The New Inhabitants Of The Dungeon

Hey, Shun here!

Ever since I've been into fantasy, I've also been a huge fan of fantasy humanoid races.

You know, like beastkin, elves, and etc.

That's why, when I met Pochi and Tama, I really doted on them. A lot.

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(Shun's POV)

Traversing the forested area and the mountainous path in the middle of the night wasn't the wisest thing someone should ever do but I did so nevertheless in order to tend to the girls that I just brought with me. I can't bring them with me to an inn inside Tsia City right away since they will get suspicious of me.

I'll just back here tomorrow by bypassing the guards in order to avoid suspicion. Going out without the knowledge of the city guards is not a good idea, after all.

Because of my fast speed, we managed to avoid getting entangled with fights against the feral monsters that we met on our way. It only took us close to 30 minutes to arrive at our destination.

On our way here, I took care not to get hit by any dangling branches and avoided monsters as long as we can.

"We're here. Rokuko, withdraw us from here, please!"

When I said those words out loud, I felt like the two who I brought with me looked at me, a look of confusion and puzzlement visible in their eyes.

『What are you saying Shun? I can only withdraw you, my Dungeon Master, and items to the Master Room, you know?』

Huh? Is that the case?

Wait… Did she just say items? I have an idea!

To avoid the two kids from hearing what I'm about to say, I told them to "cover their ears and try not to listen".

"Say, Rokuko. Isn't slaves considered as items?"

『Haa!? What are you saying, Shun!? They're clearly living and breathing! They're not items!』

"No, Rokuko. Look at it from this perspective. They are being sold like 'goods' on a specific market, just like meat, vegetables, equipments, and other items."

『Haa…』

"As long as you pour mana in their collars, they are considered as your possession, their master. Isn't that like every items?"

『Eh? Ehhhh!? I can somehow understand but it still don't make sense! Uuuh!』

"You don't have to think of it as something that makes absolute sense, Rokuko. Just think of it like this, slaves are items, they're like tools."

『Slaves are items… They're like… Tools?』

"Yep, just like that. Repeat it over and over inside your head."

The reason why I'm doing this is because I want Rokuko to think that slaves are items. If she, the Dungeon Core, thinks of slaves as such, we might be able to withdraw these two to our Master Room.

We can't really stay on any other place besides the Master Room so I wanted to take these two there. Also, since I am their master right now, they wouldn't be able to spill the beans about me being a Dungeon Master as long as I order them not to.

『Slaves are items… Slaves are… Yeah, why didn't I think about that? You're really great, Shun!』 Wow, she really believed it. And so fast, too.

"Now, do you think you can withdraw us to the Master Room?" I asked tentatively.

『Yep! Wait a sec!』

Moments after Rokuko said that, a light enveloped me and the two girls I'm carrying with me. As expected, Rokuko was able to do it.

If that were me, I would most likely fail on brainwashing myself. It's really hard to make yourself believe something that you clearly know is the opposite of a fact.

What do they call this, again? Oh, yeah, cognitive dissonance.

The thing I like about Rokuko is that she isn't the brightest bulb around. If Rokuko was actually smart, this plan wouldn't have worked.

When we appeared at a really large white room the size of a gymnasium, I let the two girls down. Now that I finally had the time to inspect their appearances, I'd say that the two of them are the exact opposites of each other.

One of them have black hair that goes slightly past her shoulders, black colored irises, and black, droopy dog ears on top of her head. Her skin is a healthy tan while her fluffy tail remained hidden, tucked between her legs.

Her ears reminds me so much of the ears of a beagle. Only in this case, her drooping ears are actually almost reaching her chin.

She's so cute that I wanted to pet her immediately. Oh, I'm already petting her.

"Auu…" So cute. I bet that Pochi and her will get along just fine.

On the other hand, the second and last girl was the complete opposite of the dog-eared girl. Unlike the dog-eared girl who's mostly black in color, this one could almost be described as the exact opposite.

While the dog-eared girl remained in such a pristine condition, with no visible scars in her body, this girl have many wounds. She seems to be far removed from the world right now, possibly because she suffered a trauma far greater than the dog-eared girl.

Her appearance is akin to that of a fox. Her large and pointy fox ears are light ash gray in color, with a black coloration in its tip, while her tail have a light ash gray coloration on its base and creamy white when nearing its tip.

Her eyes, on the other hand, are also light ash gray in color, with a slight blue tint. Similar to her eyes, her mid-length hair have the same color, light ash gray with a slight blue ombre.

I didn't know if it could help her in removing the scars but, I transformed to my [Only Sense Online] game avatar and casted a healing spell on her.

"Oh holy radiance, the divine light, bend into my will and heal this person — "Round Heal"!"

The reason why I chanted was in order to have a more concrete image to go with the magic I'm about to cast. I don't have any idea if this'll work but hey, it's better to try than do nothing.

"What are you doing Shun? Wait, what's that spell? I haven't heard of that before."

I temporarily ignored Rokuko's questions and decided to observe what would happen to the fox girl in front of me. Thankfully, what I did seems to have helped as all of her scars and existing physical wounds disappeared without a trace.

"Yosh, it's good now. As for your dirty bodies, here, "Purification"! Ah, you as well, "Purification"."

When I casted [Purification] on both of them, they both let out a cute squeal of "Hyafuu!". While I was looking at the two little girls who are now liberated from all the dirt and grime in their bodies, I patted them on the head before I remembered something crucial.

"Right, I forgot to buy you a new set of clothes."

Since we have a whole lot of clothes to spare, I bought the two [Expensive Clothes (Dress: 120 DP)], [Expensive Shoes (Child-sized: 80 DP)], [Knee Socks (White: 70 DP)], and [Female Child's Underwear (20 DP)].

"Hmm… Something's missing…" Looking at the two who are now dressed up, I muttered to no one in particular.

Ah, right! I know what was missing. I once again went to the DP Catalog and bought two [Expensive Ribbons (Yellow: (10 DP)] and two [Expensive Ribbons (Blue: (10 DP)].

With the help of Rokuko, we tied the ribbons on the heads of the two children. Rokuko tied the yellow ribbons on the two large tufts of black hair that's adorning the dog-eared girl's face while I, on the other hand, took two tufts of light ash gray hair and tied it into some kind of twintail at the base of the fox-eared girl's ears.

"Yep, you girls are definitely a lot cuter now. Right Rokuko?"

"Yeah. You also bought me this kind of dress saying that it would suit me, right?"

"Yep. And it does suit you doesn't it?"

"Uh-huh."

As an aside, I bought Rokuko this same clothes just so that she could look a lot cuter in her DP saving form. I also bought her a pair of two brown ribbons with golden threads as a design on its edges.

As for Tsuka, I bought her a single light green ribbon and tied it at the base of one of her ears. It seems like the Vorpal Bunny really liked it as she would sometimes play with it whenever I and Rokuko are busy.

"So? Can you tell me where you picked up these girls? You haven't been gone for even a whole day but you already brought with you two girls…" Rokuko said while crossing her arms.

"Hm? Oh, them? I bought them from the slum's slave market. I wanted to somehow do something to save some people from that disgusting place but they are the only ones I could save right now…"

"Hmm… Is that so?" She seems to be quite suspicious but she soon accepted my explanation anyway. I mean, she didn't have to be suspicious about anything, really.

"Yep. We could also get them to help at our inn when we open it up. Right, girls?"

At my sudden call, the two girls suddenly straightened up their bodies with a jerk as they replied to me in a rather stiff manner.

"Y-Yes! M-Master…"

"U-Understood… Master…"

Eh? Looks like the two are still quite timid.

Well, no matter. We could still work on that.

Pochi and Tama were also like this when I first met them. Now, they are really energetic.

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※~To be continued~※

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Author's Remarks:

※ New characters! I'd like to start with making the inn and such. According to the current pace of this story, I don't think it'll end in just two or so chapters.