Chapter 73 - Floors 15, 16, and 17
“Your Majesty Yuzha! The First Unit has temporarily returned to report the discovery of new dungeon levels!”
Captain Touji made her report the moment she returned to the royal palace.
“Oh? So the Hot Spring Dungeon has expanded again? Well then, did it produce any good bath this time?”
Her Majesty Yuzha asked with a bright smile, her voice brimming with excitement.
“Yes, starting with the 15th floor—this hot spring has the ability to restore damaged items, such as torn clothing, chipped blades, and dented armor.”
“Oh? A hot spring that repairs clothes and weapons, you say? ...But what do you mean, ‘starting with the 15th floor’ ?”
She caught the implication immediately—it sounded like there was more.
“Yes, ma’ am. Floors 16 and 17 also appeared at the same time.
The 16th floor had a similar hot spring structure, but this one enhanced weapons and armor.
A knife we immersed in the bath gained an unbelievable edge.”
“Wait, what?! That’s an outrageous effect! If weapons like that could be mass-produced, the entire world would be turned upside down!”
“Indeed. However, the effect seems to be limited to within the dungeon.
Once we brought the knife back to the surface, its sharpness reverted to normal.”
“Mmm... I see.”
Apparently, the dungeon hadn’t gone so far as to unleash a world-breaking effect.
Her Majesty Yuzha looked visibly relieved—but also just a little disappointed.
“The hot spring on the 16th floor was guarded by a monster akin to a boss... but it was about on par with a creature from the 20th floor of the Weapon Dungeon.“
If that’s the case, even the Second Unit should be able to handle it. No issues there.
“Hmm... the restoration of gear alone is already quite valuable. And what about the final one—the 17th floor?”
“It’s a spacious grassy plain, like what we saw on the 9th floor. However, there’s a rocky hill that serves as a landmark, so finding the hot spring wasn’t too difficult.
As for the bath’s effect—it cleans your teeth.”
“...Your teeth?”
“Yes. Yellowing, cavities, chipped teeth, missing ones—all of it gets fixed. If I may—”
Touji lifted her lip with a finger and bared her teeth.
They were perfectly aligned, bright white, and gleaming. A flawless smile.
Her Majesty Yuzha didn’t quite remember what Captain Touji’s teeth used to look like, but she was certain—they didn’t look this perfect before.
Her Majesty Yuzha pulled out a palm-sized mirror from her pocket and checked her own teeth.
Thanks to her attendants who diligently polished them, her teeth weren’t stained or decayed. But they weren’t glowing white, nor perfectly straight either.
In other words, this hot spring had an effect even the queen herself would eagerly pursue.
In a world where dental care meant pulling out bad teeth with no real alternatives, nobles would flock to such a miracle bath.
“Hmph... Seems like this Hot Spring Dungeon really wants me to reach the lowest level, doesn’t it?”
Her Majesty Yuzha laughed dryly at her own remark.
It was highly irregular for a monarch to personally delve deep into a dungeon.
Yet, with such miraculous beauty treatments unavailable on the surface, it was almost impossible to resist.
Especially for someone like Her Majesty Yuzha—who possessed more than a little martial prowess herself.
“I should say, ‘Your Majesty, please show some restraint’... but if a youth-restoring hot spring were to appear, you’d probably go no matter how deep it was, wouldn’t you?
In that case, it might actually be safer if you get used to dungeon diving on a regular basis...”
Captain Touji had long accepted that Her Majesty was going to dive into the dungeon regardless. That being the case, regular training and visits might be the more secure option in the long run.
Her Majesty Yuzha, perhaps anticipating that future herself, had even taken to running through the athletic obstacle course of the 11th floor without relying on her subordinates—training her body by her own efforts.
Normally, any injury to a member of the royal family—no matter how minor—would be a grave issue.
However, Her Majesty Yuzha was not the type to fret over a few scrapes or bruises, so there was nothing to worry about on that front.
Besides, the Hot Spring Dungeon contained baths that could heal even facial wounds and broken bones.
As long as one didn’t lose a limb, an eye, or their life, there was truly no cause for concern.
“Hehehe... As expected, Touji, you understand me well.
Three weeks from now, we’re gathering all the female knights and heading for the 17th floor—the one with the teeth-beautifying bath. Make the necessary arrangements with that in mind.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. Understood.”
With that, Captain Touji took her leave from the palace and made her way to Duke Nausa’s estate.
She needed to report the effects of the newly discovered levels and their hot springs to Auf, so the lady could prepare detailed records for the archive.
♨♨♨♨♨
“Equipment restoration, you say? Wait—are you telling me it restores even the mass of the object?”
No sooner had Captain Touji mentioned the hot spring’s effects than Lady Auf’s eyes lit up, and she fired off an excited question. But Captain Touji wasn’t entirely sure what she meant.
“Huh? Um... well, the chips in the blade were repaired, so... yes? I guess it’s restored?”
“Hmm… Captain Touji, if it truly restores mass—even the missing portions—then we’re talking about something incredibly dangerous.
Let’s say you made a pure gold knife, shaved off some of it within the regeneration threshold, and then repaired it.
If the hot spring replaces the missing gold... you could theoretically harvest infinite gold, just by repeating the process.”
“...”
温泉の効果を伝えるなり、アウフは開口一番、そんなめちゃくちゃな運用法を言い出した。
Touji was stunned. That was the first thing she thought of after hearing about the bath?
She had to admit, the logic tracked. But still... she hadn’t expected anyone to go straight to that kind of exploitation plan.
“Now, if the blade gets microscopically thinner each time, in a way that’s imperceptible, then no such trick would work—and it wouldn’t truly be infinite.
But we’d need to run some detailed tests to be sure.”
“R-Right... I see what you mean.”
“And even if mass doesn’t change, what if you cut a steel sword and an iron one in half, joined them together, and immersed them?
Would the hot spring fuse them? If so, we could potentially create a new hybrid metal—something with both strength and flexibility... Hehehe!”
“………”
Eyes gleaming, Lady Auf was already lost in her labyrinth of imaginative hypotheses.
Just like with the buff food experiments, she clearly intended to subject the regeneration spring to rigorous tests.
“Yes, yes. I’m sure Captain Bantu and Vihita’s team will be thrilled to carry out those tests...”
Before she could even ask, Captain Touji quickly hinted that such experimentation would be best left to the Second Unit.
Given how obsessively they had dissected every detail of the buff food effects, she suspected they’d soon be stationed by the hot spring, running tests day and night like full-time royal researchers.
The First Unit, after all, was a combat-focused division with very little academic inclination.
Most of her subordinates only knew enough math and theory for dungeon mapping and food rations—nothing more.
“Vihita’s currently away training some of the younger knights in the transport corps... Still, I can’t exactly ask the First Unit to handle research and analysis... it’s frustrating.”
As a ducal lady personally appointed by the queen to conduct dungeon research, Lady Auf had the authority to order even the most elite knights around.
Thankfully, she seemed to understand the limitations of the First Unit and refrained from assigning them academic tasks.
Perhaps she simply lacked confidence in entrusting such work to a purely combat team.
And if that was the case, Captain Touji hoped she’d always think that way.
“By the way, what happened with the chicken eggs?”
“One of the knights broke a bone during training and went to the spring for recovery. She reported that the cloth and eggs were already gone.
It’s unclear whether the dungeon absorbed them or if the chicks hatched as planned and were released into the grasslands.”
“I see... If the eggs were dead by the time they were brought back to the dungeon, then they were likely just absorbed outright.
Even if the chicks hatched properly, the remaining eggshells would eventually be consumed like the cloth.
So either way, they vanish in the end.
I suppose we’ll need to observe continuously—at least until we know for sure whether the chicks hatch or disappear.”
“Yes, yes. We’ll have Captain Bantu and Vihita’s team handle the testing...”
Captain Touji quickly reiterated the suggestion, firmly pushing the investigation duties onto Vihita’s group. The testing Auf casually proposed sounded far too dull for the First Unit.
That said, the Second Unit would likely be far more grateful to stare at eggs all day than be dragged into the brutal training sessions of the First Unit. It was a win-win situation, really.
Captain Touji then moved on to explain the equipment-enhancing hot spring on the 16th floor, as well as the tooth-repairing bath.
“The enhancement spring on the 16th floor... it was probably created in a sequence, precisely because its effect might be hard to notice on its own.
If you hadn’t first experienced the restoration spring on the 15th floor, and only bathed in the 16th’s temporary enhancement spring you might not have realized it had any effect at all, don’t you think?”
“...That’s true. Even though they had similar drying racks, without the thematic continuity, I never would’ve thought to dip weapons or armor into the bath.
“And that equipment bath—it’s clearly made for you explorers. Royals and nobles wouldn’t bother with it.
Which is why, to draw in Her Majesty Yuzha and the other nobles, the dungeon created the tooth-repairing bath in parallel.”
She wasn’t wrong.
A spring that only restores or enhances gear wouldn’t attract the queen or high-ranking aristocrats—they’d never descend into the dungeon for something like that.
“Auf-sama, the letter you wrote to the dungeon—I left it spread out on the clothesline next to the hot spring on the 15th floor.
After we completed our exploration through the 17th floor and returned to check, it had already vanished. So I believe, as you hoped, the dungeon absorbed it.”
Whether the so-called dungeon will—or could—understand the contents of that letter was unknown.
Still, the fact remained: the letter had been taken in. That much was certain.
“Thank you for your efforts.
I don’t know if it was ever read, but at the very least, the attempt to communicate was witnessed...
“The regeneration bath on the 17th floor is clearly meant to draw in Her Majesty and other nobles.
And that wide, grassy field—it might have been created as a new supply zone for food.
The 16th floor’s enhancement effect, limited to within the dungeon... that fits perfectly with the plan I’m currently pursuing...
Yes... if that’s the case, then our goals should align with the will of the dungeon...
So if—if—the dungeon really did read the letter, then it will definitely support my plan... mumble mumble...”
Lady Auf began muttering to herself, her eyes fixed on something far off in the distance.
Captain Touji knew what was written in that letter—she had read it too. Which meant she had a pretty good idea what was running through her mind right now.
Auf had studied the design and function of the Hot Spring Dungeon so closely, she believed she could understand its will—perhaps even negotiate or strike a deal with it.
“If this works... it could revolutionize dungeon exploration as we know it...”
Captain Touji found Auf’s plan to be incredibly beneficial.
She sincerely hoped the dungeon’s will would agree and lend its support.
And even if the letter had not been read... even if the will of the dungeon was unknowable or unreachable... the plan itself would remain largely unaffected.
The only difference would be the scale. At worst, they’d simply have to downsize.
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