Chapter 26 - Observation Time
Translator's Note: Congratulations to the author. The light novel for [Reincarnated as a Dungeon Master in Another World: Creating a Hot Spring Dungeon] will be available within this month of August. We've updated the cover here as well.
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“Good work, Vihita. Seems like you ran into a few snags, didn’t you?”
“Yes... Lady Auf. The eleventh floor was much more expansive than I had imagined—or rather, I feel like it became more expansive.
I was forced into a grueling search across the eleventh floor, and while I was exploring, the thought struck me.
Given how vast it was, it felt strange—unnatural, even—that we managed to find the hot spring during our very first investigation.
It’s likely that after we returned with news of the discovery, the dungeon expanded the eleventh floor.”
She then proceeded to explain the details of their recent dungeon exploration to Auf.
“...Wasn’t it one of your subordinates who came up with the hypothesis that the bath on the tenth floor improves physical performance? So the eleventh floor being designed to force physical activity would be in line with that theory.
If that’s the case, I suppose the expansion makes sense.”
“Siiigh... At this point, I’m ready to escort Her Majesty straight to the hot spring myself.
But just thinking about how we’ll have to keep re-surveying every nook and cranny of that floor to check for developing sublevels is exhausting... I wish we could get a break.”
“To train you all, huh... Ah, no—never mind.”
“What is it, my lady?”
“Oh, it’s nothing. Forget I said anything.”
She had been about to say: If the goal really is to train us, then maybe the dungeon won’t release the next floor until it’s satisfied with our strength.
But voicing that would change nothing. It wouldn’t stop the dungeon from forcing them to train.
Most likely, the dungeon had judged that it was dangerous to descend any deeper with their current strength. That’s why it was pushing them so hard.
It might be rough—but if it meant keeping Vihita and the others alive, then it was better to stay silent.
...Even if it was going to be rough.
“Oh right, what about the seeds we planted on the ninth floor?”
“Yes. I checked on them before returning—they’ve sprouted. There’s a good chance they’ll grow enough for harvesting.”
“That’s excellent news.
In that case, we should have someone from the surveying team accompany you to plant more seeds along the way, all the way to the ninth floor’s hot spring—the one that corrects physical misalignments.
That path is dangerous if you get lost, so using crops as trail markers will make the route much easier to traverse.”
“Even now, one wrong angle and you’re in for a nightmare trying to reach that place...”
The vast grasslands of the ninth floor extended so far that once you headed toward the center, you could no longer see the outer walls.
Once there, with no landmarks around, getting attacked by a monster meant you’d lose your sense of direction completely—and be hopelessly lost.
Because the spring on that floor only needed to be visited once for its effect to last a while, few people traveled to and from it, and no one knew the route well enough to give proper directions.
Even when they tried placing markers, the dungeon would absorb them in a few days as foreign matter, so no reliable method of guidance had ever stuck.
But if they could grow a field that the dungeon wouldn’t consume, then extending that field to the spring could serve as a permanent path.
“There’ve been lots of requests from other countries to let their knights and craftsmen use that spring, so it’d be wise to prepare the area quickly.
After all, we’re charging them a hefty fee for the privilege.
If they get lost and say, ‘Sorry, we couldn’t find it,’ that won’t reflect well on us.”
“And also—for when the First Unit returns.”
“Oh... right, yes.”
The female knights of the Sepans Kingdom’s First Unit were a full-fledged combat force, spending every day fighting in the deepest parts of foreign dungeons.
Their bodies must be worn from years of battle, probably covered in old wounds and distortions.
They’d surely need the healing waters of the eighth floor that erase scars, and the ninth floor that realigns the body.
Meanwhile, the Sepans Kingdom’s Second Unit spent their days scouring dungeons in search of beauty springs for clear skin...
It wasn’t as if they were slacking off. In truth, the work was grueling and relentless. But still, there was a bit of guilt—like they were living a softer life in comparison.
“Siigh... What do you think Captain Touji will say when she comes back and sees how things are now?”
“She might actually appreciate the new portable rations we made from honey jars.”
“She might also reject them, saying they’re too heavy or too fragile. Captain Touji is the epitome of pragmatism... Still, they taste amazing, and honestly, we don’t want to part with them anymore.”
“When you think about the nutritional value, I’d say it’s quite practical. I heard in another country, they use jars like this for field rations too—sealed with corks and wax.
Those jars are way heavier and clunkier than ours, yet they still found the idea worthwhile. Doesn’t that say something?”
“The smoked meat with lots of pepper might get accepted though. It’s lightweight, tasty, and doesn’t break.”
“Ugh, but that’s boring. We finally got our hands on such excellent jars—how wasteful would it be not to use them?”
Milady just wants to test out the preservation methods she read about in some academic paper, out of pure curiosity...
Vihita thought as much, but she kept the observation to herself.
“Master! So? So? Did anything change? Did you rack up tons of points?”
“Whoa?!”
I’d woken up a few hours earlier than Peta-chan and was absentmindedly observing the dungeon when she suddenly sprang to life—energetic and talking a mile a minute.
Unlike humans who wake gradually from sleep, she jolts awake from a death-like slumber, fully energized—it’s bad for my heart.
“Well, things are going more or less as expected. If anything’s changed, it’s that the knights have started planting crops from the No-Hunger Dungeon on the ninth floor of the Hot Springs Dungeon.”
“Huh? But those crops don’t grow if you move them to another dungeon, right? Doesn’t that make it pointless?”
“Apparently not in this case. I mean, both dungeon cores are you, Peta-chan. So technically, it’s still the same dungeon in a sense.”
“Oh, true. And since they’re both ninth floors, the miasma levels are probably the same. Yeah, that makes sense.”
...Yeah, I hadn’t thought that far. As expected, Peta-chan, being the core, has a much better sense for how dungeons work.
“Oh right—seems like the No-Hunger Dungeon’s getting overcrowded with ordinary folks lately, pushing the poor locals out and causing issues. Could you expand the lower levels, like floors 1, 2, and 3 where most of them live?”
“Hmm? Sure! I’ve got loads of points saved up—might as well expand them five times over!”
Just like that, Peta-chan casually changes the dungeon’s layout on a whim.
The yield of bread and honey is probably going to fluctuate wildly from now on.
As the dungeon master, I’ve decided not to interfere too much—it’s her dungeon, after all. She can do as she likes with its design.
Besides, it’s the No-Hunger Dungeon. Even if someone gets lost in its vastness, they won’t starve to death.
“The tenth floor still seems a long way off... but if expanding the lower floors means more regular folks can come in, that’s not a bad outcome either.”
“Yeah, better to use the points to improve what we have than hoard them just to force out the next floor.”
In the long run, expanding the lower levels of the No-Hunger Dungeon is the right call.
Kids born and raised here—if they show talent—will grow up to be exceptional adventurers.
I’ve heard that even the elite knights of the Sepans Kingdom’s First Unit weren’t nobles, but prodigies born from this very slum.
By expanding the lower floors, we’ll likely raise even more talents capable of reaching the deep levels in the future.
“The First Unit, huh... I wonder if I’ll ever get to see them?”
“I heard they return to the capital every two years to deliver dungeon loot, but I’ve never seen them myself.
And honestly, I never even watched invaders on the monitor until you showed up, Master.
In the first place, they’ve never entered the No-Hunger Dungeon, either.”
Makes sense. Even if they grew up there, no one would go out of their way to return to a dungeon that only coughs up crappy gems and bland rations—especially after becoming knights.
Even now, with the food situation greatly improved, they still don’t come back. The dungeon doesn’t need people with that kind of overwhelming combat power, and if they want good food, they can just buy it.
“Still, I bet they’ll visit the Hot Springs Dungeon at least once. Not for beauty baths, but for the ninth floor’s realignment bath.
If they’ve realized what the tenth floor bath does, they might come back for that too.”
I hadn’t bothered to check the footage from the eleventh floor exploration two weeks ago, so I wasn’t sure if the knights had caught on to the tenth floor’s bath benefits yet.
It multiplies experience gained from physical activity, but it’s unclear how noticeable the changes are—maybe they didn’t realize at all.
Still, since I massively expanded the eleventh floor, they must’ve gotten plenty of exercise out of it.
They’ll probably have to comb through that floor again and again until the next one opens—plenty of power-ups ahead.
I plan to leave it as-is for about two years anyway!
“Oh! I should reward them a little—maybe install a cold plunge bath while I’m at it.”
“I just spent most of my points expanding the lower floors, so now I’ve got nothing left to do.”
“Yup. Once we check that everything’s running fine for the next few days, it’ll be time to go back into standby mode.”
“Once a dungeon gets big, it’s just waiting, waiting, and more waiting…”
Just like a city-building simulation game.
Once the structures are up, the second half is just watching things run.
And so, time passed.
The sudden fivefold expansion of the No-Hunger Dungeon’s lower levels shocked the entire kingdom. But since it helped reduce overcrowding, people generally welcomed it.
However, the installation of free-flowing cold baths on every floor caused a fair bit of chaos.
People used them just as intended—drinkable, refreshing water for overheated bodies—but...
Some researchers got way too into it, endlessly debating and testing the effects of the cold bath water.
Sorry to disappoint, but it’s just... tasty, regular water.
I didn’t give it any special properties. The whole concept of the Hot Springs Dungeon is “one miracle per floor,” and adding extra effects would cost an absurd amount of points.
Still, the people soaking in it seemed to enjoy it, so all good. Let the researchers scratch their heads—I’m not stopping them.
A month later, Her Majesty herself returned to bathe in the eleventh floor’s hot spring. She left absolutely delighted, her skin looking youthful and radiant.
Wow. Honestly, I feel like this queen could solo the eighth floor. Does she really need that many guards?
...Well, okay, yeah. She is the queen.
On the ninth floor, planting had begun—but not full-scale farming.
Instead, they were making a straight line of crops leading toward the bath. I thought, Wait... that’s how you’re using it? But maybe that makes sense.
After all, on the No-Hunger side, crops grow fast—or even pop up without planting—so there’s no urgent need to farm here.
Maybe they just want to grow enough to feed the knights stationed here, and the path markers are just a bonus.
In any case, they didn’t seem interested in turning the ninth floor into a giant farm.
Three months later, the queen visited the eleventh floor again.
This time, she brought along a sizable entourage of noble daughters.
I recognized most of them from their frequent visits to the sixth floor baths, but now they were visibly leaner—like they’d been doing serious athletic training for months.
They really trained that hard just to survive the eleventh floor?
Their devotion to beauty was really... intense.
At this point, even the knight escorts had grown used to the eleventh floor.
The strengthening bath on the tenth floor was now a well-acknowledged boost, and they’d started ditching light gear in favor of heavy armor—clearly incorporating the trips into their training.
When I checked on their combat stats again, they had powered up way more than I expected.
At this rate, I doubt even a monster from the fifteenth floor could take them down.
“Hmmm.... maybe we don’t need to wait two years for the next floor after all? Still... the ultimate goal is a floor much deeper. I do want to create the world’s deepest dungeon.”
For now, though, I’ll keep putting that plan on hold.
“Alrighty~ I’ve saved up enough points to make the tenth floor! Let’s do this!”
Peta-chan, as always, expands things with zero planning.
She’s probably going to hit a wall soon. After all, the number of people strong enough to explore the ninth floor is already too small for how big it is...
Even if she adds a tenth floor, I doubt the situation will change much.
“Ahahahaha! I made it to double digits! Double digits, baby! Let’s keep this going—I’m gonna beat the Hot Springs Dungeon! Master, make more food items, okay? I want to learn more about food~!”
...Well, she’s having fun, so I’ll just let her be for now.
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