I am currently faced with a serious problem.
“No, what the hell is this?”
An alarm suddenly rang, so I checked the contents right away.
- The existence of the dungeon “Nest of the Evil God” is beginning to become known to adventurers.
- The existence of the dungeon “Red-Haired Tribe” is beginning to become known to adventurers.
- The existence of the dungeon “Dregs of the Demon Realm” is beginning to become known to adventurers.
- The existence of the dungeon “Village Shrouded in Fog” is beginning to become known to adventurers.
It said that the existence of my dungeons was spreading among adventurers.
“Huh….”
For a moment, my thoughts stopped.
It wasn’t shock or anxiety.
“So what was bound to come has finally come.”
A deep sigh scattered through the room.
In truth, one could say I’d been lucky until now.
I had been able to grow quietly while keeping the existence of my dungeon hidden.
Thanks to that, I had earned enough time to secure 5-star monsters and all sorts of monster forces, including Celia, who was 6-star.
There had been a few intruders along the way, but the monsters inside the dungeon had dealt with them well, so they hadn’t become a threat.
But now, the situation had changed.
“What I feared has finally arrived.”
I had expected that someday, the existence of my dungeon would become known.
After all, I couldn’t hide a dungeon forever.
Still. Isn’t this too sudden?
‘Where on earth did the story spread from?’
If there was a result, there had to be a cause.
No.
The water had already been spilled.
Right now, I didn’t have the leisure to think about the cause.
Rather than worrying over why the water had been spilled, it was more important to decide how to respond—whether to gather it back up or wipe it away.
‘Let’s organize this.’
The existence of my dungeon would continue to spread from now on.
Even if I wanted to stop it now, could I?
That wasn’t the answer either.
Then there was only one answer.
‘I need to replenish my forces further.’
Not just the forces—I had to strengthen the dungeon itself overall.
This wasn’t a situation where I could save gems.
It was right to spend real money up to the limit and stockpile gems. And then the correct answer would be to invest all the gems I obtained into the dungeon.
‘Well, I have been taking it too lightly.’
Since it had come to this, I should increase the dungeon facilities as well.
It was time to run the dungeon in earnest, not simply summon monsters.
Of course, to do that, I needed gems. And to recharge gems, I needed money.
‘I guess I’ll have to stop by the Firebird Guild soon.’
Even if I currently looked like an unemployed bum, I was, in my own way, serving as an adviser to the Firebird Guild.
Well, to be precise, I was only an adviser limited to Jeong Yerin’s team, but the important thing was that I was getting paid.
The problem was Jeong Yerin.
‘If she realizes the truth about me, she’ll cut me off immediately.’
I had risen to the position of adviser thanks to Jeong Yerin’s misunderstanding.
That meant that once she realized what I really was, I could be fired at any time.
Before that happened, it seemed right to pull in as much money as possible.
Someone watching might think I was overreacting.
But in this situation, responding sensitively was absolutely the right choice.
The dungeon and I were a connected collective.
If the dungeon collapsed, I would die as well.
Since my life was on the line, I had to do everything I could.
Now that the existence of the dungeon had begun to be known in earnest, it had become impossible to predict the dangers that would come.
More powerful adventurer parties might flock to the dungeon, and in the worst case, there was even the possibility that a nation would respond on a national scale.
Even if my monsters were powerful, could they stop an endlessly surging flood of numbers?
They say no one can stand against sheer numbers, don’t they?
Hmm. Should I also push numbers, then?
My head became complicated.
‘If there’s at least one hope….’
It was the question of how the rumor had spread among adventurers.
Judging from the alarm, it only said the existence of the dungeon was beginning to become known, not that they had identified it precisely.
Yes, there was still hope.
In any case, I had the satellite dungeon as my final bastion.
If the atmosphere really turned bad, I could simply move the dungeon core to the satellite dungeon.
Fortunately, the existence of the satellite dungeon had not been discovered.
I immediately touched the screen and examined the dungeon.
In this urgent situation, Celia was nowhere to be seen.
‘Where did she go?’
Even after searching the other areas, I couldn’t find Celia.
‘Did she go outside?’
Currently, my dungeon monsters’ range of action had expanded as far as the Kingdom of Seil.
So it wasn’t strange for Celia to be away.
Perhaps Celia knew something about this situation.
And what if she had left the dungeon in order to resolve the problem?
Hope suddenly rose in my heart.
This wasn’t some minor incident, so Celia must surely have noticed something.
As if to prove that, the movements of the forces within the dungeon were unusual.
Undead monsters that should have been in Area 1 were lined up and stationed throughout the dungeon.
The goblins were also walking around inside while armed.
It looked as though security had been tightened in preparation for intruders.
Wouldn’t it be safe to say that Celia had clearly given instructions in advance?
I wasn’t just voicing my hopes.
In truth, Celia had done far too well until now.
Her dungeon management had been perfect, and she had faithfully followed my orders.
Above all, she always produced good results, and if there was a problem, she was practically an all-purpose manager who even solved it.
I had been able to come this far thanks to Celia.
She must have taken action this time because she had some sort of plan as well.
Yes, for now, trusting Celia came first.
And I could prepare in my own way.
“Shall I check the dungeon’s situation first?”
I looked through the dungeon area by area.
‘Hmm.’
I didn’t see any particular problems.
Since it was already full of monsters protecting the dungeon, there was no issue with defense.
But something was lacking.
“Ah, the facilities are way too poor, aren’t they?”
Looking at Area 2, where the goblins lived, the huts were in terrible condition.
It seemed I would have to pay attention to the facilities first for now.
[Dungeon Facilities] [Buildable Facilities]
First, I touched [Dungeon Facilities].
It had been a really long time since I’d checked it after building facilities in the early days of the dungeon.
Honestly, there was no helping that.
Back then, I thought this was a game.
After realizing it was reality, replenishing monsters, which was immediately urgent, came first; facilities didn’t even come to mind.
At most, I had only paid attention to the altar.
[Dungeon Facilities]
- Prison: Can confine intruders who enter the dungeon. (Can be upgraded to “Magic-Suppressing Prison”)
- Adjutant’s Room: A space where the adjutant resides and handles work. (Can be upgraded to “Office”)
- Hut: A basic space where monsters can reside. (Can be upgraded to “Sturdy Hut”)
- Altar: Offerings can be presented through the altar. (Level 2)
- Dungeon Core
There was less than I expected—far too little.
‘I was far too indifferent.’
The list of facilities was so shabby that every single one of them was in a state where it could be upgraded.
It was a point that showed just how little attention I had paid.
Wasn’t Celia even still working in the adjutant’s room I had built at the beginning?
To think I had shown indifference instead of giving a reward to Celia, who worked the hardest.
I almost felt sorry for Celia for having worked under such an exploitative boss.
“Should I start with upgrades?”
- Gems will be consumed to upgrade “Prison” to “Magic-Suppressing Prison.”
- Magic-Suppressing Prison: A prison installed with a special barrier and devices that suppress magic. (Capacity: 10 people)
The first thing I upgraded was the prison.
It said that the capacity had increased and that a barrier and devices to suppress magic had been installed.
“With this, I can effectively imprison mages too.”
It might be cruel, but this was, in the strict sense, an emergency.
It wasn’t the time to consider this and that and think about adventurers’ human rights.
In the case of the prison, I purchased an additional one and upgraded it to a Magic-Suppressing Prison as well.
“The prison is done, and next is the adjutant’s room.”
No matter what kind of group it was, the most important part was the leadership.
I upgraded the adjutant’s room where Celia had been staying all this time into an office.
- Gems will be consumed to upgrade “Adjutant’s Room” to “Office.”
- Office: A space where the dungeon’s master handles work and receives subordinates. However, if the dungeon’s master is absent, the being next in rank may use it.
Just like with the prison, I purchased one additional adjutant’s room.
Of course, in order to create a distinction, I did not upgrade the additionally constructed adjutant’s room.
‘I hope Celia likes it.’
I smiled with satisfaction and turned my eyes to the next facility.
After the adjutant’s room came the huts.
The huts were mainly used as the goblins’ residence in Area 2.
There hadn’t been any at first, but as the number of goblins increased, I had built huts for them to stay in.
“If possible, sturdy huts would be better.”
I upgraded all the huts in Area 2.
Aside from that, there were no facilities that could be upgraded additionally.
I turned my gaze elsewhere.
[Buildable Facilities]
- Warehouse: A place to store and manage valuables and items.
- Training Ground: A training facility for improving the combat abilities of monsters.
- Corpse Storage: A place to store corpses.
- Interrogation Room: A space to interrogate and torture prisoners. (Can be upgraded to “Execution Ground”)
- Dungeon Throne: A seat that only the dungeon’s master may sit upon. (Locked)
- Strategy Meeting Room (Locked)
- Spring of Regeneration (Locked)
- Hall of Heroes (Locked)
……
…
There were many other facilities besides these, but most of them were locked.
“There aren’t many that are immediately usable.”
Still, since I had to grow the dungeon now, there was no helping it.
I purchased all the facilities that could be built right away.
- “Warehouse” has been purchased.
- “Training Ground” has been purchased.
- “Corpse Storage” has been purchased.
- “Interrogation Room” has been purchased.
- Gems will be consumed to upgrade “Interrogation Room” to “Execution Ground.”
- Execution Ground: Instills fear in prisoners who are targets of interrogation. Also increases the loyalty of monsters within the dungeon.
“Now that there are facilities, it finally feels like a dungeon.”
As I suddenly added facilities, the interior appearance of the dungeon also changed. Even so, now that facilities had been added, it finally gave off an atmosphere worthy of being called a dungeon.
“Next, let’s expand.”
The next thing I chose was [Dungeon Expansion].
It didn’t mean adding more areas.
I was thinking of increasing the size of the existing areas.
Even without that, Area 1 was packed with undead monsters. Area 2 had also reached the point where goblins were living crammed together.
In the current state, even if I wanted to replenish more monsters, I couldn’t.
So I intended to use gems to expand the dungeon.
The time had come for the dungeon to change after a long while.
* * *
Celia, having completed her mission, returned to the dungeon.
Thanks to Ralph, the bandit leader she had met along the way, things had gone smoothly. Ralph’s fabricated story spread widely among the adventurers.
Because of that, Celia and Kazel were able to return sooner than expected.
“Ahh, I feel Master’s greatness once again.”
As soon as Celia returned, she marveled at the changed appearance of the dungeon.
After all, the only one who could change the dungeon so freely was her Master.
“This is his power!”
Celia spoke in an excited voice as she looked around.
The first thing that had changed was that each area had grown larger.
And above all, facilities she had never seen before had been added.
In particular, upon seeing that the existing adjutant’s room had been changed into an office for her, Celia smiled brightly.
“I see. Master must surely desire the current situation as well!”
The Master Celia envisioned, the great one she served, was an omnipotent being.
Therefore, he must already know that the existence of the dungeon was now becoming known among adventurers.
No, she was certain of it.
He must have changed the dungeon to encourage her to stop the adventurers who would come in the future.
“I, Celia, will surely spread Master’s fame far and wide across the continent!”
Celia’s plan was only just beginning.