***Anther’s POV***

It was still too early for Myla and Kasser to be up, so Anther went back to Anniil’s house. The moment he walked through the door, his body locked up in shock, then he crouched down and held his head.

I forgot to tell Cherise to apologize to the dungeon!

He wanted to turn around and walk right back, but Cherise had said she had work to do. I’ll have to wait until she gets off work, I guess.

Nothing could be done about it now, so he just stopped worrying about it.

Anther sat at the kitchen table, kicking his legs while he admired his explorer badge. He heard some sheets rustle and smiled at his mother who crawled out of bed.

“You’re up early,” she mentioned, smoothing her hair out and tying it back.

“The guild opened up this morning,” he grinned. “Look! I got my badge!”

Anniil stretched her arms out and yawned. She stripped off her nightgown and tossed it onto the bed, then slipped a fresh dress over her head. Anther waited impatiently, holding his badge out at arm’s length. Anniil took her time, slipping on a pair of undergarments and slippers, then finally came over to look.

“Hmm.” She took the badge and turned it around in front of her eyes, then smiled and handed it back. “Well, aren't you official? Don’t go out on any missions without telling me first, and make sure you take your medicine. I don’t want you to get hurt because you froze at a bad time.”

“But I never freeze when I’m out hunting,” he said, kicking his legs. Out of boredom, he tried to balance his badge on its side on the table.

Anther frowned and remembered the odd experience he’d had in the guild building. He thought he saw Cherise show him the mind caster twice. Come to think of it, though, she looked a little different the first time, even if he only saw her from behind…

Even trying to focus on it made the memory more fuzzy.

“I think I’ll go take some now,” he said, hopping out of his chair and scurrying up the ladder. Taking the pill bottle off his nightstand, he tipped a spherical blue pill into his hand and tossed it to the back of his throat.

When he came back down to the first floor, Anniil had already started making breakfast. She was mixing flour, milk, and honey in a bowl, and the child started excitedly hoping for sweet cakes.

Anniil cracked open an egg, letting the contents fall into the bowl. Along with the sound, a thought popped into her son's head. “Mother, what does "rapist" mean?”

The mixing bowl landed on the wooden floor with a thud.

Anther turned in shock to see his mother's face marred by creases. “Where did you hear a word like that?”

“Um,” Anther realized he would get in trouble if he admitted to going in the dungeon without saying anything, so he lowered his head and spoke vaguely. “I just saw it written somewhere. Is it a bad word?”

“It’s a word for someone who does something unforgivable,” she shook her head. “In this village, the punishment for rape is permanent exile.”

“But what is it?”

The woman took a deep breath and finally picked up her mixing bowl off the floor, mopping up the spilled contents with a cloth. She set the things on the counter and sat at the table with her boy, reaching over and holding his hands.

“I'll explain it in more detail when you're older, but for now,” the woman trailed off awkwardly. "Well, sometimes rape happens when a selfish person has a one-sided love and tries to force it onto another person. Because they're selfish, they don't stop even when it hurts the other person. We call that person a rapist. Do you understand, Anther?"

The boy tilted his head, frowning. “I think so. But why do they have to be exiled? Isn't it fine if they just stop and say sorry?”

Anniil shook her head solemnly. “It’s not something you can just apologize for, sweetie. It’s something the victim has to hold with them forever. A normal person wouldn't step over that line in the first place, so rapists are considered dangerous madmen.”

Anther lowered his head, biting his lip. It was that bad? Something so terrible you can’t even fix it by saying sorry… No wonder the dungeon is still mad even though she already apologized once. The boy furrowed his brows, whispering softly, “But did she really fall in love with it?”

Anniil’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Who she?”

Anther realized he’d been talking out loud and his head shot up. He quickly shook it back and forth, but his mother wouldn’t have it. “Anther, did you hear that someone, in particular, is a rapist?”

The boy tried to shrink in his seat, but Anniil just glared harder. Finally, he gave a timid nod.

“Who?”

“S-someone from outside the village.”

“I’m asking you who she is, Anther. Don’t keep dangerous secrets to yourself.”

“D-dangerous?” the child’s eyes went wide, and he dropped his head, little dew drops forming in his eyes. “Cherise is the rapist.”

“The guild inspector?!” Anniil nearly stood up from shock but remained stiffly seated. “Who did she assault? Who’s the victim?” Her son sat around, fidgeting, and her voice became slightly desperate. “Anther!”

“I-it wasn’t really a person, though,” he trailed off into a mumble. “It was in the dungeon. A-actually…” the boy sucked in a shaky breath. “I went inside, and the dungeon has statues and carvings of Cherise near the entrance, saying “die, rapist”,” he confessed at last.

Anniil just looked stunned. Gradually, her face grew paler, and she covered her mouth with one hand, crossing her arms and staring at the table with wide, petrified eyes.

“Mother? Mother, are you okay?” Anther came around and patted her on the shoulder. She jumped, coming out of her thoughts, and forced a smile. “I’m okay, sweetie,” she patted his head. “Say, you mentioned last night that Rybo wanted to come over for a meal sometime, isn’t that right?”

The boy nodded. “He likes your cooking a lot. We’re friends now.”

Anniil smiled. “Would you find him sometime this morning and ask him to drop by for lunch? I’ll make something special.”

Anther looked a little confused, but he was happy to invite a friend over. “Okay.”

***Archimedes’ POV***

According to First, today is the day I should expect adventurers to come visit. Archimedes fixed a ream of web to a wall and let his mind wander. They call themselves explorers in this world, don’t they?

The web maze was essentially finished, spiders, traps, and all, and his core was in the next room. He had even forced the oldest Wolfbat he had to evolve into a new Dungeon Wolf to guard the third room. He was as ready as he could be and was happy to let his mana recover while he waited for guests.

Around the time the sun was rising, he felt a small group enter his range of perception. Before he could investigate closer, a voice intruded loudly into his thoughts.

“Hey, Archy! Can you deal with this guy already?”

Archimedes sighed and looked at Merina. She was trying to drag Alphio away from the paralyzing pond, but he refused to budge.

“It’s been hours!”

“We have guests,” he sighed. “Just ignore him for now.”

He looked back toward where his entrance was, and his mana circulation nearly stopped. Are my senses failing me? They’re identical.

In front of his door, a tall and burly man grinned and punched his palm, cracking his knuckles.

“Looks like we beat the watchman here. Perfect.” Six of the eight people behind him hoisted heavy-headed demolition hammers off the ground. The two without were both demons: a male and a female. Aside from the obvious lack of an elf, this group was identical to one he’d seen just yesterday.

“We don’t have much time today, so we’ve given up on getting to your core, but don’t worry,” the wolfman showed his sharp canines and lifted his own hammer off the ground, “we have plenty of time to beat the shit out of you!”

The dungeon creatures huddled nervously as the walls creaked and tightened. Meanwhile, Archimedes lost himself in the storm inside his head. The sharp sound of his entrance being smashed to pieces brought him back to a more focused terror.

Why are they alive?

The invaders jumped over his first trap, tearing up the environment with spells and hammers, destroying every inch of his first hallway.

How can they be alive?

The leader smashed through the second door and immediately crushed two Wolfbats with a single sweeping strike. The rest fled to hide in their holes, but the two demons fired spells inside, not neglecting a single monster.

I killed them! Why are they here?!

The invaders knew where every trap was. They tore through his dungeon one tunnel at a time, just smashing everything. He knew what their goal was: these petty people were getting revenge for their deaths by targeting a dungeon’s instincts-- by causing him as much pain as they could.

Setting me back. They’re setting me back.

All the time and mana he’d invested in building up his dungeon was being reduced to nothing. There was too much damage for the ambient mana to repair. It drained at a terrifying speed and dried up the local ether. His production capacity was being cut down, his progress stunted, and his efforts spit upon. Archimedes’ core instincts, which cried out for efficiency and progress, were writhing in his chest. He couldn’t even attack back; any monsters he sent would just become more futile setbacks.

I was proceeding under a fundamental misunderstanding. The people of this world are far better prepared to deal with dungeons than the humans of Rachon.

Archimedes saw the group's leader approach the third room with a sadistic smile on his rugged face, and suddenly his terror was usurped by something else.

Having fun? You think you own this place just because you’re immortal?

In that case, all he had to do was keep kicking until they stayed down. And if they weren’t going to play fair, neither would he.

Archimedes ordered the new Dungeon Wolf in the third room to run away, and when the intruders smashed their way inside, he pulled out his strongest double-edged sword.

There was no warning it would happen, but the ceiling of the room suddenly flung itself down to meet the floor, and nine people were instantly mashed into blood juice.

Warning! You have taken direct action against creatures of the world. You are open to justified retaliation. Warning! The deity Ahm Shulta has retaliated against you. A leak has opened. Warning! The dungeon is leaking. The local ether cannot be accessed. The ambient mana cannot be accessed. Warning! Your monsters are starving. They require mana and/or ether to survive.

Obviously, there were repercussions to attacking intruders directly, but sometimes it came down to a choice between that or just lying down to die. Even so, there were always people who would hesitate to cut off a rotting limb and miss their chance. It was important to know when to use a weapon.

First things first, I have to quickly fix this leak.

That was a painful process as well. The only way he could safely gather mana in this situation where his dungeon was leaking was to use Destroy Creation on something. Even if he had the Mandrakes make some ether for him, it would slip out before he could claim it.

“Merina, Alphio, step out of the light. There’s no need to give this Ahm Shulta a tastier snack.”

Archimedes drained most of the paralytic pond and used the mana he got to repair the room that was leaking.

You did something dangerous. They’ve definitely noticed you now.

A rare faded window from Vow appeared. He couldn’t tell from the text alone whether he was being scolded or worried about.

“I don’t think I had much choice, but the gods and I will probably be enemies in this world too.”

Please be careful. I cannot revive you a second time so soon.

“I can’t die again this soon either,” he replied with a bitter chuckle.

The leak sealed up without much trouble, and Archimedes went full throttle on repairing his dungeon. Alphio, Merina, and the little critters of the dungeon all did their best to help out.

“Please refill the pond now! Archy, please! Refill it, okay?!”

Archimedes sighed at the Mandrake who was panicking over something stupid. “I was going to have to anyway, but isn’t it about time you took a break from staring at your own reflection? Merina’s been complaining about it to me.”

Alphio reeled back, guarding himself with his arms. “How could you say that?! Archy, you can see, can’t you? How could anyone look away from a face as nice as mine?”

“It’s not like I can’t see it, but I don’t really have an aesthetic concept for humanoids. If you were an ethereal construct maybe I could agree, but…”

Before he knew it, the Adult Mandrake was on his hands and knees, staring at the dirt with deep eyes. “So I’m only beautiful where humanoids are concerned; there are entire spheres of existence where my looks aren’t special at all. This world is deep and my eyes have been opened to it.”

The dungeon core turned away from that foolishness to refill his paralytic pond, but the scene still continued behind him.

“That’s right, Alphy,” Thesia wobbled over and put a purple tentacle on the Mandrake’s back. “I’m not a humanoid, so you probably didn’t realize that I’m a beautiful Slime. At the same time, I don’t really understand how you’re any prettier than Merina. So, if you want the most people to like you, you have to be pretty on the inside too. Getting cocky just ‘cause you look good is bad!”

Alphio wiped his nose on his sleeve and sat up on his knees; the sprout on his head perked up, and he clenched his fists. “You’re right, Thi! I won’t get cocky again—no matter how gorgeous I am! I now know the path I have to take moving forward!”

“Yes, yes. Ah, so Thesia is a beautiful Slime. I had no idea.” Archimedes murmured to himself while the paralytic liquid reached the edge of the hole. Merina did her best to ignore her eccentric brother while she practiced scribbling math problems into the soil. The bulging veins on her neck and forehead seemed to indicate his voice had penetrated to some extent.

Archimedes had a moment of panic when someone else entered his range of perception from outside, but that person seemed to be harmless. He was an elf wearing a black suit like the ones Cherise and Rybo had worn. All he did was stretch and yawn a bit, then set up a chair outside of the entrance and face the outside.

Could this be the watchman those intruders briefly mentioned? Perhaps they won’t be able to return anymore.

One could only hope. Either way, he had to be more prepared for violent people like them. Having a strong monster as a guardian was absolutely essential.

It’s only for emergencies. I’m not going to fall back into old habits just by investing in a little extra muscle.

If he wanted a more immediate return on his investment, he would be better off evolving his Dungeon Wolf. However, putting so much effort into developing a creature just to have it die again would be a nonnegligible setback. He hadn’t chosen the Bestow Creature Cores specification at the beginning either so he didn’t have any way to revive a felled monster.

I can only hope it doesn't die, he thought, pouring in mana until the Dungeon Wolf's fur turned glossy and black. The hairs grew longer, and its fangs became sharper too. The beast's size increased yet again; it was a head taller than it was a moment ago.

Because he didn't want to leave everything up to fate, Archimedes dug a hole in the wall for the Black Wolf to hide and wait in. It was positioned along the entry wall so that intruders wouldn't see it when they were just coming into the room. As an additional distraction, he put a chest near the exit to the next hallway. Since it would be rude to leave it empty, he set it to produce one food item for each party: food was something all adventurers needed. He had First's pie recipe on hand, so he just used that.

Let's see if I can't make her into an Iron Wolf before more visitors come. The dungeon core didn't feel safe just yet.