Hm. Yeah, I'm screwed. I didn't have enough time to fully review what Valentyn had written for the monthly report so I briefly scanned through it, and thinking it was good enough to be submitted to Lord Raphael, I did just that.
However...
"Thank you for the report, Blanoir," Lord Raphael spoke. He handed over the paper report to one of his secretaries and stared at me in the eyes. "All good. I'm happy with it."
"Thank you, sir! Now, I'll take my lea-"
"Not yet. Did I say I was finished yet?"
I flinched. I did not want to get on the bad side of an archangel so I quickly replied, "No sir. That was my fault."
Lord Raphael glanced at me before shaking his head and sighing.
"Listen Blanoir, I'm going to state it directly. You didn't write this did you?"
With that sentence, I was panicking. Though I remained calm and collected on the surface, deep down, there was an uncontrollable storm brewing. "What do you mean, sir?"
"Don't play dumb. There's no way you could've written this report. I had expected you to at least write the monthly reports yourself and let someone else do the daily report due to your lazy nature, but I was mistaken."
In the end, Lord Raphael complained. He said he's unsatisfied with the amount of progress with the dungeon's interior (only two floors are fully finished), but other than that (there's a lot more), he said he's fine with the progress I achieved.
Thank goodness. I thought he was going to give me some punish-
"Oh, right, one more thing before you leave. I'm doubling the amount of work you're doing."
Huh?
"At first, I was going to assign someone else to be the dungeon master for this dungeon, however, with the lack of progress I've seen within your first month at Arula, I have now decided to make you the dungeon master for a dungeon located in Terra 2085 for you to get some more experience about doing your job properly. How does it sound?"
I didn't know how to react. Like, I was dumbfounded to the point that I was not thinking anymore. I just stood there, facing Lord Raphael with the most, emotionless, unresponsive and uninterested face one could imagine.
"Well, she's gone due to shock. Send her back to Arula. Then we'll start the process of assigning her to Terra 2085. I do hope that she will learn something about managing a dungeon soon... we don't have any other candidates that we could send and I do not wish to overload Blanoir with work otherwise..."
While I did not process much of what Lord Raphael had said the moment before I got teleported back to Arula's Angel Station, I do not wish to hear what he had said.
Iona greeted me as usual and he stayed with me until I recovered from the shock. Man, Iona is a nice angel. He also treated me to some ice cream as well before I left for my dungeon. I should repay him... but how? I'll think about that later.
When I got back, Valentyn and the slave girl were waiting for me near the entrance of the dungeon. Under the shade of the surrounding trees, there were plenty of humans (mostly male) knocked unconscious and they were all tied up by magic.
"What happened?" I asked the two of them. Valentyn answered first.
"Welcome back, master. While you were gone, some goons tried to raid your dungeon. I simply took care of them, that's all."
The slave girl nodded in agreement so I believed them. I knew people would try and raid the dungeon because it was a dungeon after all, but I should inform them of my plans first so challengers wouldn't avoid my dungeon due to the difficulty.
"Oh, you did? That's great. Now find somewhere far away from here and release them. They might spread the word about my dungeon to more possible challengers. With that being said, I would need some help in completing the dungeon's remaining eight floors and the boss room."
"That is no problem." the slave girl enthusiastically answered. She has so much energy. I wonder how. I'm drained already despite it being merely in the morning.
I blame it on Lord Raphael. He sent me into shock and that's probably why I'm so drained. I plan on taking another nap after finishing the third floor, and this time, I asked Valentyn to wake me up no matter what I say after two or three days of rest.
I nodded my head, confirming my plans for the time being. We headed inside the dungeon, and I started my work. I revealed my wings (the slave girl admired them apparently) and flew to the third floor. Valentyn also revealed his pair of wings, carrying the slave girl with him as he followed me.
I had Valentyn under my command for some time now, so I believe my Authority caused him to stick around. He's pretty useful, I can tell you that, so I'm not complaining.
For each floor, there are several different ways one could reach the floor above or below them. Apart from the hidden pathways, there are generally one or two "main" passages that one could use to travel through a dungeon.
The first one is usually called the "Level Guardian" or just "Guardian" for short. These were generally strong beings whose sole purpose was to guard a flight of stairs to the floors above or below the floor it was located on.
There are two entrances, each to a different flight of stairs, one going to the floor below them, and the other leading to a special room known as the "Common Room", where all floors would connect somehow.
I'm sure some kind of divine power is used to create the room, but I can't tell. Anyhow, inside the Common Room, there is one large teleportation pad. The details—such as carvings or just the ornate features of the room may vary from dungeon to dungeon, but the teleportation pad stays the same.
It connects to the teleportation pad near the dungeon's entrance, and it saves challengers hours of travel time, so it's highly valued and well-taken care of by the challengers.
Since I have made no monster or guardian contracts yet, it was a breeze travelling to the third floor. I could use the teleportation pad, but... I haven't set up a pathway to the Common Room on the third floor yet, so I cannot do that.
I do have a plan in mind for the third floor. Since I made the first floor a floor mainly for rest, and the second floor mainly for treasure hunting, I wanted to make the third floor a floor mainly for exploration and discovery. I know, this floor contradicts my lazy personality, but I'm not the one challenging the floor, so I could make it whatever I like.
Valentyn and the slave girl would also be lending a hand, but I would need to figure out a way for them to use divine powers so they could interact with the dungeon. But for now, at least, they would take care of any incoming challengers arriving at my dungeon.
"This is the third floor. Nothing's in here, so it's dangerous for the both of you. Do not go in until I give you a clear and visible signal. For now, take care of any incoming challengers. And also follow the order I gave when I returned. Got it?" I pointed down to a mass of nothingness.
It was a black void where no light entered or exited. It was a true epitome of "nothing".
"Roger that." Valentyn answered. He dropped off the slave girl and flew back to the entrance of the dungeon.
"Uh-um... what should I do, Master?" the slave girl asked me.
I was about to head into the void to begin the creation of the third floor, and I had nothing in mind for her. Heck, I don't even know how powerful she is or what her abilities are.
"You?" I scratched my head. "You... you just stay here." I answered.
"Roger." the slave girl nodded in acknowledgement.
I prepared to head into the void known as the third floor. You see, since a dungeon is entirely made out of energy, it allows divine beings to freely manipulate that said energy and materialise it into whatever form they like with the help of the divine power of materialisation.
However, since the energy a dungeon is made out of is very "excited" it is extremely deadly to anything—living beings, tools, plants, rocks and including divine beings like me.
Fortunately, angels are among the four great divine species, and a dungeon's pure energy cannot hurt us. Even demons, spirits or dragons would have a tough time facing a dungeon's pure energy, so that is one of the reasons why we handle the creation of worlds and anything creation-related.
But enough explanation. Rolling up my sleeves (You don't have sleeves though),
"It's time to get to work!"