Chapter 12: Interesting Guest!
Early morning, Orario outskirts, the poor district.
Inside the dilapidated church, a dozen plainly dressed adult men moved about occasionally.
They were either skilled masons, carpenters good with woodwork, or well-known architectural planners from nearby.
The altar, originally used for worship, was now piled high with various building materials.
Standing next to the entrance to the basement, watching the figures of these workers bustling back and forth, Luke greeted them: "Everyone, stop working for a bit, come have some water?"
"Luke-san, we're not thirsty, just leave the water there!"
The oldest among all the workers present, and also the one with the most authority, a square-faced burly man, put down the work he was doing, wiped his sweat, and replied with a smile, then continued to bury his head in his work.
"Alright, then keep up the good work. When the construction period ends, I'll give you guys a bonus."
"Ooh ooh ooh!"
"Don't worry, Luke-san!"
"Just you watch!"
Hearing Luke say he would add money, these workers, besides being excited, also worked much faster.
Tsk tsk, this money wasn't spent in vain...
Smilingly watching the workers busy for a while longer, Luke then lifted his foot and left the church, walking towards the inner city.
Half a month had passed in the blink of an eye since he first transmigrated to this world.
Because of the addition of the supporter Lili, during this half-month, all the Magic Stones Luke obtained from grinding monsters were collected.
After converting them into Valis, the first and largest sum of money he spent was hiring a group of workers to help Hestia renovate the church.
Originally, according to Luke's intention, he planned to directly purchase a property next to Babel, but Hestia was very resistant to this, refusing to move no matter what, perhaps due to developing feelings for the place...
However, considering the poor district also had its advantages, at least living here was much quieter than living in the Familia settlement area, Luke didn't excessively go against Hestia's wishes.
After several proposals to move were rejected, he simply stopped thinking about buying a new house and turned his attention to this church.
If the dilapidated church was renovated, the narrow basement space expanded, a few statues of Hestia custom-made, and a few ever-burning glass lamps lit...
It surprisingly had potential!
So, with a rough plan in mind, Luke didn't hesitate with money.
He threw out large sums of Valis, quickly recruiting a large group of skilled masons and craftsmen.
Adding in the costs of various materials, Luke had already spent over 3.4 million Valis in half a month.
This was much, much more expensive than buying a new house.
Moreover, during the later stages of the project, the decoration would require another considerable sum of funds.
Only with Luke's insane monster grinding speed could this be supported; if it were any other Familia's adventurer team, even working non-stop, they probably couldn't sustain such crazy spending.
And under the injection of such huge funds, the workers' enthusiasm soared to unprecedented heights.
According to some of them, after finishing this job, they wouldn't need to take on work for the next some years.
So, they all put forth their utmost effort, somewhat resembling artists pouring their heart and soul into creating their life's most perfect work before dying.
Seeing these workers going all out, Luke was naturally happy to see it happen.
The somewhat uncomfortable feeling caused by the large daily expenditure of Valis also improved a lot.
At least it was worth the price, right?
Returning from the poor district to the inner city of Orario, Luke didn't immediately enter the Dungeon, but took a detour to a tavern inn called the Hostess of Fertility.
Because of the church renovation, Hestia and Bell, as well as Lili who had newly joined the Hestia Familia less than half a month ago, had all temporarily moved out.
They could only return after the church renovation was complete.
However, as the investor and also the eldest brother in the Familia, Luke didn't move to the tavern with them.
Instead, he ate and lived with those workers, supervising whether their work effort slacked off.
After all, having paid so much Valis, if he didn't watch them work with his own eyes, Luke really felt like he couldn't sleep well.
A black coat flashed through the early morning streets.
Luke quickly arrived in front of the Hostess of Fertility and reached out to push the door open directly.
Inside the tavern, the white-haired brat Bell was sitting at the same table with Lili, who had taken off her hood revealing her brown hair, chatting and laughing while eating breakfast.
Thanks to Luke, Bell and Lili, these two who had always lived frugally, could now eat until they couldn't eat anymore at every meal, and they indeed did just that...
"Alright, that's enough eating. We still have to go into the Dungeon later, don't eat too much."
Sitting down opposite the two, Luke pulled over a plate of still steaming lamb stew noodles, asking while eating: "Where's Kami-sama?"
"Kami-sama is sleeping, probably will wake up in a little while."
Putting down her fork, Lili asked curiously: "Is Luke-sama grinding monsters on the 5th floor again today?"
Grinding monsters, this was a term she recently learned from Luke, used to describe the act of killing monsters like cutting vegetables, sweeping through areas effortlessly even with eyes closed, killing large swaths at once.
And so far, the only person she had seen who deserved this term was Luke.
"Yeah, is there a problem?"
Stopping his eating, Luke looked up at the hesitant Lili, a gentle and friendly smile on his face, then said: "Just say what's on your mind, there's no need for too much distance between us."
"Yes."
Nodding, Lili asked the question that had been holding in her heart for a long time: "With Luke-sama's strength, even entering the 10th... no, 12th floor alone shouldn't be a problem, right? Why insist on killing those low-value small monsters on the fourth and fifth floors?"
The weaker the monster, the lower the value of its Magic Stone, and the less experience it provided to adventurers.
Sometimes, killing dozens of Goblins wasn't even comparable to taking down one Killer Ant.
If Luke was willing to enter the deeper floors of the Dungeon, his current wealth could definitely multiply several times over.
More importantly, Luke's experience points had already maxed out half a month ago, but due to the lack of experience fighting sufficiently strong monsters, his level had been stuck at Lv.1, unable to level up.
Although Luke himself wasn't anxious about it, it made Lili, who had been paying close attention to him, extremely anxious.
Even the white-haired brat Bell was influenced, urging him daily to go to deeper levels of the Dungeon.
"Lili, I understand what you're thinking, but the reason I don't enter the deeper floors of the Dungeon is due to my own considerations."
Pulling out a tissue to wipe his mouth, Luke continued to explain: "The deeper you go, the strength of the monsters, as well as their appearance rate, will increase dramatically. Plus, you might encounter some troublesome fellows, the so-called elite monsters. Of course, elite monsters aren't a big deal, but as long as I'm on a floor, the monster appearance rate goes completely out of control... At that time, even I might be in danger."
Hearing Luke's explanation, Lili opened her mouth, but said nothing.
Indeed, every time Luke stepped into the Dungeon, the monster appearance rate would become terrifyingly fast.
Often, within less than thirty minutes, an entire floor's worth of monsters would be born from the Dungeon.
Luke's monster grinding speed was fast, but that was only on floors like the fourth and fifth where the monster strength wasn't too high.
Once he rashly entered deeper floors and triggered an even more terrifying monster frenzy, Lili felt a chill just thinking about it.
"Alright, let's go once you're full. We need to work hard today too."
Ending the conversation about the floors, Luke stood up and walked towards the tavern exit, smiling at a gray-haired waitress who was approaching to clear the table.
"It's you again today, Syr-san."
"Mm, Luke-san, you're also very early today."
Returning a sweet, healing smile, the beautiful waitress named Syr Flova moved sideways, making way for Luke.
"Oh my, seeing a beauty like Syr-san first thing in the morning, I feel like I'll have good luck all day long."
"That would be wonderful. If Luke-san has good luck today because of Syr, then next time Syr will personally prepare breakfast for you, specially made, okay."
"A beauty's specially made loving bento? I'm really looking forward to it..."
Because Luke spent money quite generously, everyone in the tavern had a good impression of such a generous patron.
Slightly ambiguous jokes could occasionally be made without anyone getting angry.
But, this "anyone" did not include people outside the tavern.
For example, Lili.
Watching Luke flirting with Syr, her eyebrows immediately shot up.
"Luke-sama is really too much of a flirt!"
"This... Lili, I think senpai is fine..."
Standing next to Lili, Bell defended Luke with a somewhat stiff smile.
Being male himself, he quite understood his senpai's actions and even felt a sense of identification, envying his senpai's skill in easily striking up conversations with beautiful girls.
To be able to interact with a beauty of Syr-san's level without batting an eye...
Ah ah, as expected of senpai, strong in every aspect!
Glancing at Bell, who had a look of admiration on his face, Lili suddenly kicked his shin hard.
"Eeeeek—! Ouch... Lili, why did you kick me?"
"No reason, just suddenly felt like kicking you. I'm feeling better now!"
Giving Bell an exasperated look, Lili took a few steps forward, grabbed Luke who was still talking to Syr, and walked towards the tavern exit.
"Well then, goodbye. Have good luck, Luke-san."
Smilingly watching Luke being dragged away by Lili, Syr turned around and started clearing the remaining plates on the table, murmuring under her breath: "What an interesting guest."
Bell, who was half a step behind, happened to hear her words as he passed by Syr, a look of admiration reappearing on his face.
Just a few words can make Syr-san remember him, senpai really has something!
Sighing inwardly, Bell then ran out of the tavern, chasing after Luke's figure.
After he left, Syr also finished clearing the table, a shiny gold Valis coin held between her slender, fair fingers, the smile on her face growing even brighter.
"It's been a long time since I encountered such an interesting guest..."
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