Chapter 68

"Hmm? What's this?"

In the morning, while I was trying to remodel the house with Sakura, I noticed a strange hollow underground.

"Master, is something wrong?"

"No, it seems there's a large hollow right under the house."

"A hollow? Oh... I see. I was aware that the ground had been changing since the Dungeon Master's magic stone was buried, but I didn't know it had become a hollow."

It seems Sakura didn't know about it either.

Well, I only found out about it myself when we synchronized, so it's understandable.

"Still, it's a bit unsettling to know there's a hollow right below us. Maybe we should go down and investigate."

"Ah, then I'll come with you. It's almost noon, so let's bring some lunch too."

"Alright, I'll let Hestia know. The basement might get noisy."

So, after we each prepared, Sakura and I decided to dig a hole in the ground and head towards the hollow we discovered.

Hestia seemed interested too and decided to go with us.

"Alright, let's dig the hole and go down."

Using the same method we used to remodel the house, it was easy to create a path to the underground hollow.

By digging step by step, we reached the hollow in less than a minute.

And then I saw it.

"This... is really big."

"Really, isn't it?"

The vast hollow underground was even larger than I imagined.

The ceiling was high, and the width was wide.

And even without any lights, it was slightly bright.

"It's kind of like a dungeon, isn't it?"

When I muttered that, Hestia nodded.

"No, you're not wrong. This is a dungeon. It seems to have been refined by the Dungeon Master's magic."

"Really? Is that so?"

So, are there monsters in here?

"That's not necessarily the case. But you can tell it's a dungeon by looking at the walls."

When I looked at the walls as she suggested, they were made of sparkling stones.

The ceiling and the floor were the same. It wasn't just dirt.

"These walls contain magic stones. Some parts are even crystallized."

"Wow, really?"

The walls are glowing because they contain magic stones, so we don't need lights.

"Right. Walls made of magic stones are one of the conditions for a dungeon. Whether or not there are monsters isn't really relevant."

"I see, that makes sense."

But is it safe to have such a large hollow underground?

I'm worried it might collapse if the structure is weak.

"Don't worry, Master. Our house is reinforced by magic, so it won't collapse."

"Plus, these walls mixed with magic stones are extremely solid. They can even regenerate if they're damaged."

Hestia scratched a bit of the wall to demonstrate.

A piece of the sparkling stone fell off, but the wall immediately repaired itself.

"See?"

"Really, this should be fine."

"Actually, dungeons have this property, making them a resource. You can extract a lot of magic stones."

Dungeons are like mines, and Hestia looked somewhat excited.

I was also a bit excited.

...I've always wanted to explore a place like this...

Thinking about that, I continued to descend deeper with Sakura and the others. Then,

"It's getting kind of hot."

I felt the temperature around us rising.

I started to sweat a little.

"Probably, the magic is being converted into heat."

"Does that happen naturally?"

"My breath is similar...!"

In the middle of her sentence, Hestia stopped dead in her tracks and didn't move.

"What's wrong?"

"I can't go any further. There's something with extremely high magic concentration over there."

Hestia pointed to a spot where steam was rising from a liquid.

"Hmm? I don't really understand what you mean by high magic concentration. Should we not get closer?"

"Ah, I'll go and check. It doesn't seem to be toxic."

Sakura moved a little closer and waved at us after looking at the liquid.

"Master, it's a hot spring!"

"Really!?"

Following Sakura, I looked at the liquid and saw that water was bubbling up from the ground.

"The temperature is... less than 40 degrees. It's weakly alkaline and harmless to the human body."

According to Sakura's perception, it seemed to be a lukewarm spring.

"Without any volcanoes, it's quite impressive."

"It's probably heated by the magic stones. As a result, the liquid contains a high concentration of magic."

"Is it safe to immerse my body in water with magic in it?"

"It should be fine for you, Master. But if ordinary people touch it, their skin might burn or peel off."

That sounds pretty scary.

"Considering that, this hot spring is hard to use, isn't it? I mean, only we will use it anyway."

We don't know what effects it might have on the body.

"Right. Only a few people can use it in its concentrated form."

"Right, I can't handle it. I can't get close."

Hestia must have heard us and responded.

So, Hestia stopped because of the hot spring.

"Even a dragon king's skin can't handle it, so it must be quite strong."

"Being underground, it's also close to the ley lines, so the magic concentration is very high."

It must be too potent.

However, if we dilute it, it might have more uses.

"Right. If we dilute it, it might even make the rice taste better."

"Hmm, that sounds like a good idea. If we need it, let's set up something like a water pipe to bring it to the garden."

"Sure, I'll help you, Master."

So, I used an extended apple tree as a makeshift water pipe and buried it in one corner of the garden.

We haven't brought the spring water to the surface yet, as we know it could be toxic in its concentrated form.

Maybe we'll dilute it later and make an outdoor hot spring.

In any case, we now have a magic stone dungeon and a hot spring source underground.