Teach Me, Ittetsu-senpai

There's only so much I can investigate on my own.

That said, I can't exactly ask Setsuna "Why is your DP 0?"

So what should I do?

"Haah, so someone like that showed up, huh."

"Yeah. Don't you find it strange, Ittetsu?"

Answer: Ask a senior.

So I decided to ask Ittetsu, the Easymander (Easy Salamander). Even if I owed him a favor, it'd be easy to repay. Neighbors should help each other out in times of need. Though up until now, it's been pretty one-sided with me relying on him.

"Nothin' strange about it. Yer 0 DP too, ain'tcha, Kehma?"

"No no, this person's an adventurer, you know?"

"Haaah? Yer a human adventurer too, ain'tcha Kehma?"

"I'm a Dungeon Master, so it's different."

"Then ain't that girl a Dungeon Master too?"

Hmm, that's a valuable perspective.

There's that possibility, but there are other things I want to confirm first.

"Have you ever seen anyone besides a Dungeon Master or Dungeon Core who's worth 0 DP? I figured you might know something since you've been doing this for a long time."

"Aah… sorry, this is actually my first time even seein' this daily DP thing. Between you an' me, most of our stuff comes from Tsuia Mountain's earth vein. I don't pay much attention to intruder DP. I can more or less tell how strong they are though."

Wow. I didn't expect to know more about this than Ittetsu.

"Well, there's a good chance that girl's dungeon-related. That said, there shouldn't be a dog-rabbit beastkin hybrid among the Dungeon Cores, so maybe she's a Master…? Ah."

Ittetsu stopped as if he'd remembered something and scratched his chin with his front leg.

"What? Don't hold back, just tell me."

"Nah, it's just somethin' Number 5-sama mentioned a while back. Do ya know about Core 4?"

"I saw Core 5 and Core 6 the other day, but I've never seen Core 4."

"What've ya been up to? Oh, right. 695 had that whole dispute thing. We even got some family name or whatever… did ya win?"

So the Dungeon Cores who weren't involved in the Dungeon Battle heard about it too, huh… I thought for a moment about how to answer, but since there's no particular need to hide it, I decided to answer honestly.

"Yeah, we won."

"Kukuku, that so? As expected of someone who beat me. Never mind the little brats under Number 5-sama's command, ya even beat Core 6's 666, huh? Nice, nice."

Ittetsu's lizard face twisted into a pleased grin.

So Ittetsu calls that rock-paper-scissors trio 'little brats'?

"By the way, the family name was my idea."

"Ya came up with it? So my full name would be Ittetsu Labyriheart then? Pretty cool, yeah?"

His flame-tipped lizard tail tapped happily against the floor.

… Sorry, maybe I should have gone with a more intimidating surname. Combined with Ittetsu's Easymander personality, it comes off as pretty 'lovely.'

"More importantly, what about Core 4?"

"Ah, Core 4 is… well, apparently that one's called 'Chaos.'"

"Chaos… why's that?"

"Who knows? But bein' a half-breed means bein' mixed, right? Maybe that one's Core 4."

"Have you seen Core 4, Ittetsu?"

"Nah… never have. That one doesn't come to the Dungeon Core assemblies either… At least not once since I was born? That'd be about four, five hundred years?"

Ittetsu's age is vague to the tune of a hundred years? I suppose when you're a Salamander-Dragon pair, your sense of time just gets that loose.

"Core 4's ranking is low for a single-digit number, or rather, considerin' the other single digits are all in the single-digit ranks, it's way too low. New brats ask about 'em when they first show up, but nobody really cares anymore, includin' me. I'd forgotten about it."

"I see. While we're on the subject of things you might have forgotten, does the word 'Toy' ring any bells?"

"Toy? No clue."

No luck there. Well, setting that aside, I beckoned Ittetsu over.

Ittetsu leaned forward over the table, bringing his ear (well, the side of his head?) closer.

There were only the two of us in the room, so this wasn't necessary at all, but I appreciate the spirit.

"… Want to help me with a little experiment?"

"Sure thing. I'm curious too. But ya gotta share all the results with me, yeah?"

"Of course. Thanks, neighbor."

"If yer lyin'—uh, what was the thing for times like this—ya gotta chomp down a thousand needles whole, was it?"

"The punishment for breaking promises passed down from God's Vanguard is 'make you swallow a thousand needles.' Salamanders and Dragons can eat swords and iron, so it might be nothing to you, but a normal human would die. In other words, it means staking your life on it."

"Seriously? Humans are hardcore."

"But there's a loophole in this punishment. There's a fish called a 'porcupinefish' that—"

After some light God's Vanguard small talk to deepen our relationship, we conducted a simple experiment. I don't want to swallow a thousand needles or bite into a porcupinefish either, and there's no reason to hide the results, so I told him honestly.

As a result of experimenting in the Feni garden area that Rokuko made, which has a door to [Flame Cavern], we found that regular dungeon monsters from another dungeon yield a very small amount of DP.

However, for monsters with menu access authority, it became 0 DP.

So that's probably why Chloe from Haku-san's place was 0 DP too.

"Heeh. So that happens when ya give 'em menu access, huh. That's enough, [Burning Fire]."

When Ittetsu said that, the fire spirit exhaled a puff of hot flames and returned.

By the way, [Burning Fire] is apparently a name that means "burning fire" in Draconic. That's how it comes through the translation function, so Redra probably named it. It looks like a flying bonfire… Do dragons have fires that don't burn?

"That guy's cheap and convenient for our dungeon. If he can take lava baths, he doesn't even need food and stays happy."

"Is that so… It seems like it'd be too hot for our dungeon. Though it might be good to put one in Feni's area."

When I checked the catalog, it said [Fire Spirit: 400,000 DP]. Expensive.

"Haaah? Oh, it's about 200,000 for us. Probably 'cause, y'know, I'm a Salamander."

"Come to think of it, that's right."

… Or maybe it also has to do with them occupying most of Tsuia Mountain?

Either way, the Core Ittetsu is a Salamander and his Master Redra is a Red Dragon. On top of that, their dungeon is located in a volcano, making them extremely specialized in fire. It's only natural that Fire Spirits would be cheaper for them.

"Wanna trade monsters without menu access for DP farming?"

"… Nah, that ain't gonna work. Even a fire spirit without menu access only nets about 20 DP a day, right? I ain't one to fuss over efficiency, but that's way too cramped for 'em."

"Yeah. I can't think of any monsters to send from our side either."

Well, this settled one thing.

When sending monsters to another dungeon, they're easy to detect. Even more so if they have menu access, since they'll be worth 0 DP.

… So Setsuna's true identity is a monster from some dungeon who has menu access as an executive or something?

Anyway, I now know the conditions for being worth 0 DP without being a Core or Master.

Maybe I should try using a pitfall trap or something to summon them to a place with a Dummy Core?