Our opponent would be Core No. 564, a grunt from the Demon King Faction. There was even the possibility they were even less skilled than Rokuko, that kind of Dungeon Core.

Well, looks like I won’t have to worry about there being too many people coming our way, at least.

Those from the Demon King Faction pride themselves on individual prowess. Therefore, no matter them being around the same rank or whatever, they’d definitely see Orange as a weakling and not bother attacking en masse.

Now that I think about it, doesn’t that mean she saw us as equals back in that three-way dungeon battle? Also, seeing as how Aidi came at us herself to finish it in the end, I guess she really did fit the bill to be in the Demon King Faction.

“Alright then, is there anything else you would like to hear?”

“Yeah, around how far are we from the capital here?”

“Around a day’s ride on horseback. If you left the capital in the morning, you would just barely make it here at dusk, I believe.”

… Hmm. That’s closer than I thought it’d be. I guess that’s why beginners occasionally vanish?

“Wait, the Demon King Faction’s making a move even though it’s so close to the capital?”

“Think of it as them trying to sneak it past me. It’s troubling that they do these sort of things just to annoy me.”

I see… well, I guess I can understand what’s going on now.

I came up with an Eh this is fine plan.

I don’t know if it’ll be enough to actually win, but it’s not like we have to win.

It’s a bit harsh to say, but the person dying if we lose isn’t me. And even if Orange dies, that just means I’ll succeed in annoying the Demon King Faction. It’d be better if Orange doesn’t die, though. Winning would be for the best, of course.

That being the case, I’ll be trying out some tactics I’d never do under ordinary circumstances.

“Our budget is 100,000 DP from Haku-san and 350,000 DP from Orange’s reserves, huh…”

“Nkyuu. Sorry, my portion’s all I have… I don’t want to use it all up…”

The support from Haku-san was 100,000 DP. Whatever was leftover would be a bonus to our reward. Let’s see if there’s anything they can help us with.

“Ummm. Just to check if there’s anything you can help us with… is there any secret thing you can do at the adventurer guild, like inform them about this dungeon or something? Not immediately though.”

“Of course. That would be no problem. Cooperate with them, Misha.”

“Okay, understood nya!”

Great, now we should be able to attract adventurers and get some extra DP.

Actually, setting aside Rokuko and I, Ichika and Meat should be sources of DP as well… I’ll have to take that into account for our budget…

Alright. Let’s make our first move right away.

“Orange. Let’s do some rearranging.”

“Kyuui?”

Orange tilted his head.

“What do kyuu mean?”

“Make a sub-dungeon and move your Dungeon Core there.”

“Hooh… so there’s that kind of strategy nkyoo…”

“By the way, I beat Haku-san like that.”

“Huh!? Seriously!?”

Orange looked over to Haku-san, who was smiling bitterly and likely thinking back to it.

“Seriously…!? Nkyuu, wait! That means Rokuko beat Haku-sama?”

“It does. We had a mutual handicap of limiting ourselves to 100,000 DP, though. Isn’t my Kehma amazing?”

“Nyuu! That’s awesome, Rokuko!”

Yeah, this was the strategy I went with back in my first Dungeon Battle, the one against Haku-san.

Back then, I just put the core in a dummy cave rather than a full sub-dungeon, but Haku-san still wound up magnificently falling for it. So I won.

There was no reason for me to not use a strategy that even worked against Haku-san, so I figured we should put the all-important Dungeon Core in a safe place.

Fortunately, there was nothing but meadows all around. Us just digging a hole in a good spot without leaving any traces and putting the Dummy Core in it was all we’d need to do. That way, we could just swap it with the real Dungeon Core on the day it all happens.

“So, Haku-san. I want to make a sub-dungeon… but is it alright if we make the dungeon around half a day’s ride closer to the capital from here?”

“So about halfway between here and the capital? It won’t be a big deal if it’s around there. Do as you please.”

If we make the territory extend veeeeeeeeery thinly out that way, even if it’s a half day’s ride away in distance, we should be able to fit in our budget.

Now that I have confirmation on it, looks like it’s time to do something about defense.

“Haah… Kehma. Kyuu beating Haku-sama is crazy.”

“What, it’s only because of the conditions.”

“… Which reminds me, I heard Rokuko beat No. 112-sama too or something, but was that kyuu too, Kehma?”

“No. 112…? Oh, Ontentoo? Yeah, though only because of the conditions there too.”

“Oh! And! Kyuu won against No. 666 in a Dungeon Battle right? What about that?”

“That win was due to the conditions as well.”

“… Wait, waiiit… D-Did I, actually… get a really great ally?”

Only if you paid attention to the outcome, I guess.

Though I’m more a greatly terrible ally if you take into the fact that it means you’re under Haku-san now.

“I’d prefer there to be special win conditions if possible… Orange, are you able to contact your opponent to add more victory conditions? Like holding out for a day for us to win or something.”

“Contact them huh~… I don’t have a way to, nkyuu… I can wait till they’re here again? They said that’d be at the start of the Dungeon Battle though…”

“Hmm, oh well… wait. Haku-san, do you have any way to contact them?”

“Let’s see…. I suppose I could send a letter to No. 6. Would you like me to ask for a conversation concerning our factions’ cores having a Dungeon Battle with each other?”

Yeah, so Orange, you really did manage to get yourself involved in a conflict between two major factions. My condolences… Wait, aren’t I involved now too?

I don’t think it’d be a good idea to make it any more of an issue than it already is. Yep.

“… Nevermind. I’ll just have to see what I can do.”

“Nkyuu. I’m relying on kyuu, Kehma!”

Orange rubbed his head on my ankle. Meanwhile, three horned rabbits came along and did the same, saying stuff like I’ma join~, Me too~, and Looks fun~.

Fluffy. So. Fluffy.

Oh, horned rabbits’ horns are hard. They’re rubbing against me—ow. That play-biting hurts too.

Eh? The armored rabbits are coming too? H-Hold up, they aren’t fluffy at all, they’re just a bunch of scales and oh god there’s so many of them! Stop! Staaaahp!

“Kehma, you’re covered with rabbits there.”

“Could you get them off me? Some of these guys hurt.”

“… Actually, can I join in?”

Wait. Haku-san’s here, please don’t.

Oh, Meat I don’t mind if you do, but please not with your knife out. They’re our allies.