Nihonium Dungeon, basement level two.
　We've run out of flaming bullets, so we've come to replenish them.

　The zombies living in the second basement floor are carefully headbutted one by one as you level up the growth bullets.
　The zombies that fell after having their heads blown out are sucked into the porch as seeds of strength.

'Hmm, I wish there was an easier way to replenish the special bullets too.

　A brief pause in the work, I kind of blurted it out.
　The easiest way to replenish bullets is to use normal bullets and tracker bullets.

　You can replenish normal bullets by using sprouts and vegetables as Hagremonts, and you can replenish tracker bullets by using garbage as Hagremonts.
　But you can only get special bullets from monsters in Nihonium dungeons.

　Regular bullets are made from normal hagremonts, so it's easy to get them in quantity, and you don't have to go through much trouble to get them.
　It's a bit of a hassle, because special bullets are made from materials that you have to make yourself.

　...... It's impossible to do that, because the fact that this place drops itself is something only I can do, so there's nothing I can do about it.
　Let's at least build a pattern for the lap to make it a little easier.

　With that in mind, I killed the zombies one by one.

''Hmm?''

　I suddenly stopped and stared in a certain direction.
　I felt the presence of someone.

"This nihonium is a sign?

　I questioned my senses.

　Nihonium doesn't produce anything, usually it only drops air no matter how many monsters you kill.
　That's why none of the adventurers other than me came, the only exception being Margaret's crew who produce air boxes.

　That Margaret also only produces air, so she doesn't go down below the first basement floor.
　This is the second basement floor, and normally no one would be here.

　I lower my gun and take a deep breath.
　I'm going to be able to get my mind back on track and look in that direction again. ...... I'm still there.
　It's not a misunderstanding, it's a definite sign of human presence.

　I'm sure you'll be able to find it in a few of the dungeons, but it's not the case here.
　I stopped collecting seeds and went to the place where I could feel the presence of people, because I was curious about why people were coming here.

　As I turned a few corners--.

''--Don't be too quick!

　I saw a man hanging a noose on the ceiling and about to hang himself.
　The man's head was about to hang on the noose.
　I quickly pulled out my gun and shot through the hanging rope.

　The man lost his balance with the broken rope and fell to the ground.

　I ran to him.

'Are you okay?'
......

　The man looked up at me and nodded at first, then shook his head shortly after.

'You didn't have to help me.'
'Not so fast. Why is this ......
'People don't come to Nihonium. If I die here, the haggle of my equipment won't bother anyone.
No, I don't mean why are you here, I mean why do you want to kill yourself?

　The man looked up at me again and smiled emphatically.

'I'm screwed. ......

　This is not good.
　I couldn't leave him alone, and I used the transporter gate to take him back to the mansion.

　　　　　☆

Are you okay?
...... Yeah.

　The man nodded.
　The saloon in the mansion, the tea Emily had made him warmed up with, and he looked a little more energetic than he had right after he was there.

　Emily's cooking and tea and such have a calming and soothing effect on people.
　He pushed the man into the salon and flew to Arsenic's Emily's place in the transporter room as fast as he could and got her to come back.
　It was worth it.

Thank you. I'm good to go.

　The man seems to have discouraged me from trying again to kill myself.

'Can I ask your name anyway?'

　We'll start with a bland topic to explore.

It's ...... Mattia.
Yeah. I don't--
I know. Ryota Sato. You're the most famous person I've ever met.

　Mattia laughed in self-mockery.

He is the boss of the biggest Cyclo powerhouse, who often solves difficult cases with overwhelming force and has four spirits under his command. This is a different kind of man than I am.

　Mattia mumbles almost as if he's fiddling.

'What's going on?　Why would he kill himself?
I can't do anything about it anymore ......
Tell me a story if you want. Maybe I can help you.
To the power of ......?
"How often have I solved some tough cases?　Can you talk to me?

　I stared straight at Mattia.
　I didn't feel relieved.
　Maybe it was because I'd seen so many people like him when I was in my old world, but I didn't feel relieved.

　After a while, Mattia spoke up, "My family is starting a new business.

"My family is starting a new business.
A new venture?
'Yeah. It was about a year ago, I think it was a drinking party, and everyone was having a good time, and they thought that they could make money by not having to work so hard and find the most efficient way to defeat the monsters at each level of the dungeon, and sell that method to the adventurers.
Oh, you mean the teaching corps - or just regular know-how sales?

　Mattia nodded.

'We had a great time at the bar, but I thought it was just a joke at the time. But the boss was serious, and the next day he seriously bumped up the project and ordered me, who was closest to him at the time, to do it.
......
'I worked hard all year, using different weapons and magic. I've also tried to optimize routes and stuff like that: ......
It didn't work out, did it?

　Mattia nodded further, and then slumped down.
　That's ...... right.

　In this world, a large number of adventurers are diving and circling the dungeons day and night.
　The structure of the dungeon and the monsters that inhabit it don't change very often, and the breed to change it recently has even made a rule of "two or more people with a spirit", so the dungeon is kept much the same.

　So most of the adventurers are in the dungeons they're used to going through and optimizing their moves.
　It's not so easy to find new and best ways of doing things.

'But why kill yourself in it?
He said it was my fault that I didn't get results after a year of trying, and he told me to either pay for the damage or come up with a better way to do it right away: ......
Hey, hey.

　You can't get compensation for work you did under your boss' orders?
　That's ridiculous.

That's why I couldn't help myself.
I see.

　I get the story.
　I have a lot of thoughts on that boss, but for now, we need to fix what's in front of us.

'Is that optimization good for any dungeon?
'What?　Oh, yes, but ...... Oh, except for Nihonium.
Yeah, of course.

　It's not going to make money if you optimize for nifonium that no one else drops.
　On the other hand, if it was a way to make it drop for everyone, it would be a mess of money.

　Well, whatever it is.

Let's go.
'What?　Where?
Come on, follow me.

　With that, I walked on.
　He glances back at me, hesitantly, but Mattia stands up and follows him.

　He continues down the hallway and comes to the transporter room.

　I use the transporter room's function to set up where I'm going.

　A gate appears that looks like a light vortex.

'Let's go.'
'What?　Hey, wait--

　I brought Mattia into the gate, half forcibly, without saying a word.
　The dungeon that arrived was a dungeon that looked like a Japanese house.

"What is this?
Twenty floors below the Lantern.
'Lantern!　The lantern is that lantern?　It's in Filin.
Yeah.
'Oh my God, ......, how .......'
'That doesn't matter for now. What do you know about the Lantern Basement Level 20?
'What?　...... Oh, the new wine.
'Yes, the dungeon I've bred, the one whose structure has just changed. Now I'm going to take you around, you can learn it and submit it to the boss.
'What?　But that's not how it works: ......
You're gonna have to improvise. And anyway.

　I chuckled.

'It's a brand new hierarchy, and even if it's optimal now, it will be even more optimal in time. So don't worry about it.

　Then he looked at Mattia.
　He hesitates for a bit, then bows his head deeply to me.

'Thank you,'

　I chuckled and let him take me around the Lantern's 20th underground floor with him.
　I've been optimizing to defeat monsters on a regular basis, so I didn't have a problem with the story.

　The first time I showed him how to do it was inadvertently, and it was an impossible way to do it unless the ability was S or SS, so I imagined keeping the ability down to around B and then showed him a different way to do it.

　Mattia remembered that and left.

　　　　　☆

　A few days later, the eighth floor of the Nihonium basement.
　On this day, he and Leia were working on improving their luck abilities.

''Satou-san!''
Yeah?　Mattia. You look good.
Thanks to Mr. Sato.

　He comes in, and he's a different person than he was a few days ago, blown up and refreshed.

'How are you doing since then?'
I'm done with that.
Did you stop?

　I was a bit surprised.

'Why did you stop?'
'I taught my boss that thing that Satou-san taught me, and he completely side-stepped me and took the credit like he did it all by himself.
Yeah, .......

　It's something I can see.
　Failure is the subordinate's fault, success is the boss's credit.
　Yeah, it's common, common ...... and it's common on a level that makes me want to kill a little bit.

"That's what they did to me, and it woke me up all at once. So I quit the family.
Yeah. If you don't mind me saying so, it's better.
Yes. So today--

　Mattia stepped back and bowed deeply.

'Thank you. And I'm here to thank you.
Okay.

　Raising his head, Mattia looked so radiant that he looked like a different person than he had at first.
　It's hard to subtly say that we've solved the problem, though.

'Thank you so much,'

　I looked at Mattia's face and decided that this was it.