Dungeon Exchange Meeting*1
“Ah, a-ah… yes, that’s true.”
“Ah, I knew it!”
When the person of the gold mine dungeon affirmed it while looking extremely confused, Lisas-san broke into a huge smile. Whoa, this might actually be the first time I’ve ever seen him smile this much…
… No, wait, that’s not true. I’ve seen this face when he’s had good liquor, or when he’s soaking in a hot spring. So it’s not the first time. But it is rare to see it in a situation like this.
“We’ve never met directly. I am Lisas Luques, formerly of the Third Knights Order. I’ve already retired, due to injuries sustained in the previous war…”
“Oh… you were a knight as well?”
“Yes. I’ve heard many stories of Aura-sama’s exploits!”
I see. Judging from Lisas-san’s reaction, it seems this gold mine dungeon master, this man called Aura-sama, must have been someone who achieved remarkable military feats. Or perhaps he was simply an exceptionally admirable person.
“Well, ah, that’s… rather embarrassing to hear…”
“What are you saying! Still, it’s frustrating that I couldn’t recognize you right away.”
“That’s only natural. Normally, I should be well past sixty years of age. Yet for some reason, I’ve ended up in this appearance…”
Whaaaaaat!? Does that mean he doesn’t age!? So you get younger and stop aging after that!? That’s a massive shock to me!
… Well, but as a system, maybe it’s not terrible… I don’t understand the rejuvenation part, but as for preventing aging, well, if something like an axolotl didn’t become a dungeon master, but say, a mayfly did by accident, then the dungeon master would die at an absurd speed… Yeah, okay, that makes sense! Damn it!
“… I had heard that Aura-sama died in service.”
Lisas-san suddenly murmured that. Aura-sama nodded with a slightly lonely expression.
“Yes. Once I became like this, I felt that returning to my former life would no longer be possible.”
Ah… yeah. I guess so. If a guy in his mid-fifties suddenly turns into someone in his twenties, that’s… a problem. Especially if wealthy people start targeting dungeons with the idea that “Become a dungeon master and you’ll get younger!” That’d be a huge mess.
“And besides, I had something I needed to do here.”
“… Managing the gold mine dungeon?”
“Yes. I wanted the gold mine dungeon to become… a place that would take in those suffering from unstable lives in this country.”
It seems Aura-sama is someone with many thoughts and convictions. If we talk things through, maybe there are points where we can understand each other.
… Well, that said, we did bury him in slime.
“Um… our objectives are actually pretty similar…”
I can’t let this chance slip. I speak up, trying to appeal to Aura-sama.
“We came here today to ask whether you could increase slime production in this dungeon.”
“Slimes…?”
“Yes. Slimes.”
Perhaps because he’d calmed down a bit after speaking with Lisas-san, Aura-sama no longer had that hair-trigger tension from earlier. He’s listening properly now. Good, good, good, this is going well.
“You are aware of the current state of the country, correct?”
“Yes, well… I may not know all the details. I do live at the bottom of a dungeon, after all, so information doesn’t exactly come to me freely.”
“I see. Then are you aware that the upper echelons of the Church were dealt with?”
“Yes, that much I know.”
So general news does get around. Well, with this many people coming and going in the dungeon, rumors are bound to spread.
“At present, the Church has joined forces with the Second Prince’s faction, and even allied with foreign countries, in an attempt to bring this nation down. On the other hand, since the Church still holds a monopoly on ‘Blessings,’ the country can’t treat them too harshly.”
That information, however, seemed to be new to him. He widened his eyes in shock. Good, good.
“However, by using slimes in a special way, it’s possible to obtain sufficient harvests even without relying on the Church’s ‘Blessings,’ improving people’s lives. At the same time, it deprives the former Church faction, who are trying to sell ‘Blessings’ to other nations, of their means.”
My explanation seemed to interest Aura-sama as well. He listened intently. If it had been like this from the start, we wouldn’t have had to bury anyone in slime… but hey, I won’t be greedy.
“So I thought we could make use of dungeons around the country, and when I went to check a nearby one… the dungeon master was an axolotl…!”
“Ax… axolotl… what exactly is that…?”
“It’s like this! Here!”
Mishisia-san kindly provided a diagram explaining what an axolotl is. Thank you, Mishisia-san! Aura-sama looked even more confused, but that’s understandable!
“… Well, with that axolotl, we weren’t really at the stage where negotiation was possible… So we came here, hoping that a dungeon different from the others would be run by someone with fairly high intelligence!”
“I see… so that’s how it was.”
Aura-sama nodded with a look that said, “I don’t fully get it, but I understand the purpose and intent well enough.”
“If that’s the case, then let’s try seeing whether we can increase the number of slimes.”
“Really!? Yes! Thank you so much!”
He even agreed to the proposal! Waaah! This is completely different from when he was pointing spears at us earlier! Yes! Yes!
“Ah, then we’ve prepared the mana needed to produce slimes ourselves, so please use this.”
“Huh?”
If he’s going to cooperate, then we should too. With that, I took a book out of my backpack and handed it to him.
“A book…? What exactly is this…?”
“Oh, the contents are just a fairy tale. It’s a work written by an author from Panis Village, and… um, please try absorbing it.”
It seems Aura-sama doesn’t know that books can generate large amounts of mana, but that’s something he should try out for himself. If he recognizes how useful this is, even better.
And so, once the book I handed over was safely absorbed into the gold mine dungeon…
“… Oh, there really is a lot of mana here…”
“Right? It’s a book with a lot of mana.”
I don’t explain the details of mana yet. For now, it’s enough to show that “I’m useful!” Even better if I actually am useful.
“Then, shall we try summoning slimes?”
According to Aura-sama, slimes are something you summon. I always thought they just spawned naturally, but differences in perception like that might affect how dungeons function and how monsters appear within them.
Aura-sama focused for a moment. Then, suddenly, light flashed, and there it was… a slime, born right there!
“A slime!”
“It’s a slime!”
Mishisia-san and I immediately climbed out of the Giant-Ass Slime and ran over to the newly born slime… And then…
“Oh… it’s pretty docile.”
“But it looks stronger than the slimes in Panis Village, Asuma-sama!”
“Yeah… it seems kind of lively.”
The slime that was born was nicely round. It didn’t look like it wanted to attack us at all. Instead, it bounced around energetically. Our slimes barely bounce at all, they mostly just squish along slowly. So it definitely feels different.
Interesting. Slimes have individuality too, huh.
… This isn’t, like, individuality based on the dungeon master or something, is it…?
“Phew… I managed to summon it, at least. It’s been a while since I last summoned a monster, so I hesitated a bit, but it should be easier next time.”
Aura-sama looked a little tired. I don’t get that exhausted even when using dungeon power, so maybe that’s another difference between dungeon masters. The things we can do seem mostly the same, though. Maybe it’s the difference between a scientific mindset and a magical one. I’d like to learn more about that someday.
“Do you think you can summon many of them? If so, it’d be great if you could spawn them inside the gold mine dungeon.”
“Yes. It doesn’t consume that much mana, so it should be possible. From now on, I plan to partition the dungeon and create rooms specifically for spawning slimes.”
“Thank you! I’m sure the people of the royal capital will be thrilled!”
And with that, the gold mine dungeon would also start handling slimes! Yes! This will further accelerate the spread of slime farming!
… Actually, Panis Village isn’t the only place buying slimes anymore. Recently, slime buybacks have begun within the royal capital as well. So for the people of the capital, this dungeon will become a perfect slime-hunting ground.
Well, it’d be bad if too many people entered the gold mine dungeon itself, so I’ll suggest to Laperesiana-sama that buying and selling be done beside the dungeon instead.
And so, although we had achieved our original goal…
“Aura-sama. Does the king know that you are the dungeon master of this dungeon? Not just the king, other knights as well… perhaps even the commander?”
Lisas-san seemed to want to talk with Aura-sama a bit more. That’s understandable. From my perspective too, there’s a chance this dungeon might genuinely be a ‘Royal Dungeon,’ so I’m curious as well.
“… There is something I am curious about as well. Why did that book contain such an amount of mana? Was it a special book?”
Meanwhile, Aura-sama was more curious about that. That’s fine by me, it gives my knowledge value.
“Oh! I want to know how you produce such a large amount of gold in this dungeon!”
“I see… so you noticed that.”
I’ve got questions for Aura-sama too! This is something I absolutely have to ask!
… And so.
“It seems we both have things to gain.”
“Yes! I’d like to talk a bit more!”
“Very well. It’s been a long time since I’ve had guests… I apologize for my earlier rudeness. Please, this way. I can at least offer tea. Ah, and I’ll bring out the sweets you gave me as well.”
“Yes!”
Thus, as dungeon masters, we decided to deepen our friendship and exchange information!
What do you think about this chapter?
