Dungeon Maker

Yuria, who ate a chicken leg right away, was so excited that she was jumping up and down in place. It looked like she wanted to express her feelings but couldn't think of the right words.

Baduk was chewing on even the chicken bones beside Yuria.

Since the two showed such a fantastic response, other dungeon spirits, who gathered near the door of space, watching the two eating carefully, showed deep interest. They were already drooling because of the delicious smell of the chicken.

Yong-ho served a piece of chicken to one of the dungeon spirits that pretended to be the most indifferent. She was none other than Ophelia.

"Hey, Ophelia, try it. It's delicious."

Ophelia received one and took a bite of it gracefully. Catalina held the urge to laugh hard while watching her. She then flapped her ears in no time because she saw Ophelia's tails wagging violently.

"Isn't it delicious?"

"Hmm, yeah, I have to admit it."

Ophelia held the urge to take one more bite as much as possible. In fact, she was the hostess of a tavern nearby, which could be called the best 'restaurant' in the area. So, she didn't want to show them she was making a big fuss over the food.

Although she wasn't honest, Yong-ho was satisfied because he also noticed her tail wagging fervently even without Catalina's signaling to him with her eyes.

Yong-ho opened a few more chicken boxes and handed them out to those dungeon spirits that gathered near the door of space. While everyone was enjoying the chicken happily, Treant, which couldn't eat food, let its branches droop with a long face.

"Let me tell you what I have brought here."

Ophelia, who secretly packed a box for Eligos, turned around in embarrassment.

Instead of embarrassing her, Yong-ho naturally pointed to the box stacked right under the chicken.

"This is Coke. It's a soft drink. It's really the best if you drink it cold."

Yong-ho just felt good just by looking at it. But Ophelia was a little different.

She blinked her eyes several times and asked in a cautious tone, "Uh… Master, did you bring only something to eat?"

"So what?"

Ophelia's pretty eyebrows frowned a bit. He heartily laughed at her gaze that reflected regret and a little bit of patheticness.

"I'm kidding, of course."

He removed the boxes of clothes he bought for some dungeon spirits such as Catalina, Yuria, and Ophelia. He then pointed to the things laid under them. There were stacks of large bags.

"I bought some seeds."

"Seeds? Do you mean seeds to grow crops?"

"Right. The grains supplied by the Dungeon Market are okay, but their breed was not improved. These seeds are a better breed you can grow properly in the Garden of Life."

There were potatoes in the human world, and there were similar crops like potatoes in the demon world, but they were different. Potatoes in the demon world were small and tasteless, and they didn't taste as good as those in the human world.

It was because of the difference in crop breeding.

Potatoes in the human world were improved in a way that they became bigger, more delicious, and more productive. Compared with wild corn that didn't go through crop breeding with the corn grown on a farm, grains of the latter were ten times as many as the former.

All the crops supplied by the Dungeon Market couldn't be called wild crops, but they were inferior to their counterparts in the human world. That was why Yong-ho brought the seeds.

The Garden of Life was not just fertile land. There was an aura of growth promotion that originated in Scathach's vitality, whose amount would make it possible to collect several times as many seeds within a few months.

"And these are books on farming. I've also brought some cookbooks."

Although Ophelia did not know the human characters, she could roughly guess what kind of information was in it. After admiring the excellent binding of the books and the printing method, she agreed with his opinion.

"If we can provide delicious meals of excellent quality, the morale of dungeon spirits will go up greatly."

After all, all of them are working to eat. Moreover, the pleasure of eating was very important in the demon world where there were few dishes to enjoy. It was far from the situation where in the army soldiers paid lots of attention to the taste of combat food.

Except for chicken, coke, and a few favorite items, it was no exaggeration to say that virtually all of the items in Yong-ho's baggage were agricultural products.

Since his visit to the human world was made so suddenly and his stay there was so brief, he could not afford to buy other stuff.

Yong-ho felt it rather awkward to bring out clothes for Yuria and Ophelia lastly in the presence of other dungeon spirits, so he changed the topic.

"How have you been here? Didn't anything else happen while I wasn't here?"

"Restoring their strength is going on well. Brother Eli and Skull are returning to the House of Mammon with the Skull unit. Maybe they will arrive by tomorrow morning. They started late because they were wounded, but they are all in good shape now. You don't have to worry."

Ophelia paused for a moment then continued after catching her breath.

"The House of Randolt has stabilized again under Tigrius' command. I'm going to go back to the Free City tomorrow. And the bones of the Bone Dragon have been stored safely in the warehouse. Burgrim is so anxious to work on his dream right now."

Listening to her briefing quietly, Yong-ho opened his eyes wide and asked, "Huh? Burgirm is just looking at them now?"

"Yes, since the bones of the Bone Dragon are a valuable asset. It is impossible for Burgrim to tamper with them without your permission."

Cutting him off, she related the rest of her briefing to him.

"A battle between the runaway soldiers seems to have broken out in the west, as expected. I guess refugees from the west will come in a few days. In the case of the north and the east… sorry. I have not yet gathered intelligence about the situation there. However, I think those in the east will have heard about Embrio's death by now. So, I think they will have to choose whether to attack the southern area or defend their own land by the day after tomorrow at the latest."

"Don't worry. They are far away from us anyway. What about the remnant soldiers?"

"Those runaway soldiers, who fled to the south, were not engaged in any suspicious activities yet. Contrary to our concerns, Demon King Lotus of the Wild Animals seems to have moved westward."

The situation was very favorable for Yong-ho. It seemed that he didn't have to worry about them at this point.

"Jun, take the remaining chicken to the restaurant and hand it out to other dungeon spirits. And move all other packages to my room."

Jun, the only female Goblin Ranger, who was playing the role of butler Eligos, bowed to him and followed his order. Jon, Ron, and Yon moved with Jun like they were one. Although there were three helping her, they acted in perfect unison.

[Master, you must have been very tired from your journey. Are you going to move around right away?]

When Lucia quickly asked quick-wittedly, Yong-ho replied in a low voice, "You know I had a good rest for two days. And it seems that there are a lot who have been waiting for my return anxiously for the two days I was away."

He recalled several of them in his mind. Catalina approached him. Leaning toward him, she, who had a deeper bond with him than ordinary dungeon spirits, asked, "Which one would you want to see first?"

"Well, let me think about it. I guess she's going to wait for me more earnestly."

He beat around the bush, but Catalina instantly knew who she was, for they could understand each other's intention just by looking at their eyes.

Catalina curled her lips slightly when he mentioned that woman.

***

[I was worried that the power of your anguish would disappear… I think my concern was unfounded.]

[The power of your anguish has become stronger.]

Yong-ho was standing in the middle of the arena. There was no enemy on the other side.

There was the wreckage of the 13th floor floor master, Giant War Golem, scattered everywhere after being completely shattered.

The instant opening of his mana, which could be better called 'explosion,' was far from simple.

Mana released by Yong-ho was always different. Depending on the color and properties of the opponent's mana, he brought out the opposite.

Yong-ho himself possessed only three attributes—flame, chill, and lightning—but the mana he released during battle was much more diverse. Not only Catalina's darkness, but also Eligos's land and Ophelia's wind were added to his strength.

Aamon did not hide his satisfaction. Yong-ho became stronger. His spearmanship made a lot of progress, so he really looked like a master spearman.

[Your previous anguish had a mix of shame, inferiority, and anger.]

[But now it is different. It is a purer desire. You have the desire to have more and the confidence in having more. Indeed, such desire can be said to fit your greed.]

[My little master.]

[Desire. I am proud of you since you are faithful to your desires.]

Obviously, Aamon praised him, but he didn't feel like that.

'Ah, please…'

Yong-ho wished Aamon didn't mention it in a serious voice like that.

He swung Aamon briskly and turned the spear into a bracelet then hurriedly fanned himself with his hand. After taking off heat from his face to some extent, he took Mammon's mana and the rewards of the arena.

Mammon's mana tasted delicious. Perhaps, thanks to the growth in his ability to utilize greed, the efficiency rate of him absorbing mana also improved.

'The reward is usually good.'

It was a ring that improved the concentration of magic casters. He felt he had better give it to Tigrius.

When Yong-ho turned after wrapping up, Catalina, who was waiting in the audience, stood up suddenly and clapped her hands. Yong-ho felt satisfied with her reaction.

"Oh my… Look at her turning up her mouth with joy," said Gusion.

Instead of responding right away, Yong-ho used Catalina's black mana as Brigada.

Then something amazing happened!