After receiving Prim’s warning, the group of adventurers stopped for a brief dinner at the tavern. Although they were surprised by the prices, they were more than satisfied with the quality of the food, especially the drinks. By the time they were done eating, Jira was practically buzzing with a desire to buy as many different types of soda as the general store would sell her.
Thankfully, the warrior named Roman calmed her down, and promised that they would return to the settlement after the situation with the slime dungeon was resolved. Only then did she allow him to take her away, the party continuing towards the south.
I didn’t know how long it would take the party to conquer the dungeon, especially if it really was someone from Earth like myself. The scenarios that Prim gave them were all thoughts I had come up with while I was bored, considering what I would do in different scenarios.
If I had appeared as a dungeon instead of a plot of land like this, I would have tried to find some type of humanoid monster that could blend in with society, using that as a medium to try and infiltrate nearby cities. If I thought it was possible, I would then make contact with the adventurers’ guild, and negotiate a mutually beneficial business, tailoring my dungeon to create a sort of training dungeon for adventurers.
If it looked like negotiations were completely impossible, I’d have to close up the dungeon and find some way to grow without outside influence. To compare it with my current situation, it would be like my farms and monster nests, and I assumed that an awakened dungeon would have a similar method.
The only reason that I would open the dungeon after that would be if I had reached the limit of what I could achieve without accepting adventurers, or if there was some mechanic that forced me to open the dungeon.
However, given that the dungeon appeared already at A-rank, I considered only two possibilities. The first was that they had reached their limit before revealing themselves, similar to my potential strategy. The second was that they were relatively new, but they had a lottery for what sort of monsters they could create, and lucked into a special type of slime.
Personally, I thought that the first option was far more likely than the second, which is why I didn’t mention it to the adventurers. Besides, whether it was a long-hidden dungeon or a lucky lottery, the hostility shown by its inhabitants hadn’t changed. Ultimately, unless there was some fundamental misunderstanding from Mikhail, this dungeon would have to be destroyed.
Wesley sat in his office, writing up the daily expense reports for the territory. Since he had taken the job as village treasurer, he decided that he should actually follow through with the mundane tasks, especially given that he didn’t have many other responsibilities at the moment.
As he was writing the report, he noticed the point total, which had reached the limit of one thousand, immediately plummeted down to just 10. His eyes widened slightly, realizing that the Land must have spawned in the expert teacher that he had wanted.
A few moments later, there was a knock on the door, and Wesley looked up at it. “Come in,” he called out, already expecting this to be the new teacher coming to introduce themselves.
The door opened, and a blonde, elven female dressed in a long dress appeared. “Sir Wesley. My name is Glynda, and I have come to report on behalf of the Land prior to taking up my position at the school.”
Wesley’s eyes widened at the beautiful elf, having to snap himself out of his thoughts. “I-I see. If I may ask, what skill level were you able to be created with?”
Glynda did not seem to mind the question, speaking in a clear tone. “My Education level has reached rank seven, the highest available with the current limitations. I have yet to visit the school to learn just what level of education this would entail, but I plan on doing so now.”
Glynda gave a perfunctory nod, turning and walking back down the hall. As if mesmerized, Wesley trailed behind her, following her out of the treasury and towards the school, where she immediately accepted the position as teacher. With the skill level of the school jumping from three to seven all at once, the school seemed to undergo a qualitative change.
The building itself did not grow larger, nor did its exterior change. However, the furniture inside, whether it was the shelves, the desks in the classroom, or even the tables in the cafeteria, all shimmered as they became more ornate.
“Hmm, acceptable,” Glynda nodded her head in satisfaction. “Not only has higher education been unlocked, but the school now also possesses adequate materials to teach professional skills, including magic and alchemy.”
“This is a magic school now?” Wesley asked in surprise, earning a brief look from Glynda.
“Quite. Though, I have another message for you from the Land. The construction crew that Jamie brought over are likely to finish their work in two or three days. As they are only temporary workers, they will then be returning to Corvath. Once this is done, the maximum points will once again drop to just one hundred, preventing the purchase of high level facilities.”
Wesley’s eyes widened. “The limit will go back down? Are you sure?”
“Indeed,” Glynda confirmed. “Temporarily, there were enough monsters within the occupied regions to bring the monster point limit up to one thousand. However, after those monsters migrated away from the owned plots, the limit was once again dropped down.”
“In order to remedy this situation, the Land has requested that you make for Corvath with the workers when they return, and share information about the new school and its teaching policies. If you can recruit enough families to the territory, the issue of population will once again be resolved.”
Wesley hesitated at this request. “Even if I bring in nineteen families with children, that won’t match the number of construction workers that are leaving.” At most, they could hope for sixty people to come, leaving them missing nearly a hundred more before they were able to return to their current population.
“In that case, you simply need to recruit more families,” Glynda said, as if the answer were obvious. “Now that the school has been unlocked, we can purchase additional schools at a much lower cost. We can create a small school district, with each teacher handling a single school, and I will handle the higher education for those wishing to improve their professional skills.”
“The standard of education in this world should make it rather appealing if a renowned adventurer advertises a village willing to accept commoner students at no cost, and even paying them to learn. By the time more advanced teachers are needed, the Land will have more than enough points to provide for each school, or higher tier schools may already be available. Regardless, these schools shall become the main force attracting new residents.”
“I see.” Wesley thought it over, and realized that Glynda’s suggestion was valid. Although both Leonin and Corvath were large cities with above-average literacy rates, there were bound to be numerous commoners that couldn’t afford sending their children to school. And even if they couldn’t get everyone that they needed from Corvath, there were other villages connected to the city where people would gladly come from when they heard about the conditions here. “I’m not unwilling, but it will take a while, and people might only come in waves.”
“That is perfectly acceptable,” Glynda confirmed. “Once word spreads, more people will make the journey on their own. Of course, the local lord will no doubt hear of this as well, choosing to come and impose taxes on the Land to satisfy their own greed. However, I understand that tax collection happens in early spring, so we still have quite some time to develop before worrying about that.”
Back within the forest, the goblins were chittering amongst each other, looking at the newcomer, Ugor, that carried himself with confidence. He had claimed to be an emissary of the ‘king’, one who would guide them to greatness.
Two days after his appearance, a new room appeared within the goblin den, tucked away at the back behind where they rested. This was a stone altar with a bloodsoaked cloth covering it, and goblin skulls positioned at each of its four corners. The source of this chapter is NovelPing.
“Chichik!” The emissary called out with a snickering laugh, summoning the more than dozen goblins that lived in the nest. “Behold! The first sign of His blessing! Come forth and worship, revere His might, and you will become strong!”
As if to demonstrate this, the emissary himself turned and prostrated before the altar. “Great king, bestow upon your follower the strength to lead your flock! Show these fools the power of the king!”
The bloodied cloth seemed to shift, the skulls slowly turning to face Ugor. Their eye sockets began to glow with a bloody light, and Ugor himself shuddered, his body twisting. He grew a few inches taller, his head growing slightly larger. When he extended his hand out to the side, a black mass rose up from the ground, turning into a gnarled staff.
Seeing Ugor evolve into a goblin shaman, the other goblins screeched with fright. Some backed away, others looking at the altar covetously. However, they all considered Ugor’s words. Worshipping the altar had indeed made him stronger, so many soon rushed forward.
Ugor gave a mysterious smile as he watched from the shadows, knowing that his goal had been achieved. These goblins were worshipping the altar rather than the being behind it, so their chance of evolution was considerably lower. However, the fact that Ugor himself had evolved was enough to cow the simple monsters into obedience.
The goblins in these nests had already started to become rebellious, seeing how a new goblin appeared every day like clockwork. The older goblins tried to form a hierarchy based on age, or tried to kick the newer ones out entirely if a male goblin appeared. For that reason, Ugor had been created to gain control of the nests.
After all, if the goblins were banished and died outside the nest, that would cause the Land’s plan to farm points to be set back even further. Such a thing was naturally something which could not be allowed.
Two days after Glynda had been created, and sure enough, the construction for the warehouse and shop had finally been finished. I watched as the workers all ordered their final meals from the tavern, preparing to leave once they had finished eating.
Looking at my points, I had only managed to earn about two hundred and eighty over these two days, which would not be enough for me to get anything other than the butcher. Since I still really didn’t need the butcher, I decided to throw in one last building to entice adventurers to visit.
To do this, I had to absorb a full two hundred gold coins from the treasury and convert them into points, which I then used to purchase the magic shop. I placed this shop adjacent to the blacksmith, in what I was temporarily referring to as the shopping district.
Thankfully, out of our entire population, we had a single villager that had a talent for enchanting, the skill required by the magic shop. Before the workers could leave, I had Alice, a brunette human woman with a modest build, register as the shop’s enchanter.
Upon checking the list of magic items that the store offered by default, I realized that this was by far our most expensive shop. Even a basic wand enchanted to shoot fireballs could cost five gold coins.
However, as she scrolled through the list, one item in particular caught my eye. The most expensive items in the shop, with a cost of over five hundred gold coins, a magic bag. This bag could carry as much as a large wagon, without any need to worry about additional weight.
I knew that Wesley himself had such a magic bag, which was his own backpack. The weapons that he often summoned from that backpack were often larger than the backpack itself. However, he was the only one that I had seen so far who certainly had this. Even Jamie didn’t use a magic bag to transport materials to Corvath, showing that these things should not be available to most people, whether due to scarcity or price.
In addition, there were enchantments that could be applied to equipment, such as increased strength, speed, or magic capacity, enchanting certain spells onto gear, and more. And, of course, there was a workshop in the back where Alice could practice creating and enchanting her own equipment to put up for sale.