For whom?

　The big man from Samethyllene scowled.
　He looks at me like I'm a price taker.
　A snake, or a reptilian, or something, I suppose, and an unpleasant look in his eyes.

"You may look like an adventurer, but who are you?
Ryota Sato, as you can see, he's just an adventurer.
What's a mere adventurer doing here?
You're supposed to come to me for help. Why didn't you show up? You're a lot closer to Same-Theresien than you are to a black one.
Cyclo?

　The man's eyebrows perked up.

'We've been considering rescuing them, and if it's a new dungeon, we'll have to send a suitable opponent. We need to choose people carefully, including their abilities.''
The Cyclodungeon Society asked for me right away.

　I glare at the man.

'You should know what an adventurer is capable of because you go around the dungeon every day. What the hell were you considering?
......

　The man's face grew even more grim.
　Meanwhile, the other villagers took advantage of my words and said, "Yes, that's right." "If you had asked the adventurers to come right away, you could have been here in half a day! I yelled at the man.

　The man glared at me and then turned around to stare at the villagers.
　The villagers flinched for a moment at the snake-like look, but then immediately recoiled again and shouted loudly.

　The man turned to the chief and said: "All right, I understand.

'That's all right, I won't stop you if you really want to stay with Cyclo.
'Follow your benefactor, not Cyclo.
""Yeah, yeah, yeah."
It's the same thing.

　The man laughed scornfully.

'Then we'll get our money back that we invested in building the village.
Mmm. ......

　The chief flinched, and the villagers quieted down.
　Then the man added, "You'll have to pay us back 10 billion.

"You shall have your 10 billion dollars back.
'Nonsense!　I didn't get that much.
'There is such a thing as interest in the world. Doesn't it?

　The man looked around at the chief and the villagers and laughed coldly at them.
　I could tell that he was just asking for the impossible.

　　　　　☆

"2,000 tons of sugar. ......
'It's hard to tell if that's a lot or not!

　In the evening, I showed Clint to the chief's house when I got the call.
　When the chief and I got the general idea of what was going on, Clint looked at me with a difficult look on his face.

　I used a magic cart to communicate with him, by the way.
　I put the letter in the cart and sent it home using the forwarding function, and Emily, whose face was known to me because of the Seren incident, took the letter to Clint.

　From there, Clint swooped in and here we are.

　That Clint is still drinking coffee with sugar cubes floating around like an iceberg, and mumbles with a difficult look on his face.

'I'm pretty sure he's sprinkling it on us. You've hardly helped him except at first.

　Clint asks the village chief.
　In terms of age, the village chief is nearly twice Clint's age, but his position and attitude reverse the age difference.

'Ha, yes. 'That's right,'
'I've had a quick look at the size of the village, but for this number of people, the state of the village, and the initial funding, I'd say a hundredth of that.

　You mean 100 million.
　I don't know if that's a lot or not, but if that's what Clint thinks, then so be it.

"Cyclo has a few villages like that. To be honest, it costs more money to maintain them than it does to set them up. A village without a dungeon is a drain on the deficit.
I don't have a decent income.
'Yes, but it's also an upfront investment. If a dungeon is born this way. Because once a dungeon is born, it never goes away.
Really?

　That's new to me.

'Well, there are some dungeons that just don't go away and produce even more deficits, like Nihonium.

　Nihonium is a great dungeon for me, though.

'If we go with that, this dungeon is at least in the black. Cyclo can take care of it.
We owe you...
If only it weren't for the 2,000 tons of sugar.

　The village chief grunted, "Ugh.

''We need to investigate the dungeon, but it's hard to pay out that much money under the current circumstances.
Is it hard?
Unless there's some more ...... umami dungeon additions over here.

　The village chief was troubled by Clint's line, and looked at me with a cowering look.
　I don't want you to look at me like that. It's all about money, and for 10 billion dollars, it's not something I can afford.
　That's why I contacted Clint, but he can't give me the money now.
　I don't know what I'm going to do.

"Where's Satou-san here?　There he is!

　The door to the village chief's house was thrown open violently and a man jumped in.

'Who are you?'

　It looks familiar, but I don't know the name.
　I think it's .......

'It's Carlo!　It was before the dungeon in the morning.
...... Yeah, Alan said he could beat the monster.

　You can beat monsters and dive into dungeons.
　That's one of the several names Alan gave me when he decided to include actual experience.

　That Carlo looked impatient and said.

'You're in trouble, Sato-san!　Alan's not coming back.
What?

　　　　　★

　Carlo and I came to the front of the dungeon.
　There were several villagers gathered there, their faces lit up by the torchlight, and their anxiety was evident on their faces as I appeared.

　The faces are anxious as the torchlight illuminates them.

'It's Satou-san!　Mr. Sato is here.
It's going to save Alan.
Please, Mr. Sato!　Help your father.

　The villagers cheered.
　Rick, son of Alan, the man I helped yesterday, came to me for help.

　You can tell me a story, Rick, what's going on?

'I was in the dungeon with Alan, but it was getting to be night, so I decided to go back, and Alan said I could still go back in, so I stayed inside.
Fool!　I told you to cut it out without being so reckless.
So, um, ......

　Another villager cowered and cut him off.

'There were some very strong monsters, not like the little ones, and Alan won't be back anytime soon.
Different monsters?

　I quickly come up with a few possibilities and check with the villagers.

'Is there only one of those monsters?　Did you see the original little guy after you saw him?
'What?　...... eh, I was there. And when I came out of the dungeon, I followed you to the end.
Rare?

　At the same time, the fact that the original monster exists means that at least it's not a dungeon master.
　I was a little relieved about that.

''All right, I'm in!

　With that, to the relief of the villagers, I cautiously loaded my gun with every bullet I could find and stepped into the dungeon.

　　　　　☆

　Equipped with a pouch, I proceeded to defeat the little demons along the way.
　It's a tricky monster with tricky movements, and sometimes it pretends to be dead and tries to trick you, but I've gotten used to it and I'm starting to understand how to defeat it.

　I was able to get used to the monsters, but not the dungeons.
　I looked around for Alan, a rogue dungeon whose structure changes every time a human enters it, searching for him blindly.

'Let's try ......,'

　Load five rounds of reinforced ammunition in one handgun and one tracking round in the other.
　I aim it forward and depress it into nothingness.

　The bullet flew straight out of the muzzle and turned a corner.

　Chasing the bullet, I saw the little devil lying on the ground about 50 meters ahead of me.
　It wasn't a fatal wound, so I topped it off with the other gun's regular bullet.

　I loaded it with more tracking rounds and hit it, chasing the bullet around the corner.

　I'm half on target.
　I don't know the dungeon structure and I don't know where the monsters are going to be, so I used the most powerful tracking rounds to find the monsters. The bullets were chasing the monster, and I was chasing them.

　I chased it for the sixth time.
　The monster was right where I was chasing it!

　The head of a goat and the body of a human. It is a large demon monster, with bat-like demon wings and a height of two meters.
　It's a rare monster that's clearly different from the others.

"Alan!

　Alan was lying at his feet.
　I called out to him, but there was no response.

''d*mn!''

　Quickly, he fired a series of bullets to chase the demon away, then rushed forward and approached while firing a recovery round into Alan.

　The demon jumps back, dispelling the bullets, and the recovery bullets hit Alan, deploying a magic circle and releasing a healing light.

''Umm, hmm ......''

　His body moved with a groan, alive.
　As it was, I shot a maximum recovery round of reinforced bullets mashed into it, then turned to face the demon.

　I felt the pressure that chattered and stabbed into my skin.
　It seems to be an opponent that isn't gentle just because it's rare.
　Still, I have to do it.

　Preemptively, I fired a series of normal bullets.
　The demon dispelled all the bullets with its fist.
　It has a form similar to a human, and its defense is vaguely reminiscent of a martial artist.

"Regular bullets won't do it, then!

　This time, he loaded the frozen and fire bullets on either side and fired them at the same time.
　The bullets fused in the middle and turned into an annihilation bullet.

　The devil dodged!　He flew wide and true without paying off with his fist and dodged the bullet.
　The bullet flew straight up and gouged the wall of the dungeon.

　I gulped and swallowed.
　I look at the demon in front of me.

　You'll be able to see that the annihilation bullets, which dispelled the regular bullets, are just as good as the first time you saw them.
　This guy is not just tough, he's smart.
　The little devil was also strangely clever, but this one is even more decently clever.

　It's tricky. So what should we do?

　Just as I was thinking, the demon came into the flesh.
　With a rush that Speed B could afford, he swung his bullet-riddled fist at me.
　I flew right next to him while guarding him with my arm.

　Landing, my arm tingles. The force seems to be A.
　The demon attacked further. I stuck out one hand and spread out a magic circle, and three arrow-like flames came flying in.

''You can even use magic!

　I kicked the ground and offset it by hitting a frozen bullet while flying backwards. In a flash, one of the shots missed and a single arrow of flame came flying in.
　I crossed my arms and guarded, the flames enveloping my entire body.

　After the flames disappeared, he shot a recovery round at himself like an injection.
　It was quite a bit of firepower, more than a bicorn horn and less than an inferno.
　I don't know much about magic, but I'd roughly estimate it to be a level 2.

　Fast, strong, and able to use magic.
　And he's smart.

　He's a tricky all-rounder.

But...

　I put the gun away on one side and take a deep breath.
　Kakkar's eyes widen and he rushes forward, kicking the ground.

　Fast, strong, and able to do magic?
　Yeah, it's a problem, but I'm faster and stronger than you.
　I'm faster and stronger than you.

　I'm thrusting harder than the devil, instantly closing in on him, grabbing him by the throat with my non-gunner's hand and pushing him toward the wall on the train tracks.
　Thud!　And with a shock that shook the dungeon, the demon's body was halfway into the wall.

　The demon resisted, swinging its powerful arms.
　I grit my teeth!
　He has S strength and S HP.
　If you know it's coming and want to endure it, there's nothing you can't bear.

　While holding on to the impact of being hit by a giant hurricane with my guts, I put my strength into my hand that grasps my throat and plunged the muzzle into the demon's open mouth.

　Pan!　Pan!　Pan!　Pan .......

　A series of zero-range shots, the demon's body jittery and cramped.
　When I finished shooting, the demon's body slackened off, half of its head was blown off.

　Eventually, it disappears with a loud noise.

'Fufu......'

　I exhaled.
　It was my first opponent, a strong, fast, smart guy, so it was a bit tricky.
　He was orthodox in strength, so he'd be a tricky opponent for the adventurers who would be circling the area in the future, I thought, and held my gun back.

　Suddenly I felt a strange sensation, a feeling of discomfort around my waist.
　I looked at the pouch and saw that it was bulging.
　I opened the pouch and looked inside.
　In addition to the sand, there was a golden mass of gold.
　When I took it out, it was solid, it was still gold in terms of mass.
　It weighed about one kilo?　It's the very gold I've seen in pictures.

　If it's a kilo, one of these would be a few million piro.

Doesn't this ...... increase the value of the dungeon?

　A dungeon that drops gold, a rare monster that drops gold nuggets.
　I remembered Clint's line with the gold nugget.