An Old Man Restaurant Owner Is Unparalleled by Relying on His Old Tricks. It Turns Out, He’s the Legendary Dungeon Conqueror. - 2

Chapter 2: I Don’t Even Know What to Say

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

The day after I dived into a dungeon for the first time in years, I decided to post a photo of a dish I had made with ingredients that I sourced from the dungeon on Y(formerly known as Twatter). 

――――――――――――

Ken-chan Restaurant @Tachikawa

We’ve started serving Hamburg Set made with mixed ground High Orc and Minotaur meat. Limited to 100 servings a day!

#LimitedTime #1430yen #DungeonMeal #HuntedByTheOwner

――――――――――――

“This should be good enough, I guess? Kawakita said it’s okay to keep the text simple.”

This was the hamburg set meal I made using the High Orc and Minotaur that I had hunted in the dungeon’s lower level yesterday. I had to retake the photo several times and I think I finally managed to get a pretty appetizing photo. 

“Please, let this post go viral somehow.”

All I could do now was hope. Anything procured from the dungeon had to be declared when bringing it to the outside world. There was a bit of a commotion because an F-rank adventurer like me had brought back monsters from the lower levels, but what shocked me the most was the tax. The tax was a flat 20%. I already knew about the tax rate during the short course, so that was fine but the real problem here was the price of High Orc and Minotaur meat. The High Orc meat was 2 million yen and the Minotaur meat was 3 million yen. The tax alone came to a whooping 1 million yen. I honestly thought my ear was failing me due to old age when they told me how much tax I had to pay. I would be receiving a tax notice in the mail later and they say the total amount of tax would be deducted from the consumption tax to prevent double taxation. However, I had to make sure I could get customers. If I failed to make any sales, I wouldn’t be able to pay the tax. 

“This is basically a gamble and considering the cost of the ingredients, 1430 yen is super cheap. However, my restaurant is supposed to be a normal restaurant for the common folks, so I want to make sure my dish is priced as reasonably as possible. Oh? Someone already reposted it? Indolent Noble… Oh, that’s Kawakita’s account.”

――――――――――――

IndolentNoble

I don’t even know what to say…

――――――――――――

Why?! Had I done something strange…? But what? I didn’t know what was wrong. But… Kawakita’s account had nearly 30.000 followers even though he was just a regular person. Thanks to him, the reposts and likes started pouring into my account too. 

“Maybe my post can go viral…?”

I also started receiving comments.

――――――――――――

Legendary Nakano

There’s no way you can eat hamburg meat made from High Orc and Minotaur for that price. Also, “ONLY” 100 servings?!

――――――――――――

Lefties Right

Limited edition…???

――――――――――――

Ziplocker

If you’re going to lie, at least make it believable.

――――――――――――

Subterranean Squid

If you have the skills to hunt in the lower levels, you would be working as a full-time explorer, not a restaurant owner. What a load of crap.

――――――――――――

Fourth Generation Pannacotta

Lying about the source of your food is a crime. Reported.

――――――――――――

I didn’t expect this kind of reaction. Nearly all the comments were attacking me and the more the post spread in the internet, the harsher the comment became. 

“Wha-What?! They even left reviews on my restaurant?!”

I felt my blood run cold because the post went viral in the worst possible way. Panicking, I quickly called Kawakita.

“What’s happening now?! I’m totally screwed!!”

“Hahahaha, don’t worry about it, Ken-chan. You know, this is actually a great opportunity.”

“A great opportunity.”

“Yeah. You’re getting a lot of attention right now. Everyone on social media is talking about how stupid you are.”

“Isn’t that a bad thing?!”

“Precisely! That’s why you should do a livestream now.”

“A livestream..? Oh, you mean like a dungeon livestream?”

Dungeon livestream. A video streaming genre that became hugely popular in the recent years. Explorers livestreamed their dungeon diving on video sharing platform like XTube. They explored the dungeon, fighting monsters, navigating through traps, everything on live. Famous awakened also started doing livestream these days. It wouldn’t be weird for the viewers count to exceed 100.000 viewers on popular channels. 

“So I need to do a dungeon livestream?”

“Yes. Dive down to the lower levels. Show your viewers that you’re actually hunting all the High Orcs and Minotaurs yourself. Once they see it, the people will start treating you differently. In fact, I’m sure you will get more viral than this whole.. Mess.”

I nodded my head at Kawakita’s suggestion. I was really desperate right now. 

“I guess you’re right. The only way to silence this storm of criticism is to show them that I truly hunted those monsters myself. But… Don’t you need expensive equipment to do video streaming?”

“That’s right~ If you’re going to do it, I’ve got some equipment that I don’t need anymore. i can give them to you.”

The person who just joined our video call was Higashiguchi, another friend of mine. He liked to travel and often livestreamed his travels on XTube. It seemed he was willing to give me his unused streaming equipment.

“That would be great. You really helped me a ton, man.”

And so, I created an account on XTube called “Ken-channel” and immediately announced my plan to livestream my dungeon diving on Y.

――――――――――――

Ken-chan Restaurant @Tachikawa

I will livestream my dungeon diving on XTube this Saturday. I will be hunting High Orcs and Minotaurs.

――――――――――――

Thanks to the attention that I had garnered (albeit negatively), people started commenting on my post almost immediately. 

――――――――――――

Tanaka no Nakata

For real? He’s a real explorer?

――――――――――――

Unbelievaboll

I definitely have to watch this.

――――――――――――

Kanto’s Number 1 Kansai-jin

More like the old man’s lies are going to be exposed for the whole public to see. 

――――――――――――

D-Block

He’s literally pushing his own self into a corner, LOL

――――――――――――

And so, the day of the promised livestream finally came. I returned to Tachihi Dungeon with the streaming equipment that Higashiguchi had sent to me. My last post spread like wildfire and even though I had just created this channel, but I already had over 10.000 subscribers. It seemed I was going to have a lot of viewers. I was incredibly nervous to be honest. 

“Still, I never imagined my first livestream would turn out like this…”

Furthermore, I was planning to show my face on the stream as per Kawakita’s advice. Well, the customers that came to my restaurant would be able to see my face anyway. It wouldn’t be long before my identity got exposed. I had to do this so I could keep running the restaurant I had worked so hard to build. 

I started setting up the equipment then after everything was finished, I braced my heart before pressing the streaming button.

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

T/N: The real winner here is the government. 20% hunting tax, another tax for consumption then another sales tax for the customer.