Chapter 132

The Saintess' Serious Mode

After asking Rin for the favor, I returned to the master room. On foot.

Rokuko isn't in the core room right now. She's still monitoring the saintess in her room in the inn.

Without Rokuko to bring me into it, there's no choice for me but to walk there. It's a bit inconvenient... I kind of want a master room retrieval worker.

"Still, I wonder what she means by getting serious?"

It'd take no time at all getting back if I exited the inn's dummy core via the master room after entering the dungeon core from the core room, but I took a moment to think in the master room.

Using this and that, this room is kept at a good temperature, its comfort isn't bad at all. Thinking about it, it's better than the futon in my room.

From the fighting I've seen so far, I can't think that the saintess would ever win against Rin in close combat. She's only able to avoid three or four attacks at the most. I don't think it'd be any easier for her even if she used magic.

Rumble.

Just then, there was an earthquake.

... Nnn? Magnitude 2, maybe 3...?

Yep, isn't that surprising... eh, wait a sec. Wasn't the master room in a different dimension? Why is it shaking?

Around the time I tilted my head in thought, Rokuko stampeded into the master room.

"Kehma! Hey, it's bad!"

"What's wrong? An earthquake around that strong isn't really worth getting worked up about."

"Earthquake? What are you talking about!? The saintess' attack, her attack!"

... Huh?

What're you saying, there's no way her attack on Rin would cause something like an earthquake, right? ... is what I thought while checking the map, but it does look like Rin's still fine. The saintess is still in front of the dungeon in the first place.

Her attendant was also with her, shouldering the simple altar that looked like a rucksack.

The attendant bowed to the saintess before heading back to the hotel. The saintess headed into the dungeon.

"What is it?"

"Look here."

Rokuko opened the menu and showed me something. It looks to be of the saintess from a bit ago.

... It's showing the saintess offering a prayer to the altar.

Muttering something, she was praying so intensely that she was sweating. I tried turning up the audio.

[Death to dungeons, death to dungeons, break the cores, break the cores. Light God's enemies are here. Oh Light God's divine protection, place the power of the seal here now. Death to dungeons, death to dungeons...]

What a scary child. And yet the saintess was shining white. The normally invisible magical power was actually illuminating the room, the density was just that high... rather, the heck is this?

"That's the first time I've heard such a long incantation... do you know what kind of magic it is?"

"Ah, so that was an incantation...? What a horrible one, oi."

Then, I heard the incantation's key word spoken.

[Following the gods' agreement, for three days, seal this dungeon—[Treaty].]

The magical power that had been gathering around the saintess blasted out towards the dungeon.

Looks like that's what caused the earthquake. Still, the village didn't shake at all. Rokuko and all of the dungeon monsters seem to have felt the quake though.

As humans, neither Meat nor Ichika appear to have felt it though... so I'm also a monster? Huh.

The recording ended there.

"Seal the dungeon? The heck kind of thing is that..."

"Seal...? —, look, Kehma! The DP catalog!"

"Eh?"

When I opened the menu to check out the DP catalog—

—with red seals across the board, they said [Use Disabled: 71 Hours Remaining].

Sealing DP functions... that's a thing?

Installing rooms and traps, as well as summoning monsters. They're all sealed. The only thing we can do is restore traps and damaged walls.

The gacha's sealed too... can't sell weapons and armor either. Ah, it looks like we can still get daily necessities, sweet bun kinds of items and treasure items like jewels.

I don't really understand, but she said something about a [Gods' Agreement] at the end of the incantation. So there was a thing like that?

"This... really is a dungeon seal, huh."

Not being able to set up new traps and rooms meant that the dungeon's growth and change would halt. It makes things like augmenting passages and similar stuff impossible. Moreover, thinking about the fighting strength side of things, you wouldn't be able to summon monsters or reinforce them with arms. It means that you'd only be able to watch. That is, normally.

"O-oooh... really!?"

"Though we can still manage since we have [Create Golem], ordinary dungeons probably wouldn't have any hands or legs to use."

"R-right! Good job Kehma! Now, repel that saintess!"

"Yeah. Guess I'll do my best making golems?"

Still, speaking of dungeon monsters... what about Rin, who's just a free-loader at our dungeon?

Well, even if it was affected, it'd probably just have felt the quake, so it's all good.

I headed to Nerune's laboratory, which was researching magic gole—... err, gargoyles.

*

Nerune was working together with Gar-kun, her gargoyle assistant, engraving magical formations into golem-made clay boards. Taking a look, it seems to be a magic formation that emits fire like a lighter. It's pretty small, about three centimeters in diameter. There were eight arranged in a circular pattern.

"Ah, master. What do you think? I got the idea from that cake the other day, I tried making it able to heat things efficiently by arranging the eight magic formations into a circle~"

"... Looks like a portable stove. By the way, how's the magic formation research going?"

"Yeah~, right now I'm using a scale where I can make several magic formations with a single magic stone, so I'm practicing drawing tiny magic formations~. It's a lot easier writing on these clay boards I got from Goshujin-sama, so I can make them really small~" [1]

It really is extremely detailed. I seriously want a magnifying glass... Nn?

"You can miniaturize it if you can draw those elaborate grooves... I mean, if you can engrave them?"

"Yes, it'll be a completed magic formation once a magic stone is melted into the grooves. But my eyes and dexterity isn't enough going any smaller..."

I took out the DP catalog... Yep, I can't use any of it after all. Still though, magnifying glasses fall under the category of daily necessities so I was able to exchange for it without any problems.

"This is...!? What is is, eh, everything's so big~!?"

"There aren't lens or glasses in this world?"

"Lens? Glasses~? There are~, they come with god's vanguard when they're summoned, equipped items that correct vision right~?"

Ah, so that's how they got here? So there wouldn't be any convex lens if there was never a farsighted hero, huh.

"Come to think of it, I head that things below crystal balls when you use them look large~"

"Yeah, that's also a convex lens. Well, it'd be hard to engrave formations using a ball-shape though."

Now then, this solves her sight problem. Next is dexterity huh... let's think about that later.

"That aside, this should work... Nerune, how many magic formations can you make by yourself per day?"

"U-ummm... in one day, ten in my limit, I think.... I'm not confident in accurately engraving any more than that~"

"... The only problem is that you can't engrave the magic formations?"

"Only problem? That's the most important part you know~. After that is occasionally dissolving magic stones~. If not for engraving, one or two hundred in a day's no different, as long as there's magic stones it's alright you know~?"

That's the most important part. Magic stones are treasure-type items, so I can buy them with DP.

"Well then, wanna do it? Two hundred a day."

When I said that, Nerune just looked at me with wide eyes.

I just came up with a way to mass produce magic formations.

It'd be embarrassing if it failed after going this far though.

... I have to answer the saintess' seriousness with my own.

Footnotes:

She calls him Goshujin-sama here. Author mistake? Or perhaps a verbal slip? She normally says "Masuta-"