“I’ve been thinking…” Nihonium said.
“Hm?”
“About the first thing I would say to you when we’d met. In the end, it’s this.” She smiled sweetly and said, “I’m as impressed as ever.”
“By what?”
“Do you remember when I gave you Repetition?”
“Yeah. It was when you first showed yourself to me, right? You chose the fruit that would randomly give me Repetition.”
It felt like so long ago now. I was at my favored item shop, carefully picking a 3,000,000-piro magic fruit─no small number for me at the time─when Nihonium had appeared and showed me the best one. That was when I’d learned Repetition.
“Yes. I knew that I had to deliver that magic to you. Normally, it is impossible to reach this place without it.”
“…True. I normally wouldn’t have been able to beat all nine within the countdown without Repetition. I could’ve been lucky with the three-headed zombie, but under normal conditions, the mummy always takes two moves.”
“And that is why I gave it to you. No matter how strong your stats, no matter your level of training, you shouldn’t have been able to get here without Repetition. And yet…” This time, Nihonium’s smile was more…seductive. She was a beautiful Japanese woman in a lovely kimono, and her smile only added to it all. “You’ve become so strong that you could have made it even without Repetition. You’ve far exceeded my expectations… Truly amazing. Amazing…”
She repeated that last part quietly to herself. I heard that word often, but it came with a different flavor─more joy─when I heard it from her.
“More importantly, why did you call me here?” I asked her. “You must have a reason.”
She smiled sadly. This one had a tinge of loneliness to it, unlike the last.
“Don’t laugh, please.”
“Okay.” I nodded firmly and gazed at her, waiting for what she’d say next.
“I wanted to be needed.”
“…”
“I don’t think I have to tell you this, but nobody in this world has ever needed me.”
“But Margaret is here… I guess she doesn’t really need you, though.”
“Yes, she would do just fine anywhere else. Nobody but you comes here.”
There was nothing anyone could do about that. In a world where every product dropped from dungeons, dungeons were simultaneously farms, mines, factories, and more. Among them, Nihonium alone would drop nothing for anyone but me.
No matter what they did, if an adventurer with A-rank drops farmed here day and night, they’d get nothing. It was like a barren land where nothing would ever grow.
Knowing how this world worked, it was natural that nobody would come here. That nobody would need it.
“It’s become difficult to…maintain my existence.”
“What do you mean?”
“Monsters typically have lifespans. Monsters that are undefeated in dungeons will go on until their natural life comes to an end… Though no humans know this anymore.”
“Of course… Normal monsters wouldn’t be left for that long.”
Nihonium nodded and continued, “When monsters die naturally, they become air. The undead monsters of Nihonium die day and night, continually and automatically producing air.”
“As in… Oxygen? The air breathed by people?”
She nodded again. Her gentle smile had faded; before me now was an exhausted woman.
“I continue to produce air needed by all, but nobody needs me, and nobody thanks me.” Now she bore a self-deprecating smile. “I’ve become tired of repeating this cycle.”
I understood her. She was me.
Exactly like how I’d been when I’d first come to this world. I’d worked myself to the bone, ignoring my own health, and endured endlessly. But nobody had ever thanked me. I was forced into an unrewarded life.
She was me. No, maybe she was even worse off.
“I want you…to save me.”
“Someone told me this once upon a time.” Words came to me like divine revelation. They were words that had spurred me to walk a new path, and it was time to pass them on to her. “People’s efforts will inevitably be rewarded. It may be sooner, or it may be later, but everyone who does their best will be rewarded.”
“Is that really true?”
“Yes,” I replied without hesitation. Then, I smiled. “It happened for me. So…”
“So?”
“I’ll make your dungeon into one that everyone needs.”
“Can I really have faith in that?” Tears formed in her eyes.
“It’s not about faith.”
“Huh…?”
“I guarantee it. It’s not about faith; people who work hard will be rewarded. As long as I’m here, you can be certain of it.” This was my vow. To firm my resolve, I used strong words that I typically avoided using.
Several emotions passed over Nihonium’s face─surprise, confusion, and finally joy.
“Okay!”
This was her third smile─the smile of a person who had been to the depths of hell, yet finally found a ray of hope to cling to.