The monsters are outraged by the hero’s proposal.
“Don’t mess with us! Why should Lord Evilham be killed?!”
“That’s right! Lord Evilham hasn’t done anything yet! If you’re going to kill someone, kill me instead!”
The hero covers his ears, shutting out the monsters’ protest.
“Aah, aah, it’s so noisy. You’re not the ones who get to decide. It’s that boss over there. You small fry, stay out of this.”
This guy… for someone called a hero, he’s pretty arrogant.
Well, the original game allowed for a lot of freedom, and even though he’s the hero, he could still commit evil deeds.
If he’s the kind of hero who would break into random homes, rummage through wardrobes, and smash pottery, it’s not so strange that he’d say things like this.
“So, what will you do? Can you save your subordinates in exchange for your life?”
The hero points his sword at me.
Is he serious?
“We made the first move. I truly regret that. But neither I nor my subordinates can afford to die.”
“Is that your answer? If you want to stick with that answer, then you’re going to have to defeat me.”
So, combat is unavoidable after all? Now that we’re enemies, it seems like I have no choice but to defeat him.
But is that really the right choice? Is there no other way to persuade him?
“Sorry, but I don’t intend to fight you.”
“You’re not willing to die, you don’t want your subordinates to die, and you don’t intend to defeat me. Quite a selfish conclusion.”
“The fault lies with us. I don’t expect to be forgiven just by apologizing. So, I’ll pay the price in another form. Would that satisfy you?”
Ultimately, what the hero wants is a price. My life. If he takes my head, he’ll gain the honor of being a hero.
If that’s the case, then if I can offer something of equal value, maybe there’s a way to get out of this.
“I see. So what is this price of yours?”
“I have it. Follow me.”
I begin walking deeper into the dungeon, careful not to turn my back on the hero.
The hero, sensing my cautious movements, remains on guard.
“First, let me explain the structure of this dungeon. This dungeon has a farm, where food is produced.”
“A farm in a dungeon? Is that even possible?”
The hero seems intrigued by the idea of the farm.
“Yes. There’s a light source in the dungeon, which creates an environment where plants can grow. Here we are, at the farm.”
As usual, monsters are working in the fields. The hero watches them closely.
“These monsters… are you saying they’re engaged in labor? They’re monsters, right? Isn’t it in their nature to raid the things humans create?”
“I’ve properly educated them. They’ve learned to work on their own.”
“I see. If you can educate them, I would’ve liked you to teach that goblin to not just randomly punch people.”
I wanted to retort that it was because he provoked it, but I held back.
In truth, the monsters get along just fine with the human geats here.
If the hero hadn’t been so aggressive, the monsters wouldn’t have attacked him.
Moreover, the last group of invaders attacked us without any warning. Maybe the hero attacked out of that successful experience of repelling an attack.
But I can’t afford to anger the hero now. I’ll swallow my pride and keep my calm.
“Right, I’ll be sure to teach them that as well.”
“Well, I hope you get the chance to do that.”
Is the hero still after my head? Even with the title of hero, he’s still a rookie.
I understand his desire to achieve the feat of defeating a boss monster in the dungeon.
If I were in his shoes, I’d probably want to defeat a boss monster too.
“This dungeon has plenty of food. Hero, your journey will probably be quite long. Having food won’t hurt, will it?”
“Hmm. That’s true. This land is barren, and there’s not much food. Food does sound quite tempting.”
The fact that this land is barren might actually be a blessing in disguise.
If there were an abundance of food around here, it might not seem as appealing.
“If you kill me, the food supply will stop. Just so you know.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. If I, the dungeon’s manager, die, no one will be able to manage the dungeon. That means the food production will stop.”
This is a bluff. When the boss monster who manages a dungeon is defeated, the one who defeats it becomes the next manager of the dungeon.
In the original game, there’s an advantage to the hero taking control of a dungeon each time they conquer it: they can use that dungeon as a base.
Right now, I can’t let him realize this advantage. If this hero figures it out, he might kill me and take over the dungeon.
“Look over there, hero. There’s a human.”
I pointed to Geat, who was working on the farm.
“This farm also employs humans. Of course, it’s with their full consent, and they’re paid fairly for their labor.”
“Hmm… It doesn’t seem like they’re being forced to work.”
“The land around here is not suitable for crops. This dungeon is a rare farm. If you kill me, this farm will be destroyed. Do you understand what that means?”
“I see. So that’s it.”
The hero seems to have caught on to something.
If the hero fully believes my words, he can no longer kill me.
“Killing you would stop the farm from working. And then, the nearby villages that depend on this farm would starve.”
“Yeah. They’d really hate me.”
From the hero’s tone, it seems he cares a lot about his reputation.
The reason he wants my head is probably to earn merit as a hero.
But if killing me makes others resent him, the situation changes.
The hero would be seen as a troublesome fool, branded with that mark.
This is something the hero probably doesn’t want.
“I can’t kill you. It seems I can’t kill you anymore.”
The hero looks frustrated.
To confirm whether my words are true, he has no choice but to kill me.
However, if what I said is true, it would be irreversible.
There’s no way he can take that risk. The negotiation is mine to win.
“That’s right. If you want the achievement of defeating a boss monster, go to another dungeon.”
“Ah… I’ll do that. But the story from the adventurers really doesn’t match up with what I’m seeing here. They said the monsters here are violent and will attack suddenly.”
“That’s just a rumor. If we were really that violent, humans wouldn’t be able to work in this dungeon.”
“I see. So we’ve been misled by strange rumors.”
It seems the hero has let his guard down. He must have realized that I mean no harm.
“We also sometimes have to defend ourselves from intruders. It seems I mistakenly took you for one earlier. I’ll properly apologize for that preemptive attack.”
“Well, it’s already in the past. Don’t worry about it. I should have listened to your side of things as well.”
I think it’s safe to consider this a reconciliation.
“For now, hero, you probably haven’t had a decent meal around here, right? How about eating something made from ingredients harvested in this dungeon?”
“Is that alright?”
“Yeah. It’s a sign of our reconciliation.”
Honestly, I’d rather the hero leave this dungeon as soon as possible, since he’s stronger than me and could kill me instantly if I upset him.
But building our relationship is important too. This conflict likely happened because we didn’t have a proper understanding of each other.
Once we get to know each other, we should be able to understand each other better.
