Dungeon's Final Boss: Banished by My Boss, the Goddess, to Earth—So I'll Continue My Past Life - 66

Chapter 66: Humans Are Always Changing

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“So, the Seraphim’s drive system is…”

“I see, is that so?”

“Yes, so in current industrial technology…”

“I see.”

There was a dining hall on the second floor of the villa, and we were enjoying dinner there. For some reason, Heaves was sitting next to me, enthusiastically explaining Seraphim to me. As a production-type Awakened who specialized in machinery, her knowledge was extremely valuable. Valuable, yes, but I still didn’t understand why she was sitting so close to me.

Why?

“Mmm…”

Mio, sitting across from me, was also glaring at me with a sullen expression, which felt completely unfair on my side. The meal had been prepared by the same man who had driven us here. Apparently, he was Claire’s personal butler.

It was incredibly delicious. The ingredients were of excellent quality, and the thorough preparation was evident in the flavor. The dish was refined yet considerate of someone like me, a commoner. Even without expertise in cooking, I could tell that he had thoughtfully prepared this meal for us, keeping in mind that we were commoners, Awakened, and Japanese.

Because of that, I wanted to savor it even more. But why was Heaves getting so close? I didn’t understand. No… I didn’t want to understand.

Claire, who had been speaking in a strangely roundabout way, had probably figured out why she had been so oddly concerned about my preferences. But I absolutely refused to acknowledge it.

“About the dungeon…”

I gave up on fully enjoying the food and decided to change the subject. The fish dish, bought at the port, had a strangely nostalgic taste despite being a species not found in Japan. What a waste.

“For the sake of capturing good footage, I plan to head deeper into the dungeon in the next attempt.”

“You mean to clear it outright?”

“If it were just me, that would be fine. But there’s also the matter of filming, and there will likely be forces trying to hinder our progress this time too.”

If I were alone, I could clear a dungeon that had been around for twenty years in a single day.

However, this time, I had Mio with me, and there were also people after the Orichalcum who might try to interfere. There was also the possibility of people actively obstructing our activity. 

“I’d like to bring food and camping supplies, assuming it’ll be a long expedition.”

“Will it all fit in the Item Box?”

“No problem. I can fit enough items to last the two of us a month, even.”

“Got it. Can you give me two or three days to prepare?”

“Of course.”

“Then we’ll go too!”

Just as my conversation with Claire ended, Heaves raised her hand.

“Heaves?”

“We need to show that we can be useful too.”

“But…”

“Besides, we originally planned to do this ourselves, didn’t we? It’s fine, right!?”

“Eh? Well… okay.”

He pressed forward so insistently that I ended up agreeing without thinking.

“Great!”

Her bright smile didn’t quite match her gothic appearance. She seemed like a good person. If only she weren’t sitting so close. Still, I had to admit I was interested in the robot she had built.

I had seen it move briefly on the ship before, but there were still many things I didn’t understand. Heaves was eagerly explaining it, but with all the technical terms, much of it went over my head.

Technical jargon developed as a field evolved, and understanding one thing often required knowledge of the foundational layers beneath it. Unfortunately, my knowledge of crafting and production came from the skills I had acquired as a dungeon monster. From what I gathered, Heaves had been studying as an engineer even before she Awakened.

My abilities were built on accumulated skills from the start, while Heaves’ abilities were a hybrid of her technical education and her production-type Awakening. The foundation of our knowledge was different, making mutual understanding difficult. Rather than listening, it was faster to see for myself.

Since Heaves’ permission was necessary to examine Seraphim up close, she naturally came along. Mio also followed. I half-listened to Heaves’ explanations while observing the robot with my own eyes. Its torso had to be thick to accommodate a pilot, which was a shame.

If they wanted to maintain aesthetic appeal, the only options would be either wearing it like armor or making it even larger. The design philosophy was different from my golems, which primarily functioned with semi-autonomous movement. If there was anything worth referencing, it would be the joints.

Reducing wear, ensuring smooth movement, and maintaining durability—these were all critical issues for my golems as well. Seraphim had managed to achieve a level of intricate mechanical interweaving that I could never have imagined.

“Incredible.”

When I murmured that, Heaves beamed with joy. Since I felt bad just being on the receiving end, I decided to show him one of my golems as well. It was a model not available for sale in the dungeon convenience store. A highly agile type designed for aerial combat—basically, this golem had the same role as those ninja-like attackers we had encountered earlier.

“Whoa, that’s amazing!”

Heaves, now completely immersed in observing my golem, had fully transformed into a passionate engineer, which was much more endearing to see. Meanwhile, Mio had remained sullen the entire time.

Strange… She had been so excited about the robot earlier…

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