As A Result of Trying To Live An Erotic Slow-Life, I Have Become The Underground Ruler of This Upside-Down Otherworld

Chapter 8: Alcohol is like catnip.

After my interaction with Mia, I’ve begun to think that my understanding of sexual matters may have been slightly off, or perhaps just too shallow.

Given my future work, I thought it might be a good idea to speak with someone from the world of male escorts. But honestly, I had no real interest, nor did I feel motivated enough to pursue it.

To be frank, I have intentionally avoided gaining knowledge about the sexual activities between men and women, which is considered normal in this world.

I had the opportunity to hear about it from a friend, or rather, a former colleague, but who would want to listen to someone talk about their bizarre sexual experiences?

When he started bragging about his partner’s tightness, I thought to myself, “I wish I could just kill him.”

Just being alive is enough for me.

Being alive is proof that I haven’t been wrong all this time.

So, why not just leave it at that? End of thought.

What I seek is a life where my common sense isn’t violated.

Whatever emotions Towa or Mia are carrying, as long as it doesn’t affect my life, that’s fine by me.

I’m just a guy who wants to be a hikikomori. Aimu okkee? Iyes! Okkee! (T/N: Bro forced himself to talk in engrishu.)

I don’t want to pretend to be someone I’m not and say, “I will save the women of the world!” I don’t want to take on unnecessary trouble, and I’m not that kind of person anyway.

I can never become one of those men who want to save the world.

All we need is the skill to make our customers feel good and send them home satisfied.

If I can feel good during the process, that would be the best, right?

“Fuu… Onii-san, I’ve finished everything.”

“Thank you, Mia-san.”

“Ugh, please, drop the polite tone and talk casually, it’s creepy.”

“Then, thank you, Mia.”

“You’re welcome.”

As I was thinking these thoughts, I thanked Mia for adjusting all the magic stones as promised for Ronyan

I have seen magic stone maintenance several times before, but Mia’s method was a bit different.

“Hmm, you know, I don’t doubt your skills…”

“You mean, are you sure I did it right?”

Yes, that’s it. I’m feeling anxious.

From what I know, maintenance usually involves bringing in various equipment, and it’s quite the process. But Mia just stood there with her hands over the magic stones, eyes closed, and didn’t use any tools.

“Well, yeah. I feel bad, but I can’t help it. Sorry.”

“Feh!? Oh, you’re apologizing, honestly… Cough. It’s fine, I’m used to it. But rest assured, Onii-san, it’s okay. I swear on the pride of the Dwarves.”

I was even more surprised to learn that Mia is a pure-blooded Dwarf.

I had this image of Dwarves being short, hairy, and having short legs, so I thought she was either a different species or a half-breed until she told me.

“Alright, then I’m relieved.”

“Uh… I mean, you can check if you want? It’s only natural, and I wouldn’t be offended.”

“Hmm… I’ll check when you’re on trial. Besides, I’ve already confirmed that you’re functioning normally, right? That’s enough for now.”

“R-right.”

A professional like Mia has confirmed that everything is okay, so there’s no need for an amateur like me to check. It’s common sense, right?

Besides, she’s blushing and fidgeting… It’s like her whole demeanor has changed from my first impression. The rough edges seem to have smoothed out. She’s definitely become more approachable. I wonder what’s happened.

Oh, right.

“So, how much do I owe you today?”

“Eh? Oh, yeah, the payment… umm…”

I don’t understand why she’s blushing again.

What, is she going to ask me to pay with my body? I wouldn’t mind that, but…

“…How about you make me your first customer when you open the shop? What do you think?”

“Huh? As a restaurant? Or as a flag house?”

“Uh, the flag house.”

So, she’s really after my body, huh? It’s all about the lower half of my body, isn’t it?

“I see. I’ll write your name at the top of the reservation list, even though it’s not made yet.”

“So, yeah. Then, the payment will be that. …Don’t get the wrong idea, okay!? I just don’t want your seeds to run out before Mia can squeeze them all out!”

“Okay, okay. Next time, I’ll serve you with all my heart.”

What exactly am I supposed to be misunderstanding here? That you’re doing this out of the goodness of your heart?

No, no, her personality has changed too much. It’s like she’s a completely different person.

“…Yeah. I’ll be looking forward to it.”

“Uh, right.”

…She really might be a different person.

Thanks to Mia, the shop is now ready to open at any time in terms of its facilities.

All we need now is to solve the food supply issue.

I’ve asked Towa to take care of the paperwork at the Adventurer’s Guild, and soon the request papers will be posted.

As for the cooking, Towa is just as skilled as the master, and so the quality of the dishes is not a concern.

I’ve seen Towa’s eyes well up as she watched me devour the food with delight, and I’ve become accustomed to it.

We both have. We need to get used to each other, as we’ve become partners in a way.

We’ve decided to talk to each other about not being surprised by each other’s actions and to not worry about what society considers “normal.” As long as we’re comfortable with each other, that’s all that matters.

Indeed, we need to interact with society to a minimum extent.

However, what we’re trying to do now is prepare to live a peaceful life as far away from society as possible.

Long live the shut-in mindset!

Rules are something that exist within a world, and they are decided by those who inhabit that world. Therefore, in the world of Ronyan, we should have our own rules as long as they don’t harm society.

“Master. So, basically, we will not focus on the certified rank but rather on the self-proclaimed strength and skill of the adventurer, right?”

“Yeah. It’s unlikely that high-ranked adventurers will accept requests for ingredient gathering, but if they’re too weak, it’s just dangerous. If they have confidence in their skills, it’s okay.”

Anyway, I started preparing for the opening with Towa.

In this world, ingredient gathering equals monster slaying, and although there are variations in difficulty, it’s usually a request that rookie to mid-level adventurers take on.

Rookie adventurers don’t have connections with other adventurers, but mid-level ones might have a wider network.

So, our target is mid-level adventurers. It would be even better if they are people we can get along with without feeling uncomfortable.

“I understand. So, we will make some regular connections with a few familiar adventurers and then tell them about the flag house, right?”

“Yeah, at first, we’ll set the reward to market price or slightly above. We’ll see the rank of the person who accepts the request and then tell them what ingredients to gather.”

In our small-scale restaurant, we basically have our own facilities to remove the waste from the ingredients.

Grocery stores tend to cater more to general households, but larger ones also employ ingredient-gathering adventurers and operate as a restaurant’s supplier.

From the dining establishment’s perspective, we can either contract with these larger food stores or establish direct contracts with adventurers to secure our ingredient supply routes.

Naturally, smaller shops must directly contract with adventurers to cut unnecessary costs, which is why we have our extraction facilities.

“What about the menu? I can cook any kind of cuisine.”

“For now, our goal is to be able to stably provide two types of soup, two types of salad, and three types of main dishes. At first, we’ll be flexible and consult with the amount of ingredients they bring. As for the staple food, let’s go with bread for now. Grain-based ingredients are hard to obtain, and the monster slaying difficulty is high, so we’ll only contract with a grocery store for bread. …Oh, and I’ll take care of removing the waste from the ingredients the adventurers bring. Towa, please focus on cooking.”

“….Thank you, I understand. I’ll prepare a few dishes that go well with bread and consider which ingredients we can request.”

She hesitated for a moment, probably thinking, “I have to make him do it?”

I mean, really, being a kept man is definitely not okay, even though I don’t have a company-slave mentality.

I can do the prep work in the back and not have to show my face.

Also, once the flag house starts operating, I’ll be able to do it then.

Our immediate goal is to balance running the restaurant and the flag house.

“What about drinks?”

“Ah. Mia mentioned that if we’re going to serve alcohol, she can get it for us at a low price. It’s surprising, considering she’s a magician, but then again, magicians tend to have a wide network.”

“Mia is a dwarf, after all… I think she also wants to make it easier for herself to come by.”

I see.

I have some Orc blood in me, so I have the characteristic of being sexually active, and it’s not strange for other races to have it too.

“So, let’s accept Mia’s proposal and make alcohol our main drink. I’ll ask her about the specific purchase price soon. Just in case, we should also consider other drinks besides alcohol… Oh, Towa, what about you? Can you drink alcohol?”

“Well, actually, I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve never had alcohol before.”

Oh my.

It’s not an uncommon story, but it’s a bit surprising.

The master used to drink quite a bit, and I thought that someone in her circle would drink too.

“Hmm.”

I like alcohol and can drink a lot.

I’m not an alcoholic, but if there’s alcohol, I’ll drink it.

The phrase “drinking for communication”… well, now it’s a problem of power harassment and such. I don’t know if such a concept exists in this world, but it’s my personal preference.

But I need to make sure that my body can handle it.

“Is it the smell or something that bothers you?”

“No, it’s not like that.”

“Then let’s try a little. Since we’re going to serve alcohol as our main drink, there will be more opportunities for you to drink it, and if it’s too much for you, we’ll have to consider other options.”

Kind of like a drink coordinator, you know?

Getting tipsy from taste-testing is a nightmare.

“I understand. Shall we go buy some?”

“Mia gave me a list of what she can get for us. There’s cloudy sake, clear sake… it’s generous to offer grain-based alcohol, which is hard to obtain.”

I’m curious about her procurement route, but I’ll worry about that later.

It’s been a while since I’ve had expensive alcohol. The last time was for the master’s daughter’s birthday.

In this world, the cheap and common alcohol is wine.

The raw material for alcohol is grapes… or rather, a fruit similar to grapes, and apparently, the monsterized version isn’t very violent or dangerous, so it’s used as a rookie adventurer’s coming-of-age test.

“Mia… she’s so straightforward.”

“Huh?”

“Oh, nothing. Thank you. Would it be alright if you waited upstairs? I’ll prepare something simple and bring it to you.”

“Okay. I’ll get ready and wait. Thank you.”

And so it goes.

“Nyaa~ ♡ Master~ ♡”

“Haha… um…”

This wild cat, rubbing her face on my knees, who is she?

And who could have predicted this situation? Whose fault is it?

“But, I didn’t expect it to turn out like this with just one sip.”

“Nyaa~ ♡ Master, I wuv you, I wuv you~ ♡”

Her feeling nauseous or getting a headache.