The Guild Mistress stepped toward me, while I still had the appearance of Alicia. I smiled at her—half sweet, half mocking. My eyes narrowed as she approached.
Surrounding the Guild Mistress were Alicia's entire team, the head priest, and several mercenaries. On my side stood several shadow golems, the Inverse-Shadow Queen, the Iron Lizard, the Multivariant Arachne Queen, and of course, a few Arachnes.
Then, with a voice twisted by barely restrained anger, the Guild Mistress spoke.
"We want to talk about this war. We want peace."
"Let's sit down."
I transformed into Kaelyra, then used Telluric Spike multiple times to create a stone table and two chairs. We both sat down.
"I'll be direct, Guild Mistress. First, I absolutely don't want you writing anything else about my dungeon—or any of my future dungeons."
"What? And the war—"
"I'm not finished. Second, I'm fine with peace if you let me manage my dungeons in peace. I'll even slow down my upgrades."
"...Okay, but I don't get it..."
"What?"
"Why start a war over this? If those are your only demands..."
"Well, simply because... the more you write about my dungeon, the faster I'm forced to upgrade it. And I haven't been able to improve it properly, the way I want."
"Wait! You made it this powerful without even upgrading it the way you wanted?! And you're saying it grows stronger because we document it for other explorers?!"
The priest's mouth dropped so far open, I was sure I could fit an egg inside!
"Haven't you noticed? Every time you publish something, the next few days, I upgrade the dungeon in one way or another?"
"..."
The Guild Mistress looked around. The others shook their heads—they hadn't noticed anything. They thought the upgrades were just what any dungeon master would do—completely natural.
Their expressions ranged from shocked to utterly bewildered.
"No... we hadn't seen that..."
Lyna looked away, ashamed. Alicia's whole team had entered the dungeon to gather information, yet none of them had caught on!
"Well, now you know!"
"And what do you mean by 'multiple dungeons'?"
"Didn't you get it? I plan on having several!"
I continued with a naïve smile.
"But that's for later! For now, I'm focusing on the labyrinth dungeon!"
The group's expressions were all different— the priest's was a deep frown. For them, more dungeons meant greater danger for their priests and priestesses, as their groups were already in high demand!
The mercenaries had mixed feelings: fear and excitement. Fear because the labyrinth was already deadly. Excitement because new dungeons meant new riches and chances to grow stronger.
The Guild Mistress looked devastated, though she kept her expression composed. Alicia's group was divided: some were nervous about what might come, others clearly intrigued.
"I don't intend to start a war every time just because you try to find my dungeon crystal!"
"You knew?!"
"Of course. You tried digging into the dungeon and talked about it openly—wasn't hard to figure out! What I don't understand is... why do you want it so badly?"
"We can't tell you!"
She said that with urgency in her expression.
"Don't reject me so fast. After all, my second demand might actually be a roundabout way of protecting your goal..."
The Guild Mistress stared at me, suspicious and frowning. Was she trying to figure out how much I truly knew?
"You just said you didn't know what we wanted the crystal for?"
"I don't know for sure, but I have a guess... Like maybe using it to control me? The crystal is my dungeon's heart—without it, I die!"
"Yes... that's the reason. So you won't make it stronger so fast."
I smiled like a child delighted to have guessed correctly.
"As I thought… Now, let's talk about my second demand."
"What do you mean by slower upgrades?" she asked with a wary look.
"I mean I'll upgrade the dungeon less frequently—only twice per month at most."
"What?!"
"And every two or three months, I'll add treasure chests for adventurers. Not just traps and monsters. The more floors I have, the better the treasure!"
"We need to think this over..."
They stepped away, probably to talk privately—but of course… I heard everything!
"So? What do you think? For the Adventurers' Guild, it's a good deal—more strength, fewer deaths."
"It benefits the Church too, but this contract would apply only to this dungeon, right?"
I answered that question myself—with a sweet, innocent smile.
"Yes, it's only for the labyrinth dungeon! But there's nothing stopping us from making new contracts for future dungeons!"
"..."
Alicia sniffed sharply, brows furrowed, then snapped.
"This is a private conversation!"
"Private, yes... if I weren't listening ~"
"You—!"
Alicia was furious, about to charge at me—but her team stopped her. Mostly Lyna, the group's physical powerhouse.
"Okay, okay! I'm not listening anymore!"
I laughed, and they continued their discussion. Eventually, they all agreed. They decided to rank my dungeon as B-Rank.
Why? Because the second floor and its traps and monsters are capable of killing B-Rank adventurers. Especially during war, when monsters don't fight each other and instead work together. Once the war ends, they'll return to their territories and fight again.
But I could just upgrade the second floor or build a third one strong enough to kill B-Ranks anyway.
And speaking of the war—I won! Which means I have enough points now for a third floor, and I'm going to start building it!
"While you're talking… I've decided to create a third floor!"
"What?!"
Alicia shouted, and the whole group frowned.
"Yes, you're taking too long—so this is your punishment."
I said it with a big smile—sweet, yes, but also smug. This group needed to understand: I was the one in control of this conversation. So I began the creation process.
"System, purchase a third floor! And monsters!"
[Purchasing third floor... Third floor acquired!]
[Total cost: 16,000 dungeon points!]
A tremor shook the area around the dungeon's entrance, leaving the group stunned—and furious!
"If you don't hurry and decide, I'll keep upgrading! I earned tons of points from this war!"
And I didn't stop there. With the third floor—a water-inverted zone where the ceiling holds the water, and bubbles float in the air—I added a new monster species!
As usual, I started with rapidly reproducing monsters that serve as food.
[New monsters: Gravitational Pufferfish are now populating the third floor!]
These creatures, like the rats before them, are weak alone—F-Rank. But in groups, like the Inverse-Shadow monsters, they get much stronger!
At 20 individuals, they're equivalent to E-Rank. At 50, they match the Multivariant Spider Queen—D-Rank!
They can live both in water and air. Their special skills? Synchronizing their cores to emit gravitational waves that disorient. And in a group of 50, they can generate destructive vortexes!
[Cost for one colony of 50: 1,200 dungeon points!]
The Guild Mistress, pale and overwhelmed, accepted immediately—afraid I might keep building more while they debated.
"Fine! We accept! Right, everyone?"
"Yes!"
"Agreed!"
"Damn it! This is just a threat!"
The last one was Alicia. Usually calm, now she was fuming. She's so cute when she's mad! I really want her to be my girlfriend!
"Alicia, you're adorable when you're angry… Wanna be my girlfriend?"
The whole human group froze in shock—even Alicia! She was so stunned she forgot to be angry! Why?
Maybe seeing me in Kaelyra's form threw her off?
"Why would you say that—using my appearance, dungeon master?!"
And speak of the devil—there she was! Kaelyra, clearly indignant, fists clenched, teeth grinding.
"Because to keep using Telluric Spike, I need to keep your form!"
We started bickering like kids, making the human group even more confused. They clearly never expected the dungeon master they were at war with to act so… childish.
The Guild Mistress stepped between us to separate us, then addressed me gently—like an adult trying to reason with a child.
"May we know your name, dungeon master?"
"Of course! My glorious name is… drumroll please… Elizabeth!"
"Elizabeth Delareine!"
"Delareine? What does that mean?" the priest asked.
I royally ignored him. Instead, I turned back to the Guild Mistress with a smile.
"Elizabeth, we accept. So please, stop upgrading your dungeon like this..."
"Alright. Let's seal it with the system, shall we? I'm sure the woman running the Adventurers' Guild has the System Contract skill!"
"You're right—I do!"
Perfect—because I don't have it! But it doesn't matter; as long as one party does, it works.
Our systems linked up and began drafting the contract. I was so excited!