Chapter 113
The familiar situation was reenacted.
Upon defeating the Dolmaker, Bear Dolls poured out.
The Bear Dolls returned to their original form, and the only living monster among them was one.
And that monster was none other than Lionheart, whom I had rescued just yesterday.
“I truly thank you···!”
Lionheart buried his head in the ground to express his thanks.
That too was exactly the scene I had witnessed yesterday.
“Ah, I remember! That lion monster you saved yesterday, Mr. Gun!”
“Why was that guy captured again? He shouldn’t get caught twice. Does he have no learning ability?”
“He seems to have a bad head.”
“Hmm. Maybe he actually enjoys being a Bear Doll.”
Lionheart kept banging his head on the ground.
Feeling burdened by his actions, I grabbed his shoulder and helped him up.
Even after standing, Lionheart still bent his waist and expressed his gratitude.
“Thank you sincerely! As I said earlier, I will repay this favor twofold!”
“Repay it tenfold.”
“Lionheart, about that favor—you won’t be able to figure out how to become the ruler of this labyrinth, no matter how much you think about it—”
“No, I can! Just believe in me once! I will figure out a way, regardless of the means, to live up to your expectations!”
Lionheart cut me off and shouted, pleading for me to trust him.
I let out a long sigh and spoke again.
“I never expected anything, so what’s the point of living up to it···? And don’t interrupt me, I’m not finished talking.”
“S-Sorry···!”
“Anyway, regarding my original request, even if you manage to figure it out, I think it’ll take too long. So, I’m thinking of changing the way you repay me. Just now, I remembered something that would be more helpful to me.”
“What’s this more helpful thing?”
“It’s not too difficult. Just become a resident of the Desert Town we’re planning to build.”
“A resident of the town···? Is that really what you want? You can demand more if you want, I won’t mind.”
“Enough. I’m satisfied if you just become a resident of the town.”
“You truly are a selfless person.”
I didn’t want much.
No, I couldn’t ask for much.
Lionheart wasn’t a capable monster, so my demands were just kept to a minimum.
“Understood! I will become a resident as you wish!”
“Thanks. Oh, and Lionheart, you know I’m an explorer, right?”
“I had my suspicions. You’ve weakened, after all.”
I explained my traits, mentioning the ability of the Supported One and my Taming Ability, and asked Lionheart if it was okay for me to tame him.
“You want to tame me? That’s fine, I permit it!”
Lionheart readily agreed.
I didn’t need to use the Puppetmaster’s Mind Control.
Currently, Lionheart was quite friendly toward me.
So, I placed my hand on the back of his head.
*
Logging was taken care of by SS-Class monsters.
S-Class monsters could chop Apple Trees as well, but as Omega said, the trees were so sturdy that they struggled a lot.
“Waaah!”
“Wheee!…”
“Gaaah!!!”
The Kinogine Aracne swung its thin thread and cut down the trees, sending Poison Apples hanging from them screaming as they fell.
“That’s a massacre.”
“Poor Poison Apples.”
“They look sinister, so I don’t feel sorry for them.”
“In a world of survival of the fittest, it’s unavoidable.”
“They were just food anyway.”
Of course, I wasn’t planning to fell all the trees.
This was a precious apple farm, after all.
So, I only planned to log about half of them.
Well, the Poison Apples that got killed in the process couldn’t be helped.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t move them to another tree.
My tamed Poison Apple said that if there were too many on one tree, the tree would rot quickly.
“Hey, but they can live for a few days after falling off the tree, right?”
“Normally, if they can’t meet the conditions to regain their original strength, they’d die in a few days.”
“So confirming they’ll die in a few days? I guess they’re the weakest among S-Class monsters.”
“Then let’s just kill them off now. It should be easier that way.”
“I was planning on doing that anyway. Some of them occasionally come at me for a final struggle.”
The Poison Apples that fell from the trees.
Just when I was about to slaughter them, a Mummy Skeleton suddenly popped out and sucked all the Poison Apples into its body.
“I’m delicious···.”
【Mysticism】─
“Wow, he eats well.”
Oh, come to think of it, the Mummy Skeleton liked to eat Poison Apples raw, right?
I guess there was no need to clean up after all.
All the Poison Apples that fell to the ground could just be fed to the Mummy Skeleton.
After selecting some nice-looking trees for logging for quite a while.
“I should install a Warp Device here since transporting would be a hassle.”
Omega scouted a suitable location and set up the Warp Device.
“Omega, is it okay to install a Warp Device in a place like this? What if other monsters use it?”
“That’s not a problem. It can be set so that only registered users can use it.”
“Is that so? Then that’s a relief.”
“Omega wouldn’t act without a thought.”
“Acting like you know Omega well.”
My monsters and I completed the user registration for the Warp Device under Omega’s guidance.
Of course, I didn’t register the Poison Apples.
They had no chance of using it anyway.
*
After Omega crossed over to the Desert Rest Area.
I briefly dropped by the Hideout to gather my monsters.
“Did you call us?”
“Merino, you don’t need to come.”
“Baaa!”
As I looked over the gathered monsters one by one, I slowly spoke.
Once the Desert Town was completed,
I would select monsters to move there in advance.
The selected monsters would assist Omega in building the Desert Town.
“Beee······.”
“Jafaaaan···.”
At first, there was an atmosphere of hesitation.
Not a single monster wanted to separate from me.
“Guys, even if you move to the Desert Town, we can meet anytime through the Warp Device.”
It wasn’t a forever farewell.
It felt like just moving next door.
And whenever I had time, I would visit the town often.
Once I added those words, the atmosphere lightened considerably.
The previously anxious faces of the monsters brightened up.
“Now, I’ll announce the three who will move to the Desert Town.”
I glanced over all the monsters once more.
As mentioned earlier, three monsters would be moving.
If I moved too many, there wouldn’t be enough monsters left for labyrinth exploration, so I intentionally planned to send only a few.
Any additional town residents could be tamed later.
I skimmed over the monsters once more and announced the names.
“Anubis Dragon.”
“…Understood. It’s sad to be separated from you, Gauntlet, but the desert is where I used to live, so I’m fine with it. Pharaoh Devil will be living there too, so I won’t be lonely.”
“Mummy Skeleton.”
“I like the sand. I accept.”
“Lastly, Snake Head.”
“Ororo?”
Three of them.
I selected the ones least likely to object.
Especially since Anubis and Mummy Skeleton were from the desert, they wouldn’t have much resistance.
As for Snake Head…
Let’s just say I felt he hadn’t been pulling his weight lately, so it felt like a demotion.
“Snake Head looks confused. Haha.”
“It looks like he feels like he’s being exiled.”
“I guess he didn’t expect to get picked.”
“He hasn’t really been doing much lately, so it’s good he goes. It’s about time he worked hard in the desert for all the time he wasted.”
With a dejected-looking Snake Head bowing his head, I patted his shoulder to comfort him.
Then I activated the Warp Device right away.
“The three selected just now will go to the desert every day from today to help Omega.”
“Sounds like they’re commuting until the village is completed.”
“And I’ll also be crossing over to the desert now···.”
Turning back, I glanced at the monsters again.
“Kinogine and Niarah, follow me. We need to recruit town residents.”
“Yes, Dad!”
“See, my son just wants to be with me all the time, right? What a cute little mama’s boy who won’t leave his mom···. Hehe.”
“…Niarah, you just stay here, Princess, you come with me.”
“Okay!”
“I’m sorry, son···.”
Leaving Niarah behind at the Hideout,
We crossed over to the desert via the Warp Device.
Today’s agenda was to recruit residents for the town.
We planned to tame every monster we encountered while wandering the desert and turn them into town residents.
Normally, I wouldn’t have acted directly for safety reasons, but since it was the desert, it would be fine.
Because a dependable Solorb was there.