“Ido is dead!?”
“Yes… His body was discovered at a lake far from the dungeon.”
“Ido was the strongest warrior, capable of fighting even the Four Heavenly Kings.”
“In other words, his opponent must have been even stronger… Could it have been the Demon Lord?”
“That seems highly likely. Our continued incursions into the dungeon may have provoked the Demon Lord to appear.”
“Then… Ido must have encountered the Demon Lord there…”
“All I can say is that he was unlucky.”
Is it safe to continue challenging the dungeon?
If such actions provoke the Demon Lord, he could reappear. Unlike Ido, those who require items to be resurrected could all be slaughtered.
“No one who has been challenging the dungeon encountered the Demon Lord, right?”
“Correct… No one even witnessed him. It’s hard to believe every witness was wiped out.”
“It’s not like he’s invisible or silent. Which means the target wasn’t the dungeon but Ido himself.”
After brief deliberation, the Beast King came to a decision.
“Let everyone else challenge the dungeon as they please. We’ll inform them about the Demon Lord, but those who are determined to go won’t care either way.”
“What about Lord Ido? Once resurrected, he’ll likely go straight after the Demon Lord.”
“He would know better than anyone whether that’s feasible. If he goes regardless, it’s essentially a suicide mission.”
“At the very least, he’ll need to revive his companions and regain his strength first.”
After this, Ido and the party of the Beast Kingdom’s strongest warriors began hunting monsters with fierce determination to recover their strength.
Among them, Ido fought as though venting his rage, slaying monsters without rest.
Watching him, his companions tilted their heads in confusion but focused on regaining their own strength alongside him.
“Is this information reliable?”
“Yes, it’s almost certainly true. It was witnessed firsthand by members of the kingdom.”
Through working together to conquer an unfamiliar dungeon, I had grown closer to the soldiers of the kingdom.
Thanks to that bond, they often shared valuable information with me, but one thing bothered me.
“Another unknown dungeon has appeared…”
“The Beastfolk seem to be continuing their attempts to conquer it. Although we have no information on the interior, considering their difficulty in clearing it, it must be a highly challenging dungeon.”
Yeah, I figured as much…
“If only Lord Kunimatsu could go in and clear it himself. But we can’t very well trespass into another country’s dungeon without permission.”
“Dangerous places like dungeons should be cleared quickly, regardless of race, don’t you think?”
“They’re ideal for training soldiers. In fact, we’re still honing our skills in the Goblin Dungeon.”
“And picking up useful items while at it. No wonder the Beastfolk wouldn’t hand over such a place to other races.”
“Not just the Beastfolk—most races wouldn’t easily give them up. Even in a worst-case scenario, the heroes of each race can resolve the crisis.”
Heroes, huh…
In the game’s early stages, you choose a character to control.
The initial choice is based on your race, and the hero of that race becomes your player character.
The other races’ heroes appear as NPCs, eventually joining your side.
For the Beastfolk, their hero was Ido, the strongest warrior.
As a playable character, he had high health, strength, and speed, and even possessed ranged attacks. A highly versatile character recommended for beginners.
Most notably, his stats increased when facing stronger or more numerous enemies, allowing for brute-force strategies against all but the Demon Lord.
However, when Ido appeared as an NPC after not being chosen as the player character, he came off as a thuggish, unlikable character.
The idea of Ido conceding anything to other races was unthinkable.
It’s intriguing, but investigating the Beastfolk’s dungeons doesn’t seem feasible.
“Are there reincarnated people among the beastmen?”
“Most likely, the beastmen have secured… I apologize, they must have protected them. Talented reincarnators like Kunimatsu-sama are individuals that no country would want to let go.”
Since it’s called a great reincarnation, it seems that many reincarnators appeared at the same time, and various countries are trying to secure as many reincarnators as possible.
If there are reincarnators among the beastmen, I want to somehow create a system where reincarnators can cooperate with each other.
If they’re acting under the goddess’s instructions, it becomes even more important.
“Defeat the demon lord and clear the game. Once the ending is reached, we’ll send you back to your original world.”
Anyone who might want to defeat the demon lord while clinging to those words can’t be blamed. If they don’t know any better, they’d probably think that’s the way to go.
“The problem is the crazy god Kurugami… If things keep going like this, we’re definitely heading in that direction.”
To prevent that from happening, I’ll build a cooperative system with as many reincarnators as possible.
Ideally, it should involve a variety of races.
And in the end, it should be the demon race…
“Sigh… First, it would be nice to be able to talk to the reincarnated beastmen.”
“It would be difficult… The beastmen, except for a few, aren’t interested in reincarnators, but those few understand the power of reincarnators, so the information is probably being hidden.”
“So, it’s either the general beastmen who really don’t know anything because they’re not interested, or the beastmen who know its importance but won’t say anything, right?”
It’s an extreme situation, but the more I hear, the less I feel like I’ll be able to meet any reincarnated beastmen.
It feels like an uphill battle…
Later…
“Serika~. We’ve run out of healing potions and antidotes~!”
“Oh, really? Then I have to tell Rey-san.”
Eriko-chan is checking the stock for me, so it’s a big help in reducing my burden.
The beastmen who come to the shop still treat us, who do business in the dungeon, like cowards, but when I think about how we’re taking money from those beastmen and giving it to the Demon Lord’s army, it feels like we’re doing something outrageous.
“Good job~. You’re working hard again today. It’s good to make achievements.”
“Y-Yes, thank you!”
Suddenly, flames flicker and change into a human shape, greeting us casually.
It’s Pilkaya-san. Eriko-chan still seems to get tense every time he appears, as she’s not used to him yet.
“Um… Was there something?”
“No? It’s not that there’s a problem. I was just thinking about increasing the products we handle a bit.”
That’s a relief. It doesn’t seem like something went wrong.
But new products… Could it be that a new gimmick was added to the dungeon?
Rey-san can easily remodel the dungeon, after all.
I don’t know what the Demon Lord is doing, but judging from the distance between him and the Four Heavenly Kings, that person definitely holds an important position.
He kind of seems like one of the Demon Lord’s closest aides.
“Here, this.”
“Um… Is this a higher-grade healing potion?”
“Yep, that’s right. Since it’s more effective, I’ll sell it for a higher price.”
“Um… Is that really okay?”
Pilkaya-san, hearing my question, tilts his head in confusion.
“If we start handling such powerful healing potions, won’t the dungeon get cleared?”
“Ah, that’s what you mean.”
Pilkaya-san listened to my question and answered nonchalantly.
“It’s fine. We’re planning to have it cleared soon anyway.”
“Eh…?”
He casually made an outrageous statement, and I couldn’t help but exchange looks with Eriko-chan.
