The Saintess Gets Serious

After asking Rin for that favor, I returned to the Master Room. On foot.

Rokuko isn't in the Core Room right now. She's probably in her room at the inn monitoring the Saintess.

Without Rokuko there to retrieve me, I have no choice but to walk back. It's a bit inconvenient. I kind of want someone dedicated to Master Room retrieval duty.

"Still, what exactly is the Saintess planning to do when she gets serious?"

Going from the Core Room into the Dungeon Core, through the Master Room, and out via the inn's Dummy Core would get me to my room in no time, but I decided to stop and think things over in the Master Room for a moment.

One way or another, this room is kept at a comfortable temperature, so it's not an unpleasant place to be. For thinking things through, it might actually be better than my futon.

From the battles I've seen so far, I can't imagine the Saintess could beat Rin in close combat. At best, she can dodge three or four attacks. Even if she uses magic, I don't think she'd have much leeway.

Just then—rumble rumble rumble! An earthquake struck.

… Hm? About a magnitude 2 or 3…?

Yeah, nothing to be surprised about… Wait, hold on. Isn't the Master Room in a different dimension? Why did it shake?

As I was tilting my head wondering if that's just how it worked, Rokuko came rushing into the Master Room.

"Kehma! Hey, this is bad!"

"What's wrong? An earthquake like that is nothing to worry about."

"Earthquake? What are you talking about? It was the Saintess's attack!"

… Huh?

What's she saying? There's no way the Saintess hit Rin with an attack strong enough to cause an earthquake, right? I checked the map thinking that, but Rin was fine, and the Saintess was in front of the dungeon to begin with.

Her attendant, carrying the portable altar on her back like a backpack, was also with her.

The attendant bowed to the Saintess and returned to the inn. The Saintess then headed into the dungeon.

"What exactly happened?"

"Look at this."

Rokuko opened a menu and showed me footage. It seemed to be of the Saintess from a little while ago.

… It showed the Saintess praying before the altar in front of the dungeon.

The Saintess was sweating on her forehead as she prayed intently, muttering something. I turned up the volume.

"Kill the dungeon, kill the dungeon, destroy the core, destroy the core. Light God-sama's enemy is here. Light God-sama's divine protection, bring the power of sealing here now. Kill the dungeon, kill the dungeon…"

What a terrifying child. And the Saintess was glowing white. That's proof that her magical power, normally invisible, had gathered to such a dense concentration that it was actually emitting light… What even is this?

"This is the first time I've heard such a long incantation… Do you know what kind of magic it is?"

"Ah, that was an incantation…? What a nasty incantation."

And then, the incantation's keyword was spoken.

"In accordance with the gods' covenant, for three days, seal this dungeon—[Treaty]."

The magical power gathered around the Saintess flew toward the dungeon in a whoosh.

That's when the earthquake happened, apparently. However, the village didn't shake at all—only Rokuko and every dungeon monster felt it.

Niku and Ichika, who are in the human category, felt nothing… So I'm in the monster category too, huh.

The footage ended there.

"But sealing the dungeon? What does that even mean…?"

"Seal…? Ah! Look, Kehma! The DP Catalog!"

"Hm?"

When prompted, I opened the menu and looked at the DP Catalog—

—and across the board, there were red stamp-like displays saying "Unavailable: 71 Hours Remaining."

So it sealed our DP functions.

Room and trap installation, monster summoning—all sealed. The only thing available is repairing damaged walls and traps.

The gacha is sealed too… And exchanging for weapons and armor is also unavailable. Oh, but it looks like I can still exchange for items like sweet bread and daily necessities, as well as treasure-type items like gems.

I don't know what this "gods' covenant" mentioned at the end of the incantation is, but I guess that's just how the rules work?

"This is… definitely a dungeon seal."

Not being able to install new traps or rooms means the dungeon can't grow or change. Secretly expanding and adding hidden passages while someone's inside becomes impossible. Furthermore, from a combat perspective, you can't summon monsters or strengthen them with new equipment. Normally, you'd be reduced to just watching helplessly.

"O-ohh… This is terrible!"

"We have [Create Golem] so we can still manage, but a normal dungeon would be completely helpless."

"R-right! Well done, Kehma! Now go repel that Saintess!"

"Yeah. I'll work hard on making golems."

Speaking of dungeon monsters though… what about Rin, who's just freeloading in our dungeon?

Well, even if it was affected, it probably just felt the shake. Whatever.

I headed to Nerune's laboratory where she was researching magic gol—I mean, gargoyles.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

Nerune was at her desk with her assistant gargoyle, Gar-kun, carving magic formations into golem-crafted clay tablets. Peeking at her work, it looked like a magic formation that produces fire like a lighter. It was quite small, about three centimeters in diameter. She had eight of them arranged in a circle.

"Ah, Master. What do you think of this? I got the idea from the cake the other day. I tried arranging eight magic formations in a circle so it can heat things efficiently."

"… Looks like a stove. By the way, how's the magic formation research going?"

"Let's see. Right now I'm practicing the notation for activating multiple magic formations from a single magic stone, as well as drawing small magic formations. The tablets from Goshujin-sama are relatively easy to work with, so I can make them quite small."

Indeed, it's incredibly fine work. Honestly, I'd like a magnifying glass… Hm?

"So if you can carve the grooves precisely, you can miniaturize them… or rather, engrave them?"

"Yes, a magic formation is complete once you carve the grooves and melt magic stone into them. But going any smaller than this is difficult with my eyes and dexterity…"

I pulled up the DP Catalog… Yep, most things are unavailable as expected. But magnifying glasses are daily necessities, so I could exchange for one without any problems.

"This is…?! What is this? Everything looks so much bigger!"

"Does this world not have lenses or glasses?"

"Lenses? Glasses? We have those. God's Vanguard sometimes wear them when they're summoned—vision-correcting equipment items, right? There are lots of replicas too… What about them?"

Ah, so that's how they got here. Then if there hadn't been any farsighted heroes, convex lenses might not exist in this world.

"Come to think of it, I've heard that things under a crystal ball look bigger."

"Yeah, that's also a convex lens. Well, a sphere would be hard to use for carving magic formations though."

Alright, that solves the eye problem. Next is dexterity… I'll think about that gradually.

"More importantly, the current ones are fine… Nerune, how many magic formations can you make in a day by yourself?"

"U-umm… In one day, ten is probably my limit… I'm not confident I can carve the magic formations accurately beyond that."

"… The only problem is that you can't carve the magic formations?"

"Only problem? That's the most important part! After that, it's just melting in the magic stone and you're done. If not for that bottleneck, I could make one hundred, two hundred a day—as many as there are magic stones!"

That's good to hear. Magic stones are treasure-type items, so I can get them with DP.

"Then let's make two hundred a day."

When I said that, Nerune's jaw dropped.

I've thought of a solution for mass-producing magic formations.

It would be embarrassing if I failed after saying all this, though.

… I need to answer the Saintess's seriousness with my own.