Three days quickly passed after Leonhardt awoke in the dungeon and summoned his servant.
He spent this time focusing on studying the vast knowledge about this world and memories in his head. Leonhardt analysed the information while resting on his throne. It wasn't something he wanted to do, but what he must do to survive.
A beautiful voice echoed in his mind, letting him know that, once again, monsters entered the dungeon to attack.
『I am sure the goblins can handle it...』
With the flick of his wrist, a small bolt of fire appeared, and this simple gesture was now enough for him to cast the spell Firebolt.
Instead of a casting time from before, he could now control the mana almost perfectly, thanks to the three days of training.
He focused his mind while a mote of mana sparked in his abdomen before flowing to his fingertips.
『Over a second... that's too slow.』
—Snap!
Leonhardt snapped his fingers, causing the flaming bolt to vanish. A moment later, he felt the comforting sensation of his body absorbing mana to refill the loss.
"Regeneration is improving with each time I cast until my core is empty, and then let it regenerate."
He used his idle hand to write the findings inside a panel in his left eye titled Notepad.
Leonhardt could only relax while practising and learning about the world because of his lovely little green men.
Leonhardt would gain the complete amount of DP, EXP and MP even if it were the summoned monsters and goblins who killed the enemy.
『Thanks to those lovely green guys, I am now level four.』
He could now cast seven Firebolts before his mana became low, almost double the previous amount. To Leon, this improvement made him proud—the feeling of growing stronger doing nothing also felt quite awesome.
Zafira disliked him, and their arguments about dungeon management continued.
In reality, she gave some good ideas.
However, Leonhardt wanted to follow his path, not hers, so when she constantly bugged him, it became irritating as he noticed her watching him with a sharp gaze.
"Master, don't you think it's about time you stopped lazing around?" Zafira's sharp gaze and an elegant voice echoed through the main chamber.
The sarcastic words made his lips quiver as he shook his head and turned to face her while tightening his hand into a fist.
Leon spent the past three days memorising several languages and information about mana and magic, as well as practising the movement of mana and the manifestation of magic.
Not to mention learning about dungeons from scratch.
"Tsk..."
Leonhardt ignored how she spoke or looked down at him. Instead, he held some strange grass shaped like a shield and teased a small group of rabbits.
Since the magical air filter started running, several small critters, such as rabbits, squirrels and wild poultry, such as turkeys and chickens, appeared.
Later, as Leonhardt adjusted the dungeon traps in his interface, Zafira remained in the chamber. Her attention lingered on the rabbits scurrying between clusters of moss and flowers. Her eyes, usually narrowed or showing a dirty look, instead softened when she watched them dart around.
Leon watched the rabbits—all of them seemed to follow the larger black rabbit, but their numbers increased like magic due to the dungeon's ability with the filter.
『Should I create a separate space for them to roam?』
He felt they were helpful as predators like wolves, goblins, and kobolds chased them into the cave, only to die and gain more dungeon points.
After the dungeon was transformed, Zafira stopped lingering near the throne and moved to the far end of the chamber. She convinced him to add a small room just close to the entrance. Most likely because that was the warmest place that the rabbits preferred.
Zafira took a deep breath, her sharp features relaxing slightly. "It's not the hellhole it used to be," she murmured, her gaze drifting to the thriving greenery.
"It's... acceptable," she muttered, glancing at Leonhardt as if daring him to comment.
Leonhardt raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
The slight sway of her tail betrayed more than her words.
The most significant change was the atmosphere of the dungeon. Beautiful, vibrant flowers grew from the walls, along with fresh-scented vines and sweet-flavoured fruits and berries. The new environment caused the goblins to become more docile—Leon didn't understand why, but when he gave them orders, they followed his words with less effort.
『Maybe they liked the atmosphere of the flowers?』
Leon finished his tasks while sitting on his throne with a rabbit on his lap, the black rabbit, which seemed a little smarter than the others.
Suddenly, Zafira's voice came from his side, but he didn't know how or when she came close.
"Are those pathetic creatures that interesting?"
Zafira's attitude seemed horrible, but in the past two days, for some strange reason, her loyalty had increased by ten points.
『I do not know why...』
"They are cute, and thanks to them, if our people starve in the future, there will be enough meat, fruit or eggs."
"Summoned Creatures don't eat, and neither do Chimera. I don't understand your logic and wasting so much on these things..."
"Meep?"
The lovely black rabbit stood on two feet, hopping off Leon's lap. Its beady eyes stared up at the succubus for a moment before she stopped speaking.
"Ungrateful pest," Zafira muttered under her breath, her wings folding tightly against her back. Her tail drooped as she glanced toward the doorway.
"I wasn't going to hurt it…"
Leonhardt leaned back against the throne, resting his chin on his palm as he watched her. Her expression was fleetingly soft, quickly replaced by her usual haughty actions.
Leon's lips twitched into a faint smirk.
"They don't trust you yet," his tone casual but laced with amusement.
"They're fools if they don't," she snapped, standing upright and brushing her hands off as if discarding the moment entirely.
Leonhardt chuckled softly. "Perhaps if you stopped kicking them, they'd reconsider."
Her tail snapped up in irritation, and she turned to glare at him, crossing her arms and snorting hot air before turning away.
"That one deserved it."
Her gaze lingered on the doorway where the rabbit had fled.
Leonhardt's eyes narrowed, amused that she reacted so strongly to cute things, and her face darkened with a red tinge. He watched her tail sway low, brushing against the floor and catching the attention of the rabbit before leaning down.
However, the moment she brushed the silky raven ears, she noticed Leonhardt's gaze and froze, and the succubus quickly turned away in a huff.
"You seem different..."
"Don't read into it," she snapped, her tail flicking behind her. "This place is tolerable now, that's all."
Leonhardt leaned back, folding his arms. "If that's your way of saying thank you, I'll take it."
"It's not," she replied curtly, but the faint twitch of her lips suggested otherwise, stroking the silky black rabbit as if to avoid conversation with him.
Suddenly, Leon's eyes narrowed before he turned to the entrance with an aggressive look.
Leonhardt heard faint voices from the dungeon entrance, tense and accompanied by metal scraping on stone.
『Humans?』
[Warning: an intruder has entered the dungeon!]
The Warning sounded louder when it was for goblins or wolves, so Leonhardt stopped paying attention to Zafira, who looked crestfallen.
Suddenly, an image appeared; it was blurry at first before it revealed a group of humanoids.
They weren't goblins but a party of two humans, a female with staff and another female with long, pointed ears.
『What are they...?』
[The enemies appear to be Adventurers]
The moment she said the word, a smaller box appeared in Leonhardt's right eye, displaying details about the so-called adventurers.
[Adventurers]
∟ Citizens from the human, elf and dwarven kingdoms who fight and slay monsters.
∟ A strength that varies from a low-rank E to the immeasurable rank SSS+
∟ Can use a variety of weapons, skills and magic.
∟ Earn money for killing the monster.
——----------------------
『Somehow, this seems dangerous to leave to the goblins, right?』
He felt irritated because, right now, the powerful level 100 succubus stood beside him, trying to coax a rabbit from his bedchambers, but the rabbit seemed to enjoy the soft quilted pillows on the bed.
——----------------------
[New Quest Added - Shape up or Ship out!]
∟ The succubus Zafira doesn't trust or like you—ensure that you reach at least a friendly state before a week passes!
[Rewards]
∟ 1000DP
∟ Allows Zafira Anuket to control the defences of the dungeon
∟ Increases Zafira's Loyalty by 10
∟ Stops Zafira from betraying the Dungeon Master for 1 month
——----------------------
The moment he complained mentally, Leonhart gazed at the question for a moment in the corner of his left eye while standing on his throne. At first, his legs felt a little heavy and started to ache with the feeling of needles stabbing them.
—Crack!
With the crack of his stiff bones, Leon walked towards the entrance with a strange smile on his lips.
『Let's see these 'humans' and decide how to deal with them.』
However, contrary to his active thoughts and the brilliant smile on his face, the inside of his mind and chest were ice cold.
There was no desire to let them go.
Because...
[Goblin Archer - A Has been Slain!]
They killed the first monster he summoned, and despite them being expendable, Leonhardt felt irritated about his death.
"I should punish them harshly, after all... those goblins worked so damn hard for me."
As he climbed from his black throne and walked towards the entrance with a slow and graceful form inside the depths of his calm eyes... a dark flame flickered.