For the past few days, I had been living a hectic daily life.
Yes, primarily because of the Underground
Starting with my debut as a Demon Lord, and then the Martial Arts Tournament, everything had been progressing smoothly.
You could say both of these were tremendous successes.
In particular, the crystal sphere system — an improved version of the long-distance communication balls, now equipped with mutual recording and receiving capabilities — which projected images onto a large screen was extremely popular.
The battles of the Martial Arts Tournament could also be clearly watched through enlarged images on the large screen.
And above all, the fact that they could safely observe scenes from a distant location like the interior of the dungeon proved to be an enormous cultural shock for the dignitaries of various nations.
The Dwarf King in particular grumbled to me.
"Hey, hey, you've gone and released something truly extraordinary... The potential applications are too broad — I don't even know what to say. I would have appreciated at least a heads-up before making this public."
To us, this technology held value only as a convenient entertainment item, but apparently, the situation was quite different for the general nations surrounding the Jura Forest.
The most obvious application was military use.
Being able to command an army from a safe location was a significant advantage.
More importantly, it would even be possible to conduct enemy reconnaissance with special forces and relay the information to the army in real time.
The technology we had casually released was, in this world, an innovative breakthrough that could be called super-civilization level.
It was technology developed by analyzing the ability of Thought Communication and combining it as a fusion of magic and science. As a result, mass production was surprisingly feasible.
However, since the user consumed a considerable amount of Magicules, the communication distance and volume of information were limited by the user's abilities.
Those drawbacks seemed likely to be improved through the development of a Magicule accumulation system, but it was probably better not to mention that.
"In any case, using something with obvious military applications purely for entertainment — that's so like you," he said, exasperated.
But well, as advertising, the effect was outstanding.
The Magitek Empire Sarion had its Emperor himself promptly offer cooperation.
"If need be, I'm even willing to offer financial support?"
"No, we're fine on that front for now. But if specialists from your so-called magitek science department could cooperate, that would be helpful."
"Hmm, understood. I'll look into it as soon as I return to my country!"
Saying that, he departed with Duke Eraldo.
The Sarion Emperor's expression was radiant, like a child who had just discovered a new toy — a stark contrast to the despondent Duke Eraldo, which left quite an impression.
It was no longer just a matter of the original technology agreement — full-scale joint research was simply a matter of time.
The Dwarf King also promised to prepare a technology research team in his country and send them to the Monster Nation, then headed home.
Up to this point, everything had gone smoothly.
And then, the problems began.
First was the Long-Nose Tribe.
The moment the tournament ended, they came to see me. And their very first words were: "We are truly sorry for our extremely rude behavior the other day! We have come here hoping you might forgive us!!"
All of them apologized in unison.
Well, that was fine.
After all, I hadn't really considered their behavior to be that much of a problem.
But what came after was the issue.
"Therefore, as an expression of our apology... I would like to discuss the matter of marrying into Lord
Huh? What is this person talking about!?
Once she made up her mind, she went full steam ahead — truly the personality of an out-of-control express train.
I glanced at Benimaru, and he was in a complete panic, completely blindsided. He turned his gaze toward me, sending me desperate eye contact that screamed "No way, no way!"
But then I thought about it.
Honestly, wasn't this fine? It was a matter between the people involved — if I butted in, things would only get more complicated.
And besides, as the saying goes, "A wise man does not approach danger."
As has always been the case, I have no interest in sticking my neck into dangerous matters like these.
"Hrmm, yes, indeed... Well, these things are between the individuals themselves. We outsiders shouldn't interfere, wouldn't you agree?"
Having emphasized my status as an outsider, I left the matter in Benimaru's hands.
The other executives nodded in agreement with my words.
Nobody wanted to get dragged into this.
And so, good luck, Benimaru! Consider it your reward for winning, and go enjoy the sweet nothings!
I cheered him on in my mind and postponed the problem.
I decided to leave the Long-Nose Tribe matter entirely to Benimaru and not get involved at all.
Irresponsible? Who cares about such things.
And just as I decided to leave that problem alone, another problem had already arisen.
That problem was the very source of my recent busyness.
That problem was... the conquest of the Underground Dungeon wasn't progressing nearly as well as I had expected.
The first floor had been designed with no traps at all, purely to let people get used to the atmosphere of a dungeon.
So, by my standards, it should have been clearable within a single day.
However, even after three days, no one had cleared it.
Some parties had actually been killed by the C-rank monsters I had placed in the rooms.
Or rather, there had been a lot of them.
Blinded by greed, some fools had rushed toward the treasure chests without even noticing the monsters hiding in the corners of the rooms.
They lacked the basics. In short words: they didn't have enough sense of danger!
Additionally, among the roaming monsters, there were freshly spawned F-rank weaklings and the like.
However, the main ones were E-rank. Occasionally, some equivalent to D-rank were mixed in, and that too was a mistake.
There were even fools who tried to challenge them alone, and they were easily killed by around three E-rank monsters.
Furthermore, anyone who encountered a D-rank was thoroughly killed.
I was absolutely dumbfounded at how unexpectedly low their skill level was.
But it wasn't yet time to panic.
The people who had attempted the dungeon this time were bodyguards and mercenaries — not the sort who excelled at exploration.
Thinking that, I had continued to observe, and the reality was that even after three days, not a single person had cleared the first floor.
Some had even gone so far as to declare they were giving up.
And understandably so.
Since save points were only available every ten floors, unless they brought in a large amount of food, they would go hungry.
And once they got lost, they had a very hard time finding the exit.
That was why I had advised them during the initial briefing to prepare food and equipment, but they clearly hadn't listened.
If I had genuinely prepared this dungeon with the intention of killing these people, there was no doubt that no one would have cleared it even after a hundred years.
It seemed I needed to fundamentally rethink this.
And this was precisely what had been troubling me the most recently.
This couldn't continue as it was.
No, there were actually quite a few people willing to take on the dungeon.
Apparently, if you could get magic crystals, you could earn a decent amount of pocket money, so there were quite a few people continuously entering the dungeon.
When the dignitaries and major merchants of various nations had returned home, some had commissioned hired hands to clear the dungeon, and among them were groups that had properly prepared.
But such people were the minority — the vast majority still had woefully inadequate preparation.
And so, the review meeting.
The participants were myself, Veldora,
"Alright, as you can see, the current situation is completely hopeless. I think we need to provide some degree of instruction — not just for our own enjoyment, but to make people want to keep trying the dungeon successfully."
First, at this rate, it didn't look like anyone would even reach the tenth floor.
At the very least, challenging it alone was nothing short of foolish.
Also, they needed to be pointed out how lacking they were in caution, or they'd never realize it.
"So, how about we turn the first floor into a trapless 'Athletic Stage' for the sake of experience? On this floor, they could learn about traps, train in combat against monsters... Well, I think we could even use it for training new recruits of the Monster Nation. What do you think?"
"Indeed, I too think it's far too lacking in challenge and rather boring. I'd like them to train and improve their skills to some degree — I feel the same way about that."
"I think so too! If Milim were here, she'd be furious and send them all flying!"
And so, we — the very people who had created the dungeon — irresponsibly blamed the challengers and glossed over the fact that the difficulty had been too high.
"Also, it might be a good idea to provide some basic instruction on dungeon conquest. Like a tutorial, as they call it in games."
At Masayuki's casual remark, we all exchanged glances.
"Tee-foo-ree-al? What's that?"
"Sounds like a tasty name — is it food?"
I had thought Veldora might know, but if Veldora didn't, Ramiris certainly wouldn't either.
So, Masayuki and I explained what a tutorial was.
The two of them were convinced.
"You know, that does seem like a good idea. Got it! I'll get started on rebuilding right away!"
Ramiris nodded.
However: "Ah, wait. I've noticed a few other things as well. Couldn't we set up an inn and a dining area on each floor? Or rather, if we can connect spaces together, couldn't we just connect the doors and handle everything from a single location? There are people who set out to conquer the dungeon without even bringing a sleeping bag, and I think they'd be willing to pay a premium for the convenience."
What did he just say?
This guy... is he a genius!?
When I looked at Ramiris, she gave me a vigorous nod.
"Masayuki, let's adopt your proposal. If you've thought of anything else, don't hesitate to speak up."
Encouraged by my words, Masayuki pondered for a moment, recalling what must have been games he had played: "Well then... For example, how about placing save points that can only be used once? Not being able to save until you've cleared ten floors seems like quite a high difficulty threshold. For the real thing below floor thirty, I think it's good to remove any safety net... But at least up to around floor twenty, keeping some leniency and providing help with the conquest would be acceptable, I think."
Hmm. I see.
"Indeed, I was thinking the same thing! What Masayuki says makes perfect sense!"
Veldora immediately jumped on board with Masayuki's plan.
Well, I had no objections either.
"Alright then, let's prepare hidden rooms on each floor and connect them to the dining hall on floor ninety-five. That should also increase the usefulness of that town to some extent. Next, we could have the dungeon drop items that let you create save points anywhere. Can you do that, Ramiris?"
"Absolutely! Piece of cake! I'll make an item called a Recording Orb a rare drop from the weaklings!"
Good, good.
The first floor would serve as a preliminary experience stage, complete with announcements.
Whether to use it would be left to each individual, and the floor would be configured so that no one could die on it.
It was a system of instant on-the-spot revival. It might even be perfect as a playground for children.
On the second floor, simulated combat with each monster would be made available.
It would reproduce monsters they had previously encountered to some degree and assist with their conquest.
Naturally, Unique Monsters and Boss Monsters would be excluded from this.
Making it that convenient would be going too far.
Therefore, the second floor would transport each individual to a separate space.
The real thing would begin from the third floor.
However, the third floor would have no traps, and the roaming monsters would be low-level — limited to F-rank only.
A single E-rank would be placed in each room, and the treasure chests would yield Lesser Recovery Potions.
Valuable items would only start appearing from below the fifth floor.
With these considerations, we made adjustments and changed the difficulty.
Even in game development, you conduct closed beta tests — going in completely unprepared had clearly been a mistake.
Truth be told, we had actually done some testing.
However, the people we sent to test it were six soldiers from
They had cleared all the way to the fortieth floor without any issues.
Well, that was partly because we hadn't assigned Gozurl to the thirtieth floor.
But they had sliced through the traps and weaklings without much struggle.
Thanks to that, we had apparently misjudged the dungeon's difficulty.
Testers needed to be chosen more carefully.
That was a lesson for the future.
And so, we held our review meeting and rebuilt the dungeon anew.
Myormail relayed information to the Free Guild branches in each nation, offered rewards for dungeon clearers, and took on commissions.
He was handling his work smoothly.
Gozurl wore weights on his wrists and ankles as he guarded the thirtieth floor.
We also gave the horse-headed one the name Mezurl and had them alternate guard duty with Gozurl.
The fiftieth floor would be guarded by either Gozurl or Mezurl without restrictions.
I hoped they would get along and fulfill their guardian duties.
The Treant and Elf town planned for the ninety-fifth floor was also taking shape beautifully and fantastically, with Geld and Mild working together.
Even though it was underground, the sky had a sun, and at night, stars were visible.
And so, the dungeon continued to change its form day by day, continually reborn anew.
And finally, the first group of adventurers aiming to conquer the dungeon arrived at the Monster Nation.