The Timid Baby Dinosaur Landlord
A monster in the form of a baby dinosaur was the building owner. Madam Rabbit had introduced him as the hotel's landlord.
"Its name is Building Creator?"
Chats from the allies scrolled up from the edge of my vision. I caught a glimpse of Sage's message and nodded silently in affirmation.
Building Creator's nerfed threat level was A-grade. Its actual threat level was SS-grade.
"Don't worry. I keep my promises."
As Madam Rabbit issued another warning, the Building Creator—who had been sitting on the floor and side-eyeing us—suddenly jumped up and scampered behind a nearby large stuffed doll, hiding itself.
Peeking only its head out from behind the doll, it continued to glance at us furtively.
Madam Rabbit said that, then approached the hiding Building Creator with careful clicks of her heels.
She stopped in front of it, bowing politely in greeting.
The Building Creator clutched and hugged the doll tight as it replied, still peeking at us.
It knew we were guests brought by Madam Rabbit, but showed no sign of dropping its guard.
Madam Rabbit continued the conversation as if this was familiar.
The Building Creator let go of the doll. It walked out step by step, fully revealing itself, and rolled its eyes quickly over the main exploration team.
It pointed at the Abyss Lord with its hand. It seemed to have picked the strongest-looking one.
Madam Rabbit shook her head slightly.
Madam Rabbit asked. The Building Creator seemed to ponder for a moment, then stared blankly at Iris.
No—more accurately, at my face.
From that short exchange alone, I could gauge how deep Madam Rabbit's loyalty ran. Probably about the same level as her affection for me.
For instance, even if I did something awful to the Building Creator, Madam Rabbit—tamed by me—wouldn't attack me.
Tamed monsters never betray.
But she'd likely try to stop me. Or even sacrifice herself to protect it.
Even if I told her not to block me, she wouldn't obey. Most follow my instructions well, but tamed monsters are friends, not subordinates.
My "instructions" are more like requests anyway. And I avoid requests that cross lines—ones that shatter a monster's values or beliefs.
They won't betray, but persistent unreasonable demands could lead to self-destruction. I didn't want ego collapse or the like.
The takeaway: In situations with monsters sharing such close bonds, as long as they're not hostile to me, taming should be done peacefully.
If it endures mistreatment but gets tamed, forgiveness might come since I become precious. But witnessing a precious one suffer mistreatment before taming—even if tamed later or already tamed—could cause confusion.
Seeing a precious being harmed by another precious one. No matter how much affection grows for me, it won't erase or dilute love for the other.
...Anyway.
It might take time, but I had to win the Building Creator over and tame it. Especially since I'd already promised Madam Rabbit.
The Building Creator had crept closer, waving shyly in greeting.
Kkuri-eida. Its slurred pronunciation made it sound like that. So I decided on "Kkuri" as a nickname.
"Yeah, nice to meet you."
"No big reason. Just wanted to be friends with you, Kkuri."
I nodded. Its eyes rolled quickly, as if pondering.
It soon gave its answer.
"...Nope? Why not?"
"Don't worry about that. I absolutely won't die."
I could say it with full confidence. Unlike other explorers, I didn't tackle the labyrinth recklessly.
Even at three-stage liberation, I never got arrogant—safety always came first.
Even if I proved my power now, telling it the nerfed Abyss Lord and I were comparable in raw strength wouldn't change its mind.
My current power was S-grade. Explorers that strong had existed before. Azeras had been S-grade as an explorer.
How to convince the Building Creator?
I pondered briefly, then decided to just speak whatever came to mind. My brain wasn't the sharpest—deep thought wouldn't yield more ideas anyway.
"Kkuri."
"You're friends with Madam Rabbit, right?"
"I'm friends with Madam Rabbit too. Starting today."
The Building Creator's gaze shifted to Madam Rabbit. She nodded emphatically. "It seems we've become as close as you and I, Landlord."
I spoke to Kkuri again.
"Kkuri. If I died, who do you think would be sad?"