day 3 chapter 4

Day 3

Two days had passed since I was summoned. Looks like we've got 179

DP now... wait, no. It just went up to 180. I could summon nine whole goblins

with this much.

As an aside, I had figured out why the bandits hadn't destroyed the

Dungeon Core. They were using it in place of a foot warmer. The Dungeon

Core glowed faintly and was just a little warm. The boss of the bandits had

built his bed in the Core room and was putting his feet on it as he slept. I

learned that we could look directly out of the Master Room, but after trying it

out, an entire wall turned into a closeup of a dirty foot. Naturally, it was

terrible. Hello, Miss Dungeon Core. How does it feel to have your heart

getting stepped on?

"W-Well... I'm earning a lot of DP thanks to them being here, so... This is

like, a win-win, you know? Hmph!"

Our lovable blonde loli had gotten teary-eyed after realizing that her heart

was being trampled by stinky-looking feet. Honestly, she gets cuter the more

time I spend with her.

I spent some more time investigating the menu and learned that I could

look into the dungeon from basically any angle I wanted by using the existing

walls and ceilings. I could peer into the dungeon from the ceilings of the

hallways, the floors of the rooms, and basically any wall. By the way,

Rokuko hadn't known about that. Not surprising. There's not much need for

advanced reconnaissance when your dungeon only has one room.

"Alright. Guess I should finally start doing something..."

"You'll summon something, right? You'll summon a lot of goblins and

kill them all, right?! Ah, buying a lizard man for 150 DP might be smart! I

won't forgive that bandit boss, let's stab him to death!"

"Idiot. They'll just kill us in revenge if we try that. Look at how many of

them there are."

As expected, she felt humiliated over having her heart used as a simple

foot warmer. She was practically barking like a dog and growling at the

bandits' boss. Though given how cute her appearance was in energy-saving

mode, she was more like a puppy than anything.

"There's eight of them. We're way too weak to take them on. And if you

hadn't summoned that first goblin, we wouldn't need to waste so much DP

on food."

"Mmm, the maintenance cost. I had never thought of that before... Wait!

Didn't you waste a bunch of DP on that [Futon] or whatever?!" Don't be

ridiculous. That [Futon (50 DP)] was an absolutely necessary expense.

"So, what are you going to do?"

"I've got a plan, but... Hey, Rokuko, do you know how to write words?

And do you think those bandits can read?"

"Writing? Uh-huh, I can write. I saw those bandits reading a book they

stole from someone before, so... they can definitely read simple things."

"Sweet. Then listen closely and write the things I tell you to."

"Okaaay."

# Bandit's Perspective

"Boooss! Wake uuup!"

"Ngggh...?"

The boss of the bandits woke up in the cave and saw a chest in front of

him. Was this thing here yesterday? Nah, no way. I woulda saw it before

sleepin'.

"The hell is this thing? Where'd it come from?"

"We dunno, boss. Rodrige was on guard and he said nobody brought it

inside or nothin'."

"So what yer saying is... It just poofed and appeared in the middle of this

cave like magic?"

"Er... I guess so?"

The bandit boss investigated the chest, but didn't find any traps inside of

it. He opened it carefully and saw that an iron helmet was resting inside. It

was a high-quality helmet, and it looked new too.

"Heh, this thing is pretty nice. We could sell it for a lot of money. Or we

could use it, either way."

"Boss, there's somethin' written on the bottom of the chest."

"Eh? The hell? ...Letters? Hey, Brakin! You can read, right? Read this!"

"You got it, boss! Leeet's see..."

The boss showed the chest to a subordinate and made him read it. The

contents of the message were unbelievable. "I am the Dungeon Core. Thank

you for defeating those goblins. This is a present from me. It may take some

time, but if you bring me corpses, I can give you more presents."

"Dungeon Core...? Hey, are we in a fucking dungeon?"

"I dunno, I heard this place was just an ordinary cave."

"Ah! Wait a second, boss! I used to be an adventurer, and I remember

hearing about a dungeon called [Ordinary Cave]!"

"Really, Johnny?!" The boss of the bandits was stunned.

There was a glowing stone sticking out of the ground that was perfect for

warming feet. He just realized that might, in fact, be a Dungeon Core.

He had never heard of anyone talking to dungeons before, but right in

front of him was a letter (in a box) from a dungeon. It might just have been a

trick, but the guard didn't see anyone coming in, and the helmet was too

pristine for any of the bandits to have gotten a hold of themselves. Not to

mention, the letter suggested that the helmet was a reward for them defeating

goblins. That was probably referring to the goblins near the cave that he

slaughtered after first going there. Five goblins posed no threat whatsoever to

the boss of the bandits. And yet killing weaklings like them was enough to

earn a fancy steel helmet.

"Woah now, seriously? Looks like luck's finally on my side...!"

Dungeons were very famous. One dungeon, known as the [Ivory

Labyrinth], was located in the middle of the capital. Rather, the capital had

been built around that dungeon in the first place. There were monsters in the

dungeon, but there were also valuable treasures to be found, like gold and

enchanted armor. And this [Ordinary Cave] was a dungeon. But the boss

hadn't seen any monsters inside of it. At worst, there were those five goblins,

but nothing more. But he had seen treasure. The steel helmet.

"Seems like this dungeon has taken a liking to me," the boss of the bandits

said with a grin.

Those who earn the favor of dungeons are rewarded with treasure... In

other words, they obtain infinite wealth. Speaking of which, the letter had

mentioned that they would be rewarded again if they offered up more

corpses. The goblin corpses had vanished while he wasn't looking. He had

thought that one of his subordinates had taken care of them, but... In truth, the

dungeon had likely absorbed them. A single glance confirmed that the

treasure chest had vanished as well.

# Keima's Perspective

"GAAAAAAH! Why?! Why did you make me thank them?!" The blonde

loli stomped around in a circle.

I can see your white panties, y'know. Absolutely shameful.

Though, I definitely understood why she was so upset. After all, I had

spent every last DP we had giving that "present" to the bandits' boss. To be

specific, I had spent 5 DP on a [Pen and Ink], 5 DP on a [Treasure Chest],

and 170 DP on a [High Quality Steel Helmet]. We now had absolutely no DP

left. 0 DP. Zilch.

"Why?! It would have been way, way better for us to spend all that DP on

goblins!"

"And then die after the bandits came swinging at us? Hahaha, sorry, but I

don't wanna die yet. I just want to sleep."

"B-But still...! That was just...! Grr, you traitor!"

"Calm down. That gift just bought us some valuable time. I'll kill them all

soon enough, trust me."

"Eh?" Rokuko blinked in surprise, as if she hadn't expected me to say

something like "I'll kill them all."

"But why? Didn't you give them that gift because you're a human and

want to help them out?"

"What? No. I just want my sleeping arrangements to be safe. And that's

not gonna happen with dangerous guys like them hanging around."

"Eeeh... Th-Then, well, don't you feel bad about killing members of your

own species?"

"Nope. I just wanna sleep. And it's not like I'm gonna be doing anything

to them myself, so... Ah, right. I don't have anything else to do today, so I

can just go ahead and sleep. Sweet. Night night." I got into my futon and

rolled onto my side.

"H-H-Hey! Wait, hold on! Explain what's going on!"

"Alright, alright. I'll explain everything... Tomorrow. Sleep tight!"

"D-DON'T GO TO SLEEEEP!" Rokuko's voice faded out as I fell asleep.

Looks like that order I gave her yesterday is still working. Good night.