Choosing a day with favorable weather, I set off aboard the Universal Ship.
My destination: the Southern Dungeon. I was heading there to visit the Lamias.
Around the time of the Autumn Martial Arts Tournament, the Lamia Race had asked if I could come to the dungeon. They apparently wanted me to see their newly born children. Initially, they had tried to entice me by preparing dozens of Reward Medals, but I refused to accept them. I told them that medals were unnecessary for an invitation like that.
The Lamias weren't the only ones, though. I had received a similar request from the Giants, so I planned to stop at the Northern Dungeon after finishing with the south. Following that, I intended to head to the Eastern Dungeon to visit the Gorlock Race, something that had been discussed for a long time.
My traveling party was small. Since it was winter, I didn't want to impose too much on our hosts. My primary companions were Tia, Reginleiv, and Suarlou from the Angel Race. Tia came as the representative of my wives. Normally, that role would fall to Lu, but she was currently occupied with the urgent mass production of short-distance teleportation gates and had to sit this one out. It was a shame.
Reginleiv and Suarlou served as my guards. Granmaria and the others had wanted to come along as well, but their children were still small, and I couldn't ask them to push themselves.
In addition to Tia’s group, Ria the High Elf and Ya the Mountain Elf joined us. Ria was there to assist Tia, while Ya apparently had some business with the Lamias and Giants. The Mountain Elves were currently struggling with a labor shortage, so I assumed her requests were related to that. I really did put a lot of work on them.
Also accompanying us were Jack from Village One, Gordon from Village Two, Gluewald from Village Three, Bell from Village Four, and Yuri from Village Five. These were members who didn't usually join such expeditions, but when I suggested the trip as a way to encourage inter-village interaction, they all agreed. They must have been quite enthusiastic about it, as everyone was dressed in their finest clothes.
Finally, we had the select members of Kuro's children and Zabuton's children who always seemed to accompany me on these events. There were ten dignified-looking wolves and twenty spiders. I hadn't really wanted to bring the spiders out in the winter cold, but I gave in to their persistence. Red Armor and White Armor, who didn't seem to mind the cold at all, boarded the Universal Ship as a matter of course. I knew why, of course. Zabuton had given me all sorts of instructions regarding them. I wasn't about to tell them they couldn't come.
That made up our travel party. Unfortunately, I couldn't bring Hakuren or Rusty since they were currently pregnant. I left Flora and the head maid, Ann, in charge of the mansion, and I asked Sena to look after the livestock. Donovan the Dwarf... well, he was too busy with his sake brewing to step away. I didn't mind.
Galf and Daga had both hoped to come along, but I asked them to go to Village Five to assist Yoko instead. Yoko had hinted that she wanted me to come personally, but I really didn't want to be called away for "rough business." If Galf and Daga couldn't handle it, there was no way I could.
Alfred, Urza, and Tiselle also wanted to join, but I had to turn them down. If I brought them, even more people would likely end up following us. I promised to take them to the Coastal Dungeon eventually, which seemed to satisfy them. Gol and his group were heading to Village Five to help Galf and Daga. That was a big help.
While I was away, Alfred was appointed as the acting village head. The decision was made based on the recommendations of the residents, excluding myself and Alfred. He looked incredibly nervous, which was quite heartwarming. Still, no major problems were likely to occur, so I told him to take it easy. I advised him to rely on those around him if anything happened.
...Actually, I told him to specifically rely on Lu. Yes, Lu. It wasn't that I had any complaints about Dos, Giral, or Progenitor-san, truly. It was just better that way.
And so, we departed.
We arrived at the entrance to the Southern Dungeon in no time. The Universal Ship really was fast. It was slow compared to a dragon, of course... wait, that was a slip of the tongue. I’m sorry, Universal Ship. You can carry an incredible amount of cargo, and that’s a huge help.
I unloaded the portion of the cargo intended for the Lamias. It mostly consisted of crops from the Village of the Great Tree and various tributes from Village Five. While the village crops were the usual fare, the tributes from Village Five were incredibly diverse: gold and silver work, glassware, leather goods, woodwork, ironware, pottery, lacquerware, weapons, armor, magic tools, sake, meat, eggs, miso, soy sauce, and more.
There were also items obtained through trade, such as gems, linen, wool, feathers, iron ore, lumber, salt, furniture, carpets, art, and books. I couldn't keep track of everything myself, but Ann had prepared an inventory beforehand, which I handed to Junea, the chief of the Lamia Race. She seemed delighted.
After that, I went to see the Lamia children, which was the main purpose of the visit. Since Lamias are oviparous like lizardmen, I met the children who had recently hatched. They were small, but they were definitely Lamias. However, if they hatch from eggs, I wondered what the purpose of their rather ample chests was.
As it turned out, they continued to nurse for a short period after hatching. I see. I was just curious about their ecology; it wasn’t as if I wanted a taste, so there was no need for them to worry.
Wait, what? They wanted me to name the children? Me? I told them I would only do one.
Since it was a Lamia child, I suggested "Lamiko," but immediately realized that was no good. It overlapped too much with Arako the Arachne.
I ended up putting a lot of effort into the naming process. It’s hard when they’re still basically just eggs; they don't have many distinguishing features yet, and the only information I had was that the child was female. Still, the Lamias seemed happy, so I was glad.
Wait, they decided she’ll be the next chief? They really didn't need to defer to me like that. I personally thought the position of chief should go to whoever had the most talent for it. Besides, she was still just an egg.
A banquet was held to welcome us. Since I had sent word ahead of time, they were fully prepared. It would have been rude to refuse, so I accepted their hospitality. A greeting before the banquet? I knew the drill. I had come prepared.
"Cheers!"
The food had definitely improved. They were clearly working hard. I told them that tears didn't suit a celebration and that we should all just enjoy the food and drink.
After the banquet, I spent some time chatting with Junea before retiring for the night. I stayed in a separate room from her, of course. Our conversation was mostly just a report on the situation around the Southern Dungeon, so nothing remotely scandalous happened. Tia was by my side the whole time, anyway.
We departed the following day at noon. We didn't leave then because we were being lazy; it was simply part of the original plan. It gave me time to greet those who hadn't been able to attend the banquet the night before. I also took the time to look over the return gifts from the Lamia Race. Since we weren't going straight back to the village, these gifts would be transported to us around springtime.
That concluded my business there. I checked to see if Ya’s request had been handled, and it seemed everything had gone smoothly.
As we prepared to leave, they put on a send-off performance. I made sure to appreciate the effort of the Lamias who were working so hard out in the cold.
After leaving the Southern Dungeon, the Universal Ship headed toward the Northern Dungeon. However, instead of going in a straight line, we traveled in a wide, counter-clockwise curve. This was partly for time adjustment and partly to avoid flying directly over the Village of the Great Tree.
Apparently, it wasn't a matter of flying over being disrespectful, but rather that passing overhead would technically count as having returned once. They wanted to avoid the impression that the subsequent visits were being treated as an afterthought. Malbit and Ruincia had explained this protocol to me. The Giants said they wouldn't mind either way, but now that I knew, it felt only right to be mindful of it.
We arrived at the Northern Dungeon and followed the same routine as we had with the Lamias. I didn't do this to cut corners, but rather to ensure there was no difference in how I treated the two races. Since they were different species, I couldn't make things exactly the same, but I did my best.
It was strange how much I had forgotten about the previous day already. I was glad Tia and Ria were there to keep me on track.
Naming the Giant children? I didn't mind, but didn't they already have names? They wanted me to rename them? I didn't think there was any need to go that far, but they insisted.
Alright, then.
I ended up putting a tremendous amount of effort into the naming again.