Preparations to Study Abroad (Digression)

Haku-san stayed overnight (in Rokuko's room) and was about to take Aidi away the following morning.

"Looks like Hero Wataru didn't come in the end."

"It's too bad, he's usually here once a month."

"That's the only part I regret."

By the way, Wataru hadn't come this month… I thought that he was avoiding Aidi, but it turned out that it was at Haku-san's suggestion.

It appeared that Aidi—the battle enthusiast—would have been satisfied with a sparring match against Wataru and would have stayed longer if she heard he was coming. It would have been great if you told us that in advance…

"I heard that Wataru's going to make an appearance in the fighting competition, though… right, I'll just look forward to that."

"Yeah, Aidi. Look at it this way, now you won't know how he fights when you get to see him at the competition. I'm sure you'll enjoy yourself more this way, right?"

"… Right… I pray I'll be able to danceduel with him on the big stage."

And like that, Aidi was suddenly alright with returning home.

"So, Haku-san. When will we be going to study abroad?"

"Oh, I didn't say? Next week."

Hoh. Next week, huh.

"Make sure to come by the capital by the end of the week."

"Alright, we'll be there."

Half a month left us with a bit of time, but since travel took such a long time in this world, it could be called something of a rush order. Unless you could warp via [Transfer] or a dungeon function.

Well, Haku-san probably only gave us that much time after taking various things into consideration. We could actually make it, after all.

"Oh? Rokuko can make it to the imperial capital so quickly?"

"You should know about it from before, Number 666. We used it for that Dungeon Battle and Rokuko-chan and I won as a pair. It's near the imperial capital, so they can make it there within a day at the most."

"Oh right, there was that… Could we use it to return as well?"

"Not possible, you can't go to it without using the dungeon function for it."

Aidi gave up upon hearing Haku-san.

"That would be impossible, yeah."

"I have to hurry up and get home so I can prepare a welcome that won't lose out to this. I'll send a message if there's anything I need to know, so let me know if there's anything you want, Rokuko."

"Yeah, it'd be a good chance to try out the message function, too."

Speaking of which, she got that crazy useful function, didn't she. Aidi hadn't had much of a chance to use it in Golen since then, but it was a good chance for it.

 

With that all said and done, we saw Aidi and Haku-san off.

… I wonder what sort of preparations we should make?

"Well, we can get by with whatever using DP."

"Right… What about Kinue's cooking?"

I thought back to traveling with Wataru and everyone to the imperial capital a while back. It'd probably be like that.

Our members will be the same, at any rate.

Moreover, it seems like Wataru's going to be participating in the fighting competition. There's also the chance we could enter together… hmmm, I wonder if they separate dungeon related people from the others?

"Rather, Divine Beddings were the prize, huh…"

"What are you going to do? Steal it?"

"Nah, I figure we could have Wataru win and negotiate it away from him."

"Sounds good… should we trade Nerune for it?"

… Well, maybe giving him my approval in going out with her would be enough? It'll also be important to get her approval. That's an important step.

That said, she'd happily do it if I ordered her to. Dungeon Monsters' way of thinking is very different than humans…

"To be honest, they'd kill people with a smile if I told them to."

"There's a good word for that, actually! —Fanatics."

Faith in Beddhism or in Dungeon Cores and Dungeon Masters?

… Rokuko's expression makes me think the latter.

"Right, before you open up the dungeon again, don't you think it'd be better to summon more monsters instead of change around the managers?"

"Hmm."

She had a point. Like, Rei was busy being the Saintess of Beddhism, Kinue-san and the silkies were busy at the inn, Nerune was hard at work researching, the ring succubus Neru was my guard against dream demons… and then there were Rokuko's pets, my magic sword, siesta, and the mice…

Huh? None of our dungeon's named monsters would be a good fit. Should I bring Ten-san over here?

That being the case, I'd still like to have at least one more monster dedicated to managing the dungeon.

"Rokuko, would you like to spin the gacha? Let's get one that'll be good for the dungeon."

"Oh, good idea! Let's do it! … What DP gacha should I do?"

"Hmm, how about the 10,000 DP one?"

"Sure. I wanted to spin the 100,000 DP gacha, but at least this one will let us get more people like Rei and the girls."

With that decided, we moved to the Core Room just in case. It wouldn't be an issue no matter what monster was summoned there.

Rokuko opened up her menu and reached for the 10,000 DP gacha right away.

Kyun!

A magic circle spread out as usual.

I wonder if the monster will be able to do what I'm hoping—

—nope, it's a panda.

"… A black and white bear?"

"… It's a panda."

It was around a meter in height.

… So another pet for Rokuko, huh. It'll still likely be strong since it's a kind of bear, but like… why a panda…?

"Oh, Kehma. It's not just a bear."

"Huh? Well sure, it's a panda, but what do you mean?"

Rokuko pointed at a small—around ten centimeters wide—treasure chest attached to its tail.

"… It's a mimic!"

"Hold up."

What were mimics? Monsters that mimicked treasure chests and attacked adventurers that got too close. What business does it have being a panda? And what's with its treasure chest being so tiny? The heck?

"Kehma, look!"

"… Huh?"

Just then, the panda entered the treasure chest right before our eyes… how the heck did it fit in such a tiny chest?

The treasure chest just fell to the floor.

… I wonder if he's using some sort of space-time magic?

I picked up the treasure chest with one hand… it didn't feel that heavy. But that's it. What am I supposed to do with this?

"It's too novel to make use of in a dungeon… Rokuko, want it as a pet?"

"Ooh, yay! Fufufu, from today on, you are… Pack!"

Like this, we set aside our need of a dungeon manager and got Rokuko a new pet.

 

… We'll have to summon some monster to manage the dungeon… Can't just leave it to someone who can't do it…