nRin’s Parting Gift

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nSpring arrived.

nThe snow melting, a warmer air filled the area.

nIt’s said that spring is a season of encounters, but for Cave of Desires, it’s one of parting.

n“You have to go?”

nYeah. Thanks, for the care. Kehma.

nPromising to leave in the spring, the black wolf—the enigmatic black slime (wolf type), Rin, had already decided to leave the dungeon once winter ended.

nAlthough I was thinking about tricking it with something like Winter is forever you know?, it would’ve been pretty bad if I got exposed. It also would’ve felt like keeping a ticking bomb in the dungeon.

nAh, right. I made this. Here.

n“Nn? What’s this?”

nRin handed me an orb. I caught it with the messenger golem’s hand.

nIt’s a black orb about the size of a baseball. It’s so black that it looks like it’s eating up the light. The heck is this thing?

nIt’s a Gravity, Bomb. If you strike it, most enemies, will die.

n“Oi, don’t give me something like that. Am I some suicide bomber?”

nKukuku, were you, surprised? It’s alright, I set, a keyword. Hold it with, your hand. After you say it, throw it. The keyword, is Black Plate.

nSo there’s a safety… seriously, I still don’t know what this guy is at all.

n“Black… ah, it’d be bad to say it now.”

nKukuku! You didn’t fall, for it huh! As expected, Kehma is, smart.

n“Hahaha. Could you give me another? I’d like to try it out against boss.”

nSure, try a few, times. I make them, myself, so there’s a limit… But, they don’t work, against me, you know?

nSaying that, five of the black orbs dropped out from Rins black pelt. It rolled them over with its forefoot. Are you some kind of powder keg? Your existence itself is like a bomb, though.

nThat’s the limit. Use them, well. Then, see you.

n“Yeah… when are you coming again? Next year?”

nNo idea, but till then, don’t die, yeah? … Ah, Kehma can’t die, so it’s alright, right? Well, see you.

nLaughing, Rin left the cave.

nOn this day, Rin, who magnificently left the cave in broad daylight, was seen by adventurers that carried white plates. It ate a ton of white plates as a midday snack.

n“… It left?”

n“Yeah, it feels like I just put down some heavy luggage. Phew.”

nI sighed.

nSo I was feeling stressed by the absurd bomb named Rin being in the dungeon after all? I just feel like I finally removed a popcorn kernel from between my teeth right now, it’s a pretty refreshing feeling.

nThere’s also the fact that our DP income went down since Rin isn’t in the dungeon anymore, so there’s that. It gave us quite a lot of income over the winter. Well, it’s fine.

nIt gave me these Gravity Bomb things, they seem pretty dangerous… I wonder how strong they are. There’s no way they’re strong enough to collapse a dungeon right? I’m troubled about where I should put them!

n… I was also able to advance the dungeon’s development while Rin was here.

nI started making the new riddle area after the warehouse area, as well as an arena area just beyond that.

nThe arena area is a kind of miniboss fight. The haniwa golem is the opponent there.

nIt’s a bit lonely since there isn’t an audience though.

nAfter the arena area it turns back into what you’d call more of a normal dungeon area. Taking a break there, the next floor has the boss room and the innermost core room.

n… By the way, the innermost core room is a two-layer structure, with a dummy core room on one side that conceals a hidden inner room… that also has a dummy core. Why would I make a wasteful thing like that? That’s because I don’t really know where I should put the real dungeon core.

nSince the saintess used Treaty, a skill that could seal off a dungeon core’s movement, I want to put it in safe a place as possible.

nOn the other hand, just putting it as far in as possible isn’t any good either. Dungeon cores = farthest in. That’s how all adventurers think.

nSo then I thought about making a two-layer system using a dummy core and the real core and tried it, but… there might be people that can see through the trick. I realized that after I made it, so I decided to put another dummy core there.

nSo right now the real dungeon core is hidden in the arena area’s ceiling lights. It’s hidden among shining orb light magic tools.

nWell, this should be good enough for now. I’ll have to react immediately if people make their way past the riddle area though.

n“Ah, right, Kehma. I’ll be away from the dungeon for a bit, is that alright?”

n“Going away? You’re leaving…? To where?”

nIs there somewhere to go?

nMaybe it’s some business in Sia or Pavuera?

n“To the dungeon core assembly!”

n… Which reminds me, there was something said about something like that, huh.

n“Can’t I go with you?”

n“I’ve never seen dungeon masters get brought along, so I don’t think so. I think I’ll be back in two or three days, so please wait here. I wasn’t able to go last year because of the bandits after all.”

nIn other words, what she’s doing isn’t different from what she’s always done.

n“Got it. So, when are you leaving?”

n“Ah, today.”

nRokuko’s body started emitting a faint light.

n“That’s…?”

n“Un. I’m off… Not like I want to go, though.”

nAt that moment, a magic formation appeared like it was wrapping around Rokuko and, with a bang, she disappeared.

n… Tell me sooner, oi.

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