After the Battle

After my match, Wataru came over again, beaming from ear to ear.

"Kehma-san! When you go all out, you really are something, huh?! Actually, um — I was wearing the top-grade resistance gear Haku-sama gave me, you know? How did you break through the resistance?"

"Ah. The 'Bracelet of Fortitude,' you mean. Nerune cast a good-luck charm on you, right? I had her swap it out while she was at it, so here, I'll give it back."

"Wha— Nerune-san?! I did have a vague feeling, but — Nerune-saaaan!!?"

Rokuko was the one who told me to win in a minute, so I let myself pull a few little tricks.

I mean, honestly, beating Wataru in a single minute would be impossible without some trickery. Thanks to that, both Sleepsword Siesta and [Sleep] got to really shine.

"I'm sorry, Wataru-saan. Rokuko-sama told me to do it, sooo."

"…Kuh! If it's Rokuko-san, then it can't be helped…!"

Oi oi, I'm the one who put Nerune up to it, but… "if it's Rokuko, it can't be helped" actually flies?

And then that very Rokuko came up from behind me.

"How was it, Wataru? Just like I promised, you got to see a little of Kehma going all out, didn't you?"

"Yes… he even resorted to off-the-board tactics. A complete defeat."

Ah, I see. So there'd been a prior "request from Wataru" — him asking me to go all out.

In that case, having Nerune do the swap also counts as part of "going all out." This time, Wataru's [Super Luck] must have worked in the direction of making me go all out.

…As troublesome a skill as ever, this thing.

"Hold on, what exactly did the two of you promise each other?"

"The deal was that if he could make Kehma go all out, then for as long as he serves, he'd swear his perfect loyalty to me. Fufufu."

…I see.

That said, a human can't belong to a dungeon. A Dungeon Master would be another matter, but…

"Are you going to use an enslavement-type item? A slave collar or something?"

"[Treaty] would be better. Slapping a slave collar on him would look bad, after all."

"That's fair enough."

And so, I tell Wataru that we'll be performing the contract magic, [Treaty].

"Um, even without that, I fully intend to keep my duty of confidentiality, though."

"Then there's no harm in using it, is there? Besides, it doubles as a safeguard so you can keep the secret even if you somehow get brainwashed — so I was planning to use it on you as a matter of course, you know?"

"Ah, there's that angle to it too… Please, go right ahead!! If anything, that means you're going to tell me a secret important enough to be worth going that far for, doesn't it?!"

Yeah, yeah, that's right.

How much should I tell Wataru…? I still haven't come out and told him that I'm Japanese, and a hero.

Though at this point, part of me feels like it'd be fine to just tell him.

"Well then, for now, go fight the guys who were on your team first. It'd be a shame if a one-sided trampling from me was all they got, so make sure you give them a proper moment to shine."

"Kehma-san, you didn't let us have any moment to shine, after all. What was that lightning storm? I knew about the beams, but that was honestly a full-on cataclysm."

"That's because Rokuko told me to win within a minute… If I'd had the time, even I would've taken all your attacks first before scattering you."

"Ahh. Then I'll take on that role in your place. As a general of the Golen Army! Nerune-san, I'm going to get ready all over again, so please lend me a hand."

"Suure. This time I'll bless you for real, 'kaay?"

I'm counting on you, General.

Wataru went running off to prepare for battle once more. Taking Nerune along with him. …With no rigging this time, she'd surely make him a proper goddess of victory.

"Right then, since I went and tore up the match grounds, let me do a bit of cleanup…"

"You don't need to do that — Kinue and the others are going to run around dragging a roller over it. Those girls will end up teary-eyed if you get in the way of their cleaning."

So leveling the torn-up ground counts as cleaning, does it. I see.

Well, from a silky's standpoint a dungeon counts as "house" too, so maybe the whole range of my territory gets counted as "house" as well…?

Could that be the reason Kinue-san and the silkies have been in such absurdly good moods lately?

"It's about time we got the demons ready too, with the DP we got from Haku-nee-sama. I'm thinking of putting half the budget toward the leader individual, and splitting the rest among its subordinates."

"The budget was up to a hundred million at most, right? A fifty-million-DP demon, huh…"

The most expensive monster in our dungeon's entire history is going to come screaming into the world. I'm looking forward to it, but it's a little scary. A fifty-million-DP demon, huh…

Anyway, after that, the guys who'd challenged me put up a good fight against Wataru and safely salvaged their honor, and one way or another the skill-testing tournament turned out plenty lively too.

According to the deputy village chief, Wozuma, starting with the promising sorts who'd made a name for themselves in the tournament, they'd managed to recruit soldiers without a hitch. …Ah, now that it's become a town, will Wozuma turn into the deputy town chief too — or maybe become town chief in my place?