Avorn and Camellia came back later that same day with another two persimmons to leave as tribute. They were the same tribute they had left earlier that day as well, but they didn't have anything much better to use. It had officially started to snow today and there were already fewer things to forage for now than there had been earlier on in the fall.

Since they would need to sort out dinner soon enough, they planned to spend some more time fishing. As it turned out, koi fish tasted pretty good roasted over a fire with some seasonings. Plus, they could easily be speared onto a stick and propped up over the top of the fire so that multiple fish could be roasted at the same time. That was much more convenient than having to find the appropriate stick shapes to set up a spit over top of the fire. There were also things like campfire cooking pots or other cooking equipment they could buy, but much of it was too bulky.

Avorn and Camellia were still low-level and rather poor, so neither had a magic bag and their backpacks could only carry a limited amount of supplies. They had a cloth that could be propped up with sticks to form a tent-like structure to camp in as well as a few blankets to keep warm, but most of their backpack space was saved for actual necessities like first aid supplies, resources they harvested from the dungeon, etc.

As they sat fishing, the two began to talk about their concerns for the winter. Camellia lamented

"I wish we could afford to stay in an inn. Maybe we should stop trying to level up and just focus on collecting resources for the winter so we can have somewhere warm to stay?"

Avorn sighed as he replied

"We might have to do that. It would make it difficult to continue saving up for better equipment like we wanted, but it can't be helped."

Camellia looked hopeful as she said

"Well, at least this dungeon is a lot better than the other ones we've been to. I wouldn't mind staying here for a couple of years. Maybe we will even get lucky and we can buy some more [Items] from the Dungeon Master."

Avorn nodded thoughtfully as he replied

"Yeah, it might even be nice if we could sell some of the [Items] outside of the dungeon and use that to better afford the [Items] we want and need."

Just then, Violet cleared her throat and the two of them exchanged worried glances as they looked back at Violet. While she had heard most of their conversation, she wasn't exactly mad about it. Instead, she spoke in a cheerful voice with a bright smile as she said

"I heard about your problem and I'm willing to offer you a solution, if you're willing to hear me out."

Avorn gulped nervously, but still nodded, giving his consent. So, Violet continued

"I'd be willing to let you stay in the dungeon from sunset to sunrise so long as you are willing to pay me tribute in exchange. I have an adventurer who comes here with his daughter a little before sunset each day to train my swordsmanship. So long as you give me some time to handle my dungeon affairs while he is here and for a short while after he leaves, I don't mind if you stay the rest of the night.

You can just camp out in the wildflower meadow room or the garden meadow, if you prefer. The slimes don't attack so long as you don't attack them or mean the dungeon any harm. I don't think faking it works either, so you have to genuinely mean me and my dungeon no harm."

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Avorn glanced at Camellia nervously and she nodded, taking over as she asked

"How much would you expect us to pay you for each night that we stay?"

Violet gave the woman a gentle smile as she replied

"Well, I would be willing to settle for a hundred small [Items] per night. They can be acorns, leaves, sticks, copper, whatever, but I'd expect a hundred of them every night before you leave the dungeon in the morning.

You'd be free to collect resources in my dungeon and sell them to purchase your [Items] or whatever else, I don't care how you go about it, but I would expect you to never miss a payment."

Avorn nodded enthusiastically to show he understood before replying

"We would never do anything to upset you on purpose, mistress Violet."

Camellia added on

"We wouldn't mind paying you that much, but I do have some questions about how that number is calculated, if you don't mind?"

Violet nodded and Camellia continued

"There are a limited number of things to forage in the cold season, but there are still things like tree bark, pine needles, maple syrup, etc. How would maple syrup be counted number-wise? What about pine needles? Would a hundred individual pine needles, even if they were attached to the same branch count?"

Violet frowned, feeling unsure. She wasn't exactly the one who got to decide such things, the dungeon itself seemed to be behind that. However, she had noticed some trends with the tributes she had received previously. So, she answered

"I think tree bark would count so long as it is separate strips per [Item] you'd be counting. The pine needles would also have to be separated or else each twig with them would only count as one. As for the maple syrup, I think it would be per container. However, the container and the maple syrup itself would each count as a separate tribute. It doesn't matter what size the container is, so you would only need fifty containers of something like that. If you had something like berries, though, they're already individual enough that, even if they're still in a container, they'd count as individual [Items] per berry."

Camellia nodded, considering Violet's words thoughtfully. She didn't know much about how dungeons worked or even how the Dungeon Masters would know what sorts of tributes had been left and who had left them. However, she wasn't exactly about to question her obligations to pay rent to stay in a semi-safe place. Still, she did have one major request before she could agree to the matter.

"While I'd like to trust that we won't be attacked while staying here, we'd like it if we could sign a dungeon contract first, just to be safe. We're fine with paying that sort of rent and it would certainly end up cheaper for us than staying anywhere locally. I hope that's alright?"

Violet nodded, looking completely unbothered as she replied

"That's no problem at all. You will have to send for Theodore, my assigned dungeon diplomat, though. I don't really have any way to communicate with him and he was just here recently, so I don't know when he will return.

Anyhow, would you be interested in buying anything else today?"

Camellia shakes her head as she replied

"No, unfortunately, we still have a good bit of tea and we don't have enough to trade with you right now. We were planning on going foraging for some [Items] soon, though, so maybe we can take you up on that offer in a few days?"

Violet didn't pressure them any further on the matter. She just said her goodbyes and wandered off to another part of the dungeon. It wouldn't be a bad idea to stock up on more merchandise anyway. Which is exactly what she did when they left. Since tea seemed to be popular, she spent her entire 50 MP on five glass jars of honey. Her bag was starting to get heavy, which seemed a bit concerning, but she could always just focus on buying sweets for a while to increase her inventory without worrying about the amount of space taken up and making her bag too heavy.