased, making them more resistant to status ailments.]
[9th-grade staff member 'Bilbo' resists the panic.]
The [Foundation's Star] could cover it unless someone had abnormally low mental fortitude.
However, preventing a mental breakdown was the limit of what I could do.
Even with the [Foundation’s Star], it couldn’t create courage out of nothing.
‘It’s been a while...’
I picked up a weapon from the ground.
Even though it was F-grade equipment, it was more than enough to deal with kobolds.
"I miss this feeling."
"G-gah!"
Realizing what I was about to do after I picked up the weapon, Bilbo’s face turned pale.
He quickly waved his hands.
"I-I can’t fight. Something’s wrong here."
Why did I bring Bilbo, who had already been assigned as the cook?
‘He won’t be fighting anyway.’
It wasn’t like I brought him along expecting him to fight.
He had a right to know what kind of place this was and what the other department members were doing.
‘That way, he won’t slack off.’
Of course, there were other small reasons as well…
Anyway, before the day ended, I was supposed to take Bilbo around to see all the containment rooms.
That was my last task for today, no matter what.
* * *
A building made of wood.
Long wooden tables and chairs could be seen through the windows.
"Wow, it looks like a dining hall."
Mari was admiring the newly built cafeteria.
“Grooooaaaaan.”
Unlike Mari, who seemed fine, next to her was Beryl, who looked like he was half-dead.
It seemed that while Mari enjoyed the forced march, Beryl had struggled through the sleepless night.
“...It’s a dining hall. Both of you, come inside.”
I led Mari and Beryl, who were still gazing in awe, inside the building.
Although the dining hall was only at level 1, it had everything.
From spoons to chopsticks, all the essentials were there.
When I grabbed a bowl and walked to the desk, a variety of foods were laid out in front of me.
“Wow! What… What is all this?!”
From potato salad to egg toast.
The lavish breakfast menu was impressive enough to explain Mari’s amazement.
‘...They really went all out for the first day.’
Of course, this was all because of what had happened a few hours ago.
After Bilbo had experienced all the containment rooms, he had collapsed in exhaustion.
A forced march that would have made any ordinary employee drop out early, yet Bilbo endured.
At that time, as I looked down at Bilbo lying on the floor, I had mumbled to myself.
— Hmm, containment is important, but… I’m also worried about the staff’s meals. Isn’t there anyone who knows how to cook?
At my muttering, Bilbo quickly stood up and corrected his posture.
— …If I can cook, do I not have to go back there?
— Of course. Taking care of the staff’s meals is also an important job.
— I-I will do it. Please let me. I promise you won’t regret it.
Although Bilbo was assigned to cooking from the beginning…
‘If I hadn’t put him through that forced march, he wouldn’t have been so eager to work.’
I took a bite of the egg toast.
The crispy yet soft texture of the bread lingered in my mouth.
At the same time, the evenly spread egg on the toasted surface gave off a distinctive savory flavor.
[Egg Toast★]
[You have consumed a meal infused with the cook’s care.]
[Your stamina has increased by 0.01.]
I was quietly marveling to myself when—
“Mmmmmm!”
I turned my gaze to the side.
Mari’s eyes were sparkling.
“What is this? What is this? It’s delicious!”
As Mari flailed and made a fuss,
Bilbo, who had approached unnoticed, offered her an apple with a satisfied smile.
“I’m glad my effort paid off, seeing you compliment the food like that.”
Beryl, who had been staring blankly at the food, tilted his head at Mari’s reaction, then hesitantly took a bite of the food in front of him.
“Whoa! I feel like energy is surging through my body….”
Beryl began devouring the food in his hands hurriedly.
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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‘No, that’s not just a feeling; it’s real.’
I bit into the apple Bilbo had offered.
[Your agility has increased by 0.001.]
Here, any food consumed would be converted into stats.
‘That’s why the cafeteria needs to be upgraded early.’
Even though the increases were minimal, the accumulated stats from these meals couldn’t be ignored.
Of course, there was no stacking.
‘Otherwise, the balance would have been broken long ago.’
I took another bite of the egg toast.
It tasted just as good, but no message about stat increases appeared this time.
After finishing the meal, I stood up from my seat.
This was already more than a satisfactory result.
"Enjoy your meal."
I dusted off my seat and headed towards the door.
As I did, I heard Mari and Beryl’s voices from behind.
“Yes!”
“Finally… freedom…!”
Leaving behind the all-night party, I opened the door to the dining hall.
“Uuugh…”
And then, something came tumbling into the dining hall.
It was the employees who had woken up.
Khan stood up naturally and coughed.
“Ahem, ahem, there was a delicious smell coming from a building I hadn’t seen before, so I just…”
Well, I hadn’t told them anything, so there was no way they would have known.
“It’s a dining hall. From now on, you can eat here.”
“…Dining hall?”
I shrugged and stepped aside to let them in.
“Oh?! Mr. Khan, hello~”
Then, I met eyes with Mari, who had been looking this way.
When I glanced over, I noticed a mountain of various fruits piled up in front of her.
“…”
It’s good if she can eat a lot.
After all, everything would be converted into stats anyway.
‘…But is that really possible?’
Wasn’t there a saying that the stomach for meals and the stomach for desserts are different?
“Just don’t overdo it.”
Shaking my head, I stepped outside.
Because all the employees had gathered in the dining hall, the outside was quieter than expected.
‘Though there are only about 23 of them…’
I could feel that it wouldn’t be long before we’d need to expand the floors and divide up the ranks and departments.
“Six days until the festival.”
For the next six days, I had only two things to do: expand the company and assess my current condition.
The most efficient option would be to enter a stage and increase the number of creatures I owned.
However, I quickly shook my head.
“It’s not the right time for a stage right now.”
The employees had just woken up, and I couldn’t proceed without key members like Khan and Mari.
‘It would be manageable if Khan were here, at least.’
Khan had just started his meal, so he would naturally come to the training ground after finishing.
‘I should use this time to review the new trait I acquired and assess my current state.’
With that in mind, I headed toward the training ground.
[Training Ground LV. 1]
An empty training ground, devoid of people. It was a perfect place to test the newly acquired ability.
‘I was curious about what kind of ability it would be.’
I opened the status window and examined the new ability.
[Resonance (LV1)]
* You can borrow the anomaly of a collected creature for one minute.
* Flame Skin
- You can envelop a target in flames.
“…Flame Skin, huh.”
It was fitting for the creature, whose entire body had been made of fire.
As I read the skill description, a question suddenly popped into my mind.
“…I can designate a target?”
That meant it could be used as a long-range attack, as long as the target was within sight.
‘But the guy didn’t use that kind of ability, did he?’
The burning man I had faced merely had his entire body engulfed in flames.
This made me question the [Resonance] ability.
‘The Kobold Tablet granted [Summon Kobold]… The Kobold Warchief gave [Strong Body]…’
And finally, the Kobold Raid provided [Beastfolk Language], which were abilities one could expect or that the individual creatures actually possessed.
‘But [Flame Skin] is different…’
If taken literally, one would imagine the body being scorched by flames like the burning man.
However, the target designation described in the skill’s explanation was holding me back.
Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I refocused.
“I’ll know once I try it…”
If the skill proved to be dangerous, I could simply stop using the ability and return to the waiting room to recover.
“…Hoo.”
After taking a deep breath, I picked up a wooden sword.
Then, I silently activated the ability I had in mind.
[Flame Skin]
The target was the wooden sword in my hand.
Woosh.
Success.
The flames enveloped the wooden sword precisely…
“...!”
The fire climbed up the sword and wrapped around my right arm, as if it were craving something, swallowing my arm whole.
Crack—
Startled by the intense heat climbing up my arm, I dropped the sword.
[Flame Skin off]
Holding my right arm with my left, I sank to my knees, gasping for air.
“Ha. Haha. So, that’s how it is.”
I looked at the wooden sword, now free of flames.
Then, I turned my gaze to my right arm, scorched by the fire.
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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