The inside of the brand-new building was crowded with people.
　Although there are not a few tables inside, the number of customers that have arrived is so large that there is not enough room for them.

　A man sitting at one of the tables looks at the menu and calls the waiter.

Shall I order the mimic hot pot?

"Calm down!

　This is the nabe restaurant Dungeon Tei.
　It was the place where you can eat fresh mimic hot pot, which is rare in the world.

Mimic casserole has arrived!

"Yes, mimic nabe!

　From the kitchen, where the order was taken, a young clerk ran into the back room.
　At the back of the store is a staircase, and behind it is a pitch-black space.
　Then the waiter shouts into the dark space.

"Mr. Zerdo, mimic pot's here!

　Then I heard a voice from behind the stairs.

"Yes, sir.

　It's the voice of Zeldo, Lasse's squire.
　Zeldo approaches an iron pot with a lid neatly arranged on the floor and thrusts the knife into a slit in the lid.
　Then a scream of despair could be heard from the pot, and after a few shuddering sounds, it stopped moving.
　Zerdo sticks the knife into one of the slots in the lid, just to make sure he's really dead.
　It's rare to find a mimic pretending to be dead.
　So, yes. This pot is the mimic that was to be farmed by Lasse, and Zeldo was his personal prep person in the basement raising and preparing the mimic.
　By the way, there is a shift system.

　The mimics were farmed by Lasse and the others, and it was thought that it would take a long time for them to successfully reproduce.
　But the mimic, being a demon, proved to be very easy to breed and could grow quickly if fed.

　The answer to the question of how few opportunities to find mimics in the maze were available, turned out to be much easier than expected.
　A mimic is a hermit crab-shaped demon that needs a shell to live in.
　But it also means that without the shell, its body is very vulnerable.
　Therefore, the reason why you don't encounter mimics in the labyrinth is because they become food for the enemy before they can get their shells.
　One reason for this is that when a mimic lays eggs, a large number of fry are born.
　A mimic can produce hundreds of young mimics in a single birth. After they are born, they are immediately expelled from their parents and set off to find their own shells.
　But the dungeons are tough. Because of this limited environment, there are only a limited number of shells available, and because siblings compete for the few shells that are available, most of the mimics who cannot get their own shells are eaten by enemies and end their lives before they can find their next candidate.

　That's why Lasse had a large number of mimic shells produced.
　Place the completed shells in the basement, and the baby mimics will enter the pot with their shells.
　These shells were then used to make mimic pots and pans, which were then washed and reused as a nest for new mimics.

But man's obsession with food is unbelievable.

　Zerdo looks at the slit in the mimic's pot lid.
　This slit is a hole in the lid of the mimic pot to make it more efficient.
　When a mimic opens the lid, it's a demon in waiting, attacking with its sharp fangs.

　Opening the lid means that the mimic approaches at close range and is difficult to avoid because it is crouched down to open the lid.
　That's why Lasse asked the blacksmith to make a hole for the knife so that he can plant the mimic without opening the lid.
　Coincidentally, the hole was used to create a pot that would allow the steam to escape, which had the byproduct effect of being used for cooking.

　Zeldo opened the lid of the mimic completely, hollowed out its fangs with a knife, filled it with water, and then called out to a nearby stove.

"Salamander, please.

"Shah!

　Then out of the fire in the hearth a flaming lizard leapt out and crawled under the mimic pot.
　It was Lasse's servant, the fiery demon Salamander.
　The mimic shell Lasse had made had four legs attached to the underside of the mimic's shell, creating a gap underneath.
　This allows the salamander to build a fire underneath to heat the pot immediately.
　You don't need a hearth to do this. The mimic's shell was a mimic's fish tank, built with the utmost care for efficiency.

　You can hear the sound of boiling water boiling in the mimic pot.
　For the salamander, who can control the flame at will, low heat or high heat is at his disposal.
　Judging from the heat of the pot, Salamander judged the best temperature by himself and cooked the mimic pot.

　The mimic pot was cooked.

I got it.

　From the basement, Zeldo comes up with a mimic pot.
　He placed it on the kitchen table and the waitress took it into the restaurant.

Good job!

　The cook in the kitchen extends his thanks to Zeldo.
　He is the second generation of the town's small restaurant and was sent out by the owner to train when Lasse asked him to open a mimic hot pot restaurant.

　A mimic pot is a simple dish of simmering mimics, so there is no need to consult with a cook, but Lasse didn't want you to trample the town's cooks.
　That's why I asked the town's business guild to help me out with my cooking business.
　I'm looking for someone who wants to work for us and not just sell mimic pots and pans.

　The town of Dexi is not small, but it's not big either. So the second and third sons, who could not become the second generation of the restaurant, would have no choice but to help out in the kitchen or become a waitress at a restaurant in a larger town, so there was no way they could lose the kitchen.
　Then the owner, Lasse, who gave them free access to the kitchen, came to work for him.
　Existing restaurants would have less need to get rid of Lasse, as it would increase the chances of their sons being able to be on their own, resulting in the coexistence of the two sides.

　As a side note, the restaurant's sales have actually gone up, as travelers who came for the town's new specialty, Mimic Hot Pot, couldn't get in because it was too full, and they couldn't stand the hunger anymore and came back to eat elsewhere, but the restaurant owners have benefited from the byproduct of his opening of the restaurant in Lasse's variety. It was.