Chapter 14 - The Impact of the 9th Floor
“Ahhh~ It was so vast~ I’m so happy...”
The expressionless Peta-chan, who had been sprawled out in the room, returned to consciousness with a completely blissed-out expression.
“From one end of the wall to the other... even if I flew as fast as I could, it took so long to reach the other side... ufu... ufufufu...”
“Hey, Peta-chan, you charged at the female knights back then, didn’t you? They were pretty shocked.”
“Huh? Oh... yeah, there were some. I didn’t think I got that close... but one of them even made eye contact with me... Are humans usually that sharp-eyed?”
“Probably just that girl... She looked terrified, though.”
“Huh? Oh no... Did I mess up?”
“...Hard to say. I already figured the sheer size alone would make people hesitant to enter that floor, but with an unknown entity like you appearing, it’s possible people might avoid it altogether now.”
“Ehhhhhh?! What do we do? That’s a problem! We need more people! Way more!
Our goal is to join the ranks of the super-massive dungeons with over 20 floors!”
“Hmm... I wonder what the queen of this kingdom will decide...”
Honestly, it’s already insane to deploy a large army just for beauty purposes.
If the queen is rational, she’ll likely halt the official knight corps’ exploration of the 9th floor and instead slap a huge bounty on discovering the ninth-floor hot spring and underground staircase, leaving the job to some no-name adventurers willing to risk it all for a fortune.
...On the other hand, if she decides to continue the search with the official army...
She’ll probably mobilize an absurd number of people.
If she’s that foolish, we might earn a ridiculous amount of points in the short term, but the kingdom itself might start teetering on the edge of collapse in the long run.
Hmm... Either way, it doesn’t seem like a great outcome.
“Ugh... What if no one comes anymore?”
“Well, if that happens, we can figure something out. It’s not the end of the world.”
“Really?! Amazing! You’re a genius, Master! I love you!”
With that, Peta-chan hugged me from behind, rubbing her face against my back.
“Hmm... She’s really warmed up to me since the 9th floor was completed...”
Queen Yuzha Messiniq Senshitz of the Kingdom of Sepans is the type who’s very particular about beauty.
Every time a new hot spring effect was discovered in the Hot Spring Dungeon, she’d throw a fit, demanding, “Take me to that spring at once!” and causing distress around her.
However, she’s not so foolish as to risk the kingdom’s stability for the sake of the hot spring.
When calm, she’s actually a rather capable queen.
She keeps her husband, who married into the family, firmly under control and manages the kingdom’s politics herself.
She’s also a woman of action and bravery, having personally taken command on the battlefield during wars.
That’s why no one can stop her when she decides to venture into the dungeon.
After hearing the reports on the 9th floor, Queen Yuzha leaned toward scaling back the official search.
According to the female knights’ reports:
The vice captain stated that even after splitting into two teams and spending three days, they couldn’t even complete a full circuit of the perimeter. To find the hot spring, they’d need a massive force of thousands, conducting a long-term, exhaustive search.
Meanwhile, the captain reported sighting a demon—a creature typically only seen in dungeons with over 20 floors.
Though it showed no interest in them and left without incident, if it had been hostile, they likely wouldn’t have stood a chance.
To ensure safety, a well-trained army in proper formation would be required.
Combining these two pieces of information:
・A massive army would be needed for the search.
・It would take an absurd amount of time.
・There’s a dangerous entity that could wipe out the knights if things go wrong—or at the very least, cause heavy losses.
・With such a risk involved, the properties of the hot spring on the 9th floor are still unknown, and its effects remain uncertain.
・It’s unclear if a staircase to the 10th floor even exists, and finding it would require endless, fruitless searching.
In short, deploying a large army just wasn’t worth it.
It would be better to forget about the 9th floor for now and focus on managing up to the 8th floor.
“I see... We’ll halt the official search of the 9th floor.
However, we’ll offer 200 Sepans gold coins to anyone who finds the hot spring and 300 to anyone who finds the staircase to the 10th floor.
Spread the word among the adventurers.”
For reference, 50 gold coins was enough for a commoner to live comfortably for the rest of their life.
While 200-300 seemed like a massive sum, if they were to mobilize an army of tens of thousands for a large-scale search, that kind of money would vanish in a single day.
If they were to use sheer numbers to search, they’d need to line up tens of thousands of soldiers, spaced hundreds of meters apart, and have them march forward for days.
Such a ridiculous budget would only be justified in a war threatening the kingdom’s survival. The actual cost of such an operation was beyond imagination.
If they could get results with a mere four to six times a commoner’s lifetime earnings, that would be a bargain.
The funds raised by the noble daughters for dungeon exploration would easily cover it.
“Ah... and men are banned. No bounty for them.”
The queen also issued a decree excluding male adventurers.
Dungeons absorb any foreign objects left inside for too long.
So building partitions to separate male and female baths would be pointless—they’d disappear within a week.
Thus, to allow women to use the baths freely, men had to be completely excluded.
Of course, men complained, “We want to bathe too!” but most were satisfied with the effects of the 1st-floor water.
Besides, the women of the kingdom had created a strong cultural sentiment:
“Smooth, plump-skinned men? Gross! No thanks!
Wild, rugged men are way more attractive!
A guy worrying about wrinkles and blemishes? Pathetic!”
At the core of it, the message was simple: We want to enjoy the hot springs, so you guys stay out. Just stick to the first-floor baths and be done with it!
That said, plenty of men actually agreed with this stance.
For wild male adventurers, the 7th-floor Wrinkle-Removing Spring and the 8th-floor Scar-Erasing Spring were outright rejected—they saw their scars and wrinkles as badges of honor.
The 4th-floor spring, which made you look three years younger, did appeal to some, but it wasn’t enough to cause a fuss.
In reality, most men were more grateful for their wives, girlfriends, or favorite courtesans having smoother skin.
Men had far more to gain from women showing off their flawless skin and actively inviting them in.
Thus, the exclusion of men from the Hot Spring Dungeon had worked without issue until now.
However, when an expedition offers a reward large enough to let someone live in luxury for life, it’s a whole different story.
“What’s this?! Explain yourselves!”
Protests, almost resembling riots, flooded the palace daily.
...As a result, within just a few days, the condition of excluding men from the bounty was revoked.
In exchange, they were escorted to the entrance of the 9th-floor staircase under the supervision of the knights.
Under the condition that they would only explore the ninth floor, male adventurers were granted entry.
And so, many adventurers, both men and women, dreaming of striking it rich, ventured into the 9th floor.
Finally! Two weeks later!
...Everyone gave up.
It was just too vast.
Unlike the No-Hunger Dungeon, food supplies ran out quickly.
Searching this place inch by inch was madness.
Adventurers with any sense gave up early and retreated, while the reckless ones simply got lost and died.
By the end of a month, only two challengers remained.
At the entrance to the 9th-floor staircase, the knights on watch sat bored out of their minds.
“Ugh... This is so boring... The 8th-floor Scar-Erasing Spring isn’t even worth going back to multiple times...”
“Well, it’s still a nice bath, at least...”
“I’d go to the 6th-floor Moisture Spring hundreds of times if I could! But it’s too far from here!”
The challengers wouldn’t return for several days—if they were unlucky, they wouldn’t return at all. It was a dreadful waiting game.
And when an adventurer finally did make it back, all they had to report was a hollow, “Nothing found.” To which they’d just sigh and say, “Oh, is that so...”—truly, the easiest job in the world.
“This is ridiculous! Why do we have to do this crap!?
Out of today’s two challengers, only one’s a man! Why do we have to stand guard just for him!?
This whole mess started because men threw a fit over the bounty! They should take responsibility and not come back until they find something! Just die!! Die of thirst in the grasslands!!!”
“Anyone who tries to explore this place alone is clearly desperate... How do they even plan to sleep without someone keeping watch? They’re definitely going to die.”
“Do we really have to wait for these definitely-going-to-die idiots to come back~?
Do we really~~~???? Can’t we just go home?”
The knights’ frustration was reaching its peak.
“When’s our shift over? I just want to soak in the bath, even if it’s just the regular one...”
Just as they were complaining, one of the challengers returned.
She looked like she was struggling to get by—an unfortunate-looking female thief with a face that screamed bad luck.
She must have run up the ridiculously long staircase, as she was drenched in sweat, her face red and streaked with tears and snot.
“What’s wrong...? You just went down a little while ago, didn’t you?”
“! Wait, did you encounter that demon from the reports...?”
The thief, gasping for breath, shook her head.
“Hah... hahh... No... it’s not that.
...I found it. Hah...
I... I... I found it... Please confirm...
...Hah... Hah...”
“ “ “ “!!!” ” ” ”
Found it?! She found it!?
Seriously? No way!
That means... the hot spring!! ...We can get into the new hot spring!
We can be the first to confirm the effects of the deepest spring!
I’m gonna rub it in the faces of those colleagues who had the audacity to laugh at me, saying, “Oh, tough luck getting stuck on guard duty here~”!
I’ll brag about it nonstop! Serves them right!
And sure enough, at the location the thief led them to, there it was.
Right next to the staircase they had descended, a staircase leading to the 10th floor had appeared.
“Hah... hah... The bounty for finding the staircase to the 10th floor is 300 gold coins, right... AHHHH!”
The grubby little thief was crying her eyes out, but... it’s not even a hot spring!
She just happened to be the first to find a staircase that anyone could have stumbled upon!
What a joke!
The knights struggled to suppress their urge to strangle her in their frustration.
As for the male adventurer who had set out a few hours before the thief, he never returned, even after a week.
He must have dried up and died out there.
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