There are things in this world that you’re better off not knowing.
For now, we’ve escaped from the Cold Ruins. Oh, and I made sure to close the emergency exit. Thanks to a special teleportation item gifted by the Dungeon Master, we can now travel directly from the entrance of the ruins to the Dungeon Master’s room.
“Um, you’re Pochi, right?”
Unusually, the Sage struck up a conversation with Pochi.
“Yes.”
“Take good care of that.”
The Sage pointed at the magic crystal.
“Of course.”
“Good. That one piece alone is worth enough to buy the Christia Castle, so make sure it doesn’t get stolen.”
Pochi’s tail puffed up dramatically, and the hand holding Tsuyoshi started trembling slightly.
“You’re joking, right?”
“Nope. In fact… Christia Castle might not even cover it.”
“Nooooooooo!!”
Pochi burst into tears. Was the item really that expensive? I had a bit of a suspicion, though.
“Return it… No, but Fake-rin and the others are inside… Noooo!! What do I do, what should I do… I’m too scared to carry it around…!”
“Oh, so you didn’t know when you accepted it?”
“This is clearly excessive compensation…!”
“Well, I wanted one of Pochi’s drawings, too. And honestly, Pochi’s probably the only artist who could reach that Dungeon Master, not panic, and paint something so incredible…”
Everyone except Pochi nodded in agreement. Ordinary painters wouldn’t even make it to the Dungeon Master.
“Exactly. Even if you could reach the Dungeon Master, the first thought wouldn’t be to paint—it’d be to fight.”
Jend agreed. Who else would head to the deepest part of a last dungeon just to paint?
“In other words, welcome to the ‘Absurd Individuals Club’!”
““We’re over that already!””
Jend and I retorted in unison.
For a while, Pochi was trembling like a newborn fawn—not a puppy—but he seemed to switch gears eventually. He decided to repay the excess compensation bit by bit. Our Pochi is a responsible, honest boy.
He even finished an exquisite drawing of the Dungeon Master for me. It came with a handmade frame. Apparently, he gave a frame to the Dungeon Master as well, who was so delighted they tried to gift him more treasures. Pochi politely declined.
The painting now hangs in our living room. When I suggested valuing it the same as the Dungeon Master’s, I got severely scolded. In the end, Pochi insisted and gifted it to me.
One day, while having tea with Dirk and the Sage, Dirk murmured something.
“The world is well-balanced, isn’t it?”
“Hmm? What do you mean?”
“You, Pochi, and Rinka—individuals who could potentially conquer the world are all uninterested in doing so.”
I mean, sure, I *could* do it if I wanted, but I wouldn’t. It’d be troublesome and impossible without bloodshed.
Pochi… I guess he might be able to if he made full use of those magic tools?
Rinka… she could probably do it if she summoned a god.
“No, I’m actually quite greedy. It’s just that I don’t see any point in doing it, and it’d be too much trouble.”
I said this with a straight face.
“You say it’d be too much trouble, but you don’t even want to conquer the world, right? You don’t want to own or govern it, and you don’t want to dominate the weak through power. Even if you had the power to destroy the world, you wouldn’t use it, would you?”
I don’t understand. Isn’t that obvious?
“World domination sounds like a pain. Even managing the Burton territory is a bit overwhelming; why would I want more land? The weak should be protected, not oppressed. What’s the point of destroying the world?”
Dirk chuckled wryly.
“Well, peaceful thinking is better than the alternative.”
I kind of get what he means. After all, I don’t exactly lack the desire to knock down those who ridicule Dirk just because he’s a beastman. However, doing so would make me a deplorable person. People have their circumstances, so I’ve chosen to find solutions that don’t rely on brute force, even if they’re harder.
“See, I’m a half-laid-back, opportunistic Japanese at heart. I wouldn’t do anything unnecessary like that.”
“Right. Rosarin, Rinka, and Pochi just want a peaceful life. Maybe the gods planned it that way. Especially Pochi… He could mass-produce Geraldines…”
Mass-produce that troublesome old man? And summon him only when needed… No, he’d be drawn before he could be stopped… No, wait, Fake-rin and the others would buy time. Even now, I can only win against Geraldin-san one out of three times.
The theory of Pochi being the strongest quietly emerged at that moment.
And yet, the strongest man in the world is still holed up in his atelier, creating art today.
“Look! I made the Dungeon Master!”
“Look! I painted a beautiful landscape I saw the other day!”
The Cold Ruins, the hardest final dungeon.
It seems it won’t be long before the Dungeon Master’s room becomes the venue for Pochi’s solo exhibition.
The artist who unknowingly became the strongest man in the world continues to live a peaceful life today.
What do you think about this chapter?
