Raising the Lowest-Ranked Adventurer, the Heroic Girl – Wasn’t I Just a Substitute Old Man?

Raising the Lowest-Ranked Adventurer, the Heroic Girl – Wasn’t I Just a Substitute Old Man?

Volume 3 Chapter 2   Discussion about the cultural festival

“As for external assistance… Well, regardless of whether we decide to do it, we need to figure out what exactly we’re going to do. Otherwise, we won’t be able to determine how many people we’ll need to invite.”

While I was pondering over such matters, the discussion continued.

“Hmm, if we go for something classic, how about a cosplay cafe?”

“But won’t we need staff for a cafe? I do like the idea of cosplay, though. It’s not every day we get a chance to do it.”

“What about a food truck?”

“True, that would require fewer people compared to a cafe, but what about the profits? If we’re going to do it, we might as well make good money, right?”

The conversation progressed, but well, it doesn’t really concern me. After all, it’s a student festival.

If they ask for my help, I’ll lend a hand, but there’s no need for me to interfere and offer my opinions.

Instead, I’ll try to blend into the background as much as possible. I remember having an adventurer’s fashion magazine in my bag, so I’ll read that to pass the time.

“Are we deciding on cosplay for the costumes?”

“Why not?”

“But do we even have access to costumes?”

“Well, at least everyone seems to be in favor of cosplay, right?”

“Well, it does seem fun… though I feel a bit embarrassed.”

“Oh, I see. They released a new one here. I think the previous one was about a year and a half ago? So it’s kind of late now.”

“But if they release something half-hearted in relation to adventurers, it’ll quickly fail. It might be better to take our time and release something good.”

“Hey, hold on a moment. You may be pretending not to be involved, but you’re also a part to this, so participate in the discussion, will you?”

As I sat in the corner of the room, casually listening to the conversation and reading the magazine, Asada threw a small plush toy at me.

“But hey, isn’t that the job of an instructor?”

“Well, it’s still part of the job, you know.”

Feeling the soft touch of the plush toy on my head, I looked up and asked, only to be answered without hesitation.

I see… so this is also part of the job…

“Do you have any ideas?”

Thinking that the scope of my job is unnecessarily broad, I heard Miyano’s voice.

Well, there’s no helping it. I should probably start thinking seriously.

“Haa… So, what was it again?”

“It’s about the cultural festival… What kind of performance we should do. Ah, it’s already decided that we want to go with cosplay.”

Oh, they’ve already decided on that.

Come to think of it, I was just casually listening, but did they talk about that?

“By the way, isn’t that something each class decides?”

Normally, for events like the school festival, each class would discuss and decide on their performance.

Does it even matter if they discuss it here? Is there any meaning to it?

…Or maybe it’s more like a committee thing? They’ve already had some discussions beforehand?

“Oh, this school is a bit different. Instead of each class, participation is open to volunteers. As long as there are three or more people, they can form a team and participate.”

“Some people want to focus on studying or training, or they simply don’t have the time to participate in the cultural festival.”

Ah, I see. Well, if they slack off, they’ll be more likely to die, so it’s understandable that some don’t want to participate in the festival.

Especially those students who experienced the attack incident last year, it wouldn’t be strange for them to have strong reservations.

After all, they actually came close to death.

Well, whatever. It seems like these guys are going to participate, and it’s not my responsibility to think about the situation of others. Right now, I should focus on their discussion.

“So, you guys are participating as a team?”

“Yes.”

“And of course, you too.”

…Yeah, I knew it. Just participating in the conversation wouldn’t be the end of it.

“Well, the safest option would be something related to sales—preferably not food-related…”

“W-Why not food-related?”

Kitahara asked in response to my words, and the reason is quite simple.

“Because it requires manpower. Procuring ingredients, cooking, behind-the-scenes work, sales, dealing with any issues that may arise, and negotiations with various parties. I assume you guys also want to enjoy the cultural festival like any other student. Depending on what you choose to do, it may vary, but food-related activities require a lot of people. However, if it’s something like ornaments or decorations, you can prepare them in advance, so it can be relatively easier.”

If they were organizing with a sufficient number of classmates, they could handle food and beverage activities with some ease.

However, they mentioned participating as a team, and they’re severely lacking in numbers.

They talked about bringing in people from outside, but this is still primarily a student-led festival.

If you end up with four students and ten adults from outside, it just wouldn’t feel right.

However, the four of them seem unconvinced even after I explained the reasons.

Well, I can understand their sentiments to some extent. When it comes to the highlight of a school festival, it’s often the food and beverages.

That’s not to say decorations are bad, but if they want to enjoy the festival by setting up a stall, I think food and beverages would offer a more enjoyable experience.

If the goal is to indulge in festival treats and experience what it’s like to run a stall, even prepared items would be fine, I suppose.

“Well, if we narrow down the menu and choose something that requires less effort, it might be doable. Besides, even if the four of you can’t go around the festival together, you could split into two groups and participate through mobile vending. If hiring from outside is an option, it should work.”

Unable to help it, I decided to propose an alternative.

The issue with hiring from outside is that it might require money to hire people. However, if we talk to Yasu or Kei, they might be able to provide some assistance, so that aspect will probably work out somehow. I hope.

As I said that, Miyano and the others went from expressing dissatisfaction to smiling in a visibly obvious manner.

“If you want to earn money, using dungeon materials would be a good idea.”

And as those words were spoken, Asada and the others—especially Asada—smiled not only with happiness but even let out joyful voices upon realizing that they could earn money.

“…? But a license?”

Among them, Abe tilted her head curiously and then opened her mouth, looking at me.

“A license? For what?”

“For selling dishes made with dungeon-sourced ingredients, a license should be required.”

“Oh… Huh!? That won’t work!”

Asada shouted while displaying a surprised expression, and Miyano and Kitahara also seemed shocked.

It appears that only Abe knew about the license required when using dungeon materials. Actually, how did Abe know?

Well, never mind. She probably read it in a book or something. There are plenty of ways to acquire information, like news articles, after all.

“Well, there is a workaround for that.”

“What kind of workaround are you talking about?”

“There is one. If you don’t follow the designated process, it won’t be categorized as ‘cooking.’ Simply put, you don’t have to cook it. For example, you can blend dungeon fruits and sell them as juice. That way, it will be judged the same as handling regular fruits. Haven’t you seen mobile juice stands before?”

There are quite a few materials that change properties or explode when heated. In extreme cases, there are materials that release radiation when heated.

In this day and age, thanks to dungeon-sourced ingredients, we have managed to purify radiation to some extent. However, it’s not like it can be instantly purified right on the spot after an explosion, and if people absorb it, it can’t be removed. So, when applying heat, we have to be very careful to prevent any harm from toxins or similar issues.

“Oh, there might be a way. But I don’t have the license for it…”

“Ordinary folks would have the license, I assume. It’s just that they don’t have the license for those special dungeon-sourced ones.”

Although there are some ingredients that don’t require cooking and still contain toxins, they should naturally be avoided.

For the subset of ingredients without toxins, even if they are dungeon-sourced, they should be fine to use as regular ingredients.

You can quickly find out which food items are safe to use on the internet, and there are quite a few people who use dungeon-sourced ingredients in their cooking, using those “ordinary” dungeon-sourced items.

“But if we don’t cook them, the options are quite limited, aren’t they?”

“Just juice?”

“Well, doesn’t that feel a bit underwhelming?”

With Kitahara’s words, the other three fell silent.

Indeed, compared to other cafes, it might feel lacking, but there’s nothing we can do about it.

There are also decorations and garnishes, but ultimately, the options that can be done with a small group are limited to pre-made or simple dishes with fewer steps.

Well, I’ve proposed the idea, and now it’s up to you to figure out the rest.

“So, what can we do without cooking?”

Thinking that, I lowered my gaze back to the magazine. However, Asada didn’t give up and approached me, looking directly at me.

“…Why don’t you think for yourself or do some research?”

In other words, it’s not like you can just ask everything. It’s about ingredients related to dungeons, so you should look it up yourselves. I’m pretty sure I told you that.

“That’s why I’m not researching. Asking someone who knows, isn’t that a form of research?”

Well, I can’t deny that it’s one way to approach it…

“You’re overcomplicating things with your clever reasoning.”

“Who’s overcomplicating things?”

It’s you.

I won’t say it because I’m afraid of retaliation, though.