***Archimedes’ POV***

For a while after his late night meeting with Cherise, the entrance of the dungeon had a strangely tense and uncertain atmosphere around it. Archimedes had posted a sign for the explorers to read expressing that he’d forgiven the guild inspector, but for some reason the people reading it didn’t seem convinced.

“It is a misunderstanding that Cherise Manabella Irenthi sexually assaulted the monsters here. The assault in question was magical in nature and directed at me, the dungeon body itself. The harm caused by this was unintentional and the result of a misunderstanding regarding a previously unseen sensitivity disorder that affects my periphery mana channels. I have since reached an understanding and reconciliation with the acting guild inspector, and I apologize for any confusion my actions have caused.

-Archimedes”

A group of adventurers stared at that sign with furrowed brows and complex frowns.

“...Hey,” one elf muttered, “there’s no way a brand new dungeon can communicate with people like this, right?”

“This sign must’ve been posted by the guild after all, huh?” an elf lady sighed.

“Wait, wait, wouldn’t the dungeon have just torn something like that down unless it agreed?” a third elf argued.

A wolfman folded his burly arms and shook his head, “If she forced it into submission, this much could be done.”

“How sad,” the elf woman from before let her eyes droop.

Archimedes mused that these people really had lost all faith in their guild inspector. He felt a small amount of sadistic pleasure knowing how her reputation had plummeted after what she had done to him, but at the same time, he had already received a mind stone from Cherise, and he had to make good on his promise to help clear her reputation. But, well, if signs wouldn’t convince them, his options were rather limited. It seemed he would be putting his reverse-engineered monster core technology to work right away. His most important symbiotic parasite was already equipped with one and therefore could be revived even should they be killed.

The front entrance to the dungeon slid open swiftly, and a little girl with blond hair and a leaf sprouting from her head stood there proudly with her hands on her hips and her flat chest puffed out.

“Greetings, lowly humans! Erm, I mean, elves and demons, and beastmen, or whatever. I’m Merina, here to speak for the dungeon since apparently a sign isn’t good enough!”

“Um, little friend, what are you talking about?” an elf man asked delicately.

Merina let out a resounding “hmph!” And pulled down the collar of her dress. Embedded in her chest was a round, blue stone that sparkled in the light. “My name is Merina! I’m a dungeon monster, and I’m here to speak for the dungeon!”

Archimedes sensed the wave of alarm that passed through these people. They didn’t believe such a young dungeon could make a monster capable of speech. Through his musings, Merina could also understand what the gathered explorers were thinking.

“I know, it’s weird that a young dungeon would have a monster as great as me, right?” For some reason, Archimedes witnessed Merina puffing up her chest and lifting her chin more. “But I was definitely born here! This dungeon is special. He has emotions and a name already.”

“How is that possible?” someone from the crowd shouted.

Merina glanced to the side as she was forced to repeat the lame excuse. “It’s a sensitivity disorder,” she insisted. “More importantly! The guild inspector found out she accidentally did something bad when she used surveyal magic on this dungeon. She’s already apologized, and the dungeon has forgiven her. The victim already went that far, so you guys have to forgive her too, got it? Make sure you let everybody else know too. You guys should realize that the guild master isn’t in a position where she can speak for herself. And also...”

Merina pointed at a slightly smaller sign that said the dungeon was currently renovating the first level and was therefore closed to entry.

There was some muttering from the crowd, but they more or less obediently dispersed. Once things had quieted down again, Archimedes told Merina to come back down to the sun patch on the second floor and returned to reading the guild documents Cherise had provided.

He finally understood what the guild was. Archimedes had finally realized the monumental misunderstanding he’d had ever since coming to this world: the treatment of dungeons here was entirely different to what it was like on Rachon. He had been terrified from the moment he spawned here that he would be conquered. His core, he then assumed, would be taken off somewhere and enslaved as a city’s power source, unable to even die. But that wasn’t a practice that even existed on Usain. Dungeons were treated as training grounds and resource depots, protected and largely left alone to grow in peace. Only blacklisted dungeons were different.

Due to producing things which could drastically affect the outside world, blacklisted dungeons were conquered by guild specialists. The core was removed and transported to a quarantined location where they were used for research. Dungeons producing deadly diseases were studied for the manufacturing of vaccines. Dungeons with toxic environments were used to test detoxifying agents.

They weren’t destroyed, and their growth wasn’t restricted. It was overwhelmingly lenient compared to what Archimedes was used to. The only thing quarantined dungeons lacked was company, since no one but the researchers visited them. Archimedes wondered who exactly was the first nutcase who had said not to destroy the plague dungeon spreading sickness across an entire continent.

The items on the blacklist would obviously have to be avoided, but there thankfully weren’t many of them. Plagues, toxins, rapidly reproducing monsters with cores attached, environmental effects… basically anything with a high risk of negatively affecting the world beyond the dungeon was blacklisted. But, the same things were fine as long as they were controlled so they didn’t spread outside. Of course, the guild only gave that kind of trust to more intelligent and reasonable dungeons.

Above all, it seemed that the people of this world acknowledged that dungeons were (things that eventually became) thinking, feeling creatures, and they had some small rights afforded to them. The right to rest and recover their losses, the right to be protected while expanding or remodeling their structure, and the right to bar entry to certain explorers. To Archimedes’ boundless awe, the people of this world had made a genuine effort to understand his kind, and they were almost considered people in their own right.

And he never would have expected from his first encounters with demons that they were the race that spearheaded this movement thousands of years ago. There were always individual exceptions, but in many ways, demons were the staunchest supporters of the concept that dungeons and people could cooperate with each other.

Archimedes was certain there was some history behind that, but for the moment, those kinds of books weren’t available to him, so he couldn’t research it further.

Archimedes had learned many things from the guild documents Cherise provided. He learned what the engravings on the explorer tags were for, how explorers seemed to be immortal, and what sort of things people hoped to find in dungeons. With this new knowledge, he had started to rethink the way he was growing himself. He was preparing to move forward while taking advantage of everything afforded to him. He no longer had to fumble about in the dark without understanding how the people of this world would react, and he no longer had to rush out of fear. He could construct a proper dungeon that his old self would have been proud of.

***Cherise Manabella Irenthi’s POV***

A few days after her reconciliation with the local dungeon, Cherise picked up the updated documents the dungeon had entrusted to the guard. She was curious to know what kind of effect was applied to the second floor that it made her feel so relaxed and focused, and she skipped over to that section of the report.

What? Magic sealing?

In effect, the entire second floor had a barrier placed on it to prevent mana from manifesting in any form. In fact, any mana that existed there was directly converted into harmless ether.

Cherise found herself thinking of her idiot older brother. She loved Ulbert more than anyone. He was a defective demon born without horns or mana and ridiculed by his peers for most of his life, but he’d never once lost his temper and gone on a rampage. Ulbert was the very model of self-control for an ideal demon, and he happened to not have an ounce of mana in his body. Cherise didn’t like the trend she was seeing, but it wasn’t something she could freely talk about. Having no one else she could trust not to blow things out of proportion before a proper investigation was made, she wrote a brief letter to her brother expressing her concerns, and then she distracted herself with the rest of the dungeon report.

The layout was considerably different from what she’d confirmed during her last inspection. Too different, actually. She spotted a note off to the side that these designs wouldn’t be fully implemented until a week from now and that the dungeon would be closed for renovations until then. It was perfectly within its rights to do things this way, but that said… what was with these monsters and traps?

The dungeon had elements listed here that frankly shouldn’t be possible with a young dungeon’s mana production. The dangerous elements had escalated to being downright deadly, and yet the dungeon seemed to be keeping with the concept that peaceful visitors wouldn’t have to face such things.

Well, he asked for books as an apology, he rushed the production of monsters intelligent enough to speak, and there’s that sign out front that outright challenges the wise to try his puzzles. I’m not sure if he just idolizes smart people or if he wants to arrogantly crush them with his own wits. He is much smarter than other dungeons his age, so I can understand if it went to his head.

Frankly, she had smoothed things over with the dungeon, and that was the important thing. Rybo wasn’t scolding her anymore, and the villagers were slowly coming back around. As long as things continued on an upward trend like this, she didn’t particularly care what sort of tastes the local dungeon was indulging in, so long as they were legal.

The next day, the dungeon sent over everything he knew about the group that had illegally entered and attacked him (twice), confirming that such a thing had in fact occurred. That on its own caused a stir that Cherise had no choice but to mobilize the guild to deal with, but the sole confirmed identity among the group produced even bigger waves.

***Anther’s POV***

News that the dungeon was closed for renovations spread quickly. More quickly, in fact, than the positive rumors about the guild inspector started to spread. It put Anther into a gloomy mood, since he’d been wanting to go and see the dungeon the moment it had repaired itself from the beating it had taken. He occupied himself for most of the following week by doing his chores, hunting, and fishing. He couldn’t stand keeping away for much longer, though. In the afternoon of the fourth day since the dungeon had closed for renovations, Anther stopped by the guild to ask if the dungeon had reopened. The demon attendant behind the counter smiled sadly and shook her head.

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“Sorry, it won’t be open for another couple of days still.”

The boy looked behind the counter, listened up the stairs, and noted the various guild workers coming in and out of the building from the portal outside.

“How come it’s so busy today?”

“Ah, come to think of it, you were the one who reported those damages, weren’t you?”

The little elf tilted his head. “You mean about the dungeon getting all smashed before it opened?”

The demoness nodded, “Yes, that. The dungeon sent over everything it knew about the culprits yesterday, so we’re trying to figure out who they are so we can contact them.”

Anther held his chin in thought, vaguely remembering something that had stood out to him as strange back then. “When I asked about people ruining dungeons before, you said they probably wanted revenge after dying, right? And before that, Cherise showed me the mind caster where we would come back if we died, but the machine had already been used even though nobody should have touched it. Do you think that was them?”

The guild attendant blinked at the boy, sighed, then leaned in close to whisper.

“Since you already know that much, I’ll fill you in on the rest. We do believe that group revived here after first losing to the dungeon, but the dungeon says he crushed them all when they came to get revenge too, except for one member who stayed behind—probably as a precaution. They didn’t revive here again after that, so for all we know that last guy abandoned the rest or took their mind stones to another country. Everybody’s freaking out because there was someone important in that group, so if they were just left dead it could be a problem.”

“Who’s the important person?” Anther whispered back.

“The great-great-granddaughter of the sage, Mizmifal Jyrzen Opherion.”

Anther nodded sagely and looked deep into the demoness’s violet eyes. “Who’s that?”

She sighed. “He’s an amazing demon who doesn’t age no matter how old he gets, so he’s been gathering knowledge for thousands of years. He went off on a journey a few centuries ago and nobody knows where he is now, so his family fell from grace, which is why one of his descendants is associating with cruddy people like dungeon raiders.”

“Have you told the dungeon about it yet?”

“We’re going to,” she nodded. “We’re just trying to confirm things and track them down first.”

“Hmm…” Anther folded his arms and screwed up his forehead. Then he opened his eyes brightly, “... Okay. Got it. Thanks for telling me, I’m gonna head back now.”

“Have a nice afternoon, Anther,” The attendant smiled and waved.

What she didn’t realize was that the boy meant he was heading back to the dungeon. Anther thought that the guild had been not-so-great to the dungeon in the past, so the least he and the other explorers should do was keep it in the loop. He ran all the way up the mountain and gave a friendly wave to the watchman, who smiled back at him.

Now that he got to see the signs posted for himself, Anther noticed something that had gone largely overlooked in the rumors back in town: the dungeon had named itself.

“Archimedes?” he tipped his head at the front door, which now had the glittery silver sheen of mithril. “So that’s your name?”

He was just muttering to himself distractedly and didn’t really expect an answer, so he was surprised when the front door slid open to welcome him.

“Eh? Really? Aren’t you busy building things?”

A warm breeze seemed to blow out from the cave tunnel, and the door didn’t close, so Anther took that as an invitation to come inside. The boy grinned and jogged down the tunnel, and he was mildly confused noticing that the layout had changed a great deal since he’d last come to visit.

The hateful carvings and statue were gone, and a helpful clue had been added to the top of the second door: “Please feed the wolves.”

Anther already knew to expect this, so he smiled and pulled the leftovers he’d saved from his lunch out of his bag. He dropped them through the door, heard the excited yipping and chewing from the other side, and laughed when the fuzzy little creatures opened the door and started tackling and licking him.

“How come you guys didn’t tell me you were wolves?” he laughed. “I kept calling you foxes for so long, I feel silly.”

The dungeon monsters backed off enough for Anther to take a look beyond the door. It was like a different world out there. The cave was massive and round; shaped like a big dome. The glowmoss glittered on the ceiling and walls like stars, and the space was rich with life. Rabbits and voles scuttled through the grasses, insects and fish fluttered around the water, beetles marched steadily along the mossy walls.

“Sun and moon…” the elf boy breathed. “...Did you combine everything else together? Were you trying to make the perfect hunting and foraging place for us?”

“Well, think of it as his thanks for feeding the wolf bats nice things like he asked,” a warm voice called.

Anther turned toward the voice. He saw a person who looked… like a demon, but not like a demon… maybe something like a demon elf? His skin was pale but his hair was brown, and his ears were round but he didn’t have horns, and it made Anther’s mind spin around in confusing circles.

“Um, hello… demon elf friend? I didn’t know anybody else was in here. Are you friends with Archimedes too?”

“Of course! Archy and I are great friends. But, erm, wouldn’t it be more normal to call me a human “friend” if you didn’t know what I was? What the heck is an elf demon supposed to be?”

Anther pouted in embarrassment, “Well what the heck is a human supposed to be?”

The stranger tilted his head, looking confused. “Aren’t they, like, crawling around all over the place out there?”

“No?”

The stranger folded his arms and tilted his head side to side, humming. “... Well, it doesn’t matter, I guess. I’m not a human either. I’m a mandrake.” The stranger pointed to the top of his head, and Anther noticed a leaf sprouting from there.

“So… a mandrake friend, huh?”

“Mhm. I’m a dungeon monster.”

“Really?” Anther’s eyes widened. To think he was talking with a dungeon monster! How amazing was this dungeon? He folded his arms in ponderence though. “Is… is that still a friend? Hm, we can talk, so we can be friends, right? But I haven’t heard anybody call dungeon monsters people before…”

“Is ‘friend’ a title you use for people?” the mandrake wondered. Anther nodded. “Got it... So, what’s a person then?”

Anther paused to figure out how to explain it. “Um… someone you can be friends with?”

The mandrake glanced down at the floor, then back up at Anther. “Archy says that’s circular logic. More importantly, he wants to know why you came here today.”

“Really?” Anther looked up at the glittering cave ceiling. “You can hear him? And he’s a boy dungeon after all?”

“Huh?” The mandrake’s eyes turned up into crescents and he held his stomach desperately trying not to laugh. “A… a boy dungeon… that makes him sound like some cute little baby… N-no, no, I swear I’m not laughing at you, Archy.”

There was growling from behind them, and Anther looked over his shoulder to see a huge black wolf. He sucked in a breath and reached for his bow before remembering he was inside the dungeon and thus safe. This was probably the mother of those other cute little wolves, right?

The giant wolf kept growling at the mandrake until he stopped laughing, then she looked at Anther and nuzzled him with her head, accidentally making him stumble while trying to cuddle with him.

“O-oh! Hi there,” Anther smiled and ruffled her glossy black fur. “Are you happy because I fed your kids?”

He didn’t know what he’d said this time, but the mandrake burst out laughing again. The wolf growled at him until he straightened up and wiped the tears out of his eyes.

“Alright, alright. She says they’re her little sisters. And she wants to know if you remember walking with her down the second hall.”

Anther turned his eyes up. He did remember walking together with one of the little wolves who he’d fed pie to, but this one looked much different. Anther looked back down and saw her sitting at attention with her tail wagging excitedly behind her.

“Um, I remember, but you look a lot different now if that was you.”

The wolf bobbed her head in a big nod and panted happily with her tongue lolling out.

“So it really was? Well, that’s good. I’m glad you didn’t get hurt back when those bad people ruined everything. Do you two have names?”

As if it were established custom, the two monsters proudly put a hand/paw on their chests, pushing aside cloth and fur to reveal a pair of sparkling blue gemstones.

“I’m Alphio, and she’s Theoria. Theoria says her cave is over that way and you can come play with her whenever you want.”

***Archimedes’ POV***

The dungeon sighed heavily. When it became apparent he was being ignored by his own monsters, he turned his attention to renovating the dungeon instead. He had overhauled his entire first floor to contain only three rooms and five short tunnels, and with the leftover processing capability, he’d made the main cavern much larger. Each of the hallways now led off from that room like spokes on a wheel, and each was barred by a puzzle door made of mithril-steel alloy.

Minute had done a good job fine tuning the mechanics of each door, and the Red Bat, Zemnes, had surprisingly contributed some much improved concept ideas for them. (In fact, he had contributed a lot of opinions lately about how to improve the dungeon layout.) Those had now been completed, but only one of the paths led to the stairs to the next floor. The remaining three paths were treasure deposits. Archimedes was sorting out the loot for those now.

Weapons and armor were a standard, but Archimedes didn’t want to encourage violence in his dungeon, nor did he want to improve the combat ability of his entrants. If someone became a problem later down the line, he intended to crush them utterly. Within each of the three chests was something helpful for the puzzle leading to the stairs, but he wanted to include something as a reward as well.

Over the course of his monsters’ rambling upstairs, he decided on a slice of pie, a foraging map outlining where the valuable herbs on this floor grew, and a mythril ingot.

With that, his first floor was mostly complete. All that was left was to rank Theoria up once more to Iron Wolf. For that, he wanted Alphio to help with mana production, but he was still busy upstairs.

Was it because they had high wisdom? Why was it his monsters didn’t listen to him at all? Their loyalty seemed just fine...

He wasn’t willing to actually let that fact interfere with his progress, so Archimedes created some sunlight on the first floor. That way, Alphio could do his job even while he was being an idiot. The laughing and conversation stopped for a moment when the light appeared, and Archimedes took that chance to remind Alphio to ask Anther why he had come.

“Ah, right, right. So why did you come today?” Archimedes heard from upstairs.

“Oh yeah. I thought Archimedes should know what was going on at the guild lately. They’re working on finding those people who hurt him, but they wanted to get more done before talking about it. I thought he should know it sooner, though.”

There was an obvious sense of gloom over the dungeon monsters when that group was brought up. It probably didn’t help that Archimedes was letting his own negative emotions feed into that loop.

“A-ah… So how’s that going?”

“They haven’t revived since last time—at least, not at the guild. They’re scared the person they left behind ran away. Apparently they want those people to be alive instead of dead, because some girl in that group is the great-great-granddaughter of some amazing demon sage. So, they’re trying to find those guys—or their mind stones.”

The dungeon walls creaked slowly as a cool wind blew past. Archimedes had a lot of complex feelings about this new information, but he could sort through all of that later. For now, he needed to act.

“Theoria. You’ve encountered that group directly before. Leave the dungeon and try to catch their scent outside. Wait… bring Thesia with you; she can track them by their magic. I will impart that information to her. Whether or not you find them alive, I want you to bring their mind stones here.”

“Yes, papa!” Thesia chirped.

“Yes! I’ll run quickly!” Theoria said strongly.

A sage... he’d finally heard tell of a sage in this world... and he’d killed their descendant himself. How was his luck this bad?

Upstairs, Archimedes heard Alphio talking to Anther.

“Theoria says she’s leaving for a bit, and she wants to know if you want a ride down the mountain.”

“I can ride you?” The elf boy looked up at the coal black wolf that was taller than he was. His eyes started to sparkle. “Yes please!”