The Hero and [Flame Cavern]

I was holding my head in my hands.

"So? Pretty innovative, right?"

"So innovative I want to punch you. Can I?"

"Why?!"

The dungeon Rokuko made was essentially footholds placed on a magma sea. That alone wouldn't be a problem.

And having only one monster there, the phoenix Feni, was still fine.

The problem was the final door.

It connected to somewhere outside our dungeon — [Flame Cavern].

Probably around the fifteenth floor.

"… Why does it connect to [Flame Cavern]?!"

"It's convenient for Feni to go play, right? I properly got permission from Redra, you know?"

"At least you didn't do it without asking."

Then again, if she hadn't gotten permission, they probably would have said something by now.

"… And why is Feni the only monster?"

"Because this floor is for Feni. And once I save up more DP, I'll make another floor and summon a dragon!"

Apparently Rokuko's dungeon was going to be for her pets… Is that really okay?

Just then, Ontentoo contacted me saying he wanted to talk. I had a bad feeling about this, but it's not like I could refuse. Damn.

"Alright Rokuko. Are you ready to bow your head in apology?"

"I'll do a dogeza if I have to! Just prepare a futon for me, okay?"

This girl is hopeless. I need to do something about her, quick.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

"Oi, Kehmaaaa?! What's the meaning of this?!"

The moment we met, the salamander Ontentoo shouted with enough force to roar.

His reptilian face was glaring daggers at me.

"I think I know what you want to say, but let me ask anyway… What do you mean?"

"Sending God's Vanguard into my dungeon — is that a declaration of war?! Answer me!"

"It was an accident. Sorry."

"Oh, an accident? Then it's fine."

Is it really? Oi.

"I'm the one saying this, but is that really okay?"

"Huh? Yeah, it's fine. The God's Vanguard is heading toward the exit right now."

The hero himself thought he was pushing deeper and deeper, but he was actually heading toward [Flame Cavern]'s entrance — which was its exit. Ontentoo was going to let him bypass the boss room and go straight outside.

"Kehma and Number 112 are so narrow-minded. Right, Redra?"

"No, Rokuko! Even for me, going all out against God's Vanguard would be dangerous, you know?!"

Meanwhile, Rokuko and the Red Dragon Redra (in human form) were sitting side by side in seiza on the stone floor. Or rather, I made them sit that way.

"Kehma? Why did you think it was okay to connect to my dungeon?"

"Ask Rokuko… Actually, you gave permission too, didn't you, Ontentoo?"

"That was Redra acting on her own… We're comrades in suffering, aren't we?"

… My case was because I left things to Rokuko, but Ontentoo couldn't defy Redra since she was his Master. Thinking about it that way, Ontentoo probably has it harder.

With a dungeon that has fifty-one floors, it seems his Dungeon Master secretly renovated part of it, and he only found out when the hero invaded.

"I talked to Rokuko about wanting to connect our dungeons!"

"It's more convenient for bringing Feni to play, right? And I can hang out with Redra too."

"… Speaking of which, when did you two get so close, Rokuko, Redra?"

"While Kehma was sleeping, obviously."

"Rokuko and Feni come to play a lot! Adventurers rarely make it to the bottom floor, so I get bored!"

Well, it is a fifty-one floor dungeon after all… If I made ours that deep, maybe I could sleep in peace for the rest of my life. Though I already sleep plenty as it is.

"Also, Kehma! Pay more attention to Rokuko! Learn from my husband!"

"Yeah, yeah! … Wait, Redra?! That makes it sound like I'm Kehma's w-w-wife—!"

No comment for now.

"So, what do we do?"

"Ah, how about we just seal the door?"

"Hm? It's fine to leave it as is, isn't it? It's camouflaged as rock face on our side, so only people from your side will come through."

Hm? So that means adventurers who come in from our side will just exit through there?

"In other words, we'll deal with whoever wanders in from your dungeon. Be grateful, yeah?"

"Hahaha, that just means we'd be sending our customers your way. We'll camouflage our side too, and only send through troublemakers like that God's Vanguard we can't handle. Thanks for that! More God's Vanguards might come your way though!"

After exchanging some jabs, we decided to keep the dungeons connected for now while camouflaging the entrance.

And we agreed to handle Rokuko's and Redra's punishments on our own.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

The hero Wataru looked around restlessly.

"…… Light…? Huh, the exit? Wait, what?"

He walked out of the dungeon and surveyed his surroundings.

Apparently, he was on the summit of Tsuia Mountain. He could see the town of Tsuia in the distance, and closer by, the inn near [Cave of Desires] — [Dancing Doll's Pavilion]. There was a forest between them, but it was downhill, and with a hero's leg strength, he could run through and get back quickly.

"Doesn't seem like an illusion. This really is outside… What's going on here? Is there another entrance?"

He decided to head back once and report to the guild… and started down the mountain toward the inn. Running down the mountainside, the direction was obvious from where he was.

Passing through the forest, he returned to the area in front of [Cave of Desires] from above.

Right then, Gozoh was drinking at Kantra's smithy. "He's still drinking," Wataru thought with some amazement, while also thinking he'd join in later.

"Hm? Isn't that Wataru? Thought you went into the dungeon. Why're you coming from the mountain?"

"Ah, Gozoh-san. There was an entrance over there… on the summit."

"The summit? … I'm only telling you because you're S-Rank, but that's definitely a dungeon called [Flame Cavern]."

"[Flame Cavern]? Is it different from [Cave of Desires]?"

"Should be a different dungeon, but… well, there's a lot we don't know about dungeons. Guess these things happen. Pretty unusual though."

"There's no precedent?"

"No, dungeons that are close together sometimes connect. A famous example is [White Labyrinth] in the Imperial Capital — parts of it connect to the nearby [White Cave]."

Hearing this from Gozoh, Wataru accepted it with an "I see, so that kind of thing happens."

"How far did you get?"

"Ah, past the unexplored area. Not sure where [Flame Cavern] started though…"

"Ooh, that's impressive! As expected of S-Rank! … Find any sake?"

"Unfortunately not. Ah, but I did get magic swords."

"Oh, I'm jealous."

"Come to think of it, Kantra-san said he was researching magic swords. Want one? I got twenty."

"Twenty?! That's way too many! Oi, Kantra! Wataru's gonna give you a magic sword! We're drinking in celebration today!"

Oh, I get to drink again today! Wataru's throat gulped in anticipation.