An elf appeared!
Brown bob cut. Skin white as snow. Pointed ears. It was your typical cute elf girl straight out of a anime, and the elf's eyes sparkled like pure gold.
That's enough admiring her looks. My brain kicked into high gear, trying to figure out why this elf suddenly showed up.
She looks young, she's not shooting her bow even though she sees me, she seems scared, and most importantly, she looks weak.
And she's trying to run. Probably a young elf who was wandering the forest alone and ran into me.
'I'm catching her.'
I'd have to go all out. The moment I stepped forward, the elf panicked and lost her footing, falling from the tree branch.
"Kyaaah!"
With a pretty cute scream, the elf slipped from the branch but barely managed to catch her leg on it to avoid falling. Without thinking about her skirt falling down, the elf hurried to pull herself up.
But I was already running full speed. The distance to the elf was about thirty steps, but I quickly closed that gap and reached her right before she could climb up.
"...!!"
The elf saw me and quickly tried to pull herself up. Looked like she was planning to climb onto the branch and run away jumping through the trees.
But she's too soft.
"Lime!!"
I threw Lime at the elf. Lime, thrown with all my strength, flew like a basketball and smacked the elf hard in the back of the head.
Spl-ack!
"Gahk...!"
Hit by a surprise attack, the elf pitched forward and fell from the branch. Behind her light brown hair, a green blob was stuck, and Lime was wriggling like it was trying to eat the elf.
"Lime, this one's not for you to eat."
I yanked Lime off and put it on my shoulder. The ear visible through the gooey hair looked sharp enough to poke someone.
"Hii, hiik...!"
The elf let out a high-pitched scream, trembling in fear. She seemed terrified by the weight of my muddy foot pressing gently on her back. I poked Lime and pointed at the elf.
"This one's for me to eat."
Thud!
With those words, I struck the back of the elf's neck. The elf dropped her head and passed out, and I slung her over my other shoulder.
'Was she alone? No. Something's definitely gonna come chasing after her.'
No matter how much I tried to cover my tracks, I'd come out here to collect wood, not to kidnap an elf. But I got caught by accident, and if I let the elf go, elven hunters would definitely come to kill me.
I won't go down easy, but I've got no choice but to gamble on luck.
'First, let's get back to the dungeon.'
Cover my tracks and hide the elf and the wood inside the dungeon. I still had room for prisoners, and even if something does attack, if I can just summon subordinates, the situation would change.
'Please, let no one notice, please!'
With desperate hope, I first took the elf into the cave and tied her up tight with vine stems, then hurriedly hauled the logs into the dungeon.
"Guhaa!"
I was drenched in sweat. My pants were already so soaked and stinking that I'd taken them off ages ago.
The inside of the dungeon was filled with the sour smell of slime goo and the crotch stench of me and Eila, but now it would fill up with the smell of sweat, wood scent, and one elf who smelled sweet like peaches.
'Gotta make some ventilation or something.'
For that, I'd need labor first. I put the log chunks in a corner, then—
[Construction: Build Summoning Facility Lv.0]
[Wood 17 / 10]
[Magic Stone 1 / 1]
I finished preparing to build the summoning facility. But how? Do I just press a button and the system does it automatically? Or will some kind of helper appear to assist me?
Only one way to find out. I pressed the button with a "whatever happens, happens" attitude.
[Construction: Building Summoning Facility Lv.0]
[Please designate where to install the summoning facility.]
[Gather the specified materials at that location.]
The system was helpful. A hologram-like image appeared before my eyes, and I moved it around inside the dungeon to check out the spots.
'Spots or whatever, there's not much I can do in here anyway.'
What kind of interior design can you do in a studio apartment with no ventilation? I positioned the summoning facility in a corner against the wall. A space about the size of two beds was temporarily designated, and I stacked up the ten log chunks in the specified shape.
'Now for the magic stone.'
Since it came from killing the dungeon master, I really hope it gives good results. I placed the magic stone on top of the log chunks, and soon a new window popped up.
[Construction: Build Summoning Facility Lv.0?]
[Materials consumed: Wood 10, Magic Stone 1]
[Time required: 1 hour]
[Expected result: Summoning Facility Lv.0, ?????]
"What's with the question marks making me nervous?"
No, think positive. Isn't the rule in games these days to give you enough resources to do one gacha pull at the start? When the facility's built, I'll probably get an item to summon monsters or a gacha ticket.
'Anyway, 1 hour huh.'
I've got 7 logs left. I checked what materials the other construction facilities needed.
[Construction: Build Bedroom Lv.0]
[Wood 0 / 5]
[Construction: Build Prisoner Cell Lv.0]
[Wood 0 / 10]
[Iron 0 / 1]
"Guess I can't build anything except the bedroom for now."
Even though it's called a bedroom, it's just a wooden platform, but I don't have the tools or techniques to make something that smooth. I was just grateful to the system, and the system gobbled up five pieces of wood and built the bed nice and quick.
The bed construction also took 30 minutes.
In the meantime, I broke apart the remaining two pieces of wood by hand and shaped them. I didn't have any tools, but at least I had the strength and fingernails to split logs.
Crack!
I used up all the remaining two pieces of wood to make things that any dungeon should have.
'Traps to repel intruders.'
I'd lost my iron mace. And I can't make the weapon I want to use going forward here.
But I need at least a temporary weapon to use for now, right? I split the wood with my hands, then sharpened it with my nails to make it sharp.
A sharp dagger to stab into an intruder's throat.
***
Lune was more nervous than ever. By the time she realized she'd lost consciousness, she'd already been kidnapped by the monster and trapped in a cave.
'How could something that only happens in fairy tales...!'
It was horrible. Most of all, the green monster with its back turned, wearing no clothes, was terrifying. The way it ran faster than an elf, the way it attacked her from a distance, and most of all, the thing dangling from its crotch—
'How barbaric!'
How can it just walk around with its dick hanging out in the open? Even if it's a monster, doesn't it have at least some sense of shame—
"This one's for me to eat."
A chill ran down Lune's spine.
Eat.
It definitely said eat.
Lune barely opened her eyes a crack and surveyed the cave. There were two mysterious magic circles drawn, and the monster was in the middle, splitting log chunks with its hands to make something.
A long wooden skewer. That's when Lune was certain.
'It's going to eat me!'
What the elders and adults had been saying since she was little wasn't wrong. The stories about green-skinned monsters kidnapping you if you wander the forest alone weren't just made-up tales to put you to sleep.
I can't die like this. The monster hasn't noticed I'm awake yet. As long as it's making that skewer, there's definitely a chance to escape—
"You're awake."
"...!!"
Lune quickly shut her eyes. Pretending to be passed out, pretending to be unconscious. She just hoped the monster was fooled.
Step, step.
Thanks to her better-than-average hearing, the monster's footsteps boomed like thunder. Lune realized the monster was coming toward her and prayed it wouldn't notice.
But such sweet dreams were doomed from the moment she was captured. Lune's body was suddenly lifted into the air.
"Hmm, so this is an elf."
The monster's sweaty voice heated Lune's face. Lune was playing limp, but she couldn't help her expression scrunching up slightly—it was a physiological reaction.
"Never thought I'd get to eat an elf. Keheheh."
The monster even licked its lips while shaking Lune around.
"I know you're awake. Open your eyes before I count to three. One, two—"
"P-please spare me..."
In the end, Lune was the first to give in. With a sobbing voice, she begged the monster. She didn't have the courage to look at its face.
"P-please don't eat me..."
"Kuhup."
The monster gently stroked Lune's hair. Its pot-lid-sized hand was big enough to grab Lune's entire head at once.
"I won't eat you."
The monster wiped Lune's eyes with its thumb.
"I'll fuck you."
"...?"
Lune.
Still a young elf.
Not understanding what "fuck" meant, she interpreted it at her own level of understanding and was horrified.
"You'll cut off my neck and eat me... Hyaaaaaang!!"
Trickle.
Lune peed herself in terror.