Chapter 3: A New Subordinate
Game
Thoughts
"Talking"
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"AZUMMMA! WAKE UP!" Azuma shot up in a cold sweat, snapping his neck to stare at Aphrodite as she pulled on his cheek.
"What is it? An attack?" Azuma asked, throwing the sheets off his bed as he quickly tensed his body.
"Nope, but Ravel's here! Now we can go get Gobert!" Aphrodite answered, smiling brightly at him. Azuma stared back, his face deadpanned. Then, he sat back down on the bed, rolling over as he put the blanket over his head.
"AZUMMMA! Don't go back to sleep! We need to get Gobert!" Aphrodite whined, poking at the blanket as she tried to get to him.
"Fuck you. Go on your own if you want him that badly," Azuma groaned, ignoring the pleading goddess.
"Um, Master," Ravel's voice rang into his ears this time, "Actually, there's also an attack."
"Fucking stupid goddess," Azuma groaned, throwing the blanket off again as he got off the bed, "Give me the run down, secretary!"
"Right!" Ravel's back stiffened as she went into work-mode, "A couple of monsters are coming from the Monster Realm, Master! Mr. Turtle is fighting them as we speak!"
Azuma blinked, turning to look at the curtains a few feet away that led to the Monster Realm, "You mean… they're right there? Already?"
"Yup!" Aphrodite answered, "They've been going at it for a while now!"
True to her words, a notification appeared to his side.
[F-Rank Wolf Pup Defeated!]
+1 Point!
+1 XP!
"Then go help him, damn it! Why is it so hard to find good help?" Azuma sighed as he started to run to the curtains.
"S-Sorry Master! I just got here!" Ravel explained, pushing through the curtains with him.
"I've been here the whole time, but it looked like the turtle had it handled," Aphrodite supplied helpfully. Azuma burst through the curtain wall, stepping into the dim cave.
"Wait, you're actually right for once," Azuma deadpanned, looking at the pile of small wolf corpses littering the ground. They were all covered in dark gray fur - that was now stained red - and looked to be between 2-3 feet long. His turtle guard turned around, his large stubby feet pinning down a final wolf. He looked straight out of a horror movie - his wrinkly skin covered with blood as the shadows of the cave covered half his face.
"Good work, turtle!" Azuma said with a thumbs up, and the turtle stared at him blankly. Then, his head started to move upward. Slowly, it ascended. Azuma stared as it rose. Ravel stared as it rose. Aphrodite stared as it rose.
"Ok, we don't have to wait for him to nod," Azuma deadpanned as the turtle conducted the worlds slowest nod over the course of two minutes. However, Azuma's luck seemed to be through the roof, as a notification appeared while he was watching the turtle move in slow motion.
[New Prisoner!]
For being within the dungeon for more than 1 hour, [F-Rank Wolf Pup] has become a prisoner!
+1 Points per day of captivity!
Azuma blinked, "Prisoner?"
"Oh, yeah," Aphrodite nodded, "If you hold someone in your dungeon, then you'll get points every day!"
"...Care to tell me why you didn't explain this before?" Azuma deadpanned.
"I forgot."
"Are you really this dumb, or did the author just not want to explain every mechanic in the first chapter because it would take forever and be boring?" Azuma asked.
"Author? Like, of a book?" Ravel asked curiously, and Azuma shook his head rapidly.
"Sorry, thought I was an Isekai protagonist for a second. Anyway," Azuma hummed, staring at the wolf pup, "That's been here an hour? There's only like, what, 10 wolves? How was turtle fighting them for that long?"
"Well, they probably barely do any damage to him," Aphrodite answered, "But he's really slow since he's a turtle, so it took a while for him to finish them off."
Azuma blinked, turning to Aphrodite as the turtle guard finally finished his nod, "Why did we just switch roles?"
"What?"
"Like, I asked a stupid question, and you gave a pretty good answer," Azuma replied, turning to Ravel and placing his hands on her shoulders as he looked at her with a deadly serious face, "Ravel, I need you to make sure I don't become dumb, alright? I think this goddess is rubbing off on me."
"Y-Yes, Master!" Ravel answered, her face flushed from the contact.
"Hey! I'm not dumb!" Aphrodite whined as Azuma ignored her, walking over to the wolf.
"Hey, little guy," Azuma said, crouching down to the pinned 2-foot-long wolf pup. Said wolf pup growled, lashing out as he tried to bite at Azuma's face, but couldn't as he was trapped by the giant turtle foot.
"Do we have to feed this guy to get the points, or will he just be fine since he's a monster?" Azuma asked, turning to look back at Aphrodite.
"I dunno. I've never kept a prisoner."
"Yeah, about what I expected," Azuma hummed, looking back up at the turtle guard, "Turtle, keep this little guy here for a while. I'll tell the miners to dig a hole to put him in. We'll keep him as a pet for now."
"Yay! A pet doggy!" Aphrodite cheered.
"Ravel, did you bring the goblin beds?" Azuma asked as he headed back into the main room, his secretary and goddess following behind him.
"Yup, Master!" Ravel answered, gesturing to a pile of pillows and soft blankets lying on the couch.
"Great. Go set them up, and I'll sell the Ores they got in the night. Then, we can go Gobert," Azuma hummed, ignoring Aphrodite's excited cheer. Azuma walked into the large mining tunnel, seeing the goblins swinging their pickaxes. A large pile of Glowy Ores sat at the front, waiting for Azuma to come to sell them. Azuma walked up, placing his hand on top of the pile.
[Shop]
Would you like to sell [Pile of Glowy Ore]?
Price: 500 Points
Successfully sold [Glowy Ore] for 500 Points!
"Good work, fellas! Breakfast will be here in a minute!" Azuma said, eliciting a cheer from the goblin miners. Azuma went back into the main room and went to the fridge, opening it and pulling out a giant bag of raw meat. He walked back to the mining tunnel, setting it on the ground.
"Gobby!" Azuma's call was answered instantly, a fat goblin running out from the darkness ahead. He stopped, saluting in front of Azuma.
[Gobby] - LVL 4
[Upgrade with Points]
[Evolution Tree] - LOCKED
[EXP: 55/750]
"Up to level 4 already? Good work, man," Azuma nodded proudly, "Do you feel any different? I can't see your stats or anything, so I don't actually know if leveling up does anything."
"Glarrr bleh gle glabery gal gla gblar!" Gobby spit out, still in a salute.
"Oh, just what I was thinking," Azuma responded, not understanding a word as he handed Gobby the bag of meat, "Keep up the good work."
"AZUMMMA!" Aphrodite came barreling out from behind the curtain, flying into the mining tunnel, "WE NEED TO SAVE GOBERT!"
"Yeah, yeah," Azuma nodded, "We need to do something. We've just been standing around yapping for a while now. Gobby! Food will have to wait, we gotta go do work!"
"Gbleryt? (Work?)" Slowly, a huge smile filled Gobby's face. He turned around, shouting loud goblinish at the other miners.
"Just bring, like, 10? Nah, we got a bunch. Bring 20!" Azuma called casually, walking back into the main room and heading to the tunnel to the monster realm. Soon after, a small army of goblins followed, along with Aphrodite and Ravel.
"Alright, men! We have a very important mission!" Azuma shouted, causing all the goblins to look at him dramatically, "We must save one of your comrades - young Gobert! Let's go, valiant soldiers!"
The army of goblins gave a cheer, becoming energized by his words. Azuma soon regretted that, as they spent nearly half an hour walking down an empty tunnel with a group of overly excited goblins. Finally, they reached the large room that the scouting team had found.
"You alright, Gobert?" Azuma asked as he spotted the goblin leaning against a wall. The small goblin nodded in response, stiffening his back as he gave a salute.
[Worker Goblin] has been renamed to [Gobert]!
Great, I called him Gobert, so now he's actually named Gobert.
Azuma turned to look at Aphrodite, who was floating casually next to him, "You don't seem that excited. I thought you were all hyped up to save Gobert?"
"I am," Aphrodite nodded, but she slowly looked over at Azuma, her eye twitching slightly, "...But I don't want you to make fun of me for liking goblins again."
"Fair enough. Let's mine this whole cavern, men!" Azuma ordered, and the goblins started streaming past Gobert into the large opening. Azuma walked in after them, looking around at the massive cavern. The ceiling stretched seemingly hundreds of feet into the air, with large stalactites hanging down from above.
The appealing part of the dark, near-empty expanse came from the walls. Lining the walls were various types of ores - some glowing bright and giving a bit of light to cave, and some looking dark as night.
"Are any of these rare, Aph?" Azuma called back casually. Aphrodite came flying over, looking around the large room.
"Oh! That one's good!" Aphrodite yelled excitedly, pointing at a large silver ore in the wall.
"Alright!" Azuma grinned, "Gobby! Go get that one!"
Gobby saluted, running over as his pickaxe dangled over his back.
"What's it called?" Azuma asked casually.
"I dunno."
Azuma blinked, looking over at Aphrodite blankly, "...You don't actually know what it is, do you?"
"Well, no, but it's silver! I love silver! It'll definitely sell for a lot!" Azuma was anticipating another headache, but he pushed it away as Gobby ran over with the ore. Azuma held it in his hand, observing it casually.
[Shop]
Would you like to sell [Tallac Berry]?
Price: 100 Points
Azuma blinked in surprise, "Wait, a Tallac berry? This isn't an ore?"
"Oh, wait! I actually do know about that one!" Aphrodite said excitedly, flying closer to the massive berry, which was almost as big as her, "It's a berry that only grows in the light of a Glowy Ore! But…"
She trailed off, shadows covering her eyes, "...It tastes awful."
"How it tastes doesn't matter," Azuma replied bluntly, "Can we grow them ourselves?"
"Oh, yeah!" Aphrodite perked up again, "A fun fact is that they can have up to 100 seeds inside them! Or, wait, was that a Tallum berry? No! Definitely Tallac!"
I really hope she's right.
The berry sold for 100 points - four times what the glowy ore were selling for. If it really was easy to reproduce the berries, then Azuma might need a career change.
"I'll try when we get back," Azuma concluded, gesturing his hand toward the other ores, "Get to mining, goblins! I'll go explore the cave a bit more and make sure it's safe."
"I'll come with you, Master!" Ravel shouted, running up next to him. Aphrodite didn't say anything, but she tagged along as the duo walked into the large cavern. Ravel held her hand out, a small flame forming to light up the area around them. The Glowly Ore's in the roof and walls did a decent job at lighting the area up, but there will still a lot of blind spots.
As they continued into the large cave, they found a lot of… nothing. It was almost entirely empty, save for the ores littering the walls. Azuma was about to turn back, but then the corner of his eye caught something.
"A tunnel?" He asked aloud, pointing at a small hole in the wall. It was roughly 3 feet high and extended backward farther than he could see. Right above the tunnel was a crudely engraved word, "Taga? What's that mean, Aph?"
"No idea."
"As expected. You ever heard that word, Ravel?"
"No, Master."
"Alright, well, send some fire down the hole. If something is in there, then that'll get them to come out." Azuma hummed. While the 'unknown' was pretty scary, he had a high-class devil standing next to him as a bodyguard. Considering everything remotely close to his Dungeon was supposed to be around F or E-Rank, Ravel could handle anything that came out.
Ravel walked forward, placed her palm at the front of the tunnel, and then shot a flame of fire forward.
"Hey! What the fuck?!" Azuma blinked as a voice came out from the small tunnel.
"Stop," Azuma ordered, resulting in Ravel cutting off the flame as he approached the tunnel. He leaned down, staring into the darkness, "Yo! Anyone in here?"
"Yeah, of fucking course there is!" A gruff voice replied, and Azuma heard footsteps start to ring out. Slowly, a small figure appeared in the tunnel, looking to be not even 3 feet in height. Also, notably, he wasn't human.
"The fuck are you?" Azuma asked bluntly, staring at the figure. It was a rat, except said rat was walking on two feet and wearing a small gray cloak. It had brown fur, big black eyes, and a pair of buck front teeth.
[Taga] - [Wandering Trader LVL 25]
"The fuck do you think I am?" Taga responded just a crudely, "A rat, duh."
"Well, no need to be rude," Aphrodite frowned.
"Rude? You try being nice when someone barges into your home in the middle of the night!" Taga shouted gruffly, glaring at Azuma, "And then, they shoot fire into your bedroom!"
"This is your house?" Azuma asked, gesturing to the cave around him. The rat nodded in response.
"Yup, been living here for yea- wait, what the fuck are they doing?! My light!" Taga yelled, jutting his finger at the goblins a couple hundred feet away as they mined the wall.
"Sorry, man, but this isn't your home anymore," Azuma said bluntly, pointing a finger at his chest, "This is part of my dungeon now."
"W-What?! You can't just steal my home, you bastard!"
"Just did," Azuma replied evenly, "Though, the word 'stealing' makes it sound pretty bad. I prefer 'colonizing!'"
"Hah, well, I'll give you one chance!" Taga shouted, reaching into his cloak and pulling out a small dagger, "Leave now, or you won't be leaving at all!"
Azuma stared at him blankly.
"Ravel?"
"Yes, Master?"
"Kill the rat."
"Yes, Master!" She held up her hand, fire forming again as she stared evilly at Taga.
"W-Wait! I don't actually know how to fight!" Taga said quickly, raising his hands in surrender, "P-Plus, if you kill me, then the Rat Conglomerate won't just let it slide!"
"Rat Conglomerate?" Azuma asked blankly, looking at Aphrodite with a raised eyebrow.
"They're a group of salesmen!" Aphrodite supplied, "They go around selling things to Dungeon Masters. They're able to do it peacefully because of how strong their group is. The rats themselves are pretty weak, but they have the backing of a lot of low-floor dungeons."
"Oh," Azuma hummed, looking at Taga, "So, you got anything good to sell me?"
"N-No! You just invaded my home!" The rat glared at him.
"Come on, man. I could just kill you and take the stuff anyway, consequences be damned."
I won't, I'm not that stupid, but he doesn't know that. If the Rat Conglomerate is a pretty well-known thing, then he must think I'm a moron for not knowing about it.
"Y-You wouldn't! It would be a death sentence for your dungeon!" Taga countered, glaring at him again, but he looked slightly nervous.
"Well, yeah, but you're annoying. I'll just take you down with me."
"W-What?! Do you have no regard for your own life?!" Taga shouted, backing up with wide eyes.
"Life, smlife! That's what I always say," Azuma hummed, taking a step toward him, "My life sucks anyways… I've never had a girlfriend… I have no money… I have to live with this stupid Goddess… I might as well end it…"
"W-Wait! Please don't, Master!" Ravel shouted, looking at him worriedly, "You have so much to live for!"
"I'm not actually suicidal, Ravel," Azuma groaned, "It's called 'manipulation!'"
"Oh! Well, you manipulated me very well, Master!"
"You weren't the target!"
"Y-You… you're insane!" Taga shouted, staring at Azuma and Ravel's exchange.
"Um… probably?"
"W-Whatever! It doesn't matter if you kill me, you won't get my items anyway! I get new items every week from the God of Rats, and I already sold them for this week!" Taga shouted, a smug look on his face.
"The God of Rats?" Azuma muttered.
"The Rat Conglomerate is technically a dungeon as well," Aphrodite explained, "Every week, their Dungeon Master buys things for them to sell. The system gives all the traders a set of goods to sell."
Azuma blinked, slowly looking at Taga. Then, he slowly looked back at Aphrodite.
"What'll happen if I just take him?"
"W-What?"
"Like, what if I just pick him up, and take him back to dungeon?"
"Why would you do that, Master?" Ravel asked questioningly.
"He gets a bunch of goods every week, right? So, if I just take him, then I'll get those for free," Azuma explained.
"D-Don't just say that when I'm right here!" Taga shouted, jutting his finger up at Azuma, "You can't just take me!"
"I've never heard of anyone doing something like that before," Aphrodite hummed, her face twisted in thought, "But, I guess you could!"
"N-No you can't!" Taga shouted again, glaring at the group, "If you kidnap me, then the Rat Conglomerate won't just sit around and do nothing! They'll take down your whole dungeon?"
"What if you come willingly?" Azuma countered, "Come join my Dungeon. I'll buy you some nice cheese with Ravel's money."
"C-Cheese? I love cheese…" Taga trailed off, then snapped his head back up at glare at Azuma, "B-But not a chance! You break into my home, you threaten me, and you expect me to join your dungeon after all that?!"
"Well, if you don't, then we'll just kill you," Azuma deadpanned, "Then you'll never have any cheese ever again."
"N-No more cheese…" Taga trailed off again, his face creasing in worry, then he snapped out of it again, "N-No way! You can't kill me anyway, remember?! You'll be killed if you do!"
"I guess I have no choice. If you won't join…" Azuma reached his hand up to his mouth, biting down on the tip of his thumb. He ripped off a bit of skin, blood flowing down onto his palm. Then, he held his bloody palm out at Taga for a handshake.
"W-What are you doing?" The rat asked, looking suspiciously at his hand.
"A blood pact," Azuma answered, his eyes dead serious as he stared at the rat, "From this day onward, we are suicide brothers."
"W-What?!"
"Kill the rat, Ravel."
"Yes Master!" Ravel didn't question him, igniting a flame on her palm.
"W-Wait!" Taga shouted, holding his hands up placatingly.
"We'll be having rat stew tonight, Ravel."
"I've never tried it, Master, but maybe it'll be good!" Ravel took a step forward, her flame lighting up the rat's face.
"W-Wait! Seriously, we can… we can talk about this!" Taga shouted, taking a step back as his eyes became wide and panicked.
"You can ask one of those Phenex Clan chefs to make it. I bet they could even make roadkill taste good!"
"Yes, Master!" Ravel stepped forward again, the flame growing even larger.
"Wait.. wait… Ok! Ok! Fine!" Taga bowed his head, holding up his hands in front of him, "I'll join, okay?! You crazy bastard…"
"Great! Welcome to the dungeon!" Azuma nodded, and Aphrodite gave an excited cheer. Ravel extinguished the flame in her palm, stepping back away from Taga.
"Crazy fuckers…" Taga muttered, letting out a sigh as he was no longer in danger of being burned alive.
"You live here, so you must know what all the rare ores are, right?" Azuma questioned the rat, gesturing at the hundreds of ores littering the walls, "It'll take a while to mine out all of these, so just show me the good ones for now. We'll come back later with more workers for the rest."
Taga nodded and started leading the group around the cavern. Over the next hour, the small rat showcased the various ores around the cave to Azuma. Taga wasn't a trader for nothing, as he was very knowledgeable about all the ores, to the point that he even knew how much each one would sell for.
And so, a couple of hours later, Azuma stood in front of various large piles of rough ores. Each pile was divided based on the type of ore, allowing Azuma to easily see the price of each one.
[Shop]
Would you like to sell [Pile of Bore Ore]?
Price: 10000 Points
"Damn," Azuma whistled appreciatively, looking at the small pile in front of him. 'Pile' was being generous, as there were only four purple Bore Ore in it.
"Hardest material you can find until floor eleven," Taga supplied gruffly, gesturing to the pile, "I recommend keeping it. If you find about four more that size, you could make a nice dagger outta it."
"We'll take it back for now," Azuma nodded, "I don't know how it compares to materials from the DxD world. It'd be nice if I could just use some of Ravel's funds for weapons instead of something I could sell for points."
Azuma turned to the next pile.
[Shop]
Would you like to sell [Pile of Yuron Ore]?
Price: 5000 Points
This pile was an actual pile, consisting of 20 orange rocks.
"Very explosive," Taga spoke, "If you put enough pressure on it, it'll blow up. Useful for traps."
"And as a weapon," Azuma continued, looking appreciatively at the ores.
What the hell are you supposed to do when I time-skip a grenade at you?
"We'll keep these," Azuma decided. Their use would outweigh the 5000 points he'd get for them.
The next couple of piles of ores were much less interesting, just containing various types of ores that could be useful for weapons or furniture. Azuma sold them, bringing in a collective 7,750 points from all the ores. Considering they had only mined maybe a 20th of the ores in the cavern, Azuma was pretty satisfied.
"I'll take it," He hummed appreciatively. He ordered the goblin workers to carry the Bore and Yuron ores back, and then they started their trek back to the dungeon.
"You're close by?" Taga asked, looking questioningly at Azuma.
"It's about a half-hour walk," Azuma confirmed, and Taga's eyes widened.
"Ah, I didn't realize a new dungeon formed nearby," Taga nodded, "I chose a pretty secluded place, but you guys are right next door!"
"You're a traveler, so you've probably got some idea about the floor layout, right?" Azuma asked with a raised eyebrow, and Taga nodded, "Give me a quick rundown. Just anything important I should know."
"Well, you've got yourself a great place to start," Taga said gruffly, "No better place than the 10th floor for a new dungeon. The first five floors are nothing but slaves for the surface rulers. The bottom 80 are in a constant bloodbath. Floors six, seven, and eight are already under the control of one dungeon, but nine, ten, and eleven are open for the taking."
"Do you know about any other dungeons on this floor?" Azuma asked.
"The closest to yours is probably a three or four-day walk, and it's an F-Rank one. Its Dungeon Master is a pretty idiotic ogre. Actually, most of the dungeons on floor 10 are owned by stupid beasts," Taga frowned, "It makes doing business here rather hard. A troll's in charge of one, a Goblin King in another - you get the idea. I'm surprised you're all the way here, being a human Dungeon Master and all. Most of them are way further down."
"There are other human dungeon masters?" Azuma asked, looking over at Aphrodite, who had told him the opposite.
"Probably," Taga shrugged, "I've never gone below the 15th floor. Too dangerous for my liking."
"Anything else?" Azuma pushed for more info.
"Not much you'd need to be worried about. Most of the monsters here are F or E-Rank. The only threatening one is far from here," Taga continued, "On the far west side of the floor is a Nemean Lion den. C-Rank monster, but it never leaves its hunting grounds, so you won't have any problems with it."
Nemean Lion? The Greek one with a super-strong fur coat?
Azuma knew what he would be using as armor soon enough.
The group continued back toward the Dungeon, quickly reaching it as the goblins dragged in the ores and Ravel started showing Taga around. As they did, Azuma glanced over at the Tallac berries.
An easily reproducible berry.
He glanced over at Ravel.
A lot of money, and a lot of land.
Azuma then walked over to the small hole where the wolf pup was currently laying.
Points every day for keeping prisoners…
Slowly, a large grin crossed Azuma's face as an idea came to him.
I'm about to filthy fuckin' rich.
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AN: Thank you for reading! I'll be updating this story more often now, hopefully once a week, but you can also read one chapter ahead right now at Patreon.com/Koyon ! I'll also be adding more chapters available there soon. Cya next week!
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