Chapter 25 - Unheard Screams
Good morning, everyone!
It’s been two weeks.
Huh? Wasn’t I supposed to sleep for a month?
Yeah, I’ll go back to sleep after jacking off.
Lately, the beauty of the female knights has been reaching astronomical levels, and Peta-chan has been awake and right next to me the whole time.
Now that Peta-chan is finally asleep for the next two weeks, I’m planning to enjoy a little private time before I go back to sleep.
“Alright, according to the information, today’s the day the female knight corps starts their large-scale re-investigation of the 11th floor.”
With that thought, I checked in on the Hot Spring Dungeon investigation team.
Hundreds of them have already started their exploration. Right now... they’re on the 7th floor.
Lately, they’ve been skipping everything except the 5th and 6th-floor baths.
Their next stop will probably be the 10th-floor bath, which boosts experience points. Maybe I woke up at a bad time.
I whip up some snacks and a cola, sipping lazily as I watch. The female knights have reached the 9th floor.
They’ve taken out their meals and are taking a break on the vast grassland.
Unlike their usual rations, today they’ve brought out glass bottles tied with rough rope.
It reminds me of those meme images online where soy sauce bottles are wrapped in tortoise shell bondage.
“Oh? Is that the honey jar?
Ah, I see. They’ve wrapped it in rope to prevent slipping and breaking in their bags.
Nice, they’re using the jars exactly as I intended for portable food storage. Good, good.”
Originally, I thought that sealing and boiling jars with minced meat, pepper, and oil, then heating them would make for long-lasting rations. That’s why I introduced the jar-type honey.
It’s reassuring to see they’ve already started making the kind of portable food I envisioned.
Also... they’re cooking rice they brought from the No-Hunger Dungeon.
Since the hot springs can serve as a water source, there’s no need to conserve water in my dungeon. Dried grains are lightweight and non-perishable, making them ideal for rations.
All the hot springs in my dungeon are drinkable, and they’ve probably already tested that.
Still, using hot spring water as drinking water feels a bit off. Peta-chan’s dungeon has regular spring water, after all.
...Hmm, maybe I should set up cold baths made from natural spring water on every floor.
Since water baths fit the hot spring dungeon concept, the setup cost shouldn’t be high.
“Huh?”
Some of the female knights are digging up the grassland and planting something.
Are those... tubers?
Are they planting regular potatoes and sweet potatoes?
Those are definitely from the No-Hunger Dungeon. The varieties look like Anno potatoes and Danshaku potatoes.
They’re also scattering rice and wheat seeds haphazardly over roughly tilled soil, along with some other seeds tossed in at random—maybe pumpkin or watermelon?
I had already anticipated that they might try to cultivate seeds from the No-Hunger Dungeon.
However, if those heavily modified, almost genetically overhauled modern crops start growing on the surface, it’s obvious that it would shake not just this country’s agriculture but the entire world.
That’s why I made sure to confirm with Peta-chan that dungeon-grown plants couldn’t be cultivated on the surface before allowing them to grow freely.
After all, those crops have to be dungeon-exclusive. If people could grow them above ground, they wouldn’t need to come into the dungeon.
...Wait.
They’re planting those tubers and seeds in my dungeon, right?
I’ve heard from Peta-chan that planting plants from one dungeon into another causes them to be treated as foreign entities and absorbed, making it pointless.
So even if someone planted No-Hunger Dungeon tubers in another country’s dungeon, they wouldn’t grow, meaning the crops couldn’t be stolen.
But the situation between the No-Hunger Dungeon and the Hot Spring Dungeon is a bit different. The Dungeon Core for both is Peta-chan.
In this case, would the planted seeds be treated as foreign?
I open the dungeon settings to check if cultivating these tubers is possible.
The conclusion is that, since they originate from the same core, cultivation within the dungeon is possible.
But only if I, as the master, grant permission for the crops to grow and multiply.
“So, if I lift the limit, I can grow the same grains here as in the No-Hunger Dungeon.
The points required to lift the limit... are surprisingly cheap.”
Oh? Isn’t this a stroke of luck?
Originally, turning the 9th floor of the Hot Spring Dungeon into a food-producing area would have been prohibitively expensive.
But if I just grant growth permission to the plants the knights brought and planted, I can achieve the same effect for far fewer points.
This is too good to pass up. Alright, I’ll give the cultivation permission.
I approved the growth of the tubers and seeds.
Now, the planted tubers and seeds should sprout and grow.
“But how does water and fertilizer work here...?
Well, I guess the dungeon’s mysterious energy will handle it.”
...Thinking about it, it’s pretty amazing.
Inside the dungeon, there are no harmful insects, and since monsters don’t eat these crops, there are no agricultural pests either. (Though there are creatures that directly attack humans.)
You don’t have to worry about climate or temperature, and there’s no need to water or fertilize.
Just bury the seeds and wait for harvest day.
It’s like a dream farm with no maintenance required.
Farmers in the real world would probably cry tears of blood and scream, “Are you kidding me? Don’t mock agriculture!” at how easy this is.
Once the harvests start coming in, people might even stay long-term in the Hot Spring Dungeon.
After finishing their meals, resting, and planting, the knights resumed their march toward the deeper floors.
The first-timers attempting the 11th-floor athletic dungeon are all screaming, battered and bruised.
“Hey, hey, we brought lightweight armor and mobility aids to make this floor easier. Don’t collapse on us now.”
“Remember, during the real mission, we’ll have to protect Her Majesty while moving forward. If you guys can’t keep up, you’ll just be dead weight.”
Even as I say this to the new members, I know we were all like this on our first attempt.
Despite this only being our second try, our bodies seem to have adapted to the dungeon.
Compared to our first attempt, we have much more stamina to spare.
“Haah... haah... Of course, we’re tired, but it’s not as bad as I thought, right, Captain?”
“Yeah, I’m surprised too. Just lightening our armor and using mobility aids has made this much of a difference.”
“Could it also be because we trained so much in the practice athletic field?”
“Even considering that, I thought it would be harder.”
“Yeah, I expected us to be screaming and struggling as much as the first-timers...”
“...Yeah. Something’s clearly off. Why are only the first-timers suffering as much as we expected?”
It doesn’t take long for us to realize something’s wrong.
The additional members we’ve called in are top-tier knights permitted to escort Her Majesty.
There’s no significant gap in skill or stamina between them and us.
So why are only the second-timers like us managing to explore the 11th floor with relative ease?
“Is this the effect of the 10th-floor bath? Does the 10th-floor bath boost power or something?”
“But they’ve also bathed in it today.”
“True, but we’ve bathed in it twice now, right?”
“Hmm...”
“Um, Captain, may I say something?”
Niko, the sharp-eyed knight, spoke up.
“The 10th-floor bath enhances training effects, and this 11th floor is training us, isn’t it?
Perhaps the dungeon is raising us, preparing us to gain the strength needed to venture deeper.
The demon I saw on the 9th floor... it was waiting for us, anticipating our arrival in the lower levels.
That’s the impression I got...”
Ever since the day she saw the demon in the dungeon, Niko has been pushing this theory.
That we’re being raised and trained by the dungeon.
And we already know that her theory is correct, for the most part.
Dungeons all over the world are entities that lure people into their depths with desires.
We delve into dungeons fully aware that this is a crucial factor in their growth.
Even if, in reality, we are being kept and raised, we won’t stop exploring.
“Hmph... If that theory is true, then going back and forth between the 10th and 11th-floor baths would make us incredibly strong.”
“If the food cultivation on the 9th floor succeeds, we could live in the dungeon and train endlessly...”
“Hahaha... Hey, stop that.”
“We’re being kept... and raised.”
“Stop! If you keep saying that, we might actually end up living here and training forever!”
And a week later.
We finally finished exploring the entire 11th floor.
It was huge—ridiculously huge.
Looking back, it’s a miracle we found the hot spring and made it back on our first attempt.
With this many people, it took us a full week to map out this hellish athletic course.
If the 11th-floor bath didn’t have stamina and fatigue recovery effects on top of beautifying skin, we’d all be dead by now.
We all soaked in the 11th-floor bath to celebrate the end of the mission.
“Fufufu... Finally, it’s over, Captain.”
“Yeah, we’ve secured the shortest route to the hot spring. Things should be much easier from now on.”
“But... every month. We’ll have to thoroughly explore this floor again to find the stairs to the next level, right?”
“.........”
“Don’t remind me... Don’t remind me!!!”
All the female knights start screaming.
“Dungeon’s will, or dungeon demon, or whatever you’re called! Couldn’t you cut us some slack?!”
“To be fair, the fatigue recovery effect of this floor’s bath is already pretty generous.”
“It’s just doing this to train us for its own benefit, isn’t it?!”
“We’re being raised.”
“Niko’s right! It’s a demon! The dungeon’s will is a demon!!”
“Dungeon’s will! If you’re listening, grant our wish! Go easier on us! This is too much!”
The female knights, soaking in the bath, vented their frustrations, endlessly complaining to the dungeon’s will.
Meanwhile, the Master—the will inside the dungeon— having jacked off with the 10th-floor bath, had long since fallen asleep. The knights’ desperate cries never reached him.
Comments
Post a Comment