Dungeon Core No. 89
“Well, yeah, I’ve been telling No. 89 Ane-sama about everything that’s happened this whole time you know. I even told her about Kehma.”
“Alright, Rokuko. Come here for a moment… Excuse me, I’ll be borrowing her for a moment.”
After saying that, I pulled Rokuko away and whispered to her.
“… How much did you tell her?”
“Leeet’s see, just now I was talking about defeating the bandits. Ah, she was happy when I told her how tasty the feast of [Melon Breads] was!”
With a giddy shout, Rokuko seemed to be happy from being praised by her Onee-sama.
I struck her head with my fist.
“Ow! What’d you do that for!?”
“Are you good now? Don’t tell her anything else. She might be an adversary… In particular, never talk about things related to golems.”
“Uuu, understood… But, there’s no way No. 89 Ane-sama would be an enemy.”
“… Who was the one to teach you the stupid strategy of only summoning Goblins?”
“… No. 89 Ane-sama.”
“Who taught you to summon one strong monster at a time in a single room?”
“… … No. 89 Ane-sama.”
Yeah, in other words, it that kind of thing.
Dungeon Core No. 89 was the one that kept Rokuko from [Growing up into a dungeon].
Meanwhile, she herself became a top ranking dungeon.
She definitely had some motives there, and there was a definite possibility of her becoming a nuisance for us in the future.
Rather, the chances of us being removed in the case we were the ones to become a nuisance were high.
“Hey, No. 695-chan. Is your secret discussion still going on? Could I join in soon?”
“Y-yesh! I’m coming soon No. 89 Ane-sama—”
Still, when Rokuko was called by Dungeon Core No. 89, she was happy… Treating the person with absolute authority over you as rags… No, it was probably an unconscious decision.
“So then, what happened to the bandits in the end?”
“U-umm…”
Rokuko glanced at me. She probably didn’t know what was alright to say.
I answered instead.
“… Well, as you can see, they aren’t here anymore.”
“The knights cleaned it up beautifully then? Un, that’s good… well, I wonder how much DP they all turned in to? From looking at the report, I would think around ten thousand?”
“Report? … Excuse me, I don’t know much about you, what do you mean by that?”
“Ah, right, you aren’t a human of this world… Let’s do self introductions.”
Dungeon Core No. 89 suddenly straightened her posture further and placed her hand on her chest, introducing herself in a dignified voice.
“I am Dungeon Core No. 89…. From my master, I am known as Haku. Though humans typically refer to us with numbers, I don’t mind being called Haku. I manage [White Labyrinth] in the Raverio Empire’s capital… I am the elder sister of Dungeon Core No. 695, pleased to make your acquaintance.”
Dungeon Core No. 89 gave a sweet smile… Since she said Haku was fine, I’ll call her Haku-san.
“… Very polite. I am Masuda Keima. Please call me Kehma. Though I’m being presumptuous, I serve as the dungeon master for your younger sister’s dungeon, [Ordinary Cave]. I look forward to working with you.”
“Oh my, so polite, admirable.”
“I-I wonder if I should also introduce myself!? I am Dungeon Core No. 695—”
“You don’t need to… right, come to think of it, adventurers will be coming, we haven’t prepared countermeasures yet.”
“My, that is… I wonder, is this the information you were referring to?”
Haku-san took the investigation commission ticket for [Ordinary Cave] from her breasts.
“… That’s…”
“For a moment, I made use of being an A-rank adventurer. From seeing my country’s knights’ report on the [Ordinary Cave], I couldn’t possibly leave things as they were.”
“But I was told it required two people minimum?”
“There was no reason for it, two F-Ranks couldn’t possibly win against an A-Rank. Well, more or less, this one here… she is Chloe, a Succubus. We are both A-Rank adventurers and accepted it as a pair.”
After being introduced, Chloe suddenly bowed. Her butler clothing truly was appropriate.
So she was a beauty in male clothing after all huh? So there was a monster like that.
However, isn’t that an unfortunate chest for a Succubus…? I wouldn’t have realized if Haku-san didn’t tell me she was a Succubus. A pure schoolgirl Succubus. Is she actually a pure schoolgirl porn star? This really is a fantasy world.
“So for a while, around half a month… it will be fine, Kehma-san.”
Haku-san smiled as if to say I was in her palm… Indeed, it really was unlikely there would be intruders coming for now. Excluding the two in front of me.
“Right, Kehma-san. Would it be alright for me to be straightforward?”
“What is it?”
“Are you Kami-sama’s vanguard?”
Kami-sama’s vanguard… let’s see, I wonder. When I came to this world, I was told something by Kami-sama, but it wasn’t really about being a vanguard…
“Though I did meet with this ‘Kami-sama’… he didn’t really say anything in particular.”
“Is that so? Excuse my rudeness, but I used lie detection magic. What you said appears to be true… I heard from No. 695-chan that she summoned you from another world, so I’ve been anxious for a while now.”
“… Sorry, what exactly is Kami-sama’s vanguard meant to be?”
“Summoned from another world, it is a person who destroys dungeons in accordance to Kami-sama’s will… A person who would defeat me, saying [An existence such as a dungeon obstructs the circulation of mana]. They are referred to as Heroes here.”
Ah, I might be a vanguard then. I have no motivation to really do it though.
“Well then… I would like to talk to Kehma-san alone for a little bit. Could we have a moment? Ah, I wonder if No. 695-chan will wait with Chloe.”
“Y-yes—”
“Certainly, Ojou-sama.”
I parted with Rokuko and was lead away by Haku-san. Meat was also left together with her.
… This feels very dangerous. I noticed it when Haku-san stood up, but this person’s feet are amazingly beautiful. Crap, it’ll be bad if she noticed me eyeing her feet. Glimpsing at the lines of her legs through the thin cloth skirt… crap. I want to see directly inside the skirt. I want to carefully watch her strip her shoes.
“… Well…”
Once we were far enough away, Haku-san turned towards me. When I thought about how beautiful she was, I understood why Rokuko admired her so much.
Then, she spoke.
“Would you kindly stop being a dungeon master?”
“That’s troubling!”
This world’s futons were horridly poor. There weren’t acceptable at all.
I don’t feel like quitting being a dungeon master so that I don’t have to find better bedding.
“Or rather, you. What are you doing to my cute No. 695-chan. How dare you defile that child, if you say you won’t quit being her master, immediately commit suicide to cast away the absolute authority rights.”
So I’d have to stop being a dungeon master in the end anyways?
“… Though I don’t understand what you’re getting at… well, I would be fine discarding absolute obedience rights, but suicide is a bit…”
“Oh my. I’ll keep your admirability in mind. However, I wonder if you would truly annul them?”
Yep, since when I found out about the absolute obedience rights, I wanted to annul them.
Though it was just a dream, when I said “Only put out five goblins, don’t do anything else”, it became impossible for her to do anything even if the situation came to the point of the core being destroyed. Therefore, I’d at least want her to be able to use self-defense at her own discretion.
“Anyway, haven’t you ordered No. 695 something horrible? You ordered for her to forget inconvenient memories… Kuh, you can’t do as you wish! This is why humans—!”
“Wait a sec before falsely accusing me of things!”
“Hmph, I wonder about that. [Come to love me little by little] or [Marry me], ordering her to do whatever pleases your species, until you finally notice her die… humans are untrustworthy. Even though I made sure to properly teach No. 695-chan…”
Ah, so it was something like that….
“… Since I don’t have any hobbies like forcing people against their wills, let’s hurry up an annul it.”
“Right, then right in front of me… Nn, wait a moment. Then in other words, without absolute authority your hobby would be…? What would you do to No. 695-chan!?”
“Your imagination is too wild!!”
It’s not at the level of false accusations anymore.
“It’s all good… Please let me confirm something. Haku-san. Are you an enemy to Rokuko?”
“I’m not sure what you are trying to say. I don’t think could ever be something like an enemy to No. 695-chan though.”
… Then why come?
“… Why did you teach such a strategy to Rokuko?”
“Such a strategy? I taught her various things, but what strategy?”
I asked to check things one by one.
“Then, why did you tell her to summon Goblins?”
“Because it is the most efficient monster to summon in this dungeon. Even if she summoned a strong monster, she wouldn’t be able to cover its running costs.”
That’s certainly how it is. Their efficiency is good.
“To the limits of her DP, why summon a lot at once?”
“If there are a large number of them, that would be a threat by itself. In addition, there is no core that would be stingy with DP when a crisis approaches the core.”
That is certainly how it is. No one would usually leave strength reserved and die.
“Then, why say deploy a strong monster rather than make rooms?”
“Even if more rooms were made, wouldn’t intruders be able to just beat it? It is a fact that monsters need to be produced to kill them.”
That is certainly how it is. No matter if there were more rooms, they would be unable to defeat intruders if they had no danger.
“In that case, why not teach her about traps?”
“Because they would all be disabled if it was cleared one time. In small dungeons, there is a limited number that can be installed. It would be very expensive to use them repeatedly.”
That is… probably right.
Given that as long as you presumed it to be from the viewpoint of a dungeon, it could all be said to be correct advice.
However, that advice crumbles the moment that premise vanishes.
“I understand your method of arranging conditions for the dungeon. Then, viewing this as a person, wouldn’t it make it out to be a [Safe and harmless dungeon]?”
Right. These conditions were indispensable for a [Dungeon managed by people].
Otherwise, it would end with the dungeon core destroyed once the Goblins were routed, instead of leaving the dungeon core in the cave.
“Oh my, you aren’t understanding…. it’s simple. Both the empire and the Adventurer’s Guild are my creations.”
Though I was already vaguely aware of it, she really was a big shot.
Ah, even excluding her being a dungeon core, that is.