Epilogue

“Huuuh? Did something happen, meow?” Misha asked, sniffing me in my office.

“Yeah, Aidy went nuts and caused a lot of problems. We went and destroyed a criminal organization in Pavella. All these problems happened because you just wouldn’t fight Aidy for some reason.”

“Don’t try to push this on me, bub. My job is to protect Rokuko and fight off assassins. I’m keeping my paws off babysitting Aidy.”

Pretty sure that saving Rokuko from being stabbed to death by Aidy counts as protecting her, but, well, I won’t mention that. We need to keep this a secret from Haku, so yeah. Misha would probably get punished too if she found out, so for both of our sakes it was best to just not talk about this.

“So, what’d you call me for?”

“Right. The truth is, we found an artificial dungeon when we went and destroyed that criminal organization in Pavella,” I said, then explained that while we had destroyed the Core, the dungeon itself was so simple and shallow that it hadn’t fallen apart.

“Aaaah! Well, I would have wanted you to save the Artificial Core, but okay, not bad. Whew, that Demon Realm brat can be helpful sometimes, huh?”

“So yeah. You should go check it out, Misha, and report to Haku or whatever. I already told the Pavella authorities about it, so just ask them.”

“You got it! Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Keima!” Misha gave a salute, then left the room.

I didn’t say a word about Aidy getting controlled, but I didn’t lie either. Good work, me.

I had already talked things through with her and planned out a range of excuses: “My, the Core was a deadly thing. I destroyed it because it was so dangerous. It started letting out black smoke, that was close. It was quite dangerous.” I would then follow up by mentioning that the prior Artificial Core we broke didn’t have any smoke, so dunking them in water first was probably a good strategy.

In the end, Father sent the message “Everything’s okay now! Good job, Keima!” which confirmed Aidy was safe now. We started digging Aidy out from the wall, but midway through she transformed back into a Magic Blade so we could just slide her right out. Rokuko could withdraw the Dai-Frame directly, so I kind of wish we realized that earlier.

Incidentally, I noticed this at the time, but my GP went up to 36 GP. It had gone down to 33 GP back when I spent 1 to talk to Father about Aidy, so apparently I had earned 3 GP since then. I had no idea what basis this was operating on. Maybe simply making Father happy was the best way to make GP... That would be too logical.

“Keima, can I come in?”

“I’m coming in, town chief.”

Rokuko and Aidy came to my office a bit after Misha left.

“So. What even are Artificial Dungeons, anyway?” I asked.

“Um? I mean, they’re dungeons... that are artificial. It’s right in the name. Am I right, Aidy?”

“Quite. I believe it was from the Holy Kingdom? Truly, it was a strange dungeon.” Aidy had gone there herself, and it was more like a science lab or a growery than an actual dungeon. The black Core itself had been resting in the furthest back room. “This must mean they have produced so many such Cores they are overflowing out of the country. Or at least, they have made enough for imperial criminals to obtain them.”

“I dunno all the political machinations at work here, but the Holy Kingdom pretty much does nothing but bad stuff, huh...? I mean, I know dungeons are pretty convenient since they can just make farms and mines in the snap of a finger, but still.”

In any case, I want to avoid dealing with them as much as possible from now on. Thooough, given Core 564’s left arm and stuff, I can imagine Leona’s working in the shadows over there. I’ll probably be stuck dealing with them whether I want to or not.

“It sure looked like the thing that got stuck on Core 564’s arm, but how’d it actually feel, Aidy?”

“Aaah, the darkness had such an irritating voice, and while I remained conscious it forced me to draw my sword against Rokuko. Oh, sweet Rokuko, could you ever forgive me for being so fragile at heart that I shamefully let a bug take control of me?”

“It must have been pretty intense if you couldn’t resist it, Aidy—it even sent Core 564 from the 500 lot frothing at the mouth, so okay. I’ll forgive you.”

I’m not sure she was actually being controlled, but no point thinking about it. Best to just let sleeping dogs lie.

“Oh, but you do need to pay the repair fees. Gosh, you just went and wrecked so much of my dungeon!”

“It is all the fault of that wretched, wretched Artificial Core. But of course, I shall pay. If I don’t have enough, we can exchange more at the next assembly.”

Rip her the hell off, Rokuko.

“Incidentally, town chief, I would like to properly finish my duel with Rei... The more I remember it, the more I simply cannot stand how our last one ended. It is unbearable.”

She was referring to her duel with Rei in the coliseum right before the Boss Room. As far as I could tell, she hadn’t noticed that Rei had been helping out in the Boss Room afterwards as well. No need for me to inform her, either.

“Sorry, but my dungeon admins are all pretty busy. Just take it as another loss since she stalled for time and got away. Or really, take it as a punishment for causing us so much trouble.”

“Hrm. I suppose there is not much I can say against that. It is true that she performed her goal of buying time admirably, and while I was not thinking of the duel like that, she was victorious in accomplishing her goal. Once again I have lost,” Aidy said. The happy look on her face somehow reminded me of Wataru.

“Rokuko, let us go to the church so I may congratulate the victor.”

“Okay. Let’s go. Want to bring some jam pastries?”

It was then that I connected Rei getting wrapped up with Aidy to me getting wrapped up with Wataru. My sympathies, I muttered.

＊ ＊ ＊

The rest of Aidy’s time for her trip dried up, and it was time for her to leave. We’d traveled for four days to get here, but on the way back I just put her in {Storage} and used the [Ivory Beach] to get to the imperial capital within the day. A carriage was already waiting there for us when we arrived at the [Ivory Beach].

“The inside of {Storage} is perfect for psychological training. I may honestly have to revise my opinion of Core 564, considering he survived for three days inside of it,” Aidy said after I pulled her out. Given that even she had found it that impactful, it would probably be for the best if I never put Rokuko into {Storage}.

“Bit late to be asking this, but did you forget anything?”

“Not at all. I already checked with Rokuko. Oh... Oh, goodness. I forgot to settle things with Rei!”

“You’re still hung up on that? I might have to start calling you a sore loser.”

“Aahaha, no, no. This isn’t about the duel but rather a game we played with dice. It was surprisingly invigorating to play such a game of luck. I never would have dreamed Rokuko would be such a fearsome opponent.”

Aidy gave a bright smile, while Rokuko gave a prideful grin. Rei must have gotten exhausted dealing with these two free spirits. I should reward her with some time off...

“This was quite an enriching trip. I will visit again, Rokuko.”

“Come whenever you can. You’re always welcome here.”

The two of them gave a goodbye hug. And with that, Aidy got into the carriage and returned to the Demon Realm.

＊ ＊ ＊

After seeing Aidy off, we returned to the dungeon. Aaand suddenly I was in the Master Room instead of my office. Before I could figure out what was going on, Rokuko hugged me tightly from behind. It seemed she was the culprit.

“Hm? What’s up, Rokuko?”

“Mm, I was just thinking it’s safe to do this here? Not like Misha can see us.”

That was true, so I just let Rokuko keep doing what she wanted to. Elka and the others working on the Master Room politely looked away and focused on their monitors.

“Thank you, Keima.”

“Hm? Where’s all this coming from?”

“Can’t you guess? It’s about Aidy.”

Oh, right.

“We managed to keep it a secret from Haku, didn’t we? It’s our little secret now.”

“Don’t forget Aidy. She knows too.”

“Oh... Right. Darn.”

I feel like forgetting one of the three main people involved is kind of an impressive feat.

“Well, when it comes to our dungeon, only we know.”

“Niku, Ichika, Rei...”

“Grrr... Good point.”

I had already finished buying everyone’s silence. If worse came to worst I planned to use Succuma’s charms to seal their memories, but due to everyone being slaves and Dungeon Monsters, that hadn’t been necessary. It might have been a bigger problem if we had ended up relying on Redra or Igni.

I walked to where the chairs were in the Master Room and sat down with Rokuko. Since she was hugging me from behind, she had to scoot around to be in front of me. That was pretty cute.

“By the way, why were Redra and Igni unavailable, anyway?” I asked. I mean, we wouldn’t have been able to ask for their help, but I was curious.

“Oh, right. They said something about being in their ovulation period. It happens once every some number of years.”

“Dragons too, huh?”

Their ovulation period being that infrequent was a good sign that dragon eggs were pretty rare, but that wasn’t worth thinking about right now. That said, it just hit me that pretty much every member of our dungeon is a girl... What are they doing about their periods? Rokuko might not even have one, but what about Niku? Is Ichika pulling through? I should probably ask about this just to be safe...

“You know, Igni was saying something about making eggs being the sign of becoming a full-fledged woman.”

“Neat. Awesome.”

“Making eggs means making babies, you know.”

“Neat. Very awesome. You can ask Redra all about it.”

This was all coming out of nowhere for me. I didn’t really want to have the talk with Rokuko, so my plan was to throw it all on Redra. Who better to talk about Dragon eggs than an actual Dragon?

“Igni was really throwing herself at egg-warming practice. She practices with an unfertilized egg so she won’t break her actual egg when the time comes.”

“Neat. Very awesome. Dragons sure are cool.” You learn something new every day, and today I learned about Dragon reproduction.

“I wonder how humans practice for their children. Do you know, Keima?”

Er.

“Also, how many kids do you want, Keima?”

“I feel like you just dramatically changed the subject.”

“You think so? But we promised to do couple-y things together. What’s more couple-y than talking about our future kids?” Rokuko asked, looking me in the eyes and giggling.

Oh yeah, I guess we did make that promise. Alright. Let’s roll with it.

“Yeah, I guess this is a couple-y conversation. So, uh... H-How many would you want, Rokuko?”

“Hm? Let’s see...”

Oh shit. Rokuko always gets super sensual and aggressive in conversations like this. Is this how all married couples are? Should I ask Ittetsu? Nah, the Hubb family in town should be better. They just got married, after all.

“Mm... Hmmm...”

I collected myself while Rokuko thought of her answer. Whew, alright. Come at me! Hit me with any number you got!

“I want one hundred... No, two hundred!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on. Isn’t that too many digits?”

“Hm? You think so? But if we have one every year, that’ll be a hundred in a century.” Rokuko tilted her head.

Oh, right. She’s a Dungeon Core.

“Let’s do our best and try to surpass even Father!”

So seven hundred at minimum, then. Okay. It doesn’t seem like she’s taking my lifespan into consideration. I guess it won’t matter, since that’s why I’m gathering the Divine Bedding in the first place? Alright.

“Y’know, I think I’d be fine with just one or two,” I replied.

“Aww, that’s so few. It’d be so boring for me.”

“I mean, look at Ittetsu and Redra. Igni alone is more than a handful for them.”

“Redra has tons of other kids. I don’t know exactly how many, though.”

Oh. Well, I guess a century to us is like a year to a Dragon, so that makes sense.

“Let’s put aside the final total for now and just see how we feel after each child, okay?”

“That’s a good idea. Like, once the child’s all fine on its own, we can have the next one?” Rokuko nodded to herself. It was a genius combination of not planning ahead yet also being careful and thoughtful.

In any case, I took one of my hanging hands and patted Rokuko’s head.

“Mm. Yeees?”

“Oh, nothing. I just thought getting touchy feely would be couple-y too. Also, it’s a bit late for this, but good job buying time with Aidy. You did good,” I said, and Rokuko beamed.

“I’m your wife, after all. That kinda thing is as easy as a cup of tea in the morning for me. Feel free to rely on me all the time.”

“Sure, sure. Also, nice Japanese idiom there. You’ve sure learned a lot about the language.”

“Eheheh. Rub my head more... Touch me more?”

As requested, I continued stroking Rokuko’s blonde, pleasantly soft hair.

“Ah.”

Suddenly, I remembered that Rokuko had kissed me during all the fuss earlier.

“What’s wrong, Keima? You’re blushing.”

“Er, well... Whoa. You’re getting red too, Rokuko.”

She must have remembered the same thing. Her cheeks were getting flushed.

“N-Not true. Um, I mean, emotions were high, weren’t they? Like, um, I just kind of did it.”

“I don’t know what’s ‘not true’ then, but, well, sure, alright. Can’t blame you for going with the flow.”

Yeah, even I think that was a pathetic answer on my part.

Rokuko and I averted our eyes and fidgeted in place. The fact I kept stroking her hair anyway was, well, progress, I guess? Probably.

“Oh, by the way, Father said he’d convince Haku for us if we offer up 100 GP. We have 36 right now, so we just need three times as much.”

“Not to talk bad about Father, but he’s definitely ripping us off.”

I dunno, seems pretty fair to me. This is Haku we’re talking about.

Anyway, I ended up falling asleep somehow while patting Rokuko’s head. When I finally got back to the inn, Misha was pretty pissed. She tortured me a bit to figure out why it had taken so long to see Aidy off, but that’s another story.