Apology Dungeon Clear!

Having polished off her sushi and thoroughly satisfied with its deliciousness, Karona was unwinding with a leisurely post-meal cup of green tea (in reality: tap water). Oddly enough, as long as she drank it from a proper teacup, it somehow tasted tea-flavored. Strange how that worked.

"Hold on, though, this was supposed to be an apology stream to begin with, and here I am cheerfully chowing down on sushi and walking away with the win…! That's not penance at all, is it… and I even got SuperChats out of it."

Is this really okay? No, it isn't! Surely, to properly express her contrition toward Mikado-onee-sama, some form of penalty was in order. So thought Karona.

And in the middle of all that, one comment caught her eye.

[@FE_Sofiya]: "how about going to a riddle dungeon? those aren't your strong suit, right?"

"Oh. I shall gladly take that idea～!"

And so, adopting the viewer's suggestion, she resolved to offer a proper apology by venturing into a kind of dungeon she didn't normally tackle: a puzzle-solving one.

She asked the chat for recommendations, and the one that got picked was the following.

• Dungeon Info: "Dark Mansion of Riddles" — Solo type
• Type: Mansion
• Element: Dark
• Prize: 500 yen (first-time only)
• Rate: 1 HP = 1 yen
• Entry Requirement: First-time play, 1000-yen challenge fee
• Additional Rule: For the sake of those who haven't played yet, please refrain from spoilers!

"What on earth is this dungeon… 500-yen prize, 1000-yen challenge fee? A guaranteed net loss. And the rate's only 1 yen, the absolute minimum～!"

"you don't know, ojou? this one's super popular with streamer-type dungeoneers"

"fuffuffu, welcome to the Dark Mansion"

"the 500-yen gap between fee and prize is basically the play cost to enjoy the dungeon"

"Play cost… wait, so this dungeon is basically just… a regular game?"

"well, that's literally what it is"

"BCD's dev platform is pretty robust, so there are a lot of these VR-game-style dungeons"

"well, the guy who built BCD was originally the game creator Sotogari, after all"

Ahh, that made sense, Karona thought. A Dungeon Master who creates dungeons is, at heart, a creator, a maker of things. Naturally, once they'd built VRRPG-style dungeons, they'd want to try their hand at other genres of world-making too.

And since the infrastructure was already there, and it was actually doable, well, of course someone was going to do it.

"plus, unlike a streaming platform, BCD takes basically no margin, and it doubles as anti-piracy since dungeons can only be played on BCD. that's a huge deal"

"there's even a pipeline where people start BCD specifically to play these, and end up becoming dungeon-runners"

"A surprisingly serious reason! And rather useful, at that! A Win-Win, isn't it～!"

That aside, for the moment. Just like entering any regular dungeon, she tapped the "Entry" button and dove in. A confirmation prompt popped up asking, "Pay the 1000-yen first-time challenge fee?" and she chose "Yes."

Her finger trembled slightly at the thought of 1000 yen, but thanks to all the SuperChats she'd been receiving, she pushed through.

"Karona, heading in～!!"

And with that, Karona dove into the dungeon "Dark Mansion of Riddles."

A rusted iron gate creaked slowly open, and twisted shadows greeted those who passed through. The mansion itself was old stone masonry, its Gothic silhouette rising ominously against the sky. The grounds around it sprawled in a state of ruin, ivy smothering the walls, the withered vegetation lending the scene an all the more eerie atmosphere.

Beneath a sky caught in the twilight between day and night, pale moonlight bathed the mansion in an unsettling glow. Feeble light leaked from the windows, and the ancient lanterns scattered across the garden flickered unsteadily.

With every gust of wind, faint screams and strange noises drifted from the building, as though the mansion itself were alive.

"… W-wait, this is basically a horror game, isn't it!?"

"yeah and?"

"good luck with the riddles, ojou"

"zombies are coming. there'll be zombies. idk though"

"Pyen…"

And as it happened, Karona was, if anything, not great with horror games.