Living in a Dungeon
.
That was a way of life completely unknown to me.
My interest had been piqued. Quite a lot, too—lately, it was the biggest thing on my mind.
When I got back, I'd ask Isibara and Mirees. And Alexander, too.
Not that I was going to jump right into it. I'd need to hear them out first.
But if I could, I'd want to do something close to that. I wanted to try.
Because it could be the breakthrough I needed to make miscellaneous meat soup popular.
Not just miscellaneous meat soup, either.
Maybe I could even set up a food court inside the dungeon.
No wait—a shopping mall might even be possible.
"Three mineral lizards left, by the way."
"........"
"Wof?"
"........"
"Hey, I'm talking to you!"
"Wha—er—ah, sorry!"
"Honestly."
Mineha was pouting.
"Sorry. I was just thinking about some stuff."
"What were you thinking about?"
"…About living in a dungeon."
"Are you planning to do the same thing in your dungeon?"
Mineha was sharp.
I came clean.
"Honestly, I was pretty surprised to hear that."
"Yeah."
"…From a delver's perspective, that alone would've been enough. But I'm a dungeon creator. From that angle, living in a dungeon — it's really got me curious."
"Then why not make it so you can?"
"For now, I figured I'd consult you and hear your thoughts, and then decide what to do from there."
"That's the right call. That's the best way to go about it."
"Mineha, what do you think about actually living inside a dungeon?"
"Me? Hmm. Well, living here would be a bit… you know."
Mineha said, smiling wryly.
"What's wrong with it?"
"Not being able to see the sky."
When she looked up, I followed her gaze.
The ceiling was far, far away — all I could see was rock covered in luminous moss.
I see. It wasn't a sky.
"True enough."
"See, fairials can fly. That's why the sky holds a special place in their hearts."
"Come to think of it, Mineha-san, you live in the watchtower."
"Actually, the village is up in the great tree too. That's why I don't want to live somewhere without a sky. If I were to live in a dungeon, it'd have to be one with a sky."
"A sky... Oh, you mean the Edda Grand Temple?"
"That's right. A place like that, I could live in."
The Edda Grand Temple.
It was the wandering deepest floor that had once battled the dungeon anomaly in Hydrangea.
Even though it lay underground, it projected a sky synchronized with the surface in real time.
That deepest floor was probably still wandering.
A sky, huh.
Projection... like the projection mapping from my past life memories?
Hmm.
"But right now, it's mineral lizards. Wof."
"Right."
That's right. I pull myself together.
Right now, I'm not the dungeon ruler of Heizen.
I'm Wof, a Rank V delver.
Knock the mineral lizard clinging to the wall of the six-story building near the castle right off.
Shot it down from the fourth floor with Ballistic 6, and it died from the impact of a two-story fall.
"That's number nine. One more and we're done."
Mineha slipped the mineral lizard's remains into her pouch.
Up until now, we'd only been targeting the yellow lights. The next yellow would make ten.
I searched using [Circle of Fortune] and — wait. No way. You've got to be kidding.
"A blue light...!?"
Among the yellow lights, I could see a blue one.
"That's the best one, right?"
"Yes. It's the highest rarity."
"Where is it?"
"Well... um, ah..."
The blue light was coming from... of all places, *there*.
"What? Where?"
"The castle."
"...What?"
"Inside that castle."
I pointed toward it with my eyes, looking uncomfortable.
"........."
Mineha glared at the castle in silence.
Well, can't blame her.
"So what do we do?"
"Thanks to Wof, the freshness is the best it's been so far."
"That's right."
"So it's fine if the last one is yellow. Right?"
"Right."
There was a slight conflict in Mineha's words — that it was fine even if it turned yellow.
But she would definitely decide this way.
"We're heading to the castle."
"Okay."
"I want to make the tenth one special."
"Of course."
I got that part.
But how were we supposed to get inside the castle?
We couldn't just walk in through the front gate, could we?
"We're heading back to 'Mogura-tei.'"
"Are you already hungry?"
"Don't be stupid. I'm going to ask about how to get into the castle."
Oh, right. That made sense.
We returned to the shopping district in the safe zone.
We went to 'Mogura-tei' and immediately asked.
"Huh? How to get into the castle?"
"I'd appreciate it if you could tell me. Of course, I'll pay for the information."
"Sure, I know, but no payment's needed. It's not exactly a secret. Thing is, that castle's a rock lizardman nest. Teeming with 'em."
"That's fine with us."
"If you say so. There's a church near the castle. At the far end of the chapel inside, the saint statue's pedestal is a hidden door. The passage behind it leads to the fireplace in the dining hall."
"Thank you."
"Thank you very much."
"Yeah. Stay safe out there."
And so we made our way back toward the castle.
The church… there it was. No rock lizardmen in sight.
We entered the chapel.
Stained-glass walls. Pews lined up at even intervals. A piano.
Straight ahead, a red altar and a solemn saint statue.
"It's pretty much the same as all the others."
"But that thing's not here."
At the right end of the chapel stood a saint statue on a large stone pedestal.
The stone pedestal had a plain square pattern on it.
We approached the pedestal. One look was all it took.
"Oh, this part here — your finger catches on it."
With a click, the square on the pedestal swung open like a door.
Crouching slightly to get through, we found an iron ladder leading down.
Once we descended, it was dark, so I made an orb of light float in front of us.
I walked cautiously along the passage, surrounded by damp stone walls.
Up ahead was a dead end. But one part of the wall was severely worn down.
It must have been used countless times.
When I pushed on that section, part of it swung open. The sudden brightness made me dispel the light orb.
Ducking through, I understood. This was the backside of a fireplace.
"...So this is inside the castle."
Well, it was, in a sense, an opulent dining hall. Truly the dining hall of a castle.
Surprisingly, there were Rock Lizardmen. Even though it was a monster's nest, it was clean.
"Mineha, the blue light is on the second floor."
It's just above us. Position-wise, is someone in the room?
Leaving the dining hall, a corridor continued on.
Rock Lizardmen in leather armor were patrolling, armed with spears and swords.
They were just like soldiers on rounds.
"They're Rock Lizard Soldiers."
"So they really are soldiers."
"They're a little stronger than regular Rock Lizardmen."
At the end of the corridor where the Rock Lizard Soldiers patrolled, there was a staircase.
There was nowhere to hide or advance in this corridor. We had to fight.
"...There sure are a lot of them."
"What should we do?"
"Taking them all down one by one would be a pain, but we can't exactly just walk past them either... Why are they moving like that?"
Suddenly, the patrolling Rock Lizard Soldiers dashed off to the other side.
"What's going on?"
"This is our chance."
We moved down the corridor and climbed the stairs.
The blue light was in the third room on the left on the second floor.
"Gyrauuu!"
Damn it. We'd been spotted by a Rock Lizard Soldier.
"Star Stinger!"
Mineha pierced the Rock Lizard Soldier with a pale, simple spear.
That was the Astral Star Manifest Spear — Mineha's first beloved spear.
The Rock Lizard Soldier shattered apart like the mineral creature it was.
There had been another one patrolling on the opposite side, so we took that one down too, just to be safe.
We entered the third room from the left.
It looked like a guest room. A bed. A desk. A dresser. Paintings. High-end furnishings lined the walls.
Something was there. No, wait —
"...!"
"That's incredible."
A mineral lizard clinging to the ceiling — smaller than the usual kind.
But the ore on its back shimmered with a rainbow iridescence, and its body was pink.
Somehow I got the feeling it was the female.
And it was obvious at a glance that this wasn't just an ordinary mineral lizard.
It was staring at us, trembling.
Actually—
I found myself saying, with surprising conviction:
"Excuse me, are you the will of the earth dungeon?"
"Huh?"
The mineral lizard's eyes went wide with obvious surprise, its expression caught between shock and hesitation.
Then, after a moment, it gave a small, affirmative nod.
It was the will of the earth dungeon.