Side Story: Dungeon Master Kehma (Rokuko's Perspective)

This is strange. How did things end up like this?

I just poured 1000 DP into the gacha, betting everything on a miraculous comeback.

And yet the frail-looking human that appeared—Kehma—of all things became the Dungeon Master that I have to obey.

What is going on? I don't understand at all.

I won't be satisfied until I slaughter every last one of those hateful bandits who kicked my core around. If this was going to happen, I should have just used the 1000 DP to summon a mountain of goblins instead.

Ahhh, what even is this? He ordered me to be quiet while he's sleeping, so I can't even talk.

I have so many things I want to say!

And then when he woke up and I summoned a goblin with DP, he got angry at me.

On top of that, when only one bandit was left — the perfect chance for revenge — he did nothing!

Why?! I was summoning goblins and sending them out just like Ane-sama Number 89 said to!

Ane-sama Number 89 is incredible, you know?! She runs a dungeon in the imperial capital! Kehma couldn't even come close to her!

She earns a ton of DP too!

And then he ordered me not to use DP without permission.

Yet he uses it himself whenever he wants. Food is one thing, but he even brought out a [Futon]. Grr… it's my DP, you know.

I mean, doesn't this guy sleep way too much? I'm a Dungeon Core so I don't sleep at all, you know?

Is sleeping that much really okay?

And then, of all things, Kehma used the DP we'd painstakingly accumulated to give tribute to the bandits.

What's more, he made me write something I didn't mean at all on that box.

"Thank you for defeating the goblins."

Aaaaah! I can't take this anymore!

This guy is definitely just desperately sucking up to them so he can survive!

… is what I was thinking, when…

"This should buy us some time for now. We'll massacre them eventually, so calm down."

… he said with a serious expression.

And he said it was to make his sleeping area safe? What is this guy even thinking? I don't understand. And then he went back to sleep again.

Explain things properly!

Then, while this guy was sleeping, adventurers showed up. And the bandits turned the tables on them.

That was a first. The first time something other than goblins died inside the dungeon.

Maybe the bandits are actually good guys?

Well, I still won't forgive them for kicking my core!

When I explained what happened after Kehma woke up, he said it was all according to plan.

He predicted this would happen and set things up to maximize DP gain.

It's true—we got way more DP than what he'd spent on the bandits.

Not bad at all.

Or so I thought, but then he used DP for the bandits again. He added more rooms.

Having one room and sending out monsters in full force is the strongest strategy!

… is what I thought, but his explanation convinced me. Being able to position lots of goblins is nice!

But then he wouldn't let me actually deploy the goblins. I don't get it.

When I grumbled that in the end he'd just used DP for the bandits' sake, he told me it was different because they can't take the cave to town and exchange it for money. Hmm, I suppose that's true. Kehma is surprisingly smart, and he seems better at earning DP than me.

But man, this guy really does sleep a lot… poke poke

Oh, Gobsuke. I'll cast [Purify] on you. Still, Kehma only cast [Purify] on himself once and got completely clean.

Normally, you have to splash water over and over and layer [Purify] multiple times. How did he do it?

After that, the bandits started bringing in corpses on their own, and they'd bring back their prey to kill inside the dungeon — just like Kehma said, the DP kept increasing.

Also, [Melon Bread]. Kehma used DP to bring out bread I'd never seen before called [Melon Bread]. It's sweet, and so delicious… Eating things isn't bad at all.

[Melon Bread] is really amazing. [Anpan] is tasty too, but [Melon Bread] is the best.

Huh, I have to share with Gobsuke? … F-fine, but I'm not giving him any of the [Melon Bread], okay?!

When the adventurers came, he told me that the goblin room we'd made a few days ago actually had a proper purpose behind it.

Kehma is properly thinking things through and doing various things as the Dungeon Master.

He's usually just sleeping while having me write stuff, send boxes, collect them… wait, isn't that actually quite a lot of work?

Come to think of it, all I used to do before was throw all my goblins at adventurers when they came…

Hmm, maybe I should study more?

… And then, finally, the bandits were completely wiped out.

When the sword was pointed at the Dungeon Core, I thought I was going to die, but I was saved.

In my place, Gobsuke sacrificed himself…

Lately, I'd started to understand what Gobsuke was trying to say, but now he's gone… I was a little sad.

The bandits… were massacred just like Kehma said. They all became DP.

… Kehma is amazing. He really did manage to massacre all the bandits.

I definitely couldn't have done it with just me and goblins.

… Maybe Kehma could have done it with just goblins alone?

In fact, the bandits were all killed without using any monsters or traps.

Also, he retrieved the tiny slave into the Master Room.

I don't know why, but even though she was definitely an intruder, she's being treated as an item.

I never knew that when a slave's master dies, you can retrieve them as an item.

Though this is also the first time someone with slaves has died in the dungeon, so of course I wouldn't know. There's so much I don't know.

… What's he going to use this slave for? Really as a hug pillow?

No, no, this is Kehma we're talking about. He surely has some proper reason for this.

Still, "Niku," huh… I think that's some kind of slang. I don't think it meant anything good… Well, if Kehma says it's fine, it's fine.

What are we going to do now? The dungeon has changed quite a bit, but…

Oh well. I'll leave it to the Dungeon Master.

If I leave it to Kehma, maybe even I can get closer to Ane-sama Number 89!

Ah, but I should try to be at least a little useful too.