The dungeon was finally complete, a testament to the tireless, day-and-night efforts of Zabuton’s children. A staircase at the southern edge of the village led deep underground to the first floor.
This was a single, massive room measuring a hundred meters square. The vaulted ceiling—resembling a kamaboko—reached a height of about ten meters at its peak. I had designed the walls and ceiling to look like tangled tree roots, giving the impression that the entire space was being cradled by the base of a colossal tree. I was quite proud of how it turned out.
This area served as a training room where individual traps and layouts from deeper in the dungeon were recreated for practice. For anyone just passing through, it was a straightforward walk with no obstacles, making it feel more like a cellar than a dungeon. Lately, Galf and Daga had been spending a lot of time here training.
There were three spots that looked like hidden rooms, which served as a Bean Sprout Field, an Asparagus Field, and a Mystery Mushroom Field. That last one used to be my personal room, but I had eventually given up on it. The children had not used the Universal Farming Tool; they were simply cultivating whatever wild mushrooms sprouted naturally within the dungeon. They looked far from edible, yet Zabuton’s children munched on them like snacks. I wondered if they actually tasted good, but they warned me to stay away. I would just have to make sure the area was managed properly. Apparently, even Kuro and the others were fine eating them.
The second floor was a classic maze. With stone walls, floors, and ceilings, it felt like a proper dungeon. Expecting visitors of various races, I had made the doors and the seven-to-eight-meter ceilings quite large, which gave the place a sense of grandeur. We prepared a range of rooms, from those large enough for thirty adult Minotaurs to tiny ones that were cramped with only five people. These were linked by passages that could be blocked off to change the layout.
The Mountain Elves had gone all out with the traps, many of which were lethal blindsides. If I had not insisted that the dungeon had to be clearable, they would have turned the whole floor into a kill zone. Even now, they secretly tweaked the traps whenever someone figured them out, so even the villagers could not afford to be careless. I really wished they would report those changes to me. Though, to be fair, I was also guilty of adding rooms without telling anyone. We agreed to start consulting each other from now on.
Based on suggestions from Draim, Hakuren, and Rusty, the third floor was designed to resemble a Dragon’s Nest. Essentially, it was a mansion optimized for defense. Originally, we planned to defend against intruders from the floor above, but with the Teleportation Gates being installed deep inside, we reversed the layout to face Floor 4.
Descending into Floor 3 brought you to a luxurious Boss Room Antechamber, followed by the Boss Room itself—a grand space modeled after an audience chamber. It was vast enough for Draim and the others to assume their dragon forms comfortably. I worried a bit about what strangers might think when they arrived via the Teleportation Gate and saw this.
Aside from the Boss Room, the rest of the floor consisted of defense facilities. It was built for an army-scale siege, allowing villagers to hole up or launch ambushes if hundreds of enemies surged up from the fourth floor. Since the floors above were a maze and a training room, this was the keystone of our defense. The residents had already started customizing their assigned posts to better suit their needs. When someone muttered, "I hope someone attacks soon," I had to tell them to stop such talk. If we were ever truly invaded, I wanted them to escape rather than go down with the ship. As long as they were alive, things would work out somehow.
The fourth floor was the masterpiece of Zabuton’s children. The design was stunning, reminiscent of ancient underground ruins. Since it led to the Teleportation Gates on the fifth floor, the layout was genuinely terrifying. The traps were cruel—distracting you from above only to strike from below, or vice versa. Without a guide, finding the stairs to the third floor would be nearly impossible. Fortunately, the children planned to stay there to guide authorized travelers.
The lowest level, Floor 5, was where the Teleportation Gates would be installed. There were three gates in three separate, identical sectors, each containing a gate room, a manager’s residence, a storehouse, and a waiting room for large groups. I had designed it so someone could survive there for a long time in an emergency, but we still had not decided on a manager. That was going to be a problem.
With all five floors finished, it took about fifteen minutes to get from the surface to the gates at the fastest pace. I had wanted to shorten the travel time, but everyone convinced me that this distance was necessary for security. Once the gates were operational, Kuro’s children would also be patrolling the levels. I felt bad for making them do something so tedious, but I told them they could run away if an intruder appeared.
To test everything, we held a defense drill. It turned out we needed wider stairs to accommodate half the village moving at once, and we definitely needed more food storehouses on every floor for a siege. I set about adding those. Hakuren even claimed the Boss Room on the third floor, hoping to pass it on to Hiichiro someday, so I decided to prepare a private room for her. Makura volunteered to manage the fourth floor, which was a relief.
As for the wolves, Kuroyon would command the pack members stationed in the dungeon, and Uno would serve as the captain of a mobile guerrilla unit. It sounded quite impressive, though I told them not to overdo it.
During the drill, one of the villagers approached me. "Um, Village Head? There are outhouses in various places in the dungeon. Are these some kind of trap?"
"No, they’re normal outhouses," I replied. "It would be unhygienic if people did their business just anywhere."
"Uhh, this is a dungeon, right?"
"It’s a dungeon. Mountain Elves, don't set any traps in the outhouses. They are safety zones."
"Understood," the Mountain Elf replied. "I'll go remove them."
All in all, it was a very productive exercise that helped me realize exactly what we were still missing.