I'm a Dungeon Master, but I'll Become an Adventurer! (Working Title)

The DP we received from Haku-san came to 150,000 DP.

After the Dungeon Battle, we had 30,000 DP remaining… Of that, I was letting Rokuko use 10,000 however she liked, so subtracting that left 20,000. Combined, that gave me roughly 170,000 DP on hand to use freely.

Let's use this windfall (it's DP, but still) to prepare various things.

First, I expanded the dungeon territory to include the forest near the cave and obtained ten [Sugar Beet Radishes (10 DP)]… They're radishes that can be processed into sugar. I'd cultivate a field somewhere that wouldn't interfere with dungeon operations, grow more of them, and produce sugar, a luxury item in this world.

Obtaining the sugar itself through DP and selling it would be easy, but that wouldn't be sustainable. That way, money would increase but DP wouldn't. Well, it seemed like fifty copper coins converted to 5 DP, so it might not be entirely stagnant.

If growing the sugar beet radishes fails, I might try that approach instead.

Also, I picked up several magic scrolls.

Low-tier earth magic [Scroll of Stone (700 DP)]

Low-tier water magic [Scroll of Water (500 DP)]

Low-tier wind magic [Scroll of Air Voice (400 DP)]

Low-tier fire magic [Scroll of Fireball (500 DP)]

Low-tier light magic [Scroll of Light (400 DP)]

Low-tier dark magic [Scroll of Blind (500 DP)]

Bottom-tier space-time magic [Scroll of Wallet (600 DP)]

Three of each, one set for me, Rokuko, and Niku. Let's try learning one spell from each attribute. They might come in handy somehow… Wait, I got the Bottom-tier one for space-time magic, but what the heck is "Wallet"? Apparently it's a dimensional storage about the size of a wallet, but still. Translation Feature-san, care to explain…?

Then there was Haku-san's recommendation: the versatile Mid-tier space-time magic [Scroll of Storage (10,000 DP)]… It was expensive, sure, but since this was windfall money, I got three of those too.

I immediately stored my [Heavenly Pillow]… Seems like it has about as much capacity as a closet. I'll put my futon in there too. Now I don't have to worry even if an inn has a hard bed.

So with that, I spent roughly 80,000 DP in total, leaving 90,000 DP. There's still plenty left, but I'll set this aside for renovating the dungeon later.

… Man, it feels nostalgic to think back to when using DP meant counting down to single digits.

Now I'm dealing in ten-thousands with digits to spare. I'm a mini-celebrity.

Oh, right. Since I expanded the dungeon's territory, our base DP income had increased to 100 DP per day at some point. I think it comes from the ley lines?

… Ten times, huh… Well, compared to when the dungeon was just one room, the expansion was way more than tenfold, though. I wonder if there are spots that increase DP income? Like power spots.

If I'm getting 100 DP a day, I'm starting to feel like I could just sleep all the time. I'd be earning 10,000 yen a day doing nothing, you know?

Anyway, when I took a closer look at the menu after the Dungeon Battle, I found something called [Spawn Monster] listed as a trap… or rather, a facility that had been added to the DP Catalog.

It costs a hundred times the specified monster's DP, but it's a facility that regularly spawns the designated monster.

Apparently there are menu items that get added to the catalog when the dungeon meets certain conditions. Haku-san told me about it.

… The condition for [Spawn Monster] was probably the number of monsters summoned?

Now then, regarding the dungeon renovation. From here on, I intend to transform this dungeon into "a place where people regularly visit, stay, and leave behind DP and money."

That's right: I'm going to build an "inn" in the dungeon. That's my plan.

Heheh, double earnings from both lodging fees and DP.

… Huh? That's cheap? This much is fine.

If I stand out too much, God's Vanguard will come, right? And then, well, I'd die. Can't sleep if I'm dead. I don't count eternal rest as sleep.

That said, I do want to eventually reach a level where I can fend off God's Vanguard so I can sleep in peace. So my goal is [White Labyrinth] and the Imperial Capital. That's a clear example of success.

People gather in the Imperial Capital, generating DP.

The accumulated DP expands the dungeon.

More people come to the Imperial Capital seeking the dungeon's treasures.

And so on, in an infinite loop.

To repel God's Vanguard, you really need to be as massive as [White Labyrinth].

[White Labyrinth]'s original dungeon is supposedly "at least 150 floors deep." That's two whole digits beyond us.

Furthermore, since the Imperial Capital itself is part of [White Labyrinth], it's essentially holding hostages: "If you destroy [White Labyrinth]'s Dungeon Core, the Imperial Capital will collapse too, taking countless innocent people with it."

Even so, Haku-san still has her knight order hunt down other dungeons as if to appease God's Vanguard.

Apparently that's the level you need to reach just to stop being attacked by God's Vanguard.

The road ahead is so long I might die of old age before getting there.

So, with that in mind.

I figured I'd try a small-scale version by running an inn.

More precisely, I'd have someone else run the inn.

And I'd spend my days sleeping in a secluded back room. To make that happen, I'll create an attractive inn that lets me sleep indefinitely.

That said, people won't go out of their way to come to a place with nothing here… Well, there's a dungeon, at least.

If I'm going to remodel the dungeon into a crowd-puller… yeah, I should install [Spawn Monster]-type facilities.

Well, if it turns out my lifespan became 200 years, or 500 years, or I became immortal after becoming a Dungeon Master, then sure, I'll aim for [White Labyrinth] at that point.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

"Crap, I completely forgot."

Two days after the Dungeon Battle, I remembered I'd told the gatekeeper at Tsuia I'd be back in two or three days… W-well, that was assuming nothing happened, so being a little late shouldn't be a problem.

Hmm? Come to think of it, do I even need to be an adventurer anymore…? Well, actually, being an adventurer is a convenient status for going into town. And even with everything Haku-san taught me, I'm still short on information.

Besides, I don't have enough hands to build the inn.

I don't mean labor. I can leave that to the golems.

What I need are "people." People who can handle customer service.

Right now, our lineup is "one man, two little girls, lots of golems, lots of rats," a pretty questionable composition with nowhere near enough customer service personnel.

I don't want to sit at a reception desk dealing with customers. If we put a little girl at the front desk, guests might not take her seriously. Customer service is too complicated for golems, and there's no way rats could handle it.

And since this is a dungeon, we have way too many secrets. With that many secrets, we can't exactly hire ordinary people. So what should I do?

Slaves.

I'll buy slaves. I'd need to provide for their food, clothing, and shelter, but slaves bound by contract magic won't leak secrets, slack off, or embezzle. As long as they can be trained, they'll become excellent employees. Niku has proven that.

"So anyway, I'm heading to town. While I'm at it, I'm planning to buy some slaves this time."

"A-am I not enough?!"

W-whoa, that's the first time Niku's been so assertive.

"I've learned letters, even magic! I'll be more, even more useful to Goshujin-sama…!"

"No, uh, thanks. That aside, keep up the good work. I'll need you to look after the newcomers too."

"Huh…? Y-you're not going to sell me?"

"I'm not selling you. Calm down… why are you stripping?"

I soothed Niku, who had gone into mild panic, and stopped her from undressing.

Listen, don't take them off. Don't take off those socks. Taking those off is the signal for night warfare.

"I wouldn't have taught you magic in the first place if I was going to sell you… Besides, you know about our dungeon. You know what goes on behind the scenes… There's no going back to being a normal person for you anymore."

"… Th-then I'll be a slave until I die!"

Yeah, that's how it is, but… well, she looks happy, so I guess it's fine.

"There's even a way to be a slave after you die, you know? Ruler-tier dark magic has [Necromancy]."

"Yes please!"

Rokuko-san, please don't say unnecessary things.

… I checked the catalog, and [Scroll of Necromancy] costs 800,000,000 DP. That's a long way off.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

I converted 10,000 DP into one hundred silver coins and put them in [Wallet]. That's equivalent to one gold coin. Should be enough… right? Just in case, I'll put in what's left of the bandits' inheritance too.

I also brought a cloth pouch for coins to cover up using the [Wallet] skill… Huh? Won't the chant give me away? Actually, no, [Wallet] requires no chant at all. Completely chantless, so I can use it without drawing attention. I don't know why it's designed that way, but that's just how it is. Maybe someone worked really hard to make it chantless because they got tired of saying "Wallet, Wallet" every time they took out money and ended up looking like someone who'd lost track of their wallet.

Anyway, that leaves 80,000 DP. M-maybe I should start being more careful about spending.

So I left Rokuko to house-sit and headed to the town of Tsuia once again.

Rokuko said she wanted to come too, but I wasn't about to leave the dungeon with only golems and rats. Even if someone came, they probably couldn't conquer it right away, but the authority to spend DP in an emergency or activate Castling to evacuate the core belongs only to me as the Master and Rokuko as the Core.

(For now, I've built a small room beyond the riddle door that was under construction and placed the core there.)

"Oh, you're alive."

The gatekeeper greeted me like that as I paid one copper coin each and entered Tsuia with Niku.

Apparently adventurer schedules being unreliable is common. It's a world without trains, after all.

"For now… you should probably show your face at the guild. Silia-san was worried."

… Huh, did we have enough of a good impression for her to worry about us?