588 588. Office




Hey, good to see you.
Long time no see.
It was tough. But, well, it was good to see you.

 I say, and move closer to Nihonium.
 There was no hostility, of course.
 I had strong intentions to get him in trouble in the dungeon in the first place, but there was no hostility or killing intent or anything like that.

 So I'm approaching Nihonium like a normal person.

It's good to see you, isn't it?
Yeah.
......

 Nihonium looked happy and yet sulking, such a complicated look.

'So what do we do now?'
What do you want to do about ...... what?
What do I have to do? What can I do?

 All of the spirits in the dungeon have some kind of strong commitment, or hope.
 Most of the time it's just that one thing, and they don't care about anything else.

They're the ones who say, "If I have this, I don't need anything else.

 And they want what they want to the utmost.

 I'm sure the same is true of Nifongnium.
 But I don't think it would be right for me to judge it or make any kind of discovery.
 This is something I've learned from the last few days.

 I thought it was important to put it into proper words and communicate it to each other.

That's .......
Do you know what you want?
............

 Nihonium paused after a long, contemplative silence.

'I'd like to have more humans in my dungeon to annoy everyone.
...... I see.

 He said in a subdued, but not lost, tone.

 I didn't expect that.
 I was a little bit prepared for Sakura and her friends to make fun of me for various reasons, so I assumed that I would be able to come for that kind of (、、、、).

I could sense that everyone was in trouble when I divided them up to attack earlier.
I'm glad you did.
...... Yes.
I see.

 Does that mean he changed just before?

 Or should I say, returned.
 Originally, Nihonium had hoped for that.

 He wanted more adventurers to come and get him in trouble.

 It was like that from pretty much the beginning.
 It's no surprise when you consider that it's only returned.

Then I'll do this. Can't we change the dungeon a bit more?
Uh, yeah, ......, but I can do that.
'If that's the case, the raid ...... earlier is one that has multiple people split up to attack at the same time, but you could increase the number of those.
Does that mean more people?
No, we'll keep the numbers the same, just increase the possibilities.
......?

 Nihonium nodded his head.

''Adventurers, the most important thing is to get around the dungeons consistently, so they come with equipment optimized for each level of the dungeons and rabbits.
Yeah.

 Nihonium nodded with a face that said, "I know that much.

'In this case, I would say that any adventurer considering an attack is prepared for at least three possibilities. Something prepared for is the possibility of using it.
Yes, sir.
'Increase the possibilities there. For example, I'll use five. But we'll use three.
If you do, what happens to ......?

 Like many spirits, Nihonium doesn't know much about humans.
 She nods her head grandly and asks back.

'Then two minutes' worth of preparations would be a complete waste. It's disheartening to see all that preparation go to waste.
Is that so?
'Yeah. Even if it wasn't, it's still pretty harassing to have them bother to bring a package they don't use, right?
Ah, .......

 That part was explained to me, and I think I understood.
 It reminded me of the time in the past when my boss made me prepare a lot of materials for a meeting that I would never use.

 Go prepare them by the first thing in the morning and don't leave until they're done.
 While saying so, I went home quickly and didn't use any of the meeting materials that I had managed to make it to on time with all-nighters.

 Hmm, just remembering that is a bit annoying.

Yeah,
Excuse me?
That doesn't change anything. I'll have three of them ready and all three of them will follow the exact same pattern.
-two minutes will be completely wasted!

 Nihonium huffed, and I nodded, and he flushed with a puff.

'The key is to keep it random. Adventurers can't read at all, then you'll have to prepare for everything.
I see. ...... Hmmm.

 Nihonium smiled evilly, looking more and more happy.

 He looked more and more happy as the flow of the adventurers could give the adventurers a crack at it.

'Then the current drop is weak. You have to make it more difficult, but you have to make it so people want to come. I'm not sure if the drop can be returned.
Well, ...... if it's anything we've ever put out.
You're doing the same thing. All right, let's breed them up. You can show me the dungeon master and keep him still.
That's not a problem.
'Okay, let's do that then. We don't know what we're going to get, but we'll change it up one floor at a time.

 I worked with Nihonium and we had a lot of input into improving further Nihonium dungeons.

 The conversation was starting to heat up.
 We'd gotten to know Nihonium well enough that we didn't need to be here and that we should ask Sakura for her opinion as well, so we decided to go back to the mansion.

 So we stood side by side, and as we walked up the stairs together, Nihonium suddenly remembered.

''Somehow, you're more like a genie than me.
I was just told that recently.
Would you like to become one?
You can't be a nobody if you want to.

 That's a satnium (、、、、、) that exists, though.

 I was relieved to see the degree to which we'd been able to break the ice, to be able to say such light words to each other.
 And as I walked up the stairs -.

'Huh?'

 I ponied up in a completely different place.

 I had assumed that the place I went up was a visceral dungeon, so I was completely struck by the emptiness of the situation.

 It wasn't a visceral place.
 In fact, it's not even a dungeon.

'...... company?'

 It wasn't popular, but it was completely inside the office.
 Such was the look and feel of the place.