Chapter 35
Chapter 35
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: Dungeon Organization Reform
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Ding-
Ding-
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"What the hell? Why are the alarms going off nonstop?"
The smartphone kept blaring alarms without pause.
"Maru, grab my phone."
At my words, the skeleton quickly handed over the phone.
The skeleton soldier who had come out of the dungeon and now lived here with me.
Calling it "skeleton" all the time felt off, so I'd given it a name.
Nothing special about it.
I'd just named it Maru because it followed my orders like a loyal dog.
Watching Maru now handle dishes, clean the bathroom, and even boil ramen flawlessly made me swell with pride.
It was the kind of feeling where you can't help but think, 'Aw, my little guy.'
"What alarm's blowing up like this?"
I checked the alarm content right away.
The alarms kept coming.
Until the very last one.
"What?"
So many dungeons pledging loyalty to me in such a short time...
Counting them up, a total of 26 dungeons had come under my command.
Had they launched some conquest spree in that brief window?
I checked the previous alarms.
Right, after that alarm, the dungeons had started surrendering one after another.
Celia hadn't done anything special.
"Hmm..."
No need to overthink it.
More power for my dungeon was a good thing.
Especially when I couldn't splash more cash on gems right now—free monsters? No way I'd turn that down.
"If anything, it's welcome."
"Organization reform?"
It made sense.
Fine when it was just one dungeon, but with this expansion, the old ad-hoc setup wouldn't cut it.
"And there's that loyalty and favorability system here."
I'd forgotten about it since things had been smooth so far.
The monsters from the dungeons conquered by Celia and the Death Knight had all merged into mine without issue.
And then.
The incubus dungeon master from another dimension who'd pledged loyalty to me seemed fine on loyalty and favorability too.
"What did I even do for them?"
I thought for a moment, then remembered.
"Ah, right—I hooked him up with a friend."
Those guys had some real bromance going.
Folks like that wouldn't cause trouble, even across dimensions.
The real headache was those 26 freshly conquered dungeons.
"Merging them is tricky with monster placement space..."
My dungeon was at full capacity.
The last gacha pull had crammed every zone with monsters.
Expansion wasn't feasible right now either.
"Gotta categorize first."
Leaving over 20 dungeons unattended was risky.
I hadn't seen low loyalty or favorability yet, so who knew what could happen.
No point conquering them just to let them break free.
"Oh."
Handy feature.
I checked the racial compositions first.
Merged dungeons with overlapping races.
"Undead with undead, orcs with orcs."
After that, the 26 dungeons shrank to 9.
"Merge some more."
This time, similar types together.
"Goblins and orcs can bunk up."
Finally, down to 4 dungeons.
Extreme compression.
But I stopped there.
The layout now encircled my original dungeon perfectly.
Ideal setup.
Better intel on surroundings this way than cramming into one.
"Now, time to summon overseers for these dungeons."
Obviously, monsters from my dungeon.
Patrol the area, manage the four—needed a dedicated role.
"Yeah, Lich, this is yours."
Lich was undead baseline.
No fatigue, perfect for nonstop work.
4-star too, and with skeleton backups, ideal for tough spots.
Clicked the lich, assigned position in settings.
No presets, so manual input.
They understood me well, so this'd suffice.
Pulled the newly titled inspector lich from zone 1, stationed outside.
Outside access restriction lifted.
Now, the Lich will lead the skeleton forces and patrol the forest, as well as monitor the four dungeons.
"And in case there's any rebellion..."
Just my hunch for now.
But even preparing for such trivial matters put my mind at ease.
This was reality, and if my dungeon were to be looted, my life would soon be at risk.
"Ah, Death Knight—this is yours."
The unit responsible for suppressing rebellions.
The figure of the Death Knight, carrying a massive shield on its back, was truly reliable.
In a way, it was similar to being in charge of guarding the dungeon.
Next to the Death Knight, I bestowed the title of "Commander."
"Now it feels like the foundation is set."
And the most important duty for managing the dungeon.
"Celia, no question."
She has done well up until now, so it was right for Celia to continue.
Next was the diplomatic field.
As the dungeon continues to develop, there will likely be many external frictions.
"This too, will be Celia, I suppose."
If it's the Celia I've seen so far, she will handle diplomatic disputes smoothly even if they arise.
Next was the legislative side.
The existence needed to grasp the internal structure of the dungeon was too grand to call it a law, at least to punish those who undermine the structure.
"Celia is the only one for this."
Thus, Celia took charge of overseeing the dungeon, along with diplomacy, and was given the responsibility of solidifying the internal structure.
"And... I've seen something like this somewhere before."
It was a story about how assigning ranks to slaves makes them watch each other more closely, preventing escape.
It was time to make use of this.
"Who was the first to surrender to me?"
According to the alarm, it was the owner of the "Red-Haired Tribe" dungeon.
The owner was none other than an orc.
He was a unique monster with a renowned name.
As expected.
He was quite extraordinary.
"I should assign him as a Margrave."
He would be in charge of defending the surrounding dungeons from now on.
I'll have to give him some good equipment as well.
Someone so sharp deserves an extra reward.
"Next up..."
I kept assigning roles for the rest.
"Section Chief, Director Moltis wants you."
Startled by the subordinate's words, Guron lifted his head with a surprised expression. So startled that Guron was trembling with fear
Why would the director summon him out of nowhere?
The director never bothered with mere section chiefs.
Orders came through deputy directors—he saw the deputy's face more than the director's.
'Did something go wrong?'
What had he been up to recently?.
No matter how hard he thought, there was nothing particularly questionable.
The only thing he did recently was visit the dungeon in the mountains yesterday.
'Did he not like the report I submitted?'
Even thinking back, there was nothing wrong with the report.
He had examined the dungeon he visited yesterday and wrote down his thoughts in the report.
The content simply stated that the dungeon didn't warrant attention from the headquarters.
"Is he just in a bad mood?"
As far as Guron knew, the director was competent and didn't let his mood affect his work.
However, since Guron felt that he had not particularly done anything wrong, he could not understand why he was being called for any reason.
"Section Chief?"
When Guron remained silent for a while, the subordinate called him again.
"Oh... yes, I'll be right there. Thank you"
Gurun issued an order to the subordinate and prepared to go up to the Section Chief's office.
Still, he couldn't go empty-handed, so he gathered recent documents related to his work and headed to the manager's office.
Knock knock-
"Come in."
Although he knocked on the door of the manager's office a few times, a voice from inside told him to come in.
The voice was cold.
Very much so.
"You wanted me, Director?"
He bowed his head sharply, and a document flew in front of Guron.
"Read."
The massive figure of Moltis, the head of the gratitude team, spoke in a low tone.
With a huge physique like a bear and a face resembling an owl, he was a monster called an Owlbear, which was Moltis's species name.
Naturally, there were no high-ranking demons in his bloodline, so he had no relatives.
Naturally, there were no high-ranking demons in his bloodline, so he had no relatives.
He was someone who had taken the position of the head of the gratitude team solely based on his abilities.
Such a person's appearance was intimidating, and with his imposing demeanor, Gurun felt as if his blood was drying up.
"What are you doing if you're not reading it?"
Again, urged by the manager's words, he picked up the document.
A brief title was written at the top of the document.
[Changes in Sail Kingdom Mountain Dungeon Landscape]
The content was simple.
It stated that the dungeon managed by the merchant Moru had conquered 26 dungeons near the mountains.
This happened yesterday, even during the evening banquet.
"......"
Guron broke out in a cold sweat.
Was what he was looking at really true?
The level of the dungeon he had seen yesterday was not high.
It was definitely like that.
However, the content of the document, claiming to have conquered all the dungeons near the mountains. It felt unreal and this happened within a day, or rather, during the time of the banquet.
"What on earth is this..."
Guron muttered gravely.
"Thanks to your report, I've been severely criticized alone."
Moltis's glare sharpened.
Moltis' gaze became even sharper.
A subordinate's mistake ultimately becomes the responsibility of the superior.
"You made 26 dungeons surrender that you didn't need to pay attention to. And that happened in an instant."
In fact, they were all the dungeons nearby.
Even in a place like this, it's a dungeon that doesn't need attention from the guild. "Gulron, are your eyes just for decoration?"
Of course, the size of the mountain range is huge.
Even if 26 dungeons are merged, it is only a small part when viewed overall.
However, due to the nature of the mountain range being adjacent to the demon realm, it was also a place frequented by human adventurers, attracting attention.
As such, the owners of the dungeons in the mountain range tended to prioritize survival over noticeable alliance formations.
So, generally, they exchanged information through gatherings like banquets rather than directly increasing their power or considering alliances.
That's how it has been until now.
But yesterday, everything changed completely.
"Sure, there have been records of merging other dungeons before, but this time it's too big."
It's gotten big.
That means someone has to take responsibility, and Gulron, he knew he was appointed as the person responsible.
"I'll go and take care of it."
A total of 26 dungeons.
In other words, all 26 dungeons that were managed by the guild kneeled down at one place.
Of course, even that one place was managed by the guild, but there was a big difference between trading with 27 dungeons individually or trading with the single dungeon that had the body of 26 dungeons.
From the guild's perspective, the dungeons they traded with didn't want their bodies to be revealed.
Because their influence increased accordingly.
"Gulron, manager."
Moltis' expression became even more severe.
"I don't want another Baalcherith to come out."
Gulron also knew the name well.
Baalcherith.
A 5-star vampire who had established himself as the strongman of the region while making nearby dungeons kneel.
From the guild's perspective, they had no choice but to accommodate Baalcherith due to his overwhelming power, but they didn't want another strongman to emerge.
Naturally, there were other dungeons belonging to different alliances or dungeons that had greatly expanded their bodies.
But the more there were, the more it was a loss for the guild, so they hoped for the status quo to be maintained.
The only fortunate thing was that the movements of the sects these days were unsettling.
The White Sect is weakening the Baal Cherith's influence right now. Our guild sees it as an opportunity.
We don't know what's going on, but recently the White Sect has been subjugating the nearby dungeons of Baal Cherith, eroding her power.
This was a tremendous opportunity for the guild.
But another strong force emerges?
That absolutely cannot happen.
"Do you understand what I'm saying? I've already contacted the superiors separately. From now on, you are no longer affiliated with the guild."
Guron hardened his expression at Moltis's words.
There was no way he didn't understand the meaning.
It meant resolving the situation not under the name of the guild, but under Guron's personal name.
Probably contacting the superiors meant they would assign monsters with uncertain identities to him.
He had to lead them and resolve the current situation.
If successful, he would break even, but if he failed, he had no future. Just looking at yesterday's Jowel, the guild wouldn't spare him.
"Understood."
Understanding the meaning well, Guron bowed his head while gritting his teeth.