"Hey, hey! So the dungeon's done, huh?"
"You're just popping up out of nowhere... I didn't even contact you."
"I'm always watching!"
"And, what do you want?"
Oboro took over for Issa, who had started sinking into Hisui's fluffy belly, and asked the question to the device.
"We're here to let you know we'll be conducting the inspection! It's fine if we check now, right?"
"Yeah, go ahead..."
"Yay! Alright, we'll do the check now, and I'll let you know the results tomorrow! Just a heads-up, though: you won't be able to modify the dungeon while the check is happening, so keep that in mind!"
"Her energy level is off the charts..."
"She must've really been looking forward to it."
"Oh, by the way, make sure the monsters are all in place during the inspection!"
"Got it… everyone, please help out..."
"Understood."
With that, the rest of the team, except for Oboro, Sengetsu, Hisui, Inaho, and Issa, entered the dungeon and took their places at their respective posts.
"Is everything ready?"
"Give us a sec. Some are still getting into position… Alright, they're set."
"Yay! We're starting the inspection now!"
"Weren't they supposed to enjoy it after the release?"
"Looks like they'll be having a blast with the inspection instead."
Everyone stared at the device with mixed expressions after the high-energy call ended. While the dungeon was under inspection, Issa couldn't monitor it via his device. Normally, the dungeon creation page allowed him to observe the interior, but now, it was locked.
"Well, once the dungeon's released, there'll be even more fun to be had if lots of people come."
"True. Once people arrive, Yumizuru and the others will be quite busy."
"The only creatures available in the gacha right now are Nukkonyans, Minimanuccos, and bird monsters. We really need to get more staff soon."
"DP… I'm running out of DP!"
Just a few days ago, Issa had nearly drained all his DP after setting up additional appraisal devices and organizing the ticketing system. Since then, he had only been saving up the free DP, spinning the free gacha, but still, it didn't feel like enough to spin the regular or rare gacha.
With the dungeon's release approaching, DP would be needed not just for food but for other essential supplies, so Issa was reluctant to use any more DP before the inspection was over.
"If we were outside, we could put up an ad for opening staff, but in a dungeon, that's not an option..."
"I think we're the only ones who've set up things like a guild, cat café, or clinic in our dungeon."
"Most likely."
"Well, we've got plenty of Nukkonyans as healers... and Mugita is enthusiastic about it, so I guess that works out."
"The Nukkonyans can't heal missing limbs, though."
"As long as it's not a missing limb, they can heal almost anything."
"If an R-rank healer has that much power, I wonder what SR or higher healers can do…"
Even though R-rank Nukkonyans couldn't heal missing limbs, they had impressive healing abilities. Their power went far beyond simple cuts or bruises. From a human perspective, their healing capacity was extraordinary, and Issa figured people would come to the dungeon just to benefit from their healing in the future.
"SR healers could probably restore non-congenital missing limbs, SSR healers could cure incurable diseases, and UR healers could perform resurrections with a time limit."
"Though even UR healers can't fix congenital conditions."
"I'm terrified of getting an SSR or higher healer…"
Issa grimaced at the thought of receiving such powerful healers.
"People will start flocking here just for the healers."
"That's exactly what I don't want."
"It's all down to gacha luck."
"It seems like you're destined to gather cats, Master."
"It's starting to feel that way…"
Issa clutched his head and sighed. His dungeon was already full of Nukkonyans, and he didn't need any higher-ranking healers. He could only hope other dungeon creators would pull them instead.
Sengetsu was right—Issa might as well just keep collecting cats. Forcing himself to accept that, he opened his personal computer in his workroom and tuned into the livestreams of the other three dungeon creators from Japan.
"Oh, looks like Kondo passed the inspection."
"So, she passed first? I heard you started dungeon creation almost a month late, but you're finishing around the same time."
"Either you worked fast, or Kondo took her time with meticulous planning."
"I'm not sure, but congrats to her for passing inspection."
Issa nodded as he watched Kondo chat with her viewers, cheerfully celebrating her success and looking forward to the release.
"Kondo's got two new SSRs."
"Oh, and besides Ryuu-kun, there are more humanoid monsters."
"A Sylph guy and a... dog god guy...?"
"Oh… an onee-san type."
"Onee-san? You mean like...?"
"Yeah, like someone with a male body but who identifies as female. You know, a guy who speaks in a feminine manner? I think that person is an onee-san. It could also just be a guy with a cross-dressing hobby, but probably..."
"Onee-san."
"Yeah."
Issa nodded seriously as Oboro and Sengetsu gave him straight faces.
It seemed Kondo's gacha only produced male humanoid monsters, though her animal monsters had females. Meanwhile, Issa was known for collecting cats with unusual names, and Kondo had an abundance of male and genderless monsters.
The gods must be laughing at the peculiar gacha results. It felt a little contrived, but since the gacha itself was created by the gods, it wouldn't be surprising if they had a hand in it. Issa closed Kondo's stream with that thought in mind.
"Next is Saito's stream... wow, as always, it's… yeah…"
The moment Issa opened Saito's stream, his mouth twitched.
The screen showed Saito looking completely exhausted, surrounded by a grumpy-looking salamander, a dog-like monster that seemed like an initial summon, an uninterested Hydra sleeping nearby, a Great Tengu who was also ignoring everything, and a bunch of other monsters who seemed equally indifferent to Saito's existence.
"This guy... is he okay?"
"How does one get ignored by their entire monster crew? What did he do?"
"He didn't do anything, that's the problem. At the start, he burned through all his DP on gacha pulls, dug himself into a hole, and now he's left with no resources or energy."
"Serves him right. He couldn't even pay attention to the monsters he summoned, so now they ignore him."
His face was pale, and his eyes were hollow, but Saito was still working on his dungeon through his device. Sengetsu watched with slight discomfort, while Oboro stared in exasperation. Issa felt bad for him, but also thought it was his own doing.
"If it's gotten this bad, he should just let someone else take over. He could dismiss the monsters and bring in a new manager."
"I imagine the gods are thinking something along the lines of, 'You agreed to this, so you have to see it through. We won't tolerate you giving up halfway.' It's just my guess, but..."
"That sounds likely."
"After all, they are gods."
As Oboro and Sengetsu nodded in agreement, Issa closed Saito's stream and opened Okita's.
"Wow."
Okita looked just as drained, staring at his device with a desperate expression. Next to him was a red slime that seemed to have been his first summon, but the other monsters, from N-rank to SSR, paid no attention to him.
"This is rough... Even for an adult, being ignored by this many creatures would be harsh. Saito still had the Salamander by his side, but Okita's only got the slime... what did he do to end up like this..."
Issa didn't follow the streams regularly, so he didn't know how things had gotten so bad for Saito and Okita. Maybe, as Oboro and Sengetsu said, they'd neglected the monsters until the monsters started neglecting them in return, or perhaps there was another reason entirely.
Whatever the case, for a teenager, this environment had gone beyond tough—it was downright crushing.
"The gods should step in and do something... but there's nothing we can do to help. I just hope their guardian gods give them a hand soon."
If Kondo's stream was to be believed, their guardian gods were sulking, making things even harder. All Issa could do was hope they'd notice the little help icon in the upper right corner of their screens.
"Oh."
"Hm?"
"Hmm?"
The three of them widened their eyes as they watched Okita's finger hover over the help icon on his screen.