After I got back from dropping off the kids, and I'd given my report on their behavior, I went to the castle to talk to the King. I went through the same conversation I had the last time, being "I'd like to talk to the King" "No can do" "Please inform him of the fact that an S rank would like to speak with him, here's my card" and then, after a few minutes, the King showed up, and we moved to one of the less ostentatious audience halls with a few of his guards, because they wouldn't let him be alone with me for some reason. I also asked if a few of his ministers, such as the ones in charge of economic resources and territory management, could join us, as there would be something that they might need to (or at least want to) give input on.

"So, for what reason do you wish to speak with me? I trust it's not just to chat" (King)

"Well, there are a few reasons, first off, and I don't know if you've heard this or not, but there's a necromancer who can command frightfully strong undead, yet he said that he's a mere footsoldier in his master's army. As I highly doubt that there's much of anyone who could handle those things on their own in your army, so I would like to give you a few more of the communication stones, so that they could be distributed to people in the right places, that way, no matter where the undead show up, I could be there within a few minutes at most" (Nene)

"That sounds like a good thing. Out of curiosity, how strong were the undead you fought?" (King)

"Well, one of them was about the strength of an Ancient Dragon, maybe Gold-bordered White, the other was at the upper edge of Ancient Dragons or the lower edge of God Dragons, so about Gold-Orange or Gold-Red. I guess that I'll go around to the other countries and give them some of these as well, as the necromancer did say that the entire continent would be under his master's control" (Nene)

"Oh... Yeah, I think that's probably a good thing. How would we go about making more of these, anyways? They'd be really useful for all kinds of things" (King)

"Well, I don't think you could make them at all, but I'll tell you the required materials. First, you'd need to get a Dragon of some kind to willingly pull out a pair of its claws, specifically, a matching pair, such as the innermost claw on both of its front legs, or something like that. The claws would grow back after just a decade, don't worry. After that, each pair requires some orichalcum, about... well, an ingot the size of a fist or so, I guess, and then, while making them, one would need a constant supply of Dragonflame. I don't know exactly how to make them, but I know a few Dragons who do, so if you wish, I could come back with the method written down. Honestly, I'd love to see if you could figure out a way to make them without needing the Dragon claws and flame at all, though I doubt it. In any case, don't worry about the cost of these things, they're just collecting dust in my Hoard... well, time is stopped in there, so that's figurative dust. I have several hundred pairs in there at the moment, so relax" (Nene)

"Even so... All of that is damn near impossible to get for most people, even nobles, and a country like this one would be lucky to get enough orichalcum for a single pair in half a year" (King)

Wait... that little is produced? I guess that I really should forget what was common sense in the Empire...

"And that brings me to my next reason to talk to you, actually. I'd like to know if there's an abandoned mine somewhere that I could have, the bigger the better. Ideally, it'd be one that used to produce orichalcum or adamantite, but mithril would be fine too" (Nene)

"What do you plan on doing with it?" (King)

"Well, I plan on making it a Dungeon, basically, an area that produces Golems at a fixed rate. You remember how the mine in Ordesia had what seemed like an endless stream of Golems? I plan to make a similar area here, where I - and others - can, if you will, farm the Golems for their iron, mithril, and orichalcum" (Nene)

"Wouldn't that be, well, dangerous? What if they leave the mine?" (King)

"Well, first off, they pretty much can't, but on the off chance they were to do so, there'll be one of my Dragons waiting at the entrance and destroying them. I also plan on having the Orichalcum Golems be constantly dealt with by a few of my Dragons, so that they don't do much, and also so that I can get a lot of Orichalcum, because I need it for another project. By the way, as the one who is making the Dungeon, I have some degree of control over how it works, so hopefully, I'll be able to make the Golems not kill people, just knock them out... maybe with a few broken bones, but still... and also so that they wouldn't attack those who aren't trying to either attack the Golems or pass by them to get deeper into the Dungeon. Basically, those who are fleeing, returning with their spoils of victory, resting, or knocked out won't be hurt... don't quote me on that until I've made it, but that's the plan. I also plan to have a Dragon at the points where it shifts from having Stone Golems to Iron Golems, Iron to Mithril, and Mithril to Orichalcum Golems, so that anyone who can deal with, say, a few Stone Golems wouldn't find themselves attacked by an Iron Golem in an area they don't normally show up in, as well as placing markers indicating what kinds of Golems show up on a given level. I also plan on having each level have a restriction on what parties can enter it, based on the difficulty of the level" (Nene)

I will have to think about the restrictions for each section again, as I was basing it off of the common sense of the Empire like I did with the availability of orichalcum...

"That sounds reasonable... Tyrian, what do you think? Oh right, Nene, Tyrian is the son of my economics minister, as well as the head assistant to the minister in charge of territory management projects, so he can provide input on this matter from both sides" (King)

Tyrian, by the way, is a two meter tall, thin man in his early 20s... wait, he's an elf, or maybe a half elf... I'm not sure about how old he is, in that case... Anyways...

"Well, I think that this could provide us with the means to bolster our supply of iron and mithril, and drastically improve the supply of orichalcum, and considering that this doesn't need to be on the land of an active mine, but one that is more or less useless to us, there's not much harm in lending her the land to do so with, unless the monsters overflow or something like that. In fact, I think that there's a quite large mine that used to produce orichalcum and adamantite in the mountains near Crimonia, though it's a ways away from the area that has the new tunnel to Mireera. I guess that it'd be fine to have that be used for this" (Tyrian)

"Actually, how would one go about making one of these... Dungeons, you called them? I think that they'd be a good place for us to train adventurers and soldiers, if we could actually make the monsters in them not kill people as you said you might be able to make be the case" (King)

"Well... That's... making one has several conditions that are all hard to get... First, a high magical concentration, from lots of magic metals, a really strong monster's corpse or magic stone, or something like that. That amount of magic is one thing that determines the difficulty of the Dungeon. Second, a monster that has strength proportionate to the magic concentration, and several weaker monsters of the same type, which determines the kind of monster that will show up in it, as well as being the other part of what determines the difficulty. Third, it has to be in a large, enclosed space with only a few entrances far enough away from the point of highest concentration. That distance sets the size of the Dungeon, and thus the difference in power between the weakest and strongest monsters. The larger the distance, the weaker the weakest monsters compared to the strongest one, known as the boss. In addition, if the boss is killed or the magical concentration drops enough, the Dungeon will stop giving rise to new monsters. Lastly, if it's made intentionally, things such as the behavior of the spawned monsters, the group sizes, and the spawn rates can all be influenced by the one who made it, though the extent to which they are able to be influenced is determined by how much magical power the creator has, the purity of the ambient magic, and how much of the Dungeon was made with the intention of making it a Dungeon" (Nene)

There are a few other things, but most of those are ones that don't really matter, and I can't remember them off the top of my head in any case. Don't worry, I have a book about the subject, and some of my summons are knowledgeable about the subject too...

"So, in short... It's more or less impossible for us to make them, right?" (King)

"Yeah, pretty much. By the way, that 'other project' I wanted all of that orichalcum for was the construction of a Dungeon I'd have more control over, specifically, I'm planning to make a Dungeon in the form of a huge tower of orichalcum. I'd be fine with making a few of them, if you want to put some in or near the capital, for instance, in addition to the one that I'm planning to ask Cliff if I could have near Crimonia. However, each of those would probably take me a month or more to make, not including the time to gather all of the materials. Thankfully, my Dragons can help with that part, cutting it down to about the same speed at which I'd use it, if there's a good supply from the mine-turned-Dungeon" (Nene)

"So, you're saying that you could, by yourself, or at least, yourself and your summons or something, make a large tower in a month or two, and out of orichalcum at that? And that that much orichalcum could be gathered in the mine in the same span of time? I think... Yeah, I'm going to have to talk to the commerce guild about taxing the use of that Dungeon, as well as buying the materials from it, as that much metal could be... well, it might be enough to deal with the entire kingdom's demand for it. The prices would drop to the point where the limiting factor on the price of a mithril sword would be the making of it, as opposed to the price of the metal... of course, this would be after you've finished getting all that you'd need for the other Dungeons" (Tyrian)

Actually... of the three metals that would be produced, mithril would be the scarcest, as Iron Golems would be plentiful, and Orichalcum Golems have the ability to regrow their arms, unlike Mithril Golems... I won't point that out now, though. That'd mean I'd have to explain how I farm the Orichalcum Golems, which would cause Tyrian to ask how the Dragons give me the parts, meaning I'd need to explain that my Dragons and I have the same exclusive magic (Dragon's Hoard) and that would cause him to learn that I'm a Dragon Empress, which I don't want... yet, at least.

"I do plan on giving you the rights, or at least priority rights, to the orichalcum and mithril sections for the first year or so, if you want. The taxes would also be given to you in part, considering that you're the one making the Dungeon. This would increase your rank in the commerce guild rather quickly. If we were to give you 5% of the proceeds from all materials from it... let's see... you might make S rank before you turn 25 on that one Dungeon alone. Add to that the entrance fees and, probably, the entrance fees from the other Dungeons you make, as well as what we'd be paying you for lending your guards for them all... maybe in a decade?" (Tyrian)

"You know, I don't really care about my commerce guild rank... Sure, having it at S rank might be something that could impress people, but the same is true for my adventurer rank being S rank, and that's something that needs less work from me. I'm not really planning on being a merchant or anything, at least, not for a century or so. I dislike playing an active role in running a group, I prefer going solo, being the trump card, or being the one who makes the original plan and then is consulted for big things while others take care of the minutia" (Nene)

Wait, I've never talked with this guy, and I doubt he knows of my heritage besides what's common knowledge, namely, the fact that my guild card says that I'm about three quarters human, and that I have beastkin blood, thanks to my ears... this means that he probably doesn't know that my lifespan is more than that of a normal human's lifespan...

"You talk about a century like it's nothing to you... and you also spoke about a decade like it's nothing as well... Who are you to talk that way? You're not human, are you... at least, you are not just human and beastkin, right? Part elf? Dwarf? Dark elf? Dhampir? I'd like to know" (Tyrian)

He noticed it...

"And I'd like to keep that a secret for a few more years... Don't worry, you'll know by the time I turn 20 or so, I mean, I have to have it known if I'm going to be an adventurer, or even at all in the spotlight, for my whole life... As that'll be, like... almost a hundred thousand years? Well, I'll really, REALLY want people to know before I turn 75 or so, due to... another reason I'd like to keep secret for now. We're getting off topic, you know" (Nene)

"Oh, right... so, does that mine sound good? I think that we could give it to you if you paid..." (Tyrian)

"Nothing. For her, it's free. She's saved this country enough that it wouldn't be out of the norm to make her a Duchess or something like that, so a bit of land is perfectly fine to give to her. Hell, if I had an unmarried son, it wouldn't be unlikely for her to be asked to marry him. She's that important to us" (King)

"I'm sorry, but you are talking about a twelve year old girl who isn't even a noble being married to a prince, or a young girl with no experience in politics being made a duchess? I don't see how that coul-" (Tyrian)

"Nene, may I tell him? Would you rather he not know? Would you like to be the one to tell him?" (King)

"Go ahead... Actually, there's some things I'd rather he not know, so I'll tell him myself, I guess" (Nene)

"Fair enough" (King)

"Tyrian, you're correct in saying that I'm not a noble. I'm not even from this country or even this continent, by the way. I am, however, not a commoner by any stretch of the word. My name is Nene Drachen, Empress of the Drachen Empire. It's nice to meet you... well, I guess I met you half an hour ago or so, so... It's nice to have a formal introduction, I suppose. In addition, one could say that I'm an honorary noble, considering that I'm an S rank adventurer. In that case, there wouldn't be much problem in having me marry a prince, however... said prince doesn't exist, the Empire has been destroyed, and I'm not particularly interested in politics, love, or settling down right now. I haven't even seen all of the countries on this continent, let alone the others" (Nene)

It seems like Tyrian just... well, his brain stopped working. He was standing there, looking like his soul just left his body or something like that, presumably because he just dissed an S rank adventurer who is also an Empress. He should have known I was as strong as one, or stronger, considering that I won the tournament (and yes, I still don't know what it's called, I've only ever heard it called 'the tournament' or 'Erufanica's tournament' even by the time I'm saying this)

"Well, if I have the rights to the mine, the only remaining thing is... well, I just need to get over there, honestly. After that, I'd need to wipe out every monster in it, then embed some orichalcum golem arms and legs that I have sitting around in the walls, place down the core, being the magic stone from the Death Knight, and... Well, make the Adamantite Golem functional again so it can be the boss monster. Shouldn't take more than a day or so, unless it's REALLY big, which I wouldn't mind. After that, you can expect a few weeks before it gets really up and running in Mithril and Orichalcum Golem production, and for the first month or so, we'd need to keep people and monsters out of the mine, as it has the danger of causing severe - even potentially lethal - Mana Sickness in people, and monsters could change the type of Dungeon it makes. After a month, most monsters will avoid the Dungeon, and the mana will have settled down enough to be safe for people" (Nene)

"I take it this means that you don't have much else to do in the castle right now?" (King)

"Well, I guess there's a new food I've been working on, but it's not complete yet, and I don't have any with me. Still, I've got a few pavlova with me, if you'd like that. I plan to give a smaller one to Flora, or I could give the two of you an even bigger one to share" (Nene)

"Hmm... how about we share the big one?" (King)

"I'd like to point out that you have work to be doing at the moment, so you do not have the time" (Tyrian)

Oh, it looks like he found his soul again. I kinda feel bad for pulling the King away from his other work... well, actually, this is something that could be classified as him working, so... I feel less bad now. I gave Flora some pavlova, shared the recipe with Zelef, because he wanted it and I hadn't given it to him, and went to see Sanya, because I had some things to talk about... namely, I'd been reading a few books on adventurer's titles, and had found a few that I should have, given what I'd done thus far. I asked the receptionist if I could see her, and she came out within a few seconds.

"I am sorry for pulling you from your work, I didn't need to talk to you urgently" (Nene)

"Not at all, I was hoping to talk to you, and I had some free time anyways. So, first off, there's no way I can avoid bringing you to up to A rank, sorry. You've done so much, and have so many titles, that you being a B rank would be more surprising than being an S rank. The Death Knight and the Union of Bones are just the last straw. You can't remain at B rank now, sorry. You have enough recommendations from other guildmasters that you could be made S rank, actually, but... S rank at 12... here, that's not something that anyone would believe. Therefore-" (Sanya)

"I get it. I'll rank up to A. Now, for the reason I wanted to see you. I was reading a few books on titles while I was being an escort for the academy, and found some that I probably should have, namely, Horde Halter, Hobgoblin's Hell, Undead Banisher, and pretty soon, I'll meet the requirements for Dungeon Master" (Nene)

"I understand the first three, and I think you meet the requirements for them... but Dungeon Master? I don't even know what a Dungeon is, in the context of something an adventurer might be involved in" (Sanya)

"Ah. A Dungeon is, basically, an enclosed area in which monsters of a fixed type appear quickly, even without breeding or maturing. One can be created naturally, or a person can make one intentionally, in which case they have more control over it and, in that case, they are known as the Dungeon Master. As I'm planning on making at least three of them in the next few months, with the King's permission, I think that that is qualification enough to get the title, however, I think it'd be a good idea to wait on giving me that one until I've made the first one at least, because you wouldn't give someone who accepted a request to kill a few Wyverns the Wyvernslayer title before they have killed any, right?" (Nene)

"That's true... I'll look through our books on titles, and your subjugation record, and see if we have those titles or an equivalent, and if there are any other titles you deserve. Mind if I ask how one goes about making a Dungeon, and what the benefits are to doing so?" (Sanya)

I explained how, why, and where I'm going to make the Dungeons, as well as the modifications I would make as its creator, and pointed out the fact that I was probably the only one who had enough mana to do so safely for anything more than a two-room Dungeon that spawns a few Goblins at a time, also known as a Goblin Room or Goblin Cave.

"You know, those would also be useful. What would you need to make one of those?" (Sanya)

"Uh... a live Goblin Mage or Goblin Warrior, a magic stone from something like a Tiger Wolf, and that's about it. I could even make one that's about a dozen rooms for training people against Goblin Mages and Warriors if I had a Hobgoblin or Goblin King, as well as the stone from a Black Tiger or something of similar power" (Nene)

"Well, those are somewhat hard to come by, but the payoff would probably be more than worth it. How long would it take you to create the Dungeon once the materials were gathered?" (Sanya)

"Uh... about a day? The Dungeon would then have to be left alone but guarded for a week or so after it was made, but after a week, it'd be fully functional" (Nene)

"Well, I'll put up a continuous request for the capture of a live Hobgoblin or Goblin King, and I'll contact you when they are obtained so you can take them to a large city and create a Dungeon for E-C ranks to train in. Sound good?" (Sanya)

A beginner's Dungeon... why didn't I think of that? I made plans for ones for people of C rank and above, but not for the ones who really need the help? I even mentioned the Goblin Caves, which serve that exact purpose in most RPGs. I'm now feeling quite dumb... or at least, quite foolish. Oh well, the right thing is going to happen, who cares whose idea it was?

"Yeah. It's pretty rare for there to be a live-capture request for a monster higher than F rank, but... Well, I guess it'd be one of those 'if you find one and manage to get it alive, that's good, otherwise, it's fine' quests" (Nene)

"Also, the other Dungeons you plan to create... what would be the monsters on the first few levels?" (Sanya)

"Probably things like Flame Serpents or lower-class Metal Lizards... in other words, D rank monsters. I plan to have the Dungeon have about 50 floors, and around floor 30 or so it'd get to the point that an S rank would have trouble. So that there'd be no risk of the boss getting killed, I'll probably put some of my older God Dragons as the bosses, the ones who spend most of their time sleeping, but are still strong enough that nobody could kill them... though, I'd like to point out that the top five floors will consist of only Ancient and God Dragons, as well as the occasional Adamantite Lizard group. In other words... Even the tenth from the top floor is probably impossible for any group that doesn't contain me... well, maybe Yuna could handle it?" (Nene)

"Fair enough. Do you think you could install something that can use {Gate} to get people to return when they're injured or have a large haul of materials?" (Sanya)

So, it'd be like those features in a lot of RPGs, where you can leave the Dungeon at almost any time?

"Ooh... that's a good idea. I'll try to do so, and I'll do so for the mine-turned-Dungeon as well. Maybe... every other floor? They'd take a lot of mana for me to install, and need a high ambient magical concentration to be useable by normal people, so I can't have them too close together if I don't want to risk them competing for ambient mana and thus having none of them be useable. I could take advantage of that at the entrance to make them be one-way {Gate}s however... Yeah, I will. I'll also be sure to make the Dungeons spawn rare monsters as well, so that requests for materials could be dealt with by a trip to the Dungeon as opposed to having to spend days on end searching wide areas of land for a rare monster" (Nene)

"Hm... please do so, but make the spawn rates low. If we suddenly get a Golden Slime subjugated every other day, as opposed to the every other month we are currently getting them, the market price for their materials would collapse, same for ones captured" (Sanya)

"Ah, monsters spawned in Dungeons can't survive outside of the Dungeon they came from, at least, not for very long, unless something extraordinary happens, such as a Mana Storm" (Nene)

"Mana Storm? What's that?" (Sanya)

Oh yeah, they weren't a thing in the game, I only learned they existed after I was born in the Empire. Come to think about it, I hadn't come across one since I left the Empire...

"Do you not have those here? It's basically a storm where magic becomes much harder to use, like, any given spell requires about a hundred times more mana than normal, and it has an effect on Dungeons as well, namely, the monsters within have a small chance of becoming able to leave the Dungeon, and that the Dungeon has a high chance at becoming much harder for the duration of the storm. If you don't have those, that's a good thing. It means that I don't have to worry about them wreaking havoc on the Dungeons. They're also theorized to be the catalyst for the creation of wild Dungeons" (Nene)

"No, I've never heard of anything like Mana Storms. I guess that that is a good thing indeed" (Sanya)

"Yep. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to start working on making the first Dungeon, the mine. The sooner that's up and running, the sooner that I can make the ones for people to train in" (Nene)

"No problem... well, how long do you think it'll take you to be ready to make the first of the Goblin Caves, excluding the live Goblin?" (Sanya)

"I mean, if you get one, I can make the Cave whenever. It only takes a day, and I don't have an urgent need to build the larger Dungeons besides the Golem Mine, so if you get a live Goblin Mage or Hobgoblin, for instance, I'll be ready to make it by the end of the week, probably" (Nene)

After that, I left and used {Gate} to move to the spot nearest to the mine that I could, namely, Crimonia, and spent an hour or so making my way there along the road that hadn't been maintained in a few decades. I'll have to fix that at some point, I guess... or I could leave it to Cliff or the King, I guess... Nah, I'll do it myself. If you want something done right, do it yourself. As this is going to be well-traveled by merchants and adventurers, it has to be as good as it can be. Maybe I'll make it in the image of a concrete road... no, that'd be hard on wheels... wait, after a bit, wheels for big merchants might become made of mithril, due to the abundant supply... but... hmm... I'll have to think about it.