Dungeon's Final Boss: Banished by My Boss, the Goddess, to Earth—So I'll Continue My Past Life - 26

Chapter 26: Goddesses

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“Gugigigigi!”

Goddess Piroane writhed in frustration. Something was wrong. Lately, nothing had been going well. No matter how many dungeons she created, they were destroyed almost immediately.

“Why? Why?! I’m the great Goddess Piroane, the one who achieved a 100-year dungeon!”

She couldn’t understand it.

In the world of gods, communicating with other worlds through dungeons held vital importance. Dungeons connected worlds. The energy generated solely from that process was immense and served as a crucial power source for the realm of the gods.

However, if a dungeon remained embedded for too long, it would eventually become normalized. The world would grow accustomed to its presence.

That was unacceptable. Dungeons had to continue being perceived as foreign entities. They had to be recognized as something to be removed.

To achieve this, dungeons needed to be filled with monsters and swimming in magic stones as treasure to lure in the inhabitants of the world. They had to be cleared out and in return, the inhabitants of the world would get precious treasure from the dungeon. 

Only by doing so could dungeons maintain their status as anomalies and continue generating the energy for maintaining the balance of worlds. Because of this nature, it was difficult to keep a dungeon in existence for long. If it was too strong, people would fear it and stay away from it. If it was too easy, it would be cleared and disappear in an instant. It had to strike the perfect balance—enticing enough to draw people in with treasure, yet challenging enough to prevent them from reaching the final chamber.

Achieving this balance was no easy feat. A god’s ability to maintain a dungeon for an extended period was considered proof of their competence. And among them, Goddess Piroane had managed to sustain a dungeon for a full century, continuously receiving energy and greatly elevating her divine rank. But then, that dungeon had been conquered and destroyed.

Since then, no matter how many dungeons she created and embedded into worlds, they were being cleared in no time.

“Why?! Why?! WHY?!”

She had done everything exactly as before, yet she kept failing. She had no idea why.

No… That wasn’t true. She did know the reason.

“Oh my, what’s the matter, Piroane-sama?”

“That voice—?!”

With a grating gigigi sound, she turned around and glared. There stood Goddess Shenhari.

“You!”

“Oh, how frightening. Could it be that another one of your dungeons has disappeared?”

“Ugh…”

“Ever since that hundred-year dungeon was cleared, nothing has been going well for you, has it? At this rate, even maintaining your divine rank might become difficult.”

“S-Shut up! This is all because of you!”

“Whatever do you mean?”

“You criticized the cost of my dungeon!”

“Oh my, oh my. All I did was share my thoughts. I simply asked if I could observe for study purposes and you were the one who kindly showed me, weren’t you, Piroane-sama?”

“Gugigigigi!”

“It’s fine, really. I’m sure Piroane-sama will achieve another hundred-year dungeon. Ahahahahaha!”

Piroane glared at Shenhari as she laughed and began to walk away. She wanted to do something. She wanted to use her divine power to get back at her, but that wasn’t an option.

No… There was a way.

“Hey, Shenhari, how about a little game?”

“Oh? What kind of game?”

Shenhari halted her steps.

“You have a dungeon located in #$%&*, right? Let’s have a parade.”

“I do, but do you have a dungeon ready, Piroane-sama?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll get it right this time.”

“Then, I’ll be looking forward to it. Fufufufu.”

As Shenhari finally walked away, Piroane shot daggers at her retreating figure.

“This time, I’ll do it right. No more holding back. I’ll bet everything and make her cry!”

Piroane’s resolve was unshakable.

◆◆◆

A dungeon had appeared near my apartment. Its location was inside a park. I was a bit concerned about how close it was to the Kichijoji Dungeon, but there was no immediate request for it to be cleared. Something about this dungeon felt strangely off. Why was that?

I wasn’t sure if it was related or not, but I found myself wondering what had happened to the dungeon that had rejected me. So, I decided to look into it. The dungeon that had appeared that day had already been cleared immediately by Samejima-san. Well, that was to be expected.

Newborn dungeons always had shallow floors and limited usable resources. If I had stayed in that dungeon, I might have been restricted by the cost limitations, unable to even bring out a hundredth of my power. A dragon that was big but weak—such a thing would be a joke. Thinking back now, I was glad it hadn’t come to that dungeon.

The Dungeon Convenience Store was doing well. Perhaps thanks to the promotional video on the Heiwajima Dungeon, sales of buff-related food and drinks had increased. It seemed like the society’s perception of support-type Awakened had also improved. Their abilities were weaker than buff-related food and drinks, but it was discovered that their effects could stack with buff-related food and drinks, leading to an increase in demand for their skills. Eventually, support-type Awakened would grow stronger, and their support effects would improve as well.

“Hmm?”

I tilted my head as I thought about it.

So what if their abilities improved? Would that bring me any benefit? If the Awakened became too strong, wouldn’t they start relying less on the Dungeon Convenience Store? That would mean my profits would decline. If they didn’t use the store, the amount of experience I gained would also decrease.

It was the same as when I was the final boss in my past dungeon. Winning too much wasn’t good, but losing too much wasn’t good either. Finding the perfect balance and maintaining it was key. I wasn’t sure how long my arrangement with the Ministry of Dungeons would last.

But as long as dungeons existed, I could keep running the Dungeon Convenience Store.

So then…

“Mm.”

But—is that really something a human would do?

That question halted my thoughts. Humans came in all kinds. I could just jump to the convenient conclusion that there were people who live like me. 

But—is this something Jiro Hasegawa would do?

Not knowing the answer to that was the real problem. Too much time had passed. My life as a human had been overshadowed by my memories as a dungeon monster. I could recall information, but the emotions that should have been attached to those memories were missing.

Who were my friends? Who was my best friend? Or did I not have any friends at all? I had memories of playing, but I couldn’t remember the relationships that had been there. Did the number of times I played with someone equate to friendship? And even if I figured that out, the emotions from that time wouldn’t return.

What was the right thing to do?

“Jiro-san! Let’s eat donuts together!”

The doorbell rang and Mio-chan came into sight while holding up a box from a  certain donut shop.

“Thanks. I’ll make some coffee, then.”

Every now and then, Mio-chan would bring souvenirs like this when she visited. Out of the donuts packed in the long box, she would eat about two-thirds of them. As we ate, we talked about various things. Though, most of the conversation revolved around videos, dungeons, viewers, collaboration partners, and also Reiko Minashiro.

I mostly just listened and occasionally answered her questions.

“……”

“Something wrong?”

Yet today, she suddenly went quiet and just stared at my face.

“Jiro-san, is something on your mind?”

“On my mind?”

“Yes. You just seem like you have something on your mind.”

“Well… Mio-chan.”

“Yes?”

“What kind of person do you think I am?”

“Huh?”

“Personality, anything. Just tell me your honest impression.”

As soon as I asked, I realized I had asked her a troublesome question. If someone asked me the same thing, I’d probably struggle to find the right answer. But if there was anyone I could ask something like this… It was Mio-chan.

“Um, let’s see…”

She looked up at the ceiling, thinking with an embarrassed expression on her face.

“First off, you’re kind. And you take care of others. You helped me out, after all. And back in Heiwajima, you taught everyone how to fight.”

“I see.”

“You eat pretty much anything, but when it comes to drinks, you like coffee and beer, right?”

Now that she mentioned it, when I first returned, beer was the only thing I had and whenever I went to a bar, I naturally ordered beer. As for coffee, since I had coffee grounds and a filter, I instinctively knew how to use them, so I brewed coffee.

“Haha, I see.”

I thought there wouldn’t be anything, but there actually was.

“I see. Thanks.”

“And, and… huh?”

“Hmm?”

“Wait, that’s it?”

“Yeah, that’s enough.”

If there were even fragments of Jiro Hasegawa left within me, that was enough. If the things I did instinctively even slightly aligned with who I used to be, then…

There’s no problem then. That’s all I need to know. 

“Thanks. Next time, I’ll treat you to something. What do you want?”

“……”

“Mio-chan?”

“Nothing!”

Why does she look upset?

“Uh…”

“Hmph!”

“Mio-chan?”

“Ah!”

“Huh?”

“Mio!”

“Wh-what?”

“From now on, stop calling me ‘-chan’! Just call me Mio!”

“Huh? No, that’s a bit…”

“Mio!”

“O-okay, I got it.”

Did she really hate being called with “-chan” that much?

“Mio-san?”

“Just Mio.”

“Mio.”

“Mmphh!”

“Uh… What kind of reaction is that?”

“……Nothing. It’s fine.”

“Mio?”

“Yeah, that’s right. That’s good.”

“I see.”

I wasn’t sure what was good about it, but as long as Mio was satisfied, I guess it was all good then?

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T/N: I’m not a monster but I relate with the existential crisis ( • ᴖ • ｡)