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TL: ALT
Chapter 148 – Day 40 of the Strategy Life
“Hey.”
I stood facing the golems at a military base in the desert.
They stopped moving at my sudden appearance, but when I raised my hands to show that I meant no harm, they seemed to recognize me as the master of the demonic land.
“What’s going on? We haven’t decided on our course of action yet…”
Gussenbach, the short golem who oversaw the military base, began speaking fluently, unlike before.
“Ah, yeah. That’s fine for now, but I was thinking of building a new dungeon. Could you teach me?”
“Build a new dungeon?”
The surrounding golems seemed to go into attack mode.
“Yes, while conducting magic experiments, I accidentally created a new spell. I think it’s dangerous, so it would be better to build a dungeon.”
“You don’t intend to fight us?”
“Of course not. Are the dungeons in the demonic land hostile toward each other?”
“Some factions are divided, but uncontrollable monsters are being released from the Genetic Research Institute’s dungeon, and carnivorous plants are spreading from the Botanical Garden’s dungeon. Is that different now?”
I looked up at the sky and understood why the demonic land was such a unique environment.
“So, you were invading each other?”
The golems looked at me as if to say, “What are you talking about?”
“The demonic land has had almost no history for 1,000 years, so there’s a lot I don’t know. Please tell me as much as you can.”
“You really have no hostility toward us?”
“No, I’m just a former adventurer who bought the Yggdrasil ruins as part of the demonic land. I have no intention of overthrowing the government or attacking any other country at this point. I didn’t even know there was a civil war in my territory. I want to manage this land, but there are too many things I don’t understand. As someone who has lived here for 1,000 years, will you help me?”
I put my hand on my chest, bowed my head, and pleaded. If that didn’t work, I would try again several times.
These golems are the indigenous people of the demonic land, so to speak. We won’t understand each other right away. Our thoughts and ages are completely different. But we should be able to bridge the gap.
“…I understand. I’ve carved this information onto stone tablets that can store long-term memories, so refer to them. That’s what I’ve been working on.”
Gussenbach led me to a room where the tablets were stored.
“Paper and parchment are prone to burning or getting lost, so we switched to stone tablets.”
Looking at the stone tablets affixed to the walls of the long corridor, I could see events that had occurred around the military base in the demonic land carved into them: Abstract images and text. The writing was old but simple, and I could understand it.
“I assume that all the dungeon masters are already gone,”
Gussenbach explained as he showed me the stone tablets.
“Are there no beings with their own will inside the dungeon, like in this military base?”
“I don’t know. There might be monsters or plants that can communicate, but I don’t know how much they can think or converse. There might also be beings that deceive others to drain their magic and maintain the dungeon.”
Perhaps the golems in this dungeon want magical power, too. I approached one of the golems that was watching me and touched its back. One of its knees seemed broken, and it was having trouble moving.
“What are you doing!?”
I poured a little magic power into the golem. His legs suddenly straightened, and his tilted body returned to normal.
“If you see any golems moving poorly or with unhealed wounds, let me know. Since I live in the demonic land, I have more magic power than ordinary humans. This much is no problem. Consider it a reward for helping me learn about your history.”
“You really have no hostility toward us? Lord of the demonic land.”
“I told you. I don’t. But you don’t have to believe me so easily. If you were flesh and blood, you would understand. But many humans say one thing and do another.”
At that, the surrounding golems shook up and down. Perhaps they were laughing.
“I understand. I’ll be honest, too. The magic power in this dungeon is running low. We haven’t caught many monsters this year.”
I saw bloodstains in the desert before, and it seemed that the golems were hunting. Is their goal to obtain the monsters’ magic power?
“Right now, it would be more beneficial for the dungeon if we built a friendly relationship, and if I came here regularly rather than killing each other.”
“That’s true. But we can’t offer you anything in return.”
“History is enough.”
“No, this is our mission and our duty. We must do this for the next generation. The lord of the demonic land has the right to receive it as a matter of course. It cannot be replaced by magic power.”
“Then can you teach me how to create a dungeon?”
“I’d like to, but first, you need a dungeon egg.”
I took an egg-shaped leather bag from my pocket and showed it to him.
“Is this it?”
“You had it…?”
“I don’t know how to hatch it, though.”
“The egg chooses its master.”
The golem, whose legs had healed, suddenly opened his mouth.
“I’m sorry… Can you hear me? My magic circle may be damaged.”
“It’s okay. I can hear you. How does the egg choose its master?”
“I don’t know. It’s fate. It’s just a coincidence that someone who didn’t know it was a dungeon egg ended up carrying it around and becoming the master. It should hatch the moment the master is chosen.”
“You know a lot.”
“My brother was the master of a dungeon in a nearby warehouse. He tried various ways to raise them, but I think he offered something in return. He never told me what it was. Maybe we can find out at the genetic research institute.”
“I see. Well, I don’t even know how to open this leather bag.”
“Don’t open it!”
When I tried to pull the string, the golems all stopped me.
“You must not unfold a dungeon inside a dungeon. You’ll lose track of which dungeon you’re in and where you’re traveling. It was considered taboo in Yggdrasil.”
“I see. Let’s make it taboo in the demonic land, too.”
The dungeon eggs will have to wait for another time.
“If you just want to develop magic, there are a few rooms in this dungeon you can use. We’d be grateful if you would…”
If I use my magic, it will be replenished in the dungeon, right? It might be useful as a reference for training facilities within military bases.
“Please do.”
“This way.”
The hostile atmosphere from the surrounding golems suddenly disappeared. Do they really lack magical power?
The golems led me deep underground to a large, sand-covered room. Gussenbach had returned to work and was carving my arrival into a stone tablet.
Four beings with human souls walked in front of me and explained the motionless group of golems in the room.
In addition to guardian spiders, there were shark-shaped golems swimming in the sand, three-meter-tall humanoid golems, and bat-shaped golems for reconnaissance. They said any of them could move with enough magic.
I tried moving them all and had them attack me, but there were no particularly surprising attacks. This was to be expected since the attacks were coming from my own magic.
However, they were impressive golems. If you dropped your weapons, they wouldn’t attack you. They were impressive golems.
The four were watching, but they didn’t seem to intend to interfere with my training. I guess they were telling me to do as I pleased.
I now had a safe place nearby to experiment with magic.
As I had done yesterday in the bath, I relaxed my entire body and released my magic.
“””Ooh!”””
The golems exclaimed, but I continued without stopping.
I spread my magic throughout the room.
The shark golem stopped swimming in the sand, and the guardian spider turned into a rock as it walked on the wall.
The magic was sucked into the wall and continued deeper underground. I could see it gathering in a small room at the end of a rarely used passageway. In the center of the room, a large magic stone floated. This magic stone must be the dungeon core.
After confirming that the magical power in my body has decreased, I take a deep breath and absorb more magical power.
I gathered the magic power in my lower abdomen and rotated it while maintaining a relaxed posture. For some reason, my back straightens naturally, and my breathing becomes easier. My body feels lighter, and I stand up straight.
Even though I wasn’t looking, I felt like I could see everything in the room. It seemed as if my field of vision had expanded to the ceiling. I asked the golems behind me to attack me.
“My magic power is low, but go ahead and give it your best shot. I’ll use healing magic if anyone gets hurt.”
They attacked me with swords, whips, large hammers, iron claws, and other weapons. However, I was able to predict their movements before they struck. I could see the direction of their attacks, so I could either dodge them or interfere with them and blow the golems into the wall.
“What kind of martial art is that? I’ve never seen anything like it, even 1,000 years ago.”
The golem, who was the dungeon master’s younger brother, asked.
“Well, it’s not really martial arts. I just made it up…”
“””Just now!?”””
“Yeah.”
As I circulated the magic power rotating in my lower abdomen throughout my body, sweat suddenly began to pour out.
“Well, that was good training. I think the magic power has been properly replenished in the dungeon core. I’ll be back.”
I wiped the sweat from my brow, said goodbye to Gussenbach, and left the military base.
When I returned home, Chel and the others were cleaning up after lunch.
Today’s lunch was sweet and spicy fried crocodile meat, and they saved some for me. They saved some for me.
“How was it?”
Chel asked.
“I was able to borrow a large, sandy room on the condition that I replenish the magic power in the dungeon core. The method for building a dungeon is still unclear. It seems that the egg chooses the master. I don’t know if I’ll be chosen, but I’ll wait patiently.
I replied, showing her the leather bag.
“So, what kind of training did you do?”
Jennifer, who was sorting wild herbs, asked.
“The same as yesterday. I discarded my magic and looked around. I could see the direction of my power too clearly, so I might have created a martial art.”
When I said that, everyone smiled awkwardly for some reason.
“Hel, teach me the elf martial art next time.”
“Sure… but why? Do you want to get stronger?”
“No, it’s not that. I just think letting go of your strength is pretty amazing. I’m just curious.”
“Makyo’s curiosity is dangerous!”
“I guess so…”
“It’s not about how to use your strength. I just want to know how to let go of it so that it’s not dangerous.”
“Okay, I’ll teach you later. Anyway, Sylvia and Lipa are back.”
They appeared from the forest Hel pointed to.
They were supposed to call the trainees this morning, but they didn’t bring anyone back. Maybe there weren’t any soldiers willing to come to the demonic land. Maybe I should go myself.
“Didn’t it work out?”
“N-N-No, about twelve are coming. There are a lot of them, so they’re camping in the forest tonight. They should be here tomorrow.”
“They move at a different speed than us.”
Come to think of it, it took me a whole day to cross the forest in front of the demonic land for the first time.
“Tomorrow, the trainees will finally arrive at the demonic land. I can’t wait.”
At the military facility, Lipa, a bird man they had never seen before, was very popular.
“Strangely, it didn’t feel bad.”
“Li-Lipa seems to be liked by beastmen.”
If Lipa is liked by monsters, then perhaps he will be liked by beastmen as well.
“Th-Then, I received a letter from the elf kingdom.”
Sylvia handed me the letter.
“Did you look inside?”
“N-No. It’s addressed to Makyo.”
“Is it a personal letter?”
The letter said that if we were to take the dwarf engineers with us, we should also take some elf soldiers. They also requested that I go to the elf kingdom myself to pick up the engineers.
“Is that to act as a lookout?”
I asked Hel.
“And to search for dragon bones, I suppose. They’re greedy. It seems like they’re trying to trap Makyo somehow.”
“Are the elves’ curses powerful?”
Chel asked.
“They’re powerful, but it might be better for Makyo to be cursed a little.”
“What are you saying?”
Ka-Ryu looked at me and nodded.
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