“Wow~ things got pretty interesting down here in the underground demon realm.”
“Rei worked hard for it. I should pat him on the head.”
…Lady Fiona is being very gentle with me.
It seems I let slip some vulnerability — the confusion between the human consciousness I used to have and the demon consciousness I have now.
But I’m alright now. I’m a demon. I should have given up on reconciling with humans — with other races — a long time ago.
“Lady Fiona. Are you trying to start a fire on my head?”
“If it were me, one second flat.”
She’s less patting and more generating friction heat, like she’s trying to use my head as kindling.
And if Pilukaya did it, yeah, he’d get a fire going immediately — by killing me, so please don’t.
“You were thinking strange things, so I increased the patting force.”
“Is this punishment, then?”
“I thought it was a reward… you don’t like it?”
This is complicated.
Anyway. Starting now, I’ll stop letting strange thoughts wander in.
“Merciless traps and a roomful of monsters. If he can do all that with just mana, no wonder the Demon Lord finds him valuable.”
That’s where the value is, apparently.
Other demons could probably build rooms and set traps too, and monsters could be tamed and stationed. But all of that would take time and effort — and my skill handles it in an instant. That’s going to keep being useful for dungeon work going forward.
“Were those all the intruders Pilukaya-sama reported?”
“Yep. That’s why I said so, didn’t I? Total pushovers.”
“Then the next step would be building small auxiliary dungeons.”
Primila’s words brought it back to me.
Right — the whole reason we were talking about renovating in the first place was to bring in more intruders.
Hm. I’d already decided, long before today, to act as an enemy of other races.
“I’ll leave it to you two. I have time on my hands, so I’ll prepare to revive more subordinates.”
“To put it plainly — you would like Rei-sama to create treasure chests.”
“…I think the next one will be the one.”
Well, if it’s just using my own mana, there’s no real reason to refuse.
I created a new chest, and Lady Fiona’s eyes lit up with what I could only describe as a sparkle.
And Primila gave me a flat look that said please stop enabling her.
“Let’s see… first thing is picking the entrance location.”
“Right. Like I said, these spots look good. One near a human village, one near a beast-kin village, one near an elf settlement.”
So not only are they spread out in different directions — they’re each near a different race.
“In that case, maybe this one.”
“An elf settlement? How come?”
“I figured since we’re building the dungeon to collect mana, more magically powerful intruders like elves would be better.”
“Rei-sama. What the dungeon absorbs is closer to life force than mana specifically. A visitor’s mana stat doesn’t factor in.”
“And elves tend to be cautious types~ Years of experience will do that. They don’t throw themselves into things with the same naked greed as some other races.”
I didn’t know that.
In that case, there’s no particular reason to choose the elf location.
If anything, elves might be the worst fit for a beginner dungeon.
“Then it’s probably better to go with the human village after all.”
“Yes. Not as measured as elves, not as reckless as beast-kin. Should bring in a comfortable number of visitors.”
Primila’s endorsement, and Pilukaya nodding along.
Alright — the entrance goes near the human village.
Though the entrance itself comes last, after the dungeon is finished.
First I need to think through what this simplified dungeon should actually look like.
Let me go through the menu again.
Create Wall: Mana Cost 1 Create Floor: Mana Cost 1 Create Ceiling: Mana Cost 1 Create Door: Mana Cost 1
Create Room: Mana Cost 5 Create Hall: Mana Cost 10 Create Maze: Mana Cost 20
Create Sign: Mana Cost 1 Create Torch: Mana Cost 1
Create Corridor: Mana Cost 3 Create Branching Path: Mana Cost 5 Oil-Slicked Path: Mana Cost 5
Create Treasure Chest: Mana Cost 5
Create Trap: Mana Cost 5 Rolling Boulder: Mana Cost 5 Spear Thicket: Mana Cost 5 Fireball: Mana Cost 5
Create Monster: Mana Cost 5 Create Intermediate Monster: Mana Cost 10
“Torches make sense, but Create Sign… what’s that even for?”
“Wait, you can make torches? Oh, that’s great. Fill the whole dungeon with torches and I can keep an eye on everything.”
“That might be worth doing eventually. But this dungeon is already pretty big — putting one in every room and corridor would drain my mana.”
Still, the compatibility with Pilukaya’s ability is remarkable.
Having him serve as something like a surveillance system would be a serious advantage.
“Signs… if we placed one at the entrance warning of danger, we could turn some intruders away before they enter.”
“Why would we want to turn them away? Having them come in is the whole point.”
“Yes, for now. But eventually, as numbers grow, it may become necessary. If too many people enter and are harmed — at a scale that prompts a nation to respond — the cost outweighs the benefit.”
Right — too many casualties and it stops being a handful of adventurers and starts becoming a military matter.
Letting some people leave safely is sometimes the better outcome.
“A few rooms, a branching path, two or three traps or monsters per room — something like that.”
“Yes. A dungeon of that scale shouldn’t provoke a response even if kingdom soldiers are sent to investigate.”
“And don’t forget treasure and a boss~”
“Treasure and a boss… those are really necessary?”
“Of course they are. People go into dangerous places like dungeons because there’s treasure waiting. If they reach the end and find nothing, they’re never coming back.”
That’s fair. Might as well add a treasure chest while I’m at it — something I know how to make.
Though I won’t channel mana into it. The dungeon’s ambient mana gets absorbed naturally over time, so the quality of whatever’s inside will improve on its own.
The dungeon mana I can freely use and the mana that maintains the dungeon and drifts through it are apparently separate.
Fortunately, the treasure chest draws from the second kind. Otherwise I might have had to build Pilukaya’s nightmare scenario — a dungeon with literally nothing inside.
“For the boss — come to think of it, I’ve been able to create a lot of goblin variants. Why not just make it an all-goblin dungeon?”
“Having a theme is important~ None of the goblins available are too strong yet, so it’s a good fit.”
“Are there actually powerful goblins?”
“Oh, absolutely. They get stronger the more of them there are, and the high-tier ones can buff each other to an unmanageable degree.”
I’d half-suspected this, but mobs that swarm really do derive their strength from that.
A Goblin King in the room makes the surrounding goblins noticeably more dangerous, it seems.
“That’s mostly settled then. Let’s actually start building while my mana recovers.”
Even on a small scale, I don’t have enough mana to build the whole thing at once.
So: build a corridor, rest, build a room, rest — and get to work on a proper dungeon for the first time.
“Wow~ you really do have an outrageous ability, don’t you.”
“Well done, Rei-sama.”
“I can’t fight like either of you. I have to be useful somewhere.”
“Build me all the torches too, whenever you can. For my sake.”
Corridors and rooms automatically come with basic lighting when built, so that should be enough for now.
“The boulder and spear traps… they may be too lethal. Fewer of those might be advisable.”
“Oh — they were that effective? I never saw them actually trigger, so I wasn’t sure.”
“Effective isn’t quite the word I’d use — brutal is more like it. As Primila says, they’d be too much for a village in the outskirts.”
So the traps were genuinely devastating.
They might have played a bigger role against those reincarnates than I realized.
I want to expand the variety of traps available going forward.
◇
With advice from Primila and Pilukaya throughout, the dungeon was finally finished.
Fewer than ten rooms. Corridors connecting them.
Branching paths, but no dead ends — every route eventually leads to the boss room.
The boss is a Goblin King, with an assortment of other goblin types arranged around it.
Past the boss room, a treasure chest. A few more chests scattered in the earlier rooms, designed to yield low-quality items — I plan to replenish those as needed.
Not bad, as dungeons go.
And of course, no hidden passage connecting it to the underground demon realm. Fully independent.
“Oh, it’s finished. As expected of Rei.”
“Lady Fiona.”
“Hey, Demon Lord~ We helped too~”
“Yes, Pilukaya and Primila both did well.”
Lady Fiona came specifically to acknowledge the work.
She really does look after her people.
“…My liege. Going forward — do you intend to leave all dungeon matters entirely to Rei-sama?”
“Hmm? Well… yes, I suppose… but, I mean, after all that work building it, the Heroes just go ahead and destroy it…”
Primila’s question sent Lady Fiona into a fumbling answer.
“…I understand the feeling, and those of us who died and left you alone bear some responsibility. But at some point you’ll need to take it back up. We can’t go on indefinitely like this.”
“I’ll… do my best… perhaps in about ten thousand years…”
Primila heard that, and — unexpectedly — simply nodded without getting angry.
I really don’t understand how demons experience time.
“By the way — don’t you think it’s a waste to put so many treasure chests in this auxiliary dungeon?”
“Oh — but Pilukaya said it wouldn’t attract visitors without something to find…”
“Hmm… could you spare a few for me? I think the next one — I’m sure the next one will revive the third Heavenly King.”
…She was still at it.
Well, to revive the entire Demon Lord’s Army she’d have to be — but still.
The Demon Lord has fallen deep into the treasure chest gacha spiral.
And the person responsible for starting her down that path is me.
When the rest of the Army finds out, I’m going to get a very thorough scolding.