Monster Company Tycoon Chapter 32

Chapter 32

 

I shouted until my throat hurt, but sadly, the Dullahan still didn’t show itself.

Still, after making such a huge commotion, I thought it might at least lower its guard and start seeing me as a genuine dungeon administrator.

“How about showing yourself for just a moment so we can have a conversation?”

“You must be getting a sore throat by now. Why don’t you stop?”

Perhaps worried about me shouting into empty space for so long, Ruadis gradually began trying to dissuade me as well.

“No, it’s fine. I’m about to use it now. My trump card!”

I tried my best not to look at the severed head covered by Ruadis’s coat.

“If you join our dungeon, there’s one more employee benefit! Our Wind Fairies, who have partnered with a highly capable Earth Fairy, will actually… find your lost belongings right away! You won’t have to worry about losing anything!”

“What an absurd employee benefit.”

In truth, we didn’t actually offer that kind of benefit…

If I said, ‘We have your head, so come out quietly,’ wouldn’t that make me look like a terrible person? I’d sound just like a kidnapper holding someone hostage and threatening them.

But then, an ominous thought suddenly crossed my mind.

The Dullahan had no head. That was why I’d assumed it couldn’t see very well. After all, it had even left the grave sitting right along its patrol route untouched.

But… what if it couldn’t hear, either?

Ears were attached to the head, and the Dullahan didn’t have one.

“What on earth have I been doing all this time…?”

Thud. My legs suddenly gave out, and I collapsed onto the ground.

“Let’s call it a day. You look exhausted.”

“All that effort for nothing…”

“Your enthusiasm was truly remarkable. You really wanted to let us meet Sabira, didn’t you?”

“Th-That…”

“I’ve always thought so, but you really are a kind-hearted person. It’s not easy to go out of your way for someone else.”

What should I do? She seemed to have gotten the wrong idea in a big way.

Actually, reuniting an old friend and a disciple was only an additional objective. My real plan had been to recruit the Dullahan as an employee.

As I lowered my head, my conscience pricking at me, I heard Ruadis chuckle warmly above me.

“And don’t call it wasted effort. Even efforts that don’t bear fruit immediately can become nourishment for something that will bloom someday. The results may not be apparent yet, but who knows what kind of change your actions today might have brought about in the Dullahan?”

“Is that so…?”

But if it really had no head and couldn’t hear my shouting, then it really had been a waste of effort.

“Let’s go now. Ragnar has been waiting for us this whole time, too.”

“Um… Then what about the head…?”

“……”

As Ruadis lifted the severed head, the coat wrapped around it slipped slightly.

Since I happened to be looking up at her, I unintentionally caught a glimpse of the head through the opening.

“…!”

The first thing I saw was an old helmet covered in dirt.

Inside it was a white skull, with neatly severed hair…

Goosebumps rose all over my body, and I hurriedly turned my eyes away.

Then Ruadis said something unexpected.

“Shall we wait a little longer?”

“Pardon?”

“Didn’t I just comfort you by saying that the results may not be apparent yet?”

“…You did.”

Suddenly, Ruadis lowered the head wrapped in her coat back into the pit. Then she lightly covered it with soil.

“Oh…!”

“I’ll try talking things over with Ragnar. It might also be fine to come back and visit again without him next time.”

Ruadis had decided not to burn the remains right away. That meant I still had a chance.

Perhaps all that shouting hadn’t been completely pointless after all.

“Are you stupid? An idiot? Have you gotten even dumber from spending so much time rubbing shoulders with those inferior humans? Of course it can hear you!”

When I brought up my doubts about the Dullahan’s hearing to Brownie, all I got in return was a harsh verbal beating.

“But… how can it hear without ears?”

“If it really couldn’t hear, would that make the Dullahan an incompetent monster? Do you know how sensitive those things are? Have you already forgotten how carefully we had to move so they wouldn’t detect us hiding nearby?”

“Ah, that’s right.”

We’d desperately run away because we were afraid the Dullahan would catch us and leave us wandering around forever, searching for its head.

“It’s true that its eyesight is poor. But in exchange, its hearing is incredibly sensitive. How can you come up with such nonsense when you have a living example right in front of you?”

Suddenly, Brownie fluttered over to the area where the field workers were gathered.

“Hey! You!”

Then she called out to one of the skeletons sitting on the ground and chatting.

“Yes, Director Brownie! Rattle.”

Incidentally, as for why Brownie had suddenly started being called Director by the employees…

Recently, Brownie had become quite fascinated with the terms from my world that I used. One day, she’d asked me what the highest position below management was.

So, without giving it much thought, I told her that if the dungeon administrator was equivalent to a company president, then the position immediately below that would be a director.

And ever since then, she’d been ordering the employees around and making them call her Director…

“Come here.”

As Brownie brought the skeleton over to me, I hurriedly took off my glasses first.

I still hadn’t recovered from the shock of seeing a human skull with my naked eyes just moments ago. Now a set of remains with every bone in its body intact was walking toward me on two legs. It was too much for me to handle.

“Take a good look. Does this guy have ears or not?”

…Ah, come to think of it, the ears would have disappeared once the body had become a skeleton.

“…It doesn’t.”

“What about eyes? A nose?”

Brownie pointed one by one at the places where the skeleton’s facial features were supposed to be and questioned me.

“Only traces remain…”

“Hey, can you hear me or not?”

“Huh? I can hear you perfectly well, ma’am! Rattle.”

“Can you see what’s in front of you? Smell things? Taste things?”

“Everything works perfectly! Gasp…! Could this be that notorious defect inspection? Rattle.”

Suddenly, the skeleton panicked and dropped to its knees. Its joints struck the ground with such force that they made a loud noise.

“I have absolutely no combat defects! I can see enemies just fine, and I can hear even the slightest movements! I swear by the Demon God, there’s not a single problem with my combat abilities! Rattle.”

I was bewildered by the skeleton’s over-the-top reaction.

“Defect inspection?”

“I’ve heard rumors that some instance dungeons find excuses to kick monsters out before their contracts even expire, claiming they’re defective… Good grief.”

Brownie shook her head, speaking in a tone full of pity.

That sounds just like a black company that hires contract workers in eleven-month increments.

“That’s not why I called you. I’m done with what I needed to ask, so get lost!”

“Yes! Thank you! I’ll continue working hard! Rattle.”

Perhaps afraid that Brownie might change her mind, the skeleton hurriedly ran back to its original spot.

“What’d he say? Are they doing defect inspections?”

“Are they going to kick all of us out?”

The employees seemed greatly unsettled by the little commotion that had just occurred. Murmurs spread from every direction.

They looked pitiful, like office workers anxiously awaiting mass layoffs, so I firmly assured them that nothing of the sort would happen. Only then did they seem relieved, and the atmosphere gradually lightened again.

Honestly, Brownie’s sharp-tongued way of speaking had a habit of making things much bigger than they needed to be.

“See? He doesn’t have eyes, a nose, or ears, and he’s perfectly fine.”

“Yeah.”

“Monsters are living beings born from demonic energy. You shouldn’t try to understand them as though they were ordinary humans. You inferior humans receive information about your surroundings through various sensory organs, but monsters can instantly grasp their surroundings simply by sensing energy.”

So even though the Dullahan had no head, it could still hear and see by sensing energy?

Then it really hadn’t been a waste of effort after all.

I felt relieved at the thought that perhaps the Dullahan had been hiding somewhere, listening to every single word I’d shouted until my throat nearly gave out, despite how embarrassing it had been.

After that, for several days, I left the dungeon a little earlier than my part-time shift.

Then, before heading to the restaurant, I stopped by the eastern forest of the village first.

Since I was alone, I couldn’t venture too deep into the forest. But I went as far as my courage allowed and enthusiastically continued making my recruitment pitch.

“Lord Dullahan! We’re still hiring! I’ve heard so many wonderful things about your outstanding abilities! You’re exactly the kind of talent our dungeon has been looking for! Come join the Hermit’s Dungeon!”

I also visited the forest with Ruadis, without Ragnar, but strangely enough, after that day, the Dullahan completely disappeared from sight.

That didn’t mean it had left the forest altogether, though.

The craftsmen had gone out to gather materials just in case, and they’d encountered the fellow again.

So I planned to keep talking to it without stopping, hoping it would eventually become interested in my recruitment offers and approach me on its own.

After all, Ruadis had said that every effort could become nourishment for something in the future.