Side Story: Kou’s Memories (2)

Having become a Dungeon Core, I won my first battle.

First of all, by defeating many enemies, I got a huge amount of meat materials and magic power.

Also, from the goblins’ equipment, I obtained mineral materials such as iron, copper, gold, and silver for the first time.

By fulfilling multiple conditions set for dungeons, the dungeon level shot all the way up to 10 at once.

I acquired a new ability, [Map].

Furthermore, the subordinate monsters that fought also evolved.

The original member, Mr. Dungeon Master Wolf, became a Dire Wolf, and the other wolves became Great Wolves, Blood Wolves, and Black Fangs.

Several of the other underlings also evolved.

Among the goblins, Tier 2 (D-rank) Goblin Knights, Goblin Rangers, Goblin Shamans, and the like were also born.

“There’s lots of magic power, so I’ll make potions and hand them out to everyone~. Also, I’ll summon stronger subordinate monsters too!”

“Kuon!”

The Dungeon Master wolf prompted me to be careful. It felt like he was telling me to look at the map.

I made a watering place and gave out potions, then looked at the map just as he had indicated.

“Everyone, keep drinking~ —Eek!”

The dungeon’s position was marked on a rough map of the world.

My dungeon was in a forest southeast of the royal capital of a human kingdom.

However, dungeons were densely packed around this area.

“There are three other dungeons around me!”

There was a 1.6 million power dungeon on the eastern hill of the royal capital.

There was a 700,000 power dungeon in the mountain range.

And south beyond the mountains, there was a 450,000 power dungeon.

It seemed I had been at 162,200 power before the battle.

It seemed that the reason for victory was that I had many Forest Wolves equivalent to Tier 2 (about 1,000 power each), and when they became Wolf Riders, they ranked up by one stage for only thirty minutes (this time becoming Tier 3, making each one worth 10,000 power, for a total of 500,000 power across fifty of them).

The one that attacked was the dungeon east of the royal capital.

Judging from the composition of the enemy monsters, it was a goblin-type dungeon.

…Its total power was high, but each individual soldier was weak and made up for it with numbers—in other words, the figure only looked large because it had huge numbers of Tier 1 and Tier 2 units, didn’t it?

While I was making that guess, a communication came in.

When I permitted chat, the Royal Capital East Dungeon eagerly started talking to me.

“You’re a rookie, but you’re pretty good! I like you!”

“Thanks very much~. So what can I do for you~?”

“Well? Want to form a clan with us?”

“Us, you say?”

“That’s right, you know. Besides me, there are two other dungeons nearby. Since we’re so close, it’s more convenient in various ways to become allies and cover for each other rather than be hostile. You can send relief troops to dungeons in the same clan, but if a dungeon is far away, they might not make it in time.”

“I see… mmm.”

I glanced at the map and thought for a moment.

Various dungeons were displayed on the map. There were even Tier 5 dungeons with over a hundred million power.

Compared to them, the three of us were weak. Not just in power either, but all of us were Tier 1 with only one core.

If I joined a clan, there was the danger that we would all get beaten up together.

Still, aside from these three, the rest were a bit farther away.

The nearest one was a dungeon to the west. It was more than three days away on foot for a human.

These three were only a few hours away on foot. Extremely dangerous.

—The location is way too bad.

If they used corridors, they could attack in less than a minute.

I concluded that facing all three at once would be impossible.

“Got it. Sure. I’ll join the clan.”

“Waaah, really~? I’m so happy. —Though it’s a shame we can’t all gang up on you now.”

—Aaah, so they really were considering retaliation. That was close.

“Who is the clan leader? I’ll send the application.”

“Of course I’m the clan leader! I’m the strongest!”

Hill Dungeon-san declared that proudly.

…Even though there was another dungeon besides her whose starting location in the mountain range should have been an excellent start, I felt a little puzzled as to why it was still weak.

—Well, if they’re becoming allies, then there’s no problem, right?

Brushing aside my doubts, I sent a join request to the hill dungeon east of the royal capital.

And so I joined the clan [Goblin Empress].

Once you joined a clan, you could use a chat reserved only for clan members.

I quickly greeted them.

“Nice to meet you. I’m the dungeon in the forest southeast of the royal capital~. Nice to have you all with me!”

“Our promising rookie! I’m the hill dungeon east of the royal capital!”

“Yeeah~, pleased to have ye. I’m the Great Canyon dungeon.”

“Hey…”

The one whose response was sluggish was probably Mountain Range Dungeon-san.

Hill Dungeon-san spoke cheerfully.

“Now then, since you’re a forest, it sounds like you’ve got lots of leaves and grass! Could you give me some for monsters? I’ll give you something in return.”

“Oh, Princess. Indeed, that’s true. Could ye spare me some lumber as well? In return, I can offer naught but stone and rock.”

“Actually, that would help me out~!”

Within the clan, not only could we send reinforcements, but we could also exchange materials and subordinate monsters.

From Hill Dungeon-san, I received weapons and armor for humans, as well as a Hobgoblin. When the leader was strong, the subordinates also became strong, so my goblins would become stronger. In return, I provided grass and leaf materials and a same-rank Great Wolf.

I exchanged lumber and stone materials with Great Canyon Dungeon-san.

Hill Dungeon-san spoke energetically.

“Thanks a bunch~! Now I can make Bush Treants! —Mountain Range, don’t you need lumber?”

“Not now.”

Mountain Range Dungeon-san spoke only the bare minimum. It was like they had built a wall around their heart, or were trying not to give away any information about themselves.

That felt a little eerie.

Great Canyon-san spoke with satisfaction.

“My, this helps a great deal. With this, I should be able to make about ten dolls.”

“Great Canyon-san, are you a doll dungeon? Isn’t that hard?”

Puppets required multiple materials just to make one. It was fair to say that it was a difficult type of dungeon to run.

“Indeed. But the location was bad, ye see. So I thought I might as well indulge my hobbies. Carving out an intricate grand temple in a winding labyrinth! It’s quite enjoyable.”

Great Canyon-san laughed loudly, going “Kakka-kakka-kakka.”

Puppets were weak, but they excelled at fine work more than humans did.

“It sounds cool, like a ruined ruin.”

“Indeed, indeed, ahhahaha.”

After that, we talked about many things.

Hill Dungeon-san was called Princess by everyone.

By the way, as I had expected, she was a goblin-type dungeon. It was the weakest dungeon type, but in return it had the best cost performance. For example, with the materials needed to make one human, she could make three goblins.

And she was making an open-type dungeon that lured in human adventurers.

Because of that, she was knowledgeable about humans.

“Did you know? There’s an Adventurer Guild in the royal capital, and adventurers take on quests in my dungeon and in the forest south of the royal capital.”

“That’s my forest—! What kind of quests are there?”

“It seems they mostly gather medicinal herbs and mushrooms, and then hunt Great Boars and goblins.”

“I see. That’s useful information!”

Besides that, I asked about human habits and how to handle humans.

In particular, she taught me that I needed to be careful, because if a vicious dungeon or a high-rank monster was judged to be a threat by humans, a large-scale joint subjugation by the Knight Order and the Adventurer Guild would be organized.

Princess said it casually.

“Why don’t you expand your dungeon and lure in humans too? If you only put in low-cost treasure chests, only beginners will come.”

“Isn’t letting humans in dangerous? They might destroy my core.”

“Of course there’s that risk. But humans are efficient when it comes to magic power.”

“Oh? Why is that?”

“Humans don’t use magic power directly. They convert it into fire or water and use it. So you can obtain each attribute—fire, water, wind, earth, light, and holy—as they are.”

“Do you get it by defeating them?”

“No, no. Even if you don’t defeat them, you get that magic power just from having them use magic inside the dungeon. Adventurers use it freely without holding back, so it’s nice~”

“Oho~. That sounds like it’d really speed up collecting magic power!”

When I said that admiringly, the Princess spoke proudly.

“Just between us, the effect changes depending on what kind of magic power you use for expansion and evolution. So gathering all kinds is important.”

“What happens?”

“I’m still researching it, but for example, a Goblin Ranger looks like it won’t evolve any further, but actually, if you give it wind attribute, it becomes a Goblin Thief. Isn’t that amazing?”

“I thought all magic power was the same. That’s really helpful~”

Some of the Forest Wolves became Great Wolves, while others became Blood Wolves.

Their evolutions had branched apart.

Maybe it was because of the difference in the magic power they had been given in their food.

At any rate, since we were Tier 1 dungeons, our subordinate monsters also basically could only be made as Tier 1, or at best Tier 2 if we worked hard.

To stand against Tier 3 or higher dungeons, we had to evolve them.

—By the way, Mr. Dungeon Master Wolf had become a Dire Wolf, but he had strength equivalent to Tier 4 (B-rank).

And so life after joining the clan continued on.

We discussed dungeon matters and I was taught how to raise monsters.

Also, since Princess lured humans into her dungeon, she was well informed about human ecology—recent trends, culture, and rumors.

She also obtained information about other dungeons.

“It seems the dungeon in the city of Westaria, west of the royal capital, is a dungeon with many water-type monsters. Even after going down forty floors, they still haven’t seen the bottom. It seems pretty huge.”

“Is that the dungeon far to the west from our perspective? There are Tier 3s too~”

“And also, don’t lay a hand on the dungeon called the Catacombs far to the north.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s a dungeon in a cooperative relationship with the Church. If you touch it, the Holy Knight Order will come and crush you, so it’s dangerous.”

“Got iiit~”

Chatting cheerfully together, we steadily became stronger.

While learning about the world, we kept expanding our dungeons.

I made mine up to five floors and increased my underlings even further.

By that point, every wolf in the forest had become my subordinate.

Perhaps because I was in a clan, I was hardly ever attacked.

Once, a Tier 3 attacked, but all of us sent subordinate monsters into Princess’s dungeon to support her.

I sent fifty Tier 3 Wolf Riders, Tier 2 orcs, and several wolves.

Great Canyon-san sent several self-destruct dolls wrapped in bombs, though still Tier 1, as well as several Tier 2 Precise Dolls that used bows and spears in dense formation.

Mountain Range-san sent many Big Bats, Blood Bats, and Slash Swallows.

I was a little surprised, thinking, —So that mountain range has a lot of flying-type monsters.

—Does that mountain range have little in the way of mineral resources?

If so, it did not seem like much of a threat.

The battle began.

The attacking dungeon had sent in a force centered around Lizardmen and Shield Turtles.

It appeared to be a lizard-type dungeon.

Their defense was sturdy, and their organized movement made them very strong.

At first we struggled, but the self-destruct dolls succeeded in blasting a huge hole in the line of turtles that formed the very front of the enemy formation.

Into that gap, the wolf unit charged and split the enemy ranks.

Then the goblin unit worked with the bats and swallows to pick off enemies one by one.

After repeating explosions, division, and annihilation many times, we had defeated almost all of the enemy.

Finally, we defeated the Lizard General who had been leading the force.

Then a voice rang out announcing the success of the defense.

Clan chat filled up with everyone’s congratulations.

The Princess shouted in excitement.

“Aren’t we the strongest!?”

“We did it~”

“As expected of the Princess.”

“…yeah.”

“Man~, but the Lizardmen were strong. I couldn’t have done it alone. Thanks, everyone!”

Everyone talked amid laughter.

About how it had been dangerous back then, or how that strategy had been good.

Princess in particular was the most excited of all.

We all stayed up late into the night making noise in clan chat.

…It was really fun.

I thought I was glad I had joined this clan.

—Which was why, when it happened, it was far too much of a blindside.