“I thought our dungeon was crap, but it turns out it wasn’t so bad after all…”
A wolf beastman speaks to a bird beastman.
“I thought there were too many traps, but the dwarves’ dungeon was even worse.”
They had encountered dungeons in their own country, but apparently, they also tried the dwarves’ dungeon, which is open to all races. After seeing the trap-filled dungeon, they decided to retreat, which suggests that these beastmen are relatively calm and level-headed.
“No matter how tough we are, that’s impossible.”
“Yeah, you’d need strength like Lord Ido’s to break through it head-on.”
Ido… He seems to have died, but who knows when he’ll be resurrected next.
“By the way… there was someone else who might be able to get through that dungeon.”
“Who?”
“That reincarnated person… was it Okui?”
“Could you tell me more about that person!?”
“What’s with you… Well, whatever. She’s a woman with special powers, even though she’s weak.”
Without hiding the fact that I was eavesdropping, I couldn’t help but get involved in their conversation. As I thought at first, they seem like relatively calm people, so they responded to me well, but this could’ve easily turned into a conflict.
Zino narrowed his eyes at my reckless behavior.
“Isn’t she a cat beastman who can pass through walls?”
“No, not just walls. She can get through weapons and obstacles too.”
“That’s impressive. In that case, wouldn’t Lord Ido’s attacks be useless against her?”
“Well… I don’t think so. Lord Ido’s claw strikes include something like wind power.”
As the beastman said, Ido’s ranged attacks are like slashing wind magic. He may seem like a simple physical fighter, but he can fight like a mage from a distance. His abilities are a perfect match with the Four Heavenly Kings, and aside from the Demon Lord and Ripianem , he can pretty much proceed through anything with a mindless approach.
“However, I thought she might be able to get through all the traps in this dungeon.”
“I see, that’s why you said she might be able to break through.”
“By the way… where is Okui now?”
“Who knows… I haven’t seen her in town recently.”
Another dead end… Just like with Lufu, it seems I have no connection with beastmen. I could go to a beastman country like last time, but if I were to search for reincarnated people there, I’d probably attract attention. I’d be suspected of being a spy as a reincarnated human.
“Are there any other reincarnated people?”
“Well… I don’t remember the name, but there was a rabbit beastman reincarnated person.”
“Yeah, but that person disappeared a long time ago.”
It seems like the reincarnated beastmen are disappearing one by one.
Maybe they got caught up in the fighting because they’re beastmen? Or maybe they ran away because they got tired of the fighting.
If that’s the case, it’d be great if they came to our or Zino’s country; we could secure them here.
The beastmen don’t seem to know anything about other reincarnated people, so the conversation ended there.
I thanked them, and they left, heading in the direction of the beastmen’s country.
“As for the rabbit, I don’t know, but the cat had some powerful abilities.”
“Yeah. She probably would’ve been a perfect match for this dungeon.”
It’s a shame.
If we could have recruited the cat beastman, she’d have become a reliable ally, not just here, but elsewhere as well.
“It’s not going well…”
“Well, for now, just be patient that I and Kunimatsu can cooperate.”
“Yeah. The road ahead still looks long…”
The ability to pass through walls is powerful.
She’s probably left the beastmen’s country and is doing well in some other country…
“Eriko-chan!!”
Tokito is shouting.
It’s understandable. Even though they’ve only known each other for a short time, a companion in similar circumstances has fallen.
Okui… he took reckless actions without any chance of success.
“My loss… Serika, I leave the rest to you.”
“No, it’s impossible! What do you expect me to do alone?!”
Okui can no longer move. The beastman merchant is currently receiving guidance at a trap dungeon shop.
So now, only Tokito is left. It’s starting to feel a bit pitiful.
“I’ll call Dartle, so just hold on a bit longer.”
“Ray-san!!”
“Also, if it comes to the worst, we’ll have to erase the store and create a hole.”
“I’m sorry…”
Okui, whose lower body is completely buried in the ground, looks more ashamed than apologetic.
Just because this is a game world doesn’t mean we can use some kind of bug exploit.
…Well, maybe there’s a small chance. If that’s the case, proving that such a thing doesn’t exist through Okui’s experiment might have been a good thing.
The problem started with the operations of the overly successful large store.
The need to replenish items happened frequently, and it was becoming an issue for us to go each time.
It wasn’t just about the time being taken, but as a demon, if I kept visiting the store repeatedly, it might affect the beastmen customers.
It would be better if they just stopped buying because it’s a demon’s store, but the worst-case scenario would be getting attacked, which could result in injury.
I don’t want to repeat what happened with Ido.
This goes for the Four Heavenly Kings as well, and monsters are even more of a no-go.
I could rely on Rigma, but that guy, the slime, is really busy, so I decided not to bother him.
So, I moved Fiona’s collection to a hall that serves as a storage room and decided to have the two of them transport the items whenever replenishing was needed.
It’s a bit questionable whether I trust them enough to leave the item management to them, but apparently, they’re items that wouldn’t matter if they were lost.
One shouldn’t underestimate how often Fiona has gotten the wrong items.
Well, we no longer had to bear the burden, but it seems the store was doing better than expected, and the replenishment frequency was also higher than anticipated.
Okui, who had been going back and forth between the store and the warehouse, finally snapped.
He used his own ability to pass through walls and half-buried himself in the ground. When he tried to undo it, he started talking about using some sort of bug technique to teleport.
The result was as expected.
Okui was stuck with his lower half buried in the ground.
“Okui, what are you doing…?”
“S-sorry…”
Rigma, who goes by Dartle, was seriously dumbfounded by this.
Well, on the flip side, this meant I had worked him so hard that his thinking became a bit warped.
This can’t be allowed. As long as we work under Fiona, we should provide a more reasonable work environment.
“Dartle. Sorry, but could you help out with this for a while?”
“Understood~”
Since the large store was renovated, it had been run by only three beastmen.
I thought it would be fine, but maybe it was just that they couldn’t say it was too hard because of the fear of the Demon King’s army.
We’ll need to keep an eye out for more than just intruders from now on.
“For now… capturing employees will be our immediate goal.”
“Capture… you mean secure, right…?”
“That’s how it’s always been. It’s not going to change.”
If Fiona were to keep using resurrection potions, it’s possible that demons like Rigma, who are good at transforming, could be revived and become employees.
But there’s no need to mention that, and with Fiona’s luck with gachas, that’s something for a far-off future.
“Umm…”
Okui, looking hesitant, tried to communicate his opinion.
From the way he was acting, it seemed like he didn’t want us to capture his companions, or something like that.
“I’d really appreciate it if you could capture them as soon as possible…”
“Ah, I… I understand.”
That was completely the opposite of what I expected.
I see… he must be completely overwhelmed by work.
Next time, if we’re going to build a facility, I’ll make sure to secure personnel to make it operational first…
“Lots of companions! Yay!”
“Rey-sama… Are you a god?”
Just how busy have you been?
Pilkaya didn’t say anything in particular.
“Hey, Pilkaya.”
“Hmm?”
“Was the large store really that busy?”
“Yeah, it seemed really busy.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Well, I didn’t want to interfere when I could work so hard for the Demon King-sama, right?”
…I see. For Pilkaya, that’s how he saw it.
Well, Pilkaya does like earning achievements for Fiona, after all.
Plus, since he can split himself, he doesn’t have the issue of not having enough hands.
“Well, now beastmen and halflings will help out, so it’s fine.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m jealous. I want to be more useful to the Demon King-sama too.”
I think you’ve already been more than helpful enough…
