Level Down 5 (Patreon)

Volume 1 Chapter 5 - Changes in Work

RAW

The day after Allen reported the change in the structure of the Slime Dungeon, a dedicated counter was established in the Adventurers' Guild, and a request was posted in the most prominent place on the Adventurers' Guild's bulletin board to inform the whole town about that matter.

Since they can receive a reward twice as much as a request to subjugate a weak monster just by spreading a rumor, the new adventurers scrambled to accept the request, and just as the Guild planned, the rumor was spread throughout the city within the same day.

The Adventurers' Guild has decided to place restrictions on the use of the level-up trap that appeared in the Slime Dungeon, and has established a new department to manage it.

In accordance with this, the use of the level-up trap in the Slime Dungeon requires a prior reservation at that department of the Adventurers' Guild.

Officially, the Adventurers' Guild, being the manager of the dungeon, established the dedicated department as a measure to prevent conflicts from occurring over the level-up trap.

However, the truth was that they had created a department to take money from people who wanted to raise their level by using the level-up trap as bait.

Level-up traps are hated by adventurers.

And yet, this can still stand because, from the point of view of residents who do not fight monsters like adventurers and soldiers do, having their stats increase, even if the increase in value is all 1, is appealing.

The maximum level for a normal person is 500. In other words, if their current level is 1, their stats will increase by 499 points. That is equivalent to level 100 for an adventurer who levels up by defeating monsters.

There are ways to improve your stats without leveling up through training and practice, but the rate of increase cannot be said to be good. And above all, it requires a lot of effort.

It was natural that there was demand for this method of increasing one's stats without much effort, simply by stepping on the level-up trap.

Of course, not everyone is like that. In particular, nobles and very rich people raise their levels by independently hiring adventurers, they won't rely on the trap to level up quickly, and there are also many people who are not dissatisfied with their current lives and don't feel the need to do this.

That's exactly why the Adventurers' Guild set the price for one hour use of the level-up trap, or a maximum of 20 level ups, at 5,000 zenny during the day and 4,000 zenny at night. That price was about the same as one night's stay at a normal-ranked inn, it was a perfect amount that someone with a little leeway in their livelihood could afford.

In other words, it would take 100,000 zenny for a person at level 1 to raise their level to the maximum level of 500, if only at night. Whether they see it as cheap or expensive probably depends on the person.

At the very least, the price is not meaningless since the dungeon won’t be bursting at the seams with the slum dwellers who can't even afford it and are likely to cause problems if they level up.

“Haa, I never thought I’d be sent back to the counter as well.” (Matilda)

“It can't be helped, isn’t it? With this many reservations, it would be better to have someone with a lot of experience to make adjustments and such.” (Allen)

“Sorry for being so experienced.” (Matilda)

Matilda said as she glared at Allen, who realized that he had made a slip-up, and quickly turned his head away. Matilda's expression softened a bit as she saw Allen's expression, and she let out a deep sigh.

Then, looking at the schedule lined up in front of her, she frowned and let out another sigh. Her  sigh was much heavier than the one before.

“When you let out a sigh...” (Allen)

“Happiness runs away, right? I know that. Even so, this is a little harsh.” (Matilda)

Matilda brushed her hair up and massaged her head. Seeing Matilda's troubled state, Allen apologized to her in his heart. In fact, Allen is also part of the cause for Matilda's troubles.

After all, Allen could have chosen not to report the change in the structure of the Slime Dungeon, and even if he reported it, he could have omitted the level-up trap.

But it was unmistakably Allen who chose not to do so.

In fact, no one found out for over two months after the change occurred, so there was a possibility that it could be kept a secret. Even after understanding this, Allen went out of his way to report this in order to be doubly sure, and to fulfill his own aspiration.

Considering this, Allen felt that he was somewhat responsible for the hardships that Matilda was suffering. That said, he doesn't regret it.

Spread out in front of Matilda was a reservation list for the level-up trap. It was divided by day and hour, and a month's worth of reservations had already been filled just today, when the counter just opened and the reception just began. And that's for all 24 hours of the day, including the middle of the night.

It was obvious that even more people would come to apply from tomorrow onwards, and it was expected that there would be frequent troubles over the reservation times.

Matilda, being a veteran former receptionist, was selected for the counter to handle such troubles.

“In the first place, spreading rumors all at once is strange. That damn tanuki~.” (Matilda)

Allen took a step back as Matilda let out a voice of resentment. The words, ‘the spirit you do not approach will not curse you,’ were running through his head.

In front of Allen who looked at the situation with a slight pull back, ‘Fuu─’ Matilda exhaled deeply. She closed her eyes for just a few seconds, and when she opened them, Matilda's face returned to normal, as if her expression before was an illusion.

Her change was so great that Allen began to feel nostalgic.

Allen remembered something like this happening a long time ago when Matilda was working as a receptionist and dealing with unreasonable adventurers.

Matilda is extremely good at switching her mood. No matter how unpleasant the previous adventurer was, she never showed a single tired look to the next adventurer.

Such a scene from the past came vividly back to Allen's mind.

“Allen, you seem to be having a good time, but you’ll be in charge of the night, you know. Will you be okay?” (Matilda)

“Yeah. The hours per day have become longer, but in return I get more days off. Well, I’m sure it’ll be okay.” (Allen)

“Take care of your body, okay?” (Matilda)

“Yeah. You too, Matilda. Then I’m off.” (Allen)

After looking at each other and giving each other a wry smile, Allen raised his right hand and left as Matilda saw him off.

And then, Matilda continued to stare at the door that led to the back door where Allen had disappeared to, smiled a little, and went back to work. In order to reduce her overtime hours, as could be guessed from the large amount of documents left on her desk, as much as possible.

.

.

.

“Well, I guess it went just as I expected.” (Allen)

In the intervening time between the evening air, when diners are busy, and the night, when the streets are less crowded, Allen was heading toward the north gate of Lilac City, muttering such words.

That is because the north gate is the closest city gate to the Slime Dungeon, and that location was the designated meeting place for those who have reserved the level-up trap at night.

The gates of Lilac City close at nine in the evening and open at six the next day. Those who arrive in between that time will not be able to enter the city unless there are special circumstances. Conversely, those who are inside the city will also not be able to go outside.

Therefore, Allen's job was to go to the north gate at 7 p.m., take the people who had booked the level-up trap for the night, head to the Slime Dungeon, and bring them back to the city the next morning.

Allen had predicted that if he reported the level-up trap, he would be given this job instead of managing the Slime Dungeon.

This is because they thought that during the day, they could just post a request to an adventurer and there would be some who would accept that job, but fewer would accept a request at night.

The old Allen was special, but most adventurers become adventurers because they wish to go on an adventure somewhere.

Jobs such as guiding and escorting to the Slime Dungeon may bring in steady money, but there's almost no thrill and no way to level up. In other words, it is the most boring job ever.

Allen knew that while there may be adventurers who take on requests to earn pocket money during their breaks from work, there are very few adventurers who take on requests at night that will disrupt the rhythm of their lives.

And the Adventurers' Guild is well aware of this, and in such cases, the people they turn to are guild employees who are former adventurers like Allen.

Due to these circumstances, Allen's job was changed to meet the reservationist at the north gate at 7 p.m., take them to the level-up trap in the Slime Dungeon, hand them over to the guild employee there, and then go on to defeat slimes as usual, and then take the reservationist back to Lilac City at 8 a.m. the next day.

Allen would be working for 13 hours straight, but up until now he had worked five days a week for about seven to eight hours and one day off, but it was changed to three days a week and three days off, as Allen had planned.

The difference in working hours was only about one hour, so it makes little difference, but the three days off he got was what Allen hoped for.

In fact, it's not like there aren't any precedents where a level-up trap was found and something similar was done.

During the past half a month, Allen had been investigating how such precedents had been handled while sorting out documents. And following those precedents, Allen predicted that his job would most likely change to that of a night guide.

The problem was that, that miser of a Guildmaster might reduce his days off, but as expected, he didn't go that far. Allen secretly patted his chest in relief to that fact.

(Okay, so far it's as expected. Let's move on to the next step during my next three days off.) (Allen)

While secretly thinking that, with light gait, Allen headed towards the north gate to complete his boring work.

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(T/N: I started adding the name of the speaker after the speech. Just wanted to try it, to see if it would hinder my reading, it probably won’t. It’ll probably improve it instead.)

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