"Right, Clo. How's the maid hiring going?"

Suddenly remembering, Jeanne says.

When we rented this house, there had been a suggestion that we hire a maid.

"Ah, that. I think it's probably unnecessary. There's not much else to do besides exploring the dungeon, and I'll handle household chores myself."

"If you're fine with it, that's okay with me, but I can't do anything and won't do it?"

"There's not really much to do, so it's fine. Laundry's a bit bothersome, though."

"I'll help!"

Honestly, managing this large mansion alone is quite difficult. It would be easier if there were a dedicated person.

But if I hire someone, I’ll inevitably end up relying on them for all sorts of things. From living with Jeanne and Reflair, I’ve learned that sharing a life with others… well, it’s full of cultural clashes and emotional strain I never expected. Even with Jeanne, a fellow transmigrant who understands

the situation, and Reflair, someone I’m already somewhat close to, it’s still difficult. The thought of adding more unfamiliar

people to the mix was simply unbearable. The fact that we’d have to hide our unique

circumstances as transmigrants might also be a quiet hassle. “Eventually, if things get out of hand

, we can always hire someone. Right now, though, we’re already spending too much on gear and don’t have any extra funds.” “Hm. Well, if

that’s what you want, Cro. I don’t have any objections.” “I’m

fine with that too. Oh, or depending on the budget, we could even bring in someone we’ve already hired before.”

If the person is someone hired by Reflair's family, they seem trustworthy and probably harmless. We might as well hire them eventually.

If we had someone we could rely on to manage the house, we'd be able to focus more fully on dungeon exploration.

But there's also a conflict about whether it's right to create such an environment.

Dungeon exploration is dangerous work.

It seems ordinary people usually rest for several days after one descent, and right now we're already overworking ourselves.

Even though we're aiming for the lowest level, there's no strict time limit. There's absolutely no need to push ourselves like during the viewership race; in fact, prioritizing performance would be better.

Thinking about it that way, having some household duties and needing to balance work and home life might actually be just right.

(Besides… cooking’s fine, but cleaning and laundry? Not so much.)

As for how much to outsource, in this world, laundry and cleaning are entirely done by hand, and if you try to do it meticulously, it takes a significant amount of time.

Thanks to the blessings of the Great Spirit of Water, securing water is easy—there's a flowing aqueduct running beside the house (the aqueduct separates clean and waste water, and apparently, diverting waste water back into the clean water system incurs extremely severe penalties, and the Great Spirit of Water can detect such acts, leading to a 100% arrest rate. It's terrifying).

However, laundry itself still requires manual work using a washboard (this washboard is also made from crystal), and cleaning the house involves sweeping with a broom, dusting with a feather duster, and wiping with cloths—quite a lot of work.

Well, cleaning is a bit easier since Refleia helps out, but still...

(Even if I don't increase my exploration, maybe outsourcing part of it wouldn't be a bad idea—perhaps at least laundry?)

While pondering such thoughts, eating without pause, Jeanne finally spoke with a look of disbelief.

"……But you two really eat a lot. Will I end up like this too someday?"

I and Reflair were just starting on our third ear of corn.

This corn was incredibly sweet and plump—almost as if it had been specially bred. It was clearly in season, with corn everywhere in the market.

We'd already boiled twenty ears in a large pot this morning.

"Frontline members tend to advance in rank more easily, you know. Before long, Jeanne-san, you'll be eating just as much as I do."

"Is that so? Sounds like a hassle…"

"Eh? Isn't it amazing to get to eat so much of Hikaru's cooking? I'm really happy about it!"

I can't help but flinch at Refrea's cheerful smile as she says such things.

Refrea enjoys eating so much, which makes cooking for her worthwhile, and seeing her happy makes me happy too.

Though it's not quite a skill worth mentioning, cooking is one of the few things I can do well.

"The food today was delicious too. Really, Hikaru, you can do anything."

Hearing Refrea's words, Jeanne nods in agreement, yet she still makes a reluctant face, clearly not fond of being such a big eater.

"It's truly delicious. But spending so much time eating... it's a bit bothersome."

"True. If our rank increases too much, we might end up eating nonstop throughout the day."

I can't entirely dismiss Jeanne's concern.

If we're going to descend further into the lower levels, we'll inevitably need to raise our rank accordingly.

Fortunately, there's no need to worry about hunger inside the labyrinth, but I wonder if people who become too adapted to the labyrinth lose the ability to do anything other than exploring.

At the very least, it's hard to imagine enduring a long journey while constantly worrying about food.

Well, in my case, I have Shadow Storage, so I can just pack it full of food and be fine. But for explorers without that, they might never be able to leave the labyrinth for the rest of their lives.

"I think Garnet from the Crimson Vial is the highest-ranked person in this town, but she doesn't actually eat anything regularly, right?"

"That red giant axe guy? If he's at that level, he's probably fine."

"……Though he's always hanging out at the tavern."

"Isn't that practically a state of 'constantly eating'…?"

"How about it? You're drinking alcohol, aren't you?"

It might just be that he's a simple lover of sake, but either way, his appetite is surely growing stronger and stronger. He'll keep descending into the labyrinth to earn money for food, and since he's in the labyrinth, his rank will rise—caught in a spiral that will ultimately lead either to death or transformation into a demon.

Wild animals absorb diverse spiritual energy from the creatures around them, gradually transforming into 'monsters.' Likewise, humans absorb spiritual energy from monsters, and with their bodies enhanced by this chaotic, mixed spiritual energy, they transform into 'demons'—that's the story, anyway.

"Demons... So, what exactly sets a demon apart from an ordinary human?"

Asking this of Refreia, she finished eating the last ear of corn before replying.

People like Garnet are called demons, but according to the Great Spirit, being a demon isn't just about being strong—it's supposed to have other distinct traits. I haven't heard it firsthand, so I'm not sure.

"Is it just someone who's climbed higher in rank?"

"That seems to be the case. There might be true demons in ancient labyrinths like Gran Alismaris.

True demons might have horns growing out of their heads.

Or perhaps they start eating humans?

It's possible. The increased appetite is definitely real.

Maybe that's a warning about the risks of ascending too far in rank.

Anyway, it's unlikely to concern us anytime soon.

"Well then, today we're going to seriously assault the third layer. Our goal is to fight the Garden Panther."

We'll discuss today's strategy after eating.

Jeanne seems eager to fight the Garden Panther—

"Panthers don't show up often, you know? They're rarer than Mantises."

"No problem. We'll keep leveling up in the third layer until the Panther appears and we defeat it."

That's how it was decided.

We still need to get used to our new weapons, and our coordination is still shaky.

I also want to incorporate Refrea's spirit magic as a trump card in battle, and there's still plenty to do.

I want to have everything more or less sorted out before heading to the fourth layer.

While waiting for Jeanne and Refrea to prepare, I open the world map from the status screen to check our current situation.

First, the transmigrants—eight dots are clustered together at one location in Melthia.

Six of the second-wave transmigrants. We know there are six because they arrived at a slightly offset location from the town, but now that all six have entered Meltya, their positions have completely overlapped, making it impossible to tell how many are actually present.

If we had high-performance surrounding maps, we could pinpoint their exact locations, but the new transmigrants likely don’t possess such maps either—after all, they’re expensive and only useful in very limited situations.

Viewer numbers have dipped slightly.

With three hundred new transmigrants added, it’s like suddenly having a massive increase in TV channels—naturally, viewers are now spread thin.

Personally, though, I’m grateful for that.

"Hmph, that one from the abyssal transmigration. Still alive, I see."

Jeanne spoke, her expression unusually showing surprise as she looked at the map.

That must mean it's an extremely harsh location. When I checked the map myself, sure enough, a single blue dot remained there.

"Probably left a point and then teleported. I think they used a barrier stone."

"Maybe they had a weapon powerful enough to make the transfer. Depending on compatibility, if Earth's Tatsujin maximizes their physical strength to teleport, they should be able to take down monsters of a certain level."

"Of a certain level, yeah…"

I recalled the forest where I myself had teleported.

Could a master defeat that gorilla? Even now, just thinking about it sends a chill down my spine. Can we three manage to take it down now...? Maybe, perhaps, but only because our spirit magic has developed sufficiently. I couldn't imagine a newly transferred human managing it. Maybe if we riddled it with machine-gun fire, we could bring it down...

Logically speaking, we'd have no chance against even a wolf pack, let alone a gorilla.

Besides, the Abyss is clearly recognized as a far more dangerous zone than the forest...

"I don't know the exact situation, but I hope you do your best."

I felt a deep sympathy toward those who had been transferred to the Abyss.

I don't understand the situation, but I managed to survive. If you use the hints for living wisely, you should be able to receive useful hints just like I did. I believe in your potential and hope you keep striving.

And I hope you survive.

It's strange that, despite feeling it's dangerous to recklessly interact with the second-wave transmigrants, I still find myself thinking this way.