Challengers*3
Then, before the gathered adventurers, the villagers of Panis who had come running at the commotion, and the villagers who had been waiting from the start as planted “audience members,” the gallant older brother raised the flower in his hand high.
Catching the slanting rays of the sun, it glittered—
a crystal-crafted flower.
Born from reconstructed quartz, it was so clear, so delicate, that to call it a mere carving would be selling it short; it looked far too much like a living flower. Naturally, the onlookers grew noisy with excitement—and that was just fine with me. This was one of my proudest creations, after all!
“This is the rumored ‘World Tree’ flower. We found it in the deepest part of the dungeon.”
At those words, the onlookers erupted.
“A flower this beautiful actually blooms here!”
“So the World Tree really did exist after all!”
… Of course, the enthusiasm of this audience included the planted villagers from Panis.
“Well, listen. I believe what’s in this dungeon isn’t the World Tree.”
When the gallant older brother said that, the people stirred again. Looked like he was enjoying himself.
“That wasn’t the World Tree, but a tree made of gemstones. It gave off a strange magical presence, yes, but it wasn’t the World Tree!”
“There were reports of the World Tree being sighted, but I’d say folks must’ve mistaken that for it.”
As the gallant brother and the long-robed brother explained, the people around sighed as if to say “oh, so that’s how it is.”
Snatches of whispering floated over:
“Well, the ones who brought back those reports were those guys, right?”
“Ah, then of course they’d mistake something else for the World Tree…”
“Besides, we never thought their info was reliable. Still, just finding a tree there is surprising enough.”
… Guess those thugs the guild hauled off weren’t trusted in the slightest.
After a while, the crowd at the “Dungeon Entrance Plaza” dispersed, and the party who had successfully cleared the dungeon this time raised a modest toast at the inn, went to bed early, and left the village first thing in the morning.
They’ll probably spread the word, so news of the “Fake World Tree” will be out before long.
Well, even without the World Tree, since this dungeon produces high-quality gemstones, adventurers will still come. That means steady income from now on.
This time was a special boom, sure, but our real aim is steady dungeon management, guarding the World Tree, and securing profits for the village. If we can keep it going slowly but surely, that’ll be just fine.
So I thought, after a week had passed—
“The number of people’s gone up.”
“It sure has…”
… the dungeon was thriving.
Thriving. Ridiculously thriving.
Just when it seemed like the crowd flow had calmed down, now the number of visitors had shot back up to “World Tree Fever” levels—maybe even higher!
“Edele-san, why’s there so many people here?”
So I headed for the Dungeon Entrance Reception Office.
These days, this place was where folks came before entering: to buy antidotes and provisions, to sign in, that kind of thing. It was run by Edele and several other villagers.
And sure enough, today Edele-san was at the desk. Hardworking woman, that one.
“Ah, Asuma-sama… It seems everyone’s coming here after the ‘Jewel Tree’s’ leaves, flowers, and fruit.”
“Eh? ‘Jewel Tree’? That’s…”
“The tree those adventurers brought back from a week ago. You know, that one.”
Huh. So the Fake World Tree had somehow picked up the grandiose name of “Jewel Tree.” At least nobody pulled a “World Tree? That’s too fancy a name—your name’s ‘Wo’ now!” on it.
… Well, judging by how things turned out, the newly dubbed “Jewel Tree” had clearly earned high marks from the guild in town. After all, this many people were coming just for its leaves, flowers, and fruit.
“They say magic stones of this quality are almost never found, so…”
“Magic stones…?”
“Yes. When a jewel is rich in mana, it’s called a ‘magic stone.’”
Huh, a magic stone, eh.
Ohhh… come to think of it, when I reconstructed water, it turned into “mana-rich water.” Same deal here—the Jewel Tree’s branches, leaves, fruits, and flowers ended up infused with dungeon magic during reconstruction.
“And since you can get pretty high-grade magic stones even from the dungeon’s shallower floors, folks are saying it’s beginner-friendly.”
I see. Makes sense. Even the gemstones I left lying around on the first floor probably had mana mixed in during reconstruction.
… Yeah.
“Um, so, Edele-san… are you making money?”
I might’ve messed up a little, but that aside, this is the important part. When I asked—
“Oh yes! Plenty!”
Hug! Another sudden squeeze!
Ah damn, it’s so relaxing! My stress is melting away! And now I’m sleepy, too!
“Thank you, Asuma-sama. Thanks to you, we don’t even have to worry about surviving the winter anymore.”
“Well, that’s good to hear…”
… Well, hug aside, it really is good that life’s improved for the Panis villagers.
Worrying whether you’d survive the winter—it felt like something out of a faraway world to me, coming from modern Japan. But here, that was a very real concern.
And now, they’re free of that. That makes me genuinely happy.
“Ah—excuse me, Asuma-sama. More folks for reception… Welcome! If you’d like to enter the dungeon, please register here!”
… And after one last squeeze, Edele headed back to her reception window to deal with the next batch of adventurers.
Well… having more people is good news. But now that there are adventurers constantly in the dungeon, I should take a moment to get things sorted out.
What I need to sort out is my Dungeon Power.
… Yeah. I still don’t completely understand how it works!
I mean, there’s no manual—everything so far has been based on trial, error, and intuition. Time to run some proper experiments.
All right, experiment time.
First: under what conditions am I unable to use Decompose, Absorb, and Reconstruct?
I already know:
– I could use it when I was alone.
– I could use it with Mishisia, Edele, and Lisas nearby.
– But I couldn’t use it when I was captured by those thugs.
So I’ve formed the hypothesis: If there’s a hostile entity inside the dungeon, I can’t use my ability. But then… how does dungeon range factor in? Would someone just being in the forest count? And what exactly determines “hostile”?
Which brings us to—
“Um, Lisas-san, I want you to hold me down tight.”
“W-why would I do that…?”
“For an experiment.”
Lisas looked very troubled. Can’t blame him. Sorry, but I need to test this. Partly for the villagers’ sake, partly because… honestly, the unknown is right in front of me, and figuring it out is just too exciting. C’mon, boys like this kind of thing. Don’t we?
“… Very well. Excuse me then.”
Still confused, Lisas grabbed both my wrists with one hand and pressed me firmly against the rock wall.
“Whoa, I can’t get out.”
“Oh, sorry.”
… but just when I was starting to get excited, Lisas suddenly let go. His kindness was ruining the experiment!
“Um, Lisas-san. Sorry, but could you make it a little scarier? Like, act like you’re really out to get me.”
“Scarier…?”
“Yeah. Like you’re gonna snuff out my life. I need you to feel hostile.”
“Snuff out your…!?”
Sorry, Lisas, but this is for the good of the village. I need you to count as ‘hostile’ somehow.
“You could even try to actually kill me if you want!”
“N-no, I couldn’t… I might hurt you…”
“That’s fine! Don’t worry about it! I can heal injuries with potions! Pain’s no problem! Now, come on!”
“D-do your best, Lisas! You can do it!”
With Mishisia cheering, poor flustered Lisas finally seemed to steel himself. Sorry for dragging him into this, but it’s all for science.
“… Are you truly sure about this?”
“Yep! Go for it!”
And so, Lisas bore down on me seriously. I wanted to replicate the earlier situation as closely as possible—to see if I really couldn’t use Decompose when under that kind of restraint.
“Then… here I go!”
Thud!
“Gah!?”
He slammed me to the ground, then pinned me under his weight.
“Whoa, I can’t move…”
No matter how I squirmed, Lisas didn’t budge an inch. Incredible!
He stared down at me with a serious, emotionless expression—clearly forcing down his own conscience. Sorry for that, man!
Anyway, time to test Decompose.
I tried breaking down a pebble and reconstructing it into a block—
“… Oh, nope. Can’t do it.”
Aha. So under these conditions, my power’s sealed. Interesting.
“Thanks, Lisas. That’s enough.”
“Good… I’m relieved.”
He released me, let out a deep sigh of relief, then scooped me up in his arms. Hey, I can stand up myself, y’know.
… But since I was already being held, I figured I’d test it here too.
“… Huh?”
“What’s wrong, Asuma-sama?”
“Oh, it worked this time…”
Strange. Even though he’s holding me tight, it’s fine now. So the key really is hostility? Or is there some other hidden factor?
Damn it, I can’t tell yet. Not enough data!
All right, more tests.
“Okay, next, just grab my hand.”
One way or another, I’ve gotta keep running trials. No sense sitting around guessing.
“My hand?”
“Yeah. Just grab it… Okay, still works. Then next, try my arm.”
… And so, bit by bit, I kept tweaking the conditions.
Until—
“I see… so the key is whether I’m in ‘checkmate’ or not.”
That was my conclusion, muttered while I reconstructed a crystal—despite Mishisia aiming an arrow at me from 50 meters away, making activation sluggish.
Yeah. Looks like whether or not I’m under “checkmate” conditions determines whether I can use my powers.
What do you think about this chapter?
