Chapter 28: Puppy Suin Likes 100

The day of the business suspension will end tomorrow.

The long and arduous march, marked by endless humiliation, has finally come to an end.

It’s time to return to a happy life filled with glittering gold.

With my daily guard dog by my side.

After finishing the preparations for the store’s reopening, I returned to the guild house.

A strange combination caught my eye.

Alice, sitting with Tina on her lap, laughing and chatting with Johanna.

“Rumi, why are they so close now?”

“Meow…? I don’t know, woof!”

I was worried because Tina always criticized her, calling her a “breast monster” or “that big-breasted woman.”

Moreover, Johanna is a saintess.

Is it okay for a saintess to be friends with a demon?

Anyway.

“Welcome back, Ark?”

“How’s my store doing?”

“Welcome back, Ark.”

The big, cozy, and small things warmly welcome the head of the household after walking the dog.

This is healing………….

I smiled contentedly.

Moreover, the guild house, which was a complete mess just this afternoon—no, mainly messed up by Rumi and Tina—was now sparkling clean.

Shiny shiny!

It was gleaming.

Now they clean up without being told…………….

I was so moved I felt like crying…………….

To reward their efforts, I raised a bag of pork I bought from the market.

“Today, it’s pork.”

“Oh my.”

“Master, you’re the best! The best!”

“Wow…………!”

……OHO

Did you dislike orc meat that much?

This pork, despite appearances, is several times more expensive than orc meat……………

Sizzle sizzle

Even though there are more people, cooking is still my responsibility.

Honestly, it’s a bit bothersome.

But I feel like I have to fulfill my duty as a level 4 cook.

It also has a meaningful impact on the performance of the heroes, so I can’t be lazy.

Eating well now will be a big help in tomorrow’s 11th-floor climb, so I deliberately decided to buy pork.

“Yay!”

………As soon as I grilled the meat and put it on the plate, Tina immediately started grabbing it.

I stared blankly at her and decided to ask Johanna to double the time for character education.

Sizzle sizzle

While flipping the pork that was starting to grill again, I mapped out the plan beyond the 11th floor.

From the 11th to the 15th floor is the labyrinth section.

Like declaring that trivial tutorials are completely banned, the difficulty starts to rise rapidly.

True to its name as a labyrinth, the most criticized aspect by users is finding the way.

If you don’t achieve a 3-star clear, you have to wander around looking for the path even when farming repeatedly, which is a malicious structure.

It almost became a monthly event for newbies to get crushed, sparking fiery debates in the community.

Of course.

Those who have more, do more.

The whining posts of newbies always get swept away by the downvote terror of the veterans and disappear.

When newbies finally struggle up and react with “Is it fun after the labyrinth? Is it really fun?”,

The community’s standard response is “If you’ve made it that far, you’re already having fun.”

“Ark? Is it still far?”

“………………Take it.”

Even Ari is included in the table manners education.

No respect, no respect!

Tsk tsk.

Sizzle sizzle

Anyway.

Being a veteran doesn’t mean you know everything.

Even when I was leveling up my main account or my sub-account, I always had a guide open and followed it.

Memorizing that complicated path with a human brain?

Does that make sense?

Unless you’re granted the cheat of perfect memory, it’s impossible.

So, there are some parts I’m a bit worried about.

“Ark? We’re out of meat.”

“……Even Johanna?”

Hero party.

This won’t do!

***

There’s a saying that even Rumi doesn’t disturb during meals.

After all the heroes finished their meals, I gathered them and educated them in the style of our world’s heroes.

“Respect the cook!”

“I will respect the cook!”

“I respect the cook, meow!”

“I respect the cook…………!”

“Meow is informal………. I will only keep what I need to keep. Understood?”

I didn’t even make them sun-dry on weekends.

I do it all for them.

I even skipped the morning run for them.

I do it all alone, well, now I have a companion every day.

Anyway.

I do it all for them!

After finishing the time to rearm the heroes’ minds, I gave the order to disband.

“Let’s disband and get some rest early. Busy days await us again starting tomorrow.”

“Rumi?”

You, don’t tell me.

“Master! I’ll protect you, woof!”

“Okay……. “

I didn’t even have the energy to stop her now.

Still, she’s a good kid.

Even though she has the biggest appetite, she never whined.

And because she’s the most innocent.

She can sleep peacefully without any worries.

***

When Ark, who had dozed off, was sound asleep, breathing softly, Rumi, who had been half-asleep and purring, carefully got up.

She stared intently at Ark’s face lying on the bed.

Lick.

She gently licked Ark’s cheek.

“Ugh…….”

“……!”

Feeling something wet on his cheek in his sleep, Ark muttered in his sleep, and at the sound, Rumi’s ears perked up, startled, but fortunately, it was just sleep-talking.

Rumi patted her chest in relief.

Marking.

Territory marking.

A traditional ritual of the dog beastmen to mark a favored male with their scent.

Of course.

Master was really, really fragile.

If Rumi hardened her heart just a little, she could have gone “woof woof rawr” right now, but she had no intention of rushing things.

Traditionally.

Dog beastmen loved the number 100.

They forgave minor mistakes up to 100 times.

They could eat their favorite food 100 times in a row, and declaring something completely theirs also took 100 days of marking.

Today was the 15th marking.

Moreover.

“Rrrrrr….”

There was also an uninvited guest.

“……..Oh? Rumi? You’re still awake?”

Elis, woof.

The female who surrendered to Master today.

A female with a slightly larger ‘charm pouch’ than Rumi.

Rumi’s tail stood on end.

Rumi and Elis’s eyes met, sparking.

“Master, you can’t touch him, woof.”

“But……………. I’m sure Master would like it too?”

“Krrrr…”

It wasn’t a wrong statement.

With her highly developed sense of smell, Rumi often caught a whiff of a tempting scent from Master’s lower body.

Rumi learned from her mom.

That scent comes when a male desires a female but isn’t mentally ready, so he takes care of it himself.

But.

“Master is sleeping. Go away, woof.”

“Hmm, I guess I have no choice. I don’t want to fight with our cute Rumi.”

Rumi chased Elis away.

Only then did Rumi’s stiff tail start to wag again.

Ari and Tina are fine.

They don’t have the “woof woof rawr” yet.

Johanna has been acting suspicious lately.

She’s starting to get a bit of the “woof woof rawr.”

Saha and Elis……………..

They’re dangerous.

If I let my guard down even for a moment, they might just go “woof woof rawr” on Master.

Of course, Master is a good person.

He has the qualifications to take care of multiple females at once.

Rumi doesn’t intend to be possessive.

But Master isn’t mentally ready yet.

So, Rumi has to protect him from being taken advantage of.

Therefore.

Rumi will wait.

Until Master is mentally ready.

Or until the 100 markings are complete.

***

“Then, Ellis and Harong. Please take good care of the store until we return. Ellis? Just follow the recipes I left.”

“Take care! Ark!”

“My lord, I shall fulfill the duties you have entrusted to me.”

“Krrrr…”

Rumi seems to be a bit wary of Ellis.

Is it because their big-breast positions overlap?

Well, like with Tina, after a bit of bickering, they’ll probably become friends.

Now our heroes are a solid rank 4, averaging level 47.

If we had poured all the mainstream sales, we could have aimed for level 50, but Tina and Ari caused so much trouble that we had to stop.

Saha and Rumi drink well. 

Good kids.

Anyway.

The monsters are getting stronger, but this is also the section where equipment starts to get skills, cooldowns, critical rates, etc.

……..The nightmare of infinite retries to trigger criticals is slightly coming back to me, but for boss raids that open later, it’s understandable.

The 11th floor is still low-level, so.

“Heroes, ready to enter from the prepared path!”

“…?”

“……………… It means let’s go in.”

We collected five hooks.

Shouldn’t an achievement window pop up with a fanfare at times like this?

***

[11th Floor of the Tower of Wishes – Great Labyrinth Entrance, 1st Area]

[★☆☆ Escape the area within 1 hour.] 

[★★☆: Escape the area within 45 minutes.] 

[★★★: Escape the area within 30 minutes.]

“…”

“Feels like we’re lost, right?”

“……Yes.”

Is this for real?

It’s way too complicated.

I’d be grateful if the original gave us 10 times more time.

“There are too many dead ends…………….”

As Johanna said.

Sticky things here and there.

Heaven. Webs.

It’s doubtful if we’re even heading in the right direction.

Thanks to their elasticity, they don’t break easily.

There’s no hero wielding a big, beautiful sword to cut through the spider webs.

Hmm.

There’s no system distinction between stabbing and slashing, but it’s a bit disappointing that there’s no slashing attribute.

Is there no way…………….

“Tina, hic, took the, hic, wrong path…………….”

“There, there, Tina. Don’t cry. It’s not your fault.”

“It’s not Tina’s fault, woof! Rumi couldn’t smell well either, woof!”

We benefited greatly from Tina’s trap disarming, but this time, the webs were purely physical, so magic had no effect.

At this point, I’m starting to suspect that she’s deliberately picking the wrong paths……………..

Hmmm…..

Hmm.

“It might be worth a try.”

“Oh! Ark, did you come up with a good idea?”

At the fork in the road.

“Tina. Left? Or right?”

“Umm….Left?”

“Let’s go right.” Okay.

“Huh……?”

Up? Or down?” This time.

“Down?”

“Let’s go up.”

“……Are you, hic, teasing Tina now…?”

“Tina.”

“…… Left.”

“Let’s go.”

……..And so.

By avoiding Tina’s choices, we reached the exit.

“We made it………didn’t we?”

“……gh?”

“Hmm…… We made it, didn’t we…..?”

The exit was in sight.

“I, hic, did it on, hic, purpose…………!”

I patted Tina’s head as she sniffled.

“I know. It’s not your fault, Tina.”

…….You’re just seriously bad with directions and have the judgment of a level 3 strategist.

But I didn’t say that.

Being consistently wrong is also a talent.

The labyrinth.

It might be easier than expected?