Breakthrough?

As for the DP Rokuko received as tips, I decided not to get involved and let her do whatever she wanted with it… If I used Rokuko's tips and bought Haku-san's displeasure, it'd be no laughing matter.

"By the way, how much did you get?"

"… … Around 100,000 DP."

… Maybe it'd be fine to take just a little? My heart wavered.

The gold coins we received as inn payment totaled sixty-five. Converting from DP would cost 650,000 DP, while converting back to DP would yield 65,000 DP. Since we'd already received such a massive amount from that, I should just give up on Rokuko's portion.

That said, if Rokuko wanted to use it for the dungeon, I wouldn't object.

If it comes down to it, I'll just borrow some from her. Yeah, let's go with that.

Now, about the phoenix egg.

"—By the way, don't you want to test whether it really revives even in egg form?"

Taking up Rokuko's suggestion, we decided to crack it open before roasting it with a torch.

… Have you ever heard of a Vietnamese dish called balut?

It's a type of boiled duck egg.

However, the contents are a chick just one step short of hatching. It's classified as exotic cuisine.

Well, isn't it strange? Neither eggs nor chicken meat are exotic, yet the in-between state is. Hahaha.

Escapism aside, the phoenix egg had that kind of feel to it.

I'd rather not have this showing up in my dreams…

After that, the grotesque main body burned away, and particles of light gathered to revive it as an egg on the spot.

By the way, the shell remained in my hand. It didn't seem to have gotten any smaller or anything like that.

According to Haku-san, it revives by forcibly gathering ambient mana.

I confirmed once more just to be sure… Yep, less than a second from burning to revival. Fast. And grotesque.

"So, was that the delicious-to-eat thing Haku-neesama mentioned?"

"… … Rokuko, you're actually pretty tough mentally. I respect that."

"Eh? Ah, un, thanks?"

For now, the balut… rather, the phoenix egg apparently [Needs Fire to Hatch], so we decided to roast it on one of the dungeon's [Mysteriously Never-Burning-Out Torches]. It's convenient that we can handle it carelessly. It even revived when we dropped and cracked it.

Since it's a phoenix egg, the shell could probably be used as medicine or some other material… but it was worth 0 DP when offered as treasure. If it had given points, I would've kept cracking it endlessly. I'd probably have made a fully automated egg-cracking golem.

Also, in its current state it would probably burst into flames the moment she bit into it, so I decided against showing it to Ichika (read: letting her eat it).

It also properly revived when stomped flat. Still no DP, though.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

Several lazy days passed, the flag forgotten.

Two unremarkable E-Rank adventurer parties came to challenge the dungeon, stayed at the inn, and were hunting goblins while exploring the first floor. They were being extremely cautious of traps, so their progress was quite slow.

In the midst of all this, while I was sleeping with Niku as my hug pillow as usual, Rokuko burst in.

"This is bad, Kehma! The tunnel—it broke through!"

"Fuoh? Finally… wait, hold on. This doesn't exit the mountain."

"Th-that's exactly why I'm waking you up!"

Indeed, Rokuko had never once woken me up before. This was the first time. I'd told her not to wake me unless it was a genuine emergency, and she had faithfully honored that.

Looking at the dungeon map, we had apparently dug into some kind of cavity.

Opening the monitor accessible directly from the menu, a red cave spread out on the other side.

"Hey, Rokuko… this is…"

"… … A dungeon that isn't ours, it seems. What should we do?"

It was probably [Flame Cavern]. A single Red Lizard the size of a medium dog was flicking its red tongue, so that was pretty much a confirmation. Mm, this is bad. The golem made eye contact with it.

"Retreat! Seal the hole!"

"I'm using DP to make a wall!"

As if to say "Ah, sorry for the intrusion～", we pulled the golem back a step and made a wall appear.

At the same time, the Red Lizard began charging toward us… The wall made it just barely in time.

The wall started getting pounded. BANG! BANG!

"… That was close. One step slower and we'd have been in a fight."

"Kehma. From where I'm standing, that fight already started."

Right, the fight did start, but we evaded it. The wall could be breached at any moment, too.

"Buy time while we prepare an intercept. Deploy traps in the passage."

"[Bottomless Swamp] and [Spear Ceiling] then."

Just as we finished installing traps and refitting the golem for interception, the wall was breached and the Red Lizard came diving in. It fell right into the [Bottomless Swamp]. But this lizard, while sizzling and giving off steam, completely ignored it and tried to power through on sheer momentum.

We pinned it down with the golem while dropping the [Spear Ceiling] from above, skewering it and sinking it into the swamp. Good, it finally went silent.

"… Alright, let's repair the wall and pretend this never happened."

"Y-yeah!"

We replaced the wall and released about five meters of dungeon control, collapsing the ceiling.

That should do it… Or so I thought, but no such luck.

From beyond the collapsed passage, flames erupted with a massive roar! Red, larger than the Red Lizard from before, taking up exactly half of the wide passage designed for wagons to pass each other… a wagon-sized, flame-clad lizard came smashing through.

Oh, and the [Bottomless Swamp] dried up, the [Spear Ceiling] was blown away by flames, and the golem was run over and crushed.

"Uoooaaah! Who the hell are youuu?!"

A salamander.

… Wait, could this be the Dungeon Core himself?

It was a deep, intimidating male voice.

For the time being, I decided to go meet him.

Since the passage was inside our dungeon, if the other party was a Core, I could use the menu's communication function to transmit my voice. It was the normal version of the function we'd used during the Dungeon Battle. I called out using it.

"Stop! Dungeon Core Number 112!"

"Ooohhh?! You bastard, you know who I am?! … Mm? What the, now that I look closer, this is a dungeon, ain't it! Who the hell are you?!"

When I called out his name, the salamander slammed on the brakes and stopped.

Yep, it looks like I was right about him being a Dungeon Core.

"Eek?! N-Number 112… wh-what?! What do you want?!"

"That pathetic-sounding voice, Number 695, huh?! That's my line! What's the big idea, suddenly digging a hole into my dungeon?!"

"Allow me to explain that. It was an unfortunate accident. I'm sorry, allow me to apologize."

"O-oh?! Pretty honest, aren't you! You, are you the Dungeon Master?! Show your face!"

Since he recognized that we were a Dungeon Core and Master pair, he probably wouldn't suddenly kill us. But just in case, I sent out a golem.

"Aah?! So you're the Dungeon Master! … Wait, you're a golem!"

"That's right. Sorry about this, but we really had no intention of invading your dungeon."

"I won't kill you, so bring out the real one! Number 695 is the human type, right? No way a golem could be her Master… Mm? No wait, the golem is human-type too, so maybe…? No no, golems are too dumb to be Masters!"

I thought I might be able to trick him for a moment, but no luck.

It seemed like negotiation was possible though… Given that he didn't immediately destroy the golem, he probably wouldn't kill us without a word of discussion.

I made sure Rokuko could retrieve me at her discretion if things looked dangerous.

Then I steeled myself and went out. On foot. It couldn't be helped since there was an intruder present, so I couldn't teleport to the location.

It was just a long, empty passage, but he'd advanced quite far. He was only about 100 meters from the exit on our side, the former goblin room, so I was able to get there relatively quickly.

"… So, how do you plan to make up for this?!"

The salamander bellowed. Well, we were actually in the wrong here.

As an aside, just as a Dungeon Core can deploy monsters directly, a Dungeon Master can also install traps and facilities directly if inside the dungeon and in close proximity. The range is only about five meters, though, so let your guard down and you're dead.

"Right, I'll apologize. Specifically… I'll seal the hole on our end. And also… do you know about [Dogeza]?"

"… O-oh? [Dogeza], yeah, I know it! You bow your head while in [Seiza], right! You're going to do that?"

"Since you know it, this'll be quick. Have you heard of [Dogene], an apology that surpasses even that?"

"Hou, first time hearing that. What kind of apology is it?"

Ah, looks like I can talk my way through this.

It's not like I particularly mind bowing my head, but simply getting pushed around could cause problems later. Might as well try to smooth-talk him.

In a sense it's like picking a fight, but we've been getting information from Haku-san and preparing countermeasures against [Flame Cavern]. For now, buying time is all that matters.

"[Dogeza] shows apology by lowering one's head, but [Dogene] apologizes by lowering one's entire body."

I laid out a futon on the cave floor while giving this convenient explanation.

"Oi, what are you doing there?"

"Hm? Preparing for the [Dogene]. An apology requiring extensive preparation shows how courteous it is. A dish with more prep work put into it is considered more polite, right?"

"Cooking? I don't get it!"

"… Would it make more sense if I said 'setting lots of traps to bring down your prey' counts as preparation?"

"I see! Got it!"

And then I got into the futon. I declared:

"This is the [Dogene]!"

"O-ohh! Indeed, not just your head but your entire body is lowered…"

Sneaking a glance at the salamander, he looked awed. He was buying it.

This guy—what a pushover.

I decided to push it one step further.

"I shall continue this [Dogene] for seven days, five hours daily from now on… no, make it eight hours!"

"Wh-what?! Eight hours?!"

"Is that not enough?! Then twelve hours! Twelve hours, that is, half the day spent in this posture! Please, I ask that you forgive me…"

"U-understood! Kuh, I have no choice. When you go that far, I can't very well refuse… Heh, I wondered what Number 695's Master would be like, but you're quite a man of principle…! But you said it yourself. Seven days, twelve hours every day… you'd better follow through, got it?! You hear me?!"

"Yeah. I understand."

And with that, the salamander left, apparently satisfied.

… I don't know when he'll come next, but I'll just keep up this [Dogene] until then. In my room, of course.