WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Mordor

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Mistaken as the Dungeon Boss Monster ◈

Chapter 20: The Great Chieftain Is Kind!

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Since the Insects had no lingering attachment to their homeland, they immediately prepared to leave the forest.

In a way, hadn’t they been freed from slavery and become part of the Seven Palaces of the Abyss just because they had caught the right break? It was impersonation, but still.

One Insect who knew a great deal about the Seven Palaces of the Abyss, unlike Balutak, made a huge fuss.

“Kirik. Seven Palaces of the Abyss. Kelotak knows well. Great Chieftain, an untouchably strong being. Kelotak follows Great Chieftain for life.”

“Seven Palaces of the Abyss? What’s that?”

“There is such a thing. You don’t know because stupid. Only smart ones like Kelotak know Seven Palaces of the Abyss.”

Did this little bastard have some kind of superiority complex?

I’d thought something was strange ever since I learned their original name was Buraltak.

At least that made Kelotak easy to remember as the Insect with a superiority complex.

“I’ll summon Golgoli.”

We rode Golgoli, the Skeletal Horse, home, retracing the path we had taken.

The Insects should be fast in a forest, so I trusted they’d keep up. If they fell behind, I could slow down then.

Neigh!

The Skeletal Horse reared, then took off at full speed.

Maybe my expectations had been too high, because the Insects followed for a while before quickly falling behind.

Their noisy cries came from far behind us, but it wasn’t anything worth worrying about.

“Kieek! Great Chieftain! Don’t abandon us!”

“Want to go with Great Chieftain!”

Flutter!

Only Balutak, who had wings, somehow managed to keep up.

Seeing Balutak follow without looking tired, being a DLC boss really did mean something.

“Kirik! Chieftain! Chieftain trying to abandon us too!”

“Chieftain! Must go together! Together, stronger!”

“Kirik. Strong goes ahead. Weak meant to fall behind....”

What a load of crap.

For a moment, I had the urge to ignore those rowdy golden kids and run away.

“Boss, could we perhaps leave them behind?”

“....”

“I spoke out of turn. My apologies.”

No, I’d just been thinking the same thing.

* * *

“I missed you, Boss!”

Thud thud thud─

Isabella ran toward me like a puppy greeting its owner.

Seeing how happy she was to see me, she must have had a hard time during the Extermination Party’s attack.

Yet although she looked close to tears, she was completely unharmed.

“Congratulations on your safe return.”

Behind the Succubus standing at the front, the Minions of the Night all bowed in unison.

After listening to them, I learned that there had been no attack by the Extermination Party.

‘Then why does she look so upset?’

Had the Minions of the Night bullied her? They wouldn’t be crazy enough to do that in someone else’s home.

Looking at them, I naturally wondered if I’d unnecessarily asked Rose Sha for support.

Of course, I couldn’t leave the dungeon empty, but now that I knew what had happened, I regretted it. That was just human nature.

I peeled Isabella off as she kept trying to cling to me, then met the Succubus’s gaze.

“When you return, tell Rose Sha that I owe her a favor and will repay it soon.”

“I will deliver your words as soon as we return.”

The Minions of the Night departed for their dungeon through that same portal.

Once they were gone, the Insects entered as if filling the empty space they had left behind.

“Introduce yourself, Balutak. This is the Vampire Isabella and her subordinates.”

Seeing an Insect for the first time, Isabella looked confused before awkwardly smiling and holding out her hand.

“Um... I’m Isabella. You’re Balutak, right? It’s nice to meet you. I hope we can get along.”

“Kiririk. Vampire looks weak. Balutak thinks Balutak stronger. Balutak grows stronger by eating weak ones. If Balutak eats Vampire, Balutak can evolve.”

“...What?”

Once Isabella understood what Balutak meant, her face went pale.

I had a feeling this would happen.

“Balutak. There are no weak or strong in this dungeon. We are all companions living together in mutual support.”

“Kirik. Balutak cannot understand. Weak gets eaten by strong. Strong takes weak and grows stronger.”

“Then if I kill you right here, will you accept it?”

“Kirik.... Balutak won’t do that. Balutak won’t eat Vampire.”

Forcing Balutak into obedience through fear had obvious limits.

If possible, I needed to instill in Balutak a reason to get along with the Vampires.

Balutak wouldn’t accept the simple fact that they were monsters of the same dungeon.

After thinking it over, I remembered what Balutak had said when we first met.

“Think about it from another perspective. Didn’t you say that you embraced and took responsibility for the weak? Try getting along with the Vampires with that mindset.”

“That’s right. Balutak eats weak sometimes, but Balutak takes responsibility too. Great Chieftain is right. Vampire weak. Balutak protects Vampire.”

“Good thinking. Now, I’ll show you around the floors so you can adapt to the dungeon more easily.”

“Kirik. Balutak adapts. Balutak evolves. Balutak changes. Adapting easy for Balutak.”

“I’ll do it, Boss.”

Charlotte stepped forward, but I shook my head.

Unlike me, she was human. The journey had to have left her exhausted.

“I’ll do it, so rest.”

A boss who personally stepped up while guaranteeing their subordinates’ right to rest? There was no way that wouldn’t inspire loyalty.

“May I accompany you? They have not yet been properly taught manners. They may show their claws to you, Boss.”

...Now that she put it that way, I was nervous.

Without showing it, I allowed her to come along as if I couldn’t stop her anyway.

Fortunately, none of the problems Charlotte worried about happened.

As we toured all seven floors, Balutak and the Insects did nothing but watch with bright, sparkling eyes.

The Mining Base we visited last was where the Insects would work, so it required a lot of explanation.

The Mining Base, Rest Area, Guard Posts, two-wheeled carts, supplies, and water sources all needed explaining. A few of the Insects seemed to have roughly figured out what the place was.

“Balutak, who can fight the Extermination Party, will provisionally become the Keeper of the fifth floor. But the rest of you are still weak. You would only die meaningless deaths against an Extermination Party.”

“Kirik....”

“The way for the weak to live in this dungeon is as workers. Work here for the time being and prove your worth.”

They had all been enslaved against their will, so they seemed to know exactly what labor was.

That was why every one of them looked so dejected.

They thought they had been freed from slavery, only to have to work again? Nothing but despair showed on their faces.

‘Still, it can’t be helped.’

I was only human.

It was natural to feel sorry for them, but I had paid ten million Cell to bring them here.

The initial expense alone was ten million, and the maintenance costs would surely be considerable as well.

Each Insect was only between level twenty and thirty. If there was no reason for spending that much money on them, I would have to make one and balance the books somehow.

What could I use these weak Insects for?

At least Insects were as suited to working in a labyrinth dungeon as Kobolds.

I planned to use them as workers to mine Ore Veins and repair or expand the dungeon.

They were monsters with greater strength and stamina than humans, so I could work them without too much concern.

“Kirik.... Don’t like work....”

“Labor hard. Scary. Painful.”

“This is the Boss’s order. Anyone with complaints should leave this dungeon at once. No dungeon needs useless monsters.”

At Charlotte’s words, the grumbling died down.

It hurt me too, but it couldn’t be helped. There were no other workers, and I had brought them here to put them to work in the first place.

“Your first priority will be mining Ore Veins. In special circumstances, you will work on dungeon construction.”

The Insects looked at one another, then weakly lowered their heads.

They looked thoroughly crushed.

“Kirik.... Dungeon construction?”

“Kelotak knows dungeon construction. We did it until sick of it. Hard, hungry, painful.”

“I even lost an arm. Don’t want experience that again. Painful....”

“Kiririk....”

Still, I couldn’t let them sit around and eat, and I couldn’t make them work only a little.

I had brought them here at a loss because of Balutak, so I needed to get as much work out of them as possible.

Since I was determined to develop this dungeon into one like the Seven Palaces of the Abyss, I had to harden my heart and pursue practical gains.

I knew the Beastfolk had worked them like slaves, but that was that and this was this.

Ignoring their tearful eyes, I continued.

“You will work twelve hours a day. Each shift will be three hours, for a total of four shifts a day. If you become tired or hungry during work and need food or a place to sleep, use that Rest Area. Outside of work, your time is free, so rest as you see fit. And Charlotte.”

“Yes.”

“Tomorrow, you and I will decide the personnel assignments and rotation order. As soon as the schedule is ready, put the workers on duty.”

“I will carry out your command.”

Once I finished speaking, the Insects stared at me with dumbfounded expressions.

I knew it too. Twelve hours a day was an absurd amount of work.

And unlike office work, the Insects would suffer through mining Ore Veins for half the day.

It would be grueling labor even for Insects, but it couldn’t be helped.

There was an old saying that those who didn’t work didn’t eat.

“For now, it’s twelve hours a day. We’ll see how things go and maybe reduce it later.”

It was the smallest compromise I could make out of pity. Any more than this was too much, even for me.

I felt the Insects’ gazes, but pretended not to notice and turned away.

Afraid my resolve would weaken for no reason, I hurriedly left.

* * *

“Did I hear wrong?”

“Kirik. Twelve hours is half a day. Great Chieftain said work time is twelve hours. Makes no sense.”

After the Boss left, the Insects began murmuring among themselves.

Even as they spoke, they stared in shock at the Boss’s retreating figure.

“This place... paradise! Can rest half a day!”

“Kirik! Good we came! Can rest lots! Happy!”

“Survival guaranteed here too! Can live without evolving! Can live if work only half a day!”

The Insects cried out in joy as one.

When they had been under the Beastfolk, working at least twenty hours a day had been the norm.

They had worked like that for a month, unable to sleep properly or even get enough drinking water.

They had escaped and found a place to settle down, only to despair at the thought that they would have to work the same way here.

But that wasn’t the case. They would work, but for almost half the time they had before.

“Kiriririk! Everyone, come look! There’s food too!”

An Insect who had already entered the Rest Area shouted.

Soon, the Insects saw the food and water prepared in the Rest Area and doubted their own eyes.

“Kirik! What is all this?”

“Open it! Food comes out! Eat it! Tasty!”

“Kiririk! So tasty! Still lots and lots of food!”

“Lots of water too! Can eat and drink while working!”

“This place earthly paradise! Long live Great Chieftain!”

“Great Chieftain kind! We follow Great Chieftain forever!”

Charlotte, who had watched them, turned her gaze toward where the Boss had gone.

She was just as surprised.

“...The Boss truly is different.”

In most dungeons, workers were worked to the bone.

Workers were the lowest class in a dungeon, at the bottom of the hierarchy.

When a Mining Base was built underground, it was considered natural not to provide a Rest Area or guarantee workers’ rights.

Of course, efficiency improved when there was organized rest and a properly built base.

But the contempt and discrimination toward the weak, deeply rooted in dungeons, had persisted to this day.

Beasts and dungeon monsters were no different by nature. Both exploited the weak rather than protecting them.

For hundreds of years, this had been accepted as the survival culture of dungeons.

Every boss saw workers as nothing but slaves to be exploited and never guaranteed their rights.

Workers hired through the Merchant Association were naturally treated accordingly, but workers bound to a dungeon were expected to be treated as slaves.

‘Which kind of boss is the Boss?’

But this dungeon’s Boss was different.

Whether the decision was based on efficiency or altruism, the Boss was unlike other bosses.

Charlotte, who valued efficiency, had wanted to advise the Boss to guarantee workers’ basic rights.

She had kept it to herself because she knew it would be disrespectful, but surprisingly, the Boss had made that decision on their own.

“...Without the Boss, this dungeon would collapse overnight.”

It had been a Single-Entity Dungeon from the beginning. What more needed to be said?

Not only did the Boss possess the strength to instantly kill a Hero, but they also held views that valued efficiency.

Compared to that, the subordinates were a mistake-prone adjutant, useless Vampires, and idiotic bugs....

“I have much to reflect on....”

If the Boss were excluded, no one would think this was one of the Seven Palaces of the Abyss.

Charlotte sincerely believed that, and the respect she held for the Boss continued to grow.

Footnotes:

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