Chapter 30

That night.

At midnight, Seiki quietly slipped into the dungeon without wearing a mask.

What he was about to do was not illegal, but it was not something to be praised.

So -- although he did not want to use it if possible, he activated his stealth ability.

With a presence so faint that even security cameras would overlook it, Seiki descended to the fourth floor of the dungeon and began searching for monsters.

Before long, Seiki found the monster he was looking for.

“...hmm”

Seiki’s lips curled into a wicked smile.

He slowly and stealthily approached.

The monster did not notice Seiki’s presence, which was so faint.

Before the monster could realize, Seiki pulled out the stem of the potato with his right hand.

Once pulled from the ground, the previously firm potato stem wilted.

There were still unused potatoes attached to the roots.

At the center, the parent potato pulsed, as if protected by the roots.

He had equipped weapons as a precaution, but perhaps it was unnecessary...

Seiki used his stealth skills to pull out and kidnap -- no, to bring the potatoes out of the dungeon one by one.

In the empty room, he had prepared a row of planters.

Seiki carefully planted each of the potato stems he had brought from the dungeon.

The planters were bought from the nearest home center after the hunt.

The soil and fertilizer to be put in them were, of course, purchased together.

Seiki had the idea of mass-producing potatoes using monsters after hearing the term "home garden" from Kurenai.

Bringing live monsters out of the dungeon is not prohibited by law.

If it were to be prohibited, the issue of how to distinguish between live and dead monsters would arise.

Especially the bone monsters that appear in the middle layers are troublesome. Since they are only bones, it is impossible for the current human race to define life and death.

Moreover, scholars who study live monsters would be at a disadvantage.

Prohibiting it by law would hinder the development of the research field.

However, it is undoubtedly an act that stirs public unease.

That is why Seiki, to avoid being seen by anyone, killed his presence and quietly brought the monsters.

He placed his bag in the corner of the room and took out a large number of potato stems.

The stems were surrounded by nets to prevent them from thrashing around. He entered the net and carefully planted each stem in the planters.

The kidnapped -- no, the politely invited monsters numbered ten in total.

All of their stems were wilted, perhaps due to the forceful pulling.

Watering them had no effect.

“Hmm...”

Seeing the monsters that did not regain their vigor, Seiki returned to his room and turned on his computer.

The fertilizer necessary for potato growth is mainly "wood ash" and "compost," as written. He had searched for and purchased these in advance and mixed them into the soil.

“The soil seems to be fine...”

He checked several websites that described how to grow potatoes, but there were no mistakes in the soil preparation.

“...Let’s try exposing them to sunlight and see what happens.”

Perhaps sunlight would help them.

Believing this, Seiki went to sleep.

The next day, Seiki woke up earlier than usual.

He was so worried about the potatoes he had transplanted the night before.

As a precaution, he put on his weapons over his pajamas and headed to the room with the planters.

There, the potatoes were in a state that was unimaginable from their appearance the night before.

The stems were wrinkled and lacked the strength to hold themselves up.

The tips of the leaves had turned brown and were so dry that they crumbled at the slightest touch.

“Oh...”

Seiki was stunned and fell to his knees.

It felt as if he had lost his own child.

Tears welled up in his eyes.

Seiki inspected each of the withered stems.

When he took them out of the soil, the potatoes that should have been plump were also wrinkled.

They were absorbing nutrients from the potatoes, not the soil.

“Of course, they can’t live without the dungeon soil... huh?”

In the middle of his inspection, he found a stem that still had a faint sign of life.

Seiki immediately approached and examined the leaves with his hands.

He did not feel the pulse, as expected. But there was still some moisture in the stem.

“It’s alive!”

But Seiki could do nothing about it.

He had no idea what they needed...

“I’m sorry. I can’t help you...”

Seiki, with tears in his eyes and a runny nose, felt guilty.

He had forgotten that he had been relentlessly stealing potatoes and tearing them apart when they ran out of ammunition.

“...!?”

At that moment, the potato leaf in Seiki’s hand moved.

Seiki instinctively reached for his dagger.

But the potato did not attack.

Of course not. It was already so weakened that it was just waiting to die.

The monster seemed to be trying to communicate something by moving its leaves.

The tip of the leaves pointed to Seiki’s bag.

“...Bag?”

Though puzzled, Seiki clung to the slightest clue.

He brought the bag from the corner of the room and opened it.

Inside were three potatoes that had fallen from the roots during transport and one pot containing potato stones.

It did not seem to contain any clues to keeping the monsters alive.

“Maybe I’m just imagining things...”

Just as he was about to give up, the monster stretched its leaves with what seemed to be its last strength and pulled out a potato stone from the bag.

The monster quickly buried the stone in the soil.

“Huh? ...Huh?”

Seiki did not understand.

What was the monster trying to do?

While Seiki was confused, the monster’s stem gradually regained its vitality.

“...What, why?”

Just one potato stone...

Thinking about it, Seiki remembered the owner of the stone.

The potato stone was likely a throwing item made by the boss as a hobby.

But perhaps this stone contained part of the boss’s power?

“Surely that’s a bit far-fetched...”

His thoughts were a bit too speculative.

A possible explanation was that this was a dungeon-produced item.

Something made in the dungeon -- perhaps it had properties similar to the dungeon soil?

Thinking about it this way, the monster’s recovery after touching the stone could be explained.

This hypothesis seemed more plausible than the previous one.

“So, you wanted the nutrients from the dungeon?”

Just a mutter to himself, but the monster reacted.

As if saying, “Yes, that’s right,” the leaves nodded.

Wow!?

“Can you understand me?”

The monster nodded again.

It was not particularly rare for monsters to be able to communicate. Anthropoid-type monsters used a language specific to their species.

Silver wolves conveyed information to their pack through howls.

Werewolves had eyes that suggested they could use language.

So, it was not surprising that a monster could understand human language.

Still, it was a plant monster.

It was hard to imagine that a plant could understand human language...

“No, I guess it’s possible?”

There was an experiment where saying “I love you” to a plant made it bloom beautifully, while saying “I hate you” made it wilt.

While it might be premature to conclude that plants understand human language, it suggests they have some organ that reacts to human language.

If Earth’s plants can do this, it’s not strange for dungeon plants, which have undergone drastic changes, to understand human speech.

“...I’m sorry. I brought you here against your will.”

The top leaf of the plant swayed as if to say, “Exactly.”

“Do you have a name?”

The plant shook its leaves from side to side.

“Then, let’s give you a name. What name do you like?”

It’s up to you, but I’ll only accept the best name.

The leaves nodded up and down, as if to say this.

“Hmm. Since you’re a potato stem... Jack -- uh!”

As soon as he said the name, the stem bent and hit Seiki in the face.

It seemed the plant did not like it.

Seiki rubbed his nose and thought of another name.

“Um. Potato, stem, leaf, monster, dungeon -- uh!”

He was hit again.

Stop with those associations! The plant moved its vines as if to say this.

It was a very skillful movement.

...Hmm.

Seiki folded his arms and thought for a moment.

“...How about Rea? From the Cretan earth goddess Rea, who oversees fertility.”

This was knowledge from one of Seiki’s few hobbies, collecting myths.

The potato leaves twitched at the name.

Hmm, not bad! I guess I’ll have to go with that name.

The leaves intertwined as if Rea was folding her arms.

Rea’s body language was so skillful that it felt like she was speaking.

But she was not actually saying anything.

It was just Seiki’s illusion.

It’s like talking to a doll? It’s too dark to laugh about.

“Actually, I brought you here for a reason. I want you to mass-produce potatoes -- whoa!”

Before Seiki could finish his request, Rea launched a potato.

Seiki tried to avoid it but, seeing how slow it was, decided to catch it with his hand.

The sensation of the potato hitting his palm made Seiki frown.

Looking down, he saw a wrinkled potato in his hand.

“...This”

Rea then tapped the soil with the lower leaves.

The roots were exposed from the soil.

Along with the roots, the wrinkled potatoes...

“Um...? Did I make it so you can’t produce potatoes anymore? Hmm. So... take responsibility!?”

Rea shook her stem back and forth.

Like an angry woman hitting a man’s chest.

Seiki was stunned and dumbfounded.

He had never heard such a fatal line from a woman, let alone a plant!

Seiki fell to his hands and knees, utterly dejected.

It seemed that the first time he would take responsibility would be for a monster, not a human.

I missed the update in the previous chapter.

As an apology, I will update again tomorrow.

I am very sorry for the inconvenience.