One day, I went into the underground tunnels to visit Ally, the dungeon master who lived on the lowest floor of our dungeon.
“Luke! Oh em gee, did you really come here to hang out with me today?!” Her face lit up, and she twirled through the air in circles, looking excited.
Ally was a fairy who looked like a human girl, but was small enough to fit in the palm of my hand. She had sparkly wings that fluttered on her back.
“That’s right. So how are you doing with Dungeon Points?”
“I’m, like, rollin’ in ’em! Raking ’em in, honestly!”
It had been a few days since the dwarves started living inside the dungeon, and apparently Ally’s Dungeon Points, which she used to build and expand the dungeon, were piling up.
It seemed like moving the whole village over the dungeon entrance had been worth the hassle after all.
“I’m thinking of using the points to remodel the dungeon!”
“What kind of stuff can you do, exactly?” I asked.
Ally told me she could create monsters, install traps, and even increase the number of floors.
Naturally, the stronger the monsters or the more complex the traps, the more Dungeon Points they cost.
“You can even grow plants and trees inside the cave or make rivers and stuff!” she said.
“Ohh, so if you design the terrain right and place the right kind of monsters, you could make weak enemies a huge pain for adventurers.”
“Whoa, I never even thought of that! Luke, you might be, like, an actual genius!”
“I mean, it’s not that brilliant of an idea...”
She also said she could modify the biome of an entire floor, turning it into grasslands or desert, instead of just placing a few trees or streams. Unfortunately, that cost a ton of points—way more than we had right now.
“Okay, let’s just save that for later. For now, let’s keep the standard cave layout, but try to expand it to five floors.”
We were currently at two floors, so that would add three more.
“Sounds good to me!”
“Oh, and make sure to gradually scale the monster strength and sprinkle in traps along the way, like I said before,” I reminded her.
“You got it, sensei!”
“Did you just call me ‘sensei’?”
After that, I gave Ally a few more tips about dungeon design, but it wasn’t like I was an expert or anything.
“By the way, how long have you been the dungeon master down here?” I asked.
“Well, I’ve never really kept track, but maybe like fifty years or something?”
“Fifty years? Why’d you become a dungeon master in the first place?”
“Beats me! I just kinda woke up one day, and there I was!” She told me that when she’d opened her eyes, she was in this room, the dungeon core right next to her.
“I’ve never even met another fairy! Well, not just fairies. You and the others are the first living things I’ve met—y’know, besides the monsters I made in the dungeon!” she said.
“Seriously? So you don’t remember anything before waking up here?”
She could hold a normal conversation, so it didn’t seem like she’d just been spontaneously generated or anything.
“I mean, I remember a little! But it’s just, like, bits and pieces!”
“That sounds like memories of a past life.”
“Yeah, maybe!” she said.
That sounded like what’d happened to me. Maybe Ally had been reincarnated too, though probably not from another world like me. Still, maybe if I kept asking her questions, I could find something out.
“Come to think of it, there is one thing I remember really well!” she said.
“Oh yeah? What is it?”
“I was in this super sparkly world, constantly surrounded by all these major hotties who totally fawned over me! Like, every day a different dreamboat would come to see me!”
“Are you sure that wasn’t just a dream?” I asked skeptically. That sounded way too convenient to have been real.
“It wasn’t a dream! That totally happened to me, okay?!”
Well, if she believes it, who am I to argue?
Sadly, it didn’t seem like this would be the clue to her past life I’d hoped for.
“Anyway, Ally. Are you free tonight?”
“Yeah, I’ve got nothing but free time!”
“Right. Well, come up to where the dwarves live tonight, okay?”
“Hm? If you say so!”
That night, Ally flew up to the dwarven section of the tunnels.
“Luke! I’m heeeere!”
And what awaited her was over two hundred villagers, all gathered in her honor.
“Welcome to Luke’s Village!”
“H-Huh?!”
Long tables crowded with food and drinks spanned the entire room.
“What’s all this?!” Ally asked.
“It’s a welcome party,” I said.
“For who?”
“For you, silly!”
“This is my...welcome party?”
“Yeah, every time someone new joins the village, we hold a welcome party. But since you can’t leave the dungeon, we figured we’d throw you one down here instead.”
We’d already held one a while back for the new arrivals, but I’d totally forgotten about Ally at the time. Once I remembered, we quickly threw this one together just for her. We couldn’t bring everyone, of course, because of the limited space, so I’d handpicked the guest list. Everyone I asked had agreed without hesitation.
“B-But I can’t even enter the village...”
“This is in the village now, and you’re part of it too.”
“You mean...somebody like me is allowed to be part of the village?” Ally asked.
“Why would we throw you a party if we didn’t want you here?”
She sniffled.
“Ally?”
“I’m so insanely happy right nowwwwww!”
“Whoa!”
She zoomed around the room at full speed, tears streaming down her face.
“I’ve been sooooo lonely!”
Even though she was tiny, her tears were as big as raindrops.
She’d spent fifty long years alone in the dark depths of the dungeon. She always acted cheerful and bubbly, but I’m sure the loneliness had been tough.
“You’re not alone anymore. We’re here with you now.”
“Waaaaah! You’re too nice!”
“Oh, and just like you requested, I tried to gather the best-looking guys in the village. Are you impressed?” I asked with a grin.
“They’re perfect! I’m in heaveeeennn!”
Just then, a message popped up in my field of vision.
Register Ally as a villager? ▼ Yes / No
Oh, right. I hadn’t officially added her yet. Of course, I picked “Yes.”
And just like that, Ally the fairy and dungeon master became the newest resident of Luke’s Village.
To be continued in volume 3