Translator: RaidenTL

Chapter 169: A New Frontier for Humanity

The stale air of the underground city.

The corpses of monsters were piled high in the vicinity, and seven criminals lay sprawled on the ground, groaning in pain.

"Are these new recruits?"

"No, they're criminals. Take them to the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠dismantling room."

"Yes. Understood."

A golem approached and asked about the criminals' status.

Soon, other golems arrived, seized the seven men, and dragged them toward the monster dismantling room.

It was a temporary dismantling room set up to secure food for the underground city—a place I had prepared for times when I couldn't process all the monster corpses myself.

"Let go of me!"

"Damn it! What do you plan on doing to us?!"

The golems suppressed the rebellious criminals with brute force and dragged them into the makeshift dismantling room.

They were soon forced into pre-arranged chairs. Their bodies were bound with iron chains, and they found themselves face-to-face with the torturer, Abram.

"Are these the ones?"

"Yes. Please minimize physical damage as much as possible. I only want their spirits broken."

"That is an easy task. Please return in one hour."

Raphael and the other inquisitors had all returned to the surface, but Abram remained in the underground city.

His reason was that he wanted to become stronger, but he seemed to have gone a bit mad after witnessing the Saintess's death right before his eyes. Even though I told him Freya had been reincarnated as an Ice Snow Bird, he still seemed obsessed with pursuing power.

Well, he didn't do anything bad to humans. Abram's rage was directed solely at the monsters of the Labyrinth and those who didn't deserve to be called human.

So, I decided to receive some help from him in exchange for providing room and board in the underground city.

Just like today.

"He said to come back in an hour. Helena, why ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠don't you come out? You too, Freya."

I simultaneously summoned Helena and Freya, who had been residing within the Bracelet of Growth.

"So, it begins today."

"Yes. You need to start growing properly now."

"Hmph. This... it's quite uncomfortable to move around like this."

"You'll get used to it."

Helena needed to grow by absorbing the mana of the underground city, and Freya was having a hard time adjusting to her bird body and needed flight practice.

"I told you, that's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠not how you do it. Honestly, for someone who was a front-liner, you have no flexibility. Flap your wings properly."

"Dammit! A dragon who gets flight assistance and a bird that has to flap its wings from scratch are completely different!"

"Oh, Freya. Complaining won't change anything. I am a dragon, and you are merely a bird. You must accept that difference and start from the bottom, step by step..."

"Aaargh! Sion! Get this woman away from me! Dammit!"

Freya, unable to fly properly, and Helena, floating in the air and teasing her.

I couldn't tell if they actually got along or not.

"Don't fight too much and just enjoy yourselves. I'm going to head over to the stone pillar for a bit."

"Understood."

"I said, get this woman away from me!"

Leaving the screaming Freya to Helena, I approached the stele where the Villainesses resided.

'How did they say I should do it?'

I recalled the Resonance Method the Druid Club President had taught me.

It was the fundamental technique Horaru used to resonate with monsters—a method of connecting one's mind with the mind of the target.

'First, place a hand on the stele, close my eyes, and concentrate...'

—That's not how you do it, moron.

'Ah, is that so?'

—Your resonance ability is on the lower side, so just touch the stele and we'll allow you to interfere.

I was grateful they were willing to handle it themselves.

Soon, my consciousness was pulled upward by the Three Villainesses, and a panoramic view of the underground city unfolded before my eyes.

The Three Villainesses must have projected the view of the underground city directly into my mind.

—What do you want to do?

—If you touch things yourself, they might explode, so just ask us. We'll do it for you.

'Is that so? Then, first, could I organize the sections a bit?'

—How?

I felt the need to reorganize the five remaining sections, excluding the Central Section.

The Ruins Section where Hob Goblins appeared and the Spire District where Werewolves appeared were unnecessarily complex, while the Garden Section and Lake Section were unnecessarily vast.

'First, can you merge the Spire District and the Ruins Section into one?'

The Ruins Section was a place where buildings were tangled in a complex, maze-like fashion. The Spire District was dangerous because it was densely packed with tall spires.

So, let's merge the two sections and tidy them up.

—We can do that.

—Seems doable.

'I've already ordered the people to evacuate, so you can merge them right now.'

—Got it.

It was possible to construct buildings in the Labyrinth. If I moved all the materials and hired some laborers, they could use golems to build them.

But on second thought, that method was too wasteful. The cost of materials alone was astronomical. Even with the Merchant Association's support, the losses would be too great.

So, I decided to utilize the existing buildings. I thought I could just merge the buildings from the Ruins Section and the Spire District into one place and turn it into a residential space for adventurers.

Moreover, since they were stone buildings, they would be much sturdier than the wooden ones we planned to build. The fire risk would be lower, too.

Soon, the two sections began to merge into one. The adventurers and golems gathered in the underground city looked around in panic at the massive tremors.

The vibration was comparable to a cataclysm.

—We merged them by spreading them out so it wouldn't get cluttered. How is it?

'Excellent. You've captured my intention perfectly.'

—You were planning to move all the tents in the Central Section to those buildings, right?

'Exactly.'

The two sections were soon unified. The tangled buildings of the ruins and the tall towers of the Spire District stood together in a single section, creating the feel of a proper city.

I decided to call these two merged sections the 'Residential Section' from now on.

'It'll be wonderful once a formal relief station and general stores are established there.'

The underground city was truly becoming an underground city.

People entering the Labyrinth in the future could naturally settle into the organized Residential Section.

'Next, can you merge the Garden Section and the Lake Section?'

—Possible.

—Are you planning to start farming?

'That's exactly it.'

The lush Garden Section and the water-filled Lake Section. I planned to merge the two to create a farm.

'What would happen if I put the souls of livestock collected with the Spirit Chain into the bodies of monsters?'

Would the monsters become livestock? Of course, they could be domesticated through monster training, but I wondered if this might be an easier way.

If this worked, we could raise monsters like livestock and slaughter them for food.

'Above all, plants grow well in the Garden Section.'

Through Lafnel, I planned to turn the Garden Section into a mass-production zone for magic herbs. Since Lafnel's personal atelier would be set up separately in the Residential Section, we could sell potions to adventurers cheaply and stably.

Of course, the head of the Alchemist Guild would protest fiercely, so price adjustments would be necessary. I'd have to hire Alchemist Guild members as employees to reduce friction, but this was my plan for now.

—It's done. Isn't this practically a cataclysm?

'It is a cataclysm. A cataclysm limited to the underground city.'

The Ruins and Spire Districts merged to form a residential complex.

The Garden and Lake Sections merged to establish a farm section.

All that remained was the Plaza Section.

'I'm thinking of leaving the Central Section as it is and releasing monsters for growth in the Plaza Section.'

—You want to release monsters right now?

'No. I think I need to discuss this more with the people.'

Currently, monsters were not spawning in the underground city.

Thanks to the Three Villainesses' suppression, no new monsters were being created, except for those that had already spawned.

However, we couldn't block monster generation forever.

'The Residential Section and Farm Section are places where people will live, so it'll be a problem if monsters spawn there at will.'

Thus, I planned to release the monsters into the remaining Plaza Section.

First, I needed to designate a few locations where monsters would spawn intensively.

'By the way, can you make it so the boss-class entities of the underground city spawn below the Layer Division?'

—Possible.

—The Minotaur, the Chimera, the Manticore, and what was the other one?

'The Leviathan from the Lake Section and the Drake from the Garden Section.'

—Right. Those five?

'Yes. I think it would be good to spawn them below the Layer Division for organized hunting.'

The maze below the Layer Division had already been cleared.

The winding paths had been readjusted to run straight, and I planned to create several large rooms there to spawn the boss monsters of the underground city.

That way, boss monster hunting could be done systematically.

I was planning to run it like a factory, literally.

—The settings are complete. From now on, boss entities will only spawn below the Layer Division.

'Thank you. With this, the rough organization is finished.'

The zoning of the underground city was complete.

Now, all that remained were the settings for the underground city's environment.

'You said you could lower the mana concentration, right?'

—We can lower it to about the level of the upper floors.

'Then please lower the concentration in the Central Section as much as possible, and then increase it in the order of the Residential Section, Farm Section, and Plaza Section.'

—What about below the Layer Division?

'Let's keep the concentration as it is.'

The reason for lowering the mana concentration was to attract more people to the underground city.

If people could come directly down to the underground city without needing to adapt to mana on the upper floors, the influx into the 5th floor would explode.

—The mana on the upper floors is going to surge even more ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠because of this.

'Probably. In fact, the upper floors will become more difficult than the underground city.'

Since we had taken control of the underground city, I expected the Labyrinth would try to increase the difficulty of the existing upper floors. There would likely be massive changes up there.

'Let's leave it at this for now. I'll tinker with it more if I think of anything else.'

It seemed best to experience the changed underground city first and fill in any deficiencies later.

Soon, there would be a massive influx of beastmen through the connections of the elves and the Druid Club President, whom Lafnel had called upon.

If I provided them with stable housing and opportunities for growth...

'Conquering the 6th floor will become much easier.'

My current goal was to break through to the 7th floor within three months.

Time to run like hell.