Defense*1
“Firefighting equipment?”
“Yeah. I’m thinking, if you turn a valve, water will come blasting out of the nozzle at the other end.”
I immediately start building the firefighting system.
That said, the construction’s simple. Nothing fancy.
It’s just sturdy pipes stretching out and connected all over town… and then, set up a water tank at a spot away from the village.
Operation’s easy. All I have to do is reconstruct water inside the tank.
… Only, compress it like crazy!
When I made hot water for the bath, I already figured out: "The reconstructed material can be at any temperature." Meaning, changes in temperature are trivial before reconstruction.
So I figured—shape, volume, whether it’s solid or liquid—must all be the same too.
And the guess was spot-on. Turns out I can reconstruct matter into pretty much any form I want.
… Which means: "As long as the enemy doesn’t recognize the spot, the enemy is far away, I’m also not recognized, and there are no enemies nearby,"—under those conditions, I can create unlimited matter. Crazy. Crazy strong…
And this Dungeon power can reconstruct anywhere: in the ground, in the tank, wherever.
So, I can run water pipes underground easily, fill them with water in advance, extend the pipe behind the Dungeon, set up a tank, and then generate hyper-compressed air in it… and bam, it sprays like a sprinkler!
… Normally, just laying water pipes underground would take insane effort, but this thing lets me do it in one shot. Really is a terrifying ability.
After a few experiments—hooking up each tank one-to-one with its outlets, adding valves to stop flow at the outlets, and so on—I finally finish the village’s firefighting system.
Now we don’t have to worry even if someone tries to burn the place down. Go ahead and try, I say!
… But there was one problem with this setup.
“The slimes keep trying to clog it! Why!?”
“Maybe because it’s water full of mana that you made, Asuma-sama…”
The slimes… the slimes! They’re trying to clog the outlet pipes!
… Once they realized prying open the tank was impossible, the clever—or not-so-clever—little guys decided, "Fine, we’ll just block the outlet instead!" and started piling up at the nozzles. What the hell, guys!
“Guess I’ve got no choice but to build them a mana-rich reservoir…”
I didn’t really want to go around making ponds, but oh well, it can’t be helped. I’ll make a little water spot behind the village, with mana-rich water bubbling out. Slimes, go bathe there instead! And don’t you dare clog the pipes! Got it!?
When I give them the instructions, the slimes all go “Oka~y” in their way, stretch a little, and then wobble-wobble along toward the reservoir together. Well, as long as they like it, that’s fine.
“So, Asuma-sama. What about inside the cave?”
Alright. Firefighting system done, slime amusement facility done… Next up, the cave interior.
“Hm? Same plan as before. Just adding more traps. That should be enough. If things really get desperate, I might have to ask you and Lisas-san to step in… but in my estimate, they won’t get past the second floor. Actually, I don’t even intend to let them past the first floor…”
“Huh? Really?”
Mishisia looked doubtful, but I’m confident it’ll work. After all… it’s about their numbers.
“This Dungeon was never meant for big parties, right?”
“Huh? Ah, yeah. Usually it’s, what, three to five people?”
“Exactly. The corridors are too narrow. So if twenty people rush in at once, they’ll just get stuck. Basically, this Dungeon isn’t suited for large-scale raids. That’s why I doubt they’ll bring all twenty.”
The so-called Holy Knights—at most, twenty. But maybe it’ll actually be five. Depends on them. No way to know…
“So we should set it up so that whether it’s three or twenty, we can handle them all the same.”
“I see. You mean to split them up?”
“That would work too, but… I couldn’t think of a reliable method.”
I had considered Lisas’s suggestion: divide and conquer, handle them in small groups—that’s Dungeon 101, right?
But I couldn’t think of a sure way to split up seasoned Dungeon raiders. Thought about throwing down tons of pitfalls, but then I’d lose control of how and where they split up…
… So instead.
“… Forget splitting them up. I’ll just trap all of them at once—whether it’s three or twenty.”
“Eh.”
I’ve stopped overthinking.
If they all get caught in one trap, who cares about splitting them up? That’s the good old meathead strategy I’m going with!
“They already know some stuff about this Dungeon. No monsters, gems spawn… and that poison appears. So, I’m planning to use poison.”
“Why!?”
“If I use a type of poison they aren’t expecting, it’ll still match the Dungeon’s reputation—‘yep, poison here’—but at the same time, it’ll catch them off guard!”
When I explain, both Mishisia and Lisas tilted their heads. Guess they can’t picture it.
But white has two hundred shades, and there are tens of thousands of poisons.
“Take this type, for example. Probably poison, but I doubt they’re prepared for it… Hey, think the Holy Knights’ll bring gas masks?”
“Gas… mask?”
Ah, okay. From Mishisia’s reaction, this world doesn’t have "‘Dungeon has poison gas, so bring gas masks!’" level of prep.
“Uh, so what do folks here usually do for poison mists?”
“Well, most cover their nose and mouth with cloth.”
“What about their eyes?”
“Eyes? You can’t cover them, you wouldn’t see…”
Fair enough. Yeah. Makes sense. Makes sense, but still.
… And come to think of it, from watching Dungeon delves here, their main poison mist countermeasure is just "don’t go near it."
“So yeah, gas-form poison should be a free win. Most adventurers here don’t even go deep anymore—they’re focused on shallow gem-hunting. Meaning, little intel on deeper layers. So if I prep some in the mid-depths and…”
I get to work—make some acetone, mix in chlorine, stuff like that—and whip up something nasty. I set it deeper in the cave.
Also rig it so I can trigger it remotely—cut a string from far away, a thin crystal bottle drops and shatters.
Heh, heh, heh. With decomposition–absorption–reconstruction tricks, I can fill the Dungeon with traps galore!
“Then, if they really push near the second floor, I’ll have to accept some injuries but… let’s see, how about we drop a cage, then spray them with potion mist, we can heal them up afterward…”
“What, heal them!?”
“Yep. Once they’re caged, we can do whatever we want… And if I don’t heal them, they’ll probably die.”
“You’re making traps so deadly you have to heal them!?”
“I’ve no idea what you’re saying, Asuma-sama…”
“Don’t worry, Lisas-san. I don’t get it either.”
While Lisas scratches his cheek and Mishisia stared off into the distance, I kept working on Dungeon renovations.
… Well, they’re human, even if they’re Holy Knights. They’ve got limits. Alright.
And so, one evening—
“Asuma-sama! A group in white armor is headed this way! Count is twenty!”
“Whoa—seriously, the full squad?”
As we braced ourselves, the so-called Holy Knights arrived.
… They actually came. That Churchman seemed like an idiot, but guess he’s got some pull. Can’t judge by looks, huh.
So, Mishisia, Lisas, and I hid in the cave’s depths… while the knights marched into the village center, waving some papers around.
“We are under orders from the Radam Church to subjugate this Dungeon! Cease all activity immediately and vacate this village at once!”
“Vacate the village? Why?”
“This village is also subject to investigation! Those who refuse to cooperate will be deemed heretics!”
High-handed words. Overbearing tone. They even pointed swords at villagers who were crying "This is tyranny!" Perfect. Makes it real easy to smash them without guilt.
And then they start setting fires. Oh wow—they actually did it!
“Those who can’t fight, flee to the back mountain!”
“Those who can fight, protect the villagers! And put out the fires!”
Alright. Adventurers are moving, so it’s my turn.
I reconstruct compressed air, and—
“Rainstorm.”
“Rainstorm it is, Asuma-sama~”
Thanks to adventurers opening hydrants everywhere, the whole village was now under pouring rain.
Pretty flashy. Not a drizzle, but a full-on drenching.
Well, at least the village won’t burn. Good enough!
What do you think about this chapter?
