My Refrigerator Turned Into A Dungeon

Chapter 218:

Dungeon Stampede 2.0 Rest

A large clay pot is on the fire, bubbling with a delicious aroma.

"Alright… it looks about ready. Come on everyone, it's late but let's have dinner."

When the lid is opened with a flourish, white steam billows out, making everyone even hungrier.

"Wow~ It looks so good! I'm starving~!"

"Really, it looks delicious~"

"Mom! I'll get yours for you!"

"Oh, thank you, Ruu."

10 PM. After a long day, we're finally gathered around the pot at our food supply house for dinner. Tonight's menu is scorpion hotpot.

"See, that's what you get for rushing. Here, Machi, have some water."

Serai-san, who worked hard to drive away the monsters, is eating heartily. She's about to burn her mouth on a hot meatball, but Nina-san steps in to help.

"Mmm… it's really tasty!"

"Isn't it great? Coach is good at cooking too, Mom."

Ruu's mom, who first tasted the soup from the bowl Ruu served her, is smiling happily. Glad to see it suits her taste. Well, it's not so much that I'm good at cooking, it's the special salt we're using.

When we got home, Ruu turned pale because her mother was missing. But Ruu's mom had been next door, feeling lonely by herself. Thank goodness she's safe.

…..

And now, we’re having a somewhat eerie meal under the dim light of a fire wand. This is because the apartment building was hit by a fire.

As a result, the electricity, gas, and water are all out. Oh, by the way, I turned off the main gas valve by opening the machine room door. Leaving it leaking would be dangerous.

The water was usable for a while but soon got cut off.

Because the electricity is out, the booster pump stopped working, and the elevated water tank ran dry. It seems everyone tried to secure water at once due to the disaster.

"Mm~! This thick soup and meatballs are the best match~!"

"Machi, you need to eat your vegetables too. We don't know when we can get back to our normal life."

Yes, Serai-san seems to really like the scorpion hotpot. It looks just like a chicken meatball soup, despite the name.

This hotpot is made with coarsely chopped giant red scorpion meat mixed into a paste and made into meatballs, which are cooked with tofu, onions, and cabbage in a salt-based thick soup. So, Ruu's mom eats without any worries. Though I haven't mentioned it's giant red scorpion meat.

Of course, before cooking, we used aura psychometry and patch tests to confirm it's safe.

And the mucus created by the skill is also safe for the human body. With the water cut off, this is our only way to secure drinking water.

We are quite fortunate. With my mucus and all four of us having the acid skill, we won't have trouble finding water.

Especially since Serai-san and the others, being women, have been creating mildly acidic lotion for skin care with their acid skill. Impressive dedication to beauty.

So, making nearly water-like acid liquid is easy for all of us.

"Hey, Egetsu-san… Can we make more and share it with our neighbors?"

"Sure, no problem. We still have plenty of ingredients."

Ruu's mom feels bad about eating well while others are struggling, so she asks. But we have plenty of scorpion meat, so there's no issue.

After we managed to take down the giant red scorpion, we wanted its shell, so we disassembled it.

But we didn't clean out the meat from the legs, so there's plenty left. Because of this, our storage is full, and we had to throw away the giant crab meat we had gathered earlier, pursued by a horde of demons.

It’s wasteful to throw away food, but considering rarity, we had no choice.

We can always get more giant crab meat, but the chance to get a giant red scorpion shell is rare. So, my storage is packed with giant red scorpion shells, limbs, claws, and tails. There's so much I had to stash some in the trees like a bird of prey.

I need to retrieve it before someone finds it.

"Nom nom! Hehe… more please~!"

"Machi, don’t eat too much and upset your stomach."

Hmm… Serai-san's eating like a growing, rambunctious elementary school kid. But seeing that healthy smile makes me really happy. Though, her chowing down on hotpot in the dim light with shadows from below does look a bit creepy…

Still, when she suddenly coughed up blood while absorbing the life energy of the giant black spider, it really shocked me. So, seeing her healthy now is the best thing.

"Alright then, let's make more meatballs."

"Oh, Coach, I'll help too!"

Ruu stands up to join me.

"Alright, thanks."

"Yes!"

For someone like me, who used to be lonely, their smiles are the greatest reward. A perfect reward indeed.

Now, let's prepare a mountain of meatballs.

….

After settling at the food supply house for two days, we had time to rest and recharge.

"Good job getting this far. Coach, you can rest too," they said kindly, and the three of them volunteered for night watch. So, without the strange dreams that had been plaguing me recently, I was able to sleep soundly.

And just now, Ruu quietly apologized to me, saying, "I'm sorry, I used a recovery potion on my dad."

She had been worrying about telling me, showing her indecisiveness. When I responded, "If you really wanted to do that, it's okay," she teared up in gratitude. She had been worried about getting scolded.

No, I wouldn't get mad about that. It's not like she did it out of selfishness. She was genuinely worried about her father and wanted to help him.

When I explained this to her, she said, "Thank you. But I want to thank you somehow, so please let me know if there's anything I can do!" Well, it's fine for me, but don't say "anything" to other guys, okay?

"Um, well, then… how about cleaning my ears?"

"Understood. In that case, let's go to my room…"

Ruu wanted to express her gratitude for helping her parents. Though I could have said, "Don't worry about it," it seemed Ruu wouldn't be satisfied unless she did something. So, I decided to let her clean my ears.

I mean, a massage would be fine too, but with the size difference between Ruu and me, having the smallest one massage the largest one felt wrong.

Besides, Serai-san has been volunteering to give massages lately.

Serai-san seems to have a bit of a sadistic side, as she presses on the spots where I react, saying things like, "Does this feel good?" and then persistently digs in. When she says that and keeps pressing, it's unbearable. Ahem, what am I even saying? Excuse me.

Following Ruu in her combat suit, we head to her room.

Yes, we're both in our suits. It's an emergency, after all. We're not relaxed enough to take off our gear just because we're home. Plus, it wouldn't be fair if Ruu was the only one in casual clothes while the others stayed suited. But inside, we’ve removed our head and arm parts.

"Coach, please come here," Ruu says shyly, sitting on the edge of her bed with a towel on her lap. Her cuteness makes me want to jump on her, but I restrain myself. If I did something like that before she starts cleaning my ears, she'd probably get really mad.

"Okay, please."

I slowly get on the bed and lie sideways, resting my head on Ruu's thigh.

"Alright, I'll start cleaning your ears…"

With a mental sound effect of ‘Buppigan!' the ear cleaning begins.

[Rustle, rustle… Scratch, scratch…]

"………"

Hmm, this feels nice…

It's a pity it's not on bare skin, but even this situation is very relaxing. In Akihabara, these places apparently charge 3,000 to 4,000 yen for 30 minutes… Actually, having a beautiful girl in a combat suit clean your ears is a special experience that can't be priced.

"Coach?"

"Hm?"

"Your ears are very clean…"

"Really? Oh…"

Actually, during skill training, I tried ear cleaning with my mucus.

I let slime-like mucus enter my ears without blocking the hole, increased its viscosity to grab the earwax, then pulled it out, cleaning thoroughly.

"Well, I tried cleaning my ears with mucus a while ago. I couldn't tell, but are they that clean?"

"Yes, there's no need for ear cleaning…"

Oh no, Ruu's tone dropped. This isn't good.

"No, no! Your ear cleaning feels really good and is very relaxing! Even if they're clean, could you please continue?"

"Really? Okay!"

[Rustle, rustle… Scratch, scratch…]

Phew, she seems to have cheered up.

Yeah, having my ears cleaned feels nice.