Chapter 76 - Breaking the Stalemate
Well then, from here on out, it looked like it was going to be a waiting game for a while.
The female knights were working on mass-producing those mobile, non-disappearing lodges—but no matter how efficient they were, it was still going to take time.
My job was simply to steer their thoughts in the right direction: “It’s all good! You can live comfortably in them! So let’s build a bunch, okay?”
Besides, they were setting them up in places with natural springs nearby and easy access to ingredients, so it wasn’t like the conditions were bad.
Honestly, I wasn’t sure what else I could possibly do at that point.
“Guess all I can do for now is just watch...”
Monsters, stymied by the line of spears fixed around the perimeter of the box, had started to circle around it, clearly unable to figure out how to get inside.
Above the steel box that served as the living quarters, a knight stood watch with a long spear, stabbing down at the monsters below and taking them out with ease.
Inside the box, the knights were busy cooking.
Apparently, the heat generated during cooking was also used to warm the bathtub built into the space.
There was a tank by the stove that seemed to store hot spring water.
When the water got hot enough, they would pour it into a tub already filled with lukewarm water to adjust the temperature.
“Looks like a plain old cargo container, but it’s surprisingly multifunctional... Wait, this iron—it’s really high-quality, isn’t it?”
I’d been wondering whether it was even possible to produce iron of such quality in a medieval-level society.
Then I suddenly remembered something Bugu-kun had told me a while back—something about a dungeon full of iron, the so-called “Iron Dungeon.”
Maybe if they processed the iron gathered from that place, it could explain the quality.
This world might be stuck at a medieval level of civilization, but every now and then you’d come across bizarrely well-made weapons, armor, or tools.
And more often than not, that inconsistency could be chalked up to dungeon-made products.
「ん？ 豁ヲ蜈キ？」
“Hm? 豁ヲ蜈キ?”
Peta-chan suddenly blurted something in a weird language—probably because Bugu-kun had just arrived.
“Hmmm, I kinda wanted to keep watching, but this is gonna take a while, so no need to rush... Monitor off... There.
All right~ I’m good with calling him over.”
“Okay.”
Bugu-kun dropped by so often that Peta-chan had clearly gotten used to summoning him without hesitation.
“Yo, Sen. You’ve been using my side’s power without holding back, haven’t you?”
That was the first thing out of Bugu-kun’s mouth, and I had no idea what he was talking about. My side’s power?
“Sen, you made it so the hot spring has an effect that strengthens equipment, right?
Is that like, a normal thing for hot springs where you’re from?”
“Ah, well... I mean, depending on the mineral content, some springs can turn copper pitch black, so... I wouldn’t say it’s impossible for it to affect inorganic stuff?”
I had just set it up thinking, ‘Oh, cool, it can repair or buff weapons and armor too? Neat!’
But now I was starting to wonder—could that effect have been triggered by my connection with Bugu-kun?
...Nah, let’s just go with the idea that dungeon hot springs are miraculous enough to heal and strengthen even “the skin” of weapons and armor.
It was probably best to think that way.
After all, this world’s system had a tendency to make whatever I believed was related to a hot spring actually work like it.
“Well, even without a direct link to me, I think you’d be able to pull off something like that to an extent. But the effect would definitely be weaker—so hey, be grateful, yeah?”
“Yeah, yeah, thanks. I’ll pay you back with a meal or something.”
“You cheapskate! I’ve been shelling out loads of points, so the least you could do is offer a proper service. Come on, show me one of the weapons from your world!”
“Weapons, huh...? The world I came from was so peaceful, most people lived their whole lives without ever having to fight. Everyone was unarmed, basically...”
Saying that, I pulled out a butterfly knife to show him.
Didn’t seem like it’d be much use against monsters from the lower levels, but it’d probably still be a pretty handy tool for adventurers.
Bugu-kun played around with it—flipping it open and closed—and seemed genuinely impressed with how neatly it folded away.
Then he conjured up six mysterious rods, floated them in the air horizontally, and used the knife to slice through them, presumably to test its sharpness.
I had no idea what those rods were—maybe they were made from materials with varying hardness and density, used to measure cutting performance?
“Will that do?”
“Yeah, this is great. I think it’ll earn a pretty solid reputation.”
He smiled, more satisfied than I expected.
Honestly, even a knife you could buy at a fishing shop for 2,980 yen might be considered something extraordinary here.
...Yeah, I guess it really was something special.
After that, as usual, we pulled out a mountain of food and kicked off our little banquet.
Since Peta-chan had started cooking Chinese dishes—ramen, fried rice, and the like—I figured I might as well go all in and transformed the surrounding space into a full-blown Chinese restaurant interior.
“What the heck is this weird space supposed to be?”
Heh. It’s about the vibe, you know? Food like this just hits different when you eat it in a setting like this.
I tried to explain, but neither Bugu-kun nor even Peta-chan seemed to get it. They both wore identical “???“ faces.
Well, of course they didn’t get it. How could they possibly understand?
“Master does weird stuff like this sometimes.”
“It’s fine. I’m just being sentimental about my past life, that’s all.”
“Well, hey—who knows? Maybe bringing in incomprehensible cultures like this is the key to dungeon growth. I’ll play along.”
Now that’s what I like to hear! The world’s largest Dungeon Core really knows how to talk the talk!
Yeah, see? Showing interest like this is exactly how you learn to understand human hearts—and build dungeons that capture them. Probably.
“By the way, Sen. Do you know what the Sepans are up to? They’ve been frantically buying up iron from the Iron Dungeon.”
More or less, I had a good guess.
They were probably trying to mass-produce those post-apocalyptic hedgehog-box bunkers.
“You guys are gonna make it to a giant dungeon with over twenty floors someday, no doubt about it.”
“He... hehehe, uhehehehehe, ahahahahaha, huhuhu~~!”
Peta-chan suddenly burst into a creepy laugh.
“That’s right~ We will make it. No doubt about it.
Ahhh, I’m finally going to join the ranks of the elite—those twenty-floor mega-dungeons~! Ihihihihi~ fuhihihi!”
She was so excited that the ramen she’d been simmering started emitting ominous levels of heat.
I quickly scooped the superheated ramen into my own bowl and gave it a test slurp.
Yep—throat-scalding inferno. A human would absolutely die eating this.
Unlike scalding-hot coffee, this wasn’t exactly enjoyable.
“You guys sure are having fun. Well, anyway, there’s no doubt Sepans are stockpiling iron to strengthen their defenses.
A nation with a dungeon that exceeds twenty floors apparently becomes something special in the eyes of other human countries.”
Huh. So it wasn’t just the dungeon—it was a big deal for the whole nation too.
I guess it was like graduating to a developed nation?
...No, more accurately, it was like discovering a massive natural resource within your borders. A new revenue stream.
But without the military might to protect that resource, it was meaningless.
Just possessing wealth made you a juicy target for the so-called “developed” nations.
Well, our Hot Spring Dungeon wasn’t like those gem-only dungeons. It also served as a training ground for knights.
So... it should be fine. Probably.
“Hehehe... Sepans got lucky.
If Marponware were still the same aggressive military state it used to be, they’d definitely have launched an invasion by now.”
...Bugu-kun said that like it was the most obvious thing in the world—and yeah, now that he mentioned it, he had a point.
The only reason Sepans weren’t being invaded right now was because Marponware had once lost its main army in Bugu-kun’s dungeon.
“Honestly, I don’t really care who clears the deeper floors.
What I need now is the strongest possible order of knights—ones capable of exploring beyond the twenty-sixth floor.
Heck, I don’t mind if Sepans gets big enough to take over Marponware.
As long as someone clears the twenty-seventh floor and deeper, I’m good.”
Bugu-ku said it so casually, but that kind of thinking really showed how different he was from a human.
To a Dungeon Core, humans were nothing more than creatures that delivered points to the dungeon. Nothing more, nothing less.
As long as the knights kept exploring, they didn’t care what happened to lives or even nations themselves.
The only humans that mattered to them were the ones strong enough to conquer the deepest layers of the dungeon.
Peta-chan was no different in that regard.
“No matter how you look at it, there’s no way things are going to change enough for anyone to start exploring the floors below the 26th in large numbers.
That’s why I’m putting my hopes on your Hot Spring Dungeon, Sen.
Out of everything in the world right now, your dungeon’s the only one that feels like it might actually break through this stagnation.”
Bugu-kun spun the butterfly knife in his fingers with a sly grin as he spoke.
He looked like a delinquent elementary school kid deep in the throes of a chuunibyou phase.
Yeah… in the end, my dungeon only made it this far because of the support from other dungeons—like Bugu-kun’s, which produced weapons and armor, and the Iron Dungeon, which provided quality metal.
Without that kind of collaboration, I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere near this level.
Still... the kind of dungeon that might actually break the current stagnation that’s settled in after everyone hit the iron-and-weapon ceiling?
Apparently, that was my Hot Spring Dungeon—born out of a pervy concept meant to lure women in for beauty treatments and spa time.
Back at the beginning, when I was lying in a hospital bed brainstorming dungeon ideas, I wasn’t thinking long-term at all...
All I wanted was a cute dungeon where pretty girls would come soak in hot springs. That was the extent of it. Nothing deeper. Nothing grand.
And now look at it—burly lady knights, sweating and bleeding through intense training while buffed up on suspicious potions...
Dainty, beauty-seeking women who once came here just to soak are now jabbing monsters to death from atop iron containers that look like something out of a post-apocalyptic hedgehog fortress.
Wait... huh? Now that I really stop and think about it... How the hell did it turn out like this??
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