Page 20

29 Days Left

Okay. I think I got this. Between now and the 20-day mark, I would need to complete the remaining seven- no, eight floors of my dungeon. 

After the 20-day mark, I think three or four days would be enough to gather the monsters for my dungeon. Then, I could use the remainder of the week to gather guardians to serve as boss monsters. 

By the date when I only have 11 days left before the next monthly report, I would like to have Akane or Mob 1 or 2 serve as free advertisements for my dungeon by giving them some treasures. Based on their, well, Akane's personality, she would most likely boast about it to her classmates of heroes in Orth. 

That would hopefully mean seven heroes and their parties come and challenge my dungeon, leaving me at least a week to generate numbers. If I slowly, yet steadily increase the treasures found in the deeper floors of my dungeon, it would most certainly make the heroes stay down here until their supplies run out. 

That would leave a small hole during my week when the numbers generated would be lower compared to the previous days, but I have faith that the heroes and their parties would come back fully resupplied the next day to continue challenging my dungeon. 

If I satisfy Lord Raphael, I hope he won't send me to... what was it again? Uh... Terra... something was it? 

Eh, that's beside the point. I got a chance! And that's all that matters! 

Since I got it all planned out, let's do this! 

28 Days Left

This is going to be harder than expected. Despite having a plan in mind, I've forgotten the sheer size of my dungeon and since I'm the only one who could create the floors and such, I'm also lacking in manpower. I asked Hestia to train Valentyn a bit as I'm his master, and I have a duty to make him stronger, although my schedule is too full to make time for his training sessions. 

Oh, speaking of Valentyn, I tasked him to infiltrate the capital city of Orth, to learn more about Akane's moves and plans for the future. While he was there, I also asked him to register as an adventurer and learn about monster habitats, then bring home a bunch of live monsters. 

27 Days Left

Valentyn is making some good progress spying on Akane and he also made contact with Jiro... which I didn't ask him to do, but since he's such a considerate subordinate, I'll let it slide. While he has been making good progress, I have not. There are a bunch of unexpected problems that arise here and there. 

Thankfully, I've been managing these with ease. I've finished up the third floor and I've just started working on the fourth floor now, and the sole reason why I'm on the fourth floor is because of Miriel. 

Our conversation went something like this: 

"Hey, Miriel! Thanks for repairing the third floor!" 

"It's nothing to praise about. So?" he asked, "You got any other work for me? I'm happy to do it with the right amount of compensation of course." 

"Why yes, I do. I request your help completing the remaining eight floors of my dungeon. I'll give you three Deluxe Treat boxes from the Angel's Resort. How does that sound?" 

"Would I be able to choose what I want?" 

"Of course. But the amount would change depending on how fast we finish the floors. The sooner the better." 

He smirked. "We got ourselves a deal." he said, shaking my hand. Then, he proceeded to make another oath. 

And that was it. I love people who are straightforward with their intentions or wants. There's no need to use one hundred and ten per cent of your mind to piece together bits and pieces of the other person's true intentions after all. What a waste of brain power, I'd say. 

26 Days Left

The fourth floor is around sixty... maybe sixty-five per cent done. Miriel and I are working around the clock in order to finish the remaining floors by next week. We have six days left, and six floors to go... that might be a little tough. A floor a day might be possible, but highly unlikely. 

I could adjust my schedule to allocate time from other tasks to compensate for the extra time spent on this task. Maybe the theme of the floor caused us to fall behind schedule. The third floor took me around three or two days to complete since the theme of that floor is exploration and discovery, I had to spend far too much time on the little things instead of working on the more important sections of the floor such as setting up the Common Room to the floor. 

Near the end of the day, I tasked Miriel to start working on the fifth floor. I'll leave the design and theme of the floor to him since I have no idea what to make the floor into. While he was doing that, I finished up the remainder of the fourth floor, finalising the guardian room and stuff like that. 

Hestia had Mr. Greg serve me some refreshments and snacks and Hestia was also kind enough to summon some monsters via the System. Since she hasn't been a dungeon master for a long time, her stock of currency that allows her to summon or create monsters is running low, so Hestia could only provide me with a mixed group of goblins, orcs and other monsters on the weaker side of the strength spectrum. 

However, with her last amount of currency, she was able to summon a low-ranking vampire. 

"Huh? Where am I?" the vampire asked when she first arrived. 

"My dungeon. You're going to be the guardian of the first floor." I answered her. 

Then, I proceeded to fill her out on things and made sure she was up to date with my current affairs. I recalled Valentyn for the night and tasked him to learn more about her. The female vampire did recognise Valentyn, and she was surprised before calling him by titles like "Ruler" or "Heir of the Duke". 

Is Valentyn a vampire of high standing? Perhaps so... but, I don't care. Of course, it's good for him, but for me? I don't care. All that matters now is his strength and usefulness. 

25 Days Left

Sunlight streamed through the arched entrance of the fifth floor, casting long shadows across the worn stone tiles. I adjusted my halo for the first time in a while, and Miriel appeared from the entrance of the fifth floor and landed next to me. 

"So," I began, leaning against the doorway, "How'd the design process go?"

"Well," he admitted, "Most of my time was spent thinking of a theme for the floor."

"That can't be helped. Anyway, what was the theme you chose?" 

"Laughter." 

"Laughter, huh? I confess I was expecting something a bit more..." I trailed off, searching for the right word. "You know..." 

"Grim?" Miriel finished my sentence. 

"Perhaps," I replied. "But did you add anything that makes the challengers feel uncontrollable laughter? I can't have that you know." 

"Of course not," Miriel reassured me. "I'm not a being of evil after all. Even though I may enjoy a good laugh, I wouldn't want to send anyone into a laughing fit until their inevitable deaths." 

I nodded my head in agreement as the situation would only create more trouble for the demons and angels working within the Reincarnation Cycle. Heck, they might even complain to me personally. "Ugh, paperwork and celestial complaints," I mumbled, wincing at the mere thought of it. That was something I wanted to avoid at all costs.

"Alright," I announced, with more motivation in my voice, "Miriel, I trust you... so I won't thoroughly check your claim. Anyway, let's finish this floor by nightfall. I say we deserve a break after completing the floor." 

Miriel shrugged in agreement. "Okay. Let's do this then." 

With a shared nod, we descended through the fifth floor's entrance to start working. 24 days remain. Time's running out.