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Chapter 59: Effective Use of the Underground Space

 

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「Hm? What’s this?」

This morning I had decided to remodel my house. I was synchronizing with Sakura when I noticed a strange cave underground.

「What’s wrong Master?」
「Well, there’s this big cave underneath the house.」
「Cave? Oh…there really is one. When we buried that Dungeon Master’s magic stone I thought there’d be a change…but I didn’t expect it to turn into a cave.」

It seems like Sakura didn’t know about this.
Well this is the first time I’ve synched with her in a while and the cave is pretty far down so it can’t be helped.

「I’m just a bit worried having the ground underneath the house turn into a cave…I think we should investigate a bit.」
「Oh, then I will accompany you. It’s almost lunchtime, so I’ll pack a lunch.」
「Ok, I’ll go give Hesty a shout. Things might get noisy underground.」

After we’d finished our preparations, we opened a hole in the ground and began to head towards the new underground cave.
Hesty was interested as well and had decided to come with us.

「Ok then, I’ll start.」

Since I’d gotten used to remodeling my place with magic, making a path to the cave was quite easy.
I continuously opened up the way, and it ended up taking less than a minute.

Then…I saw it.

「This is……really big.」
「That’s for sure ne~」

A cave that was bigger than I had imagined spread out underneath my house.
It was both tall and wide.
Moreover, there shouldn’t have been any light, but it was strangely bright.

「How should I put this….it seems like a dungeon.」

I murmured and Hesty nodded her agreement.

「n, there’s no, mistaking it. This is, a dungeon. Refined from, the dungeon master’s, magic.」
「Eh? Is that so?」

Then I wonder if there are monsters here?

「I don’t mean it, that way. But, if you look, at the walls, you can see, it’s a dungeon.」

I did as she said and looked at the walls. There were shining stones stuck inside.
The ceiling and floor were the same. It wasn’t just plain soil.

「This is, mixed with magic stones. They are, crystallized, here and there.」
「Oh really?」

Since the surfaces were mixed with magic stones they were shining. Even if there’s no light it’s bright?

「Yes. They have walls of magic stones. That is, one of the main components, of a dungeon. Whether or not, there are monsters, it doesn’t matter.」
「Ohh…I see.」

But is it really alright to have such a gigantic cave underneath my house???
If the ground is too weak, I’m worried that my place will start to sink.

「There is no need to worry Master. I…meaning the house, have strengthened the ground under it. There will be no collapse or sinking.」
「n, also, these magic stone walls, are extremely strong. Even if they, break a bit, they will regenerate.」

Hesty said and scraped the walls. The shimmering stones fell down, but soon afterwards it was repaired.

「See?」
「Wow. There’s no problem then.」
「n, actually, a dungeon like this, is basically a resource. You can take a lot, of magic stones.」

Somehow this dungeon seems more like a mine. Hesty’s face seemed happy somehow.
Actually, I was also a bit excited.

…. having such a cave-like structure here…kind of made me want to go spelunking……

I thought and continued further with Sakura and Hesty. when,

「…. it’s getting hotter, right?」

I feel like the surrounding temperature has gone up.
I’m getting sweaty.

「Magic, is probably, being converted, into heat.」
「Is something like that normal?」
「It’s, like my breath, something like th—–!?」

Hesty stopped moving and speaking on the spot.

「What’s wrong?」
「I, probably can’t continue, forward. The magic, there is, too thick.」

Hesty said and pointed.
I looked and saw liquid that was letting out steam.

「N~? I don’t really get it when you say how strong it is…but should I stay away?」
「Oh, then I’ll go check it out. It doesn’t seem poisonous.」

Sakura said and slowly approached.
Then after looking at the liquid, she waved.

「Master, it’s an onsen (hot springs) desu~」
「Huh? Seriously!?」

I approached and looked at the liquid.
Then I saw the hot liquid bubbling up from the earth.

「The heat—–doesn’t surpass 40 degrees Celsius. The water is alkaline, there should be no damage to a human’s body.」

Sakura perceived. It didn’t seem dangerous.

「There’s no volcano around, but this is quite good.」
「It is most likely from the heat of the magic stones. Furthermore, there is highly concentrated magic power mixed inside of this fluid.」
「Would my body be alright if I jumped in?」
「There’s no problem for Master. But if a normal person were to touch it their skin might come off…」

That’s pretty scary.

「If you think about it normally this onsen would be hard to use, right? But it’s only going to be used by us anyways.」

I don’t really have any idea what it’d do to people’s bodies.

「Yes. If it’s undiluted, then there are very few people who could use it.」
「n, so you see, it’s impossible, for me. I can’t, approach.」

Hesty called out.
I see, so Hesty was stopped by this hot spring.

「Is this bad even for a dragon king’s skin?」
「it’s, under the soil. It comes, near the Dragon Vein, so the magic is very, thick.」

So, the effect is much too strong.
Then I wonder if this would be usable if I watered it down?

「Yes. If you watered it down, I could even use it to cook.」
「Fumu fumu. It seems like it has various uses. For now, I need a water pipe or something to bring this up to the garden.」
「Yes, I will help you Master.」

And so, I carefully placed an apple tree above the location for the water pipe.
Since I knew that if I brought it to the surface now it’d only be poison, I didn’t allow it to well up from the ground just yet.

After I find a way to dilute it, I might make an open-air bath.

At any rate, that’s how I was able to get myself a magic stone dungeon and a source for an onsen from my basement.

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