Chapter 23: Again, More Trouble
This is bad, really bad. If those soldiers raid my dungeon, I can say for certain that they will not be able to get past Deus, but if that happens, my dungeon will gain the attention of the country. Actually, now that I think about it, it isn't too bad if I want popularity, but the country may set their sights on killing the dungeon master which is me to prevent future threats and also stop the rampage of the hero.
The question is why did they mobilize? Did they really move according to the hero's whims, or did they move because the town mayor feared that my dungeon will go out of control and raid the town. Thinking about it deeply, they have the right to fear the unknown, such is the act of humans.
I may be getting my just desserts for not actually trying to gather information about the outside world. Actually, I could have started when gathering it when I gave the two that golem. If I had it report about the outside regularly, I might have been able to predict the future of my dungeon, and the possible movements of the people.
Damn it… I really am stupid… Why didn't I think about it before? I thought that everything will all go smoothly just by managing the dungeon, but reality isn't that forgiving.
I swore in my heart, that I will not the same mistake again. Let me start over from scratch to make up for this mistake. I really do want to do just that, but I think that erasing all my progress in this dungeon will prove fatal right now. I'll do it until I am able to resolve this current problem.
Remember, this is reality. One wrong step and you're dead.
"Kaze, all golems are to be on guard in the dungeon. The monsters are to be used as the vanguards. If possible, don't make them kill the soldiers when they fight."
"Yes master!"
After receiving his instructions, Kaze hurriedly went back to the dummy core room.
"Shironeko, you will stay inside a prison room so that if anything happens to me, they will think that you were kidnapped and imprisoned here."
"Fuee!? Master!! Don't!! I don't want you to leave me!!"
With teary eyes, she clinged to my clothes, please stop, it's making it harder to place you inside a prison cell.
I had one golem knock her out lightly, please bear it for a while Shironeko.
I head towards the core room and made a prison cell inside the cave and had her placed inside. Since she was knocked out, it was relatively easy to place her inside without any commotion. To make it more believable, I had the golem change her clothes to that of worn out rags and smear dirt all over her body. One more thing, since she had a slave collar, they will treat her as a slave, so I had it removed using a [Slave Collar Remover] that I created with [Create Entity]. Before, she didn't want it removed because she wanted to let it be known that I am her master, but if she gets caught by the soldiers when I die, then she will be back to her slave life. I don't want that to happen.
Also, I had the prison cell situated further in than the core room. Surprisingly, it was allowed to add a prison cell further in than the core room, but rooms were an absolute no, I wonder why?
One last thing, I had a golem be her protector in case of anything bad happening. It was in the form of artificial skin. Since it was just like skin, she will have no problem using it, probably. The strength of the golem rivals Deus so it will be able to withstand almost any kind of attacks. When I appraised it, this showed up.
Item name: Artificial Deus Ex Machina Skin
Item Grade: Mythical
Skin from the god of machines, Deus Ex Machina, when equipped, increases the user's physical ability, magical ability, and defense capabilities. When worn, it is impossible to remove until death and will grow along with the user, can also block information scanning items and abilities like Appraisal and enslaving items and abilities.
The skin feels like human skin so it is near impossible to determine if the user is wearing one or not. It automatically changes color to the user's skin. When the user is in danger, the skin will automatically take control of the body to defend the user.
… Yep… Broken skill…
At least now, Shironeko has strength equal to Deus, so if anyone messes with her, and Shironeko retaliates, they are in for a world of hurt. Shironeko might be surprised though.
Leaving the unconscious Shironeko in the prison cell, I locked the door with a sturdy lock. Not sturdy enough to stop the soldiers breaking in though.
I went back to the core room and took a look at the screen displaying the army. The inn was also in turmoil as the soldier army march towards the entrance. Adventurers were in a state of panic while the succubi were glaring at the soldier army. Oh yeah, I forgot to add incubi for the female adventurers. Once I make it out of this alive, I'm adding incubi in that inn.
My goal for this defense is the succesfully repel the soldier army with little to no casualties. It is actually easy to do just that, but the main problem is to how to send them back while saying this dungeon will not be a threat to the town or country. I don't want an army of more than 2000 raiding my dungeon because of the nonexistant threat.
There are two ways to reach the goal. First is the less risky, but harder to realize my goal. It is to hole up in my dungeon and defend until they report that my dungeon has no threat. If that is done, this may take months or years so I will cross that out.
The other is to go out the dungeon myself and negotiate. The only problem is I may be shot or sliced to death just when I come out and say that I am the dungeon master. There is also one very large problem, the hero is with them. If I go out and proclaim that I am the dungeon master, there is no doubt he will kill me in a second.
Well, there are a few loopholes. One is to send a proxy to the soldiers, but if I send a strong one stronger than the hero, it might instill fear in the people and make it harder to negotiate. Well, that has already been destroyed because of the rumours about the hero losing against the dungeon boss, but who knows, there might be a change in heart.
"Hmm… what should I do…?"
Time is running and any moment now, the soldiers will march en masse towards my dungeon, although they won't fit if all of them try to go inside. Racking up my brains, I decided on sending a proxy, this time, one that can send its vision to a monitor that I can view, along with the sounds it hears to a speaker.
I created a golem with the shape of a human body. The body is neither slim nor fat, neither muscular nor skinny, neither tall nor was it tall, the body was just toned to make it look normal by this world's standard. Its face was made as the standard looks of the people based on the faces of adventurers inside the inn.
I made it wear clothes what a commoner would wear. It was also strong enough to rival the golems I made inside the dungeon.
Now that that is done, I made his voice just like mine, but lower, making it feel like I was talking to a grown up version of myself.
Finished with making the proxy, I had it go towards the entrance in a rush to meet with the army before they enter the dungeon.
***
~ Soldier Commander POV ~
Inside the tent set up for the higher ranks in the town defense, I, along with several other soldiers were discussing on how to raid the unknown dungeon. Behind me was the hero who was said to conquer countless dungeons by himself, but looking at him now makes him look pitiful.
"I say we raid the dungeon with numbers."
"Are you daft? How will all the soldiers fit inside that cave dungeon?"
Across the table, there were two soldiers arguing on how to enter the dungeon. Going by the information from the hero, the dungeon doesn't kill innocents, but kills criminals. Also, the adventurers were happily diving inside the dungeon for treasure without worrying about death. If I was to take part in judging this dungeon, I would say that this is the most profitable dungeon in the whole world.
"Hmm… How about sending out scouts to scout the dungeon?"
"Impossible, even high rank adventurers can't get past the second floor. If our soldiers which, are accustomed to peace enter that dungeon, they will be spit out in a matter of seconds."
A man in his 30's rebuked the proposal of a soldier in his 20's. True, if high rank adventurers are having difficulty in passing the second floor, our soldiers will never get past the first.
Before we were ordered to subjugate this dungeon, the mayor was happily swimming in the profits brought by the dungeon. But when the hero had a talk with the mayor, this happens.
"Tch… This damn brat…"
Speaking in an inaudible voice so that none of the people inside hears, I hurled insults at the hero. Just when we were at an impasse on how to raid the dungeon, a soldier came rushing inside.
"R-Reporting! A man in his prime came out from the dungeon and introduced himself as the dungeon master! He wi—"
"So he shows up himself, hehehe…"
The hero cut the man's word with his monologue, this damn brat.
Who would show himself up just to be butchered by the hero? No sane man would do that. Either he is a proxy golem just like the golems inside the cave, or a familiar.
The hero quickly rushes out the tent while displaying a vulgar smile. When I and the other soldiers inside made sure he was gone, we sighed in relief.
"Good lord that hero. Some hero he is."
"I agree. That is not a hero."
"Hero my ass, he's just a tyrant."
The soldiers began hurling insults at the hero for forcing the mayor to mobilize us against a profitable dungeon because of his desires.
"Anyway, continue the report about the man proclaiming himself as the dungeon master."
"Y-Yes! He wishes to negotiate to not harm his dungeon in exchange for some conditions."
"Is that so?"
If I am right, now that the dungeon master wishes to negotiate, we will be able to gain favourable conditions for the town regarding this dungeon. If that happens, then the town becoming a major city won't be a pipedream. That is, if the hero---
"THAT DAMNED HERO!!! STOP HIM AT ONCE!!!"
Realizing that the hero was rushing in head first to slay the dungeon master or proxy, I quickly ordered my subordinates to calm him down. If we try to restrain him, our heads will fly off, in the literal sense. The only way is to make him lose interest in killing the dungeon master.
"QUICKLY!!!"
All of the soldiers in the tent, including me rushed outside in hopes of stopping the agitated hero.
***
~ Daichi POV ~
Why… Why did it end up like this?
On the screen it showed nothing but black, literally. Black painted the whole screen as if to say 'nothing to see here!'
Before this happened, the hero while grinning like a madman came rushing towards the golem with incredible speed, and with a flicker of his sword, the golem was slashed and bisected in two. After that, the screen turned black.
"Haahh… This hero is already getting annoying. Good thing I didn't go out personally."
While being annoyed at the hero, I made another golem proxy with the same characteristics and let it go meet the army. This is also one of the loopholes. If I keep on nagging them with my golem proxies about negotiations and peace, they just might listen to my demands.
While waiting, the screen displayed something that can make you cringe so much that you feel like you want to stop watching and watch another one. What was displayed was the hero Philip laughing like a madman while kicking the remains of the golem proxy that he bisected. Surrounding him were disgusted soldiers and some adventurers peeking from the inside the inn were grossed out about the hero's behaviour. Looks like respect for the present hero will very likely go down.
The reason is cutting up a person, or something that looks like a person seeking for peace and trying to negotiate for the better of the two parties, but then the hero enters and cuts him up brutally. Maybe next time, I won't be so lenient against the hero when he tries to raid my dungeon.
Cringing at the scene, the hero finally notices the new golem proxy I sent. He hurled insults and curses before bisecting the golem proxy.
"Are you kidding me?"
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