The northernmost part of the continent.
There was a mountain called Great Prosphora Mountain.
Halfway up its slope stood a colossal structure that looked exactly like a cracked egg.
Inside the structure rose massive triangular prisms in white, blue, and red.
At the center of those prisms floated a giant ring of black metal, and through its middle you could see a white dome.
That white dome.
It was the Delvers' Guild's headquarters — the Grand Guild, "Brizscarv."
Inside the dome, in the Grand Guild Master's executive office.
An elderly man with a black leopard-like head sat at a stately executive desk, working.
This room's owner: Alhazad Abramirin.
He was perusing several documents on his desk through a pair of reading glasses.
"Oh, that reminds me—" a woman began.
A brown-skinned woman in a black coat over her guild uniform stood at his side, having spoken up.
"Hm? What is it?"
"It's about the Heizen matter."
"I've heard the Guild Master selection is running into trouble. Can't be helped, given those conditions. But there's a Subjugators' Guild over there. I'd rather not leave bad blood right from the start."
"I understand."
"So I need someone who can accept every last one of their conditions... which shouldn't be impossible, should it?"
Alhazad removed his reading glasses and wiped the smudges from the lenses.
The woman sighed.
"I understand."
"How disgraceful. Someone who's forgotten the proper mindset of a delver could never be a guild master."
"...Yes."
She understood as well.
The conditions Heizen's Zennera family's Sairan had laid out were extreme, but not impossible.
And she had also seen through the fact that the one who drafted those conditions was the Witch.
"Kolukra. What were the conditions from Heizen again?"
"Yes. '1: Entrust only the management of Heizen's dungeon.' '2: Prohibit any direct intervention or participation in Heizen's politics, commerce, or similar matters.' '3: Forbid any interference whatsoever with Heizen's Subjugators' Guild.' '4: The vice-guild master of Heizen's Delvers' Guild must absolutely be a black spider woman named Isibara. Furthermore, no investigation of any kind is to be conducted regarding her. And the right to dismiss her is to be permanently waived.'"
"'1: Entrust only the management of Heizen's dungeon.'"
"'2: Prohibit any direct intervention or participation in Heizen's politics, commerce, or similar matters.'"
"'3: Forbid any interference whatsoever with Heizen's Subjugators' Guild.'"
"'4: The vice-guild master of Heizen's Delvers' Guild must absolutely be a black spider woman named Isibara. Furthermore, no investigation of any kind is to be conducted regarding her. And the right to dismiss her is to be permanently waived.'"
"Hmm. Sounds more like you just have to be there and that's it."
"Isn't that basically what it comes down to?"
Alhazad laughed at Kolukra's rather blunt way of putting it.
"Guild masters are often ambitious people. Ambition is necessary as a delver. I don't fault them for that. But lining your own pockets isn't ambition."
"Embezzlement and illegal donations—crimes like these never seem to end."
"How truly disgraceful. Should we just fire the lot of them? Physically."
"That might not be a bad idea either."
"Hmph. Heizen's Dungeon. What Do You Think, Kolukla?"
Kolukla thought for a moment.
"If the dungeon's contents match the reports, it will become Heizen's new source of funding."
"A dungeon that doesn't kill, is it?"
"The witch's apprentice has also poured ideas into this dungeon unlike anything seen before."
"Is that why the witch put her foot down?"
"Partly for the apprentice's sake as well."
"That would explain it."
Alhazard let out a wry laugh.
"Master. Actually, there is one person who would be perfectly suited."
"Oh? There is?"
"Yes. This person has absolutely no interest in power, material desires, or money."
"A delver, I presume?"
"Second-tier. In terms of ability, they would be more than qualified for first-tier as well."
"Hmm. Who is it?"
"Ennea-Tasan."
"...Tasan, you say."
Alhazard's expression soured for just an instant.
Kolukla noticed but ignored it and continued.
"Yes. Known by the epithet 'the Sleeping Explosion King.'"
"…Ah, her. I see. Her one demand is pretty clear."
"Yes, and she already meets all the requirements for guild master."
"A perfect fit for a decorative figurehead, then."
"There could not possibly be a more perfect decorative figurehead."
Alhazard thought *a tanuki figurehead* — but kept that to himself.
"Right. Fine. We'll leave it to her."
"Then I'll start making the arrangements right away."
And so, Ennea-Tassan was decided as the Delvers' Guild master for Heizen.
During the lower-floor test play.
We were moving to the temporary deepest level.
A wide space with the massive dungeon core slowly rotating at its center.
There were tables and sofas and such set up, but it felt kind of empty.
Maybe I'd turn this into a comfortable living space eventually.
I sat at the table drinking tea and talked to Mineha about the rough meat soup.
She suggested that if so, that one would be nice too.
"Nikujaga" and "pot-au-feu." And a dish from Mineha's hometown.
Her hometown's dish was close to curry, using herbs and spices.
Hmm. That sounded good too. The takeout containers were settled on — glass jars.
As for me, I was thinking of proposing canned food to the witch eventually.
"Oh, where are Milece and Ambrosius?"
Come to think of it, I noticed.
It was rare for them not to be around.
"Those two went to pick up the Delvers' Guild's guild master from this town."
"Huh? This town's Delvers' Guild's… guild master!?"
I couldn't help but do the comedic double-take.
Wait, no, wait — it actually got decided?
"Huh. The witch's conditions were way too unreasonable, but it went through, huh."
"Apparently so."
"Wait, wait, I didn't even know it was decided!"
"You were so absorbed in your crafting the whole time."
"That may be true."
"They said it was trivial, so they'd report it later."
Trivial, huh. Actually, the witch's conditions — that was the thing, wasn't it.
Something about being guild master but only as a figurehead.
Even I thought that was pushing it.
But is the guild master position really that full of self-serving perks?
The only one I know is that fellow who's always on the verge of collapsing from overwork.
I wonder if he's still alive. I gave him quite a few small bottles of elixir.
"Hey, did you ask Isubara what kind of person is coming?"
"They said it was Tasan."
"Tasan!"
"Tasan, wait — the Tasan family!?"
They're major nobility. Is that really okay?
"Hold on, does Summerneia know about this?"
"Come to think of it..."
I wonder how that's going?
Mineha suddenly lets out a groan.
"Juicy's not actually coming, is she?"
"Just because it's Tasan doesn't mean... hmm"
Because it's Juicy, that's why.
She'd wag her tail and come bounding right over. Like the family dog.
Even so, someone from the Tasan family who'd be perfectly content even if treated as a mere display piece.
Since Rel is the only man, the visitor must be a woman. I wonder what kind of person she'd be.
"...That's worth wondering about too, but Wof. Are Narcissus and the others going to be all right?"
"The teleportation circle hasn't responded, so I think they're making steady progress."
There are no surveillance cameras or anything, so I have no idea what's going on out there.
But those two should be fine.
I'd made overall adjustments since the Torquetam test play.
I mostly nerfed things, but I did buff some of the bosses.
If I remember right, it was that one.
Angkor Wat in Cambodia, from my past-life memories.
A boss I created, inspired by the giant stone faces and Buddhism found there.
Multi-Headed Malice-Face Statue.
.
A giant composed entirely of numerous heads.
I gave that boss a weapon from a movie I'd seen in my past-life memories.
My memory's hazy, but I think it was a knife with a face on the hilt.
Since it was a flying sword, I just went with that.
Creating a dungeon has pretty much numbed my instincts at this point, but I guess anything goes.
There's a proper reason I buffed only that boss.
When I ran the performance test I hadn't done before the adjustment, it turned out it wasn't actually that strong.
It felt a little weak for a lower-layer boss, so I powered it up.
Pseudo-Generous? Yep, it happily got sealed away.
Ran the performance test and it was terrible.
Even among Grade I, you'd need something like Sword of Swords or Arveld to have a shot.
Still, the way Mineha worries about Narcissus — her expressions and gestures. She's like a real mother.
A mother, huh. Not something I feel much of a connection to in this world.
She's probably alive, and as long as she's living healthy, that's enough.
As for memories of my past life... well, I never really gave it much thought.
"..."
But is a 10-year-old mother really fine with that, you 24-year-old kid?
"Come to think of it—"
"What?"
"Narcissus. Your hairstyle changed, didn't it?"
"...That's right."
Narcissus was no longer wearing twin tails.
Her braids were coiled up in a loose spiral, and it suited her remarkably well.
"Could it be Mineha's doing?"
"Yep."
"It looked really good on you, Narcissus."
"That girl has zero interest in fashion, you know."
The other day she picked up a random stick off the ground and deadpan declared it a holy sword or something.
"Somehow, I get that."
"She's got such great material to work with — she should put more effort into it. So I did her hair first. And she's wearing a light layer of makeup too."
"Is that so?"
I hadn't even noticed.
Narcissus, wearing makeup.
"Well, Megadia handled most of that. Oh—"
The transfer circle blazed to life in pale green light.
Instantly, my heart sank. I thought, even this didn't work?
But both Narcissus and Megadia appeared looking perfectly fine.
However, their faces and skin were lightly soiled, and their clothes were torn in places.
You could see the exhaustion on both their faces, too.
Narcissus, of all people — what a thoroughly drained expression he wore.
"Oh my, that Narcissus... so he makes a face like that too, na."
Isibara was stunned.
Ah, yeah. I thought so too.