Celia was in a particularly good mood today.
“Grow the dungeon to match Master’s stature. I grant you all authority.”
It was none other than her Master who had commanded it.
She had been entrusted with the complete management of the dungeon.
This was no different than being trusted and relied upon.
Celia felt excited, but she did not act rashly.
This was both a trust and a test.
If she performed excellently, her Master would likely entrust her with important tasks in the future.
She absolutely could not disappoint him.
Celia first checked the dungeon’s status.
Her benevolent Master had given her several things along with the command to manage the dungeon.
The first was the monsters.
Upon receiving the dungeon authority, she also gained command over the monsters belonging to the dungeon.
“They’re Skeletons.”
There was one Skeleton Swordsman, two soldiers.
And one archer, and two Magic Trainees.
They were not a strong force.
Frankly, they were the bare minimum required for dungeon defense.
However, this was all likely her Master’s test as well.
If she couldn’t overcome this herself, she wouldn’t have the right to call herself a servant of the great Master.
This time, she turned her attention to the other items.
There lay two black cards.
The second item bestowed upon her were these cards.
She knew what these black cards signified.
Celia too had once been a disciple of the Succubus Queen.
And she had learned a little about managing a dungeon.
“Are these Underworld Merchant Guild cards?”
Even with a dungeon, there were limits to what one could do alone to grow it.
Just as there were merchants in human society, it was the same in this Demonic Realm.
The Underworld Merchant Guild.
It was the largest, and simultaneously the only, merchant guild in the Demonic Realm.
Even the Demon Lord couldn’t bully the guild.
If they tried to bully?
The guild would immediately cut off all transactions with that Demon Lord.
Then, even the Demon Lord would wither away, and the dungeon would go bankrupt.
Therefore, the guild was a force that could grow a dungeon, and at the same time, a relationship where they held the leash.
Of course, if one had a lot of money, the guild would indeed show respect.
And the last, third item, was a rather large pouch.
Celia’s eyes widened as she opened the pouch.
“Th-this is a Magic Stone?”
Small, purplish Magic Stones glittered.
The quantity was enormous.
There must have been at least several thousand.
Even the quality was not low.
At this rate, they could all be called top-grade without question.
Even with the same number of stones, the rank and price of Magic Stones differed greatly due to quality variations.
With this amount of Magic Stones, it was more than enough for initial capital.
“My Master is truly an incredible person.”
She hadn’t expected such support.
The stage had already been set.
With so much support, she couldn’t allow herself to fail.
Celia immediately started walking with the Skeletons.
The goal was how to arrange them.
For some reason, it was currently impossible for anyone to invade the dungeon.
She had learned this as soon as she gained dungeon authority.
‘It’s probably a barrier.’
Still, that time would not be infinite.
Thinking of the future, after the barrier was lifted, she had to deploy the Skeletons to defend the dungeon.
As Celia led the Skeletons towards the dungeon passage, a thought suddenly struck her.
“The width is narrow, isn’t it? What do you think, Mr. Skeleton?”
The width was narrow relative to the length of the dungeon.
Did the Skeleton understand her words?
The Skeleton replied with a ‘clack-clack’ sound.
“So you think the same, Mr. Skeleton? We need to solve this problem first.”
As a Succubus, Celia had limited military knowledge regarding direct offense and defense.
However, the current problem was obvious.
A narrow passage was a structure advantageous for defense, but also for attackers.
There was a need to expand a wide, open area in a certain part of the dungeon.
If they did that, they could repel intruders crawling through the narrow passageway.
And that wasn’t all.
A flat terrain with no cover further highlighted the difficulty of defense.
“It seems we’ll need the guild’s help.”
Expanding a dungeon isn’t something that can be done just by saying it.
Labor was needed for expansion, along with corresponding funds and time.
It was only because her Master, who had expanded the small existing dungeon into its current form, was an anomaly.
No one else could do it.
In fact, with her Master’s power, this problem could be quickly resolved.
But Celia didn’t want to do that.
She couldn’t rely on her Master’s power forever.
Wasn’t that why her Master had entrusted her with this?
Celia immediately tore one of the black cards in half.
When she tore the Underworld Merchant Guild card, it was engulfed in blue flames and turned to ash.
It had been used properly.
Soon, a merchant from the guild would visit.
* * *
The Underworld Merchant Guild was immense.
As it was immense, it was a structure maintained by numerous monsters meshing together like cogs in a machine.
Monsters.
In fact, from a human perspective, they were all the same monsters, but they were not.
Within monsters, ranks existed, and their titles differed based on their bloodline.
Those with the noble bloodline of a Demon Lord or who had been promoted to Demon Lord were called High-Class Demons, not monsters.
And the High-Class Demons would disparage regular monsters, calling them possessors of a baseless family tree.
Of course, this was all merely in form; in reality, those with strong power were treated with respect, regardless of whether they were monsters or demons.
It was the same for the Underworld Merchant Guild.
Being in the Demonic Realm, it was populated by many High-Class Demons with family trees and powerful monsters.
And at the very bottom of the Underworld Merchant Guild, responsible for the cogs, was Moru.
She sat at her desk today as well.
Moru had been in the guild for quite some time.
She was no longer a novice.
However, due to her origins, she had been discriminated against within the guild.
She was a monster with no family tree. She didn’t even have strength.
No, there was a more significant problem: she was the child of a Succubus and a human.
She had faced the most discrimination, with people saying a monster with human blood ran the Underworld Merchant Guild.
All good dungeons went to High-Class Demons or powerful monsters.
What constituted a good dungeon?
Dungeons owned by those with lots of money and strong owners, dungeons that wouldn’t be immediately plundered.
Furthermore, those with strong powers had a high possibility of bringing immense profits to the Underworld Merchant Guild.
Good dungeons made it easy for merchants to build their performance records.
Those performance records directly determined one’s position within the guild, so everyone fought to take them.
However, the Underworld Merchant Guild didn’t only manage such dungeons.
Good dungeons were few in number, and the majority consisted of ordinary ones.
The problem was that Moru had never even been assigned an ordinary dungeon.
“Sigh…”
When would she be able to enter a dungeon?
At first, Moru herself wanted to be assigned to a good dungeon.
But now, any dungeon was fine; she just wanted to build even a little of her performance record.
As she yawned, thinking today would be another failure,
“Moru!”
Someone called out to Moru.
It was her recently appointed superior, Jewell.
Her superior was also a Succubus, but a pure Succubus, unlike herself who had mixed human blood.
Therefore, she hated herself the most.
She called her a vulgar creature who dared to defile the blood of a Succubus.
So, from Moru’s perspective, she couldn’t help but feel intimidated.
“Yes? Ah, yes!”
Startled, Moru stood up from her seat.
Then, her superior handed her a document.
“It’s work. You’ve wanted to be assigned a dungeon, haven’t you? Sign here.”
She was flustered by the sudden event.
She had expected her superior to find fault and scold her, but instead, she was being assigned to a dungeon.
Moru had been stuck at her desk for a long time, not even getting close to a dungeon.
Even her junior colleagues who joined later were assigned to dungeons and started working as merchants, but Moru remained in the same place.
Yet, this was the first time Moru was being assigned to a dungeon.
Moru received the document with tears of gratitude.
Then, she bit her finger and pressed her blood onto the document, making a mark.
The transaction was complete.
“Th-thank you! I will work very hard. Jewell-nim!”
“It’s late, so hurry and prepare to go. You can only build your performance if things go well.”
“Yes! I’ll be going!”
With a determined reply, Moru went outside.
As soon as she left, Jewell smiled.
‘She’ll come back empty-handed.’
It was obvious without even looking.
After checking, she couldn’t sense any notable aura from the dungeon.
It was either a completely unremarkable dungeon or one that was overwhelmingly insurmountable.
However, the latter was nonsensical.
If such an existence were present, the Underworld Merchant Guild would have noticed it long ago.
Therefore, it had to be the former, meaning it was a dungeon with little money.
The Underworld Merchant Guild’s first virtue as a merchant was emphasis on money, and surprisingly, the second was loyalty.
Thus, unless a dungeon was destroyed or the dungeon owner first requested a change of transaction partner, merchants could not freely change the dungeons assigned to them.
Managing a dungeon with no money was stressful for a merchant.
Not only was the performance record poor, but the dungeon also lacked funds.
In the worst-case scenario, the dungeon might ask for credit.
However, merchants also had to consider their reputation, and even troublesome dungeon owners were clients of the guild.
Ultimately, the merchant would have to extend credit, making their performance record the worst.
All of those things would accumulate and eventually strangle the merchant.
‘As expected, this is why those with mixed human blood are so irredeemable.’
She was already looking forward to the expression of Moru, who would be unable to do anything and be stuck in limbo.
* * *
I visited the Awakened Center after a long time.
“What brings you here?”
“I’d like to have my magic tested.”
“May I have your name?”
The purpose was, of course, a magic test.
It was an era where Hunters who had been out of contact or inactive for extended periods were obligated to retake their magic measurements.
If they didn’t undergo the magic test, their Hunter license would be suspended until they did, and they would be unable to use various services like dungeons or the Hunter Market.
This was a measure designed to reduce crime among Hunters.
“Ah, Hunter Kanghyeon Lee. Hunter, you are subject to a magic measurement test due to a prolonged absence from activity.”
And I had been to the El Dorado Continent for two years, so I became a subject for the examination.
Originally, I intended to take the test at a more leisurely pace, but now that I had a Status Window, I decided to take the test immediately.
‘It won’t make much of a difference anyway.’
I didn’t have a Status Window, which was something one inherently gained upon awakening.
And the only change for me was the appearance of a Status Window here.
My abilities hadn’t increased, nor had I gained any skills.
This meant there wouldn’t be anything special even if I took the magic test.
Thanks to this, the fact that I had visited Another World (though I was kicked out) would remain unknown to anyone.
“If you place your hand here, your magic will be measured.”
A transparent sphere in the shape of a ball.
Merely placing one’s hand on it would initiate the magic measurement.
After placing my hand on the sphere for a few seconds.
“Ah, it says you’re F-Rank? Are there any other special circumstances?”
As if it were obvious, the employee nodded and spoke while filling out something.
The real conversation was about to begin now.
“Originally, I didn’t have a Status Window, so I was going to take a complete break from work.”
The fact that I didn’t have a Status Window was already registered at the Awakened Center.
To continue working as a Hunter without issue, I needed to change now.
“However, I suddenly got a Status Window this time. Thanks to that, I’ve come to try my hand at being a Hunter again.”
“Huh…”
A brief silence followed.
“Congratulations! You’ve truly become a Hunter now!”
The eyes of the employee in front of me widened slightly, and they congratulated me.
Well, that reaction was natural.
Up until now, I had been a half-baked Hunter.
“You’ll be issued a new license within 30 minutes. Now that you have a Status Window, only growth lies ahead.”
As I replied casually and turned around.
“Whoa, who is this? Isn’t this the half-baked Hunter?”
A voice I hadn’t heard in a really long time.
A voice from someone I really detested echoed from behind me.
“Hey, you’re still alive, aren’t you?”
It was a fellow student from the Hunter Academy.
