Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

Mercedes was the eldest of all the sisters and was the leader of the Valkyries. She alone took one of the spots from the 'Twelve Heroes', that was how powerful she was.

"Elder sister was along with us in that void. When the portal that brought us here opened, Elder sister was the one who sensed it and told us to go inside it as it would lead us to the place where master was".

"When we asked why elder sister was not coming with us, she said that the energy of the portal wasn't powerful enough to bring her too. Thus she chose to send us first and decided to wait for master to summon her later".

Annette explained, a little sad that their elder sister had to stay behind in that void.

Simon nodded his head in understanding, although Mercedes was also one of the Valkyries, she was designed by him to be far stronger than all her sisters. It came as no surprise to him that he wasn't able to summon her along with the Valkyries.

The five emblems that he had initiated the [???????] with, was used to summon the five of them, the number of emblems corresponded with the number of Valkyrie sisters that were summoned.

Given how strong Mercedes was, Simon reckoned that he needed to at least save up two to three emblems to summon her. That is, given the premise that the next time he summons, the [???????] will be able to connect with that void again.

"I see, you don't have to worry about her, I will summon her at the earliest after I have sufficient emblems" Simon said dispersing their worries.

"We are very thankful, Master" the Valkyries sisters thanked sincerely.

"Alright, this is now your home, you all should get familiar with it. Cecilia, why don't you show them around?" Simon looked at Cecilia beside him who was eager to talk with them and tasked her with this job.

The moment he called her name, Cecilia jumped down from the couch, puffed her chest and said energetically "Leave it to me big brother. Miss Annette, Miss Bea, Miss Emma..umm Miss Bianca and Miss Alice please follow me".

The battle maids performed a courteous bow and followed behind her "It is our honour princess Cecilia".

"Eh?! P-Princess?" Cecilia fumbled on her words, shocked by their form of address.

"Hehe, you are the little sister of our lord and creator. Given his status, of course that makes you a princess" Alice who had a playful nature just like Cecilia, explained.

"I-Is that so.."

Their voices that kept on sounding from the distance, disappeared at this moment.

"What are you thinking?" Irene asked seeing that Simon looked a little lost. Simon snapped out of his thoughts and shook his head saying it was nothing much. He was just wondering how mysterious the [???????] option was.

The abyss inside that looked extremely dangerous at a glance was capable of connecting two different places separated by worlds or even dimensions. Not only that, the option was powerful enough to breach even a void where there is no concept of space and time and summon the battle maids from there.

The conversation he had with the Valkyries, made him wonder how the option actually worked. If he were to believe their words, the option created a portal of sorts that connected his dungeon with some other place using which the summons were able to enter this world.

Are summons beings that are called forth from a different plane or do they get summoned from this planet only? Simon had many questions, the answer of which could be found gradually with time.

After sending the Valkyries and Cecilia, Simon turned around and addressed the [Helpers].

"It's been a while, Lord Simon. We are truly delighted and glad to see you safe and sound" Coleus, the head of the [Helpers] said.

Simon acknowledged their concern with a nod of his head. All the five helpers were currently assembled here in the hall of his Main floor.

"I assume that all of you have been well these past few months?".

The five [Helpers] nodded their heads "It's all thanks to Lord Simon and Mistress Irene providing their protection".

"I just provided you with a place to live. In any case, I called you here not to discuss all that. Tell me about the progress of the floors that you have been monitoring" Simon stated getting to the point immediately.

The role of the [Helpers] was like the staff of a company employed to take care of its dealings and businesses. In this case, the company was his dungeon and he was the CEO of it. It was only natural that he inspects and monitors his employees and see whether they were doing a good job or not.

What about the payment and stuff? Ahem, Simon decided not to fret about the small stuff now.

"Floor one to ten is in excellent working condition, there have been no problems so far. Though it seems like there is a need for increasing the number of monsters spawned on floor nine and ten. That way, I believe the progress rate of the adventurers will slow down".

The first one to report was Coleus. From how he suggested a solution, it seemed that he was being very observant in his job.

Simon nodded his head and then looked at the others.

"Due to the swamp in floors eleven and twelve, the pirodiles and Lizardmen are somehow able to stall the adventurers for some time. However, it seems that the Anemodactly on floors thirteen and fourteen are too easy of a target for the veteran adventurers in a wide plane".

"I believe the numbers are not the issue but the terrain. I request Lord Simon to give me permission to install some mountains and trees so that the anemodactly can have more room to manoeuvre".

Birch one of the three adult Forest Spring spirits said. He was attentive enough to understand which of the floors he was given to monitor worked fine and which needed changes.

"L-lord Simon, floor twenty to thirty needs the most changes. It seemed that the adventurers are far too powerful for the current monsters to take them on" the one to speak after Birch was Maya.

Since most of the adventurers diving inside those floors were from powerful guilds from the surrounding regions, the dungeon was in quite a mess.

"Thanks to Mistress Irene and the golems the third guardian provided we were somehow able to stop their progress. However, the root of the problem is still unsolved and if we don't address it soon, they will be able to breach through these floors in a few weeks of time" Fay who was the only other girl other than Maya, added.

Simon nodded his head and looked towards the last person who was yet to speak.

"Before coming here, I was monitoring the team that has dived inside the thirty-first floor. Therefore I can tell pretty much that the Desert Cactopus and the Giant Purple Scorpion won't be able to stop them for long."

"Although the desert works out in the favour of the monsters and their poison can be deadly, the average level of that team is just too high and one of them even has mastery over water magic" Jarred straightened his back and reported.

Hearing their first hand reports, Simon once again realised how dire the situation looked for his dungeon. At the same time, he felt pleased that his [Helpers] were doing a magnificent task by looking after the floor in his stead.

As the dungeon master, he had the most authority in the dungeon. However, it was not like he was omnipotent and can solve every problem before it even arises. Heck, he wasn't even aware of some of the changes that needed to be done before it was mentioned by his helpers.

He realised that he cannot always devote all his time looking after all of the floor of his dungeon. After all, he was just one person.

That is where the Role function comes in. They who were assigned as [Helpers] had the duty to shave some of the load from his share. And from their reports he listened so far, they have been doing an excellent job.

Not only were they far more detailed on the problems happening all around the floors of the dungeon, they even know what changes needs to be done. 'It was a good call to bring them here and listen to them' Simon thought internally.

Even in an organisation, the top level management cannot always know what happens at the lower and middle levels of the organisation. Thus it is crucial to communicate and take the output of those who are engaged in that area first hand. "

So what do you suggest we do?" Simon asked, wanting to know how well they could solve the problem at hand.

Coleus: "Perhaps we should increase the spawn rate and the number of monsters".

Birch: "I believe structural changes are necessary to blend the monster with their natural environment".

Maya: "Umm we can increase the traps and make it trickier to progress?".

Fay: "The treasure chest and the rewards that are spawned, are too plain in sight. Maybe we could stall more of their time if we make it spawn in risky and complex places".

"Even if we deal with the current batch of adventurers, more are sure to come after the news spreads. At that time, they will only be stronger. That is why I think we should increase the number of floors my lord" Jarred said looking straight at Simon.

Listening to all their suggestion, Simon nodded his head. The solutions they provided weren't bad, perhaps it was necessary with how fast the changes around the dungeon are occurring. But the thing that was the most necessary was what Jarred said.