Ch.146Part-time Job Heaven?

It took nearly an hour and thirty minutes to fold and organize 100 bed sheets…

“Ughh… I’m dying.”

“Thank you for your hard work.”

As I patted my shoulders that felt like they might fall off at any moment, the maid doll left a brief greeting and disappeared like smoke along with her cart.

Where the maid doll had vanished, a small gold coin engraved with lilies on both sides lay on the floor.

“One gold coin for an hour and a half of work… that’s pretty harsh, isn’t it?”

After confirming my outfit had returned to normal, I picked up the coin and entered the basement where my companions were waiting.

We needed 14 more gold coins to free everyone.

If I continued at this pace alone, it would take 21 more hours, but if I used this coin to free someone who could work with me, the time would be cut in half.

As we earned coins and freed companions one by one, our gold acquisition rate per unit time would increase, so we could probably free everyone in about 7-8 hours.

‘That being the case, the first person to free is…’

I placed the gold coin I’d obtained from the maid doll onto Jessica’s palm, who had been turned to stone.

The coin on her palm melted away like dry ice, and in an instant, Jessica’s body returned to normal.

“…Phew. Thanks, Will. You worked hard.”

“Huh? You understand what happened?”

“Even while I was a statue, I remained conscious. I read all the rules on the stone tablet, and I remember you patting me too.”

“I see. That’s quite a sadistic aspect of this dungeon.”

The fact that people turned to stone retained their consciousness meant they could directly see, hear, and feel what choices their companions made and the results.

The back of a companion leaving the room, promising to save everyone,

The doubt and worry blooming in their hearts during the wait,

Seeing which companion gets freed first when someone returns with gold coins,

Wondering if they can afford the increasingly expensive cost to save the remaining companions,

Or… watching someone return covered in wounds, apologizing that it’s too much, begging forgiveness before leaving them behind.

That might be even more cruel and painful than losing consciousness and being trapped in the mansion forever as a statue.

“If I’d known that, I would have earned coins faster instead of spending so much time investigating the mansion.”

“It’s okay. I believed you would definitely save everyone, Will. The other three probably feel the same way.”

“Then is it alright if we continue earning coins by working rather than defeating the servants?”

“I think that’s best. We’d need at least Seti for combat anyway, and I think having a way to earn coins without fighting might be an important element in conquering this dungeon.”

Certainly… unless the dolls’ combat power rivals that of boss monsters, defeating them would be a much faster way to obtain coins than doing household chores.

Yet the fact that they’re deliberately providing a slower but safer method to earn coins through housework seems to hold some important meaning.

“Then I’ll be back in about another hour and a half. Sorry to make it boring, but please wait patiently.”

“I’ll be back soon, Seti, Mina, Phyllis.”

After leaving the room, Jessica and I headed to the first floor to find our next job.

There weren’t any servants wandering around the basement, and considering that most of the remaining rooms were storage areas, we’d likely be assigned physical labor.

We also changed our approach to finding work.

Earlier, I had bluntly asked “Give me gold coins,” which resulted in immediately taking over the maid doll’s assigned tasks, but now…

“What kind of work would I do if I worked here?”

Just by asking this, we could learn the specific details of the job before deciding whether to take it or not.

Through this process, we filtered out jobs that seemed too time-consuming or required special skills. Jessica completed writing invitation cards for a banquet, while I finished organizing books in the library, both within an hour.

~~~ Outside the Dungeon ~~~

While Will’s group was busy with household chores inside the mansion dungeon, a group of adventurers reached the dungeon entrance.

The seven-person group was a coalition of “Star Seeker,” a three-person adventure party active in Atelier, and “Four Card,” a four-person party also based in Atelier.

“There it is! The gate at the dungeon entrance is open!”

“Those bastards, they really did know the opening conditions.”

These two parties were the quickest to take action among those who had been monitoring Will’s group based on rumors circulating in Atelier.

As Will had predicted, among the dozen or so adventurers active in Atelier, not many had the skill and courage to dive into a newly discovered dungeon without information, and even these groups would still be hesitating to depart if not for “Four Card’s” proposal to form a temporary alliance.

Departing from Atelier at dawn, they arrived at Northern Fortress late in the afternoon, rested, and set out at 8 AM the next morning. Despite engaging in battle with a wolf pack in the ravine, they reached the dungeon entrance without major injuries.

Excluding Will’s group, they had arrived faster than anyone else.

“Alright. As planned, ‘Star Seeker’ will handle scouting and trap detection inside the dungeon, while ‘Four Card’ will lead the combat. All treasures found in the dungeon will be sold and divided equally seven ways. Any objections?”

“Got it. Let’s hurry before that nameless rookie five-person group takes everything.”

Although they couldn’t compare to adventurers active on the Western Frontier, the seven gathered here were mostly C-rank, with one D-rank in each of Star Seeker and Four Card.

They had no reason to be inferior in either quantity or quality to rookies who had just risen to E-rank, except for their leader.

With that confidence, the seven adventurers stepped into the dungeon entrance.

~~~ Protagonist’s Perspective ~~~

After completing our second round of housework and acquiring two more gold coins, Jessica and I returned to the basement and freed Mina from petrification.

If we were preparing for combat, freeing Seti first would have been advantageous, but among the jobs available on the first and second floors, there were many that required skilled techniques while taking less time, such as ice sculpting and lantern repair.

“I’m surprised. I thought I’d definitely be the last one.”

“Why?”

“Because the other three have deep relationships with Will, but I don’t. If I were Seti or Phyllis, I might feel a bit hurt.”

Mina seemed somewhat uncomfortable that I had freed her before Seti and Phyllis, with whom I was romantically involved.

Since the other two could hear us anyway, it would be best to clarify this point.

“Let me be clear, the order in which I use the gold coins has nothing to do with who’s my lover and who isn’t. If we were forced into combat, I would have chosen either Seti or Phyllis first depending on the enemy’s abilities, but since that’s not the case, I simply chose Mina for her dexterity.”

“And why did you choose Jessica first?”

“Same reason. This dungeon is completely different from the two we’ve been through before, so I thought freeing Jessica first, with her extensive adventurer experience, would help us accurately assess the situation.”

Of course, besides her extensive experience as an adventurer, another reason I chose Jessica first was that the tasks required in this dungeon were based on human culture.

If this dungeon had been a mine instead of a mansion, I would have freed Mina first, and if knowledge of forests had been necessary, Phyllis would have been my first choice.

“So I hope neither Seti, Phyllis, nor Jessica feels too hurt. Beyond whether someone is my lover or not, I believe efficiently conquering the dungeon is ultimately the fastest way to free everyone.”

“Hehe, it’s fine, Will. Neither Seti nor Phyllis are narrow-minded enough to not understand that.”

“Hey~ When you say it like that, it makes me sound narrow-minded.”

“Oh my, does it come across that way? Hehehe…”

“Anyway, let’s hurry and get our next job. We need to earn at least 4 more of the remaining 12 coins quickly to free another person.”

If we could finish the next job in an hour again, we’d have 3 coins, and if we chose tasks that the three of us could share after that, we could earn the 4th coin in about 1 hour and 20 minutes.

Once we became a group of four, we’d only need to work twice more to free the last member, so it would take roughly 3-4 hours to finish everything.

With that calculation in mind, we went upstairs to find our third job.

As planned, Mina started on ice sculptures for the banquet hall, and while I organized the servants’ bedrooms, Jessica used her clean-up magic to finish the kitchen dishes in just 10 minutes, then moved on to carpet cleaning and laundry, earning a total of 3 gold coins.

“Isn’t using magic cheating?”

“The maids said they didn’t mind. Will, why don’t you try using your crafting tablet?”

“A crafting tablet… if there’s a chef position, I could use—”

‘Bang!’

As we were about to return to the basement with our five gold coins, an unfamiliar gunshot reached our ears.

Seti and Phyllis were still petrified, and we hadn’t seen any servants offering hunting or security jobs.

No, the tightly closed front door of the mansion firmly refused entry to people, so there shouldn’t be any jobs requiring guns.

That left only one possibility.

“Other adventurers!”

“Oh no… did we take too much time?”

We were clearly in a dungeon, and several hours had passed since the entrance opened, so it wouldn’t be strange for other adventurers to enter.

The problem was that those adventurers might attack the mansion’s servants, causing us to be lumped together as enemies.

We needed to accurately assess the situation first, and if combat seemed likely, quickly free Seti from petrification to balance our front and rear lines.

“Let’s head back to the basement with the coins for now.”

“Got it!”

‘Bang!’

Wincing at another gunshot, we hurried our steps toward the basement.