First Promotion
"So good..."
I popped a candy into my mouth and fiddled with the system window. It was something I’d bought fresh, because I’d already devoured everything in my mailbox.
It had been a little expensive. Bread and water were one point apiece, while candy cost two points each.
Still, I’d made a pretty decent haul this time around... Surely three pieces was fine. For now, I decided to think of it that way.
"First, the items."
【Item List】
[Puppet-Making Material Set(?) x 1]
[Puppet Maintenance Material Set(?) x 1]
[Pretty Thimble (F-) x 1]
I spotted one familiar item. Then all I had to do was check the other two.
[Puppet Maintenance Set(?) ]
[Description: Contains consumables for decorating and refining puppets. Contains the touch of ■■.]
[Pretty Thimble (F-)]
[Description: When equipped, protects your fingers from being pricked by needles. Destroyed after 10 uses.]
Well, the last one is a bust.
"...Isn't that basically the same as the Hardened Fingers thing from before?"
I didn’t pick that one last time, and there was no reason to choose its inferior version now.
That left one of the other two, then.
"The maintenance set... that's probably an enhancement or something, right?"
That’s what I thought. Only the word itself had been swapped out for puppets; in the end, the puppet house was still just a dungeon-room upgrade.
Maybe it was something like letting people tread through the undergrowth more easily? If so, I could sort of understand why those people had behaved the way they did.
Even then, it was still a pretty shabby upgrade. Starting with the fact that it had lost to a rabbit, of all things.
"Hmm. So is this a question of quantity versus quality?"
Of course, enemies like that wouldn’t keep coming forever. Both times might have been special cases.
Which meant I couldn’t afford to make a careless choice.
Let’s think. Was the rabbit weak right now?
"...Pretty weak, right?"
No matter how powerful its head-first charge was, its body itself wasn’t all that impressive. Last time, it had even gotten grabbed by the scruff of the neck.
But that problem had actually been solved. With the puppet house in place, the rabbit had plenty of places to hide.
Meaning that once it seized the initiative, it wouldn’t be caught helplessly again like before. And it didn’t seem like the rabbits were ever leaving the brush anyway.
"Then I’ll pass on the upgrade."
Sure, it’d be nice to strengthen them in advance. If I thought about what Seoyeon had said, it sounded like invaders with detection skills would eventually start showing up.
Still, there was no telling whether that upgrade would evolve the way I wanted. If it developed something useless instead, that would just mean wasting an item.
"Okay. Let’s make one more."
【Would you like to select Puppet-Making Material Set(?)? Y/N】
【Y】
【As a bonus, Puppet-Making Material Set(?) has been provided!】
All right, that took care of the reward issue.
Next was...
【Would you like to undergo the dungeon promotion exam? Y/N】
Yeah, it was probably this.
Good. I should ask the gallery about it. Hmm, but just posting it would be kind of odd, so I’d better attach the invader-subjugation video too...
**
**
Hmm. It was the same as last time.
I mean, it felt like they kept saying things I didn’t understand. Maybe it was because I was a newbie, but I honestly couldn’t make heads or tails of it.
And what on earth had the deleted comments said? They disappeared in an instant, so I didn’t even get a chance to read them. Not that I could exactly ask why they’d been deleted, either.
Just as I was thinking it over, the moderator jumped in with a post. It was someone different from Hot Place, who had visited my room last time.
"...Then I guess I should do it now."
As if they’d heard my muttering, another reply came almost immediately.
"Why does that sound like a question?"
After a moment, the moderator, who had been silent for a while, finally posted back. At last, I’d gotten an answer to my question.
A precise robot, huh. That made sense. The rabbit things definitely weren’t ordinary puppets, so they probably had some kind of power source.
They really did move on their own, so that rank name fit perfectly. I still didn’t understand why their rank was based on their defining trait instead of their strength or danger level, though.
If the moderator said so, then I supposed that was how it was. They knew this world far better than I did. There was still so much I didn’t know about the Secre.
Oh. So that was it.
But they also take monster rights into account? What kind of Demon Realm was this—so organized and humane? Usually, shouldn’t the standard Demon Realm be the sort that works you to death for free, year-round?
I didn’t get it. Well, I should probably just read up on it. If I went through the basic guide a few times before applying for rank promotion, that should do...
"...Still, something about this is making me nervous."
The moderator had said combat power wouldn’t be a problem, but I couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling. My puppets still weren’t all that reliable, and the enemies had looked pretty weak, too.
"Right. There’s no harm in preparing more..."
Even if I’d gotten a definite answer, the parts that worried me were still there. What if a proper enemy showed up? Could this dungeon hold out?
So it’d be better to use everything I could, right away.
【Puppet-Making Material Set(?) has been provided!】
I rummaged around and pulled out the tools. Apparently, these weren’t one-use items after all; they didn’t disappear.
Good. To be honest, I had no clue how to make one, but...
"This time, let’s make something that looks a little more powerful...!"
Let’s just try.
.
.
.
"Chirp?"
"Uuugh..."
It failed.
There was a bird sitting on my head. A rather fat one at that.
It had a brown body and tiny little legs. It looked a lot like a sparrow.
"I-I was definitely trying to make a wolf, so why..."
When I came out of focus, this bird was sitting on top of my head. It was a far cry from what I’d meant to make.
And this time, only one came out. Last time at least I’d gotten two rabbits.
【A Certain Forest(AN??)】
Dungeon Room Status: Abundant
Monsters Assigned: Rabbit1(AN??), Rabbit2(AN??), Chirpy(AN??)
Monster Status:
[Rabbit1(AN??)]: Happy
[Rabbit2(AN??)]: Happy
[Chirpy(AN??)]: Hungry
Still, it was the same rank as the rabbits, at least. I wasn’t sure whether that was a relief or not.
"Chirp?"
Chirpy looked even less dangerous than the rabbits did.
"Hup."
I reached out and grabbed the puppet.
The rabbits had at least struggled, but this one just stared back at me with a guileless little face.
I let out a sigh and loosened my grip. As if it didn’t care in the slightest, it hopped right back onto my head.
"Chirp!"
Well, I made it already, so I guess there’s nothing to do about it. I’ll have to buy some kind of decoration later and put it on him. He looks way too plain.
"Might as well read the guide..."
With a sigh, I opened the system window. Where was the basic guide again? Ah. There it was.
The content I skimmed through didn’t amount to anything spectacular. It was more like a driver’s license written test: a mix of common sense and things I’d never heard of.
"...No, what do you mean by 'succubus-only rest leave'?"
Even the unfamiliar stuff somehow felt weirdly familiar.
"Chirp?"
"Haaah. Why does this place seem better than the companies I actually wanted to work for..."
It made me a little sad. The companies I’d applied to my whole life somehow felt worse than a place where people were forcibly dragged in and made to work.
What a warm, considerate place it was. Not that you’d know it from the name Demon Realm.
After skimming the guide a few times, I managed to pick up the gist of it. It wasn’t that hard.
All right, then. Shall I call them now?
【Would you like to undergo the dungeon promotion exam? Y/N】
【Y】
【Submitting your application to the Dungeon Management Department...】
【Application complete!】
【The assigned officer will be dispatched soon. Please wait a moment!】
While I had a little time, I let the fairy out to play. It didn’t exactly look dirty in here, but still, just in case.
"Chirp?"
Come to think of it, should I be giving the puppets vacations too? There weren’t any separate instructions about that.
Hmm. Well, it’d probably be better to take care of them somehow. They fought so well with those cute little bodies in my place, after all. I should properly repay them.
"Looks like it’s about time..."
As I waited with my body all freshly washed, the system window finally popped up.
【Officer Elice and Tibar have arrived!】
They were here.
I stood up on instinct and snapped to attention.
My whole body tensed at once, and cold sweat started to bead on my skin.
"...Ah."
Right.
Come to think of it only now, I didn’t have many good memories of interviews.
All I remembered were moments of frustration, moments when my goals had been crushed. Thanks to that, my body seemed to have frozen over in an instant.
"Hmm."
What appeared before me was one man and one woman.
The man wore a neat suit, had white hair, and a monocle over one eye.
And the woman had yellow hair and wore something that looked almost like priestess robes.
This was bad. Old memories kept flooding back. My heart was pounding so hard I couldn’t even tell whether I was managing my expression anymore.
"Gatekeeper Kangkang. Is that correct?"
"Ah, y-yes! That’s r-right."
My tongue was so twisted up I could barely get the words out. At the same time, I started attaching meaning to every little movement the interviewers made.
"I’m Tibar, an inspector with the Dungeon Management Department of the Demon Realm Central Administration. Before the actual promotion review, I’ll conduct a dungeon scan first."
The man looked around, frowned, and began writing something down. Every time his pen moved, my body jumped in spite of itself.
The woman beside him—probably Elice—said nothing. She merely looked around with a deeply dissatisfied expression.
As if she hated what she saw. As if it disgusted her.
And then, before long, her gaze stopped on me. Her eyes, full of contempt and revulsion, met mine, and I found myself trembling under them.
"Haaah..."
The moment Elice let out a sigh, I knew it.
Again.
I’d ruined it.
It was over before it had even begun. All those times I’d been disappointed before whispered the same thing to me.
Bad omen, they said. You should’ve worried about the first stitch and sewn it properly.
This time too, nothing would be different.
"Very well. Then I’ll begin the scan—"
Again, I’d ruined it—
"Hey, you fucking lunatic!!!"
Thwack—!
"Ghk!"
...
......?
I squeezed my eyes shut at the sound of a sudden blow, then opened them again to an incomprehensible scene.
No, because... the inspector had...
Kicked the other inspector in the air...?
...What in the world was going on—
"Even if we are short-staffed, who the hell throws a child onto the front line!? Are you insane!?"
...Huh.
Ah.