“Mr. Clerk, you sleep in the dungeon?”
“It would be a hassle to travel this far every day, of course.”
After we were done with the coffee shop and left, we decided to follow the route to go down… Although I say that, even that route had branching paths on the way. Whenever there were, there were signs that said things like [Quick Route] and [Detour] so that we wouldn’t get lost.
We’d have to stay at the inn located within this former dungeon if we took the detours. It end up making me leave NaanaToy unattended, though I could contact her through the birdTran…
This was the sort of place it’d be scary to take my eyes off of even temporarily, so…
“Let’s go with the straightforward route this time.”
“Alright.”
And so we quickly advanced through the dungeon.
We saw other guests on the way—groups of three to five who seemed like adventurers—though they seemed to have chosen the long distance routes.
… It looked like the trend was to say stuff like [This next!] when taking their route.
Still though, this was a safe dungeon that didn’t have any enemies—ah, there were wolf monsters drawn on life-size panels. Of course, they didn’t exactly attack anyone.
There were stamps on them, so maybe it was like a stamp collection checkpoint or something?
“… Them having exhibitions like that makes it feel like a museum.”
“Look dear, look! Isn’t it cool!?”
When I looked, I saw RokufaRokuko wielding a play sword against the life-size wolf panel. Even the sword looked pretty good, it was made out of some sort of white wood that was pretty light.
“Oh, yeah. It’s cool.”
It was a good occasion to, so I took a picture with the monitor function.
… It was the kind of scene where you’d take a picture if you had a camera. I wonder what normal people would do in a situation like this? I doubt they bring canvas to draw a picture on.
“Alright, your turn now.”
“You want me to do it too?”
“Of course I do.”
And so I took the wooden sword from her and posed… At least RokufaRokuko seemed to be enjoying herself.
Along with taking short stops like that on our way down, we went down eleven sets of stairs in total, bringing us to the twelfth and final floor. We should be able to make it back before the end of the day.
By the way, the hotel district was somewhere on the fifth or sixth floor. It had small rooms that seemed to be something like a warehouse area that was just repurposed as an inn.
Some of them were strong people sleeping there and living in this former dungeon—cafe clerks?
“Still, it looks like environment rooms just turn into big boxes when a dungeon goes away. It’s been enlightening!”
“Makes sense when you think about it.”
I mean, the dungeon was responsible for actually creating the environment.
… Still, it’s not like it takes any maintenance cost to keep it going after it’s installed. That was curious. Though I guess it makes sense if you think about it as being like buying something outright instead of in payments.
“Still, I’m tired… I wonder if we’ll use the same route for the way back?”
[Pii.]
“Oh, yeah, I guess I could head back first.”
Right. We could just have Rokuko return that body to Rokufa.
I could also just use [Teleport] and… ah, Narikin can’t use it, huh. He hasn’t learned it, after all.
“There’s the Core Room!”
“Former, but still.”
There was a reception desk in front of the Core Room. A man sat there with a smile on his face.
“Good work, Adventurer-sama. The room behind me is the Core Room.”
“Hmm. How easy… it appears to have been harsh for my wife, though.”
“Oh? That is unfortunate. The basis of adventure is to always have something left in reserve. As the first generation Saintess-sama said, [It is dangerous to venture forth].”
I remember hearing that saying in Japan, could they have also been a Hero?
“Saintess-sama, so the Light God’s Decree?”
“Ohoh? Is Adventurer-sama not of the Light God’s Decree?”
“We are tourists from afar, we do not part natural-born citizens of the Light God’s Decree.”
“So that’s how it was.”
The receptionist seemed to understand. I wasn’t part of the Light God’s Decree, so it’s not as if I was lying.
“So, since you’re here… I assume there’s a separate reception fee to go inside?”
“Well, yes. I’m also the Core smashing receptionist.”
“Rokufa. This is the reception desk for the jar smashing, but do you still have the energy to go through with it?”
“Of course I do, I’ll be fine! It’s not like we’ll have to escape from a dungeon collapse or anything after we break it, right? We can just take a break after.”
And so I paid the five silver coin cost. It was the fee we’d heard about in advance back outside the entrance.
“Alright, please wait here for a moment. Once ready, you can break it however you wish. Oh, and be careful so as to not damage the pedestal. There is also usually a ten-minute time limit, but there isn’t anyone else here today, so you can take your time after going inside.”
… So there are days when this is crowded? It really must be a popular attraction.
The receptionist took a wooden box out from another room nearby. It likely contained a white jar that would mimic a Dungeon Core.
After a little while longer, the receptionist returned once again.
“Please enjoy yourselves.”
Urged on by the receptionist, RokufaRokuko and I set foot down the path leading to the former Core Room.
The interior of the former Core Room only had a pedestal with a white jar meant to mimic a Dungeon Core on it.
… Yep, this is what the Core Room is all about. It’s the same with ours.
Well, the pedestal itself seemed to be a light magic tool able to illuminate the white jar and make it glow. It all looked pretty artistic.
“Oooh, so it’s like that!”
“It’s a good reproduction… how about we go and break it?”
“Y-Yeah!”
Struggling a bit, RokufaRokuko hefted the white mace that was left for us to [Smash the Core]. It was probably meant to be lifted as a couple.
“We get to make a wish when we break it right?”
“… Like for finding clues?”
“Not like that. Like for being blessed with children.”
… Yeah, it was definitely for couples.
“Soto was just born the other day…”
“Yeah, but it’s for the future. Right?”
“Besides, it’d definitely be better to ask your Otou-sama than to ask here.”
“It’s not the same!”
I guess not.
“… Ah, then maybe you could ask for Haku-san to approve of it?”
“I thought Haku Ane-sama already approved… whatever! Let’s gooo!”
Kaching!
The two of us broke the urn.
Rather, before anything, we left the Core Room with a [Hrm.] sort of feeling like breaking a (jar that stood in for) a Dungeon Core in order to make a wish was wrong for a Dungeon Core. RokufaRokuko was satisfied as she held my arm, though.
“Hoh, that was quick. You can return that way.”
“Hmm?”
The male receptionist gestured toward a staircase.
It was different than the one we came down on.
Well, the route felt like a one-way street, so it’s probably something I should have predicted.
“I wish you would have told us about that first if you had something like that…”
“Ohohoh? How could we, the superior [Humans] not be able to create a stairway twelve floors down if the dungeon was able to?”
Uh huh.
Moreover, he also said they’d added direct holes for ventilation. It’s true, without those they’d have suffocated as it was just a hole in the ground rather than a dungeon. Yeah.
