“Yes! In the labyrinth, you’ll be free to unleash it all you want. You can go back to your normal dragon form, even.”
“Ahhhh…!!”
“Just imagine, this divinely cool dragon lurking deep in the depths of a forbidding labyrinth—”
“Meaning myself?” he interrupted. “So I’ll be allowed to use my full power on anyone who visits? All Kwah-ha-ha-ha-ha, welcome, you insects and so forth?”
Plainly, he loved it. The lethargy of a moment ago was gone. Dangling that bait in front of him got him monstrously excited. Now for one final push, I thought, as I recalled a little something Ramiris and I had discussed.
“I’ll even put some units in place for you to fight off the adventurers with. That’s right—I’m gonna re-create that game you wanted to try out. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it?”
This, in a nutshell, was what I wanted to make—a real-time (also, real-life) strategy game set in a dungeon. The idea came to me out of nowhere as I’d talked with Ramiris. I’d have units (monsters) in place to tackle adventurers, along with bosses to protect the loot chests. The Dungeon would be filled with Veldora’s magicules, growing thicker as you approached the hundredth floor. The force in the air would be pretty thin up top, so you’d only see minion-level monsters at first, but the deeper you got, the more higher-level foes you’d find patrolling the halls. Even in his former prison, enough magic leaked out to create tempest serpents (rank: A-minus) and other powerful creatures—I couldn’t even imagine what he’d create at this point.
Frankly, the whole “gate guardian” thing didn’t matter to me; I didn’t really expect anyone to make the hundredth floor in the first place. The key to all this was getting Veldora’s aura released. It felt to me like I couldn’t get away with making him keep it in much longer, but if I just left him to his own devices, he might decide to blow it all out in some empty corner of the world. I couldn’t take my eyes off him for a moment, because if he erupted closer to town, maybe my administration and I could withstand it, but nobody else would. With enough magicule concentration, anything below a B in rank would die.
I found it dangerous to rely solely on Veldora’s willpower to keep us safe, so Ramiris’s labyrinth was really a lifeboat in the nick of time. It was a completely sealed space, something I confirmed when I explored it myself earlier, so there was no worrying about magicules leaking out. Veldora’s full aura unleashed shouldn’t faze it at all.
Even in the Sealed Cave, it’d be impossible to resist the aura of a fully revived Veldora—not that I’d bring him down there now, what with our research facility and all. The Dungeon was perfect for him, and for the purposes of my true goal. I wanted him to whip out that aura and go to town with it.
My “true goal,” you see, was to use the large, dense cloud of magicules he’d create and generate monsters with it. The whole plan rode on that idea—Veldora releasing his aura, and me making good use of it. An excellent plan, if I do say so myself. Two birds—no, three birds—with one stone. Not only would it keep him from crashing my house uninvited, it’d also make him useful as a magicule generator for my new monster factory, giving him a job to do so he wouldn’t be such a freeloader. Not that I thought anyone would actually make it all the way to his floor, though…
But what did he think? Veldora stood up, placing his manga in a pocket, then extended a hand toward me, offering to shake.
“I like it. I like this very much, Rimuru. We will have adventurers dispatch these ‘units,’ so they can stand before me, and I can deliver them divine justice. They may try to run from me, of course, but I will never allow them to. Perhaps I could bellow something akin to Bah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! You cannot escape me! Didn’t you know? There is no fleeing the Storm Dragon! I always wanted to try saying that, and now I’ve got the chance, don’t I? Ahhh, I cannot wait to begin!”
“Um, yes…”
His imagination was already running wild. I nodded back at him, but now I worried that I’d egged him on a little too much. Is this gonna be okay? Like, there’s really no way someone’ll reach Floor 100, right? I was a little concerned about that, but I needed to push this plan forward.
“…Well, you’re the only person I could ask to do this. Are you in?”
“Of course. Rimuru, you’ve done well to reach out to me. Truly, it is a task only I am capable of.”
He gave me a firm nod. I’m so glad he’s really that stupid. His cooperation, and his reaction, were even better than I thought possible.
The next day, Veldora and I went to Ramiris.
Construction of the arena began early in the morning, and the site was alive with activity. Some of the beastmen that were out on training had come back to pitch in, following Gobkyuu’s orders as they ran to and fro. I didn’t want to wreck their concentration, so we headed for the labyrinth.
The moment we entered, we emerged in the room Ramiris was in. As she promised, she had been busy expanding the Dungeon.
“Hello, Ramiris. Doing well?”
“Ahhh! Hello, Master! It’s good to see you again. I’m doing fine!”
Ramiris looked a tad fatigued but eminently satisfied with herself. I advised her not to overdo it. She was now seated on Veldora’s shoulder; I was glad to see they were still getting along.
I was glad, but it was also a problem, because the sight of Veldora was making Ramiris totally forget my advice.
“Just leave this to me! I’ll do it! I can totally pull this off, guys!”
To calm her down a bit, I decided to start with breakfast.
After that, I asked her about her
