Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

Simon changed out of his wet clothes before looking for Irene and Cecilia in one of the big halls they always used. 𝘧r𝗲𝑒𝔀𝘦𝙗𝓃oν𝑒l.𝐜𝗼m

When he opened the door and walked in, he saw them soundly sleeping on the couch. Not wanting to disturb them, Simon silently closed the door back and walked out.

"Master, Maya and Fay have visited quite a few times while you were training. Since you were busy, they left a message with me. They told me to tell you that the Hidden chambers are ready" Bea appeared before him and reported.

Hearing this, Simon remembered that he assigned those two to create the hidden chambers. Now that he thought about it, those two have been wanting to give him a report since the moment he arrived back.

"I'll see them now," He said and messaged them to come to the Main Floor.

After a while, Maya and Fay entered the hall where Simon and the Valkyries, were waiting for them.

"My lord" they bowed their heads.

"Un… raise your heads up" Simon nodded, even he himself was astonished by how calm and adapted he got to this form of address.

"I heard that you guys have visited the main floor quite a few times. Accept my apology, I got quite busy with the training" he felt a little guilty since the circumstances made him completely forget about it.

"No.. No… Lord Simon does not need to apologise. You are the ruler of this place and there are many responsibilities on your shoulders, it is only just natural that you would be busy" Fay and Maya hurriedly shook their head not wanting to accept his apology.

"Is that so… Well, anyways, I heard that you guys have completed the hidden chambers?" Simon asked getting straight to the point.

He had given them the exclusive right to alter certain areas of the floor to their wish, the right to spawn a few kinds of monsters and a certain amount of DP for the cost. All so that they could complete the task assigned to them.

He remembered that it hadn't been very long since he gave them this order, probably two or three weeks ago. However, they have already finished creating the chambers while side by side completing their duty as the [Helpers].

"Yes my lord, the Hidden chambers are complete. Using the DP that lord Simon has given us, we have installed a total of five hidden chambers. One on the 15th floor, one on floor 20, floor 25 and two on floor 33. The rewards have already been placed and the monsters assigned to guard that place are, Battle Grizzly, Savage War Lion, Aerodactylus and Fire Demon Ape respectively".

Fay reported. Since it was her idea to create something like this to begin with, one could see the enthusiasm and the effort she had put into this.

The hidden chambers were created on the upper-middle floors and the middle floors with an average of one chamber on each floor. The strength of the monsters assigned was also appropriate, the Grizzly Bear was the perfect monster to guard treasures on floor fifteen, the territory of the Direwolves and Stromwolves.

Battle Grizzly was not too powerful that the adventurers couldn't tackle yet not an easy opponent that just anybody could defeat. It provided a sufficient level of challenge.

The same went for the Savage War Lion, Aerodactylus and the Fire Demon Ape. The Fire demon Ape was an entity that Simon had mutated from the demon ape that he had summoned from the [Ga??????] while the Savage War Lion were monsters brought in from the southern side of the forest.

The Aerodactylus on the other hand was a monster mutated from the species of a monster called Anemodactyl that occupied the 13th and 14th floors.

Aerodactylus was the result of Simon using the Viridescent Mutation crystal on a colony of Anemodactyl.

"Hmm… you two did a good job. So how are the chambers going off" Simon praised, he opened the [Dungeon] function of the [Main Menu] and scrutinised those aforementioned floors. There was no point in creating something new if it was not providing any yield.

Fay reported—"We have been monitoring those areas, the hidden chamber on floor fifteen has already been found and cleared a few times by a bunch of groups. Whereas the ones on the 20th and 25th floor only one adventurer party has found them yet".

"Since I noticed a few more adventurer's groups loitering in that area, word of mouth must have spread. It won't be long before they find it. As for the two chambers on floor 33rd I deliberately chose to create them in places that are difficult to spot or traverse".

"Since the monster guarding them are strong, I believed that the path that led towards the chamber should also provide a hurdle and test the adventurer's strength and courage. Of course, I also made sure that they get rewards matching the danger".

Simon had no complaints, she had put a lot of thought into each and every element of this task and achieved it to perfection. He spared no efforts to praise her and Maya as that would keep his employees.. ahem subordinates motivated.

He also agreed with Fay's take on making the chambers guarded by Aerodactlyus and Fire Demon Ape a little difficult to find since these monsters were strong and not just anybody could beat them. It would need an elite adventurer or a strong group of adventurers with a more than good synergy to defeat these monsters.

Apart from that, a hidden chamber won't be a hidden chamber if they were discovered so easily. So it was good that the last two were a little difficult to find

Satisfied by the work of his subordinates Simon offered Fay and Maya a lump sum of DP as reward for their hard work.

"M-My lord we cannot take it. It was our duty as the [Helpers] and besides I truly enjoyed my task" Fay hurriedly rejected the reward.

However, how could Simon who was not even providing his employees with a salary not give them any bonus for their work too? Wouldn't this completely make them out to be a black company?

An employee's motivation was directly related to the job he or she did in the company, if they weren't motivated, naturally the work they did will also lack efficiency. Besides, Simon believed that one needed to be sufficiently rewarded for their efforts.

"Well, don't be so hasty to reject. This reward is not something that I'm just handing over just like that. It is something that you deserve and have earned it. Think of it as a price for your hard work" Simon pressed.

Fay and Maya fidgeted for a while, it was not like they were acting or were hesitant to accept a reward. They simply thought that what they did was given since they were a resident and a [Helper] of this dungeon.

Simon's grace was already as big as a mountain for them, to accept anything else from their lord would be too much.

"Since Master is insisting so much, you should take it. Besides, wouldn't it be like you are not giving him face if you keep on rejecting the reward?". '

Nice follow Annette' Simon muttered internally in his heart. With those words from Annette, those two wouldn't be able to reject it anymore. Once they accepted his reward, their motivation will also stay high and his dungeon will function as efficiently as ever.

Fay and Maya looked at each other, now that even Annette has spoken up, it would be rude to reject the reward. The two accepted the DP that Simon had transferred to them.

Being a [Helper] and all, the two girls had the authority to open a part of the [Main Menu]. Although the option on their menu was limited to only a handful of functions necessary for their role.

After the two girls bowed their heads in thanks towards Simon, they were just about to exit the hall when Annette approached them. She then whispered something into their ears.

"You know this DP is something that master has given you to splurge on yourselves. So don't go keeping it or using it on the dungeon. This will greatly upset him. Why don't you guys open the [Shop] option I believe there are quite a few sections that might interest you guys".

The [Shop] option besides having the important sections that only a dungeon master could access, it also had a few sections for extravagance like the clothes section, food and beverages, beauty section and so on so forth.

Demon nobles are a race that are the incarnation of desires, naturally, there were many sections for self-indulgence on the dungeon menu.

After the two [Helpers] exited the place, Simon turned towards the Valkyries who were standing beside him. While he was giving the rewards to Fay and Maya, he suddenly remembered that he had given no rewards to the Valkyries who had worked so hard for him since the time he had summoned them.

Since they were his creations, it skipped his mind that they were an employee of the dungeon too. They are also entitled to gifts and rewards. It was not only them, all of his subordinates deserved that.

"Annette, Bea, Emma, Bianca, Alice.. do you guys have something you want? You all have worked so hard for me but I never got the opportunity to ever thank you". Simon's words immediately shocked the Valkyries and they immediately got on their knees.

"Please don't say such things, master. Our only joy and happiness lie in helping you. We never considered your orders as work ever much less think about a reward".

"Eh?!" Simon muttered dumbfoundedly.