On B1 of Nihonium, I fired a single growth round at an attacking skeleton, killing it.
It didn’t drop the HP seed that it normally would. Since the spirit of the dungeon wasn’t here, even my drops had stopped flowing.
That wasn’t the problem, though; the problem was this dungeon’s normal drops.
To make Nihonium into a dungeon that people needed, I would have to make it so that normal adventurers could get drops.
While I thought of how to do that, the first thing that came to mind was selective breeding. By allowing the dungeon master to change its ecosystem, the dungeon would change its monsters and drops. But that method couldn’t be used here; more precisely, it would cause too much damage.
“Speak of the devil, and all…”
The air changed, and Nihonium’s dungeon master appeared.
It was a woman, about 5’4” with six-foot long hair that trailed on the ground. Her naked body, combined with the length of her hair, gave an eerie vibe. Expressionless and pale, with a faint glow─she seemed to match Nihonium’s “undead” vibe quite well.
I approached her. As I did, I unleashed a perfectly timed counter.
I felt flesh tear against my fist.
Nihonium’s dungeon master was typically incorporeal, but she materialized during her attacks. Using that opportunity to attack was the best strategy to deal with her.
Once upon a time, I’d really struggled to beat her. But now that my stats were capped, she was no big deal.
I countered her attacks with perfect timing over and over until, on the fifth strike, she was dead. When she disappeared, the air returned to normal.
The reason I hadn’t prolonged that battle for crop breeding was that, when she was out, Nihonium alone didn’t stop dropping things─all of Cyclo did. When a dungeon master is out, other monsters stop appearing. In Nihonium’s case, that phenomenon extended to the entire city.
If I wanted to take my time crop breeding, then all of the production in Cyclo would grind to a halt. I couldn’t let that happen, so I had to kill her as soon as she’d appeared.
☆
“That must be a curse,” Cell said in the Cyclo Dungeon Association chief’s office when he heard my explanation of things.
“Do you think so?”
“Based on what you’ve told me, the mental structures of spirits and humans seem quite similar. If so, this conclusion is only natural.” After a pause, he added with a serious look, “The power of Nihonium’s dungeon master is the materialization of one emotion: the desire to inflict her own pain upon others.”
“…I see.”
I understood that feeling─to see others suffer because you’re suffering on your own. Some people might find that wrong, but I had to empathize more with her than with them.
“If you so desire…”
“Yeah?”
“I can use my authority to stop all production in Cyclo for a day. What do you say to that?”
“That’d be a huge problem, wouldn’t it?”
“Not particularly, if done during a strong solar eclipse. Besides…”
“Besides?”
“You underestimate yourself too much. People now see you as a dungeon-revitalizing machine. If you were to do the same for Nihonium, not a soul would complain.”
“I think you’re buttering me up too much.” I chuckled wryly.
“Not at all. You already know that crowds are flocking to Nihonium.”
“Is it that busy?” I knew that people were going there, but he made it sound like a big deal.
“Animals, plants, ore, magic, special. People connected to all kinds of drops are paying close attention.”
“Not just plants? As in, not just people from Cyclo?”
“Nihonium has dropped nothing as of yet. It’s not so far-fetched to expect something different might drop, no?”
“I see.”
If anything, special fits the bill more, I thought to myself. The stat-boosting seeds dropped there hadn’t been classified since I was the only person in the world who could get them, but in my mind, they seemed to fit that category.
It seemed likely that Nihonium would drop special items once it had been restored.
“People have approached me, as well,” Cell continued.
“Huh?”
“Someone’s trying to curry favor with you by giving you women. They asked that I put them in contact with you.”
“Giving me…women.” My tone of voice was so flat that even I was surprised. I knew what it meant, but it didn’t feel real or about me at all.
“One of each race, all of them the most beautiful and pure maidens in the world, or something?”
“This is getting outrageous.”
“That’s just how the world sees you, Sir Sato.” He grinned at me. “You should remain aware that you command such a position and reputation that any action of yours has the potential to change the world.”
“I’m telling you, this is too much praise.”
“Very like you to say such a thing when you so casually bear the fates of both the spirits and the world.”
“The world?”
“If you fail, Sir Sato…” Cell’s grin grew wider. “Nihonium’s despair could lead to all the world’s drops disappearing, once and for all.”
“…Oh.”
Now that he mentioned it, that was indeed possible. Even now, she could stop all of Cyclo’s production with one dungeon master. If she got desperate, she could go much further.
“I was too naïve,” I realized.
“Oh, come now, you’ve done nothing wrong. Everyone knows that you will succeed in the end.”
“You expect too much of me.”
Cell’s lips curled upward, and he scoffed, “Heh.”
What? I thought to myself. Suddenly, there was a knock at the office door.
One of his employees entered.
“Pardon my intrusion. Mr. Sato, a Family member of yours is here.”
“Mine?”
“Ryota!” Alice came running into Cell’s office. She was breathing heavily, the monsters on her shoulders rising and falling with each heave. They’d probably be thrown off of her if they weren’t holding on tight.
“What’s the matter, Alice?”
“It’s big! Really big! You, uh, got some presents.”
“Presents… Oh.” When I glanced at Cell, he looked smug, as if he knew.
However, the situation had gone far beyond my expectations.
“There are so many presents from so many places that the mansion’s practically bursting!” Alice screamed.
“Okay, that’s too much!”
What the hell kind of presents could fill up that whole mansion?