Reverse Dungeon

Ian returned to the dungeon after ten days.

When he arrived, the people dropped whatever they were doing and rushed to welcome him with joy.

“Welcome back safely!”

“Thank goodness!”

Ian was surprised.

Were they always this loyal?

“We were worried you might collapse and cough up blood on the way. Many of us regretted not going with you.”

A priest with a flushed face explained the situation.

Ian did not particularly want to entrust his body to a doctor who was hiccupping with a bottle of liquor in hand.

Though, admittedly, Ian was the one who had made him that way.

“......”

In any case, when Ian took out the World Tree branch and the edible plants, the people’s joy doubled.

“We were worried about what we could possibly grow in this barren land, but there are potatoes here! With these, we can survive the winter.”

“We can plant the other things once the weather improves...”

“No. We can plant them now. I’m going to plant the World Tree inside the dungeon.”

Ian called up the system window and unfolded the dungeon map. The portion already filled in looked bizarre, since they had only dug in one direction in order to awaken the dragon.

In any case, Ian had no intention of going anywhere near that place.

What he was looking for was a room with light.

Every so often, there were rooms in the dungeon where light filtered down from above. There was an opening, but it was not large enough for a person to pass through, so only the barest amount of light entered.

Still, that small amount was enough.

The possessed an incredible buff that enhanced the growth of all crops. As long as the minimum conditions for survival were met, the World Tree would amplify everything else.

Here, here, and here. I’ll explore the rest later.

Ian selected farming rooms from the revealed sections of the map. Then he led the people to the first one.

“Let’s plant the World Tree branch here.”

“That... do you mean the treasure of the elves?”

Some of the farmers had heard of the World Tree. They wondered whether they were allowed to plant something so precious so casually.

They were also curious how Ian had obtained the elves’ treasure.

He didn’t just take it, did he?

“Yes. I received it as a gift from an elf I happened to meet.”

“You received it as a gift!”

“I knew it.”

“......?”

Ian looked at the people, who were behaving awkwardly while clearly burning with curiosity.

Anyway, they followed his instructions, dug a hole in the center of the room, and planted the World Tree branch.

Ian watched them dig with remarkable speed.

They were workers from inside the castle. That said, worker was a broad term. Their usual tasks had been either farming or physical labor. More specifically, their main duties had been cultivating the royal family’s private lands and gathering firewood.

In other words, they had farming talent.

From now on, this dungeon is going into full farming mode.

After all, these people could not handle defense.

Ian had them plant the other crops around the World Tree. He also assigned managers to each area.

Ding!

[‘Strawberry Farm’ managers Hans and Peter have been assigned.]

Ding!

[‘Potato Farm’ managers Joseph and Baker have been assigned.]

...

...

...

“Mortis, Chez, Joel. Come here. You’ve never farmed before, right?”

Ian beckoned several others over. He had deliberately left them out of the farming assignments.

“I helped with housework when I was young, but I can’t say I know much about farming,” Mortis said, scratching his head.

“Then you do what you’re good at.”

“Yes?”

“Go gather wood. There’s a dense forest around here, right? It’s hard for us to move around as things are now. Think of it as making a path while bringing some wood back to the water source.”

Mortis blinked.

“What’s a water source?”

“Drinking water.”

Ian answered, then sealed his lips.

Mortis must have been a character with the background setting of never having had time to study because he was always working.

Every time Ian ran into realistically detailed elements like this, the place began to feel real, and that frightened him.

Ian thought of this world as half a dream.

He was dreaming that he was playing a game.

Otherwise, he could not have stayed sane.

Shaking off those useless thoughts, Ian called for Sema.

“Sema. You keep an eye on the woodcutters.”

“Ah! Yes! Leave it to me!”

Happy to have something to do, Sema followed the woodcutters.

He really did like working.

Ding!

[The construction area has been expanded.]

[You have more than 10 characters with the skill.]

[Agricultural efficiency increases by 30%.]

Ding!

[By the grace of the World Tree, crop growth speed increases by 500%.]

The planted crops grew at a rapid pace, turning lush before their eyes.

It was like watching a nature documentary at ten times the speed.

Ian was surprised, but his surprise was nothing compared to the people’s.

“......!”

“The World Tree!”

“I told you it would grow well,” Ian said, seizing the chance to raise their loyalty.

Even though the World Tree had done all the work.

“As expected of Lord Ian!”

“Terrifying, but competent!”

“......”

Ian began to wonder whether this reputation would ever change.

Wasn’t the tyrant reputation lasting a little too long?

Ding!

[World Tree LV.1 → LV.2]

[The second dungeon can now be opened.]

[The first dungeon’s area can now be expanded.]

[The maximum number of people the dungeon can accommodate has increased.]

Done.

As the dungeon grew, the World Tree’s level also rose. Now, reinforcement work for dungeon expansion was possible.

We can strengthen the defenses.

“Lord Ian! We’re back!”

Sema waved his hand. The woodcutters each carried a load of wood on their backs.

“Well done. We’ll make wooden armor with that. Woodcutters, keep bringing in wood. Sema, keep watching them. Farmers, you don’t have much to do for the moment, right? Let’s start crafting.”

Ian placed his hand on the pile of wood.

Ding!

[Trap: Spike Pit created.]

[Trap: Spike Pit created.]

...

...

...

Ian installed plenty of traps at the entrances to the farming area. Then he looked at Louise.

“Louise. When you go out, you’ll see spikes set inside the pits. Coat them with your poison.”

“Yes, Lord Ian.”

Louise went out with his poison pouch.

Ding!

[Trap: Spike Pit → upgraded to Poison Spike Pit.]

Good.

With this, protecting the farming area should be manageable.

Since they had already cleared an insane difficulty event earlier, strong monsters would not come for a while.

Even game developers had some conscience.

Or do they?

Considering the tutorial and the Demon Archduke, it did not seem like they did.

In any case, this break period was originally supposed to be spent madly luring in monsters, capturing them, and recruiting defensive monsters.

Once they realize the Demon Archduke is gone, the monsters will go berserk.

The time before they stormed into the dungeon was what Ian alone called break time.

After the break, monster waves would come one after another without end. But there was still time before that happened.

I need to train some soldiers.

Ian reached his conclusion.

“Let’s split the farmers in half. One group keeps making wooden defenses. The other gets military training.”

Just then, Louise returned after applying the poison.

Ian gave him an order.

“Louise, can you teach archery?”

“Leave it to me, Lord Ian. But how will we obtain bows and arrows for them to use? Should we steal them from the village?”

Louise asked as though it were the obvious choice.

No. That’ll cause an uprising.

The loyalty of Louise’s village was still low.

“We’ll make those too. Until then... teach them how to hold the posture in the air without a bow.”

“Yes, Lord Ian.”

The people, who had been slightly excited about learning archery, fell silent.

What is that supposed to be...?

In any case, Ian participated in the military training as well.

Even with the buff, the arrows Ian shot flew embarrassingly off course.

The people, bored from merely holding imaginary bows in position, pretended not to watch him.

They were astonished.

He really can’t shoot...

Is it because his body is weak from illness?

They whispered among themselves.

Ding!

[People are worried about you.]

[People think you are frail!]

Their whispers did not reach Ian’s ears, but the system messages did.

Ian endured the humiliation.

No, that’s not it... But what is this “frail” debuff?

In the game, this reputation did not appear just because HP dropped. So what was this?

Ian checked the title in the system window.

[Reputation: Frail]

People pity you.

What is this...?

He could not even tell whether it was useful or not. Was this really a debuff?

Ian grimaced and kept shooting arrows diligently.

What choice did he have? He had never moved his body outside of PE ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) class. And since he was an orphan, he had never served in the military either.

Then a pale-faced woodcutter came running toward them.

“Lord Ian! Lord Ian! Human hunters have appeared! They spotted us! We barely escaped, but...!”

“......!”

Human hunters.

People who captured humans and sold them as slaves.

“Was anyone taken? What about Sema? Did you stop them?” Ian pressed.

“T-that... The one they took was Sema!”

“......”

Ian had nothing to say.

Damn it...