And Now, Renovations

Now then, it's great that I got 200,000 DP from Haku-san, but the current situation is that I haven't decided what to do with it yet.

By the way, this 200,000 DP was transferred mouth-to-mouth because "it's a large amount, and it wouldn't be good if some were lost." Thanks for the meal.

Since this is a special occasion, maybe I should try summoning and raising a slime or something… I browsed through the DP Catalog with that thought.

In this world, there are roughly two types of monsters that would be called "slimes" in Japan.

One is the jelly. This one is genuinely weak. It's a translucent, jiggly, moving jelly that dies easily. It has almost no attack power either. And it's 1 DP each—bizarrely cheap… Also, apparently it's edible. I wonder if this could substitute for agar or gelatin?

Even goblins become targets for subjugation requests, but these guys are small fry that get completely ignored.

The other one is the slime. Sticky and slimy, with a freely shapeshifting body that nullifies physical attacks. One costs 10,000 DP. It's bizarrely weak against its elemental weakness, but it's also omnivorous and will eat anything. Naturally, that includes people.

When you say slime in this world, this is what people mean. Come to think of it, there were magma slimes in the neighboring [Flame Cavern].

… As a beginner's dungeon, I somewhat randomly placed a few jelly spawners around the dungeon. Even at 100 times the monster's base cost, it's only 100 DP. Very cheap.

It's not a waste—they're edible after all. Maybe they'll become snacks for adventurers and goblins.

And then, for some reason—absolutely no particular reason—I summoned a single jelly to my hand. As a test, I tried squeezing it… Oh, yeah, just as I thought. It's jiggly.

I suddenly had an idea—abruptly, I just now thought of it—so I made that jelly into a pillow and lay down. Ohhh, this squishy softness is quite nice indeed. It's a wonderful pillow that wouldn't lose to the [Heavenly Pillow]. Getting something like this for 1 DP… zzz…

 

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When I woke up from my nap, the jelly had been crushed and was nearly dead, and my face was all crusty. Apparently the weight of my head had been gradually squeezing out its bodily fluids. This is a point that needs improvement. Maybe I could process the vinyl wrapping from sweet bread into a cover? The jelly would still get crushed though.

"Hey, Kehma. Are the hero countermeasures okay?"

"Mm, honestly, they're not necessary."

"Not necessary?! You're not going to do anything with the 200,000 DP Haku-neesama gave us?!"

Yeah, about the hero countermeasures—honestly, I don't think there's anything that needs to be done. At most, I just need to make sure he can't reach the prison.

Even if he dives to the dungeon's deepest floor, all that happens is the boss Iron Haniwa Golem gets destroyed and he takes a few of the handmade Golem Blade magic swords. Thanks to Haku-san's education (brainwashing), there's no need to worry about the core being destroyed.

To begin with, what's placed at the dungeon's depths is a Dummy Core—the real one is in Rokuko's room at the inn. In fact, I'm starting to think having it in Rokuko's room might be worse from a security standpoint. Though I would know immediately if there were intruders… I can use castling anytime, so normally I'll keep it in the dungeon's depths and switch to this arrangement when the hero comes.

So what's more important is not overdoing it and getting labeled a high-alert dungeon. This might be a good opportunity to gauge just how capable a hero is.

The only necessary preparations would probably be making replacement Iron Haniwa Golems and magic swords.

I was taking this pretty easy.

"Well, we did get 200,000 DP, so let's proceed with strengthening the dungeon… Specifically, I'm going to make new areas."

"Okay, what kind of areas are you going to make?"

I'm thinking of two things: a Colosseum Area and a Meadow Area.

I'll insert the Colosseum Area right before the boss room, and make it so you can access the Meadow Area from the Warehouse Area.

Advance from the Warehouse Area to the Colosseum Area, and you reach the boss fight; head to the Meadow Area, and it's a dead end.

And for the Meadow Area, I plan to install the terrain facilities Haku-san told me about when we were discussing human ranches: [Sky (50,000 DP)] and [Meadow (500 DP)]. I don't think they showed up in the catalog until she told me about them, so there must have been some condition.

Terrain facilities apply to the entire floor. For example, with [Sky], there's a sun with sunlight streaming down, and there's proper night too. It even rains sometimes—it really is a [Sky].

There are other terrains you can get with DP too, like [Coast] or [Volcano]. [Volcano] is cheap at 100 DP, but [Coast] cost over 100,000 DP. I think it's expensive because having a sea in a mountain is unnatural.

If you create terrain using DP, you can make just that area feel like the outside world. Originally it's probably equipment meant for monsters that depend on certain terrains to live comfortably, but it can also be used with the intention of keeping humans in a human ranch as long as possible with minimal stress—that's what she said.

Of course, even with the [Sky] terrain effect, the room size doesn't change, and apparently the ceiling is determined by the room's preset dimensions. So I plan to make the room as large as possible… Let's keep it at a level where you couldn't build a village. Having people settle down only at the entrance area is enough.

Also, I wanted to see what this [Sky] business is actually like despite being inside a ceiling, which is another reason I decided to install the Meadow Area.

"Also, let's make the Meadow Area a [Safety Zone] too. Think of it as a camping area. Let's have them feel safe resting there… Should we let some rabbits loose?"

"That's kind to the adventurers."

"Yeah. It's to fulfill the [Safety Zone]'s original purpose, after all."

The [Safety Zone]'s original purpose. That is, to ambush and eliminate adventurers when they've completely let their guard down and gotten complacent.

Of course, normally we won't let monsters in—it can be used as a campground where you can rest safely. We can't do it every time. It's only effective because it's done rarely.

"Before the boss, they'd take a break and go back to rest. When they let their guard down—bam!"

"Well, something like that."

And so, I decided to do some considerable renovations. Since both require digging holes with golems first, it'll probably take a fair amount of time until completion. I need to have them dig carefully while looking at the map so we don't crash into [Flame Cavern].

But even though it's renovations, information about anything deeper than the Puzzle Area hasn't leaked yet, so from the outside it'll probably just look like there are more jellies.

 

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"Kehma-sama. I have an announcement."

The next day, the receptionist-san came from the guild.

"You may already know, but there are signs of a transition phase. Please refrain from entering the dungeon for a while, or stay on the first floor only."

"Ah… yes, understood."

I see, a transition phase, huh. If unusual monsters start appearing, that's what happens. I don't have any plans for a dungeon battle though… ah, right, I forgot.

By the way, since they're worried about monsters overflowing from the dungeon entrance, they're apparently setting up a cordon. I was included in the shift too. Treated as a nominated request from the guild.

Sorry about that.

Incidentally, the aristocrat's search party not returning was chalked up to them getting caught in some abnormal event inside the dungeon—which worked out well for us.

"I see, so that's why you deployed the jelly spawners!"

"No, that was just a coincidence. If anything, it was unexpected."

"Eh, really? That's rare for you, Kehma. Were you half-asleep?"

Maybe. Things have been scaling up in various ways, so my thinking probably couldn't keep up, and I forgot. I need more subordinates I can delegate various tasks to… Since I can create as much labor power as I want, what I really need are people with the wisdom to manage things. Should I increase subordinates for dungeon management?

If they're limited to inside the dungeon, they don't need to be humanoid like the three girls. Maybe something like an arachne…? Ah, but monsters with both wisdom and combat ability normally cost around 100,000 DP. That's at a level that makes me hesitate a bit. Could I get one?

… Wait, hold on a second.

"To begin with, shouldn't my partner notice things like this?"

"Eh, that was something I should have noticed?!"

Rokuko was genuinely surprised. Hey now, partner. Hey.

Why did it somehow become that I'm in charge of thinking and Rokuko's in charge of relaxing?

"Yeah, I make mistakes and forget things too, you know?"

"Ahaha, so Kehma can joke around too, huh～"

"I'm not joking?! If you take away me being a Dungeon Master, I'm just an ordinary human, you know?!"

"… Nah～, ever since you scattered those bandits, I've been thinking everything would be fine if I left it to you, Kehma. I've just been practicing golem operation."

I'm surprised she trusts me that much. I thought I was just a slacker who sleeps all the time though.

From now on, I need to ask for Rokuko's input more. Or rather, let's have Rokuko make dungeons too.

Before, DP was tight so we couldn't do that, but now our wallet is warm thanks to the Haku-san income.

"Got it. Then I'll try thinking up and making a dungeon myself too."

"Yeah. Since I'm leaving it to you, Rokuko, it'll be fine even if it becomes a goblin-filled dungeon. Though I'll check on it."

"I'm not that much of a goblin lover, you know?!"

And so, Rokuko would be making a new dungeon branching off from the Golem Warehouse.

And for a while, I got dragged into cordon duty and didn't have the leisure to check on things.

… Rokuko's dungeon. I only learned what was in it after everything was complete.