Dawn sunlight gently seeps through the branches.
The mountain range greeting the morning was quiet.
But there were those who broke such stillness.
“Kyodat!”
“Kyoda! Krk!”
They were goblins belonging to the scouting party guarding the forest surrounding the dungeon.
The shift change between the morning team goblins and the night team goblins was happening swiftly.
Even if the mountain range was quiet, the scouting party guarding the dungeon had no moment of rest.
As the goblins changed shifts outside the dungeon, inside the dungeon, preparations to begin the day had also finished.
The Death Knight of Area 1 headed toward Area 4 again today for fortification work with no end in sight.
A Death Knight with a shield adorned with a maid uniform strapped to its back. And behind it, various ghouls and humans following in a line made for a chilling sight, as if watching a procession of death.
In Area 2, the goblins were rallying around the Goblin Lord.
“We shall begin the hunt! Keruk!”
“Hunt! Hunt!”
The goblins responded energetically to the Goblin Lord’s booming voice.
In contrast to the lively appearance of Area 2, Area 3 was quiet.
Aren, who had recently become the honorary mid-boss of Area 3, was still lost in the land of dreams.
Beside him, Valcherit was also in a deep slumber.
Since both their races were vampires, it was a natural sight.
But a short while later.
Valcherit awoke from her sleep.
She would have liked to sleep more, but she could not, as she had a mission to accomplish.
“Ah, Miss Riche. You’re awake?”
As Valcherit got up, someone called out to her.
The name ‘Riche’ was Valcherit’s alias.
She used it to hide her identity, so everyone in this dungeon called Valcherit by the name Riche.
Valcherit turned her head toward the one who had called her.
“Yes. You are truly working hard today as well.”
She looked at Nariel, who was tending to the writhing plants among the dense bushes.
Nariel was said to be an elf who had been captured while living as an adventurer.
Of course, thanks to the elves’ high plant affinity, rather than being a slave, she held the important position of managing the plant monsters in Area 3.
“By the way, you are truly amazing. To think you revived plants that had all died… As expected of an elf.”
Valcherit admired her sincerely.
There had been a time when lamias invaded and turned this Area 3 into a wasteland.
The man-eating tentacle plants were completely annihilated, leaving only roots, by the lamias’ poison, and the vampire butterflies flying above them had all died as well.
Yet Nariel revived all the plants that had only roots left.
As the plants grew again, the eggs once laid by the vampire butterflies metamorphosed into larvae.
The larvae pupated into vampire butterflies and laid eggs again, and Area 3 returned to its original state.
“Hmm….”
Valcherit quietly took in the scenery of Area 3.
The lamia invasion had also been a major turning point for her.
After the lamia invasion, Valcherit became a formal member of the dungeon.
It was absolutely not a result of her own choosing.
After briefly fainting and coming to, she found herself affiliated with the dungeon.
‘I still don’t know what happened then.’
She still did not know why she had become affiliated with the dungeon.
At first, she had been bewildered.
Because she had unexpectedly ended up belonging to the dungeon.
But looking at it now, she thought it was not necessarily a bad situation.
‘This place is truly peculiar.’
The sight of monsters from various races mixed together in one dungeon yet faithfully following the chain of command appealed to her.
It was the same now.
She never dreamed that a vampire and an elf would share the same area.
That wasn’t all.
When the elf Nariel tended to the plants, a water spirit behind her sprayed the water it held onto the plants.
Watching this absurd combination gave her complicated feelings.
“…….”
While Valcherit was briefly lost in thought, Nariel called out to her.
“Miss Riche, you’ll be going outside the dungeon again today, won’t you?”
Nariel spoke thus and began busily packing something.
“Today, the children have borne seeds, so I’ll give you seeds.”
She carefully placed the plant seeds one by one into a small pouch.
This was related to Valcherit’s mission.
Her mission had been assigned by Celia, who managed the dungeon.
The mission was simple.
To plant the seeds of the plant monsters in Area 3 outside the dungeon.
At first, she had the lower-ranked vampire Aren do the work in her stead.
Of course, after getting caught by Celia and being nagged extensively, she faithfully carried out the mission.
The reason she, who had once been a dungeon owner and a descendant of vampire royalty, was doing such menial work was because of Celia’s orders.
Celia was the dungeon’s general manager. Moreover, knowing well that Celia was of a much higher rank than herself, Valcherit followed orders without complaint.
“Here you go, Miss Riche.”
Nariel smiled and handed over the seeds.
“Ah, Miss Riche. Please make sure to sow the seeds at regular intervals. Otherwise, as they grow, there’s a high chance they will engage in kin cannibalism.”
Nariel explained the precautions for sowing seeds with a happy expression.
Though she was in a position no different from a hostage, and her close mage friend was imprisoned somewhere in this dungeon, Nariel lived energetically today as well.
Above all, managing plants was always enjoyable for an elf.
“Then, I’ll be back. Guard this place well.”
“Take care, Miss Riche!”
Valcherit received the pouch Nariel handed her and bid farewell.
Before going outside the dungeon, she also glanced at Aren.
In the arms of the deeply sleeping Aren, an earthworm the size of a forearm was squirming; according to Celia, it was the dungeon’s adjutant.
‘To think that is the dungeon’s adjutant….’
Valcherit could not help but hold her tongue, as it was an entity brought by the great one who was the master of this place.
In any case, this place was full of wondrous yet incomprehensible things.
First was the dungeon’s size.
The dungeon’s first floor, which had Areas 1 through 4.
Not only that, but there was another underground level below.
That was Floor 2.
Borrowing Celia’s words, the master had expanded this enormous dungeon with just a single ability.
‘Just how great a being must one be to create a dungeon.’
That wasn’t all.
Excluding herself, there were as many as three 5-star monsters in this dungeon.
Even the Arch Lich was originally a 4-star Lich and had risen to 5-star through the great one’s ability.
‘…….’
No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t believe it.
She too had been the owner of a dungeon until she was ambushed by the White Order.
Expand a dungeon with nothing but an ability and freely raise monsters’ ranks?
It was absolutely impossible.
Though she had lived long as a vampire, it was the first time she had heard of such a thing.
But she knew well that this dungeon was no ordinary one.
Thus, it was a situation where she couldn’t simply deny it either.
Wouldn’t even the ancestors who were called the kings of great vampires in the past not have possessed such an ability?
If they had such an amazing ability….
‘If this one had such an ability too….’
Couldn’t this one have made the dungeon even stronger?
Then this one wouldn’t have been so futilely ambushed by the Order.
‘It is no longer of concern now.’
Now, Valcherit was not a dungeon owner.
To be exact, her dungeon had been seized by the Demon Realm Merchant Association.
To stop the White Order’s attack, she had incurred a massive debt to the Demon Realm Merchant Association, and lacking the ability to repay that debt, her dungeon had been taken.
All of this had become an irreversible past.
All she had to do now was follow Celia’s orders well.
Valcherit shook off distracting thoughts and stepped outside the dungeon.
And as Nariel had instructed, she took out the seeds and scattered them on the ground.
While Valcherit was scattering seeds, goblins emerged from the dungeon.
“Hunt! Hunt!”
“Krk! Our Lord is going out!”
The goblins moved toward the forest in a formation surrounding the Goblin Lord.
Valcherit watched the goblins heading somewhere.
“Goblins are always diligent.”
It wasn’t just words.
The goblins were truly diligent.
They did chores around the dungeon, of course, and patrolled the forest surroundings, preparing for any eventuality.
If she too had prepared to that extent, she wouldn’t have suffered the Order’s surprise attack in the past.
She felt somehow regretful.
Just as the goblins disappeared and she was about to transplant the plants again.
“Clack, clack, clack.”
This time, different figures appeared.
It was the Arch Lich, Necros.
The pockets of the robe Necros wore were filled with gold coins and jewels.
As if that weren’t enough, the skeletons behind Necros were on the move carrying pouches filled with gold coins.
Right then, the Death Knight came out of the dungeon.
“Hm?”
Why had the Death Knight, who should be in the middle of fortification work, come out?
Valcherit quietly watched them.
“Clack. Clack clack.”
Necros glanced around and took out gold coins and jewels from inside his robe. Then he handed some to the Death Knight.
“…….”
The Death Knight also quietly nodded and accepted the gold coins Necros offered.
With no place to store them separately, the Death Knight stuffed the gold coins and jewels into the maid uniform pocket attached to the shield.
Necros’s actions didn’t end there.
As his eyes met Valcherit’s.
“Clack clack. Clack clack clack.”
Necros took out a few gold coins and handed them to her as well.
“Clack clack.”
(A gift.)
Necros had always been a cautious Arch Lich.
Take it alone and it’s a bribe; share it and it’s a gift.
“…….”
Of course, Valcherit had no way of knowing Necros’s inner thoughts.
Necros and the Death Knight thus disappeared into the forest.
The skeletons following behind them was only natural.
“As expected, perhaps because they’re both undead, they get along well.”
Valcherit envied the good relationship between the two.
Wasn’t the overall atmosphere of a dungeon determined by such trivial relationships?
With such a strong friendship, even if a threat came to the dungeon, they would somehow break through.
Above all, she was moved by Necros’s action of sharing gold coins with her as well.
“This is the true appearance of a dungeon.”
Valcherit realized that fact far too late.
When the dungeon she managed was threatened, those who had been close to her had been the first to desert.
They usually claimed to be loyal subjects, but when Valcherit fell into danger, they were traitors who fled first.
Valcherit felt slightly depressed.
If there had been people like Necros, she wouldn’t have lost the dungeon so futilely….
But she soon shook her head.
What good would regretting here do?
Still, Valcherit devised a small plan.
That if she ever managed a dungeon again, she would fill it with people like Necros.
Then the dungeon’s atmosphere would improve.
As Valcherit was transplanting seeds again, another guest appeared.
It was the Dullahan, Berter.
Berter, holding his head in his left hand.
The head separated from his body kept muttering.
“De… monic sword… Power… Want… Demonic sword…!”
The moment he was about to pass by, Berter’s separated head looked at Valcherit.
“…De, monic sword?”
The pupils of the head scanned her entirety.
“Dem… onic sword… Not.”
Having lost interest, Berter turned his torso again.
“Demonic… sword… Want, power….”
Thus Berter’s figure disappeared somewhere.
Though she could have been flustered, Valcherit took Berter’s actions in a positive light.
“Indeed, to protect a dungeon, one must have power.”
For monsters, pursuing power was only natural.
Then why did monsters pursue power?
To survive.
And because with that power, they could protect the dungeon.
Ultimately, the more monsters there were pursuing power, the higher the probability of protecting the dungeon.
“That fellow has high loyalty.”
Valcherit nodded.
In her mind, Berter’s value rose by one level.
“Perhaps it would not be bad for this one to stay here for a while.”
There was only one reason Valcherit had come to the Seil Kingdom while fleeing.
To find the owner of the mysterious voice that had approached her someday.
But she thought it wouldn’t be bad to get along with them for a while.
The diligence of the goblins, the strong bond between Necros and the Death Knight, and even the attitude of always pursuing power.
All of this combined to make this dungeon even more special.
It was a precious experience of realizing the true power of a dungeon that she had not known before.
“This is truly a strange place.”
A faint smile bloomed on her face.
Today too, Valcherit’s day was passing by.