An Overnight Stay

The report meeting wrapped up for now, and we'd be staying the night in the Imperial Capital.

Handing over that enormous budget of 100 million DP to Rokuko was going to take a whole night, apparently.

But whether we "stayed over" or not, I'd be sleeping in a storeroom regardless, so in truth it was only Rokuko and Soto who'd be lodging at Haku-san's villa.

I could have just gone home on my own, but as it happened there was another place near the Imperial Capital that could put me up, so I figured I'd drop by, partly to show my face.

And so I decided to visit the rabbit dungeon. A few hours on foot from the Imperial Capital, or three seconds by [Teleport]. A dungeon in a prime location.

"Heey, Mikan, you in there?"

"Huh? The hell're you?! Staff only past this point!! How'd you get in?!"

When I stepped into the back area, a.k.a. the staff-only zone, there stood an unfamiliar female adventurer.

Foul-mouthed, with an equally nasty glare. And for some reason, she had on a rabbit-ear hairband.

"Hn, what's up-kyu?"

"Ah, no good, Mikan, stay back! It's an intruder! Number 564, you've got work, Number 564!"

"An intruder, is it?! A prime chance for My Glorious Self to show his might— what, it's only you."

The goat-demon-type Core Number 564 slumped his shoulders in disappointment the instant he laid eyes on me.

"Oh, it's just Kehma-kyu. Ah, Renyu, this guy's fine-kyu. He's an acquaintance-kyu."

"Eh, is that so?"

"If anything, it's no exaggeration to call me Mikan's boss."

"?! Y-you too, are you… um, a dungeon's incarnation? Or a Dungeon Master?"

Ho. If that word was coming up, then… this female adventurer they'd called Renyu was…

"Mikan, introduce us. This is the first I'm hearing of it."

"Huh, did I not say-kyu? This is Renyu, the one I made Master of my place-kyu. Renyu, this here is Kehma. He's my boss, and the Master of another dungeon-kyu."

"A boss… So you had a boss."

"Well, nice to meet you, Renyu?"

"Ah, yeah. Mind if I ask you a bunch of stuff? I got made into this 'Dungeon Master' thing, but I don't understand any of it. For now I'm just doting on the rabbits."

Come to think of it, this rabbit dungeon ran as a "Rabbit Cafe." Or rather, I was the one who'd set it up that way. Back during my battle with Core Number 564.

… Ah, now I remember. She was that customer at the rabbit dungeon everyone used to call "big sis," wasn't she. So she got made the Master?

"By the way, there were two candidates-kyu. I was certain both of them would treasure us rabbits-kyu! It's Papa's guidance-kyu～"

"Mikan, this guy isn't that 'Papa' one, right?"

"Of course not-kyu! Papa is Papa, and he's separate from Kehma-kyu."

"That kind of 'of course' is exactly what I don't get, y'know."

Renyu shrugged as she said it, but the fact that she grasped what she "didn't understand" made her pretty sharp for an adventurer. She hadn't been looked up to as "big sis" for nothing.

"By the way, who was the other candidate? Tokoi, maybe?"

"Oh, correct-kyu. A big-spender regular from the very start-kyu! That's why he was a candidate-kyu, but I decided to just let him keep enjoying the dungeon and handle the advertising for us instead-kyu."

"That tough-faced guy, huh. Well, he is one of the ones who found this dungeon… It was Strawberry and one other who discovered it, wasn't it."

Ahh, that'd be back when it was completely unknown and not a soul came by, huh. Feels nostalgic.

"Haaah." A big sigh reached my ears. It was Core Number 564.

"Ahh, if the intruder is none other than this fellow, then there's no moment for My Glorious Self to shine, is there. Haah… Ah! Or perhaps we shall have ourselves a bout?! My Glorious Self has been fretting that his body may have gone rusty!"

"No, no, not happening. I only came here to stay the night today."

"I see… A pity, that is. Ah, should the mood ever strike you, do feel free to call upon me. Well then, My Glorious Self shall return to his chamber."

Honestly, these guys from the Demon Nation really are nothing but battle junkies, sheesh.

… Then again, the way he backed off so readily after a single refusal, Core Number 564 might actually be one of the more reasonable sorts, surprisingly.

"Huh, you came to stay over? … Did we even have a guest room? You gonna sleep in the living room? Or bunk with the rabbits in their break room?"

"Nkyuu. Renyu, if there's no room, we can just make one-kyu."

"Ah, r-right. I see. So you can whip up a room right away using DP…"

Yeah, I'll be imposing on you today.

Call it a lodging fee, but I'll sit in on any consultations about running the place and all that.