Maou no Hajimekata

"Wall boundaries...?

It was extremely strange to understand the unknown language. It's very different from the way you connect your soul and communicate your will.

The word Wall World is the same unnuanced word in Oulu's knowledge. But at the same time, I feel the meaning close to the word 'wall' and the word 'world'. Those two words are not intimate in themselves.

"What is this place in the first place? Where..."

I almost told him it was a dungeon, and Oul kept saying it. Dungeon, there is no vocabulary equivalent to the word in the planted language knowledge.

On the contrary, even the words "underground" or "labyrinth".

"... you know what's out there?

Instead, Oul asked.

"Outside where?

To a topic that suddenly changed, Floro asks as he wonders.

"Even higher than the top. This kind of place without walls."

Conn, and slap the wall with your fist, oul.

It's unmistakable that this place is underground. Sound reverberation, temperature and humidity, air movement, etc. all show that. The likelihood that Oulu will get the dungeon wrong is lower than the sun climbing from the west.

"No walls... place...?

But Floro seemed badly shocked by Oulu's words.

"There can't be a place like that. If there are no walls, where should people live? Besides, without the walls... you could go anywhere."

To this, Oul nods.

"Yes, you're right. Outside is where you can go."

"... I can't believe there's such a place"

Floro shook his head and replied so. But it felt the same as Oulu.

I mean, here's the thing. Now Oulu is in a huge dungeon, and Floro, who lives there, doesn't know and can't imagine the existence outside the dungeon.

Words don't have vocabularies like 'sky' or 'sun' or 'earth', so much so that the walls and the world are equals, that there are dungeons that are normal.

Is there such a world?

No, I don't. Oul immediately decided so. The dungeon cannot be closed and maintained as an independent space.

People eat beasts. Beasts eat even smaller beasts, and small animals eat grass. For the plant to grow, it needs water and sunlight. Some of them are like moss that grows without light, but such species grow slowly, and even more require soil or water blended with beast carcass-like nutrition.

Anyway, external replenishment… Without at least the sun's light, the 'contents' of the dungeon are diminishing. Therefore, in the dungeon of Oulu, multiple entrances are provided, which are always allowed to enter from the outside.

But at least the exit is far enough for Floro to live without knowing it. Then it also explains that Oulu's magic is lost.

The magic that drifts through the atmosphere is extremely rare. Dungeons like the one in the dragon vein, like the labyrinth of Oulu, are exceptional. Normally it also contains some magic in the air. But as a result of being thrown into an extremely depleted space, the magic in Oulu's body would have been released and depleted around him.

"Well, if you can't believe it, you don't have to. I'm not interested in that either way."

In a world where no one knows the sky, the story of going for the sky.

If it wasn't for Oulu, maybe that's what started. But being here was a dungeon fool with no multiplication.

Besides, assuming he's out there, it doesn't solve the problems he has.

─ ─ The problem of not being able to go back to the original world.

How long has it been since Oulu got lost in this dungeon? I don't know the exact time while I'm passing out, but you should assume it's been two minutes (about four hours) due to my physical condition. In the original world the moon should finally set and the sun should be rising.

If you lose contact with Oulu for so long and you don't even know where he went, Eunice should definitely pick you up with a transfer. You should think that not coming means you can't come.

The best thing is that the metastasis itself has not been attempted, so the next best thing is that the metastasis was not possible. Worst of all, the metastasis itself could not be reached here, and Eunice would be trapped even in the confines of space-time.

I don't even want to think about it, but I can't say I don't. Based on Eunice's personality, there would be half a dozen attempts to metastasize. Will Lil stop and Spina encourage? Whatever Oulu can do is to find a way to return while wishing her well.

"Oulu... did you come from a place outside that wall?

"Oh. Well, that's the place"

Precisely from the top of the moon, but I can't help explaining the moon to someone who doesn't even know the sky.

"So... you don't know about skills"

"You said it earlier. What are skills?

I somehow know if the nuances of the words are the effect of the stones fed earlier. It was close to words like 'technology' or 'skill' as a meaning, but that didn't seem to be all.

"... it would be quicker to actually show it. Follow me."

Tell him so, Floro left the room. As Oulu follows her for a while down the aisle, Floro eventually stops at a place like the hall.

…… Is this your destination?

It was an odd place. There is not a single type of conditioning product, and there is no indication that people are using it, even though it is about thirty feet (about nine meters) wide. If Oul were to go out of his way to make a room like this in a dungeon, he would either put a guard down or set a big trap.

Something incredible happened to Oulu's sight to be vigilant. All of a sudden, a small beast appeared in a space of nothing.

He was a strange beast that could not be a rat or a rabbit, as tall as Oulu's knee, even though it was small. It has one sharp corner on its forehead and progresses toward Floro in a straight line.

"Ha!"

When Floro removes about a piece of iron from the hem of his clothes, it changes to about seven feet (about two meters) of iron bars in the next moment. When she stood it up with both hands, she struck out the beast.

Raise your voice with the gang. The beast is slammed against the wall and desperate. And left blue stone and bread, fur and disappeared.

"Nah..."

"This is the skill"

Floro offers the blue stone while wrapping the bread in fur and tying it in bags.

"Horned rabbit dropping skills are 'breaking and entering', right? Not a very user-friendly skill..."

"Wait. What just happened?

Oul asked, staring to the fullest in amazement.

"Where did the earlier beast come from? And where did he go? What the hell is that fur and bread!?

"From wherever you say... I just popped it and dropped the material because I killed it..."

Oul held his head to Floro, who answered in confusion. Something far more puzzling was happening in front of him than something called 'Skills' or something else, but Floro has no doubt or discomfort with it.

"In other words, the beast appears from nowhere... and when it kills, its... drops the material and disappears. That's obvious, isn't it? You didn't do anything special."

"Yes...... because it's a monster. Is it different where Oulu was?

"Monsters?"

In the words of Oulu's knowledge, words close to 'demons'. It's not "Beast," it's "Demon." In other words, there seemed to be a perception that it was an unusual creature, and Oulu was just a little horrified.

"Creatures that emerge from the void, die but leave no bodies, drop materials and skills and disappear. That's the monster."

That was an unbelievable story for Oul. But if that's true, then there's also an explanation for what she calls a "world without an outside". If resources come from the void, there's nothing wrong with it, whether it's a world closed by dungeons.

... There is no way, no. Why are you dropping bread in the first place? A bread can be made by grinding and powdering wheat, fermenting it with yeast, and baking. Definitely not the kind of substitute that occurs when a creature is killed.

A beast that Floro called Horned Rabbit appeared occasionally even while Oulu was getting glare and headaches, and she killed it pale and picked up the material. Blue crystals and materials were not always dropped in the same way, but seemed not to. One way or another, it's more often if you don't drop it.

"Like Oulu, the skill of making something out of materials is extremely valuable. Because you can't get it from a monster."

"Then how do you get it?

Floro answered Oulu's question, thrown reflexively, as a matter of course.

"Take it from people."