Chapter 2

Day 21

Alright. Now that things have settled down and there aren’t any bandits, let’s think about what to do next. The main thing on my mind is that {Create Golem} spell I saw earlier. Magic that can make Golems... Yep, that sounds perfect. Things will be easier for me if I can make Golems do all the work for me.

“Bwuh?! But all that magic can do is make Golems. You should just use that DP to summon Golems as monsters instead. They cost 100 DP each, and they’re strong enough.”

“So basically, this spell will pay for itself after I use it to create one hundred Golems. Every Golem after the one hundredth is basically free.”

“Wow, what?! That’s amazing!”

Yeaaah, but to be honest, there’s way too many unknown factors to actually know that for sure. How strong will the Golems I make be? Can I really summon them for free? Will I even be able to summon 100 of them? The spell may not end up paying for itself, it’s impossible to tell right now. To tell the truth, I halfway want it just because I want to try making some Golems. I mean, it sounds really fun, right? ...Let’s not tell her about all this.

“Alrighty then. I’ll have one {Create Golem} scroll, please. Aaand... Sweet, there it is.” I used 10,000 DP to buy a [{Create Golem} Scroll] and soon enough a string-tied scroll made of animal skin appeared. I tried not to think about how we had just lost two-thirds of our DP in a single purchase.

Let’s try to use this thing. I undid the string and unrolled the scroll. It had {Create Golem} written along the top of it with a magic circle in the middle.

“...How do you use scrolls like this?”

“Just pour your mana into the magic circle.” I followed Rokuko’s advice and tried pouring my mana into the magic circle. It felt a lot like using the Survival Magic spell {Purification}, somehow. All I had to do was put my hand on the magic circle and clench it into a fist before I started feeling mana flowing out of my body. It was just a little tiring.

My mana flowed into the magic circle and started running along its lines. Huh... So this is what it’s like to let mana flow into something. How long should I do this, anyway? I guess I should just keep pumping out mana until it works. My mana flowed progressively faster into the magic circle. Once it reached its limit or something, the magic circle suddenly stopped resisting the flow of my mana, causing it all to burst and rain back onto me. It felt as if the composition of the magic circle was being ingrained within me as my body was showered with mana. Actually, it probably was being ingrained within me. Once it finished, I bet I could use {Create Golem}. As for the scroll... The magic circle on it was scorched black, and after all my mana left it, the whole scroll caught fire and turned to ash.

“...Wow, I’ve never seen someone actually use a scroll before. That was really cool.”

“Oh yeah, you mentioned that you’ve never used a scroll before. I’m impressed you still knew what to do with one.”

“Eheh, it’s just common knowledge. Though, um... Number 89 is the one who taught me how to do that.”

I decided to go ahead and try out {Create Golem} immediately. Two things were necessary to use it: mana, and material to make the Golem’s body with. Somehow, I just knew that. Knowing instinctively how to use a spell must be one side effect of using a scroll.

It seemed that using the ground itself to make Clay Golems was the most simple thing to do. The Golem could have its shape changed by mana. I stood up to leave the Master Room and go dig out some clay, but before I left, I noticed Niku sitting in the corner of the room with her arms around her legs. She had woken up at some point without me noticing. That was where Gobsuke always used to sit. Mmm. Nostalgic.

Right, right. I don’t have to go outside myself. If I have a tool available to me, I better use it.

“...Hey, Niku. Go outside and mine some clay for me. Not a lot, just about this much.”

“O-Okay. Understood, Master.”

I ordered Niku to go outside and bring back about a soccer ball’s worth of clay. She tried to go outside just like that, but I stopped her and gave her a [Shovel (5 DP)] first. It felt like she looked a little surprised when I did that. Man, she really does look dead inside... I’ve never seen an expression that blank in my life.

After a while, Niku came back with the shovel and clay. The way she was holding up the clump of clay with her tiny body made it look really heavy. Actually, I bet it actually was heavy for a child like her. Oh yeah. It’s kinda late to say this, but Niku can go in and out of the Master Room on her own without any issues. Maybe because Rokuko thinks it’s normal for that to be possible or something?

“Sweet, good job. You can rest now.”

“Ah, auuu...” I patted her head and praised her. While I was at it, I cast {Purification} on her since her hands had gotten dirty with clay. She let out a cute “hyafuuu!” cry for some reason. Does it tickle when I cast {Purification} or something? I should have Rokuko cast it on her later as an experiment. Depending on Niku’s reaction, I might just learn something.

“Alright, no point waiting around... {Create Golem}!” I sent my mana flowing into the clump of clay. The mana formed circuits within it and morphed the clay into the shape of a person. Perhaps thanks to the scroll, the image of a perfect Golem arose in my mind... Well, it’s actually a lot smaller than I expected, but that’s fine. Probably. Definitely. Maybe. This is fine. Everything will be okay.

Obeying the instructions that were filling my mind, I kneaded the clay with my hands while pouring more mana into it. It didn’t take long until the clay turned into a (somewhat small) human-shaped Golem. I had based its design on the things I had played with at school before being summoned. In other words, it looked like a thirty-centimeters-tall robot. Instead of a servomotor moving its joints, though, there was magic. Its body was made of clay instead of plastic and aluminum. Its movements were controlled by an embedded magic circle instead of a CPU. It had a magic stone powering it instead of a battery... Wait, we didn’t have any magic stones. Oh well. We can just power it externally... The magic power floating around inside the dungeon’s air should be good enough. After spending about ten more minutes sending mana into it, the thirty-centimeters-tall (mini) Clay Golem was complete.

“Wow! What’s that...? A Golem...?”

“What’s with all the question marks?”

“Well, Golems are usually way bigger than an adult human! I’m pretty sure we would need to make a lot more than a hundred of these for the scroll to pay for itself.”

“I mean, I don’t know what’s normal or not, so... Either way, we’ll just have to make ten thousand of’m then.” I decided to just order the Golem around and see what happened. First, I made it start working on expanding the cave. That would help us save more DP. After bringing up the map and ordering the Golem to go to the Goblin room and start mining inwards through the mountain, the freshly made (mini) Clay Golem left the Master Room without even grabbing the shovel.

“Golems sure are dumb, aren’t they? That shovel would make his job so much easier.”

“Nope. You don’t know what you’re talking about, Rokuko. I’m basically stunned here, shocked by the vast potential Golems have.”

Rokuko must have been thinking something like “Golems can’t do anything complicated!”, but that was way too narrow of a mindset. If you think about it, “dig into the mountain” is a pretty complicated order on its own. To make a robot in modern Japan do something like that, you’d need to first teach it how to mine a wall in the first place from the ground up. Not only that, but telling them “go here” wouldn’t work. You’d have to tell them exactly how many steps to take, and even how to move their legs. They wouldn’t stand up on their own if they fell over, and if they hit a wall on the way there, they’d keep walking into the wall forever. But with magic, all I had to do was say “Go here and mine into the wall.” Golems were amazing.

I’m seriously moved right now. But using magic was pretty tiring... I think I’ll just go to sleep now. Oh, right. I’ll try using Niku as a dakimakura. That’s why I saved her, anyway. Kind of. Come heeeere, little girl. Er... Don’t worry, I won’t do anything perverted to you. Yep! I won’t make you wear knee socks or anything yet! That can come after we know each other better.

Day 21

Let’s just make one thing clear.

Humans. Are not. Good. Dakimakuras.

I tried using Niku as one, but... Oh, don’t worry. I didn’t take her clothes off or anything—I seriously just used her as a dakimakura. Anyway, it was nice at first. Her skin was nice and smooth, plus her hair smelled nice. But it didn’t take long for a problem to arise.

Her body heated up fast.

She got so, so hot.

Yeah, I’m not gonna be able to handle this outside of winter. I finally understand why people huddle together to stay warm in survival movies and stuff. Though I have heard that kids have especially high body temperatures... And I’ve also heard that dogs are hotter than humans. In which case, it makes complete sense that a dog-eared little girl would be extremely hot.

Plus, it wasn’t until I noticed how heavily she was breathing that I realized she was running out of air beneath the covers. That was pretty dumb of me. Obviously, she would struggle to breathe without access to fresh air. I hurriedly pulled her head out of the covers.

...Which ended up with us lying in bed together, face to face. Her cheeks had flushed from the heat and her mouth was hanging weakly open, which made her lips look really sexy f—Wait, no! I’m not a lolicon! Seriously, I’m not a lolicon!

Her breath was tickling me, so I made her turn and face the other way. I didn’t do that because she was making my heart beat too fast to sleep. Her breath was ticklish. That was all. But... after turning around, her hair started to tickle me instead. Aaaah! Why does this have to be so bad?!

Having no other choice, I lowered her back down such that our heads were a reasonable distance apart. I pulled the blanket down to about my stomach so she wouldn’t start suffocating again. That helped with the heat a little too.

With that, I was finally comfortable enough to sleep. But then another problem arose. A pretty big problem, too.

You see, Niku couldn’t move while I was using her as a dakimakura. She’d have to push me off her if she wanted to get up, but as a slave, she couldn’t do that. Can you imagine what happened because of that?

SHE! PEED! HERSELF!

Okay, okay. I knew it was my fault. I felt something wet when I woke up and then panicked like crazy after seeing Niku crying in my arms. I stood us up and cast {Purification} on me, her, and the futon while patting her head and telling her that everything would be okay. Yeah, it was my fault. I’m sorry. Next time you need to go to the bathroom, just push me aside and go. To show how sorry I am, you can eat as much food as you want today. Ask for anything, it’s yours. Okay? Here, have a hamburger! They taste super good! So stop crying! I’m sorry, it was my fault!

＊ ＊ ＊

Niku finally calmed down after she finished eating the hamburger.

“Ummm, okay. I would like to begin our first meeting on what to do with Keima, the pervert who loves to make his slave girl pee on him.”

“Hey, hold up. That’s a pretty biased way of framing things, Madame Judge. It was an accident, Your Honor, I swear.” I used my position as Dungeon Master to make Rokuko shut up about how I had accidentally made Niku pee herself. She immediately fell silent, so I decided to start making more Golems.

“Niku, bring me some more clay. Just as much as you did yesterday.”

“Okay.” Niku picked up the shovel from yesterday and left the Master Room, which made me remember something. The (mini) Clay Golem I made yesterday had been working all night.

...Yeah, I should check out how he’s doing first.

“Leeet’s see here...” I brought up the dungeon monitor from the menu and checked up on the Golem I had ordered to dig into the mountain. The (mini) Clay Golem was steadily scratching away at the wall. His spirit was admirable, but he hadn’t made any progress at all. The bare rock wall was just too strong for his clay hands to wear down.

That was my mistake. I should have given him a pickaxe or something.

“Mmm, see? He’ll just keep on doing what you told him to, no matter what.”

“How long can he stay active? I think it has something to do with the magic stone inside of it.”

“Eh? Well, obviously, he’ll stay active until he runs out of mana. I mean, he’s a Golem. But dungeons are filled with mana, so he basically should never stop as long as he’s inside of one.”

Wow, that’s crazy. He basically doesn’t need any energy to keep moving.

I was losing my mind over how far Golems had surpassed my expectations. It was looking like I would be able to just leave everything to the Golems and sleep as much as I wanted.

“No way, Keima, no way. You can’t count on Golems to do anything right. Just look. See what happened because you told that Golem to dig into the wall?”

“Huh?” I looked at where Rokuko was pointing on the monitor.

Yep. There’s the (mini) Clay Golem, digging away at... the... wait, what? Upon closer inspection, I noticed something odd. The (mini) Clay Golem was indeed scratching away at the wall. But his hands were getting worn down, and despite how broken apart they had already become, he just kept mindlessly pushing them against the wall to keep digging.

“Oh man...”

“See? Golems are just dumb. They only ever do what you tell them to, nothing else. That’s why they’ll keep trying to dig a hole into something even if nothing’s happening.”

Yeah, this is something. This is definitely something.

But I wasn’t thinking the same thing that Rokuko was. Not at all. I could barely keep myself from grinning ear to ear.

I ordered the (mini) Clay Golem to come back to the Master Room and wait for a bit. It needed repairs, after all.

“I-I’m back... o-oof.”

“Welcome back, Niku. Good job. I’m proud of you. Nooow... Let’s start experimenting.”

After taking the large clump of clay from Niku, I cast {Purification} on her while patting her head. It wasn’t much, but there was something I really wanted to try out as soon as possible. If I was right about it, {Create Golem} might just be the greatest spell I ever could have asked for.

Brimming with hope, I started to pour mana into the clump of clay while kneading it with my hands.

＊ ＊ ＊

“...And that should do it.”

“What... is that...?”

I had made three Golem arms, each about as small as a finger. I had then made a tub-shaped Golem about the size of my palm with a little rod in the middle of it. After combining the Golem with the needle-shaped arms, I had finished making a Golem with three tiny arms.

“Seriously, what? That’s not a Golem, no way. Like, Golems just don’t look like that.”

“It’s a [Clock].”

Yup. It was a [Golem Clock]. I had given each of the Golem arms different instructions. I told the first arm to rotate completely every sixty seconds, the second arm every sixty minutes, and the last one every twelve hours. In other words, the individual arms became the seconds, minutes, and hours hands of a clock. Together they formed a clock that would keep working as long as it had mana.

...Making sure it stayed accurate would be pretty annoying, though.

By the way, I had realized halfway through that I didn’t need to make the Golem arms look like actual arms, which is why they ended up being needle-shaped, like the arms of a real clock would be. Everything was made from clay, but I doubted anyone would realize the clock was actually a Golem.

“Y-You really made a Golem shaped like that...? Wooow, Keima. You don’t have any common sense, do you?”

“Seriously? You’re the one who summoned me from another world. How would I know what’s common sense here?”

Either way, it was way easier to make a customized Golem than I had thought it would be. Plus, because the arms didn’t have any joints to move or anything, it didn’t take much mana at all to work. How simple my orders were probably helped too. It seemed to take about one-tenth of the mana that the (mini) Clay Golem took.

“So, what are you going to do with that anyway? You can just look at the Menu if you want to know what time it is, so...”

Oh yeah. The time of day and such was displayed on the Dungeon Master Menu that I could use.

“...I’ll give it to Niku. I only made this an experiment, so yeah. Now I know more about what I can do with Golems. This wasn’t a waste of time at all.” And so, I gave Niku the watch as a present.

...At which point I realized that Niku was still wearing torn-up rags as clothes. Holy crap. I immediately bought some [Cheap Clothes (Dress: 8 DP)], [Cheap Shoes (Child-sized: 10 DP)], and [Knee Socks (White: 70 DP)]. While watching Niku change clothes, I realized that she was ‘missing something’ and quickly bought a set of [Female Child’s Underwear (20 DP)].

That was close. All that cost a fair amount of DP, but she could keep wearing all that pretty much forever thanks to {Purification}. It even worked on her underwear no problem, thankfully.

The clothes looked nice enough, but I wanted to dress her up in a much cuter outfit once we could spare the DP. Same for Rokuko. Her DP-saving form is pretty cute itself, but her other form was pretty much my exact type. She looked super cute and her feet were the definition of pretty. They were truly spectacular. Seriously. I couldn’t stop fantasizing about making her wear all sorts of socks.

...But y’know, I feel like it’s kinda arbitrary that the knee socks were so expensive. Like, 70 DP? That’s three and a half Goblins right there, c’mon. Does it just cost more because it’s a luxury item?

I attached a [Leather String (2 DP)] to the [Golem Clock] and hung it off Niku’s neck. She stared at it for a long time without saying anything after I said it was hers. I thought that was because she really liked it, but then I realized she probably just didn’t understand what it was. Right, right, she’s a slave. There’s probably a lot she doesn’t know about the world. Starting tomorrow, I’ll teach her everything she needs to know. By proxy, through Rokuko. Do your best, Rokuko.

I mean, seriously, what’s Rokuko been doing anyway? She’s basically done nothing for the past month. She needs to work a little harder. I’ll have her do my work for me... No, wait. No no no. The only future I see with Rokuko as leader is one where our dungeon turns into a Goblin paradise and then collapses immediately.

＊ ＊ ＊

I repaired the hands of the (mini) Clay Golem, taking the opportunity to turn them into stone shovels. It was actually pretty simple to do that. The stone became pliable like clay after I poured enough mana into it, making it very easy to morph into a shovel-esque shape.

...And here we have the new and improved (mini) Clay Golem, Shovel Edition!

It felt like it took less mana to mold clay than it took to mold stone. In which case, it would probably be better if I made my first human-sized Golem out of clay and just gave it a pickaxe. That could come after I spent some more time experimenting with this (mini) Clay Golem, though. Finding what works best with this guy and then making big versions of him would be the most efficient route. But it was getting pretty tiring calling him “(mini) Clay Golem” every time I talked about him, and I was already mixing in materials other than clay now, so really that whole title wasn’t working anymore.

And so, I decided to give him a name. One that fit his status as an experimental Golem would work best.

“Alright. You will now be known as Testle. Your name is Testle. Got it?”

The (mini) Clay Golem, now known as Testle, nodded as if saying “got it.” I then changed his order, making him instead go outside of the cave and gather clay for me. He would probably come back each time he gathered about a soccer ball’s worth of clay. If I went to sleep right now, there’d probably be a ton of clay waiting for me when I woke up.

...I knew it wouldn’t ever stop moving inside the dungeon, but how long would it last outside of the dungeon? I decided to test that and watched as Testle moved around for about one solid hour before stopping. I needed to be careful about that. Stopped Golems would resume moving if you poured mana into them. It depended on the magic stone inside of them, but normally they could last one hour. I knew that thanks to knowledge from the {Create Golem} scroll.

...But wait, what the heck is a magic stone anyway? I know it functions like a battery, but that’s all I know. Seriously? You’ll give me knowledge that involves magic stones, but won’t tell me what they are?

“Hey, Rokuko. What’re magic stones?”

“Eh? Magics stones are just, ummm... Stones filled with mana. You can usually take them from monsters... Oh, right. Golems usually have magic stones inside of them. Don’t yours?” Nooope. They don’t.

I went ahead and had Niku go get the frozen Testle for me. He started moving once he returned to the dungeon area, but he just turned around to get more clay and thus immediately froze again. I had to order him to come back with Niku. Ultimately, I learned that I could order Golems from a long distance using the Menu, and that any orders I gave would preserve even after they ran out of mana. All good things to know. Thanks, Testle.

“So, in order to have Golems mine clay and stone for me from now on... I’ll need some magic stones to experiment with.”

“Magic stones? Why don’t you try buying some with DP?” Rokuko casually said that to my offhanded remark.

It was like scales falling from my eyes. Holy crap. Is it just me or is DP way too useful?

“...Dang, I didn’t even think about doing that. I can’t believe I needed you to remind me about the DP Catalog... Am I just an idiot? I’m disappointed with myself...”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!”

I took a look at the DP Catalog. Magic stones were in the treasure section, in the same category as jewels. There were varying grades of magic stones, with the cheapest kind being 10 DP each and the most expensive being several tens of thousands of DP. But for now, I settled with buying just the cheapest ones to experiment with.

“Oh yeah. Hey, Niku. Can you read and write?”

“...No, I can’t. I’m sorry, Master...” Niku lowered her head sadly.

H-Hey, you know I’m not mad, right? You’re making me feel bad, somehow.

“That’s okay. Rokuko, teach Niku how to read. I’ll let you eat a lot of melon rolls if she learns well. Same for you, Niku. You can eat as many hamburgers as you want if you do well. Study hard.”

“Eh?! I can eat as many melon rolls as I want?! Okay!”

“C-Can... Can I really?”

Good, good. Hamburgers always made Niku’s eyes light up. Thinking about it, Niku had gotten a lot more lively than she was in the past. The dead eyes she had when I saved her were completely gone.

Perfect. No kid should ever have to look like that. But you know, dog girls really do love meat, huh? She’d probably die of happiness if I gave her a beef steak. I should check the DP Catalog to see if it has those. She might thank me by letting me rub her feet.

I would need Niku to do work for me outside of the cave before long, so the sooner she learned to read and write, the better.

Suddenly, it hit me that I had never thought about whether Niku was okay with being my slave... Though she might’ve needed to be a slave to go in and out of the Master Room, so there was no reason for me to go about rocking that boat. Plus, slaves were probably restrained by some kind of magic in this world. I doubted it would be easy to just snap my fingers and free her. She does have a collar around her neck, so... Eh. I’ll think about this more later.

I got back to work making Golems while Rokuko taught Niku how to read and write. Normally it’d be about time for me to go to bed, but there was one thing I prioritized over sleep: preparations for sleeping really well. I was prepared to cut down on my sleeping time for the sake of sleeping better! Yeah, basically, sleep was still the most important thing to me.

I used DP to buy a bunch of magic stones and pickaxes. We still had 3,500 DP left, but that would turn to zero in no time if we wasted too much of it.

I took one of the magic stones and embedded it within Testle. How long would he last outside of the dungeon with one of those? To find that out, I had Testle go outside the dungeon again and start tilling a field. Naturally, I had turned his arms into hoes beforehand to help him out. There shouldn’t be any problem with leaving him out there on his own. No adventurers would be coming anytime soon.

With that out of the way, I started to make a human-sized Golem. It would be smart to try making at least one of the normal Golems that {Create Golem} was designed to make.

...

.........

Ah. I didn’t have enough clay. But that wouldn’t be a problem if I just removed some clay from his core and made him lighter overall. That would use less resources and make a better Golem. Two birds with one stone.

And finishing the new Golem was a 10 DP magic stone, the cheapest one available. With all that done... I had made a Golem that could actually move pretty speedily. His movements were a lot smoother than Testle’s. Maybe because I had used less clay overall? Rokuko looked really surprised after seeing how smoothly the Golem was moving, but I ignored her and had him start mining into the mountain with a pickaxe. All I had to say was “Use this to mine deeper into the cave.” Easy.

Aaah, I want to use the stone he mines to make a one hundred percent Stone Golem. I should’ve withdrawn all the stone those bandits mined instead of turning it into DP.

Day 22

Testle, with the 10 DP magic stone inside of him, kept working for a solid day straight with no problem. He didn’t even seem close to stopping. How long is he gonna last?

Plus, the Clay Golem I had given a pickaxe to had advanced five meters through the wall. He had made a five-meter-long passage big enough for a large adult to pass through. Yep, these Golems are gonna be perfect workers for me. I ordered the big Golem to come back to the Master Room so I could reinforce his worn-down joints with stone before making him get back to digging. He was getting me lots of stone and clay to use, while simultaneously expanding the dungeon. Perfect.

So, I decided to go ahead and make a Stone Golem. In the form of Power Armor.

“Hey, Keima. What... What is that?”

“Golem Armor.”

“Why is Niku inside of a Golem?”

“Uh, cause I’m having her test it out for me. Niku, try moving around a little bit.”

“O-Okay!”

This time, I had Niku put on a Power Armor-shaped Golem after ordering it to assist Niku whenever she moved. The Golem walked when Niku started to walk, and it looked like there wasn’t much weight to its step. That was good. The Golem probably wouldn’t be able to keep up with any speedy movements, but thankfully it didn’t shake Niku around so much that she would get hurt or even die just from being inside of it.

“It’s a little hard to walk it in, but that’s all.”

“Sweet. Try punching this wall.”

“Hold on, Keima. What even is that? It looks like a slab of stone.”

“What? It’s just a wall.” To be more precise, it was a Wall Golem that I had made out of stone as well. Since I had ordered it not to move (or rather, since I hadn’t given it any orders at all), it was basically an actual wall. The simplicity of its design helped me save a lot of mana. I could probably upgrade it by making it more similar to a brick wall.

“Here I go...! Hyaaah!” Smash! The stone wall completely shattered. Rokuko looked really surprised.

Even Niku, who had thrown the punch, was blinking in surprise. It shouldn’t have hurt her since her hand was covered in stone, but uh... I sure hope it didn’t hurt her. That was the most important part of this experiment. If it didn’t hurt, I’d start using it myself.

“Alright, it’s nice and strong. I’ll be able to fight pretty well with this thing. Niku, are your arms and legs okay? Be sure to tell me if you get hurt, so I can help you out.”

“I-I’m okay.”

“Good, good. It’ll be able to move outside the dungeon with a magic stone inside of it, so either way, it’ll be useful for manual labor and stuff. Now I just need to figure out if I should make it smaller to fit underneath my clothes, or keep it like that, full-sized body armor... That shouldn’t get in the way of me visiting populated towns, hopefully.” I should base the armor’s design on what those knights were wearing. My train of thought was interrupted by Rokuko, who was tilting her head in confusion.

“Um? Keima, you’re going to a town?”

“I won’t be able to do much just staying inside here forever, and now that the knights have eliminated all the bandits for us, the road to town should be pretty safe. There’s a lot of things I wanna learn about, which means I need to do a lot of information gathering. I’ll have to go to town eventually.” Like how apparently you can become a Holy Paladin by destroying a Dungeon Core. If that’s true, people might come by here looking to destroy our Core. I needed to figure out what the people of this world thought about dungeons. Not to mention... that god had mentioned he’d ‘repay’ me if I destroyed any dungeon Cores. Does that have something to do with Holy Paladins?

“...Oh. Are Dungeon Masters stuck inside their dungeon or something?”

“No, don’t worry, there’s no rules like that. Um... It’s just, I thought you weren’t planning on ever leaving the Master Room.”

Ah. Right. I haven’t left the Master Room even a single time after being summoned to this world.

“That’s because there were bandits out there. How could I go outside? They’d have killed me.”

“Aaah... That’s true. I can’t blame you for that.”

I thought back to when the bandits were still around. They were seriously tough to beat. I thought I was screwed when I saw them surrounding the Dungeon Core. Though... Uh, it kinda felt like it didn’t actually take much to get rid of them. Oh well. They had all turned into DP. No point thinking about them anymore, no point at all. Yeah.

Day 25

And so, three days had passed. I had made modified versions of Testle and then modified those modified versions, learning more about Golems the entire time. Since I ended up getting a solid grasp on how to make basic Golems... well, I’m not sure how “basic” you could call the tiny Golems, clock Golems, etc., but anyway... I decided to start trying to make Golems out of things other than basic solids like wood and stone, starting off with fire and water. The results were very fruitful. Though the Fire Golem I made burned to pieces and vanished in seconds after I completed it. That one was a failure. I tried making a Wood Golem and then setting it on fire, instead of using fire directly, but that naturally just led to the Golem burning apart. Ash Golems weren’t really worth anything, so that was a failure too. Though... I could throw a burning Wood Golem at an intruder as a kind of scare tactic.

On the other hand, Golems made from water—Aqua Golems—were surprisingly normal. Or at least, they looked normal. They looked like a plain Golem on the outside, but your hand would go right inside of them if you tried touching them. It felt like that could be useful somehow, but no ideas came to mind. You could raise some fish inside of them, I guess? At least I knew where to get a nifty aquarium if I ever needed one. Or so I thought, moments before the Aqua Golem broke apart and poured onto the ground. Uh... I guess shaking my hand around inside of it was doing damage somehow. I would really need to think hard about how to use one of them. All that resulted in my masterpiece, the Golem Blade. It was a sword-shaped Golem, made from an [Iron Ingot] I bought for 30 DP. I had shaped the metal into the shape of a Japanese katana, and the result was a pretty nice-looking sword. That surprised me, since I had only used a single metal in it. I could make the blade vibrate by pouring mana into it, which would allow it to cut through even a thick tree like a buzzing chainsaw. It wasn’t exactly a vibroblade, but it was basically a Magic Blade. I could even make the blade shoot outwards as a surprise gimmick.

Though my real masterpiece was the Movement-Assisting Wearable Cloth Golem. In the end, Golems in the shape of Power Armor just stood out too much and were hard to move quickly due to their weight. I abandoned that idea and just made a Golem out of clothing instead. I even made gloves that would help support my wrists and improve my grip strength. Way to go, magic. You really can do anything.

The Wearable Cloth Golem’s main order was to assist the wearer’s movements, but it could more or less fight for me as well. When paired with the Golem Blade, I could fight on the level of a trained soldier despite having never wielded a weapon in my life before thanks to its help. By the way, I had taught the Golem what exactly to do through video footage of those knights, bandits, and adventurers fighting. This Dungeon Menu is amazing. I can’t believe it saved backup footage of everything I saw through the dungeon monitor. That’s high-tech. High-brow technology.

Well, I won’t be able to keep up with it once it starts moving on its own, so it’ll probably hurt my muscles a lot if I have to use it. I hope muscle pain will be the most of my problems... but yeah, now I definitely won’t be a sitting duck out there. I used the leftover iron to fortify the Wearable Cloth Golem, so it should have had some nice defensive power too. Worst-case scenario, I could order it to “run back to the dungeon.” It’d get me back to safety even if I lost consciousness in the process. I cared a lot about staying alive. Even if I lost all my limbs, the only thing I needed to sleep was my life itself.

“And there you have it. My ultimate armor and weapon. What do you think?”

“...I think you have brain problems!” As usual, Rokuko didn’t hesitate at all before insulting me. Sheesh. And it should’ve been obvious how great the Golems were, too.

Oh, wait. Maybe she was just that upset about how I only had enough materials to make two sets of the Golems, one for me and one for Niku. Sorry, Rokuko. You’re the Dungeon Core, so you’ll have to stay home for this one. Wait... Can you even go outside? You are the Dungeon Core, right?

“Hey, wait a second! I never said I wanted a matching outfit or anything!”

“Okay, okay. Anyway. Be sure to summon like five Goblins or something if any adventurers come. We’ll probably be fine for a while, but still.”

I put on the Wearable Cloth Golem and sheathed my Golem Blade. Niku did the same, except her Golem Blade was small like a knife. Just to be safe, I ordered it not to attack me. It would still be as strong as a normal knife, but there was no helping that.

Anyway. Now I’m ready to go to a town with people in it.

Day 27

Niku learned to read and write pretty fast, so I rewarded her with a hamburger. Rokuko was already munching happily on the melon roll I had given her. So heartwarming...

To put it in Japanese terms, Niku had learned the local language’s equivalent to hiragana. But that was more than enough for her to read and write most things, apparently.

“U-Um... By the way, Master... Would you please register your mana on my collar?”

“Huh?” It was rare for Niku to talk on her own like that. I didn’t know what she was talking about at first, but apparently the submission collar Niku was wearing had a mana registration system.

“I’ve heard that every person in the world has a unique wavelength to their mana.”

“Oh, huh. Like fingerprints? That’s pretty interesting.” Dealing with something like that sounded like a pain... but if I didn’t do it, someone might steal Niku, and I’d have no excuse then. Plus, if Niku got stolen, I’d have a problem much more tedious than a collar’s registration system to deal with. She could go in and out of the [Ordinary Cave’s] Master Room, after all.

I asked whether or not I was basically stealing her from the boss of the bandits, but apparently the collar resets itself after its present owner dies. One of Niku’s fellow slaves in the slums had temporarily gotten free after their master died. Whoever finds a free slave like that gets to claim them as their own. The slave Niku knew had apparently been caught by someone else and then sold to the slum’s slave market.

“...You can’t take off the collar yourself?”

“I can’t. It would kill me.” A submission collar was a relatively cheap item used primarily to choke its wearer, but when someone became a slave, they would be forced to make a contract through magic where they would die if the submission collar was ever removed. Basically, Contract Magic would kill the slaves if they tried taking their collars off. Holy crap! Contract Magic is terrifying!

Not only that, but the collar would tighten on its own if the slave ever defied its master or tried to harm them. I don’t know how exactly it works, but sheesh, that’s way too strict. The master of the slave could also tighten the collar whenever they pleased just by thinking about it. Some people would summon their slaves by tightening the collar a little, even. To top things off, it was pretty expensive to remove the collar safely... Yep, this thing is a real pain!

“Alright, I’ll definitely register my mana then. I wanna avoid as many problems as possible here.”

“Okay. Please pour your mana into the plate on my collar... Um, after you do that, please check whether it worked by squeezing the collar.”

I placed my fingers on the plate and poured mana into it. Yeah... It definitely felt like my mana connected to some password-channel-system thing. Registration complete? I wasn’t too happy about it, but I envisioned Niku’s collar squeezing as a test to see if it worked. And then...

“Ngh! Ah...!”

“Woah! C-Cancel, cancel! Stop choking her!” I saw the collar squeeze tightly. It was visibly digging into her neck. That’s not light squeezing at all! Holy crap! Stop! What kind of monster would do this to someone just to call them over?!

“A-Are you okay?”

“Nnn... Cough... Y-Yes, thank... you...” Niku, teary-eyed from having her oxygen supply cut off, replied to me with flushed cheeks while coughing.

I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.

“Eheh. Now I’m your slave for real, Master.” Niku smiled brightly.

What?! This is the first time I’ve ever seen her smile. Why now...?

Day 28

“Alright, Rokuko? Only summon five Goblins if any adventurers come. Only five. No more than that. When you buy melon rolls, get them from the [Pastry Set]. You can have two a day.”

“W-We’ll see. You be careful too, Keima. Okay?” And so, I left the cave with Rokuko staying behind to keep watch.

.........

It hit me that I was leaving the Master Room for the first time. I had been letting Niku take care of getting clay and recovering Testle and all that good stuff. I could just use the monitor whenever I wanted to look outside.

...What if the outside air is poisonous to people from my world or something? Like, what if the planet’s mana is actually super deadly to me...

“...Aren’t we going?”

“Y-Yeah, we’re going. Right now. Riiiight now.”

“Hurry up and go already.”

“Don’t push me, alright? No matter what. Don’t push me.”

“Eh? Push you? Okay.” Hold on! What’s going on here, automatic translator?! GAAAH!

...Rokuko pushed me on the back, forcing me out of the Master Room. I ended up in the dungeon’s Core Room, completely fine. “...A-Alright, sweet. Nothing bad happened at all. Whew, I really worked myself up over nothing. I mean, how could mana be poisonous to me? I’ve been casting spells almost constantly. Yeah.”

“Are you okay, Master?”

“Oh, yeah. I’m fine. Totally fine, feeling great.”

“Let’s go, then. Um... Why are we just standing at the cave’s entrance?”

Y’know, come to think of it, I’m the Dungeon Master. Should I really be leaving the dungeon willy-nilly like this? I dunno. I think I should be more cautious about this and take things really slowly...

“Hyah.”

“Why are you pushing me?! Don’t push me!”

“Eh? You want me to push you? Okay, I will.”

“WHY?! Why aren’t you doing your job right, Mr. Automatic Translator?! Ah...!”

Y-You’ve stolen my first time (going outside)...! M-My precious first time...!

......... Yeah, nothing bad is happening. Why would anything bad happen, anyway? I’m being silly.

I took another cautious step outside, but moved so slowly that Niku started to pull on my clothes.

“Master?”

“Ah, right. Sorry. Let’s get this show on the road!” And so, I took my first step towards the forest...!

“...Should I push you?”

“Uh... Yes, please...”

＊ ＊ ＊

We hadn’t encountered any major problems so far, but it still frustrated me that I had to leave safety to go outside where my very life was at risk. I grumbled about it to myself while running along the mountain road with Niku.

Why did I have to go outside? For safety, of course. It was impossible for me to tell whether I was safe or not without any information. I had so little information that my desire to do research outweighed the possibly temporary safety I had at the dungeon. Hence, I needed to go to a human settlement.

Aaaah. I really don’t want to work.

Naturally, I was capable of running down the mountain road despite never exercising thanks to my Wearable Golem. I had ordered it to “Run all the way to Tsia Village,” and so it was. But it was still really tiring somehow, so I needed to stop several times to take breaks. How is Niku keeping up so easily...? My muscles are gonna hurt like hell tomorrow, sheesh.

I had brought a bunch of food and water just in case we didn’t make it to town in a single day, but after our first break I let Niku carry it all for me. Hey, don’t look at me like that. She had said, “It’s a slave’s responsibility to carry her master’s things, so please let me,” and I just couldn’t bring myself to turn her down. But either way, she could easily run while carrying all the food and water. I barely managed to do that even with my Wearable Golem helping out. Dog girls sure are tough...

It took us half a day to reach the city. Thankfully, we didn’t encounter anything particularly dangerous on the way there. At worst, the magic stone inside my Wearable Golem ran out of juice and I had to refill it with my mana. Yeah... I should’ve been less cheap and bought an actually good magic stone. I’ll swap this one out for a better stone after I get back.

And so, we were there. Tsia City at last. Aside from the food and water, we had also brought a fair amount of cash from the dungeon. It was the money we had withdrawn into the Master Room after the knights came to eliminate the bandits.

The city was surrounded by a brick wall about five meters tall, and the entrance gate was protected by a tough-looking guard. Wait a second, woah. This is a pretty big city... How many people are living here? I glanced at my map out of curiosity and saw that there were gates on the north, east, south, and west sides of the wall. We were on the west side.

“Halt! What business do you have in Tsia City?” The cautious-looking gatekeeper ordered us to halt once we got close enough to the gate. Not wanting to cause any unnecessary problems, we stopped.

“Aaah, sorry. We’re from the country, so we don’t really know how this works. Do we need something to get inside?”

“...Answer the question. What business do you have in Tsia City?”

“Well, we left the place we were living in to come here and become adventurers if possible.”

“I see. Your companion must be a slave, given that collar. Does she belong to you?”

“Yes, she does. I found her by chance.”

“Why did you come here now?”

“Didn’t some knights come by recently on a mission to exterminate bandits? I thought the roads and such would be safer than ever right now. And it looks like I was right, since we didn’t have any problems getting here. Peaceful times sure are nice. Oh... Is it somehow a bad time for Tsia City right now? Sorry, I don’t really know much about that kind of thing.” I kept rambling on and on so as to not give the guard an opportunity to poke any holes in my story.

Though, of course, I hadn’t lied once. Before coming here, I noticed that there was a [Lie Detecting Magic Item (50,000 DP)] in the DP Catalog and decided to avoid lying at all just for safety’s sake. DP-wise, it cost half as much as a [{Healing} Scroll (100,000 DP)]. It wouldn’t be surprising at all if the Church handed them out more freely at important positions. I needed to watch what I said, just in case.

The [Ordinary Cave] was far enough away from town to basically be in the country, and I had indeed decided to become an adventurer to help with my information gathering. It was pure chance that Niku ended up in my dungeon, and I did come here thanks to how the knights had recently eliminated the danger around the roads and such (i.e. my dungeon).

“Oh, I see. My apologies for questioning you. It’s just that... indeed, we have a very distinguished visitor right now. One related to the knights you were just talking about.”

“Really? You must be really busy, my sympathies. Can we go inside the city now, or do we need something to do that?”

“Do you have any form of personal identification? If not, you’ll need to pay five silver coins and one copper coin. Your slave doesn’t need to pay five silver coins because she’s with you, her master, and slave collars are a form of personal identification.”

...I checked the wallet I had brought with me. Inside was seven silver coins, ten noticeably big copper coins, and thirty smallish copper coins. Sweet. I have enough.

There were gold, silver, and copper coins in the DP Catalog’s treasure section. Ten of a certain coin was equivalent to a single one of a larger version of that coin, and ten of those large coins were equivalent to one coin of a rarer metal. For example, ten copper coins were worth one large copper coin, and ten large copper coins were worth one silver coin. I didn’t know if there was any coin more valuable than a gold coin, though.

“Oh, and the silver coins are a form of insurance. The guild will give you a form of identification after you become an adventurer. If you show that to me, I can return your coins. Though... Someone from the country like you likely won’t have enough money to pay for both this and your registration at the guild. It costs three silver coins for one person to become an adventurer, after all. You’ll only have to pay three coppers as insurance if a guard follows you to the guild until you get your identification. Though I’ll warn you now, two of those coppers will stay with us as payment for the extra work. I’m free right now, so we can go right away if you wish.”

So basically, I’ve got two options. “Spend two coppers” or “Find my way to the Adventurer’s Guild on my own, register there, come back, show my ID to get my money back, and then go back to the guild.” Eh... Yeah, sounds tedious. I should just ask for his help.

“That sounds great. You don’t mind?”

“Not at all. I’ll show you to the guild. Hey, you over there. Watch the gate for me. I’m showing these travelers to the guild.”

I gave him four copper coins. Thankfully, that meant I still had plenty of cash left.

The guards swapped places and I went with the first one towards the Adventurer’s Guild. Two coppers to have him guide me there was pretty cheap. Probably. Er... How much is two coppers worth, anyway?

We advanced down the main street of the city and soon enough delicious scents wafted into my nostrils. There must have been a lot of people making kebabs, as the tasty smell of meat was thick in the air. I wondered what kind of meat was used to make kebabs in this world. They probably ended up huge. And looking at a sign near one of the stands, they cost about five copper coins each. Mmm, I guess that means one copper coin is worth about 100 yen? I’ll try to think about it like that.

“Hey. I understand how you feel, but would you mind waiting for that until you get your identification? I am working right now.” The guard hurried me on after I wasted too much time staring at one of the kebab stands.

This guard really is a good guy, huh? I’ll spare his life if he ever comes to my dungeon.

After walking for a bit, we reached a fairly large building. A sign with a drawing of swords, potions, and scrolls on it was hanging on the door. That must have been the signpost for the Adventurer’s Guild.

I went inside and saw that it was filled with people who looked like adventurers, partying hard and drinking a ton of beer. I was surprised to see all of them drinking so hard at noon. Maybe they had worked all night and were on the verge of going home? I followed the guard to the counter and soon enough the receptionist handed over the registration forms. Surprisingly enough, it was wood-based paper, not sheep-skin parchment or anything like that. I was impressed. The form looked handwritten. This world might not have developed printing technology yet.

“Can you write your name? If not, I can write it for you at the cost of one copper.”

“No need. Niku, it’s your time to shine.”

“Yes, Master!” I asked Niku to write my name for me. The only language I could write in was Japanese. I couldn’t comprehend this world’s language whatsoever. The automatic translator would take any text I looked at and turn it into Japanese in my brain. But the Japanese I wrote didn’t turn into characters people of this world could read. It’s such a pain. I’m so glad I saved Niku.

Suddenly, I realized that the guard and the receptionist were looking Niku and me over with furrowed brows. Was it that rare for a child slave to be literate?

“I’m surprised... She’s such a small child, and yet...”

“Well, I needed her to be useful somehow.”

“I-I see.”

For some reason, the receptionist was giving me a kind of disgusted look. Should I not have taught Niku to read or something? And... it might be a bit late for me to say this, but I looked pretty different from most of the people in the city. I thought it’d be fine since Niku had black hair too, but the bandits and everyone else here all looked like Europeans. I tried wearing normal-looking (Golem) clothes, but that might have not been enough. Either way, though, my face had nothing to do with my guild registration.

“Um... Are you really going to register that slave child as well?”

“Is there a problem with that? Can slaves not be registered? Is there an age limit? Is she writing the wrong things?”

“No, there isn’t any problem with the paperwork or anything of that sort.”

Niku finished writing my name and we quickly finished the rest of the registration. We paid six silver coins to cover the registration fee... leaving us with only one silver coin, ten large copper coins, and thirty normal copper coins. We lost a lot of cash all at once.

After a short wait, we were given our Adventurer’s Guild cards.

“Now that you have personal identification, I will return to my post.”

“Oh, okay. Thanks for all your help.”

“Any time. It’s my job. Next time you come to the city, it’ll cost one copper to get inside.”

The guard went back to his post after checking our guild cards. With that settled, I decided to start gathering information by checking out what quests the guild was offering.

“Now, I need to explain guild ranks.”

“Oh, okay.” Scratch that, things weren’t settled yet. I still had a lecture to listen to.

# Gatekeeper’s Perspective

I am a gatekeeper. Though it feels like bragging to say so myself, I’m quite adept at my job and I can spot anyone suspicious from a mile away. And here I see two travelers walking towards the gate I’m guarding, looking as suspicious as anyone I’ve ever seen. One is a black-haired man and the other is a small girl with similarly black hair.

It’s rare for me to see black hair around these parts... are they siblings? But either way... is that man making the girl carry everything for him? I see he has a sword, but...

I thought they were siblings from a glance, but upon closer inspection I realized that the girl is both a slave and a canine beastkin. I see now. That why he’s making her carry everything.

But still. Slave or not, making a small girl carry everything is a bit much. Is he discriminatory towards beastkin? No, if that were the case, she wouldn’t be so well-dressed. They’re certainly an odd pair. That’s enough of this, though. I have work to do.

“Halt! What business do you have in Tsia City?” The two of them obediently stop after I shout at them.

“Aaah, sorry. We’re from the country, so we don’t really know how this works. Do we need something to get inside?”

Looks like they don’t intend to fight their way inside or anything like that. I stealthily activate my lie-detecting magic tool. Gatekeepers tend to have one of these, as they allow us to determine whether or not those we’re speaking to are lying to get inside. A veteran gatekeeper such as myself knows who to be suspicious of without a tool like this, but I’ve been ordered to use it every time without fail thanks to how a royal visitor is currently in town. I’m not one to disobey a direct order.

“...Answer the question. What business do you have in Tsia City?”

“Well, we left the place we were living in to come here and become adventurers if possible.” Hm, that wasn’t a lie. Unemployed youths tend to be attracted by tales of those similar to them becoming adventurers and obtaining untold riches. If only they knew that reality isn’t so kind.

“I see. Your companion must be a slave, given that collar. Does she belong to you?”

“Yes, she does. I found her by chance.” That too wasn’t a lie. A slave without a master legally becomes the property of whoever finds them and registers with their collar, so I have no issue with that. There were some bandits camping out around here recently, so she likely belonged to them or something of the sort. Perhaps she is dressed so well because this man isn’t treating her like a slave...?

“Why did you come here now?”

“Didn’t some knights come by recently on a mission to exterminate bandits? I thought the roads and such would be safer than ever right now. And it looks like I was right, since we didn’t have any problems getting here. Peaceful times sure are nice. Oh... Is it somehow a bad time for Tsia City right now? Sorry, I don’t really know much about that kind of thing.” Hm, once again, he hasn’t lied. He doesn’t know much about this city. It’s expected for most travelers to have something to hide, so it’s acceptable for them to lie a few times, but this man hasn’t lied a single time. He must be a very honest person.

“Oh, I see. My apologies for questioning you. It’s just that... indeed, we have a very distinguished visitor right now. One related to the knights you were just talking about.”

“Really? You must be really busy, my sympathies. Can we go inside the city now, or do we need something to do that?”

Right. I need to do the rest of my job as gatekeeper. I shift into business mode, having already decided to let them in. The man seemed to be a little worried about the contents of his wallet after I brought up money, so I mentioned that I could guide them through town if necessary. Guiding visitors through town until they acquire a form of personal identification is just another part of my job.

I just noticed it, but this beastkin slave seems a lot different from most slaves I see. She’s following this man happily, of her own will. She is actively trying to carry his luggage on her own. He must treat her very well.

She smiles happily after he pats her head. Hm... I understand them a little better now. They seem to be good people.

So, I permit them to enter the city and subsequently guide them to the Adventurer’s Guild. I found it amusing when they both started staring at the kebab stands on the way there. Tsia City will likely become their base of operations after they register as adventurers here. In which case, we’ll likely meet again. I might give them a kebab on the house if the opportunity arises.

We arrive at the Adventurer’s Guild and quickly head to the counter. I was planning on writing for him if need be, but his slave is literate enough to write. And, surprisingly enough, he called her “niku.” The thing is, aah... Niku means, erm—if my memory serves me right—niku is slang for “sex slave.” It can also be used to refer to a meat-shield or a throwaway decoy of sorts, but when thinking about how well-dressed she is, it becomes immediately obvious how the term is being used here. The slang isn’t very friendly, either. It’s fairly derogatory. Though... How he treats his slave has nothing to do with me. Either way, I’m stunned he made her register as an adventurer under the name of “Niku.” Now, this beastkin girl will be known as “Niku” even if she is one day freed from slavery. You can change the name on record, but normally that doesn’t happen and adventurers die with the name they first chose. Changing a name costs more than registering one, after all.

I also wonder why he went out of his way to use his small amount of money to register her under that name... He must be a true monster. It may have been a mistake to let him into the city so soon. He does seem to be treating her well, but who knows what malice is disguised in his actions. I want to ask the guild receptionist if it’s truly acceptable to go through with this, but paperwork won’t care about the meaning of a name. She would just tell them to hurry and finish up, surely.

All that said, however... The slave herself does seem happy. It might not be right for me to butt into this. Slaves kept for that purpose tend to be treated better than regular slaves, so perhaps I should instead feel relieved that things aren’t worse for her. Wait. I just heard the receptionist mutter “But she’s such a cute little girl... Ngh, I have to save her” under her breath...

Er, right. This has nothing to do with me. They have their guild now, my job here is done! Yes, yes. This Keima fellow is on his own now. Nothing that happens from now on has anything to do with me.

Thus, I decided to leave and go back to the gate. There’s work to do and no time to be dallying around here. I’m a veteran gatekeeper, after all! Ha ha ha!

# Keima’s Perspective

The guild had a weird, backwards process where I paid first, then got my card, then got interviewed, and then got an explanation about everything. Is that them basically saying “don’t even bother comin’ here if you ain’t got the cash, scum” or something? Harsh.

“...No, I only prioritized getting you your card so the gatekeeper could get back to work. I’ll take your card back if you fail the interview, and the guild will take responsibility by kicking you out of town through any means necessary.”

“Holy crap, that’s scary.”

“Ah, and be aware that your money will not be returned.”

“Holy crap, that’s even more scary. Why are you guys so stingy?!”

“The interview has already started, by the way.”

“Ah ha ha, I was only joking, my dear. Ruffians who fail the interview deserve a punishment as grave as that, I understand that completely and absolutely.”

“I am glad to hear that.” Whew, that was way too close. I don’t even wanna think about how much of a pain in the butt it’d be if we got booted out of town.

So, after giving half-assed answers to several questions, I passed the test. They were really simple questions, like “where were you born?” and stuff like that. I just said “I don’t know exactly where” to avoid a direct lie. Niku just had to say that her memories were fuzzy so she wasn’t sure.

After that, we received an explanation about the guild. According to the receptionist, the highest rank in the guild was S, with the ranks below it ranging from A to G. Given our lack of adventuring experience, we were started off as G-Ranks. Ranking up relied on points gained from completing quests, as well as further interviews from the guild. Not to mention tests sometimes.

Anyway. Quests were posted on the quest board. We just had to find one marked for our rank and take it to the counter. We could also pay for one of the guild employees to read the quests out loud, but since Niku could read, that didn’t matter to us.

Also, the Adventurer’s Guild wouldn’t help us at all if we committed any crimes. In fact, they might even put a bounty on our heads after they nullify our guild card.

“Alright. Thanks for the explanation. By the way, is there anything I should be cautious of while I’m here in town?”

“Hm... It would likely be best if you avoid the slums by the southern gate.” Slums, huh? Not surprised to hear there’s slums around here. I’m guessing that’s where the bandits bought their stuff. Slaves included.

＊ ＊ ＊

A cliché event where we met a new party member never happened. All those adventurers from before? Yeah, they had all either left or passed out, drunk. That saved us some trouble. Alright, let’s see what kind of quests they have here.

I was mainly interested in any quests about dungeons or our [Ordinary Cave]. Oh, here’s one. “Investigate the [Ordinary Cave] dungeon. Reward: One silver coin. Rank: F or above. Two or more people required... Wait, F-Rank or above?” Crap, we can’t take this quest as G-Ranks. We need to boost our rank up. That might take some time... oh, no. No...! I’m already bored. This is a pain in the butt. I just want to sleep...

“Niku, are there any G-Rank quests here we could take? Preferably some easy ones.”

“Ummm......... Ah. What about this one?”

The quest Niku found was as follows: “Clean a bathroom. Reward: Eight coppers. Rank: Any. One or more people required.” Ah, yeah, makes sense. You’d think a beginner quest would be like, herb collecting, but we don’t know anything about herbs. But wait... Shouldn’t {Purification} take care of this? Curious, I asked the receptionist about it.

“This quest was sent to us because the mess was too intense for the client to clean himself with just {Purification}. Are you interested?”

“I’ll need a second to think.” How friggin’ dirty is that gonna be...? I started to worry a little, but Niku hesitantly called out to me.

“Your {Purification} will be enough, Master. It cleans me a lot more than a normal one.”

“What? Really?”

“Yours feels amazing, Master. It makes me feel all floaty. I know it can clean any mess. If it can’t, I’ll clean the bathroom myself. I’m good at cleaning.”

Huh. I had no idea my magic was especially strong or anything. I know visualization is important with magic. Maybe something’s going on there. But either way, Niku can back me up if it doesn’t work. Let’s give it a shot.

“Er, I would like to take this quest.”

“...Very well. The guild accepts your services. The client is the blacksmith located in the west industrial district. Take care not to get lost. Here is the quest slip you should show to the client. Be certain to receive his signature after completing the job.”

Our services were accepted, so we immediately started the quest. We could check on either a real map or on the Menu map, so there wasn’t much chance of us getting lost. Under normal circumstances, other people couldn’t see me using the Menu without my permission, but I decided it would probably be best not to use it in public too much. I’d look suspicious if I started staring into space for too long.

I told my Wearable Golem where to go and after a bit it suddenly stopped. We had arrived. The combined powers of a map and my Wearable Golem were unstoppable.

I decided to show the quest slip to the client and settle things as fast as possible. The client was a surly-looking, somewhat aged man who did in fact look like a craftsman.

“Excuse me, I’m from the Adventurer’s Guild. I’m here to clean your toilet.”

“...A slave-owner, huh? You tellin’ me that your slave’s gonna clean for you? She looks pretty damn small...”

“I’ll take a look at it first. We took this quest together, after all.”

“...Alright. It’s over here.” I peeked into the toilet and was immediately hit with the distinctive smells of fecal matter and urine. Not gonna lie. I nearly threw up.

“Throw up if you want, but clean your own puke up too. I hired you to clean, not to make it more dirty.”

“...R-Right.”

“Tell me when you’re done.” The client left without sticking around at all. Convenient.

“...Wait. Isn’t this smell bothering you, Niku?”

“I’m used to it.” Where the heck did you used to live? I shook my head and tried casting {Purification}. “{Purification}.” Bubbles spread out and covered the entire bathroom. The filth covering the bathroom’s walls, floors, and toilet got absorbed into the bubbles, which then disappeared. Left behind was a completely clean bathroom, smelling slightly of citrus and lavender. It was as if I had scrubbed the place clean myself. Wow... I thought the toilet was just brown, but it’s actually white porcelain. Not to mention, it looks just like the kind we have back at home. Weird.

“That was amazing, Master.”

“Yep. That’s how you do it.” But man... We’re already done. I wouldn’t mind using this as an opportunity to get a little famous, but standing out too much would be bad for business. I’ll just kill some time with a nap.

“Alright. Niku, I want you to pretend to clean the bathroom for a bit. I’m going out to gather some info. If anybody drops by, say you’re busy cleaning and they can’t come in. Yeah... Keep doing that for about an hour. Does your Golem watch have enough mana in it to last that long? Oh, and also, don’t let anyone see you checking the watch.”

“U-Understood... One hour, okay.”

“If nobody checks up on you, keep going until I come back. If somebody does come and it’s been over an hour, get them to sign the quest slip and hold on to it.”

“U-Understood.”

I left Niku in the bathroom and stealthily made my way outside. Clean or not, I had no intention of taking a nap inside someone’s bathroom.

I walked all the way to the shopping district in search of a good place to nap. It wasn’t that far away from the industrial district and it looked a lot like this city’s “main street” of sorts. It even had stands lining the road. Ah, right... There were some kebab stands around here. Should I buy one for Niku? It’d be smart of me to do at least a little information gathering, since that was the excuse I used to get away. Right. Hopefully I could find some information on the best spots for taking a nice afternoon nap.

I was caught off guard by just how many stores there were. This one sells nothing but bread... and yep, it all looks hard as crap. I thought back to how that bandit had practically cried over that one melon roll. It looked like that hard bread cost two coppers for three pieces. Yeah, I would cry too.

By the way, I could use the Menu even though I wasn’t in the dungeon. It would be neat if I could use DP to buy things here to make quests easier, but... I could only look at the catalog, not buy anything. Too bad. I guess that meant that DP was connected to the dungeon somehow? Either way, it might be fun to compare the store price of random things to their DP cost.

“...Wait. I’m looking for a place to nap, right.” I had forgotten my actual goal and started information gathering for real by accident. Although that made me disappointed in myself, it was undeniable that a fantasy city was the perfect environment to tickle a man’s heart. But as fascinating as the city was, there were so many buildings I was struggling to find a place to sleep. At this rate, it’d be faster for me to give up searching on my own and just ask someone else. I started looking for a store that would probably have answers for me.

...Hey, there’s a greengrocer. I bet their stuff is cheap as well. I’ll buy some fruit or something and use the opportunity to squeeze some information out of the storekeeper. Looks like he’s selling fruits that look like apples... actually, wait, these are just apples. They’re smaller than the ones I’m used to, but this world apparently has watermelons. These are probably apples too. I pointed to the probably-apples and called out to the storekeeper.

“Hey, how much are these?”

“Those are two for three coppers.”

“Alright, cool. I’ll have two... oh, and don’t worry about bagging them up. I’ll eat one here.”

“Roger that. Eat’m wherever you want, but step aside a little. Don’t want you getting in the way of any other customers.”

I handed over three copper coins, took two apples, and bit into one after stepping aside. Oof... so sour! “Woah... These are... pretty sour, huh?”

“You think so? The apples were just as good this year as they are every year.”

“Oh, I’m not trying to complain or anything like that. I’ve just never had an apple from around these parts before. No need to glare at me, I won’t ask for my money back. It’s cool that the apples around here normally taste like this.”

“I see. My bad. Are you a traveler?”

“An adventurer. I just reached this city today. Oooh... There’s some sweetness in the sourness. Tastes good.”

“You can tell, huh?” The shopkeeper had glared at me after I mentioned the apples tasting sour, but he soon lowered his guard. He was a nice guy. In truth, the sourness was a little overpowering, but it didn’t taste so bad if I just kept in mind that the sourness was normal.

“Yep. I’ve heard that sour apples go pretty well with sugar. Apparently they’re good for making candy with.”

“Heh. You sure know a lot. But sugar is pretty valuable around here, and apples are sweet enough on their own.”

Oh? Some pretty sweet info just fell right into my lap. Hm... I should try making sugar in the dungeon. Adventurers might flock towards our sugar like ants. And even if they don’t, it might be smart to just make and sell sugar on its own. If it really is valuable, I might be able to get a nice flow of DP just from offering sugar up to the dungeon. I’ll have to make a mental note about this for later. I’ll try it out if I don’t forget.

“Oh yeah. By the way, do you know where a good place to take a nap would be?”

“Hahaha! Now there’s a question I didn’t expect to hear! Heh, but anyway, why don’t you try the park in the middle of the town?”

“Oh, there’s a park here? Parks are great for napping.”

“Yep, but make sure nobody nicks your wallet while you’re sleeping. If you’ve got money you don’t mind losing, use it to buy some of my fruit!”

“Good point, I’ll be careful. Er, also... Got any interesting news you wouldn’t mind sharing?”

“Eh? Y’know, you’re a funny guy, so I’ll tell you what I know. You know how some knights have been hanging around Tsia lately?”

Yep, I know.

“I heard one of those knights say something interesting. ‘If only I had destroyed that Dungeon Core, I’d be a Holy Paladin right now.’ I’ve also heard a lot of rumors that destroying Dungeon Cores can make you stronger somehow.”

Oh really now...

“That’s some pretty good info, thanks. I’ll buy something here again next time I’m around.”

“Thank ye!” I waved and left the greengrocer, having scored a lot of sweet information.

By the way, it cost 5 DP to buy ten apples through the DP Catalog. Though that might not be the best comparison, since those apples would probably be the less sour ones from my world. Well... I could choose hard bread in the bread set, so maybe I could buy sour apples in some kind of apple set.

But more importantly... There were rumors going around that you could get stronger by destroying Dungeon Cores. I might need to dash back to the dungeon as soon as possible. I’m worried about that investigation quest back at the guild, too. What to do... Well, either way, I need a good nap before I can think about these things.

...

.........

There was a nice shaded bench at the park, so after quickly investigating the comfiest way to lie on top of it, I fell right asleep. For two hours.

...Oh crap, I slept way too much. I hope Niku’s not pissed at me. After making sure all my valuables were safe, I rushed back to the blacksmith where I had left Niku. Oh, wait, right. I said I was information gathering. Let’s see what I learned today... The apples here are sour, sugar is valuable, the park here is perfect for naps, and that there’s a rumor going around that you can get stronger by destroying Dungeon Cores. Perfect. That’s enough information for my excuse to hold up. Thanks, Mister Greengrocer. I owe you one.

I arrived at the blacksmith, but since Niku wasn’t waiting for me outside, I snuck into the bathroom. And there she was.

“How did it go, Master?”

“Great. I learned lots of stuff. How about yourself?”

“Someone came once while I was cleaning, so I turned them away. They came back later, but since an hour had passed, I told them I was done. They signed the slip. Here.”

Oh, right... I didn’t tell her where to wait for me. Sorry... Yeah, sorry.

“You could’ve waited for me outside, y’know.”

“I-I’m sorry. Are you going to punish me?” Niku lowered her eyes sadly and fidgeted a little. D-Don’t worry, it’s my fault for not telling you. I won’t punish you, okay?

I rubbed Niku’s head as gently as I could. Her soft hair felt really nice. Her dog ears were pretty soft, too.

“Auuu...” Niku was surprised at first, but she soon got embarrassed after I kept rubbing her head. Eventually, she got so emotional from my head-rubbing that she clung to my right arm. What a cute little girl. Seriously. She’s too cute.

After thanking her as best I could, I left the bathroom with Niku.

“...All done?” The client called out to us almost immediately.

“Huh? Oh, yeah. I finished what I was doing.”

“Alright... Hey, girl. If this guy ever dies, come to me. I’ll treat you well.”

“Don’t wanna.” Niku immediately shot the guy down before I could even process what was up with the serious expression on his face. Uh... Why ya glarin’ at me, Mister Client? Something must have happened between him and Niku while I was sleeping. Something that made him grow really attached to her.

“...Alright. But you never know what can happen to you when you’re an adventurer. Just remember, I’m here for you.”

“Let’s go, Master.”

“R-Right.” Niku was completely ignoring him. Seriously, what happened? But either way, the guy had a point. You can never know what’ll happen in life. Especially for me. As a Dungeon Master, every day was a fight for survival.

“Hey, Niku. If something does happen to me, you might actually want to come here. You should remember his offer, just in case.” Niku jolted after hearing me say that.

“...A-Are... Are you going... to abandon me...?” She looked like a dog whose family had left it home alone as they went on vacation. Thankfully, she cheered up after I rustled her hair again and said I would never abandon her, no matter what.

By the time we reached the Adventurer’s Guild, the sun had already started to set.

“Congratulations on completing the quest. Here is your payment of eight coppers.” The receptionist stacked eight coppers on the counter. The fruits of our labor. Although it ended quickly, I had still worked for this money. I hope I can find a way to get money for free without doing anything... I just want to sleep in a safe, comfy place...

“There is also an additional one copper as a special payment for the girl. The client instructed me to give it directly to her. Here you are.”

“Nice. Isn’t that great, Niku?”

“Y-Yes.” Niku reached out over the counter and took the copper coin. She was so short that the receptionist had to bend really far forward.

“...Here, Master.” And then, right after taking the coin, Niku offered it up to me. ...Er, I think she should hold on to that.

“Keep it, Niku. You can use it on whatever you want.”

“H-Here.” She kept holding the coin out to me. We were starting to hold up the line in front of the counter. Having no other choice, I decided to take the coin and spend it on a treat for her later.

“Alright. Thanks.”

“Nnn...♪” I took the coin and rubbed her head. She looked really happy. She was even wagging her dog tail.

H-Hey, don’t glare at me like that, lady. We’ll get out of the way in just a second. Ah... But first.

“I’m planning to stay at an inn here tonight. Do you have any recommendations?”

“You can get a bed at the slums for only four coppers, though I can’t guarantee your safety... Ah, you can entrust that young girl to me while you sleep there if you wish. I will do it for free.”

“Er, thanks, but I’ll pass.” Didn’t you tell me to avoid the slums earlier? Though I guess that’s the only place I could afford with earnings this weak. I’ll give her some more details.

“I’d like an inn where I can sleep really well for forty coppers or less a night. Good food is a nice bonus. Any ideas?”

“I believe you will like the Sleepy Songbird Inn. It normally costs thirty-five coppers a night to sleep there, and it comes with one meal.”

That sounded perfect, so after checking the map, we went straight there. An adventurer making eight coppers a day normally wouldn’t be able to stay there, but thirty-five coppers was nothing to a Dungeon Master like me. Though, to be honest, I was actually tight on cash at the moment. All I did today was register at the guild and do a single quest. I should try to earn more money tomorrow. If I’m gonna have to work, I want to at least be financially stable as a result.

It took half a day of running full speed to get to town from the dungeon, so it wouldn’t be easy to go back and forth between them every day. I would guess it’d take a full day of walking to make it if we didn’t run. In other words, we’ll have to stay at an inn at least once every time we come to town. I would really like to earn enough cash to pay for that.

Soon enough, we reached the Sleepy Songbird Inn. It was a large, nice-looking inn made out of wood. Thank you for your recommendation, lovely receptionist. I opened the door and saw a lady who looked like an innkeeper sitting by a desk.

“Excuse me, I was recommended this inn by the Adventurer’s Guild. Do you have an open room, for about thirty-five coppers?”

“Hm? Yes, we do. You’re from the guild, then. Are you an adventurer? It is thirty-five copper for bread and board here, but... oh? That girl is a slave, I see. What will you do with her? It’ll cost five more coppers for her to sleep in the barn.”

“I’d like us to sleep in the same room if possible. Does that cost extra?”

“...No, it doesn’t. How will you feed her? A meal for her would cost two coppers.”

“That’s fine. I’d like to stay the night here.” Hell yeah, slaves don’t cost any extra. Lucky us.

“One night, then. Ah, should I bring the food to your room?”

“Please do.”

“Very well. Ah, and by the way, I would appreciate it if you would cast {Purification} on your sheets before leaving.” We didn’t have enough coppers for that, so we paid one silver coin instead. Our change was sixty-three coppers: six large coppers and three normal-sized ones. She didn’t even call them “large coppers,” she just gave them to me with the implicit understanding that they were worth ten coppers. I dug that. It’s less work to just call them coppers without worrying about the “large” bit.

“And here is your key. Your room is number seven, first floor.”

I took the key and headed towards our room. I used the key to open the door with “7” on it (written in this world’s numeral system) and was greeted with as ordinary of a room as you could imagine. The window was made out of a wood panel rather than glass. I could slide it to the side to open it. Did this world even have glass? I was pretty sure they stored medicine in glass bottles, so they probably had glass.

There was a Light-enchanted tool for if we needed any light. The tool would shine like a light bulb if you put a magic stone into it and flipped the switch. Apparently, that was this inn’s main attraction. You could either bring your own magic stone or buy one at the inn counter. You could still make it work without a magic stone by manually pouring mana into it... though you would need to keep the mana flow going nigh-constantly.

By the way, I just recently learned that magic stones disappear after they run out of mana. They last longer if you regularly refill their mana reserves.

The most important thing of all, however, was the bed... and unfortunately, it was basically just a wood box with sheets thrown over it. Needless to say, it was hard. Like seriously. It was flat as a board. The several layers of sheets made it almost like a futon, which put it a solid level above the park bench, but still. Hmm... Thinking about it now, that [Futon] I bought for 50 DP is actually pretty high-tier. I bet it’s better than most beds in this world.

Also, there was only one bed. Now it made sense why Niku sharing a room with me didn’t cost any extra. One bed was all it took if we slept together.

...I didn’t mean that in a sexual way, alright?

“Am I going to sleep on the floor?”

“No, we can sleep in the bed together. It’s cold enough for that to be a good idea.” I decided to sleep right after eating. To be honest, my muscles had been hurting pretty bad for a while. I might not even be able to move tomorrow without making my Wearable Golem do everything for me... I cast {Purification} on Niku and me while thinking to myself and waiting for the food.

“Oh, right. I need to split the money we made today.” I took out five coppers and handed them to Niku. That was half the profits, plus the extra copper she had been given.

“I-I, I can’t take this much! I-I didn’t even do anything...”

“You found the quest and told me I could take care of it with my {Purification}, didn’t you? That’s more than enough. Don’t worry about it.”

“B-But...”

“Those meat kebabs cost about five coppers, didn’t they... Aaah, I really want to eat a meat kebab with you, Niku...”

“...O-Okay, I’ll take it.” Naturally, I didn’t actually intend to make her pay for her kebab.

Maybe due to us talking about kebabs, I heard a stomach growl. Not mine. Niku’s. Oh yeah... She hasn’t eaten anything since we got here. Now I feel a little guilty for eating that apple earlier.

The innkeeper soon brought us our food. My meal was two pieces of hard bread and a bowl of vegetable soup, whereas Niku only got the pieces of bread. Interesting. So that’s the kind of thing slaves eat. I split my soup with Niku before using my half to force the hard bread down my throat. The vegetable soup itself was actually pretty good. Yep. It didn’t have a strong flavor or anything, but I could taste the vegetables and it was nice.

Day 29

We left the inn after morning came. My body felt stiff, but thankfully the muscle pain wasn’t so bad. And this time, Niku managed to fulfill her role as my dakimakura without peeing herself. Using the bathroom before bed is very important. Yep. Though naturally I had to stop her when she tried stripping off her clothes before getting into bed with me. That was going a bit too far.

I remembered at the last moment that the innkeeper had requested that I use {Purification} on the sheets before leaving, and so I did. I had gotten really used to {Purification}. Though... I misjudged its strength and accidentally cleaned the entire room too. W-Well, not like she’s gonna get mad at me for that. I saved her some time and effort.

“Got everything, Niku?”

“Yes, everything.”

“Sweet. Let’s go drop by the food stands for some breakfast.”

“O-Okay!”

I returned our key to the Sleepy Songbird Inn’s innkeeper and left. Sleeping there had been very fruitful. Now I knew more about inn fares and what kind of stuff people would expect for a certain price.

I wonder if Rokuko’s holding up alright at the dungeon all by herself. She’s, uh... probably fine. She managed on her own before I got here, after all. I’m kinda getting homesick for the dungeon’s Master Room. Or more precisely, the futon there. I’ll go back there as soon as I learn a bit more about some things...

＊ ＊ ＊

We headed straight for the Adventurer’s Guild while eating ham sandwiches we had bought for breakfast. There was already a sizable amount of adventurers at the guild despite how early it was. They were all crowded around the quest board, picking and choosing which quests to take. Yeaaah... I don’t wanna deal with this.

“Master.” Niku was looking at me with her eyes shining, as if to say “leave this to me!” Honestly, I don’t feel so good about sending a tiny child like her into a big crowd like that, but...

“Alright! Bring back any quests that look good!”

“Okay!” Niku happily plunged into the throng of adventurers. Her small body was engulfed by the crowd and disappeared in seconds.

After a small while, she came running back with two slips of paper wedged between her lips. I rubbed her head and scratched her chin to thank Niku, causing her to wiggle happily. Yep, she’s basically a puppy. Thank you so much.

I took a look at the quests she brought back. “Ten Deliveries. Reward: Ten Coppers. Rank: G and above. One or more people required,” and “Hunt Rabbits. Reward: At most, ten coppers per rabbit. Rank: G and above. One or more people required. Notes: Minimum of three rabbits, maximum of ten. Must be hunted the day of.” Right. I can use the map and my Wearable Golem to manage these deliveries, and hunting rabbits shouldn’t be an issue. These are perfect. I took the slips and headed straight for the counter.

“Will delivery quests not be too much for you two? You’ve only just arrived in town. I cannot recommend it.” Uh... you again? The same receptionist as yesterday was behind the counter.

“We won’t have any problems as long as you tell us exactly where we need to go.”

“You do know that I won’t be able to physically guide you there myself, yes?” Lady, I’ll be fine as long as you tell me where to go. The receptionist furrowed her brows even further after looking at the second slip I had with me.

“And you’re going to take a hunting quest as well? Rabbits may not be monsters, but I think that would still be a little reckless.”

“Reckless?”

“Yes. Unless you are quite confident in your hunting skills, taking this quest would be reckless. The rabbits you hunt will be used to make meat kebabs. I believe that the stand owner will refuse to buy any meat from a rabbit that’s been chopped up with a dull blade and with no assistance from a skill.”

I get it. This quest is basically a trap that a ton of newbies fall into. But I have a Magic (Golem) Blade on my side, plus my Wearable Golem’s assistance. I’ll manage.

“...I believe I mentioned this when making your guild card, but failure to complete a request results in a fine and a punishment. Do you still wish to go through with this?”

“Yep, absolutely.” Sorry, I wasn’t really listening when you talked about the fine and stuff. Either way, I held out my guild card so she could register my quest application.

“...Application registered. Be careful. Oh, and regarding the delivery quest, please go behind the Guild Building. The staff member in charge of delivery quests will tell you more about the deliveries there.”

“Thanks.” The receptionist was kind of a prickly person at times, but she did her job and she always gave relevant, helpful advice. She’s pretty good at her job. I’m glad she’s always so upfront about things.

“Alright. Let’s go, Niku.”

“Yes, Master.”

I left the counter with Niku, heading around the back to get started with the delivery quest.

＊ ＊ ＊

Niku and I quickly finished the delivery quest by splitting the deliveries between us. Though... I couldn’t move well due to muscle pain, and by the time I finished three of the deliveries, Niku had already finished the other seven. Although she got a lot of help from the Wearable Golem navigating for her, it was obvious how skilled she was. The way her tail wagged proudly as I rubbed her head was cute and healed my soul.

It only took us part of the morning to finish the deliveries. We still had plenty of time to go rabbit hunting. Wait, where can we even find rabbits? Crap. I have no idea. I decided to just go to the client and try asking him.

The client was indeed running a kebab stand. The nice smell of fatty meats being cooked wafted through the air. Saliva built up within my mouth, forcing me to gulp loudly.

“You’re the adventurers who took the rabbit quest? Alright. Where’s the meat? I don’t see you two holding any.”

“Oh, uh, we were just about to go get it.”

“Huh. Well, I’m gonna be using the meat next week, so take all the time you need today. I’ll be cooking meat here until the evening. So, what do you need with me?” Right after he said that, the cute sound of a stomach grumbling filled the air. Of course, it wasn’t me. It was Niku. Oh yeah. We haven’t had lunch yet.

“...We’d like two kebabs, please. And I’d also appreciate it if you told us where we could hunt some rabbits.”

“Coming right up. That’ll be five coppers each... so yeah, ten coppers total. As for the rabbits, you can find them outside of the town. You can find a lot of them out of the west gate, right up to the forest surrounding Tsia Mountain, but not fully inside of it. Oh, and don’t worry about dissecting them. I’ll take care of that.”

“Nice, thanks. We’ll go get started.” I took the kebabs and handed one to Niku. She tried to hand me her five coppers to pay, but I didn’t take them.

“I spent this money to get information, so don’t worry about it. Plus, it’s a master’s duty to feed his slaves. Let’s eat.”

“Um... What should I do with these, then?” Niku was looking at the five coppers in her hand, troubled.

“If you ever feel like you want something, you can use those to buy it. And if those five coppers aren’t enough, you just gotta save up some more.”

“Um... O-Okay.” Niku put the coppers into the small bag she was using as a makeshift purse. We then bit into our kebabs. Well... It’s not bad. It’s definitely not bad, but it kind of stinks a little, and it doesn’t taste as good as a hamburger, which makes it less satisfying than it could have been. Or at least, that’s what Niku was probably thinking, judging from the expression on her face.

＊ ＊ ＊

I showed my guild quest slip to the guard at the gate and got outside without needing to pay anything. We found one rabbit on our way to the forest. It was bouncing around the grassy plains much like you would expect a rabbit to do. Honestly... it was super cute. White fur, red eyes, tiny... Yeah, it was cute. Cute and fluffy. A cute ball of fluff frolicking amidst the grass.

But moments later, Niku had decapitated it with a single slice. Her Golem Blade (Knife) easily sliced through its neck thanks to its vibration capabilities. It was pretty gruesome.

“Here’s the meat.”

“Th-Thanks. Good job. I’m proud of you.” This kid’s got no mercy. I picked up the rabbit’s corpse by the feet as blood pumped out of its neck and held it upside-down for a bit. Once most of its blood had drained, I threw it into a leather bag we had brought. I threw in the head too because why not.

If Niku weren’t here, my heart might have shattered and left me unable to complete the quest on my own. Somehow... killing rabbits made me feel more guilty than watching adventurers die in my dungeon. Though, I ended up killing a rabbit after that myself. The meat I ate every day always came from an animal somebody had killed. The burden of murder rested on my shoulders as well. Which meant that I had no excuse for not killing any rabbits here, unless I wanted to be a hypocrite.

Thanks to my Golem Blade and Wearable Golem, I managed to bag a rabbit. Some of its blood got on me, but all it took was a single {Purification} to get it off me. Wait... Come to think of it, Niku didn’t even get a single drop of blood on her. I’m impressed. She’s earned my respect.

Eventually, we bagged the ten rabbits and took them back to the client. Who killed how many? I got two and Niku got eight, what about it? Niku decapitated the rabbits as soon as she saw them, I can’t compete with that. I asked her to let me help out, so she caught one and held it down for me with both hands so I could kill it instead of her. I managed to get one without her help... but I relied pretty heavily on my Wearable Golem helping out. Maybe Niku can take care of all the adventuring for me...

We handed over the rabbit-filled bag. The client grinned after seeing what was inside.

“Well, well... Looks can be deceiving, huh? Didn’t expect you to be this skilled with a blade.” Sorry, the girl did basically everything, not me. All I did was hold upside-down the rabbits that the great Niku hunted and throw them in the bag after they ran out of blood. Niku was the only one who went into the forest. I just stood around waiting for her.

But regardless of who caught them, the client was very impressed with the rabbits. It helped that their pelts were still usable thanks to how we drained their blood. All the rabbits, except one, earned the maximum payment of ten coppers, resulting in a net gain of ninety-seven coppers... though as a bonus for how solid they were overall, he paid us a whole silver coin instead. Huh? Which was the one worth seven coppers? Yeah, yeah. You know it was the one I caught on my own. My bad for slicing its torso in half.

And so, we returned to the guild with our quest slips. The sun was just starting to go down, indicating that it was slightly past noon. There were fewer people inside than yesterday, maybe due to most adventurers working until the afternoon. The same receptionist as always was behind the counter. There were a few other receptionists too, but thinking it best to deal with someone we had experience with, I brought the slips to her.

“...So, how were they? Too much for you, just like I said?” Yep, it sure was the same receptionist as always. I decided to just roll with her sharp tongue as a sign of the concern and affection she had for us now that we’ve known each other for two days.

“Nope, we finished them both. Here you go.”

“Wow... You certainly did finish them. And you received high praise for your performance on both.” The receptionist was looking at the slips with surprise. Heh, and ninety percent of that praise is for my little girl here. Hell yeah.

“In that case, congratulations. You can now rank up. Do you wish to rank up?”

“Wha?!” Rank up... In other words, we’d be leaving G-Rank and going up to F-Rank.

“There are two requirements for ranking up to F-Rank: Complete ten or more quests, and have one of those quests be a hunting or extermination quest. Additionally, if a quest is completed with high praise for the client, it counts as two quests. And furthermore... this Rabbit Hunting quest has three as a minimum number of rabbits, so it counts as one quest per three rabbits. In conclusion, you completed five quests with high praise, and thus fulfilled the requirements for ranking up. Do you wish to rank up?”

“Ah. Yes.”

“Then please give me your guild card. Please sit down and wait for a moment.”

After Niku and I handed our guild cards to her, the receptionist disappeared into the deepest room in the guild. Uh... I hope ranking up in two days isn’t something that’s gonna make people notice us. I said yes without thinking too much about it, but I may have just made a big mistake. Actually, wait. We need to be F-Rank to accept the quest about investigating the [Ordinary Cave], so it all works out. I can ask all the questions I want about the [Ordinary Cave] without looking suspicious if I can take that quest. After we sat and waited for a little bit, the receptionist came back.

“...Mr. Keima. The guildmaster wishes to speak to you. Please follow me.”

Wait, what? I have to meet with the guildmaster? I don’t wanna stand out or anything, and I definitely don’t want the guildmaster to find out anything about me... but I can’t turn them down. Guess I’ve gotta go. Niku and I followed the receptionist to the guildmaster’s room. The door was large, impressive, and had a golden plate in the middle with “Guildmaster” written on it. The receptionist knocked on it, and soon a gravelly voice greeted her.

“Come on in.”

“Please excuse me.”

We followed the receptionist in and saw a muscular old dude sitting behind a desk. He had the dark tanned skin of an adventurer, a white beard that conveyed his wealth of experience, and sharp eyes reminiscent of a large predator’s.

“My name’s Jino. I’m the guildmaster here. Cilia’s told me all about you two.” I guess the receptionist’s name is Cilia. That’s the first time I’ve heard it.

The guildmaster looked closely at Niku and spoke in a deliberate tone.

“...Girl. What do you think about this guy?”

“He’s my master.” Niku responded instantly.

“.........Alright.” For whatever reason, the guildmaster nodded slowly and patted Niku’s head. In contrast to his dignified appearance from before, he was now smiling like a friendly old man. After a bit, he turned to look at the receptionist.

“They seem good to me. Hey, Cilia. Go ahead and rank’m up.”

“Yes, sir. Understood.” We were chased out of the guildmaster’s room right after that, as if he had nothing else to say to us. What was the deal with that? And was there any point in me going with her? Please.

Niku and I went back to the lobby. After a moment of waiting, the receptionist brought us our guild cards.

“You now have F-Rank guild cards. Please look them over.” We took the cards from her and saw that they indeed had F-Rank written on them. Her duty done, the receptionist returned behind the counter.

And now... We can investigate the [Ordinary Cave]. I immediately started hunting for the “Investigate the [Ordinary Cave]” quest. Wait... What? I can’t find it. Am I just missing it? I looked to Niku, but she just shook her head.

“It’s not... here...”

“Yep. Which means someone took it, I guess...” Oh crap, what do I do? When did it get taken? This morning? At noon? Maybe last night? If they just took it, we could catch up to them on the road there. We might end up fighting, though. Would... Would we be able to win that fight?

“...Master?” I glanced at Niku. Speaking of which, does Niku really understand that I’m a Dungeon Master? Like, does she get what that implies? I don’t think I’ve ever talked to her about it. But... okay. I need to calm down. Rokuko can handle herself. She’ll do what I told her to for sure. If what I know about this world is right, that’ll be enough. The only problem is... What if what I know and what the guild knows is different? I need to find that out right away, which means now’s not the time to be sleeping. Haaaaah...

I headed towards the counter. Behind it was Cilia, the same receptionist as always. Sorry for coming right back.

“I’d like to ask you some questions about dungeons, if that’s okay.”

“Many adventurers will soon be returning, but I can answer your questions until then. But what do you want to know? The dungeons around here are all D-Rank or above, so they should have little to do with you.” In other words, because the [Ordinary Cave] was the subject of an F-Rank quest, it wasn’t a normal dungeon.

“Er, I remember seeing a quest about exploring some dungeon named [Ordinary Cave]. I couldn’t find it just now, but it was an F-Rank quest, which makes me curious about it.”

“...Ah, yes. That quest is primarily for rookies. It’s a quest based on investigating a harmless, newly born dungeon. Those are quite rare. We post the quest about once every two weeks.” Newly born? I’ll have to ask Rokuko to see if that’s a fact or just a false rumor.

“...By the way, what kind of person took the quest?”

“That information is confidential.” Yeah, figures. I’d have appreciated it if she told me, but I’d basically lose all trust in her if she gave away information like that willy-nilly.

“More importantly, I have two quests marked specifically for your young slave. They’re both toilet cleaning. What will you do? They’re G-Rank quests if you wish to take them.”

“...Let me think about it.” Toilet cleaning, huh? I guess our first client liked our work so much he advertised us around town. But now’s definitely not the time for us to be wasting time with that.

“While I’m here, might I ask what kind of places dungeons are?”

“...Dungeons are places where treasure, monsters, and traps appear. It’s often said that if you wish to get rich quick, dungeons are your best bet. Though I presume you already knew that much.”

“N-Naturally. Of course. How could I not?” Yeah, I had no idea. Thank you for teaching me what’s common sense in this world.

“Then, are you aware of what a Dungeon Boss or a Dungeon Core is?” Dungeon Boss? Not Dungeon Core? Now that she mentions it, I do remember one of the knights talking about a Dungeon Boss or something.

“...Er, Cores are like, the hearts of dungeons. Right?”

“Yes, that’s right. A dungeon will collapse as soon as its Core is destroyed. The Dungeon Boss is a being that awaits at the bottom of a dungeon, protecting its Core. Some theorize that the Dungeon Core and the Dungeon Boss are one at heart. Historically, there are legends of the Demon King’s castle collapsing after the Demon King himself was defeated. It’s quite a popular theory that the Demon King was both the Dungeon Core and Dungeon Boss of his castle dungeon. Though I personally believe that the Demon King was just a sore loser who, at the last moment, tried to destroy those who defeated him by any means possible.”

A Demon King Dungeon Core, huh? I guess it was just someone like Rokuko going way too far. I tried imagining Rokuko as a Demon Queen. She stepped on her long cape and fell over. Yeah, Rokuko doesn’t fit that role at all. The dungeon collapsing after the Dungeon Core gets destroyed probably had to do with the Core holding up the walls on its own. Though... There were so many dungeon terms I was starting to lose track of what was common knowledge and what wasn’t.

“...I heard there was a rumor that you can grow stronger by destroying Dungeon Cores. Is that true? He who dares wins, or something like that?”

“That is rumored, but whether or not it’s true is still unknown. And, I might add, destroying guild-managed dungeons is punishable by death under imperial law. I would advise you to not try experimenting.” Seriously? Seems like our dungeon’s protected by imperial law. It might be a good idea for me to calm down a little.

“By the way, if you wish to know more about dungeons, I suggest that you buy a dungeonology book. Although books are expensive, there is no better way to learn what you wish to know.” Now that’s the kind of info I wanted. Dungeonology, huh? That’s a funny name, but I’m glad I learned about it. I definitely want one of those books.

“Though, even a copy of ‘Intro to Dungeonology’ will cost you a full gold piece.”

“Th-That’s pretty expensive.”

“You think so? All books are that expensive, in my experience.” Really...? Well, I don’t have any gold pieces right now. And if a single copper is about one hundred yen, doesn’t that make one gold coin about 1,000,000 yen?! Books are friggin’ expensive! Maybe I’ll be able to afford it if I go back to the dungeon and buy a lot of expensive-looking things with DP? Sweet, one more reason to go back to the dungeon. The receptionist glanced behind me. I followed her gaze and saw that several adventurers had just returned.

“Will that be all for today? People are returning now.”

“Yeah, sorry. Thanks for the help.”

“Do not mention it. Giving advice to adventurers is part of my job... now, if you’ll excuse me.” The receptionist turned and started helping out someone else. It’d be rude of me to keep bothering her, so I took Niku and left the counter.

＊ ＊ ＊

Either way, I doubted the [Ordinary Cave’s] Core was in any danger of being destroyed. Though there was a decent chance some dungeonology scholars or whatever would investigate it due to how rapidly it increased in size.

Either way, DP-wise, it’d be cheaper for us to stay here since we didn’t need to buy food or anything. One path available to me was to become an adventurer and use Tsia City as my base of operation. But to put it simply, I couldn’t live without my [Futon]. I could squeeze in a nap on the park bench or on the blanket-covered boxes in the Sleepy Songbird Inn, but I sure didn’t enjoy it very much. I had gotten more than enough information. It’d be a solid idea to go back to the [Ordinary Cave] temporarily and come back with valuable stuff. I really wanted to get my hands on that dungeonology book.

Though it might be a while before I can get my hands on enough for one gold coin’s worth of stuff. Wait... Wait a second. Can I maybe buy that book with DP? I checked the DP Catalog and yep, there it was. Maybe it’s showing up now because someone told me about it. Let’s see here... [Intro to Dungeonology (100DP)]... Wait, what?! 100DP?! The heck is with that? I can buy a book worth one gold piece, worth one million yen, for 100DP?! I’m pretty sure [Five Copper Coins] costs 5DP. What in the world is going on here? Either way, it looked like it would be a good idea to go back to the dungeon and buy [Intro to Dungeonology].

“Niku, we’re going back to the dungeon.”

“Yes, Master.” Niku nodded.

It was already evening. If we didn’t hurry, the gate might close on us. I took Niku and rushed for the west gate. Once we reached it, we saw the gatekeeper that guided us to the guild standing guard.

“Oh? And what brings you two here this late? It’s about time for me to shut the gate.”

“We have some business near the mountain. If nothing happens, we should be back in about two days.”

“...Shouldn’t you have more baggage? You don’t seem very prepared for a trip like that.” Oh crap, he’s right. We’re barely carrying anything. I figured we wouldn’t need much since our base is at the mountain, but normal adventurers won’t have anything like that. But I’d feel pretty silly packing up hardcore every time I go back to the dungeon...

“It shouldn’t be a long trip, and if worse comes to worst we can live off the land for a bit. It’ll be easier for us to move without a lot of baggage weighing us down.”

“Alright. Makes sense to me.”

I thought my excuse had been pretty flimsy, but the guard accepted it without any problems. Adventurers being good survivalists was probably just common sense. Hmmm. Maybe I should start leaving from the south gate. I was advised to avoid the slums, but I can just say I’m buying an inn in the slums to save money. Nobody will doubt that. I can avoid lying by just rephrasing that as “I’m sleeping outside the city” or something vague like that.

“So, what’s your business by the mountain anyway? Got a quest to gather some herbs?”

“Nope, no quest. I’ll pay the gate fee.”

“Alright. Just so you know... The mountain can be dangerous at night. Be nice and careful, y’hear?”

“Absolutely. Thank you.” I paid the gate guard two coppers after showing him my guild card and then left the city without any problems. Now. Time to get back as soon as possible. I ordered my Wearable Golem to run as fast as possible the moment the gatekeeper was out of sight.

# Rokuko’s Perspective

The dungeon is quiet and nothing’s going on. I can’t sense anyone coming anywhere near me.

“...I’m so bored,” I mumble to myself. Bored... Mhm. That’s right. I’m bored.

I’ve spent sooo much time with Keima and his dog girl slave lately that I feel kinda lonely now that they’re gone. Weird. I’ve spent my whole life by myself, but I’ve never felt this lonely before. I summoned Keima when bandits conquered my dungeon and he got rid of them for me. He picked up a random slave girl, and then started making weird Golems. Mhm. My life’s changed a lot ever since Keima became my Dungeon Master. Thinking about it, my dungeon’s a lot bigger than it used to be. Plus, I have way, way more DP than I ever had before.

I bite into my [Melon Bread]. Even this treat is something I owe to him. And... uh-huh. It tastes delicious. It’s delicious, but it’s missing something. Something important. I try to figure out what’s missing, and quickly realize what it is.

Keima. Keima’s missing. [Melon Bread] tastes so much better when Keima’s around. Even when he’s sleeping, his presence changes so much.

...Mmm. I wonder if Keima’s coming back soon. He’s been gone for a while. He said he’d come right back, but it’s been over a whole day since he left. I wonder if something happened. Ngggh... I can tell he’s still alive since we’re connected as Dungeon and Master, but that’s all I know.

I plop down onto Keima’s futon and roll around. Ah... Sniff, sniff. Nnn, it smells like Keima. Oh well. I don’t dislike that. I dig deeper into the futon and realize it actually is pretty comfortable. Now I understand why Keima wants to stay inside of it all the time.

...Nnn, aaah. I stretch a little in the futon and decide to go to sleep. As a Dungeon Core, I don’t need sleep or anything, but I’ve been wondering how sleep feels for a while now. Keima always looks really happy when he’s sleeping. I’m the only one here right now, but it won’t matter if I take a nap. It’s not like anyone’s coming here anyway.

...But speak of the devil. I can sense someone coming towards my dungeon. It’s not Keima. I could easily tell if it was Keima. Who is that?! Don’t they know they’re getting in the way of me sleeping?! Ah... I guess this is how Keima feels whenever he tells me not to bother him when he’s sleeping.

Hmph, but well, this is okay. I’ll just take care of them and get back in bed as soon as I can.