The Fourth Wave of Settlers

[Northwest of the Dungeon]

The Nakayama Highway ran on past the Land of Ke, farther still, to the Land of Shina, a land of nothing but mountains. Along this road a throng of over two thousand wretched-looking migrants was trudging. Not only humans, but a great many beastfolk, and, hard to tell because they were wrapped in desert cloaks, a great many Preta as well.

[Core Room]

"Master, it's a good thing we were able to wipe out the Tsukuba army before the fourth wave of settlers arrived. There seem to be a lot of beastfolk this time too, so we can turn the knight order into cavalry in one fell swoop."

That assumed there were horses.

"But that doubles the population. Will there be enough food?"

"Fortunately, we have dungeon energy to spare, so we'll tide them over temporarily with Shiso (Asura) liquid fertilizer."

Ordinary dungeon monsters were supplied with energy by the dungeon and so needed no meals, but Named monsters required food. For this reason, the dungeon could prepare meals for the Master and the monsters.

Asura needed nutritional supplementation in place of photosynthesis. But feeding it to humans left them short, over the long term, of certain amino acids and various other things, so it was strictly a stopgap.

"Hold on, that stuff's outrageously foul-tasting to humans, isn't it."

Its color was a filthy green, its taste that of a ditch where summer algae had bloomed. Asura tasted nothing but muddy water no matter what they ate, so it was no problem for them, but for any human other than the English it was unbearable.

"Also, I'll summon a large quantity of bucket rice-cultivation kits and finish the sowing before the day is out."

[Northwest of the Dungeon]

At the head of the throng of refugees, an argument was breaking out, as always.

"It's an alliance of three races, Beast, human, and Preta."

So said a dog-beastfolk. In appearance he was a clothed, bipedal dog. His head was a dog's, yet he spoke normally and didn't tack a "woof" onto the end of his sentences.

"That'd be human, Beast, and Preta. Though 'three races' sounds too much like mountain bandits, so it's rejected."

A human countered. Mountain bandits had the image of being filthy, shabby, and uncool, which was why such brigands called themselves pirates despite having no ships.

"What decides the contest is us beastfolk. The dog-beastfolk, superior in command and skilled at organized action; the bear-beastfolk, superior in muscle; the boar-beastfolk, superior in breaching power; the deer-beastfolk, nimble and superior in speed; and the monkey-beastfolk, who balk at neither rampart nor watchtower. This time especially, it's a powerful lineup led by deer, boar, and monkey."

Incidentally, there were no ox- or horse-beastfolk. Setting aside the supply problem caused by their oxen-drinking, horse-devouring gluttony, that was the lesser issue: oxen, horses, and some dogs were looked down on as having been domesticated by humans. They weren't slaves or anything of the sort, merely hired hands.

"In short, anything that isn't a dog is a herd of beasts too unruly to command, not even worth turning into livestock. Both the Land of Ke and the Land of Shina ought to be glad to be rid of so many pests."

"You teeming, year-round-in-heat lot."

Beastfolk had a low birth rate because, while their species numbered some 3.4 billion, different species couldn't produce offspring, and even closely related species lost their fertility when crossbred. Furthermore, even with the same dog, an animal dog and a dog-beastfolk couldn't produce offspring. Incidentally, Preta had no sex and didn't increase by "breeding."

"Hold it. The lookout bird's coming, so quiet down!"

A crow the size of a pelican cut into the quarrel. Birds had good eyes, so they could spot a drone from the dungeon early.

"Suzuki-san, can't you fly off from our side and scout too?"

"Flying's exhausting, so no. Just get a black kite to do that sort of thing."

In this world, bird-beastfolk (not "beasts" in the zoological sense, mind you) were ill-favored. Owing to the constraints of physical law, combining flight capability with human-level intelligence was difficult. Birds had streamlined their brains for flight; a crow, for instance, was quite clever with a brain weighing 10 grams, a mere one percent of a human's, but to give one a fair degree of intelligence, enlarge its body to match, and then fit it with the 3-meter wingspan needed to fly at that size, the body weight would reach somewhere around 15 kilograms, on par with a fat swan, pelican, or condor. A black kite came out a size larger than a crow, and could only just barely fly.

"It can't be helped if there aren't any. So, who was it that attacked a black kite and drove it off, again? Suzuki, I believe it was."

"Shut it, you mangy mutt. Shall I pluck out every last one of your hairs and make a futon of them? Black kites and owls are evil by their very existence, so I can't stand even breathing the same air as them."

To Suzuki the crow-beastfolk, black kites and owls were a physiological impossibility to tolerate.

[Core Room]

"Master, it seems to be a mixed migrant band that doesn't get along too well, but for now, there don't appear to be any dropouts. That said, they look quite worn out. Only, there are Preta among them, so we'll have them turn back."

"Once they get reasonably close, let's send out General Rāja and Haruna-san to meet them. And, is it really all right to drive the Preta back into the desert?"

"Preta are resistant to fasting, and even if they do starve, they merely fall into suspended animation; make them drink high-purity alcohol and they'll perk right up. Once we've made some progress with the development, it'll be enough to dig them up and dump them in the next town over or somewhere."