Chapter 143

The Saintess’ Return Home

I thought that she might come over to talk immediately after she revived, but it wasn’t like that. Instead, the saintess took a short rest first before coming over to visit me, the village chief.

“It is extremely unfortunate, but I wasn’t able to resolve the issue… I would still be able to stay if my country hadn’t ordered me to return, though…”

“Well, it can’t be helped can it? I saw you heading into the dungeon every day, so thank you.”

“I am happy to hear that… unfortunately, I don’t have any more time, so I must leave here.”

I’d love if you didn’t come back again though honestly. But your DP income… no, considering the hassle, please don’t come back.

“Well then, Euma-senpai, see you again.”

“… Euma-senpai? Who’s that?”

“… … No, it was my mistake. Inside the dungeon, there was a golem that talked with a similar voice to Village Chief-sama’s.”

Yep, you used it just now didn’t you? Your skill that sees through lies. But I’m not lying.

“Hmm, a talking golem…? I’ve went far in, it might be mimicking my voice?”

“Really now…? By the way, it introduced itself as Euma, one of the dungeon’s bosses. It appeared to be cooperating with boss—with the demon. Do you know anything about it?”

“Unfortunately, there’s nothing that I can tell you.”

“… Really?”

“Yeah, really.”

It’s a secret, so I can’t talk about it [To the Saintess]! It’s the truth.

If she asked me [Are you keeping a secret?], I had planned on responding with [Well, despite how things look I am an adventurer after all], but she didn’t particularly keep digging.

“… Well then, Village Chief-sama, see you again.”

“Yeah. If an opportunity comes up… Ah, would you like to take pastries with you as a souvenir? I’ve come into the possession of something called cream puff. I have five of them for a gold each, would you like then?”

And so, the saintess returned to the Holy Kingdom together with the cream puffs.

… Does she have enough for traveling expenses? It’s a secret that I’m a bit worried over that despite being her enemy.

*

“Oh! Kehma, look! We’re able to summon monsters again!”

“Yeah, same with walls, passages, and rooms.”

An hour after the saintess had left, [Treaty]’s effects quietly faded. Confirming that the armor, items, traps, and monster things all looked like they’d work in the DP catalog, I took the chance to move the dungeon core to Rokuko’s room.

I’d put it into the dungeon because the saintess was staying in the inn, but I didn’t think it was even possible to seal off the dungeon core’s functions. To be exact, I want to say that we weren’t able to use our emergency escape—castling.

“And there are some more functions in the menu. You can project your voice into the dungeon and establish sortie points!”

“Wish we could’ve gotten those a bit sooner.”

The things we can do in this dungeon are slowly increasing. It’s kind of like the feeling of getting a bonus for clearing the [Treaty] or the dungeon leveling up. At any rate, we can probably make the dungeon wider and deeper.

… If there’s something like a reward system, I wonder if we should try out doing a few more extreme things? Like adding floors all the way up to the hundredth. It’d cost 500,000 DP just by adding staircase room though.

“Rin’s still here, but I can finally get some good sleep.”

“Kehma really does love sleep.”

“Humans have three major desires, it’s their instincts. Well, I’m off to sleep. Not going to do anything but sleep. Going to sleep for around three days straight. I’ll probably eat and go to the bathroom some time midway though. I don’t think there’ll be any reasons for it, but don’t wake me unless you need to.”

“Yes yes, I won’t! Good night, Kehma.”

Seen off by Rokuko, I headed for my room in the village chief’s mansion.

I then had a golem prepare a futon for me. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I fell asleep.

*

Three days later.

I finally woke up and decided to head over to Rokuko’s room for the first time in a while.

Mmm, that was a great rest. I slept like a log! I woke up nicely too, maybe I’ll even do some work?

Then, inside Rokuko’s room, Haku-san was smiling with her whole face while petting Rokuko. She had Rokuko’s head on her lap.

“Good morning, Kehma-san?”

Still with her cheerful smile, Haku-san greeted me.

Ah–yes. Good morning to you too Haku-san… umm, when did you arrive?

“I came around midday yesterday? I waited for Kehma-san to wake up before I left, yet you left me waiting. Interesting.”

Oooooi!? I know I said to not wake me up, but wake me up if Haku-san comes! I just kept sleeping from the backlash of being so busy recently!

Not leaving from my room except for using the restroom backfired! I only ever refilled the futon’s stuffing with DP and cleaned my teeth with [Cleanup]!

And now my mind’s pretty jarred.

“But Haku Ane-sama, I said that Kehma would be sleeping because he was so focused on working recently you know? He got up after three days so it’s alright!”

“Aah, un, that’s right, Rokuko-chan. I’ll pardon the matter of having me wait since Rokuko-chan says so.”

“T-thank you very much.”

“And so, I want you to tell me about various things today. I haven’t been able to see Rokuko-chan since I have been busy lately. Really, war is bothersome. It is profitable, though.”

Aah, I’m seeing Haku-san as a big shot again, talking about war.

Also, I heard that talk about war before, but it’s really happening…?

“The DP I earn lowers when soldiers die, looking at it from the demon king’s army’s perspective, their primary goal is to whittle down the empire’s earnings. Though they should understand that something of this degree isn’t enough to shaking our footing, it is vexing that it is occurring so close to ranking season.”

Ah, she did say something about the demon king also being a dungeon core now that I think of it.

“Umm, what’s this ‘ranking’ thing?”

“Oh my, you didn’t know? Once a year, there is an assembly of dungeon cores. The DP for each is announced in a ranking. I believe I was seventh place overall last year?”

Come to think of it, I feel like Rokuko said something like that a long time ago.

Rather, seventh place? That means there’re six people above Haku-san!? Err, not people, they’re dungeon cores. [1]

“Well, sixth place was the demon king’s army’s commander-in-chief, Core No. 6. His alias is [Great Demon King]. It’s alright since he hasn’t particularly done anything himself, but small fry from his faction continually get in the way.”

“It sounds troublesome in various ways.”

“Yes. You could take over some of it if you’d like?”

I’d love to hold back from that with everything I have.

“Ah, our conversation fell a little off topic, hasn’t it? I would like to hear about the matter that just occurred. I have already more or less heard about it from my pawns, though.”

“… Haku-san’s… pawns?”

“Yes. I shouldn’t say it, but the bar’s master, Wozuma, and that adventurer with talent as a carpenter, Koo-san. Are you acquainted with them?”

Wozuma and Koo-san, huh…? Both of them are part of the management for this village, I mean, isn’t one of them even the village sub-chief? For even Koo-san to be Haku-san’s pawn, her range is wide… no, to start with, this person stands at the peak of the adventurer guild. The number of pawns connected to such an inhuman person definitely wouldn’t be low.

“Even though I called them pawns, they are both still humans otherwise unrelated to dungeons. Don’t tell them anything about DP or dungeon masters.”

“Ah, yes.”

“And so, according to Wozuma and Koo-san’s reports, the village chief appears to be a splendidly direct one?”

“I’m only pressing work onto others.”

“Hmmm, well if that’s the case then it’s fine. Wozuma was originally an official that worked in my castle, so it wouldn’t be a mistake to leave domestic affairs to him.”

I heard something good. Let’s send all of the troublesome stuff, he’s definitely some super elite if he worked in the empire’s castle.

“So, I wanted to ask about various things since I haven’t been able to come over due to being so busy… is that alright?”

“Y-yes. What do you want to talk about?”

“I would like to hear about that black wolf and the saintess… but first, what is this about you giving Rokuko-chan a ring?”

I instinctively prostrated on the ground.

Footnotes:

This isn’t meant to be offensive. Just the “counter” used for the number is reserved for humans in Japanese. The pun is lost somewhere in translation. Any suggestions to make something similar work?