* * *
I felt a deep-rooted sympathy and sorrow for the strange monsters of this unfamiliar world.
But wait a moment.
Hiring monsters as employees meant I would have to keep working in the same workplace as those creatures from now on!?
…Could I really endure that?
“Are you a monster too, by any chance?”
“What an insult! I am on a completely different level from those lowly beings. I’m a fairy! A pure life born from the condensation of nature’s energy!”
Brownie suddenly thrust its round belly forward.
It said it was a being born from the gathering of the earth’s energy.
It also explained that fairies cannot leave the nature where they were born, and since it was born from the earth, it could not leave that land. It meant the land where the dungeon was built.
That was why it was called a ‘household’ fairy.
When the Demon King bought the dungeon, the fairy had been included along with it.
“I’ll introduce you to the dungeon where you’ll be working from now on. Judging by your appearance, you won’t be able to do fieldwork, so you’ll have to stick to management and supervision. Do you have any hidden powers, by chance? Like magic.”
“I, I don’t have anything like that.”
“Then it’s office work, I suppose.”
The fairy gave me a light tour of the dungeon’s interior.
The dungeon consisted of four floors in total: three above ground and one below.
It was closer to the shape of a tower—wide in area and low in height—and while it was as neat as a modern building, it was strangely twisted in places, giving off an alien atmosphere.
“Popular dungeons build up to a hundred floors above and below. You should invest in the dungeon too once you make some money. If you give me a suitable price, I can use my power to expand the space.”
“How much does it cost to build one floor?”
“One million eon. But the more floors there are, the more power it takes to maintain them, so the cost will keep rising.”
“I’ll keep that in mind…….”
Naturally, the dungeon was completely empty.
There wasn’t a single trap to catch adventurers by the ankle.
It had said it went bankrupt buying the dungeon, and it really had bought nothing but the dungeon itself.
“Shouldn’t we have… traps or something?”
“Aha, so you’re that type? The type who torments adventurers with elaborate designs! It would be nice to have them, wouldn’t it? But if you want to install traps, you need an employee with a trap design license. They’re in high demand, so you’ll have to pay quite a salary to bring one in.”
Why was this dungeon so systematic?
What even was a trap design license? Why did monsters have licenses?
The more I heard, the more absurd this world became.
Regardless, Brownie seemed delighted to be introducing its home, and continued in an excited voice.
“You’ll use the above-ground floors as the combat zone, right? The underground only has one floor, so it would be conquered too quickly.”
I didn’t really know, but I nodded, assuming the fairy must be right.
“Then let’s put your personal office underground.”
When the fairy clapped with its stubby arms, a wall opened in the space that had been nothing but endless corridors, and a cozy room appeared.
“Adding floors requires a price, but creating or removing space like this can be done without cost.”
“Whoa…….”
The fairy said it in a casual tone, but I felt like I was watching an incredible magic trick.
A room had suddenly popped into existence! How could that not be amazing?
“If you show me a proper blueprint, I can rearrange each floor however you want.”
“That’s amazing!”
At my praise, the fairy twisted its body bashfully.
I sat down on the desk and chair the fairy had made from dirt. They were completely lacking in comfort, but I supposed I should be grateful to have even this.
“What are you going to do now? Hiring field staff first, right? Or are you going to change the floor layout?”
The fairy urged me on in a highly excited voice.
I had to start work immediately, without even time to adjust….
It would have been nice to at least have a handover document.
“Um… did the Demon King own a dungeon before? Employees it worked with back then, or….”
“This is the first time our Demon King has owned a dungeon. Before that, it just holed up in its room doing research or sleeping all the time. It had mastered the art of the hermit life.”
It suddenly occurred to me that this dungeon was called the ‘Hermit’s’ Dungeon.
Perhaps the name hadn’t been given for nothing.
“Don’t tell me that’s why…….”
“That’s why it’s ranked lowest among the Demon Kings. But it seems it received an ultimatum from the Demon God saying its title would be stripped if it kept neglecting its duties. So in the end, it had no choice but to buy a dungeon.”
“So even a Demon King isn’t a lifelong position.”
“At first, I was so happy when I found out a Demon King had bought my dungeon, you know? But then I heard it was the lowest-ranked among the Demon Kings, so I was a bit disappointed. This is a secret!”
“I get it. That makes sense.”
“You really have excellent empathy. I’m so glad you became our dungeon’s manager!”
Brownie rubbed its scratchy, grainy dirt head against my cheek for a while, acting cute.
Thanks to that, I had to quickly brush the dirt off my cheek when Brownie wasn’t looking.
“I think it’s best to recruit employees first.”
“I agree! Who knows when adventurers might come charging in? Let’s start right away!”
Brownie shouted in a voice full of determination.
And so we headed to the dungeon entrance.
To the place I had run out of so desperately, only to end up fleeing back to in the end.
Perhaps because my heart had more room now, I took in the alien yet beautiful forest scenery and felt that this too was a world where people lived.
“How far is the nearest village from here?”
“If you go straight in that direction, you can arrive before it gets dark. This dungeon has a good location too. If it’s too remote, people don’t find it easily.”
I suddenly imagined what would happen if I ran off into the forest just like this.
I couldn’t picture anything hopeful.
As expected… until I had a clear plan, it seemed better to stay in the dungeon for the time being.
After all, even if I went to a village, there would be no help I could receive.
Wandering into a strange village as a foreigner with no connections didn’t feel like a very good choice.
I wasn’t even sure if we could communicate.
‘But how is it that Brownie and I can understand each other? Is it the Demon King’s power?’
While I was tilting my head in confusion, the fairy suddenly flew off somewhere.
“Hah, as expected, not a single eon. An obvious result, though.”
Brownie peered into the stone box placed in front of the dungeon and spoke in a dissatisfied tone.
“What’s that?”
“It’s a ‘prayer box.’ Pretty shabby, isn’t it? Once we become an infamous dungeon, we’ll be able to use a bigger donation box.”
“Why is it called a prayer box?”
“Adventurers put money in here and pray to the God of Fortune before challenging the dungeon. To let them conquer it safely, or to let them gain many rewards. Well, for all sorts of reasons.”
“I see…….”
Brownie chattered on in a cheerful voice.
“The God of Fortune is also called the God of Windfalls. They love money a lot. The more money you put in and the more you pray, the greater the fortune they bestow.”
I approached the prayer box and looked it over. The inside of the box was filled with nothing but dust.
“That’s why the harder the dungeon, the more money people pay to pray. They say at the ‘Dungeon of the World’ run by the rank-one Demon King, adventurers pay a million eon each time they pray! Envious, right? If we run our dungeon well, we’ll be able to rake in a fortune someday too!”
“Rake in?”
“We have to run the dungeon with the money collected in this prayer box.”
I let out a hollow laugh. I had wondered how dungeon operating funds were earned, and this was how.
“It’s money offered to the God of Fortune—is it really all right to just take and use it?”
“The God of Fortune doesn’t need physical objects. What matters is the desperate heart that offers a large sum. And the God of Fortune has partnerships with the Demon Kings, so it’s fine. After all, the dungeon has to keep running for the adventurers who pay money to pray to keep coming, right?”
I was impressed by the surprisingly proper capitalist system.
“That’s true. You really explain things well. I understand everything clearly.”
“Hehe… The Demon King used to dislike how much I talked… but you appreciate it, so I’m really happy. The truth is, I’ve been so lonely all this time. With no one to talk to.”
Once again, the fairy scratched its head shyly at the praise.
It seemed to really love being complimented.
Anyway.
“How do I hire employees?”
