Ryou wandered around the hanging garden.
Previously, the labyrinth city of Orario had been the center of the world, expanding outward from the Babel Tower that covered the Dungeon, forming the city we know today.
It's no exaggeration to say that Orario's total area could rival some of the largest international cities on Earth, like Tokyo or New York.
The hanging garden now occupied half of the central area, covering the most valuable regions centered around the Dungeon.
Almost all large and medium-sized Familia headquarters were near the Dungeon, along with numerous blacksmith shops and potion stores.
Now, with the place deserted, he had no qualms about claiming it as spoils of war for the Chaldea.
After all, seizing enemy property during wartime is only natural.
Currently, the former Gudako Hotel staff are working alongside Freya's Familia members to clear out the ownerless buildings.
Large quantities of enchanted weapons and high-quality potions were being moved to the Chaldea warehouse.
Meanwhile, their families, under organized leadership, began dismantling unnecessary buildings and converting them into farms.
Even though this hanging garden, almost half the size of the average city, had only about two thousand people working and living in it, he believed it could become the most desirable and prosperous city in the world again.
Just then, Ryou noticed a shadow falling over him—a tall, tower-like figure stood before him. It was Ottar.
"Do you need something?"
Ryou asked calmly. He was already in a sage mood after the intense session last night.
"Fight me."
Ottar drew the serrated greatsword from his back and pointed it directly at him.
"Sure."
Ryou agreed easily.
So the two headed directly to the training ground originally built by the Gudako Hotel.
Ten minutes later...
Ottar stood gasping for breath, leaning on his serrated greatsword, battered and bruised.
His body was covered in fist marks, some even bearing burn, freeze, and electric shock scars.
On the other hand, Ryou was also covered in wounds, but with the powerful regenerative abilities of his EX-class weapon, his injuries were healing before their eyes.
"Are you satisfied now?"
Ottar remained silent.
"Sigh..."
Ryou know why Ottar is doing this, and started to walk away.
"Wait."
Ottar suddenly called out.
Ryou slowly turned around, only to find Ottar kneeling on one knee, solemnly saying, "I'll leave the Goddess in your care."
After speaking, Ottar stood up and walked away, his figure slowly fading into the distance.
Ryou fell silent, fully understanding Ottar's thoughts.
When he first entered this world, he was just a small figure struggling to survive. To him back then, Ottar was a powerful and imposing figure.
Now, looking back, he had rapidly caught up and even surpassed Ottar in every way.
Watching as he was overtaken by a rising star, and even seeing the heart of his beloved Goddess stolen away, how could Ottar not feel bitterness?
But despite all this, Ottar still cared deeply for his Goddess, embodying the ultimate devoted follower.
...
Time passed quickly.
After arranging the affairs of the Claldea organization, Ryou began to prepare for his return.
The first issue was manpower.
To ensure absolute dominance over the gods, either Ishtar Rin or Scathach had to stay behind. Given the recent turmoil, he didn't dare take any chances and left both of them behind.
As the controller of the hanging garden, Semiramis also had to stay.
With that, nearly half of the people who could follow him back were gone.
Moreover, both Freya and Syr refused to return with him.
Not one to drag things out, Ryou quickly decided on his team and returned to the original Chaldea.
Since his entry into the world of DanMachi was just a form of vacation, he didn't receive any rewards.
After a few days of adjustment and fully adapting to his dramatically increased base attributes, Ryou decisively entered a new dungeon world.
But what he didn't expect was the system giving him a big surprise.
[Ding!]
[A new dungeon world has been detected. A special mutation caused by magical corruption has resulted in a large-scale alteration of the new dungeon world. Please be cautious, Host.]
[Hint 1: The magical corruption has dispersed into countless entities. 95% of these must be eliminated to count as a purification.]
[Hint 2: This world belongs to a low-energy level world. All attributes, skills, and Noble Phantasms of the personnel entering it will be suppressed to C-rank.]
=========
Ryou was greatly surprised; this was the first time he had encountered such a situation.
Especially the system's mention of grading the dungeon worlds by energy level.
'System, given the unusual circumstances, can you reveal which world we're heading to in advance?'
With a mindset of giving it a try, Ryou asked.
Unexpectedly, the system responded.
[Ding!]
[World: Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress]
[World Corruption Rate—35%]
[Warning! If the World Corruption Rate exceeds 50%, irreversible changes will occur in this world]
=========
Ryou was stunned again.
This time, the system generously provided a lot of information.
But such generosity from the system was not a good sign.
He had, of course, watched Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress.
It's like an enhanced version of Resident Evil, where the zombies have become stronger, while human technology is only at the level of World War II.
On top of that, the dungeon world restricts everything to C-rank.
The difficulty is at least nightmare-level, if not outright hell-level.
System-san, do you think I've been having it too easy lately?
Ryou couldn't help but smile bitterly in his heart.
However, it seemed that the system wasn't done yet, adding another restriction.
[Note: In this dungeon world, only two contracted Servants are allowed to accompany the Host!]
Based on the first hint, Ryou deduced that in the world of [Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress], the entities most likely to be infected by the magical corruption would be the countless Kabane.
After a brief analysis, he quickly identified the main challenges of this dungeon world.
First and foremost was the energy level restriction, which capped at C-rank. This was a significant limitation, as it prevented him from simply wiping out the area with a large-scale attack.
C-rank Noble Phantasms, even military-grade ones, would have limited range and destructive power.
Since he couldn't rely on large-scale attacks, he would have to proceed carefully and methodically.
But then came the second challenge: over time, the world's corruption rate would continue to increase.
As for how it would increase, based on his previous deductions, it was likely that every time a Kabane infected a human, the world's corruption rate would rise.
In other words, Ryou had to quickly eliminate the Kabane while also protecting humans.
It was essentially a race against time.
There was no way he could complete this task on his own.
The only option was to gather the surviving humans, increase their combat capabilities, and systematically eliminate the Kabane.
In short, this time he had to abandon the solo RPG strategy and treat this dungeon world as a large-scale real-time strategy game.
The mission objective was to gather all the surviving humans in the world and jointly wipe out the Kabane.
Only by doing this could he hope to clear the instance.
Ryou pondered for a long time and then chose Jeanne.
"Jeanne, you'll accompany me in this dungeon world."
He then turned his gaze to the remaining Servants.
"And as for the other one..."
"I will go."
Unexpectedly, Ais stepped forward and calmly volunteered.
"Alright, Ais, you'll come with me. Medea-chan, you and Atalanta will enter the other dungeon world."
They immediately nodded in agreement.
In his plan, Jeanne had a crucial role to play, and as for the remaining slot, it didn't matter who filled it. Since Ais offered to join, he wasn't about to refuse her goodwill.
Both teams stepped into the teleportation array, and it immediately activated.
At that moment, Ryou shouted to the other side.
"Medea-chan, you and Atalanta be careful. Even if the mission fails, your safety comes first!"
Atalanta acting tsundere as usual.
"Medea is under my protection! You should worry about yourself!"
By then, the teleportation had already begun, and Ryou had to temporarily give up the idea of scolding the haughty, little cat.
Medea Lily tugged on Atalanta's sleeve and then softly said to Ryou, "Master, we'll be careful. Please take care as well~"
My Medea-chan is so obedient and sweet, unlike a certain cat who's always on edge...
With these thoughts, Ryou was fully enveloped by the light of the teleportation.
As he started feeling drowsy, with his consciousness growing fuzzy, a gentle voice suddenly called out beside his ear.
"My lord! Lord Kenshou!"
Kenshou? Who is that? Are they calling me?
With these questions in mind, Ryou abruptly opened his eyes.
He was met with the sight of a traditional Japanese room, and he found himself lying on a tatami mat. Outside the paper sliding door to his left, a middle-aged woman dressed in a simple, traditional kimono was kneeling in a formal bow.
"Yes?"
He didn't directly ask about his doubts but instead responded with authority.
Since he was in an unfamiliar place, he decided to speak as little as possible to avoid making mistakes.
His cold and distant attitude was appropriate for dealing with a servant. If he had shown too much kindness or familiarity, it might have aroused suspicion.
"What is it?"
Ryou asked with full authority.
"My lord, the lady is not doing well..."
His heart skipped a beat.
The lady? I suddenly have a wife?
Given that a wife is often the closest person to her husband, she would be the first to notice anything unusual about him.
Luckily, this wife he had never met was on the verge of death.
Ryou silently apologized in his heart.
...
Three days passed quickly.
On the day Ryou arrived in this world, when he went to visit, his convenient wife seemed to have fulfilled her last wish and passed away peacefully.
The house elders and servants of the Yomogawa family were all surprised to find that after the lady's death, the family head, Lord Kenshou Yomogawa, became much more silent and reserved. At the same time, his cold and dignified aura grew stronger by the day.
But no one suspected anything, assuming that the lord was deeply mourning his wife's death.
Ryou had made all these decisions after carefully gathering information about the identity he had taken over.
Indeed, the system had directly placed him in the role of Kenshou Yomogawa, a minor lord who appeared in one or two episodes of the original work and quickly died, and the father of a key female character, Ayame Yomogawa!
Moreover, the system irresponsibly only placed him into this world without transmitting the original owner's memories or even altering his appearance.
The only thing the system seemed to have done was to replace people's perception of Kenshou Yomogawa's appearance with him.
Thankfully, after careful probing, Ryou discovered that the current timeline was ten years before the plot began. Ayame was only seven years old today, and he, in this identity, was just 24.
Given Ryou's extensive battle experience and natural air of maturity, posing as a 24-year-old young lord was perfectly reasonable.
His silent and stern demeanor was also a carefully considered choice.
From the original story, it was known that Ayame's mother died early, but Kenshou Yomogawa never remarried, leaving Ayame as his only heir.
In Japan, where male heirs were heavily favored, especially during the feudal era, it was unusual for a family head like Kenshou Yomogawa not to remarry after his wife's death and to have only one daughter.
This suggested that Kenshou Yomogawa had been deeply in love with his wife, and it was well-known.
Thus, it was only natural for the lord to undergo a drastic change in personality after his beloved wife's death.
A silent, stern, and authoritative young man.
This was the image Ryou crafted to maintain his cover while he gradually learned more about Kenshou's past and relationships.
Everything was proceeding according to his plan.
As time passed, he gained a better understanding of Kenshou's past and his connections with others.
And people began to grow accustomed to the lord's new personality.
However, one thing troubled him greatly.
"Father, Ayame requests an audience."
Outside the door came a soft, childlike voice.
Yes, Nguyen Ryou, 18 years old and unmarried, now had a 7-year-old daughter...