Monster Company Tycoon Chapter 5

Chapter 5

 

I felt a deep sense of empathy and pity for the unfamiliar monsters in this unfamiliar world.

But wait a minute.

If I had to hire monsters as employees, that meant I’d have to keep working alongside those creatures at the same workplace from now on, right!?

…Would I actually be able to endure that?

“Are you a monster, too, by any chance?”

“How rude! I’m on a completely different level from those lowly beings. I’m a fairy! A pure life-form born from the condensation of nature’s energy!”

Brownie stuck out its round belly.

It explained that it was a being born from the gathering of the earth’s energy.

It also explained that fairies couldn’t stray far from the nature in which they were born. Since it had emerged from the earth, it couldn’t leave that particular land. It was referring to the land on which the dungeon had been built.

That was why it was called a resident fairy, or a bound fairy.

When the Demon King purchased the dungeon, the fairy had come with it, so to speak.

“I’ll show you the dungeon you’ll be working in from now on. Judging by your appearance, it’ll be difficult for you to work on the front lines, so you’ll have to stick to management and supervision. Do you happen to have any hidden powers? Magic, perhaps?”

“N-No, nothing like that.”

“Then you’ll be an office worker, I guess.”

The fairy gave me a brief tour of the dungeon’s interior.

The dungeon consisted of four floors in total: three above ground and one underground.

It was closer to a wide, low-rise tower than a tall structure. Although its shape was neat and straight like a modern building, certain parts were strangely distorted, giving it an eerie, otherworldly atmosphere.

“Successful dungeons sometimes build a hundred floors both above and below ground. Once you’ve made some money, you should invest in the dungeon, too. If you pay me an appropriate fee, I can use my power to expand the space.”

“How much does it cost to build one floor?”

“One million eon. But the more floors you have, the more power it’ll take to maintain them, so the costs will keep getting higher.”

“I’ll keep that in mind……”

Naturally, the dungeon was completely empty.

There wasn’t even a single trap to trip up challengers.

So the Demon King had gone bankrupt buying the dungeon, and all he’d bought was the dungeon itself. Literally.

“Wouldn’t we need… traps or something?”

“Oh, so you’re that type? The type that torments challengers through meticulous planning! It would be nice to have them, wouldn’t it? But if you want to install traps, you’ll need an employee with a trap design certification. There’s a high demand for those workers, so you’ll have to pay them a pretty decent salary to bring them here.”

Why was a dungeon so bureaucratic?

What on earth was a trap design certification? Why did monsters even have certifications?!

The more I learned, the more absurd this world seemed.

In any case, Brownie continued speaking in an excited voice, apparently delighted to introduce its home.

“You’re going to use the above-ground floors as the combat zone, right? Since there’s only one underground floor, it’ll be conquered too quickly otherwise.”

I didn’t know much about the subject, but I nodded, assuming the fairy knew what it was talking about.

“Then let’s put your private office underground.”

The fairy clapped its stubby arms, and a wall opened up in the space where endless corridors had previously stretched out in every direction. A cozy room appeared.

“Adding floors requires payment, but I can create or remove spaces like this without charging you anything.”

“Wow……”

The fairy spoke as though it were nothing special, but to me, it felt like watching an incredible magic trick.

How could I not be amazed when a room had suddenly gone poof! and appeared out of nowhere?

“If you show me proper blueprints, I can change each floor to whatever layout you want.”

“That’s amazing!”

At my praise, the fairy squirmed shyly.

I sat down at the desk and chair the fairy had made out of earth. They were absolutely terrible to use, but I figured having these was better than having nothing at all.

“What are you going to do now? Hiring frontline employees should come first, right? Or are you going to change the layout of the floors?”

The fairy urged me on in an increasingly excited voice.

We were starting work immediately, without even giving me time to adjust……

I wished I could at least have a handover document.

“Um… didn’t His Majesty the Demon King own another dungeon before this one? Or have any employees who worked with him back then…?”

“This is the first time our Demon King has ever owned a dungeon. Before this, he just holed himself up in his room doing research or sleeping all day. He’s a real master of living in seclusion.”

It suddenly occurred to me that this dungeon was called the Hermit’s Dungeon.

I supposed it hadn’t been given that name for no reason.

“So that’s why……”

“That’s why he’s ranked last among the Demon Kings. But it seems he received a final ultimatum from the God of Demons, threatening to strip him of his position as a Demon King if he continued neglecting his duties. In the end, he had no choice but to purchase a dungeon.”

“So even being a Demon King isn’t a lifetime job.”

“At first, I was really happy when I found out a Demon King had purchased my dungeon, you know? But then I heard he was the lowest-ranked Demon King of them all, and I was a little disappointed. Don’t tell anyone!”

“I understand. That’s reasonable.”

“You really are very empathetic. I’m so happy you’ve become the manager of our dungeon!”

For a while, Brownie rubbed its rough, gritty head against my cheek, acting all affectionate.

Thanks to that, I had to quickly brush the dirt off my cheek whenever Brownie wasn’t looking.

“I think we should hire employees first.”

“I agree! We never know when adventurers might come storming in, right? Let’s get started right away!”

Brownie shouted in a voice brimming with enthusiasm.

And so, we headed toward the dungeon entrance.

The very place I’d rushed out of with all my might, only to end up returning to it as though fleeing for my life.

Perhaps because I was feeling a little more relaxed now, I took in the beautiful forest scenery. Although it was strange and unfamiliar, I began to feel that this, too, was a world where people lived.

“How far away are the residential areas?”

“If you keep going in that direction, you can reach one before it gets dark. This dungeon has a good location, too. If it were too remote, people wouldn’t come here very often.”

I suddenly imagined what would happen if I ran away into the forest right now.

I couldn’t picture a particularly hopeful outcome.

As expected… it would be better to stay in the dungeon for the time being, at least until I came up with a clear plan.

Besides, even if I went to a residential area, there probably wouldn’t be anyone who could help me.

An outsider with no connections wandering into an unfamiliar village didn’t seem like a very good choice.

I wasn’t even sure whether I’d be able to communicate with the locals.

Come to think of it, how is Brownie able to speak with me, and vice versa? Is it the Demon King’s power?

While I tilted my head in confusion, the fairy suddenly fluttered off toward something.

“Aw, there’s not even a single eon, as expected. Well, that was only natural.”

Brownie peered inside a stone box placed in front of the dungeon and spoke in a dissatisfied tone.

“What is that?”

“It’s a prayer box. Pretty shabby, isn’t it? Once we become a notorious dungeon, we’ll be able to use a much bigger donation box.”

“Why is it called a prayer box?”

“Before adventurers challenge a dungeon, they put money in here and pray to the God of Fortune. They might ask for a safe conquest, or for lots of rewards, or any number of other things.”

“Ah……”

Brownie chattered away in a cheerful voice.

“The God of Fortune is also known as the God of Windfalls. They really love money. The more money you offer and the more earnestly you pray, the greater the fortune they’ll bestow upon you.”

I approached the prayer box and examined it from every angle. The inside was filled with nothing but dust.

“That’s why people pay a lot of money to pray before challenging more difficult dungeons. I’ve heard that adventurers pay one million eon every time they pray at the Dungeon of the World, which is operated by the Demon King ranked first! Aren’t you jealous? If we manage our dungeon well, we’ll be able to make a fortune someday, too!”

“Make a fortune?”

“We have to run the dungeon using the money collected in this prayer box.”

I let out an awkward laugh. So this was how dungeons earned their operating funds……

“They’re offering that money to the God of Fortune. Is it really okay for us to just take it and spend it?”

“The God of Fortune doesn’t need anything physical. What matters is how desperately someone wants their wish granted, to the point that they’re willing to offer a large sum of money. Besides, the God of Fortune has a partnership with the Demon Kings, so it’s fine. After all, adventurers who pay money to pray will keep coming only if the dungeon continues operating, right?”

I was impressed by how thoroughly capitalist the system was.

“That’s true. You’re really good at explaining things. It’s so easy to understand when you explain it.”

“Hehe… His Majesty the Demon King used to hate how talkative I was, but you’re happy to listen to me, so I’m really glad. To be honest, I’ve been terribly lonely all this time. I had no one to talk to.”

Once again, the fairy scratched its head shyly after receiving praise.

It seemed to really enjoy being complimented.

Anyway…

“How do we hire employees?”