So, with the renovations complete, the labyrinth opened its doors once more.
The areas Masayuki had pointed out were improved, and I felt the difficulty had become considerably easier, at least in my estimation.
How would people respond?
First, the fools who didn't bother listening to the explanation did exactly as before — they blew past floors one and two and headed straight for floor three.
Naturally, they couldn't clear it.
Even so, they stubbornly kept trying over and over again.
What drove them to persist so doggedly?
Their employer's presence? Their pride as adventurers?
It was nothing so noble. The real reason was far more mercenary.
It turned out that the sword — a longsword —
That is, remarkable compared to their usual equipment.
I'd assumed it was Kurobei's handiwork, but it was actually crafted by one of his workshop apprentices. Even that apprentice-made longsword was of such high quality that it could be called an exceptional normal sword.
In fact, its performance was reportedly on par with Special-Grade equipment.
Compared to ordinary weapons, even "high-quality" gear was easily ten times the price. And when you got into Special-Grade , the value soared to over fifty times that.
Whether you could obtain one was a matter of luck, and at such prices they certainly weren't something you could simply buy. That was the reality.
So it was no wonder that some people's eyes lit up and they threw themselves into conquering the labyrinth.
"Heh heh, check it out, you guys! A sword worthy of yours truly — magnificent, isn't it!"
Basson's shameless boasting like this drew even more challengers.
Almost inadvertently, the idiot had ended up advertising for our nation. I almost wanted to thank him for that.
But of course, rushing in blindly didn't mean you could actually clear it.
Before long, the slightly smarter ones started listening to the explanations carefully, and they practiced on floor one until they were satisfied.
Once those who'd trained there had prepared themselves properly (and naturally, they purchased supplies like ropes from us — which meant more profit), they resumed their challenges.
Sure enough, people began clearing floor three without much trouble.
As long as you properly created a map of the paths, floors three through five should have been a cakewalk. So this was only natural.
From there, it came down to individual skill.
And just as people started conquering the floors, adventurers arrived — drawn by rumors from the various nations' Free Guilds.
That set off fierce competition in the race to progress.
Some people even began buying and selling maps, so I used the labyrinth's announcement system to inform everyone about the upcoming structural changes and implement them.
Maps were meaningless unless you made them yourself. I wanted to drive that point home early.
The general benchmark for progression was clearing one floor every two to three days. The fastest managed it in one day.
So among the adventurers, it became an unspoken rule that the best time to start pushing forward was right after a structural change.
The Free Guild adventurers were on another level entirely.
The Slayers were combat specialists focused on fighting monsters, but they'd teamed up with exploration and gathering types.
That was the hallmark of adaptable adventurers. They listened to a quick explanation, grasped the internal rules, and got moving.
Perhaps it was too easy.
Their speed of progression was so fast it was almost concerning.
It turned out that one of their party members possessed the skill Spirit Speaker , a rare ability among magic users. By communicating with spirits, they could ask which paths were correct.
That's dirty!
Spirit Speaker —that's dirty!
When I asked
Not everyone could communicate with spirits, and parties that included a Spirit Speaker were rare to begin with.
It hardly seemed worth taking countermeasures against. If anything, I wanted to praise the ingenuity it took to think of such a method.
There were other advantages too. For those skilled in ruin exploration, disabling trap mechanisms was child's play.
Even treasure chests were handled calmly and carefully. Compared to the usual bodyguards, these adventurers were far more cautious, and they showed us what real professionalism looked like.
And so, the conquest advanced smoothly, and the number of challengers pouring into the labyrinth continued to climb.
We had gathered again to identify any issues with the current situation.
Unlike last time, everything was going well, so spirits were high.
It was only natural that smiles kept crossing our faces.
"Oh, so you're Masayuki, huh? I thought you had potential, but you've truly proven yourself."
As soon as we assembled, a jubilant Veldora praised Masayuki.
"Oh, really? Well, thank you…"
Masayuki was taken aback by the sudden compliment. He looked at me as if to say, "Who is this person?"
He'd been there last time, and I'd even introduced him, but Masayuki had been too nervous to remember.
"Yeah, this is Veldora — a dear friend of mine. I introduced you last time too, remember? And this is Ramiris. You could call her the ruler of this labyrinth."
"I acknowledge your abilities. Let's work well together, Masayuki."
"Hiya~! You're amazing, you know that? This whole success is thanks to you!"
Unlike last time, both of them were smiling as they acknowledged Masayuki.
And Masayuki was smiling back.
"Ah, pleasure to meet you. I'm Masayuki. Same as Lord Rimuru — well, not Satoru, but Rimuru — I came from another world. People keep calling me a 'Hero,' but that's just for show, so please don't worry about it."
This time, he managed a proper introduction. There was a certain ease about him now. Perhaps it helped that, unlike last time, both of them already acknowledged him, creating an atmosphere where conversation came more naturally.
"But Ramiris, you're really a fairy? Creating such an incredible labyrinth — that's amazing!"
When Masayuki praised her, Ramiris: "Hey! I like you! I'm making you my disciple! And Rimuru — did you hear that? He called me amazing!"
She shouted as she threw a dropkick in my direction, absolutely beaming with excitement.
So annoying.
I dodged the dropkick with ease and replied: "Yeah, yeah, amazing, amazing. Well, if Masayuki's okay with being your disciple, I don't see a problem."
A Hero becoming the disciple of a Demon Lord. Sure, whatever.
"So, what kind of person is Ramiris, exactly? And, uh, Veldora…? You're Lord Rimuru's friend?"
"Huh? Oh — you didn't know? Ramiris is one of the Demon Lords. And Veldora is a dragon."
"Wha— wait, a Demon Lord and a dragon?! Seriously?!"
Masayuki…
He'd been so composed around them last time that I'd thought he was unflappable. Turns out he'd simply been ignorant.
Ignorance truly is bliss.
But finding out now that he'd been casually chatting with a Demon Lord and a dragon had apparently drained the color from his face. I felt a little sorry for him.
On the other hand, the fact that he'd earned their approval without even realizing it spoke volumes about his absurd luck.
Perhaps the reactions of those around him weren't entirely due to the effects of his Hero's Charisma skill, but rather his natural, terrifying good fortune?
Just as I was pondering this, a revived Masayuki explained: "Well, actually, I thought I'd deactivated my skill, but people still keep praising me for it. This time around… my companions were like, 'You negotiated with a Demon Lord and got the labyrinth's difficulty lowered?! As expected of a Hero!' — something like that. They apparently went to try the labyrinth themselves too, and I ended up receiving their thanks…"
So even without the skill, Masayuki's real-life luck was at work. Truly astonishing.
Anyway, introductions finally finished, and we moved on to discussing the labyrinth's current state.
Sales were on track.
Myulmur was practically squealing with delight.
The conquering parties were progressing smoothly, and we hadn't lost a single participant — they kept coming back for more.
If we could make people want to challenge the labyrinth again and again, reaching a thousand visitors per day would actually be surprisingly achievable.
The proposal Masayuki brought up this time concerned the drop rate adjustment — specifically, placing monsters that would drop unidentified items and equipment.
But this "drop" system was surprisingly tricky. Naturally spawned monsters didn't just drop items out of nowhere…
At best, they'd drop raw materials or magic stones.
"Why would we need to do something like that?" Veldora asked.
The answer was: "Huh? Well, there are people who can't recover and end up defeated, right? So I thought, what if we had monsters drop Recovery Potions? And if the weapons and armor they drop are unidentified, players would need to leave the labyrinth to get them appraised. That way, we can weed out people who just camp inside and farm the labyrinth without spending money. Besides, if the potions are unidentified too, they might contain poisons, so people won't drink them carelessly…"
I see.
So we'd give decent items from treasure chests, but have monsters drop junk.
Unidentified, huh — that did sting a little. I remembered the thrill of waiting for an appraisal with bated breath.
Perhaps we could raise the difficulty in that area too.
And even junk equipment would take up inventory space, so some people would head back to town to sell it off.
"Good idea. I think it's about time we moved to that stage," I said. Though "about time" was a bit of an overstatement — I'd only just been convinced.
"That's the way to go," Ramiris nodded, looking wise.
I shot her a "Do you even understand what we're talking about?" look, but she averted her eyes. She'd just been echoing the mood. Clever little thing.
In any case, we exchanged nods of agreement.
Getting monsters in the labyrinth to carry junk items turned out to be surprisingly simple.
They took the junk from our stored inventory and placed it in front of each monster. The monsters then naturally swallowed the items on their own.
The random spawn locations of monsters were unavoidable, so we set up monster rooms on each floor below floor six. The pipes running through them supplied magicules, and the large halls on each floor were configured so that monsters would spawn there first.
Naturally, this could double as a kind of trap, but our actual purpose was item distribution.
Managing every single monster that spawned was tedious, but distributing items to the monsters in the monster rooms was more than sufficient.
Once equipped, those monsters were released into their respective floors, and we waited for more to accumulate.
In this way, we efficiently placed junk-carrying monsters throughout every floor.
Our labyrinth was finally nearing completion.
The town on floor ninety-five was finished.
The Lizardfolk sisters — who had learned to waitress, clean, do laundry, and cook — were now a fully capable workforce. We had them relocate to this new town.
Naturally, it wasn't just the women; the men came along as well.
The Treants and Treant Spirits had already completed their migration and were rooted at key points throughout the town. Nestled among them, a three-dimensional city with homes built among the branches had taken shape.
A fairy city.
For the Lizardfolk , it would be a forest dwelling where they could finally feel at ease.
They expressed their gratitude with tears of joy, and moved in with hearts full of hope and happiness.
Needless to say, they cheerfully took on the operation of inns and taverns.
There were a few inns sitting somewhat unnaturally on the surface, but these were dummy establishments connected to the labyrinth's various floors.
Their operations were managed by a Treant elder.
Within the labyrinth, even Treants could now manifest physically — though only in a limited capacity.
So we tasked them with handling the adventurers who came from each floor.
Since they could communicate with people, they were happy to cooperate.
And so, with the labyrinth's difficulty adjustments and resident allocations complete, our work reached a natural stopping point.
It seemed the time had come to move to the next phase.
Around the same time the labyrinth reached completion, the first person to break through to floor ten finally appeared.
The labyrinth's announcement system declared that the guardian of floor ten — the Ogre Lord — had been defeated.
The inn town, where adventurers had settled in and taken up residence, erupted in thunderous cheers.
The first adventurer to conquer ten floors of the labyrinth was none other than the Hero Masayuki and his party.
"Ma—saa-yu-ki! Ma—saa-yu-ki!"
The crowd roared the Hero's name in deafening unison.
Masayuki's expression, it was said, was a painfully forced smile — but to those around him, it shone like a radiant grin.
The Ogre Lord was a monster equivalent to a "B+" threat, but it was no match for Masayuki and his party. Or rather, his companions turned out to be quite capable in their own right. Though the fight was far from easy, they all managed to defeat it without casualties.
The Ogre Lord's drop items belonged to the Ogre series.
This time, what appeared were the Great Demon Axe and the Demon Greaves .
These were Rare-Grade set equipment.
The weapon drops were random — whether you got one to your liking was purely a matter of luck.
But once adventurers saw the performance of this equipment, the atmosphere among them shifted entirely.
The casual "it'd be nice to make a little money on the side" vibe vanished, replaced by a serious drive to conquer the labyrinth.
Bosses appeared once per hour, varying by floor. If they were defeated, you had to wait an hour for them to respawn.
And once you defeated the boss and exited its chamber, a Checkpoint and staircases leading up and down would appear.
Even if you took the stairs back up to the same floor, you couldn't return to the room in front of the boss. Instead, you'd randomly appear somewhere else on floor nine, and the stairs would vanish. The purpose was to prevent any single group from monopolizing the boss.
Each boss carried a Random Box. So whether it contained equipment was also up to chance — but when equipment did drop, it was always from the Ogre series.
A "B+" monster was no match for a party of six seasoned adventurers.
It was only a matter of time before this information spread among the challengers.
The number of people aiming for full conquest surged overnight.
Everything was going according to plan.
The Monster Nation had become, through its adjacent underground labyrinth town, the most famous city in the world — known to one and all.