Published: January 22, 2026
After Luna had left the living room and some time had passed, several reporters finally arrived at the mansion.
I led them into the living room.
The reporters had mixed reactions, but since there were many of them, this room would be fine, right?
“W-we’re truly honored that Lord Oliver himself has agreed to be interviewed.”
“It’s our duty to give interviews. Besides, there’s something I wanted to talk about today.”
“Something you want to talk about? That’s very intriguing!”
“Heh, there’s no point in keeping it a secret, so I’ll tell you right away. We’ve decided to replace one member of the party.”
Then, I told the reporters everything without holding back.
That Orun was an incompetent enchanter.
That Philly, who had been active in the Great Western Labyrinth, was brought into the party instead.
That we had reached the 94th floor with a dead weight in the party.
That with this party no longer having any shortcomings, reaching the 95th floor—or even clearing the Great Southern Labyrinth—would likely be achieved in the not-so-distant future.
Everything.
“Wow, I never thought we’d hear all this. Tomorrow’s front page is decided!”
“Yeah, make it a big story.”
The bigger the report, the more money we’d get from the nobles.
After hearing this, no noble would refuse to invest in me.
Then, I could finally buy the magical tools that Orun had called a waste of money and refused to purchase.
◇
Usually, we each have dinner on our own, but today, to welcome Philly, we decided to eat together.
We invited a famous chef from this town to the mansion to prepare the meal.
At that time, the chef praised, “Even though this kitchen is used almost daily, it’s very well maintained!”
No one else uses this kitchen here, so why would this chef say something so pointless?
Even Luna didn’t skip the welcome party, it seemed.
She still looked weak, but maybe she’d recover by tomorrow.
“Well then! Once again! Philly, welcome to the hero party! We look forward to working with you! Cheers!”
“Cheers!”
“Thank you very much for preparing such expensive dishes.”
“Ah, it’s no problem. Besides, the nitpicking treasurer is gone now! You know, I looked at the ledger he managed—the one with all the money written down! When I saw the amount, I nearly popped my eyes out because there was so much!”
“That was surprising! Even though he had so much money, why was he such a miser? If you have money, you should spend it or it’s a waste!”
Huh? Ledger?
True, we left the money management to Orun, but do we really have that much money?
Come to think of it, I don’t even know how much savings we have.
“No, that money was for his personal amusement! Letting him manage our funds was a mistake! Kicking him out was the right decision! Our money was almost being used without us knowing!”
“Um, isn’t that the party’s operating fund?”
At Derrick’s comment, Philly asked a question.
“Hm? Operating funds? We pay for and prepare what we need ourselves.”
“No, not just for dungeon exploration. There are other expenses, like rent for this mansion.”
“Ah, rent. I see. That kind of stuff costs money too. But if we have that much cash, wouldn’t it be better to just buy this mansion outright? What do you think, Oliver? Should we buy this place? Since we'll be using it as our base for a while, we can just sell it if we move out!”
“Derrick, you’re a genius! Let’s do that! Then we can use the leftover money however we want!”
“We’ll think about that later. For now, let’s focus on the immediate plan. Tomorrow is a day off, and the day after, we’ll dive into the 92nd floor.”
I wanted to say we’d immediately take on the 94th floor, but that would be reckless.
If we test our coordination on the 92nd floor without issues, then we’ll confidently proceed to the 94th floor.
“Huh? What’s with this lukewarm attitude? The 94th floor is the only option!”
“That’s right! Now that Philly has joined, reaching the 95th floor should be easy!”