“Create Monster. Create Monster.”
Two of the results were duplicates of monsters already summoned.
Maybe it’s time to start looking at the intermediate monster creation option.
Poison Bat — Mana: 13 / Strength: 15 / Technique: 8 / Fortitude: 9 / Agility: 38
Dungeon Crawler — Mana: 10 / Strength: 23 / Technique: 7 / Fortitude: 30 / Agility: 19
Dire Wolf — Mana: 25 / Strength: 30 / Technique: 26 / Fortitude: 21 / Agility: 28
Marionette Soldier — Mana: 18 / Strength: 33 / Technique: 16 / Fortitude: 34 / Agility: 22
Kobold Hunter — Mana: 5 / Strength: 22 / Technique: 25 / Fortitude: 23 / Agility: 29
Kobold Lord — Mana: 7 / Strength: 26 / Technique: 30 / Fortitude: 28 / Agility: 35
Goblin Soldier — Mana: 10 / Strength: 25 / Technique: 16 / Fortitude: 25 / Agility: 17
Goblin Mage — Mana: 32 / Strength: 10 / Technique: 27 / Fortitude: 25 / Agility: 24
Goblin King — Mana: 15 / Strength: 30 / Technique: 21 / Fortitude: 32 / Agility: 20
Toxic Slime — Mana: 12 / Strength: 4 / Technique: 9 / Fortitude: 41 / Agility: 28
The kobold and goblin families still seem to have variants I haven’t seen, but duplicates are piling up fast.
The Toxic Slime — probably a rare pull — is still at just one, but even the Kings and Lords have multiple copies now.
“Rei-sama. My apologies — were you in the middle of monster creation?”
“No, just finished. Don’t worry about it.”
Primila arrived.
Enough time living in this dungeon has passed that she’s had to correct me multiple times for using formal speech and honorifics with her. As a result, I now talk to one of the Four Heavenly Kings like this — inwardly terrified the whole time.
Lady Fiona makes a conflicted face whenever she hears it, so perhaps as Demon Lord she’d prefer I didn’t address a Heavenly King so casually.
“The numbers have grown considerably. It looks like not just the first room but the hall as well could be properly staffed now.”
“It’s filling up faster than I expected. I was thinking of setting traps in the hall too, but maybe that should be a separate space.”
“Rei-sama can simply build more rooms as needed. To rebuild a dungeon that was supposed to be dead, to this extent, in so little time — it really is remarkable power.”
“I don’t think I’m the one who brought it back to life, though…”
Their praise is so consistent that I keep feeling awkward about it.
Lady Fiona, Primila — they’re both far too generous toward me.
“Anyway — did you come here for something?”
“Right, I did. I have something I need to bring to the Demon Lord’s attention. Would you accompany me, Rei-sama?”
“Sure, any time.”
Lady Fiona is at her throne right now.
We’re near the center of the dungeon, so it’s not far.
But a formal matter to raise with Lady Fiona… knowing Primila, it’ll be something legitimate, which probably means Lady Fiona has done something she shouldn’t have.
◇
“Rei. Primila. What is it? Both of you coming to the throne room together.”
“Primila said she had something to raise with you, so I came along.”
“…By the way, Rei — you don’t need to add an honorific to my name either.”
“I think I do, actually…”
The conversation was starting to drift, but Primila stepped forward, and Lady Fiona composed herself to listen.
“The throne room’s mana has been depleted too far.”
“Ugh…”
“My liege. You have been using it for your own mana recovery.”
“B-but… I thought that was what it was for — to help my mana recover.”
Demon Lord and one of the Four Heavenly Kings. Superior and subordinate.
Primila’s bearing toward Lady Fiona is impeccably respectful — nothing remotely out of place.
And yet somehow… Lady Fiona looks exactly like someone being scolded for misbehaving.
“My recollection is that the throne room’s mana was reserved for emergencies. Specifically, for situations where you are engaged in combat within this location and facing defeat.”
“W-well, that won’t be happening for a while, so surely it’s fine? We defeated the human Hero and the beast-kin Hero both! Things will be peaceful for some time!”
“Even so, wasting it needlessly is a problem, is it not?”
“…Yes. I’m sorry.”
She wasted it. Primarily on treasure chest gacha.
Lady Fiona — her stats are in an entirely different tier than the rest of us, but somehow she’s starting to look like a mess.
No, stop that. Her stats are about a thousand times mine.
If I let thoughts like that slip into my expression, getting reduced to ash is well within the realm of possibility.
“Um… Lady Fiona seems to understand she was wrong, so maybe that’s enough—”
“Rei!”
She called my name in a noticeably relieved voice.
…Oh, that was a mistake. I can feel Primila’s attention shifting toward me.
“Rei-sama as well.”
There it is. Let sleeping dogs lie, as they say.
“If Rei-sama had not been creating treasure chests, the Demon Lord would not have had mana to waste.”
“Th-that’s not right — Rei was just doing it because I asked him to…”
“Then, my liege, please exercise self-control.”
No way out of this one.
When things reach this point, there is exactly one thing both Lady Fiona and I can do.
“We’re very sorry…”
Apologize to Primila.
◇
“Lady Fiona.”
“Yes, Rei?”
“Let’s hold off on the treasure chests for a while.”
“What?! Why…”
Because we were just reprimanded.
She seemed to understand without me saying it, and let out a resigned sigh.
“Otherwise Primila will be angry with us again… but, the throne room’s mana — is there any way to recover it?”
“Hmm… same as the dungeon’s mana, drawing it from intruders who fall here is the most effective method. But inviting more intruders indiscriminately would create its own problems.”
That much is clear.
None of us — not me, not Primila, not Lady Fiona — have any real understanding of what’s happening outside.
If we carelessly increased the flow of intruders and triggered the Heroes of every nation to unite and storm the dungeon, that would be catastrophic.
“The entrance is already open, after all. There may not be a way to draw more intruders beyond what we’re already getting…”
Is the current situation actually dangerous in that respect?
Should I seal the entrance again? But that would cut off the dungeon’s mana, which has finally started growing…
“Actually, there is another way.”
“We can get even more intruders than we currently have?”
“Yes — by adding more entrances.”
“More entrances…”
There’s no such option in the menu.
I’ve gone through the full list, and nothing in the currently accessible range can do that.
Maybe it’s a locked option, not yet available because the required mana or conditions haven’t been met?
“This dungeon earned its name as the underground demon realm. Right now, after the Heroes… devastated it, it’s at its bare minimum in terms of size… yes, the Heroes, they destroyed everything…”
“Stay with me! I’m right here with you, Lady Fiona!”
“R-right… Rei is mine, after all!”
Is Lady Fiona traumatized by the Heroes?
Well — her home was essentially obliterated. Hard to blame her.
“Regardless, there is still considerable room left to expand this dungeon. It’s tedious, and exhausting, but — if you open a passage through this wall here, the dungeon recognizes the new path and maintains the structure to a certain extent on its own.”
Hm, so that’s how it works.
I’d assumed rooms and corridors could only be built in existing empty spaces.
But wait — if that’s not the case, does my menu apply to a much wider range of locations than I’d been using it?
Now that I think about it, there’s that one option I’d been treating as minor — Create Corridor.
Create Corridor: Mana Cost 3
That’s the one. I’d been assuming it was just for tidying up existing paths, but if my instinct is right…
“Rei. Is something the matter?”
“Lady Fiona — I think I might be able to create corridors too.”
“A corridor…?”
She doesn’t quite seem to follow, so let’s just try it.
3 mana is within safe limits, and there’s a dead end just past the throne room…
“Oh — yes, it works.”
“What?! That’s — incredible. Even I find carving out passages tedious and draining, and you can just… as expected of Rei.”
For me it’s just a finger and a bit of mana.
This ability turns out to be more useful than I’d assumed.
“What should we do with the corridor now that it’s there?”
“Oh, that’s a good question… since we have it, something like a battle-ready hall would be convenient.”
Right — the throne room itself is reasonably sized, but an all-out fight in here would probably reduce it to rubble.
Lady Fiona hasn’t needed that kind of space until now because she was one-shotting her opponents. But having a room where she can fight seriously does seem like something we’ll eventually need.
“I’ll build a hall there once my mana recovers.”
“Please don’t overdo it. Your power really is extraordinary. I don’t want to lose you.”
Being told that is genuinely reassuring.
It seems like I’m still holding up my end as a useful tool — which was the whole point when this started.
I’ll keep putting this skill to work and make sure Lady Fiona never has reason to write me off.