The Loner Who Conquers the Other World
chapter-57

Day 28 – Morning, The Plains.

Escaping from the inn, I’m currently on the run.

Somehow? For some reason? My affection rating is at risk! The eyes of the president meant danger! It is me, with my bad glare, who says so, so there is no doubt!

How did they find out? Why are they angry? Could it be that they don’t even need a reason to be mad at me anymore? Just how low has Rating-san fallen? Is it burrowing? Underground? Is my affection rating waiting somewhere at the bottom of the dungeon? Where are you, my affection rating! Did it go so deep underground that it created a dungeon? I have to hurry up and save it!

There are gatekeepers at the entrance to the dungeon, my natural enemies. For some reason, gatekeepers always get mad upon meeting me? Could it be that my affection rating with the same sex is too low as well? Well, not like I need it anyway? One can pass by presenting a written application form from the guild, but it seems I wouldn’t be able to pass even if I had it? My level is not high enough? Or is my affection rating not enough? Are they mad because they got overtime work because of me? Or because I’m not an adventurer? I don’t know why, but they didn’t let me through.

As expected, they probably will notice if I try to sneak inside all alone. After all, if I just try to walk past them with not a single soul around, it’s not 『sneaking』at all. They will notice.

If there was someone, I could sneak in after them using『Invisibility Cloak』,『Erase Presence』and『Stealth Lv 8』, but no one comes? Is this place unpopular? Even though my affection rating is at the bottom of it? Do they have some problem with my affection rating? Could it be that no one wants it? How dare they! It’s the affection rating with the opposite sex! What is this treatment? Unforgivable! Should I attack the town for this? Or maybe it’s better to raid the guild?

「Huh? Why? Today is not a dungeon day, right?」

For some reason, a whole bunch of my classmates showed up? Why are all of them carrying a rope? Bungee jumping tournament? Indeed, bungee jumping is like a coming of age ceremony, but everyone only recently became second years in high school, so they are only 16? Are they going to become adults? Are they going to climb the stairs of adulthood? Are they going to visit that kind of establishment? Please tell me where I can find such a place.

「「「「Here is he!!」」」」

「Eh? What? I mean, it’s mine? Isn’t it the dungeon that popped up thanks to my affection rating going through the ground? I have to pick it up from the dungeon’s depths, okay? I mean, it’s mine?」

Why do I even have to explain something so obvious?

「No? This dungeon was here long before you came to this world!」

I was stupid, I was careless, I should have noticed this earlier.

「So my affection rating dropped all the way to a different world when we were still in our world? So that’s where it got buried?」

No wonder I felt like I don’t have affection points with the opposite sex even back in the original world…… So I didn’t have them? None at all?……

「No, it was here even before you were born! This dungeon! And there is no way affection rating can create a dungeon! What the hell is that affection rating?! Is that a dungeon boss?!」

How could this be? So my affection rating was in the other world even before I was born. And so I must have come to this world pursuing it. Or rather, it’s affection rating with the opposite sex, no way I’d let it just get away. The mystery was solved! I have to rescue it as fast as possible, or it will drop to the next life. Good grief, don’t just teleport someone’s affection rating to a different world! I looked so hard for it!

Now this explains it, I thought that it is strange that I can’t find my affection rating with the opposite sex no matter where I looked! So it was missing since my birth, give me a break!

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Everyone swarmed into the dungeon.

I sneak in after them.

Or rather, I’m simply following after them.

Oooh! So this is a dungeon! This is the otherworldly maze! It’s somehow different from a cave, right?! I wonder if I can settle here if I remodel it a bit? I can save a lot on lodging fees this way. Though I don’t want strangers to loiter around? Will I have to offer them tea since they technically will be guests? Dungeon teahouse? Sounds profitable?

「The arrangement of the rooms is pretty good, isn’t it? For a living? And there is even a basement here.」

「「「「It’s a dungeon! Not a house! You can’t live here!」」」」

「……Why does your first comment on a dungeon sound like you came to check out a place? Did monsters invite you? Are you a guest here?!」

Looks like I can’t.

「But look, from the spacious foyer it goes in a U-shape, if we leave the outer walls as they are and remove the stuff in the middle, then slightly raise the ceiling, wouldn’t it look pretty good?」

It is a great idea, I think?

「Why? Why are you starting to design a new layout a second after stepping into a dungeon? Are you some kind of artisan? Do you have a professional deformation?」

「Please don’t remodel the dungeon as you please? The first floor is a straight path, so it’s fine…… No, actually, it’s not fine! But everyone is working on the maps from the 2nd floor and onward. If on top of suddenly getting remodeled they were to be turned into a residence, everyone will be very mad.」

「Those stairs are not a foyer, and what lies below is not a basement, okay? Below is a labyrinth! A maze! You shouldn’t turn it into an apartment, you understand? People that come to the dungeon will be shocked?!」

「Did dungeon capture mean its reconstruction? Occupying the living space of the monsters? Wait? Couldn’t it actually work?」

「No, you can’t! And what is that 『Hmm』, you are already planning the reconstruction? A drastic 『After』is awaiting dungeon? Even monsters are going to be surprised!」

「Yeah, the entrance in my current home is pretty narrow, and it was a whole lot of trouble to expand it. And it is a one-room type without any partition. 」

「「「He already began planning!!! Please, run away, Dungeon-san…… Oh no! The dungeon can’t run away!!!」」」

Eeeh, well, can’t be helped?

「You know, after coming to this world I had a lot of trouble with 『My home』? It was a lot of work? Making one?」

「「「The hell did you even come to a different world for? Property development?!」」」

Since it seemed like they would be angry if I tampered with the dungeon, I limited myself to leveling the floor. Stealthily.

「Somehow, it’s getting easier and easier to walk? Did someone begin the renovation? Someone?」

「Yes, I feel magic power behind that wall. A room wouldn’t suddenly pop out, right?」

「The room with the stairs at the beginning kind of turned into an entry hall? Were they always like that?」

As expected of a group of cheaters, even though I’m doing it stealthily, they still noticed?!

「No? Look? Don’t they say that dungeons can grow and evolve? Maybe it entered a growth stage? Or something?」

「「「As if a dungeon would grow into a residence on its own! Just what is it trying to become?!」」」

「Eeehm, a world heritage site? Sort of? I guess? Yeah, it could. And it will also attract more tourists. 」

「Tourists should have no business with dungeons? Are they going to go sightseeing while beating monsters? Are tourists that strong?」

Will it be profitable if monsters were to sell crackers at the entrance? I’m kind of scared of the tourists that might club monsters lured in by crackers though.

[TL Note: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nara_Park]

「Do you call this a renovation? A makeover? Since a while ago I see goblins getting swallowed by the walls? Is this dungeon hostile to monsters? Are we on the dungeon’s side now?」

「Don’t! If you think about this you lose. Everyone is pretending not to notice…… Because the goblins are too miserable…… 」

「……Used as construction materials?」

「「「「Nooo!!! Don’t say it!」」」」

Good grief, even though we are in a dungeon, they are so noisy. I wish they could follow proper manners for a public place.

「Ah! There is a closet over there! In the accent wall over there……」

「「「We told you that you shouldn’t do it! Why did we have to find a closet after coming to explore the dungeon!」」」

Indeed, with the closet at such a place Nudist Girl might start stripping. It would be a disaster if she removes her items, we are inside a dungeon after all……

「And there is no need for accents on the walls, okay? It makes it look like there is a trap!」

「We are only trying to pass the first floor…… We didn’t even fight any monsters…… So why do I feel so tired? Why?」

? How strange, I thought it should be easier to walk now that the floor is flat and even? But they seem to be tired?

「Should I make a slope? So it’s easier to access the basement? Though it might interfere with the natural traffic……」

「「「Don’t! Don’t do anything! If you make a residence here everyone will settle in it! We will have to fight trespassers instead of monsters?!」」」

I see, so the layout of the floor has to be suitable for interception of intruders, now, if we are going to divide enemy forces, then…

「……In that case, how about we make possible construction of fortifications in the living room, but also make it possible to pincer enemies from the flanks……」

「I don’t want such a living room! It’s more like a dying room! It’s not relaxing at all! It’s in battle preparation mode!! Or rather, you mustn’t attack adventurers?! They are our allies, okay?! Why are we supposed to defend the dungeon?!」

Looks like it’s a no…… Hm?

What is this?

Inside the wall?

Here? …… Ah?!

[TL Note: Déformation professionnelle (French) professional deformation or job conditioning, also called nerdview, is a tendency to look at things from the point of view of one’s own profession or special expertise, rather than from a broader or humane perspective.]