After dinner that evening, I snuck into the mansion’s basement. At the far end of the room, I took the key out of my pocket and put it down.
This was the drop of Plumbum’s dungeon master. Yes, the 10000% hotter version of me.
I’d tried a few things, but it didn’t seem to do anything as an item, so I decided to ignore its original effect and tried turning it into an outsider to see its boosted effects.
That was why I’d come down here alone, avoiding my friends.
“Oh! There he is!”
“What are you doing here? Emily baked cookies! Let’s get to the salon and have tea.”
The ever-cheerful Alice and Aurum had appeared.
Ever since Aurum had gotten access to Miike and gained freedom of movement, the two of them had started going around together.
They were both cheerful, impulsive, and accompanied by monsters. The duo was as close as sisters, or best friends of many years.
And said duo had come looking for me at the worst possible time, because the rusty key had just turned into an outsider.
“Whoa! I know that feeling…”
“It’s a dungeon master. We came just in time to cause trouble, didn’t we?”
The two of them read the room and looked apologetic─but that didn’t last long. When they saw the dungeon master, the 10000% hotter version of me, they burst out laughing.
“Pssh, what is that? Hahahaha!”
“Pfft… Ryota? That’s Ryota, isn’t it?”
“He’s all sparkly, and there are roses behind him! Gahahahaha!”
“Hey, don’t laugh… Pfffft!”
“Oh, that’s hilarious… Ryochin!”
For some reason, Alice used her Omnipotence spell to summon Ryochin.
In that moment, I was with my two impostors in the basement. This was, in a word, striking.
“What? Why’d you summon him?” I asked.
“I mean, look. This one here’s face screams ‘Ryochin,’ right?”
“Yeah. It’s totally a ‘Ryochin’ face.”
Alice and Aurum were in full agreement. It seemed they had similar naming senses.
What the hell is a Ryochin face, exactly? I wondered, but I couldn’t figure it out.
“So I wonder what that one’s called,” Alice explained.
“Well… Huh, you know what?” Aurum said.
“I think I do!”
The two of them nodded meaningfully to each other. And then, they said in unison, “Prince Ryo!”
Oof.
This was exactly why I’d tried to do this in secret. Now that they knew, it had devolved into bullying.
“Repetition…”
Depressed, I killed Prince Ryo with my ultimate spell.
The outsider died and dropped a golden key. It was the same shape as the rusty one, but it was golden and shiny now.
“Aww, he killed him.”
“I wanted to see more! Hey, can Ryota use summoning magic?”
“Huh? I dunno, why?”
“If he can, wouldn’t it be cool if he summoned a pretty white horse and had Prince Ryo ride on it?”
“I bet he could! Ooh… Wait, the Bicorn!”
“A white, two-horned horse! Prince Ryo and the Bicorn… Yeah, they’d go great together.”
“Stop. Please.” I was getting even more depressed. Their excitement was hurting me.
“Horse or not, though, he’s so picturesque,” Alice said.
“Hey, let’s call a famous painter. Ooh, maybe a sculptor, too?” Aurum added.
“A sculp─ack!” I sprinted out of the basement and into the hallway. Cell was outside the window.
The moment we locked eyes, he scurried away.
“Seriously?” I despaired and resigned myself.
Cell Stem was among the most important members of a family that controlled this world’s money-printing rights. He was a really big deal, but for some reason, he was a fan of mine. Every time he witnessed my “achievements,” he’d turn them into statues and figures.
No doubt he’d seen it.
I could just imagine the announcement. Prince Ryo figure in production!
My shoulders slumped as I trudged back to the basement.
“Welcome back,” Alice greeted me. “What’s wrong?”
“I saw Cell…”
“Ooh, so he’s making a figure!”
“Why do you sound so happy about it?”
I was going through the stages of grief so fast that I came full circle and just started laughing.
There’s nothing you can do about him. Just forgive and forget. Same with Alice and Aurum, in fact. They’re your friends. Just forgive…and forget. More importantly, the drop.
I took out the golden key that I’d gotten from Prince Ryo.
“That’s the item that dropped before, right?”
“Yep,” I answered.
“What does it do?”
“I don’t know. It turned from a rusty key into a golden one, so I think it powered up… But I don’t have a frame of reference for it.” I casually held the key and turned it, as if unlocking a door. When I did, a door appeared in the big, empty basement.
“What’s that?! It’s like a secret room!” Alice was excited. The monsters on her shoulders looked eager, as well.
Meanwhile, I looked the door up and down. It stood in the very middle of the room, like some kind of display in a shop. A number was displayed above it. It said 01, in a calculator-like font.
“01… Wonder what that means,” I muttered.
“Does that mean only one person can go in?”
“That, or you can only go in one time. I think one of those conclusions is the most reasonable.”
“Wanna try going in?” Aurum suggested.
“Wait,” I stopped her. “Aurum, stay back.”
“Why?”
“The door might have dungeon properties. It could be dangerous, even with Miike around.”
“…Tch.” The spirit poked out her lips, but she obediently backed off.
Dungeon properties was a phrase I’d just made up, but as a spirit, she knew that going in and out of dungeons could kill her.
“So it’s me or Ryota, then,” Alice said.
“Yeah.”
“Okay! Then I’ll go.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah! I mean… It smells like fun!”
“I see.”
So it does have dungeon properties.
Since she was born in a dungeon, Alice could “sniff out” various things about dungeons. If she said so, then it was very likely that this door contained a dungeon or a space with the features of one.
“Leave it to me.”
“Got it. Be careful in there,” I warned her.
“Yep! I’ll be right back, Aurum.”
“Okay! If it’s safe, then I wanna go next!”
“Gotcha! Open sesaaameee!”
As excited as can be, Alice threw the door open and stepped inside. When she did, it automatically closed, and 01 turned to 00.
“It went down,” Aurum noted.
“This alone doesn’t tell us if it’s counting how many people go in or how many times it’s opened. If it counts from 01 to 00, then that must mean you can increase it. But how?”
“Maybe by flirting with Prince Ryo more?”
“That might be our only option─but don’t call it that, please,” I rebutted, but it was definitely a possibility.
Defeating the dungeon master, getting more keys to raise the occupancy limit. Or maybe the passage of time? It could regain one usage every day, or every other day, or something. That would need more detailed experimentation─
“I’m baaack!” About a minute after she’d gone inside, Alice returned, still as cheerful as before.
“That was fast. How was it in there?”
“Well, basically, uhh, how long has it been since I went in?”
“How long…”
Me and Aurum looked at each other and nodded.
“Uh… A minute or so?”
“Heheheh…” Alice’s mood only improved when she heard that. She put one hand on her hip and thrust the other forward, making a peace sign. “Get this! I was in there for a day!”
Wait, a whole day?
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“There was an explanation inside. Apparently, a day in there is equivalent to a minute out here.”
“Hmm… I don’t really get it,” Aurum shrugged.
“Wait…”
I absolutely know what this is. It’s like a dream to any boy my age. We’ve all had them.
I looked at the 00 displayed above the door. I had to know more about this door─about this chamber.