Rei's Consultation

After finishing the naming ceremony, something occurred to me.

Since I have absolute command authority, does loyalty even matter?

… No, even with absolute command authority, there should be a big difference in performance between someone brimming with self-motivation and someone who isn't. Probably. Presumably.

That armor was a real pain to put on and take off though. Full plate armor isn't something you should wear.

Anyway, let's check on how the dungeon is doing today.

By the way, about our dungeon—it's not like no one has died in it, that peaceful scenario doesn't apply. Actually, as befitting a dungeon, a number of E-Rank adventurers have died here. Sometimes careless rookies stumble into traps and die just like that.

Even so, if you're properly careful, it's still at a level where you won't die. In a sense, it's the perfect dungeon for newcomers as a rite of passage—that's our [Cave of Desires]. A beginner's dungeon.

And the magic sword test room set up in the labyrinth area is showing signs of activity.

Due to popular demand, I added three more rooms, and even today, adventurers who heard there are "guaranteed magic swords" in this dungeon came and got themselves locked up.

… It seems this particular guy didn't hear about the [Greed Trap] that's well-known through the Guild. I could just leave him alone, right? Though I'm thinking that, maybe I'll save him if he's on the verge of death and sell him a favor.

But someone dumb enough to not even gather the basic information from the Guild about how "you can get out by returning the magic sword to the pedestal" probably won't give me much return…

Oh, he's shouting things like "I'm Drasan, third son of the Reach family! There's no way I'd die in a place like this, do something!" An aristocrat, huh. There might be returns, but saving him seems like it'd lead to trouble. Pass.

Dungeons are fundamentally self-responsibility. If there's no rescue request from the Guild, I'll just leave him.

His companions who look like followers are getting irritated by his arrogant attitude, so there might be causes of death other than starvation.

This is a dungeon, after all. There's nothing strange about anyone dying here. Bodies get eaten by the dungeon and leave nothing behind. "Couldn't be saved from an instant-death trap," or "Was holding off a monster and got eaten by another one while distracted"—there are endless excuses.

Furthermore, it's a sealed room with no other witnesses, and everyone is armed. Yep, I'm looking forward to the DP.

The customer is god. At our place, they're mainly Buddha. Namu～.

Oh, but right now there are other adventurers exploring the labyrinth area besides them, so word might spread.

Maybe I should secretly make it so they can't reach this test room. Fufufu, they're saying things like "Rescue should come soon," but it won't be coming for a while, you know? Setting the aristocrat aside, the followers' DP is pretty tasty.

While I was observing the dungeon like watching an ant farm, Rei came over with a serious expression. Apparently she wanted to discuss something.

"… I want to be useful to the dungeon! I'll do anything, please give me work!"

Seriously? When did she become such a corporate slave—no, since it's a dungeon, a dungeon slave? When did she become such a dungeon slave? … Must be the effect of the naming ceremony!

Well, honestly, just working as the inn's receptionist is plenty helpful…

"I want to do things that benefit the dungeon too, like Kinue and Nerune… For Master's sake!"

"… Well, you're helpful enough just being a receptionist, you know?"

"You don't need to be considerate, Master. I'm undoubtedly a defective vampire. I even almost make mistakes counting copper coins sometimes…"

Hey, don't make mistakes there. Maybe I should automate that part too. Like a register… Wait, come to think of it, I already made a coin-dispensing mechanism for the slot machine. I could make something similar…

But work for Rei, huh. Or rather, a vampire that can't use offensive power or special abilities—what's the benefit in that? I made her myself, but I hadn't thought of any work for her besides inn employee at all… Any good ideas?

When I averted my gaze slightly downward from Rei's serious stare, the dungeon map was still displayed.

… Come to think of it, your personal attack power has nothing to do with controlling dungeon monsters.

During Dungeon Battles, I've been remotely commanding golems to move, but Rei could do that too, right?

Or rather, can Rei not access the menu?

I feel like there should be something like authority delegation in the menu. She's a dungeon monster after all. Without that, you couldn't entrust a sub-dungeon to a subordinate, logically speaking…

"Master, as I thought, there's nothing I can do…"

"Ah, sorry, sorry. I was just thinking about work."

I searched the menu… Oh, there it is. It was there all along if I just looked.

Let's see, grant authority. Selectable targets are [Gobsuke], [Feni], [Rei], [Kinue], and [Nerune]… Wait, why is Gobsuke there?! The others are white but only Gobsuke is greyed out!

Maybe you can't remove named entries from this list? Uwaa. I should stop casually naming things. I don't like it when things get cluttered like this.

Since Niku and Ichika, being slaves, aren't on the list, I guess some kind of dungeon connection is needed after all.

"Alright, help me with a little experiment."

"Y-yes! Since I'm a vampire, I'm somewhat tougher than humans, so there's no problem at all even if you're rough with me!"

Got her consent, so let's try granting Rei menu display authority for now.

Additionally, there seem to be detailed options like specifying the effective range. I'll set the range to the dungeon and inn, and… DP usage restrictions? Eh, what, there's something like this? Wait, wait, does this mean I don't have to personally bring out food anymore?

Uwaa, I should have investigated this more thoroughly. Well, there might have been a condition like needing five or more named monsters or something.

Anyway, permission, permission. I'll limit the usable amount and the range of items that can be DP-converted, and grant permission!

Being able to use the menu means she's a manager. They were originally summoned as manager candidates anyway… If it goes well with Rei, I'll grant permissions to Kinue and Nerune later too.

"Alright, try showing me if you can bring it up."

"Huh?! W-what should I bring out… m-milk?! Breast milk?!"

"Wait. The menu. Menu."

Why'd she suddenly start talking about breast milk?

"S-sorry. Master was staring at my chest while pointing and poking…"

… Now that she mentions it, the menu was invisible to her. Crap, from her perspective I must have looked like a pervert.

Hm? But conversely… if I say I'm looking at the menu, could I stare at her legs? Ah, no, in the end I'd just look like someone staring at legs. Let's not.

"Menu, it appeared! I see, I can set visibility for the other party… You were looking at the menu while it was invisible!"

"That's right."

In the end, it seems she can bring up the menu now. With this, I can entrust dungeon monitoring and giving orders to monsters to her. She's originally from a race skilled at combat, so she'll probably do well.

"So, I'd like you to help with the dungeon."

I continued experimenting and confirmed that I could revoke and re-grant the authority.

She seemed incredibly happy to be able to help, but there was a possibility that I couldn't re-grant the authority after revoking it… It's fine. Even if I couldn't re-grant it and she'd ended up becoming just a useless person, I wouldn't have abandoned her.