Going Smoothly

He said he wanted more rooms, so I gave him a pickaxe. He got angry. I don't get it.

If the space is cleared out ahead of time, it saves on DP, you know.

And so, with nothing to do as usual, three days passed.

By the way, the bandits were digging out rooms with the pickaxes while grumbling. They seemed to be throwing the excavated dirt and stone outside the dungeon at first, but partway through I started collecting it as treasure for the dungeon. It didn't even amount to 1 DP, but helping out seemed to boost their morale, so it looks like they'll do a proper job expanding. Simple folks, really.

"Hm? Something's approaching?"

Rokuko muttered.

"Isn't it the bandits?"

"Doesn't feel like it. Probably adventurers. The bandits noticed too, looks like they're going to intercept them?"

"I see… Nine times out of ten, it's probably an investigation into why the adventurers from before didn't come back."

This is sudden, but it's a good opportunity. I decided to tell Rokuko about the bandit extermination plan I'd been thinking about.

If I tell her, she shouldn't do anything unnecessary.

"Since they went out of their way to come investigate, these guys are definitely more capable than the adventurers from before. There'd be no point sending someone weaker than the ones who didn't return."

From the bandits' perspective, they can't let anyone see this [Ordinary Cave] that's now completely different from how it started. So they have no choice but to kill these adventurers.

And if they kill these adventurers, even more will come to investigate next time.

… Of course, the adventurers they send will keep getting stronger.

I don't know how long it'll last, but eventually the bandits will lose.

Yes, this was the full picture of the bandit extermination plan I'd come up with.

So my job was to keep the bandits from abandoning this base until that time came.

Hm? You think I'm just doing nothing and sleeping? No no, that's not true.

The bandits occasionally go hunting for food and offer some of what they catch to the dungeon. (It's parts like organs and bones that the bandits don't eat, but it still counts as DP.) In return, I write strategies for fighting effectively inside the cave in the box and teach them.

Of course, whether it's bandits or adventurers, if they die in the dungeon, we get delicious DP. The ones who benefit the most are us on the dungeon side.

… Dammit, I don't want to work…!

That said, it's still a pretty easy job since I just receive tribute DP and toss some food to the bandits.

"Ohh… Kehma, that's amazing! I had no idea you were thinking about all that!"

"Yeah. By the way, that goblin room? I'm actually planning to make it into a dummy [Ordinary Cave]. And if push comes to shove, we can move the core there, play dumb about the bandits, and be like, 'Huh? Bandits? Our dungeon has nothing to do with that, you know?'"

"Huh, is that so… I totally thought you'd forgotten that monsters can only be spawned from the Dungeon Core when there are intruders."

Ah, I did forget about that.

"Oh, the adventurers will be here soon."

"Yeah, might as well watch while we can."

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

"Boss, adventurers are comin'."

"Yeah, just as expected. Let's intercept them."

"Expected?"

"Yeah, the box with the sword in it had a note saying adventurers would attack within a few days, so defend yourselves."

By the way, the bandit boss had been studying his letters lately and could now read simple sentences.

Since the letters from the dungeon (technically treasure boxes, so maybe "treasure mail"?) were written simply, even the bandit boss could read them.

Well, he'd been studying specifically to read letters from the dungeon, so of course he could read them… the bandit boss was quite proud of his own intelligence.

Ever since making this dungeon their base, he felt like he'd become particularly smart, he believed.

He also thought he might go back to being stupid if he ever left the dungeon.

"… Right, let's use the newcomers. Tell 'em if they kill well, they'll be made officers."

"Got it. What about us?"

"If the newcomers fail, we mop up the exhausted adventurers. If it goes well, all the better."

In fact, the dungeon had taught them many tactics.

Using newcomers to weed out the useless ones early. This was one of the tactics the dungeon had taught them.

Having a base that sheltered them from wind and rain where they could stash their treasure. That was a status symbol for bandits.

Naturally it would be dangerous if their base was discovered, but if they killed everyone who came, one by one, it wouldn't be discovered… that's what the letter from the dungeon said, and the bandit boss agreed it was probably true.

At the blind spots in the corners of the room, just inside the entrance to the dungeon's room… well, it was cramped, so even packed in they could only fit seven or eight people total on both sides. The newcomers waited there.

The non-newcomer bandits waited in the passages leading to the left and right rooms the dungeon had added. Ready to provide supporting attacks at any moment.

"Huh? Wasn't the Dungeon Core right here?"

Those were the last words of one of the three-person adventurer party.

One of the newcomers raised his sword and lunged at the adventurer who had carelessly shown his face.

"Take thiiis!"

He managed to strike the poorly-sharpened rusted sword against the armor-free neck, breaking the neck bones and killing him in one blow.

Nice job, newcomer. Was he a thug? I remember him being annoyingly cocky.

I'd told them to stay quiet and still until they attacked, but I guess that was too much for a thug trying to kill someone for the first time. But he managed to take out an adventurer with the first strike. You could call that a lucky result.

"H-hehehe! This makes me an officer!"

"Bennis?! Tch, bandits?! [Slash]!"

"Huh? Gbeh—"

The adventurer's… the swordsman's counterattack cut halfway through the newcomer's neck. This was the kind of wound that would be fatal without high-level healing magic applied immediately—in other words, this guy was done for. The surprise attack and the critical hit made it even. The sword had a good edge, must be well-maintained… no, the swordsman was skilled too, since he used a skill. The thug crumpled to the ground.

Nobody was foolish enough to just watch the corpse finish falling, but the adventurers were faster to act than the bandit newcomers.

"Shit, he's got skills! Press the attack, overwhelm with numbers…! Urgh, gbah—"

An arrow fired by an adventurer in the back pierced through the worn leather armor and lodged in the newcomer's chest, killing him instantly. Perhaps not expecting a one-hit kill, another arrow struck his head. High-power rapid fire with high accuracy too. An offensive archery skill from the rear-guard adventurer? But the standard counter to an archer is to close the distance and neutralize them. The fact that the bandits weren't moving from their position in the passage suggested they might not be used to actual combat. Or maybe they just couldn't bring themselves to abandon their companions and flee.

From there it turned into a slugfest. Despite being down one member, they had good coordination. Apparently the adventurers were stronger than the newcomers. That was obvious the moment they used skills, but they couldn't beat the numbers. The swordsman was surrounded, and the archer was approached using corpses as shields, and fell.

In the end, in exchange for five newcomers who'd been overly cocky, they managed to take down three adventurers.

The newcomers who survived and finished off the adventurers… well, two of those three got killed in the counterattack, so only one actually survived. The former mercenary newcomer who was lucky enough to kill an adventurer and survive would be made an officer as promised.

"I'm gonna recruit more newcomers going forward… he'll be perfect as a leader for them.

The survivors are a former mercenary and a criminal slave, huh… the thugs are no good.

… So, think this'll get us more rooms? Please, my lovely Dungeon-chan!"

And then, a box appeared.

The message written inside read: "Good work! I'm going to add more rooms, so please go outside."

Thankfully, the box was stuffed with food. There was even bread with a sweet smell that the bandit boss had never seen before. It smelled similar to the luxury fruit called melon… coincidentally, the boss had smelled it just once before. It was one of the reasons he'd fallen into the life of a bandit—well, let's not go into details.

When he gave that bread to the new officer as a reward and had him taste-test it, the man started eating with incredible enthusiasm, saying, "This is the first time I've ever eaten such sweet, delicious bread! I swear my loyalty to you from now on, boss!"

His expression was more serious than when he'd first joined them, and the boss couldn't help but give a wry smile.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

The adventurers seem to have been dumber than I expected.

If they'd been cautious and had their scout on alert, they might have prevented the bandit ambush.

Or maybe they'd underestimated it as just an [Ordinary Cave] after all? Maybe they figured it'd be fine even if they got ambushed by something goblin-level.

Perhaps they thought the danger couldn't have increased that much along the way?

… They might have assumed the newcomer just got lost and had an accident.

Either way, they should have been more cautious when the newcomer didn't return. Neglecting that was their downfall.

"Ahh, what a treat! Those bandits are starting to look like good guys to me. They haven't even stepped on the Dungeon Core lately!"

"They're criminals, though."

Well, whatever. We got just over 1,900 this time, bringing us to 2,951 DP… Roughly 1,000 for the five bandits, and 900 for the three adventurers. We lost the steady income from those five, but the return was more than worth it.

"… Should we expand the rooms as requested? They've been working hard with pickaxes trying to extend the left room further, so I'll extend one room each from the left and right rooms going deeper in. Maybe make one of them a jail… Oh right, I should throw in some food service too. I'm curious what'll happen if I let them try melon bread in this world."

"Melon bread? What's that? Is something like that on the DP menu?"

"It is."

I put [Assorted Sweet Breads (15 DP)], [Assorted Savory Breads (15 DP)], and [Vegetables & Dried Meat Set (15 DP)] into a [Box (5 DP)], had a message written telling them to wait outside the dungeon, and sent it into the dungeon.

Using 630 DP to add rooms left us with 2,271 DP remaining.

… Still a long way to go to 10,000 DP.