Dungeon Gourmet

To be precise, there was no taste or flavor in the meat. 

 

The minced meat of the meatballs, which I’m uncertain about what kind of meat it is, has no sauce permeating the inside, so it was crumbly, like a crispy-cooked beef in fried rice.

 

Besides, just because the surface was soaked with sauce didn’t mean it was any better.

 

The outer surface had a semi-hardened texture that was like a chewy fish cake that had been left unattended at room temperature for about 16 hours without a cover. Literally, it’s like pouring sauce on top of a tasteless rubber.

 

‘How can meat be so tasteless?’

 

I wondered. And, frankly, I was a little irritated.

 

The more I chewed, the less I tasted. If even the taste of the sauce had been fantastic, I would have had a bit more hope somehow, but what can I expect from such a rural village? The use of fancy spices would be impossible. 

 

‘…….’

 

I quietly swallowed my tears behind my open helmet.

 

It was painful enough when I was struggling to eat to continue living, but this meal felt especially long. 

 

And I wondered until I emptied all the meatballs on the plate. Is the food this bad? How could this be?

I would be lying if I said I ate well.

 

I wanted to run out of this inn of terrible culinary skills at any given moment, but I was too tired to do so.

 

‘Let’s just sleep…..’

 

In the end, I decided to focus on recovering my stamina.

 

‘……..’

 

…Huu!

I first laid down on the nearby bed. My stomach felt bloated since I got full from eating something so bland.

 

“I’m sure It’ll be better next time.”

I can’t be depressed about this forever.

For once, I had a conversation with the villagers without any complications, and I also had hope that I would eat better food tomorrow.

“I’m sure, next time……”

Seeing the peaceful atmosphere of the village, it seemed that a subjugation squad hadn’t come to catch me yet. I already filled my stomach and found a safe place to sleep, so I thought it would be fine for me to replenish my mana and think about the future.

A reasonably clean ceiling could be seen through my helmet.

“Next time, let’s eat some proper meat.”

No matter how trashy the food, I will always feel sleepy whenever I am full.

By the time I fell asleep, I was unable to resist the heaviness of my eyes with such thoughts and had already decided on the menu for my next meal.

 

I’m sure it will be delicious. If I grill some fresh red meat that has been slaughtered by an artisan over an open fire, the savory and chewy texture of the meat will satisfy my hunger well enough to make me forget about all the bad things. 

 

That was what I was thinking right before I fell asleep…….

 

And by the time the next evening came, I realized. 

 

I was obviously wrong.

 

The following evening.

 

‘I saved up enough food to survive right now, and the town’s coachman won’t be here until tomorrow morning, so I’ll have to wait a bit……’

 

Today was the day.

 

After sleeping leisurely without doing anything special, my willpower was suddenly expressed from the mouth of a human being who ate three meals without feeling starved at all.

 

“I want to die.”

 

I didn’t actually want to end my life, it was just something I usually say when I’m really struggling. 

 

“How could this happen……”

 

And the reason why this person had such a negative attitude was because of the sandwich spread out on the table. 

 

“…… ”

 

I was in a new room at another inn. 

 

After the horrendous meatball incident I experienced at an inn named ‘Oh Jung’ yesterday, as soon as the sun rose up once again, I rushed to find another inn in the village, and as a result, I ended up staying at the current accommodation. 

 

And so, I asked myself, do I like the new accommodation?

 

Actually, it was no exaggeration to say that there were zero complaints about the guest room, which is the original purpose of the inn.

 

The blanket was rather cozy, and above all, there were no mice. 

 

But that’s not what I’m talking about now. 

 

‘Is it a village tradition to make food tasteless here?’

 

This food!

 

Especially its taste!!

 

It only takes one meal to make a person break down .

 

Occasionally you can eat something that doesn’t taste good. But what if you were disappointed in all three meals you ate that day? What if even the menu, which seemed like it would never disappoint, tasted terrible?

 

‘It’s a tasteless sandwich… Is it not flavorful to have meat and vegetables wrapped in bread together?’

 

I was in that unfortunate situation, just as I imagined.

 

All three meals I ate whilst roaming around this village were all tasteless, even the snacks.

 

I entered my room and took my helmet off. The sandwich was my last meal of the day, and after taking a bite, I conceded.

 

“I’m screwed.”

 

It was a dreadful realization.

 

“Why the hell……”

 

It didn’t seem like anything wrong with the food.

 

At first glance, the bread on this sandwich looked like a baguette, and although it was a little hard and dry, the inside was still quite chewy, so it was manageable. 

 

And the sliced ham… No, it looks like beef — Anyway, they didn’t say anything was wrong with it. And look at these green vegetables. The lettuce was said to have been grown and used directly in the backyard of this inn, so it looked as fresh as it was. 

 

‘But why?’

 

The problem was that it doesn’t taste good. 

 

It wasn’t disgusting enough that I had to force it out of my throat. 

 

However, It felt as if I was eating udon soup without salt, or chocolate cake that was not at all sweet.

 

Soon after, a sigh drifted out of my mouth on its own accord without stopping.

 

“…Huu.”

 

The residents of this village aren’t doing this on purpose to make me need to drink water all the time, are they…?

 

No, this is far from where I used to live, so the food in this area probably just doesn’t suit my taste buds.

 

After having come to such a conclusion, I forced myself to eat the tasteless sandwich and decided to take care of other things I should be concerned about now.

 

“Let’s see… Status window.”

 

 

Status

Name: Charlotte

Level: 247

Race: Human

Age: 117 years old

Occupation: Warrior

Attack: 842

Defense: 909

Ability: 108

Intelligence: 73

Agility: 67

Luck: 36

! Remaining Points: 540 

Titles: [Wolf Trainer] [Successor of the Magic Tower] [Intermediate Knight] [Kin Slayer]

 

I’ve been eating, washing, replenishing my stamina… I have wasted most of the day after returning back to my human form, so I can only check my stats again now.

 

After the skill ‘Arachnephobia’ was released, the value marked (+99) disappeared and I became weaker. 

 

Though that didn’t mean there was anything wrong with my status…

 

‘Everything seems to be wrong except for my name…..’

 

First, my level, 247.

 

It was a neat, abbreviated, insane figure.

 

The level of the enemies when I first came into the forest was level 95, which was also considered a first-class level among humans.

 

It would have been impossible for me to achieve such an accomplishment at such a young age without the condition that I had a former life. 

 

But now, my level was none other than 247, and the higher the level, the harder it will be to raise it. 

‘Even if I killed other humans, it wouldn’t be equal to capturing a powerful beast….’

 

I really didn’t want to know anything like this.

 

‘……..’

 

Hmm.

 

I took a moment to ponder while looking at my information blankly. It was because I had to decide what to do with the large digits in my status I had gained due to my level up. 

 

There was the option to leave it alone, but I didn’t feel the need to do so. 

 

‘Maybe I need to build up my strength.’

 

I was a bit anxious now.

There was a possibility of me being depicted as the monster in the picture and getting purged by the Royal Knights at any given moment, so for the sake of the unknown future…..

I was a little, no, very uneasy about the status I accumulated from harming people I can’t even remember.

 

However, they also thought I was a monster and rushed to subdue me, so I justified myself thinking that there was a risk that I would die, and I had no other choice.

 

I’ve always been shooting strength and agility at a ratio of 2:1, so let’s do it again this time. 250 for strength and 150 for agility… Isn’t that a huge number? Can I really do this? It’s the first time I’ve seen such a large figure, and I don’t really feel it……’

 

This world was strange. 

 

There were definitely many things that were strange compared to the Earth I lived on, but if I had to pick the most exciting something right now, it was this RPG-like status system.

I remember the people in this world calling it the ‘Status Window’.

 

‘…….’

 

All creatures living in this world, without exception, have stats that are clearly written in numbers. 

 

In addition, the so-called ‘items’ obtained from dungeons. 

 

Equipment found in treasure chests, sweet traps that entice people into dangerous dungeons, often have the ability to make people stronger just by wearing them or becoming wiser just by lifting them.

 

‘Oh, right, I forgot to take off my earrings while running away. Let’s put this in my bag.’

During the time period in which I was in my prime, having status was considered evidence of accumulated ‘mana’, which is the foundation of life.

 

In other words, stones have little to no mana, but most living creatures have mana in their bodies, and special items and minerals in dungeons also contain mana, showing such an ability.

 

However, opinions differed as to why it is possible to justly confirm the abilities of oneself and others, which we call this status window.

 

‘…….’

 

There were theories related to the emergence of dungeons, and there were theories that it was simply God’s arrangement to prevent humans from neglecting their development.

Anyway, it is clear that ability plays an important role in living.

 

When the number displayed on the ability stat increases, it means you are actually getting stronger. Even though it was normal in this world, it is still a wonder to me. 

 

‘Then… 250 points for Strength, 150 for Agility, and about 40 for Luck. Let’s leave the rest alone.’

 

[Do you want to invest in your status?]

 

‘Sure’

 

Ding.

 

[Status investment complete.]

 

 

Status

 

Name: Charlotte

Level: 247 

Race: Human

Age: 117

Occupation: Warrior 

Attack: 2745

Defense: 2962

Ability: 358

Intelligence: 73

Agility: 217

Luck: 76 

! Remaining points : 100

Titles: [Wolf Trainer] [Successor of the Magic Tower] [Intermediate Knight] [Kin Slayer]

 

 

First of all, I decided to save 100 points because I might need them later on without knowing it.

 

“But I can’t believe that even without using Arachnephobia, my ability stat exceeds 300… What kind of garbage leveling system is this.”

 

It was a figure I couldn’t even imagine now, with only cheap leather gloves I had a bare-handed ability stat of 358. In the past, the effects of Arachnephobia were around 200.

 

 

“Hm….”

 

While holding the sandwich in one hand, I moved my other empty hand, but there was no immediate difference.

‘Has anything changed?’

 

Hello, translator here.

 

I know I said “by the end of this week” in the translator notes channel, but turns out “end of the week” is actually “end of next week”. Don’t trust whatever bullshit I say about deadlines, just a future warning.

 

And I have another note; as I was translating, and know, this is really important, I realized that I made a slight mistranslation/misunderstanding on my part. I’ll save you the sob story, but basically, I thought that the part about the MC talking about being a middle school boy who died and reincarnated into this world was a joke, and of course, being a reliable translator on my part, I made it more obvious so that it wouldn’t confuse readers—Until now, our MC admitted to being from another world. (Actually, I’m not even entirely sure. MTL is really fucking me with me rn)

Now, I only want to set this straight so that we will all be on the same page. Theoretically: Our MC, Charlotte, is someone who has been isekai’d from Earth to our current world, and after living a life as an adventurer for a while, he died(??) whilst on an expedition into the forest with his party, and becomes a spider monster(for unknown reasons), and terrorized all adventurers that stepped into his nest for the next 100 years, unconscious. (And that obviously explains why he’s so worried that another subjugation squad (after the Hero (Reserve) party) would come for him.)

Hope that sums things up for the events that happened in the past 5 chapters. Once again, I am sorry for the delay and I will try to pick things up in the next chapter.