Monster Company Tycoon Chapter 19

Chapter 19

 

Ruadis had a total of two conditions.

First, the monsters had to become sufficiently skilled.

At present, our dungeon’s monsters had earned a usage rating of [★☆☆☆☆ They’re so weak that I’d rather just hit wooden training dolls].

That meant my employees would have to follow Ruadis’s training to the bitter end from now on.

Second, special rewards.

As things stood, our dungeon didn’t offer enough of an incentive if its only purpose was to provide practical combat experience.

I have to admit, she’s right. The best part of a dungeon is the rich rewards you get after conquering it.

We needed rewards that would stimulate novice adventurers’ desire to take on challenges and satisfy their sense of accomplishment.

Ruadis had agreed to help with this to some extent, though.

So the thing I needed to do was…

“Come up with a reward plan that would satisfy the client! But that’s the planning department’s job, and I’ve never done it before!?”

I clutched my hair and slammed my forehead onto the desk. Above me, Brownie flew around in circles, making a nuisance of herself.

“Our Chihuahua is doing great! You’re doing great!”

“This is torture. Is this how people who work at companies with fewer than five employees feel? Maybe I was lucky, after all… At least my company had plenty of employees.”

“You’re saying strange things, so you must be under a lot of mental strain. Chihuahua, it’s time to touch your lucky talisman.”

Brownie soothed me in a sympathetic voice, then tapped the earthen safe in the corner of the office.

As if entranced, I walked over, opened the door, and stroked a bundle of crisp yellow banknotes.

Twenty million won, carefully stored inside the safe. The driving force that kept me going.

Stroke, stroke.

“What could you possibly like about that useless pile of paper?”

“Haah…”

That soft, smooth texture. The sweet sensation of capitalism at my fingertips.

As I imagined all the things I could do with twenty million won, I felt my mind and body gradually settling down.

“I can do this… I can do this…”

All right. Fully recharged.

With my brain now coated in the desire for money, I returned to my desk.

“What I can do right now is come up with a reward plan for novice adventurers.”

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t improve the monsters’ combat abilities overnight.

I dredged up every memory I had of beginner dungeons in the various games I’d played and began thinking about possible rewards.

Dungeons that players had to clear to complete the tutorial, the first dungeon in a series that unlocked according to level, dungeons naturally visited because they were close to beginner villages, and so on.

All those dungeons have something in common when it comes to their rewards. Beginners can’t tell whether the rewards are good or bad. They look impressive on the surface. And at the time, they’re actually pretty useful, too.

If I compared it to a game, my current position as dungeon manager was practically the same as that of a game designer responsible for designing dungeon content.

Reward systems varied wildly from game to game.

Some might simply give players a little in-game currency, while others might provide equipment appropriate for the next level.

In the latter case, the rewards would consist of a tiny amount of currency or equipment that wasn’t worth much even if sold, all to maintain the game’s balance.

After all, beginner-only dungeons were easy enough to clear repeatedly, making them perfect for players who wanted to farm rewards openly.

In a linear game, the dungeon might offer items that would prove useful in the next dungeon or quest.

Taking all these characteristics into account, I figured I should look for something inexpensive that would help adventurers on their next journey.

“Where did they say most adventurers went after graduating from the training ground?”

I organized the information by recalling the things Ragner and Ruadis had told me.

The place where fifty percent of adventurers who began their first journey lost their lives.

“Garga Forest.”

The area around Nest Village, where our dungeon was located, consisted of several small and large villages. Geographically speaking, it was basically the countryside.

Each village had a small population, insufficient facilities, outdated infrastructure, and little room for development.

That was why adventurers headed toward cities where all sorts of adventures awaited them.

Just like aspiring actors heading to Hollywood.

Which city they went to was up to each adventurer, but they all had to cross Garga Forest, which surrounded the entire region in a rough circle.

Only after surviving and reaching a city could they be said to have completed their first journey.

According to Ruadis, Garga Forest qualified as a demon realm.

It was land untouched by human development. In other words, it was land occupied by monsters.

She’d explained that the world was covered in demon realms, spreading out like sewage covering a river, while human territory was scattered between them like holes made by drops of soapy water.

Both humans and monsters wanted to claim land rich in resources and wealth.

As a result, the danger posed by demon realms actually increased as one approached major cities rather than rural areas like ours.

So humans and monsters are basically waging an endless war…

All human settlements were protected by sacred barriers.

Those barriers faintly extended over the surrounding terrain as well, and the demon realm began the moment one crossed their boundaries.

Once you left Nest Village and ventured deep into the forest, Garga Forest began where the barrier ended.

There, unimaginably powerful monsters and all sorts of traps lay in wait. The environment was also horrifying, with poisonous swamps and trees that ate human flesh.

If someone wandered outside the forest without knowing anything…

I recalled the regional map I’d seen at the training ground.

If I paid the wind fairies more than 1,000 eon, word might even reach the demon realm, right? I wonder what kinds of monsters live there. Maybe some of them would be willing to join our dungeon?

I’d decided on the goal for the rewards.

Ruadis had said she planned to establish a rule requiring adventurers to conquer our dungeon before graduating from the training ground.

So, if possible, I wanted to prepare rewards that would help them cross Garga Forest.

Rather than tossing some mediocre piece of equipment I didn’t even know how to evaluate into a reward chest…

We don’t even have enough equipment for our own employees!

I wanted to provide something that would help them as much as possible.

“What kind of item would be useful for preparing to cross Garga Forest?”

No matter how much I racked my brain, I couldn’t figure it out.

So… I decided I should meet Ragner again.

He was an outstanding adventurer who even held the title of… hero. Surely, he could give me some advice.

“Make sure you guard the dungeon properly while I’m gone.”

“Okay… Don’t run away, and make sure you come back to the dungeon!”

“If anything happens, send word to me through the wind fairies.”

I entrusted Brownie with a single silver coin worth 1,000 eon as emergency money.

Starting today, I was going to work part-time at a restaurant in the village called Three Trees Restaurant.

Apparently, it had been named that because there were three large trees beside it. By now, two had been cut down, leaving only one, but the name had remained unchanged.

It had been called that for so long that the name had gradually become a proper noun in its own right.

Most other shops were named in much the same way.

The General Store by the Well because it was beside the well, the Fabric Shop at the Crossroads because it was at the intersection…

Hearing names like those gave me a warm sense of the village’s long history.

“Sniffle, sniffle… Manager, please stay strong!”

“Manager, have a safe trip! Make lots and lots of money!”

When the monsters heard that I’d taken a part-time job to earn money for the dungeon’s operating expenses, they burst into tears. They said they were moved by my dedication to the dungeon.

I told them that if they were grateful, they should put that much more effort into Ruadis’s lessons. Their motivation immediately burst into flames.

I’d been worried that their morale might have been crushed after getting thoroughly beaten by Ruadis, so I was relieved.

It’s not like challengers are going to show up just because I’m away for a little while, right?

As expected, our dungeon was still completely deserted.

Rather than sitting around doing nothing but waiting for customers, it was much better to try something, at least.

Before I left the dungeon, Brownie put something around my neck.

“What’s this?”

It was a strange necklace made by threading a cord through a rectangular, dirt-colored plate.

Its shape, weight, and even the precise position where it rested against my chest…

This familiar feeling…!

No matter how I looked at it, it reminded me of something… an employee ID badge…!

“Our Chihuahua, what if some stupid monster tries to pick a fight with you?”

I’d already been a little worried about running into monsters on the way, since from today onward I’d have to walk to the village alone.

On my very first day in this world, I’d tried to run away from the dungeon and encountered a terrifying monster. I’d even received a business card… from it.

“You still have a mark left over from your contract with the Demon King, so most monsters will avoid you on their own. But every now and then, there are some idiots too stupid to recognize it.”

“A mark!? Where!?”

“Your heart.”

“……”

Of all places, why there?

“Anyway! If you’re near the dungeon, I can at least teach them a lesson. But once you get farther away, I can’t do that anymore, can I? So I’m sending you off with this.”

“So what is it?”

“You’ve seen it before. You stamped it all over the résumés, remember? It’s soaked in the dungeon’s energy, so any monster will be able to recognize that you’re the dungeon manager.”

My mouth fell open.

Was this thing really a stamp? How had it ended up looking like this?

“Isn’t this… the dungeon authority that the president–no, the Demon King… said he’d transferred to me? Is it really okay to carry it around in the open like this?”

“Hehehe! It’s also a shackle, in a way! You’ll never be able to separate yourself from it! It’ll follow you around like a curse! So don’t even dream of running away!”

It was a little creepy to have an employee ID badge that followed me wherever I went… but what could it actually do besides follow me around?

I was curious, but I didn’t bother asking Brownie.