My Room Has Become a Dungeon's Rest Area (LN)

Book 3: Chapter 2: (1)

The turmoil of exorcising my problematic property

Ugh Im so sleepy Ugh This is a pain in the ass

I shuffled like a zombie towards the family restaurant where I worked.

The reason for my zombification was that I had gone for three days with almost no sleep, instead spending my time clicking my mouse to hunt monsters.

Ria and Deet and Miri had all gone back to their world. Ria had to go and earn money through dungeon adventures for the sake of the orphanage; Deet had gone to gather information about the Dungeon Master, and Miri, being the leader of the Thieves Guild, had work to do.

I wanted to go and visit them, but trips to the other world went hand-in-hand with danger.

I planned to get to Level 20 for safetys sake and then to go and surprise them all with a visit.

Because of this, I had been frantically clicking to level up, and I had become totally absorbed in it.

Enami got in my way, so I could not level up automatically, which was a pain. But I have manually made it to Level 16 at last!

I took a piece of paper out of my pocket. I had made notes on it in the dungeon.

[Name] Suzuki Tooru

[Race] Human

[Age] 21

[Occupation] Unemployed

[Level] 16/

[Stamina] 51/51

[Magic] 67/67

[Attack] 132

[Defence] 47

[Strength] 28

[Wisdom] 44

[Agility] 29

[Skills] No Growth Limit Person Appraisal Lvl 4/10 Equipment Appraisal Lvl 1/10 Club Fighting 2/10

Hee hee hee. This is not bad at all! I bet that the others will all be surprised.

Fighting with a club is a bit uncool, but it is probably because I have only been using my ice axe.

Come to think of it, when I measured my [Strength] with a hand dynamometer, that reading of 28 had quadrupled So what on Earth would it be now?

Crap, I have completely lost my ability to think. When I get home, I will sleep for three no, two hours and then go monster-hunting.

Ding ding!

It was the electric doorbell that sounded whenever someone came into the family restaurant where I worked.

For security reasons, it also chimed when one of us came in from the back yard.

Oh, morning, Suzuki!

Good morning, Boss.

You have got dark circles under your eyes. I have never seen such terrible bags under someones eyes before. Are you all right?

Yeah, I am fine, I am fine.

Emphasising how fine I was made me more enthusiastic.

Well then, I will give it my all today!

The manager and Kuno looked at me and started talking in low voices about a haunting. What are they on about?

I could not be bothered to think, so I let it be.

I went into the changing rooms, and before I knew it I was wearing my kitchen uniform.

Huh? Well, never mind. I will work flat out today cooking dishes.

The moment that I stepped into the kitchen, orders started to come fluttering in one after the other.

At first, my lack of sleep gave me a strange kind of enthusiasm, and I was able to do my job. However, I soon started to burn through my fuel.

My body felt heavy. I wanted to sleep.

No, I must not, I must not. I have to be diligent about this. There is no way that I can fall asleep in the kitchen.

But my eyelids were terribly heavy.

My vision is going dark

Bye, Boss.

Good work today.

H-huh? I realised that I was in the rest area in the back yard, wearing the clothes Id come to the family restaurant in.

The boss, who didnt seem to be able to tell which of us were employees and which of us were part-timers, and Kuno a strong-willed woman in her thirties were exchanging pleasantries.

Is Kuno leaving already?

I thought we were supposed to finish work at the same time today.

You did a good job too, Suzuki.

Huh? Wh-what?

What whats up? Is something wrong? Youre so weird, Suzuki. Are you free at all today?

Looking at the clock in the rest area, I realised that it was four oclock in the afternoon.

What?! Its time for me to go home!

My shift had already finished.

In the kitchen, Suzuki, you were, like, snapping your head back and forth as if your body was pulling it. Your work was perfect, thoughKuno explained.

I didnt remember a thing about the work Id done.

Oh! Maybe?

Shizuku?

The moment I called her name, the clothes that I was wearing trembled slightly.

I get it. Basically, Id gone to work wearing Shizuku.

Id fallen asleep in the kitchen, and Shizuku had moved my body for me.

Youre adorable, Shizuku!I complimented her.

But Shizuku jiggled uncomfortably. I could understand her emotions now from the way that she trembled.

But why is Shizuku embarrassed that Im praising her?

Boss, Suzukis started talking to himself.

He must be possessed after all.

Yeah. Hes got dark circles under his eyes, he was moving weirdly in the kitchen, and he keeps saying stuff like youre adorable, Shizuku

Crap! My boss and Kuno were looking at me with concern.

Apparently they were suspicious of me talking to myself and of how Id been moving during my shift.

So thats why Shizuku was trembling uncomfortably?

Suzuki!

Kuno called my name suddenly.

If youre free, shall we head home together?

This is a complete misunderstanding.

U-um, its okay. Im fine. Ha ha ha

Youre not fine. Lets go.

Kuno grabbed my arm.

See you, Boss!

See you. Im relying on you to sort Suzuki out!

She said goodbye to our manager and led me out through the restaurants back yard exit.

Hold on a sec, where are we going?

She was dragging me in the general direction of my apartment, but we were making a slight detour.

The temple.

The temple?

When I heard that, I didnt understand what she meant, but after a while I realised what was going on.

She and the manager seemed to be under the impression that I was suffering from a spiritual disorder caused by living in a stigmatised property. Im happy that theyre going to such trouble for me, but its all a big misunderstanding.

Its all right. There arent any ghosts or anything.

There are goblins and slimes and lady knights and elf sorceresses, though.

Just follow me. Well get them to do a purification ritual, or maybe a full-scale exorcism if needs be.

Whaaat?

A purification ritual? A full-scale exorcism, if needs be?

A magnificent temple appeared in front of us. I didnt usually pay it much attention, but I knew there was one in the neighbourhood.

Nonono.I dont mind if they just think Im weird, but an actual exorcism

Does it cost loads of money?

Religion and spending money have always gone hand in hand.

Its okay, Ayame will do it for free.

Ayame? Oh

The Ayame that Kunos talking about must be Tateishi Ayame, the high-schooler who works at our part-time job.

Although she was a high-schooler, she was very calm, and didnt act all cute. But she was a beautiful girl. You might say she was a snow queen.

She seemed pretty cold to me. Not recently, though. And more importantly

Hang on a minute. How come Tateishi can perform exorcisms? Shes a high school student.

Ayame was born in the temple.

Oh, r-really? I didnt know that. She was born in the temple, and her names Tateishi Youre not telling me shes T, the temple kid?!

Shes amazing at sensing the supernatural.

R-really? Well, if she really can sense the supernatural, then shell figure out straight away that this is all just a misunderstanding.

Kuno went into the temple precinct.

There was a sizeable forest behind the main hall of the temple.

Oh!

Tateishi was looking at us intently.

Her clothes are so white! But theyre wet Behind her, I could see something that looked like a well.

Wh-white clothing And, on top of that, bathing in cold water at this time of year

Its gonna be a full-scale one. A full-scale exorcism. Kuno approached her.

See? I told you about it on the phone during my break. Arent those bags under his eyes just awful?

No. These are just the eyebags you get from lack of sleep when you stay up for three nights in a row.

If you can sense the supernatural, youll understand that, right?

Tateishi said gravely, Mr Suzuki, you cannot go on like this.

I doubted that she really had any feeling for the supernatural.

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