Chapter 1

This is a bit sudden, but I decided to modify the Dungeon Boss.

I’ve had the idea for a while now. A grand plan for a Dragon Golem, stirring in my mind. I tried making weapons for the Haniwa Golem with magic tools, but dungeon objects and traps were generally more powerful than whatever effects the magic tools had. [Water Sources] were better at making water, [Flamethrowers] were better at making fire, and by using those objects and traps, we unlocked more powerful versions of them.

There were plenty of options for us at the [Cave of Greed], even though we didn’t use traps from the DP catalog much... Oh? Looks like we can customize traps now. Pretty sure that wasn’t an option before. Though the only thing we can customize is the trap’s area of effect, and only by a little bit.

Anyway, since I couldn’t place traps in the Master Room (given that it was inside the Dungeon Core), I experimented with them in the Boss Room. First, I tried seeing if I could place traps on Golems. I brought an Iron Golem to the Boss Room, opened the catalog, and... discovered that I could not. The Golem wasn’t an option on the menu. Next.

Placing traps on walls was just standard stuff, so I turned an Iron Golem into a solid iron ingot. I then flattened it, stuck it to the wall, and tried placing a trap on the wall. [Water Source] should be fine for now... Wait, that’ll get the room wet. [Flamethrower] it is.

Unfortunately, the end result was just fire shooting out from the wall and getting blocked by the layer of iron over it. Dang, there goes that idea. If only this worked. I could’ve put [Flamethrowers] on statues. Or maybe it’s just that using an Iron Golem as a base was a mistake? Well, at the very least, I can use this technique to make a sauna.

Suddenly, I noticed the Interior tab on the DP Catalog. Within were all sorts of decorations and such. The word interior must have been short for interior decoration. I never noticed since I had been making all the decorations manually, but there were all sorts of stuff there. Pillars, walls, statues... Wait.

I bought a random stone statue (100 DP) from the catalog, and in front of me appeared a statue of a Goblin wielding its sword aggressively. Five Goblins worth of DP for a single stone statue. Normally, that’d be a complete waste of DP. But in a shocking twist, I could place traps on the stone statue. It seemed that items from the Interior tab were considered as part of the dungeon, and thus could be trapped. It was pretty weird seeing a [Flamethrower] launch fire out of a Goblin’s chest.

I used {Create Golem} on the stone statue to alter its form. Traps stopped working when the location it was placed on shifted too much, so the [Flamethrower] stopped shooting flames by the time the statue was in the shape of a simple tube. Apparently, the trap was treated as being destroyed at that point.

I experimented with using DP to repair the trap. Conveniently, that did the trick. Fire spewed from the tube, just as planned. Neat, now I have a portable flamethrower.

With that done, I knew traps could still be used after having their shape changed. That was a big step forward. I could put the tube inside the mouth of the Dragon Golem, for instance.

...Ah, but looks like I can’t place new traps after using {Create Golem} on stuff. That’s a pain. All I can do is fix existing ones. Not to mention that the tube was so thin, the fire wrapped over the tube itself, covering it from all sides. I would’ve been badly burned if I was holding it. That was close.

For [Flamethrowers] anyway, I needed to customize the AOE to shrink it down, ideally to about thirty centimeters in diameter. I could only customize the traps while placing them, so I would need to be very careful when making things.

I also noticed another flaw. The flamethrower stopped working once I left the Boss Room to show it off. But then it started working when I went back to the Boss Room. Further investigation revealed that traps only worked on the same floor that they were initially placed on. Key point being floor, not room.

The reason probably lied in traps ultimately being things placed into the dungeon. They could move within the dungeon since it was probably expected for traps to be used in puzzles and such that might cover a whole floor. It stopped working the moment I left the Boss Room since I had put it on its own floor, so I could place monsters within it in the case of an emergency. It made sense, given that you couldn’t place monsters or traps on a floor with invaders on it, but to think that’d come back to bite me here. It was a pain, but I would just have to remember that traps would only work on their own floor. No taking them elsewhere.

But in any case, the experiments were overall a success. I could make new kinds of Golems equipped with a plethora of traps, as long as I kept these restrictions in mind. Alright, let’s take this opportunity to use a bunch of different traps and see if any achievements get unlocked. That’ll end up using a lot of DP, but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do.

Heck yeaaah, time to go all out and make a fire breathing Dragon Golem, yeaaah. Woooo.

＊ ＊ ＊

Anyway, this is a bit sudden, but I decided to modify the dungeon. The dungeon had more or less stabilized recently. You could say that it had found a niche and exploited it to a more than satisfactory extent. We didn’t need to add anything new, people were already satisfied just to hunt the Iron Golems. Most people never felt the need to go any deeper. So, what did that mean for us?

“I think I’m going to modify the [Cave of Greed] one last time, then consider it finished.”

“...Finished?” Rokuko, who I had called over to discuss this, tilted her head. From Rokuko the Dungeon Core’s perspective, the [Cave of Greed] was just part of herself, and the idea of “finishing” it didn’t even make sense. I reframed the idea with a different choice of words.

“I mean, I want to put the dungeon in a state where it no longer needs to be added to, ever. Like straight-up nobody is bothering to go deep inside the dungeon, so we might as well make a Dungeon Goal and leave the [Cave of Greed] on its own. I get the feeling that unnecessarily making deeper floors will just lead to stronger adventurers coming.”

“Makes sense. It does seem like really deep dungeons attract people that would be difficult to deal with. So, okay. What did you mean by Dungeon Goal?”

“It’s basically just a Core Room with a Dummy Core, but with a really fancy design that yells ‘This is it! You’ve won!’” I drew a simplified map of the dungeon so Rokuko could see what I meant. The map could have done the same thing, but my drawing was focused on being clear and easy to explain.

Starting from the entrance. First there was the entrance area where normal Goblins show up, then there was the labyrinth area, then there was the Puzzle Area (or at least its wreckage), then the spiral staircase area, then the storeroom area, and then, a four way split.

Split one led to the magma area of our neighboring dungeon, the [Flame Caverns]. Split two led to the plains area I had created experimentally, which looked like it was outside but in reality you just couldn’t see the walls. Split three led to the coliseum, Boss Room, and the Dungeon Core with the Dummy Core. And finally, split four led to the new Puzzle Area I had made using the puzzles from the original area.

We actually had two Core Rooms with Dummy Cores: one behind the Boss Room and one behind the new Puzzle Area. Also, I had stealthily made Neruneh’s laboratory behind the Boss Room, and the Core Room behind the Puzzle Area had a hidden layer hiding the Dummy Core.

“H-Hold on, Keima. It’s super embarrassing for you to just draw me out like that!”

“Huh? What’re you talking about, Rokuko?” Rokuko was fidgeting in embarrassment for some reason. What had gotten into her?

“Well, I mean, that’s my dungeon... It’s like you just drew me without any clothes on. Wh-Why wouldn’t I be embarrassed? Keima, you pervert.”

Ahhh. Right, Rokuko’s a Dungeon Core. And the dungeon is like her body in a way, so yeah, drawing her naked. Not that this drawing would ever turn me on or anything.

“W-Well, I don’t mind if it’s you, Keima, buuut... Try not to do it too much, okay?”

“Alright, that’s enough of this. I’m erasing it.”

“Ah, w-wait. Y-Your drawing was really good. Just what I’d expect from you, Keima! Does that make you feel better?”

“Haha, yeah, those compliments don’t mean much to me.” I erased the map and just described each area with words. That probably wouldn’t embarrass her. If it did, well, I was out of options.

“...By the way, does the menu map not embarrass you?”

“Mmm, not really. It does feel like my stomach’s being looked into, though.”

So like an MRI photo or something like that. Yeah, that’s definitely on a different level from simple embarrassment.

“Anyway, I’m continuing.”

“Right.”

At the moment, normal adventurers were reaching the storeroom area. Nothing before it really needed changes. Which meant the problem lied in the four branch points.

“First of all, I’m going to combine the two Core Rooms into one.” Which meant removing the Core Room behind the Puzzle Area. Naturally, I wouldn’t just be destroying it, I’d be moving the Dummy Core out of it. In return, I would put some rare items in its place: a gold-covered Golem Blade and a ruby Beddhist holy symbol. That would also let me explain how I was finding rare items that nobody else was.

That left the Core Room behind the Boss Room. First of all, I put a sign in the hallway leading to the Core Room that said, “Beyond this point is the Core Room. Proceeding is prohibited by Laverio law. Signed, Town Chief Keima.”

“...Hm? Should you really be putting that there?”

“Well, any good-hearted adventurers will turn back once they see that the Core Room is up ahead. Even if they sneak a peek inside, there’s nothing there but the actual Core Room, so they’ll see the sign was right and leave anyway.” And then, a not so good-hearted adventurer would get suspicious, explore the room, and find the hidden door.

Through it was the innermost area. It would be filled with traps, and any who survived the onslaught would reach another Core Room. This time it was the real Core Room with no hidden doors... or at least, that’s how it would look. One of the pitfalls on the way to the Core Room would have a secret passageway which led to the hidden innermost area.

“Okay, Keima. Can I say something?”

“Sure.”

“...This is like, really complicated!”

“Yeah, that’s the idea. The first Core Room is the ‘goal’ for most adventurers, and the second Core Room in the innermost area is for the more villainous adventurers. Understand now?”

“Mmm, so basically, you’re spamming a ton of Dummy Core rooms.”

“Yeah, more or less.” The main problem we faced was someone like the High Priestess coming over with the intention of destroying the Core, but they would just leave and be satisfied after destroying the Dummy Core. I sure hope that satisfies them.

“Ah, but what will we do for Dungeon Battles?”

“We can just use the [Ivory Beach] again. It is a dungeon we made just for a Dungeon Battle, after all.”

“Mmm, well, that’s true. Okay, let’s go through with those changes then, Keima.”

“Nice. Time to get this done so I can get to sleep.” I pumped my fist to boost my morale. Though in the end, Golems would be doing most of everything.

＊ ＊ ＊

So, I wanted to go ahead and make the changes I discussed with Rokuko, but... After some thought, I remembered something very dangerous and very relevant to dungeon reconstruction.

“...What should I do about Suzuki?”

Indeed, Suzuki the Hero. He was still buried alive in one of our walls. I honestly had kind of forgot about him, but he was indeed still alive in the wall, providing a valuable source of daily DP for us. {Ultra Healing} sure is scary. Maybe he should be called Suzuki the Living Wall now.

He was located deep within the storage room area, but it was possible that some careless reconstruction work might cause the wall to crumble and free him. That would be very inconvenient, to say the least.

“...I guess for now, I should move him somewhere that nobody will ever go.” Since my goal here was finishing the dungeon, it would be important to seal him completely in the deepest part of the dungeon. Moving that chunk of wall would probably be quite the task. Dungeon functions don’t let you move walls, so.

Anyway, I went and brought Ichika to the front of the Suzuki Wall (which I had just named).

“So, what’re we gonna do about this, dude?”

“I figured this might happen a long time ago, by which I mean minutes ago, and made a Golem specifically for this purpose. Whaddaya think?” I had made a Construction Golem, and it was like a human-shaped mech that humans could climb into and use like power armor. “It’s a Construction Golem. I call it a Daiframe. You can get inside and pilot it.”

“Oooh!”

It was a simple Golem that just mimicked the movements of the one piloting it. Height-wise it was two meters tall. The frame itself was indeed just a frame with a minimal amount of armor, leaving the pilot mostly exposed. Reason being, it was meant for construction, not combat. Visibility was important. I covered it with a layer of orichalcum for sturdiness, though that just meant it ended up needlessly strong and shiny. Where does the name come from? Dai means big in Japanese, so Daiframe means big frame. Got a problem with that?

“Can’t you just like, let Golems take care of it? Or just use Golem assistance?”

“Nah. I don’t want to rely on Golems since they won’t be able to react if something unexpected happens, and Golem assistance can actually make doing precise work like this harder.” We were carrying a huge chunk of wall with extremely dangerous contents (a human). I had shaved off the surrounding walls, which left it as a cube with two-meter dimensions. I was afraid that shaving off any more would let Suzuki smash out of the wall. There wasn’t any point in trying to shave off as much wall as possible in some kind of game of chicken, so if that cube could be carried, that would be for the best.

“...Y’know, is this Daiframe even gonna be strong enough?”

“Should be. I used a solid third of the orichalcum from that sword Rokuko’s dad gave me. If the Golem’s not strong enough, just say so. I’ll add some more. Pretty sure that won’t happen, though. I did the math.” I had tested the strength of orichalcum ahead of time.

“Mmm. Kay, but why me?”

“You’re the best fit for this. You basically never get movement help from the Golem assistance, right?”

The Wearable Golems I made covered the body and provided assistance in two different ways. The first was movement help, where the Golem would move your body for you. This was helpful for letting it walk you to your destination or recreate sword skills. The second type was power assistance, where the Golem added its strength to your movements. It enhanced the wearer’s abilities without replacing them.

Motion assistance was useful during combat since your body would move properly no matter what, but you had to teach the Golem what to do ahead of time. It wasn’t much different from instructing Golems to do manual labor. Me, Rokuko, and most of those working for the dungeon relied heavily on motion assistance, whereas Niku and Ichika generally used the power assistance to improve their existing fighting styles.

“But still, shouldn’t you be using it, dude? You made the thing.”

“I need to be standing at the ready if Suzuki breaks out. I’ll walk up to him, say ‘I came to save you,’ then stealthily unsheathe Siesta and put him to sleep so I can build a wall over him in the same position he was in before.”

“Holy crap dude, that’s evil.”

“He’ll probably think he was just dreaming or something. It’s possible that he might suffocate while asleep, but well, that just means he’ll be off our back.” Either way, the most convenient thing would be the wall transportation going well.

“Got it. So, why me instead of Niku?”

“You’re bigger. In terms of minimizing risk, the closer the pilot is in size to the Golem the better, and you’re a good fit for it.”

“Got it. Kinda wish you gave some time to practice, though. Starting me off with this real deal junk is kinda spooky, y’know?”

That was fair. Which was why I had her practice operating the Daiframe while I was off doing other work.

And in the end, she did her job flawlessly.

“Felt kinda nice, like I got taller all of a sudden. Didn’t feel weird moving it at all, to be real.” She successfully moved the Suzuki Wall to deeper into the dungeon. It now rested safely in the secret innermost Core Room hidden beneath the trap area. All that was left was burying the Suzuki Cube deep in a wall and building over it. That would be Rokuko’s job.

“By the way, wouldn’t it have been, like, way safer if you took advantage of Rei’s zero attack power here?”

“...Oh!” Ichika dropped a bombshell as she climbed out of the Daiframe. Yeah... Rei’s zero attack power is perfect for carrying delicate stuff around. Though I haven’t tested if it’ll still take effect when she’s piloting the Daiframe.

“Uh, I mean, that wouldn’t mean much if she dropped the wall when carrying it. You were definitely the best pick for this, Ichika. Definitely. Yeah.”

“’Kay, let’s leave it at that.”

And so, the dungeon modifications ended safely. No problems! Everything went fine!

...L-Look, all’s well that ends well, okay? Okay.

# A Piece of Garbage’s Perspective

A pair of lovers arrived at Goren, both C-Rank adventurers. The woman was named Peesa and the man Garbo. Peesa and Garbo found great joy in hunting those weaker than themselves. The term hunt, of course, referred to murdering people and stealing all their belongings. They loved it partially for the fun of it and partially for the profit.

But mostly the former.

The majority of their targets were rookie adventurers, or at the most those who had gotten a knack for adventuring. Ignorance bred negligence—there was no prey easier to hunt than rookies with their eyes solely on the prize. That said, the best part of rookies was their youth. They tended to be poor, but they could be enjoyed in... other ways.

To sum things up, Peesa and Garbo were pieces of garbage.

They had been briefly living in Pavella, but fled for Goren to escape the music after playing around too much. They tried to keep the murders to two, three parties per city. But it wasn’t a big deal for them, honestly. They just went with the wind wherever it took them.

“So, Darling. What’s our next move?”

“Mmm, y’know, Honey. I was thinking we should start by finding a party of young people to join.” Their modus operandi was to find a party of at most three rookie adventurers, teach them various things to earn their trust, then kill them. Sometimes they took their time over several days, sometimes they got impatient and attacked on the first day.

Three was the largest party they’d go for due to how conveniently the math worked out. They could kill one of them with a surprise blow, then take another as a hostage while they had their fun with the third one. At times they would kill two at once, and at other times they would use poison to paralyze all three then gradually kill them one by one, but either way, their rule was to always have fun in various ways before killing them all off. Forgive me for sparing you the details of said fun.

In any case, their search for convenient prey brought them to Goren. It was the location of an easy dungeon well suited for beginners, after all, and the Iron Golem trade led to a lot of people going in and out of the town. There weren’t many guards since it had been so recently established. It would be hard to find a better place for criminals to hide themselves.

From their perspective, Goren had a lot of tasty prey, they wouldn’t stick out among the flow of newcomers, and by killing in the dungeon they could save themselves the effort of hiding the corpses. The more they learned about Goren, the more they wanted to go there. They even began to consider it a town made just for them.

When they arrived, they first went to the Guild branch office. Putting aside the more veteran adventurers there to hunt Golems, there were a fair number of tasty-looking rookies. They wanted to begin the hunt immediately, but first came learning about the dungeon. They would need to ask for a map and search for corridors and rooms off the beaten path. In other words, places to have fun.

The two of them split up before beginning their reconnaissance. Garbo would gather information on their hunting grounds, whereas Peesa would engage with their future prey.

Of the two counters in the Guild, Garbo went to the one with a less experienced-looking receptionist behind it. He had no ulterior motive, the other receptionist was just busy. He took out his C-Rank guild card and spoke politely to the receptionist.

“Heya, miss. Do you have a map of the dungeon here?”

“Yes, but only of the first floor. It will cost five coppers to look at it, or ten coppers to buy it.”

“Just the first floor, huh?” He paid eleven coppers. The extra was a tip. Still, five coppers was pretty cheap for looking at an information source as valuable as a map. That meant the first floor probably wasn’t very large. What was up with the second floor and below?

“The second and third floors are impossible to map as they are labyrinths with frequently changing walls and paths. We know which direction the next staircase is in, but rarely is reaching it a simple task.”

“Oh...?”

“If you would like a map showing only the position of the stairs and the location of set traps, it will cost ten coppers to look at it. Thirty to buy.” This time he paid thirty coppers for the map. It was drawn on high quality paper and showed the general perimeter of the floor, the rooms projecting from the side, and the location of the floor. In one of the projected rooms there was a mark signifying special attention.

“What’s with this room? Looks like it’s both trapped and a Safe Zone.”

“It is known as the greed trap. For starters...” She answered his question promptly, as the information was not gated behind a fee. But it should have been written on the map in the first place, spat Garbo on the inside.

The entire room was in fact part of the trap. There was a Magic Blade stuck into a pedestal, and the room would be sealed shut when it was pulled out. But the seal would undo if the blade was returned to the pedestal. Only those too greedy to give up the Magic Blade would end up stuck.

...Garbo couldn’t hold back a grin after hearing that. It was like a room they could lock in the dungeon. Or in other words, they could do whatever they wanted inside of it without getting caught. There was probably no better place in the town to play.

“Alright, thanks. Guess I’ll go check the dungeon out.”

“Be careful.”

Garbo, having gotten more than enough information from the receptionist, ended the conversation and met up with Peesa, who had been talking to other adventurers.

“How’d it go, Honey? Learn anything fun?”

“Oh yes, Darling. I just saw a rich-looking avian child register as an adventurer with an attendant and a dog beastkin slave.”

“Interesting. Any good men in that bunch?”

“All women. But they were so cute and tiny, I want to eat them all up. Anyway... The attendant seemed to be a combat maid. The slave was a kid as young as the avian. She’s probably her pet. Find anything on your end, Darling?”

“Yep, there’s a fun little room in the dungeon. I wanna go check it out right away.”

And so they dove into the dungeon. Their destination was the greed trap. Goblins and Clay Golems had stopped posing any threat to the pair of C-Ranks, and they quickly reached their destination, albeit after being stalled a bit by the moving walls. As had been reported, there was a sword stuck into a pedestal. They confirmed that the entrance would be sealed by spikes when the sword was removed.

“So? Isn’t this a splendid room, Honey?”

“Oh yes, absolutely! But those needles hardly seem airtight. Won’t the screams be audible from the outside?”

“A girl’s screams definitely reach pretty far... Alright, we’ll start by punching her throat!”

“Once we bring them in here, we can make them watch from start to finish, all the way up until the dungeon eats the girl’s corpse.”

They both cackled.

“Since we’re here, want to get a little exercise?”

“Absolutely, Darling... or so I’d like to say, but let’s save our energy for our prey.”

“That’s too bad, but if you say so, Peesa. I can’t wait. Ahhh, I really want to make that rich girl drink her slave’s pee. After all, how can you say you love your pet if you won’t even drink her pee?”

“Aha, she’ll probably cry tears of gratitude for us.”

The two of them kissed, then began outlining a plan to hunt their prey. A plan to hunt the three girls which would both fill their wallet and provide no doubt endless amusement. The avian girl and the beastkin slave were both children. They wouldn’t be an issue. The problem was the maid. That the rich girl only had the single maid as a bodyguard was a sign of her trusted strength. They would need to join their party and scout the maid out before they made their move.

“Okay. Let’s start ironing out the details. So that our future might be full of fun.”

“So that our future might be full of wealth.”

Peesa and Garbo exchanged their motto, then began discussing their plan in depth. Deep within the dungeon in a locked room so that nobody could hear them.

# Keima’s Perspective

Yeah, I heard everything. Suckers.

What did I hear? Peesa and Garbo’s plan to hunt rookies. I was monitoring the dungeon for a change of pace after finishing modifications and saw that the greed trap room was currently activated. I peeked inside, curious, and started eavesdropping after seeing them chatting in the back. Long story short, they were discussing their rookie hunting plot. Ahaha, these two sure are unlucky.

Not to mention that they were targeting Maiodore (who was under my care), her maid, and Niku. Maiodore had ran off to the Guild saying, “I would like to go on adventures with my fiancée Kuro as well!” and registered as an adventurer with her maid and Niku in tow, apparently while one of those two was watching.

In any case, they were absolutely pumped to start doing things that would require “guro” and “explicit content” tags on a certain art website. Nothing could possibly be worse for raising Rokuko and Niku into fine young ladies. And hey, don’t take that as me saying I wouldn’t care if they tricked random rookies I didn’t know. At the end of the day, I don’t want serial killers on the loose in my town. So yeah, hah, these two really are unlucky.

First, they declared that they would kill adventurers staying in the town. That wasn’t just picking a fight with me as town chief, it was threatening to diminish the DP income I received as Dungeon Master. Strike one.

At this point, I still would have let them leave alive. (Not unharmed, but alive.)

Second, the resident they targeted was the noble daughter who was under my care. I would be held completely responsible for anything that happened to Maiodore here, and honestly, I wasn’t looking for a war with Tsia. Not to mention that they were planning to do the deed inside the dungeon to pin their deaths on the dungeon. Yeah, eat a dick. Strike two.

At this point, I still wouldn’t kill them. (I never said they wouldn’t prefer to be dead.)

But third and most importantly, the moment they targeted my dakimakura, Niku, their strikes went straight to the cap and they were out of the game. Or should I say they were out of... being alive? Mwahaha. They’re going to regret ever being unambiguously evil.

And so, I reported them straight to the guild.

...What? I could’ve disposed of them in secret, but a pair of C-Rank adventurers suddenly disappearing after gathering information on a dungeon would draw a lot of unwanted attention on us. It’d be especially suspicious if they told the guild receptionist that they were sticking to the upper floors just to be safe, for instance. I’m definitely not just too lazy to finish them myself. I was being a proper, law-abiding citizen by reporting them.

Who knows! Maybe reporting them here is setting up a flag for them trying to execute their plan but failing! After all, they’re dealing with Niku here, she would kick the crap out of them! Evidence?! I don’t need it! I heard about it in the dungeon! Well, basically, I’m laying the groundwork here. Gotta take things step by step.

Thus, I went to the guild, walked up to the usual receptionist, and casually said I had something to talk about.

“...And that’s what I heard. Think you can do anything about them before they start hunting rookies? They’re targeting Lady Mai, a member of the nobility, so I’m thinking this is a pretty serious issue.”

“I see. Understood. How would you like to deal with them?”

“Huh? Uhhhh, well, probably give them a death sentence? They seem like repeat offenders, so.”

“Understood. In that case, I will entrust their execution to you, Keima, and forward a motion to seize their assets.”

“Wha?” This receptionist is already talking about seizing assets, I can’t keep up.

“As we the Guild would like to compensate the families of their victims to the best of our ability, any information you can extract from them would be grateful. Do not feel compelled, however, as that is outside of your responsibility.”

“Huh? Er, uh...”

“...Is there anything else?”

Uhhh, I dunno, I just got thrown off ’cause things went way faster than I expected. Shouldn’t she like begin an investigation to make sure this is true? Is just not considering that I might be lyin— Wait, maybe she’s using a lie detecting magic tool beneath the counter. Still, I would think that talking to the accused before executing them would be important.

“Uh, aren’t you settling things a little too quickly here? Did you already have evidence on them or something?”

“No, not in particular, but we have your word.”

“Uhhhh.”

“Thus, an execution is appropriate.”

“Uhhh, huh.”

“.........”

“...Seriously? My word is enough to sentence people to death?”

“Yes?”

Even if she was using a lie detecting magic tool beneath the counter, I still thought that she should investigate and secure proof before going any further. It was possible I had misheard, for instance.

“...Do you need an explanation?”

“Oh, yeah. Please and thank you.” I nodded, which made the receptionist give out a heavy, exasperated sigh.

“You are the town chief, Keima. Do you understand that being town chief means you are the highest authority in the town and thereby the top of the judicial system?”

“Uhhh, well. It sounds kind of heavy when you put it that way.” Although I was letting Wozma do all the real town chief work, I still had the authority for myself.

“The town chief giving his word is equivalent to a trial being settled. As a representative of the Adventurer’s Guild, I confirmed what sentence you were carrying out, and that is that. All that remains is you carrying out the sentence.”

“Uhhh, alright then.” Basically, if the highest authority of a region and the relevant organizations all agreed on something, they could execute anyone they wanted without a trial.

...Christ! Human lives mean nothing in this world! I mean, it’s understandable since you can literally buy living slaves for a single gold coin (equivalent to about 1,000,000 yen or 10,000 dollars), but still. And I managed to get Ichika for just fifty silvers, too...

“Additionally, may I say something in confidence?”

“Uh, yeah.” I leaned forward so she could whisper into my ear, quiet enough for nobody else to hear.

“...As you are a noble, Keima, your word would be enough to execute two commoner adventurers even if you weren’t town chief.” A shudder ran down my spine. And not because her breath tickled my ear, either.

...Seriously? I cradled my head on the inside, metaphorically.

To sum things up: a noble (me) accused two commoner adventurers of a crime, putting them in judicial trouble. The noble (me) desired an execution. On top of that, the highest authority in the town (me) agreed with the execution. Meanwhile, the judicial body (me) decided their crimes justified an execution. The decision was discussed with the guild first.

The noble (me), the highest authority in the town (me), and the judicial body (me) all spoke against the adventurers. Their (my) claims had no contradictions or apparent falsehoods, so the Guild representative agreed with the decision. The main proof being the word of the highest authority in the town (me) and the noble (me).

With that settled, the Adventurer’s Guild requested that the highest authority in the town (me) carry out the sentence. Which left only executing them.

Yeah, so basically, regardless of all that rookie hunting stuff, I can kill anyone I want if I don’t lie about anything. Being both a noble and a town chief essentially makes me a dictator. One wrong word and I could have someone executed... This is the power that ultimate authority gives a ruler. Jesus! Politics are scary!

“...Uhhh, how do you know I’m a noble?”

“I’m afraid that is confidential.”

Huh. Well, me being a noble is thanks to my B-Rank in the Guild. It’s not odd at all for someone from the Guild to know about it, doubly so given Haku’s involvement. And well, I won’t look a gift horse in the mouth. It’s convenient that the guild is on my side and that’s good enough for me.

“We are aware that you own two cards. You are an exception in many ways, and I request that you quickly become B-Rank so that both your cards can be unified. Will you take the test? Or I could pass you without you ever taking the test, if you wish.”

“...Uhhh, I’ll think about it.” I gave a vague reply. Forget about it, I don’t wanna publicly be a noble too. Ah... But wait, Niku showed her B-Rank card to the Tsia archduke. Was that a big mistake?

“Incidentally, regarding the rookie hunters, do you know how they operate?”

“Oh, like their tricks and stuff? Sure.” I went ahead and spilled the beans on everything I knew about them. ’Cause I mean, why not?

...Alright, how should I go about this? Guess I should just get as much information on the victims as possible out of them, then kill them in the dark depths of the dungeon. Might as well use the opportunity to test some things.

I couldn’t expose Maiodore to danger while she was in my care. Rei had an {Illusion} skill she bought while strengthening herself. That allowed her to conjure illusions. They were convincing enough to fool even Leona the God of Chaos, which made me think they were a perfect fit for this situation.

“So basically, I want you to create illusory body doubles of Maiodore and her maid with your {Illusion} skill. Think you can manage?” When I brought up the subject to Rei, she frowned, uncomfortable.

“Er, are you going to use them as body doubles? The truth is, um, the magic won’t work in front of a large crowd... Forgive me.”

“Huh? Why not?”

“...Ahhh. Um, well. I’m not entirely sure why, but the more people are looking at an illusion the harder it is to fool all of them, and eventually the magic just breaks. This is less true when using the magic on yourself, but making two body doubles would be very difficult. I think they would withstand five onlookers at best.”

Rei’s illusions were probably the kind where false information was transmitted, rather than causing physical transformations to match the desired illusion. They say that the universe maintains itself through being observed or something, so maybe the more people that observe an illusion, the more power is needed to preserve it? I dunno. But however they worked it was complicated and a pain for us. Guess I’ll just remember that the illusions won’t work in front of large crowds.

“Oh, but stealth illusions work in front of crowds!”

“Interesting. You’re talking about illusions that make you invisible, then.” Yeah, I can make a plan around this.

“Would two body doubles fool two people at once?”

“Easily! Oh, but their hands will go right through the illusions if they try touching them. You’ll want some kind of body for them. Two Golems would be nice, but I suppose they would be too obviously hard?”

“...If I make them then cover them with an illusion, it should be fine? Might as well make them wear clothes too.”

The illusion magic’s defect meant that we couldn’t talk to them in the guild, which left inside the dungeon as the second best place. I’m gonna have to tell Maiodore to hide inside the inn until it’s safe again. Guess I’ll call for her now.

“Ahhh, um, Master. There’s one other problem with using illusion magic...”

“Yeah?”

“I won’t be able to recreate Mai and her maid’s bodies unless I have a strong mental image of them. If you would allow me to give them a full body massage... ah, but even then, I’ll only be able to remember everything for a full day.”

“...Guess even magic takes hard work sometimes. Alright. Would you go get those two for me, and Niku while you’re at it?” That last part was apparently less a problem with illusion magic and more a problem with Rei’s memory. Was it impressive that she could remember the entire bodies of two people for a full day? I had no idea.

Rei went to get Maiodore, the maid, and Niku for me. The three of them came not long after Rei left the room.

“Keima, we were told you wished to talk. What might be the matter? Is this perchance about my engagement to Kuro?”

“...Is it pillow time?”

Rei had apparently told them exactly nothing. The maid was standing behind Maiodore, looking as composed as ever. And for the record, I wouldn’t have called Maiodore if it was indeed quote pillow time unquote.

I decided to cut straight to the point.

“Uhhh, alright, I’m talking as the town chief right now. Two dangerous criminals have infiltrated the town. They’re adventurers belonging to the Guild, but they’re hunting rookies and often killing them.”

Maiodore’s expression stiffened at my explanation. That was a little surprising. A normal noble girl might have paled or gotten weepy, but Maiodore wore the stern expression of a leader instead. It would probably be safe for me to be a bit more blunt about the situation.

“I won’t mince words. They set their sights on you after you went to the Adventurer’s Guild to get registered.”

“...I see, that explains why you summoned me. What do you intend to do, Keima?”

“Well, they’re getting the death sentence. I want you and your maid to sit still in the inn until all this blows over.”

“I suppose we don’t really have a choice in the matter,” said Maiodore with a nod.

“Yep, please excuse the inconvenience. And while you’re here, there’s something I want to ask you to do.”

“By all means, ask. What do you need?”

“It’s pretty simple overall. I want you and your maid to get a full body massage from Rei.”

“...Um. I don’t follow.”

Can’t blame you there. If someone asked me to get a full body massage to help execute some criminals, I’d be just as confused as Maiodore was. I wouldn’t tilt my head so far that my allegorical blue hair would sway in the air, though.

“It’s got to do with a skill. Rei can use the {Illusion} skill, so I was thinking of having her make illusory body doubles of you two. But {Illusion} isn’t a very convenient skill. She needs to give someone a full body massage to make a body double, and even then only for a day.”

“I understand the circumstances now. Very well.”

“On top of all that, the illusion will break down in front of crowds, so we’ll need to meet them in the dungeon.”

Incidentally, explaining Rei’s skill in such detail was to signal that it was a difficult skill to work with and one we weren’t really able to use for malicious purposes. It would be a lot more convenient for me if it none of it was true and we could use it for malicious purposes, though.

“...Yes, I see. That is understandable.”

“Nice. Alright, let’s get started th—”

“But first, Keima. Doesn’t that mean the criminals will need to enter the dungeon?”

“Huh? Uh, yeah.”

“The fact that you have elected not to just simply suppress them with force immediately upon finding them leads me to believe you are attempting to minimize potential violence and destruction.”

Holy crap, why didn’t I think of that?! Hah, just kidding. The possibility of just arresting them on sight came to mind. But I dunno. I think it comes down to the people’s trust in me and my own faith in myself not being a dictator. If I don’t show proof that they really are rookie hunters, people might think I just gave a death sentence to two innocent people. Consider this needlessly elaborate plot to be my own way of preserving my self-esteem.

“In which case, I believe it would be best for me to lure the criminals into the dungeon as bait before you go in to arrest them.”

“...That’s one option, but it would be exposing you to too much risk. They might take you as a hostage.”

“I would like to be useful to my fiancée at times.” Maiodore stared up at me. I was slightly confused since I still didn’t really associate Niku with being Maiodore’s fiancée.

But well, if she wanted to be useful, who was I to refuse? I could just send her a personal quest through the Adventurer’s Guild to give her an excuse to be out and about.

“In that case, please get money from the Guild and bring it to the church as a donation. I’ll send word about you ahead of time. While you’re there, swap places with the body double. Sound good?” I added (for the maid’s benefit) that the criminals definitely wouldn’t go after her in the middle of town with eyes everywhere, and got a nod in return.

As an aside, when I told Maiodore to treat Niku like a pet as part of her cover, she started blushing and grinning hard, asking excitedly if that was really okay. Let’s not think about that too much.

Also, Rei apparently needed to memorize the smell and feel of clothes as well to complete the illusion. The fact that she subsequently sniffed, licked, slobbered all over, and even chewed on unwashed, worn underwear to accomplish that can be a secret between you and me.

...I mean, her doing that was a serious part of her job, okay? She may have looked like a total pervert doing it, but I promise, she’s a good girl.

Anyway. Now that the surface level plan is in motion, time to get some background wheels turning.

# A Piece of Garbage’s Perspective

When the following day came and they found their targets in the guild, Peesa and Garbo spoke to them immediately. They wore the friendly smiles they always did when meeting new people.

“Hey, girls! How about you three join our party? I’m Garbo and I’m a C-Rank.”

“Ahaha, and I’m Peesa. Also a C-Rank.” They showed their guild cards while speaking to the blue-haired rich-looking girl and her maid, who were sitting at a two-person table. There was a dog beastkin beside the rich girl, but there was no point in talking to a slave.

The air in the guild seemed to tense up a bit after they spoke. It was likely that more than a few other parties were after these easy targets. Idiots, those who dare win. Especially since I hear there’s a famous lolicon lady killer in this town. You have only yourselves to blame for not acting fast enough, thought Garbo with an internal grin.

“A-Are you speaking to us? Erm, ah, I-I do not mind, but why?”

“Well. You three are newbies, yeah? We figured we could show you the ropes and help you get your feet wet.”

“My lady, I believe there are more reliable adventurers here that we could ask.” The maid interrupted with some inconvenient advice, but Garbo’s smile didn’t falter.

“Yep yep, that’s the exact kind of suspicion you need to survive as an adventurer. You three have a bright future ahead of yourselves, if you ask me. Which is exactly why you should party up with us.”

“Our hearts just ache whenever we see newbies having trouble. You clearly come from a well-off background, and we couldn’t live with ourselves if we let anything happen to you right after you struck out on your own,” said Peesa while looking straight into the rich girl’s eyes. Their plan for the day was just to introduce themselves and start building trust.

“...Sheena, I think we can trust these two. They are C-Ranks, after all.” But surprisingly enough, the rich girl was cooperative. Garbo shifted to moving a little faster than planned.

“Well, you heard the girl. Whaddaya say, miss maid?”

“Don’t worry about Garbo pulling anything funny. He already has me, his little honey bear.”

“Hm...”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine, Sheena.”

“If you insist, my lady, I will oppose them no further. But if they attempt to do anything to you, I will not hold back.” Sheena glared sharply at Garbo, who gave a relaxed shrug. The rich girl gave a polite bow while smiling apologetically.

“Please call me Mai. My maid is named Sheena. Th-This beastkin is, m-my pet. Yes! My pet. Eheheh.” She stroked the expressionless beastkin’s black hair, grinning as she did so. Y’know, I’m surprised she lets that slave wear nice human clothes. Those look pretty expensive, thought Garbo.

“...Seems like she might not get in our way, Darling,” whispered Peesa in a voice quiet enough that only Garbo could hear. She was looking at the beastkin’s tail. When beastkins were fond of their master—particularly dog beastkin—they wagged their tails. This beastkin’s tail remained still.

Contrary to what one might think, even well-dressed slaves often hated their master. Reason being, it was commonplace for slave owners to not consider what was important to their slaves. In situations like that, slaves would pessimistically pray for their owner’s death, and simply watch from afar when danger threatened them.

And in any case, a sword thrust at a slave’s face was just as deadly as the collar around their neck. Which threat they prioritized was up to the slave, and many preferred to die while causing as much suffering to their despised master as possible. It was that simple.

“In that case, Mai, shall we escort you to the dungeon?”

“Um, well, before that, might we stop by the church so I can pray? I haven’t yet prayed this morning.”

“The church...? Sure, no problem.” Mai got out of her chair and headed for the exit. Her slave followed immediately behind, then the maid stood at the rear as if to keep her lady separate from Peesa and Garbo. They didn’t mind, though, and followed them out of the guild.

...One of the adventurers who had been watching them turned and whispered to the guild receptionist.

“Seems like the town chief was right.”

“Indeed. At this point, it is clear that they are committing premeditated crimes. All that is left is for the town chief to take care of them.” The whole guild began discussing Peesa and Garbo, but none of the conversations ever reached their ears.

Peesa and Garbo waited outside of the church while Mai prayed. Naturally, that was because they understood their souls were too impure to stand before God... not. They were stopped from entering by a beautiful nun who wanted to talk. That kind of upset Peesa, but it didn’t bother her too much. She shifted into small talk mode to gather information while they waited.

“Oh, so you used to be in Pavella?” asked the nun.

“Yep. Believe it or not I’m pretty good at my job, too. Never let any of my prey escape once I’ve got my eyes on them. Do you dislike adventurers, Sister?”

“Of course not. Our Beddhist Church is on good terms with the goddess of adventurers, the Ivory Goddess. It would be absurd for any of us to dislike adventurers.”

“This is the first time I’m hearing of the Beddhist Church. What’s it all about? What god do you worship?”

“In truth, there is no god of Beddhism. But our teachings are simple. Prioritize sleep and peaceful living, and do not bother the lives of others. It would be fair to say that all of Beddhist doctrine is derived from those two principles.” The nun gave a sensual smile that made Garbo’s heart thump. Not because he was more than bothering the lives of others, but because the nun really was just extremely cute.

“You know,” he said, “how about you and I go to the dungeon together sometime?”

“Oh my, should you be asking that in front of your girlfriend?”

“Ahaha, don’t mind me. A good man goes after what he wants, after all. It’s been hard for me to satisfy my darling alone, and I was just thinking it’d be nice to have two or three more girls along for the ride.” The corners of Peesa’s mouth twitched as she spoke.

“In that case, if the opportunity arises, I would love to. We nuns have been discussing whether we should register as adventurers ourselves.”

Garbo looked so clearly head over heels for the nun that Peesa decided targeting the sisters next would be a pretty fine idea.

“I’m back.” Mai returned during the middle of their conversation. Her expression looked so bright and cheery it was almost like she was a different person.

“Shall we go, Garbo? I am fully prepared to be escorted.”

“But of course. See you later, Sister.”

“Indeed. May you be blessed with a long and eternal sleep. Oyasuminasai,” said the sister while twirling her circular pendant (apparently a holy symbol) with a smile. Reluctantly, Garbo turned his back to her and took his present target’s hand.

They reached their hunting grounds in no time.

“Shall we go ahead and enter the dungeon?”

“Yes, absolutely. I’ll be in your care, Peesa and Garbo.”

They entered the dungeon with Peesa, a ranger, taking the lead. Mai was supposedly finally entering a dungeon for the first time in her life... but nonetheless looked more calm than Garbo expected. She didn’t look very excited to be entering her first dungeon, or maybe she was just good at hiding her feelings.

“Have you been in a dungeon before, Mai?”

“Yes, I went with Sheena to the dungeon yesterday. Though it was just a brief visit, and we turned back after the second room.” Oh, she already popped her dungeon cherry, nodded Garbo on the inside. The town’s dungeon was interesting in that even F-Rank adventurers were allowed to enter it. Even a freshly registered G-Rank, the lowest rank, could enter with a D-Rank or above in their party.

“With Sheena by my side, this dungeon doesn’t even pose a threat.”

“Please do not let your guard down, my lady. All dungeons are dangerous and should be treated with care. Peesa, Garbo, please say something to her.” Sheena sought support from Peesa and Garbo, but they just laughed on the inside. The best thing to do with ignorant rich girls was to feed their arrogance and breed an exploitable reliance on others.

“Actually, she’s right. The first floor of this dungeon’s officially recognized as a place for beginners, so it’s not too dangerous. She can let her guard down all she wants, we’ll back her up.”

“Mhm, absolutely. That’s why Darling and I are here.” Peesa winked. Two Goblins conveniently chose that moment to attack, so the duo fought them off while protecting Mai just as they had said they would. Despite their rotten hearts they were still C-Ranks, and Goblins were less than no threat to them.

“Very impressive swordplay. Don’t you think the same, Ku— I mean, my pet?”

“.........” Mai’s pet beastkin was staring into space with cold, expressionless eyes. She wasn’t looking at her master. That confirmed to Peesa that the two of them weren’t on good terms.

“I-I would like to reward you for your skillful display of martial prowess, Garbo. Please accept this.” Mai proudly cast {Wallet} and took out a silver coin, which she gave to Garbo.

“Ahaha, thanks a ton.” Just how much money was in that wallet? The thought alone made Garbo break out into a grin. As an aside, the money stored in the Space-Time magic {Wallet} would scatter onto the ground after the caster’s death.

“Oh? Nothing for me, Mai?”

“Garbo did all the work with those Goblins. I don’t believe I saw you do anything, Peesa. What about you, Sheena?”

“Indeed, Peesa did nothing at all. No reward is necessary for useless party members.” Sheena’s followup made Peesa spit angrily on the inside. Amateurs. Peesa had noticed the Goblins first and blocked their retreat so that they wouldn’t flee before being killed. But Sheena’s scorn meant she hadn’t noticed that, which let Peesa lower her guard a bit—perhaps the maid wasn’t a skilled bodyguard after all. In terms of being useless, she had just stood beside her lady as the battle happened without doing anything at all.

...If that meant Peesa could play with her while she was still alive, it was something to celebrate. Playing with corpses could wait until after she killed them.

“Darling, could I have that one? I want to cut her tendons, bury her body in stone, then heal her and make her watch us kill her lady.”

“Heheh, that’s my honey. You have good taste.”

The two of them whispered stealthily among themselves, too quiet for Mai to hear.

“Want to try going a little deeper? We heard about a fun little room back in the guild. How’s that sound? Don’t worry, you’ll be safe with us.”

“Yes, that certainly sounds fun.”

“My lady, I believe it would be dangerous to go any further.”

“Be quiet, Sheena. We have nothing to fear with a brave C-rank like Garbo on our side.” The maid fell silent, likely unable to argue with her lady.

“.........” The beastkin pet sighed with cold eyes.

They passed the first floor and finally reached the labyrinth area. There weren’t any dangerous enemies on this floor, either. At most there were Iron Golems, but they had only encountered Clay Golems so far. They were as effortless to defeat as Goblins were. And despite the dead ends, they stuck to their map and soon reached their destination—the trap room. Mai and the others went into the room at Peesa and Garbo’s encouragement.

Peesa approached the pedestal with the sword stuck in it. Once everyone was inside (with Garbo at the back), she pulled the sword out. Immediately, spikes shot out and blocked the exit.

“Oh no! We’re trapped inside!” yelled Garbo, sounding somewhat forced.

“Ah! Wh-Where did those spikes come from?”

“Wh-What’s going on?”

Mai and her maid both panicked. They spoke almost simultaneously, as if they were spiritually connected somehow. Garbo watched their confusion with a grin. It seemed that none of them knew how the room worked. Had they known, things would have gotten a bit more complicated.

“What in the world is going on, Garbo?”

“Fear not, Mai. According to what we learned at the guild, this room locks itself for one night after the Magic Blade is pulled from the pedestal. As this is a Safe Zone, there’s nothing to worry about.”

“Just one night?”

“Yep. Our plans were to stay here for the night and leave tomorrow morning.” Garbo smiled to calm Mai down. She nodded, understanding the situation.

“I would rather you not make our plans for us. We are not prepared in the least to stay here overnight.”

“My apologies. But again, fear not. We prepared well ahead of time. Of course, we have enough for everyone.” Garbo chanted the spell for {Storage}, then took out folded tents, sleeping bags, and so on. The scroll for {Storage} was well worth the high expense. Since time stopped within it, he could even store the dismembered body parts of his prey while they were warm and keep them that way.

“Oh, I see you have {Storage}. I suppose we won’t need to fear a lack of food then.”

“Yep. As you can see, we have hot and fresh food at the ready.” Garbo took out a steaming pot of soup. Of course, the soup was drugged. A single mouthful of it wouldn’t do anything, but an hour after drinking a full bowl of the soup one would feel themselves start weakening, and after another hour they would be completely paralyzed. If he could get them to drink the soup, their job would be easier, but...

“My lady, I must insist that you eat food I prepared myself. We do not know what they might have put into that soup.”

“If you insist, Sheena. I’m sorry, Garbo, but please eat that soup with Peesa.”

“Don’t mind if I do.” Naturally, things didn’t go that easily. Garbo clicked his tongue quietly. But attacking them at night was still an option. And so it became time to wait.

It was hard to tell time in a dungeon, but it was easy to distinguish day and night. Even the inside of a dungeon darkened when it was nighttime. Without the {Night Vision} skill, it was difficult to traverse a dungeon at night without any lights.

When it came time to sleep, Mai and her companions went to sleep in the tent Garbo gave them without any of them staying up to keep watch. In front of said tent stood Peesa and Garbo, blending in with the darkness due to neither of them carrying light. Their own tent was some distance away. They were standing by the other tent, of course, to attack its occupants.

“Excuse me...” said Peesa while slipping into the tent. It wasn’t a large one, but there was enough space for three or so people to lay down next to each other. Inside was Mai and her maid wrapped up in their blankets, asleep, while the beastkin pet was sitting further inside.

Peesa glanced at the pet. At first the beastkin seemed to have fallen asleep while sitting, but then they made eye contact. She swallowed her surprise and smiled.

“We won’t do anything to you if you keep quiet, okay?”

“.........” The pet just remained silent and looked at Peesa, seemingly uninterested. I knew it, thought Peesa with a grin as she took out a collar from her pouch—a slave collar, which she attached to the sleeping maid’s neck.

“******... ***, ****, ******, ***—{Illegal Order: 5}.” The collar shone. Success. The spell would now make the collar squeeze on Peesa and Garbo’s orders. They had bought the spell from a black market merchant, and it enabled the caster to squeeze a slave collar five times. It also prevented the slave collar from being removed. However, it had one flaw. The fifth squeeze would continue until the wearer’s death.

With the biggest obstacle out of the way, it was time for fun.

“Darling, everything’s ready.”

“Thanks, Honey. Love you bunches.” Garbo waltzed into the tent without any hesitation once Peesa called for him. Which happened to wake Mai up.

“Mnnn... ah, Garbo? Wha, wh-why are you here?”

“To continue escorting you and your companions, of course. Heheh.” Garbo grinned. It wasn’t the friendly smile he showed in the guild, either. It was the twisted smile of one who took pleasure in the suffering and misfortune of others.

“No way... Sheena, wake up! Dispose of these ruffians!”

“Yes, m-my lady! Right awa— Ngh! Nggh, ngggh...” Sheena fell to the ground after the collar squeezed her neck.

“Hah, what a weak maid you turned out to be. A little squeeze on your neck is all it takes to knock you out? Maybe you weren’t her bodyguard after all. Guess I let myself worry too much.”

“What did you do to Sheena?!”

“Put a collar on her and disciplined her a bit. Dooon’t worry, the night’s only just begun. We’ll have plenty of fun from now on. If you stay nice and obedient... Well, actually, I’m not into piss-stained brats. I’ll just stick with the maid instead.”

Garbo dug through Sheena’s bag and took out a guild card. “Here it is... Wait, you’re just a fuckin’ D-Rank? Where’d all that confidence of yours come from? I wasted every second I spent thinking about you. Here, Honey, a present.”

“Thanks, Darling. Love you.” Garbo threw Sheena’s guild card and Peesa caught it and then took out a skewer with multiple guild cards stuck on it from {Storage}. She stuck Sheena’s card onto the skewer as well.

“Ahaha, I have way too many D-Rank cards now.” Sheena kept a collection of guild cards stolen from her victims. They would never rot, and they didn’t take up much space either. She considered her hobby much more practical than Garbo’s.

“.........” Seeing that, the beastkin stood up and rifled through some nearby bags. That threw Peesa off until she held out a guild card to her. It was Mai’s F-Rank guild card.

“What are you doing?! Have you forgotten all I’ve done for you?!”

“My my, looks like you weren’t loved at all, Mai. Ahaha.” Peesa, still sitting, took the card and took out another skewer from her {Storage}. But then, just as she was putting it back away, the beastkin jumped forward with immense speed and stuck her hand into the open {Storage} hole. From within it she pulled out the E-Rank and C-Rank guild card skewers.

“What?!”

“One for each rank? Doesn’t seem to be any B-Ranks or above. That’s fine.” There were much fewer D-Rank and C-Rank cards in comparison to the F-Rank and E-Rank cards.

“What in the—” Before Peesa could finish, the beastkin punched her in the face so hard she fell onto the floor, unconscious from the single blow. The pet stood above her, opening and clenching her right fist.

“That’s enough.”

“Wait, you aren’t going to ask about the victims? Or their methods? I thought we were just about to start having our own fun.”

“No need. We have the cards of the victims. That’s all we need.” A girl’s voice came out of nowhere, and the pet was replying to it.

For a second Garbo froze in place, not understanding anything, but it wasn’t long before he came back to his senses. At which point his next move was obvious.

“Don’t move! Don’t take another step! Listen up, if you make a single move, this girl’s life is mine.” He lifted Mai up and stuck a knife at her throat. Garbo’s decision was, honestly, the right call.

“What do you think he means, Niku?” asked the feminine voice.

“...Maybe something that will help Master?”

“No no, I don’t think so. He’ll definitely notice what’s going on now that he’s touching the body.”

“Oh.”

It was the right call, but only if Garbo’s understanding of the situation was accurate. Take the rich girl hostage, save Peesa, escape from the tent, and buy enough time to get away. It would have gone perfectly. Not to mention that if the girl died, her slave would end up freed. All he’d have to do is touch her collar and send in mana to make her his slave. Though judging by how fast she just moved, that wouldn’t be so easy for him.

However, despite her master—the one who controlled whether she lived or died—being captured, the pet just continued to tie up Peesa without showing a care in the world. Entirely as if what was going on had nothing to do with her.

“Seriously, what’s with you?! Let Peesa go! Don’t you care what happens to this girl?!”

“You may do whatever you like with that.”

“What’re you...” It was at that moment that Garbo noticed something was off. Ever since he took her captive, Mai hadn’t said a word or moved. She wasn’t asleep, either; she had been awake since everything started. It didn’t even feel like she was breathing, and despite her body being pressed against his, he couldn’t feel any warmth.

Garbo looked at Mai and, finally, saw her for the first time. She... No, it was a doll made of wood. The hair alone was surprisingly realistic, but its face was blank with only a pathetic bump for a nose. There weren’t even eye sockets or a mouth. The doll tilted its head with a clatter as Garbo looked at its face.

“Gah?!” Garbo threw the doll that was once Mai away. In the direction of the slave, of course, to kill two birds with one stone. He then bolted out of the tent. Abandoning Peesa.

Throwing the doll at the slave had seemingly been the right choice, as he managed to make it all the way to the pedestal. He had to put the Magic Blade back inside before he could escape the room. That meant he had to pass back by the tent on his way out, but if he focused on running then he shouldn’t have any problem escaping... He was a C-Rank frontliner after all. He had confidence in his skills.

“What the shit, what the absolute shit?! Things were going so well, and then...!” He wondered what he did wrong, but there was no answer.

...It was tough luck for Peesa, but they had to split up. Those were monsters in human form. They’d both die if they caught him. Right, they were monsters in huma—

“...Monsters? Wait, this is a fuckin’ Safe Zone.” Which meant they were Variants? Right, they had to be Variants. It was the duty of all adventurers to report Variants, and those who provided information on them were rewarded famously.

Right, that’s right! I’m not running away here, I’m just holding a tactical retreat since I need to report this! Garbo stuck the Magic Blade on his hip back into the pedestal.

“Alright, now I can...” started Garbo as he turned around to look at the exit. But the spikes were still blocking the hallway out. It felt as if he was trapped inside the mouth of a monster.

“But why...? This isn’t what the guild said. It should be open now.”

“Oh, what an odd thing for you to say. Did you not say yourself that once the Magic Blade is removed, the room locks for the rest of the night? All we did was make that a reality.” He turned in the direction of the voice and saw a silver-haired girl he didn’t recognize.

“Who are you?! Where did you come from?!”

“Where? Is there not only one entrance to the room?” The girl laughed. “In any case, your life is over. My condolences.”

“Wh-What’re you...?”

The girl snapped, and a rock fell from the ceiling. For a second he thought it was a falling boulder trap, but then the rock stood up. It was an Iron Golem.

“No way... This is a fuckin’ Safe Zone!”

“So what if it is? You should be concerned about what’s above you.”

At her advice, Garbo looked up. There he saw that the ceiling was covered with a layer of iron balls.

...Don’t tell me those are all Iron Golems, he thought. But indeed they were, and the one directly above his head started to stir. He dashed out of the way in fear, moments later hearing a loud slam right where he once stood.

“You’re not safe there, either.”

“G-Gah?!” The Iron Golems—dolls, if you will—rained down everywhere he went. It was like they were guiding him into a corner, blocking off more and more escape routes as he continued fleeing.

“G-GAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

“Hmm. You know, falling Golems are a more effective trap than I expected.”

“Fuck! Help me! I’ll pay you everything I’ve got! I have tons of money saved in the guild, I’ll even give you Peesa’s secret staaaash!” yelled Garbo, and immediately the Golems stopped falling.

“Haah, haah... I’m saved...?”

However, the fallen Iron Golems stood up and steadily surrounded Garbo. There were too many for a mere C-Rank to break through, and even if they had all been Stone Golems, he would have struggled to escape. Not to mention that the exit hallway was blocked off anyway. There was nowhere for him to run.

“Rei, why are you playing around?”

“Oh, Niku. Don’t misunderstand. This is an experiment for a new trap that Master made, I’m certainly not playing around.”

Garbo could see over the Golems the silver-haired girl chatting casually with the beastkin slave. Behind the slave was another faceless wooden doll, this one wearing Sheena’s clothes. There was Peesa’s slave collar around its neck, but she was unconscious and slung over its shoulder. That was what finally made Garbo realize that they had been tricked by someone.

“Fuck...! Why?! Why do I have to go through this?! What did I ever do?!”

“What are you even talking about? You’re a rookie hunter.”

“It’s a dog eat dog world out here! I didn’t do anything wrong, I just followed the rules of nature! The weak should fear the strong!”

“You would say that now? Well, I suppose I can’t disagree,” said the silver-haired girl, which made Garbo realize that at the moment he was the prey, surrounded by the hunting dogs in the form of Golems. What a fool he was.

“Peesa! Wake up, Peesaaaa! Help meee! Do somethiiiing!” Garbo yelled just loud enough for Peesa to start twitching awake.

“Ngh... Darling? I... ow! Wait, what?! What’s going on?”

“Honey! Kill them! Hurry, don’t hold baaack!” Garbo ordered the collar on the doll’s neck to squeeze four times. That would make the collar squeeze until the neck bones broke—or in this case, until the wooden neck snapped. And just as Garbo planned, the results of {Illegal Order} led to the doll’s neck snapping. The wooden head rolled right off. Peesa used the opportunity to roll off the shoulder and escape.

“Kill them! Kill them aaaall!”

“I don’t know what’s going on, but die!” Peesa deftly used the knife hidden in her sleeve to cut off her bindings. She then attacked the silver-haired girl with a large needle-like blade that had also been hidden in her sleeves.

She’s dead, thought Peesa and Garbo, but the needle went through thin air without hitting anything. They had seen the blade hit the girl, but it went right through her.

“Too bad. I’m so fast you only hit my afterimage.”

“She’s an illusion.”

“Um, Niku? Did you really have to tell them that?”

The two of them continued chatting casually as Peesa staggered from the inertia.

“Wh-Why, wh-where even are we?! Why are there so many Iron Golems?!” Peesa flung her head around, trying to absorb the situation, only to have the beastkin slave punch her head again. On the opposite side this time. Once again she fell unconscious.

“All quiet again.”

“Good work, Niku. I’m a little surprised she had that spike up her sleeve... But in any case, how did that Mannequin Golem’s neck snap?”

“It was probably due to the slave collar.”

“Oh, I see... Master just ordered me to learn more about that magic. We’ll investigate later.”

They seemed completely unfazed by what had just happened. Peesa’s desperate resistance had been nothing to them. Like an ant fighting a giant. There was just too big of a gap in their power levels. Who in the world were they? Garbo felt his last glimmer of hope get crushed.

“Oh, Golems. Capture him as well, if you would.” The silver-haired girl’s tone felt like she was asking someone to pick up some trash. The Iron Golems crowded around Garbo, obeying her order.

A C-Rank adventurer could safely defeat an Iron Golem in one-on-one combat. But there was a crowd of them, and despite his valiant resistance, Garbo the C-Rank adventurer was beaten to a pulp until he was unconscious.

＊ ＊ ＊

“Gaaaah! Wait... What?” When Garbo woke up, he was in some stone hallway. Peesa was with him. His body didn’t hurt, and Peesa’s face was back to normal.

“Huh...? Oh, it was all a dream. What a weird dream.” He didn’t know why he was sleeping in a random hallway, but it probably had something to do with dungeon traps. No way was any of that dream real. His prey being all monsters? The slave being a monster too? A silver-haired girl who controlled Iron Golems? Said Iron Golems beating the crap out of him en masse? What a horrible nightmare.

But given that he and Peesa were fine, it was clearly all a dream. He could remember everything that happened with startling clarity, but it was all a dream. Better just forget about it, thought Garbo to himself.

“Peesa, hey, wake up.”

“Nnn... Whaaat, Darling... Huh?” Garbo shook Peesa awake and she looked around, confused. “Where’s the rich girl and her maid? There was their beastkin pet, and... What was with the silver-haired girl?”

“G-Guess you had the same dream, Honey.”

“Dream? Right... It had to be a dream,” replied Peesa while putting a hand on her head. “So, where are we? Did you take me here, Darling?”

“Nope, I just woke up a second ago myself. You sure you don’t know where this is, Honey?”

“Not at all. It looks like we’re in the dungeon, though?” The hallway definitely did feel like part of a dungeon. It was probably one of the labyrinth corridors.

Suddenly they heard clanky footsteps coming their way. Were they from adventurers? No, there were too many of them. And the footsteps were weighty, like tons of metal hitting the ground at once.

“These are the footsteps of Iron Golems, aren’t they...? And a lot of them, at that.”

“Maybe it’s a pack of Iron Golems? Guess we should run inside this room and wait them out.” Garbo paled, thinking back to the Iron Golems beating him up in his dream. Peesa must have seen the horde of Golems in her dream too, as she suggested escaping without making fun of Garbo at all. What else were two C-Ranks supposed to do?

That said, Peesa hadn’t noticed something important. The door they were going through looked fancier than the other doors. It was the boss door to the dungeon’s Boss Room. They were merely delving into an even worse hell.

...Inside the room was something resembling a royal castle’s throne room. But there was nobody inside and nothing of note except a treasure chest.

“Look, Peesa! A treasure chest.”

“Hold on, Garbo. This is probably a trapped chest. We should be careful.” As a silver lining, the chest no doubt had something that would be useful to them. They walked up to it, and the door they entered shut behind them. Then... Something fell.

It hit the ground so hard their legs vibrated. The screeching sound of metal filled the air as it stood up on the stone it had crashed down upon. It spread its wings wide and lifted its head, looking at Peesa and Garbo with ruby red eyes containing no life. It was... a member of the strongest species, a Dragon.

“GUAAAAAAAAH!” An odd roar sounding like several metal whistles blowing at once filled the air.

“An iron... Dragon?!”

“R-Run awaaay!” They abandoned the chest and searched for an escape route, soon finding a door further into the room. They raced toward it, but the door was locked. “Hurry up and open it, Peesa!”

“Wait! This, no, it won’t open!”

“Wha...?! This is your job! Just do it!”

“How am I supposed to open a door with no keyhole?! This is a Boss Room!” It was a door that would only open after they defeated the boss.

“Th-This isn’t my fault! You’re the one who suggested coming in here!”

“And you agreed, didn’t you?! You’re a frontliner, fight off the Dragon!”

“Don’t be ridiculous! This is a Dragon we’re talking about here!”

Thump, thump. The iron Dragon approached Garbo and Peesa. It wasn’t the time to be having an argument.

“...Honey, I have an idea. One of us should run for the door while the other distracts that thing.”

“Oh, and you’ll be the bait for me, of course?”

“How about we run in opposite directions and whoever it chases will be the bait?”

“...Alright.”

And so they ran off to the left and right of the Dragon. It chased after Peesa... while attacking Garbo with its iron tail. Perhaps their decision to run had come too late, but either way, he could dodge it. He crouched to go under the tail.

“Gah!” The tail changed its arc as if it had eyes as well, slamming right into Garbo and knocking him unconscious.

＊ ＊ ＊

“GAAAAH! Wait... What?” When Garbo woke up, he was in some stone hallway. Peesa was with him. His body didn’t hurt, and Peesa’s face was back to normal.

“Huh...? Oh, it was all a dream. What a weird dream.” He didn’t know why he was sleeping in a random hallway, but it probably had something to do with dungeon traps.

...Déjà vu.

“Peesa, hey, wake up! C’mon!”

“Nnn... Whaaat, Darling... Huh?” Garbo shook Peesa awake and she looked around, confused. “Where’s the rich girl and her maid? There was their beastkin pet, and... What was with the silver-haired girl?”

“H-Honey? Pretty sure that was just a dream. More importantly, did you have a dream with a Dragon in it?”

“A dream...? Right, it was all a dream. But a Dragon? I didn’t see one,” answered Peesa while touching her face. If she hadn’t seen a Dragon, maybe he really had just been dreaming?

“So, where is this...? Did you take me here, Darling?”

“U-Uhhh, let’s just get out of here as soon as we can. I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

“Huh...? Okay, let’s hide in that room over there.” Peesa pointed at the same room where a Dragon had appeared in Garbo’s dream.

“I don’t know about that room.”

“But there are footsteps coming this way, and a lot of them.” Garbo could hear the footsteps too. There really were a lot of them. And they were very heavy, enough to make the hallway vibrate.

...If Peesa didn’t remember anything, maybe it really was a dream. Not to mention that if it wasn’t a dream, he would be dead already. Garbo pessimistically steeled his resolve and decided to flee into the room. The fact no treasure chest was in the room sealed the deal.

“Don’t let your guard down, Honey. Keep an eye on the ceiling.”

“Ceiling? There’s nothing there. What are you so worried about, Darling?”

“A Dragon, basically. I’m thinking this might be a Boss Room.”

“...I don’t know about the Dragon, but the Boss Room part might be right.” There was another door further inside the room. That matched what he had seen in his dream.

“...That door is probably locked. And it doesn’t have a keyhole.”

“Wha? You can tell all that from here?”

“I’ll stick by the entrance door while you check it out.”

“Fine, but... You’re being weird, Darling.” Peesa went to check the inner door, and the moment she did—

“GUAAAAAAAAAH!” A metallic roar that hurt the ears. An iron Dragon appeared out of nowhere, as if it had somehow been hiding itself in the room. It looked just like it had in his nightmare.

“Ah...! AAAAAAAH!”

“Darling?!”

Garbo fled on the spot. He abandoned Peesa and dashed out the room, only to find himself faced with a horde of countless Iron Golems blocking each direction of the hall.

“Please go back inside.” She was hard to see amid all the Golems, but the dog-eared slave was there. For some reason, she made Garbo tremble in fear. It was pretty odd to see a fully equipped adult adventurer afraid of an innocuous-looking brown skinned loli.

“This is strange, his memories should be gone... Kosaki? Did you do your job properly?”

“I diiid, but I guess after five times it’s getting too hard to erase them all. Not to mention that it’s already especially difficult to erase the thick, fearful memories born during near-death experiences.”

“...Understood. That is unfortunate, as Master still wishes to test the Dragon.” Test? Master? Was she talking about the blue haired gi— no, doll? Or the Dragon? He couldn’t keep up.

“What’s going on?! What’s your goal here?!”

“Finishing a test. I guess we should take the extra time to erase his memories completely. Don’t worry, you’ve already experienced your arm being ripped off and healed back into place. You’ll be fine, so face the Dragon without fear... Kosaki, possess me.”

“You got it! Possession start...! And, complete! Fusioooon!”

＊ ＊ ＊

“GAAAAH! Wait... What?” When Garbo woke up, he was in some stone hallway. Peesa was with him. His body didn’t hurt, and Peesa was sleeping soundly.

“Huh? Oh, it was all a dream. What a weird dream... Right, a dream. Wait, what was a dream?” Garbo was struck by confusion, but decided to go ahead and wake Peesa up. He had no way of knowing how many times he had already done just that.

# Keima’s Perspective

The situation ended with us killing the rookie hunters and disposing of them in the dungeon. As proof, we gave the girl’s guild card skewers to the Adventurer’s Guild; the receptionist was very grateful. We got details about their “collections” through Niku, who charmed them as the Succubus Puppy and got them to spill the beans. Me? Yeah, I’m never transforming into a Succubus again.

Also, we hadn’t seen them during the initial ambush, but there were skewers for G-Rank cards as well, the lowest rank of the Guild. Yes, skewers. Three of them. And while we’re on this subject, why was that guy making a collection of dead body parts? Like ears and fingers and other, uh, protruding things. I burned all of them, sheesh.

“...Judging by the older cards, they began their journey in the Holy Kingdom and came to Laverio through Daide. There are quite a lot of the cards here. But thankfully, there don’t appear to be any members of nobility here that might have posed any problems. That is a relief.”

Wait, so that’s what the Guild was worried about? Or maybe they’re just glad they don’t have to deal with them. “There was no evidence of nobles being harmed, so it would be safe to say none were. Therefore, we don’t have to do as much work, which is a relief.” Something like that.

They did reward us for our efforts. Well, I don’t need it, but hey. I’ll take it. Gotta split it with Maiodore to thank her for her help. Since she’s an adventurer and all now.

＊ ＊ ＊

Now, back to how we dealt with the captured rookie hunters. We just told the Guild that we killed them and let the Dungeon eat their corpses, but in truth they were still alive.

“What’s your plan, Keima?” asked Rokuko. “You’re not going to let them leave alive, I bet.”

“Of course not. They will pay for the crime of targeting my dakimakura with their lives.”

“So you’re going to make a human farm, then? Bury them in walls or something so they can earn us DP?”

Meh, two more people earning DP is just a drop in the puddle now. We’ve got a whole town out there. Suzuki being buried in the walls is more than enough for me.

“I’m gonna have them be our dungeon testers for now. Or rather, they already are.”

“Testers?”

“Basically, I’m gonna have them do live tests of traps and Dungeon Bosses to see how they hold up.”

“Oh, I get it.”

Despite having fleshed out the dungeon, only the black wolf Rin and the High Priestess Alca had reached the deepest levels. Our dungeon was fatally lacking in experience with real people, excluding the beginner-friendly labyrinth.

I had made the Haniwa Golem, the Iron Haniwa Golem, and the new trap-filled Dragon Golem. I was having Niku and Ichika test them out already, but I always had to hold back with them. Because they would die if I didn’t. Although I was using Golems to perform some tests, experience fighting actual people would objectively be the most valuable to have. There were also a lot of traps I had made that I wanted to ascertain the effectiveness of, like a hallway with glass hidden inside oily water. Might as well make use of the C-Ranks while I have them.

“They’re also giving good practice for Niku and Kosaki’s Succubus possession.” Our dungeon’s ultimate weapon was the Succubus Puppy. Normally I’d have to be very careful about experimenting with it, but that hesitation wasn’t necessary with prisoners on death row.

The best results would come from the duo facing the challenges with fresh eyes, not legs trembling in traumatized terror. If charming enabled memory manipulation that would make that possible, how could I not do it? Even in the one in a million chance the charming failed and they attacked, Niku was definitely strong enough to fight them off. We had already tried it out once when gathering evidence, and the results were out of this world. When I got some spare time I would repurpose the items and gold they gave us as dungeon treasure.

I could even experiment with {Healing} to see how bad a wound had to be before it couldn’t be healed and death became a certainty. I wanted to get as much experience from them as I could, too. Though I don’t need any more Succubus experience, that’s for sure.

＊ ＊ ＊

As time passed, the training intensified. The Dragon Golem, the Haniwa Golems, the traps, and even organized platoons of Goblins and Golems got their testing in. It got pretty grotesque eventually, but the Restoration Magic practice was very fruitful. We learned that a ripped-off arm could be reattached (as long as it didn’t go missing) and a sliced-off finger could be grown back, though it took a lot of mana.

To be fair, the cut-off limbs didn’t work properly after being put back on, and they would probably need to go through proper rehabilitation, but we somehow managed to charm them into thinking their limbs were fine, which fixed everything. Jesus. Charms are so universally powerful they’re starting to catch up to {Create Golem}. Succubi sure are scary...

Naturally, we couldn’t manage to grow back a whole arm, so eventually we had to replace the guy’s left arm with a Clay Golem prosthetic arm. But through Charms he was convinced it was a normal arm, and the fact it worked fine (albeit a bit stiffly) was honestly scary. There was only so much clay could do, but a prosthetic made of orichalcum might even surpass a normal flesh and blood limb. Not that I’m ever going to try that.

Anyway. My initial plan was to beat them half to death, heal them, and erase their memories once for each guild card on the skewers, but it seemed that we were about to reach the limits of what Restoration Magic could accomplish. Who knew how much longer they would last at thi— Woah! The girl just got hit by the Dragon Golem’s fire breath (flamethrower trap) head on. Dang, she burned right up. Maybe some of the oil soaked into her clothes? Still, I don’t know if that explains how only her bones are left. Rest in peace... If she could come back from this, I’d be terrified. Guess I should have held the Dragon back a bit more... Oh well. Can’t say I didn’t expect this after the Charms started to destroy her brain from the memory loss and stuff.

“G-GAAAAH! No, no, I don’t wanna diiiie! Bluuuh, guuuh, m-my aaarm... What, it’s made of clay?! What’s going on?! WHERE’S MY AAAAARM!”

Looks like he’s reaching his limit too, I thought before making his Clay Golem arm mercy kill him.

The DP flowed right into our stockpile. It was an inglorious and sudden death for them, as expected given how many times we had looped the encounter. The girl was burned to death too, leaving only bones, so... Hm.

“Seems like you two can still be useful to me after death,” I said while summoning their bones to my location. At the time I had seen so much gruesome gore over the course of my Restoration Magic testing that I was a little emotionally numb. Yeah, that’s all it was.

＊ ＊ ＊

“Hyaaah! Take this!”

“Uraaah!”

A number of days later, at the Adventurer’s Guild Goren Town Branch’s training room, there were two Skeletons serving as training dummies for rookies. They had foam weapons, and indeed, they were the result of me turning Peesa and Garbo’s bones into Golems. Garbo’s left arm was made from iron instead.

The two Skeleton Golems were treated as provisionary members of the guild to help rookies learn to fight. The foam weapons and armor were laughably harmless from the perspective of a veteran, but they were important practice for rookies. Our dungeon produced a regular supply of Goblins, and thus many newbie adventurers gathered to get their feet wet with combat practice. Thanks to that, the Skeletons ended up pretty popular.

I didn’t know who named them, but apparently they were called Puji and Roda now. I also didn’t know what those names meant, nor which name belonged to which Skeleton. Maybe Puji and Roda were cliché fake names, like John Doe or something.

I talked to the receptionist, who was watching the rookies train.

“How’re they holding up?”

“Ah, Keima. Once again you have brought us something quite interesting. Skeleton slaves, correct?”

“Yep, found ’em deep in the dungeon. They seem to match the description of two criminals discussed in the Beddhist bible.” To prepare for this, I wrote in the Beddhist bible that one death sentence for heretics was to be turned into a Skeleton slave that would work tirelessly with no sleep and no pay. Oh man, so terrifying.

“I hear that they work well together and occasionally launch sudden, precise attacks that keep the fighting tense and productive. If they were once adventurers they would have been at least D-Rank, or perhaps C-Rank.”

“I see, so they’re decent fighters?”

“Yes. Training with them is very fruitful. But their movements make me question if they could possibly be the rookie hunters you dealt with a few days ago, as ridiculous as that might sound.”

Yep, classic receptionist. Sharp as ever. Kinda spooked me out for a second there.

We watched the Skeletons for a bit, observing the cycle of them beating up rookies then being beat up themselves. Well, y’know. They hunted rookies for so long I thought it made sense for them to work for the sake of helping rookies. Keep it up until your bones turn to dust.