Monster Company Tycoon Chapter 46

Chapter 46

 

The reward room, which I hadn’t visited in quite a while.

Until recently, the space had been completely empty, but now boxes filled with delivered goods were neatly stacked inside.

“Please be careful not to break anything.”

“Coming through with the goods. Please move aside. Rattle, rattle.”

At long last, we’d received the items that would fill our treasure chests.

Once the items had been manufactured, they were loaded onto carts and transported to a halfway point between the dungeon and the village.

It would be a little unreasonable to ask them to deliver everything right to the dungeon entrance. After the craftsmen dropped off the boxes and returned, our employees transported them to the dungeon themselves.

“Be careful! Extra careful! If anything breaks, I’ll deduct the cost from your wages!”

“Eek!”

Brownie whipped the employees with her words as she hurried them along.

“Stop bullying the employees and go make a storage room for our inventory over there.”

Brownie immediately flew toward the spot I pointed to and quickly created a storage room.

We couldn’t just leave all the spare supplies and treasure chests scattered around the reward room.

It would be a disaster if challengers mistook them for rewards and took everything.

That was why we needed a separate space to store and manage our inventory, apart from the reward room itself.

“Dungeon Keeper, our Facilities Team will also take responsibility for replenishing the items in the reward room from now on.”

“Oh, I’d really appreciate that. It must be quite a hassle for you.”

“Not at all. We can simply include the reward room in our inspection route when we conduct regular trap maintenance.”

Once the items had been more or less sorted out, the employees began carrying in empty wooden treasure chests, one by one.

“Oh, this looks pretty convincing. I thought you’d ask me to make the chests out of dirt too.”

“Then they’d look far too shabby. The rewards will seem much more impressive if the containers look pretty.”

Those treasure chests were something I’d ordered separately.

With Ruadis’s short-term monster training program finished, I suddenly had more free time after my part-time job at the restaurant ended.

I used that time to visit the only woodworking shop in the village. There, I placed an order for twenty empty treasure chests along with the office furniture I’d been putting off buying.

‘I don’t want any more dirt beds or dirt desks!’

I was the type who could fall asleep anywhere as long as I had somewhere to rest my head. But lying on a dirt floor and using leaves as blankets for nearly a month had become absolutely miserable.

‘And I was sick of those hard dirt chairs, too!’

My butt and spine were practically screaming that they’d reached their limit.

‘This isn’t wasteful spending. Improving the work environment is important for employee welfare, too.’

Of course, I would have been more than willing to repair and reuse discarded furniture.

However, the village was small, and its residents tended to repair and reuse their belongings rather than throw them away. As a result, secondhand furniture was difficult to find in the first place.

In the end, I had no choice but to place a new order at the woodworking shop.

The empty treasure chests had simple dimensions and didn’t require any elaborate decorations, so they were finished quickly.

As for the furniture, I first purchased whatever usable finished pieces the woodworking shop already had in stock to furnish the office and lounge areas.

The furniture that needed to be custom-made according to the different sizes of the monsters was still being worked on.

Since I’d been buying things in such large quantities, it seemed a misunderstanding had spread among the villagers that I was somehow connected to a merchant.

I figured it would be better to let them believe that rather than explain that I was buying supplies to furnish a dungeon, so I didn’t bother correcting them.

“We can reuse the empty treasure chests, so this should be enough, right? Adventurers will only take the rewards inside. They’re not going to carry the chests away too, are they?”

“Apparently, there are some who get so excited that they end up smashing the treasure chests.”

“Good grief. It’s not like we can charge them for damages, either. Those chests weren’t exactly cheap…”

As expected, the expenses were enormous this time, too.

 

– 20 empty treasure chests: 10,000 eon in total.

– 6 office desks and 6 chairs, including custom-made ones: 60,000 eon in total.

– 1 bed for my room and 2 sofas for the lounge: 70,000 eon in total.

 

Remaining dungeon funds: 106,300 eon…

‘Now I REALLY, REALLY have to start saving!’

Still, I was feeling quite pleased as I looked at the dungeon, which was finally starting to look like a place where people actually lived.

Just then, Alraune spoke up as though something had occurred to her.

“Dungeon Keeper, while inspecting the interior of the dungeon, I noticed that it’s quite dark overall. At this rate, it could interfere with our work and facility inspections, so I was thinking of installing some additional light sources. Would that be all right?”

“Oh! Lighting?”

“Yes. Although it’s not directly related to trap facilities, our team is also capable of manufacturing simple fixtures and accessories needed in a dungeon. Lighting equipment such as torches and lamps is one example.”

“Ooooooh!”

“However, since this would involve spending the budget on work outside our trap facilities, I thought it would be best to get your approval in advance.”

So they really could whip up all sorts of things on their own, just like proper craftsmen!?

“Of course! The dungeon is already quite dark, and I’ve been having trouble with it myself.”

Currently, the only light sources in the dungeon were the torches mounted on the walls.

That didn’t mean they were ordinary torches that needed to be lit with actual fire, though.

They were magical objects that produced flames permanently without requiring any additional fuel. The problem was that there weren’t many of them, and they were spaced quite far apart, leaving the interior of the dungeon rather dark.

It wasn’t particularly difficult to move around, but the atmosphere was just too creepy.

Besides, working in the dark for extended periods would obviously make everyone’s eyesight worse.

“Then we’ll manufacture wall-mounted light fixtures powered by magic stones and install additional ones along the main passageways and work areas. Oh, and if you have any particular designs or styles in mind, please let me know.”

“I don’t have any particular design preferences! I just want things to be brighter.”

Hiring the Facilities Team really had been the right decision.

“Dungeon Keeper! We’ve finished moving everything!”

Just then, the employees who had finished transporting all the supplies waved in my direction.

“I think my bones are about to break. Rattle.”

“Are you seriously complaining about being tired after moving this little!? You’ve all gotten so lax without that old hag around! Get yourselves together!”

Honestly, after all the hard work the employees had put in, she couldn’t even spare them a single word of appreciation.

Brownie really was a mean-spirited fairy.

“Wow, everyone, great work! Brownie, cut it out. Even though Ms. Ruadis isn’t here, Ms. Sabira is still working you hard during training.”

“Then we’ll return to our posts. Rattle.”

“Director, we’re heading out!”

And so, the Field Team left, leaving only the Facilities Team members who were involved in managing the reward room.

“Let me show you how each treasure chest should be arranged. From now on, please use this as the standard when filling them.”

In front of everyone on the Facilities Team, I first brought over one of the empty treasure chests.

I opened it and placed a sacred stone compass in the center. Then I positioned two lower-grade healing potions snugly against the sides so they wouldn’t rattle around. Finally, I filled the remaining space with six purification stones.

“Please make sure you remember the quantities.”

“Yes, understood.”

‘Hmm… No matter how I look at it, this feels more like a travel kit for beginner adventurers than a treasure chest.’

“Oh, one more thing!”

I took out a bundle of letters I’d set aside separately.

They were handwritten letters that Ruadis had personally prepared for the graduates.

From congratulating them on conquering the dungeon and fulfilling their graduation requirements to words of encouragement and support for the adventures that lay ahead, she’d written everything with great care.

[I am so very proud of you.]

Even the envelopes had messages written on them in her careful handwriting.

‘Imagine a student who had struggled to conquer the dungeon finally succeeding and opening a treasure chest…!’

How moved would they be to find a heartfelt letter from the teacher who had guided them all this time?

Of course, this had actually been something I’d subtly suggested to Ruadis, because I remembered how disappointed she’d seemed about not being able to leave Sabira with a proper farewell.

It might have been a bothersome task, but she readily accepted my suggestion. Then, in less than a day, she’d written more than twenty handwritten letters.

Apparently, most graduates from the training center headed straight for the Demon Realm as soon as they graduated, as though they’d been waiting for that very moment.

So these letters would be a way for Ruadis’s heart to accompany her students on their journeys, even though she couldn’t personally see them off.

“If the challenger is a prospective graduate from the training center, please add one of these letters to their rewards. Don’t include them for ordinary challengers.”

“Yes, understood. We’ll distinguish the eligible recipients and distribute them accordingly.”

Since I’d already demonstrated the process, I was sure the Facilities Team would handle everything properly from now on.

“Oh, and please let me know when we run out of treasure chests. We can simply place another order.”

“Yes, we’ll manage the inventory carefully.”

It might have been modest, but at long last, we had proper treasure chests ready.

With this, the sacred relic room was also taken care of.

‘At last, our dungeon is fully equipped!’