As I saw my friends bow to me, I became flustered. Aros or Silfang were the only ones that had bowed to me, excluding literally every other monster in the dungeon. However, I was alright with that, as they were all my servants.
My friends were not, so it was embarrassing to see.
"No, no," I quickly said through my embarrassment, "You don't have to bow, it's alright guys."
Slowly, everybody but Aros straightened their posture and looked at me. Hazel nodded and Icarus returned to his playful self while the twins looked at each other before turning back to Aros. Aros was still bowing, through his shoulders had gotten a little more relaxed.
After a few more seconds, Aros pushed against the ground and stood up.
"We'll see you in a week or two, Aros," I said. I looked to the twins, then said, "By the time we get back, I hope you'll have learned how to condense yourselves enough to speak."
They nodded while Jonathan optimistically waved his hand. I looked to Hazel, then nodded. Hazel was still wearing her armor, though her cloak had been destroyed. Luckily, because we had just returned from pretending to be adventurers, I was still wearing the『 Armor of the Fallen Crusader 』.
When the fight broke out, my『 Dark Merchant's Suit 』was in the house, which meant it was destroyed alongside everything else in the house. Even Hazel's normal clothes were gone now. So, as Aros and the twins walked toward the boss room, Hazel and Icarus remained with me.
"Now then," I muttered as I turned toward the room around us. Hazel stood at my side, silent as I worked. I quickly opened my dungeon menu, then quickly found the same dome I had purchased the first time. However, as I looked at it, I had an idea.
Why settle for a small dome when I had access to a castle? If I was going to be ruling this dungeon as well as dozens of others, wouldn't I need a capital? This place would work just fine, but a small dome wouldn't serve well as my chambers.
"Arthur?" Hazel muttered as she attempted to get my attention.
"It's alright," I turned to her once Hazel brought me away from my thoughts. I brought my hand toward Hazel's taking her by surprise, before carefully bringing her toward the staircase. She didn't fight against my hand's embrace but instead dove into it and moved closer to my side. Icarus followed behind us, jumping from fire to fire as if he was playing hopscotch. I looked back to Hazel, then said, "We can't be in the room when I delete it, otherwise we might end up getting stuck in the mountainside."
"So you'll put the dome back up, then?" Hazel asked. I looked away from Hazel and brought my attention back to the space in front of me as I continued walking through the dome, then shook my head.
"No, not the dome," I said, "It's time for an upgrade."
Once I got to the edge of the dome and into the stairway, I stopped and turned around to face the dome. The core continued to float in the air, acting like a lone star in a lonely galaxy. When I first replaced the core room, which had been a small stone room the size of a bedroom, with the dome room, I had some concerns about the core.
After all, I was capable of removing the core room itself, even if the core was still in the room. Luckily, as long as I kept the core in the 'core room', I was capable of moving it around as much as I liked. I found this loophole strange, considering I wasn't supposed to be able to move the core at all.
So, once we were outside the dome, I quickly removed the dome. Instantly, a wall of stone replaced the dome, blocking our vision as it appeared after a flash of light. Hazel gasped in surprise as the stone wall suddenly appeared, but I wasn't surprised.
I ignored it and continued to edit the core room that would replace the old one. This time, I made it into a grand castle with long hallways and large rooms. It was cheaper than I thought, ending at around the same price as the dome would've been.
In the end, I paid 550 DP to create the new core room. When I saw this, I was taken aback by surprise. For a castle, it was rather cheap. I immediately assumed the dome was the expensive one, as it was the only room I had used so far that took advantage of daylight crystals, which provided the illusion of time.
The castle itself was similar in size to the Forsyth mansion but was styled in a completely different way. Compared to the Forsyth mansion, which used a mixture of light colors and airy environments, my castle appeared to be carved out of marble.
The walls and floor, which were built out of black marble, had long silver veins running through them like the vines found among trees. Pillars of marble and large torches lined the walls, bringing character to the hallways. On the ground, where the Forsyth's brown carpet had been, was a long red rug. The rug wasn't actually connected to the ground and wasn't as wide as the hallway, either. There was about a foot of room between the edges of the rug and the beginning of the walls.
The rug was colored blood red, though it was more vibrant in color than I expected. Furniture and tables did not line the halls, unlike the Forsyth Manor, and the walls were barren of portraits or paintings of the countryside.
Instead, dark brown doors leading to separate rooms made themselves available. Some doors led to bedrooms, while a few others led to other types of rooms. Because I was planning to make this place into a capital city, similar to Arke, I needed people to keep it clean.
So, I made sure there were accommodations for said people. Along with the bedrooms created for me and my close friends, I created several hundred smaller bedrooms and a cafeteria. The cafeteria was about the size of the adventurer's guild back in Hewe but was much cleaner. I also created a lounge, a bar, a poolroom, two separate restaurants, a large kitchen for my personal use, and a throne room.
The throne room, of course, was the largest room of them all. I styled it in a way that appeared domineering and intimidating, to threaten any intruder that managed to make it this far down.
After I created all of the rooms, I set them aside and began placing them through the dungeon like I was playing with building blocks. I wanted the throne room to be in the very back of the castle, mainly because it also contained the core. I placed the larger bedrooms next to it, as well as a maze of hallways that led to the other rooms of the castle. In between the maze of hallways, I placed the cafeteria. Once I saw that there was a bit of room left over in the space between the cafeteria, hallways, and stairwell, I decided to create another room to put in that spot.
A training room. This way, I could eliminate the threat that any of my stronger allies could showcase when they were sparring. The training room was the same size as the cafeteria but was created in a way that allowed me to manipulate the terrain as I wished.
Then, once the main rooms were placed, I went ahead and spaced out the remainder of the rooms so they fit well in the floor's layout. Once I realized how many rooms I had, I quickly bought a few sets of stairs as well and replaced a few of the rooms so they managed to fit into two floors. The throne room and the main bedrooms went on the second floor, while all of the rooms for the castle's servants went on the bottom floor.
Only then, when the only room I had remaining was a small entryway, did I connect the stairway and castle.
The stone wall instantly disappeared, again with a short flash of light, and a large black door replaced it. The door was more solid than any of the ordinary doors I used in the castle. There was only one other set of the door, found in the throne room, so it was already special.
"Wow," Hazel gasped as the door appeared. I looked at her, amused, then walked to the door and opened it. The door swung wide open, slowly turning on its hinges as it revealed the massive entryway behind it. Once the door opened to a certain degree, the torches on the walls came to life, illuminating the dark marble interior with dark orange light.
The entryway, which was the crossroads between all of the hallways, stood like an ancient monument. The entryway was about circular in shape and was about the width of the Hitman's Hearth, back in Hewe. The walls stretched on for almost seven meters until reaching the ceiling. Six different passageways branched off from the entryway, each leading to a separate section of the castle.
"Whoa," I muttered as I saw the intricacy of the hallways surrounding the entryway. Although I knew the route to the different rooms in the castle, I had a feeling that I could easily get lost in the tight corners and long hallways that were laid out in front of me.
"How did you even create something like this?" Hazel asked as she looked at the hallways with an awestruck expression. I looked at her, then smiled.
"I picked out every individual detail for every room. From the size and material of the room down to the color of the rug. Everything was created separately, then organized as I wanted it to appear," I answered her, "Luckily, nothing was too expensive."
"It wasn't expensive?" Hazel echoed in surprise. She looked at the red rug on the ground and let her eyes widen in surprise, "I'm surprised. Something like this could put noble houses to shame."
"That's what I created it for," I told her, "To act as an abode at the deepest layer of the dungeon. When I create more dungeons, they will each act as a city. This one will be the capital."
"Right, you mentioned that earlier," Hazel muttered. She looked at me, an inquisitive expression on her face, before asking, "You said you were going to make more dungeons, but how are you going to do that? Do you already have a way to create more dungeon cores?"
"No," I sighed, "However, that doesn't make me feel disheartened. Throughout my time here, my system has given me several hints that point to the potential existence of several dungeons. For example, my skill『 Dungeon Visit 』always asks me which dungeon I want to travel to before the portal appears. All I need to do is figure out how to get more cores, then expand from there."
"I see," Hazel nodded. She turned back to the hallways around her, then took a moment to stare at them for a few seconds. I looked back to Hazel, then said,
"Ready to go?" I asked. Hazel looked to me, then nodded. I smiled, then turned my gaze away from Hazel as I began to concentrate. I lifted my hand into the air, then quickly activated『 Dungeon Visit 』. This time, my destination would be the beginning of the dungeon. I wasn't able to set the destination anywhere outside of the dungeon, but I knew I had the potential to pretend to be the surviving members of the adventurer's party that went with the Caldwells.
The only issue, of course, was that Jonathan and Evelyn were still alive. If they were reported as dead, then things would get complicated when the twins gained the ability to condense their bodies enough to wear an illusion ring.
However, after I quickly checked the dungeon map, I was happy to see that every adventurer group that had been grinding the dungeon over the last few days was already inside. Hazel, Icarus, and I wouldn't find any trouble when we walked out of the dungeon.
So, as the other two waited, a wide portal of flame appeared in the space in front of us, bringing warmth and a dim glow to our surroundings. Then, once we saw the cave interior poke out from the other side, we walked through.