As expected, even for the gods, building a dungeon seemed to take some time. It wasn’t the kind of thing they could just snap their fingers and finish in a single afternoon.
To be honest, I got the impression that the "discussions" between the deities—which looked a lot more like a struggle for dominance—took longer than the actual remodeling itself.
Construction wrapped up on the fifth day. Today was the official unveiling of the reborn dungeon—though it was really more of a pre-opening. Before the doors were opened to the general public, Glory's Steps was tasked with a trial run to make sure everything was in working order.
We hadn't been told a single thing about what the interior was like. I was vibrating with excitement to see what they’d come up with... and yet...
“I am sorry. My power was insufficient...”
“Eh? What do you mean by that...?”
“Well, I suppose you’ll understand once you actually step inside.”
“Ah, okay.”
Having had that brief exchange with the Spirit God right before entering, I felt a mounting sense of unease.
The entrance looked the same as before—a massive hole in the ground with a set of stone stairs leading down. However, the view waiting for us at the bottom of those stairs was unrecognizable.
The first floor was shockingly pastoral. A single, well-trodden dirt path cut straight through a lush meadow.
“Wow... this is incredible, Spira.”
“You’re right! Do you think it’s like Aingurna?”
Aingurna was a city built inside a dungeon, but this place felt more like a rural farming village. Simple houses surrounded by wooden fences lined the path, and there were even what looked like vegetable patches in the surrounding area.
“Hold up. Someone’s there,” Lowell warned.
Following his finger, I spotted what was definitely a human silhouette. It was too far away to see clearly, but the figure appeared to be tending to a field.
In Aingurna, people actually lived inside the dungeon, but they were all migrants from the surface. Finding residents in a freshly remodeled dungeon like this was bizarre.
“Hey, Garna. No one’s supposed to be living here yet, right?”
“Of course not. Which means those are monsters.”
When I checked with Garna, she confirmed that the figure wasn't human. As for what it actually was, I didn't have the slightest clue. Were there really monsters out there that performed manual farm labor?
“Well, you’ll find out soon enough if we just go over there!” Shiroru chimed in.
“True.”
Just as Shiroru said, there was no point in guessing. We’d just have to go see for ourselves.
We cautiously approached the figure. It was working so intently that it didn't even glance our way, allowing us to close the distance to about thirty meters without being detected.
“What is that?”
“It looks just like one of Tort-kun’s golems.”
“It really does.”
“It’s a dead ringer!”
Seeing the figure's true form, everyone spoke up at once.
How rude! My golems were properly modeled after haniwa figures, thank you very much!
But, well, I had to admit it looked similar to the sand golems I’d made back in the desert. It had a head and arms, but it was so smooth and featureless that you couldn’t tell where the joints were. Its entire body was the color of earth. It sounded strange to say, but it had a look that made you think, Oh, I see, if someone told you it was a golem made of soil.
“That is a Nofu Madman,” Garna explained.
“...A farmer?”
“A Nofu Madman. It is supposed to be a special variant of the Madman species, but it has become so specialized that it is essentially its own thing now. We are treating it as a new species.”
Madmen were monsters with bodies made of mud. They were generally slimy and looked more like slimes than humanoids. Indeed, it didn't really click when I was told that this humanoid figure was a variant of a Madman. Apparently, only these special individuals appeared in this dungeon, so they had been classified as a distinct species unique to this place.
“Hey, hey. So what’s that guy actually doing?”
“It is tilling the field.”
So that really was a farm.
“Why a field, of all things?”
“That is simply its nature. Or rather, do not ask me—it is the first time I have seen such a monster as well. It must be the influence of the other gods. And Tort’s, for that matter.”
“Why me!?” I sputtered.
“Because they were reading your thoughts for reference while they built the place.”
“No, but that wasn't just me, right!?”
They should have been reading the thoughts of everyone in the party, not just mine. There was no way they could definitively say it was my influence.
“That silhouette is definitely Tort,” Lowell said flatly.
“Totally!” Spira agreed.
“Yeah, it's hard to deny,” Badis added.
“I’d be shocked if it weren’t Tort’s influence!” Shiroru barked.
Guh... using the design as evidence was a low blow!
I wanted to argue back, but since even I had a slight idea of what they meant, the words wouldn't come out. While I was floundering, I lost my chance to protest. We must have been too noisy, because the Nofu Madman finally noticed us.
“Gueeeeh!”
The Nofu Madman raised its hoe and let out a war cry. As if in response, something popped out from the soil at its feet. They looked similar to the first monster, but there were two varieties: one white and one red. They looked exactly like root vegetables with short little limbs attached.
“Those are Walking Daikon and Hopping Ninjin. These, too, are supposed to be special variants of the Mandrake species, but they ended up in that state due to someone’s influence.”
“Tort...”
Following Garna’s explanation, everyone turned to look at me, their eyes filled with various shades of exasperation.
No, it wasn’t me! It definitely wasn’t me... probably!