Chapter 67. Shelter
After the exploration teams returned, I gifted Bastet Daong, who came with Team 4 and helped in the desert, some food as a reward.
It was fish that Ha Yumi bought at the fish market, fish sent by Rize from the world of Lumina, and even *churu* that Mysticism provided.
Fortunately, the gifts perfectly suited Bastet’s taste.
［M-meowmazing! It’s incredibly delicious, meow!!! The fish is great, and this *churu* just melts in my mouth, meow!］
It was a moment where Bastet Daong’s favorability toward us soared.
【Yumi】─Oh my, you’re eating so well! So cute!
【Mysticism】─She likes the *churu* I sent the most!
【Mysticism】─🤭
【Pururu】─Person who gives food = good person.
【Bubble Bubble】─She’s also enjoying the fish Rize sent, huh?
【Rizenova】─I told you, the fish from Lumina is delicious. Saying it wasn’t was just a joke.
While Bastet was absorbed in devouring the fish and *churu*, I pressed a severed arm against her red spot and tied it securely with thread.
No matter how friendly they were, taming an SS-rank still took quite a bit of time.
By the way, the Snake Head and the Mummy Skeleton had already been tamed.
［Orooro, Chiiik!］
［…You’re noisy.］
［Oroorooro!］
［Shut up…］
［Orooroorooro! Chiiiiiik!!!］
［……..］
【Pururu】─That damn snake head is so noisy.
【Yumi】─It seems excited.
【Mysticism】─😮
【Mysticism】─When did it regenerate its body?
Both creatures had turned into silk cocoons—Pharaoh Devil and Anubis Dragon.
I placed severed arms on their red spots as well.
These two would probably take much longer than Bastet Daong.
After turning away from them, I looked back at Bastet Daong.
“Hey, kitty.”
［*Churp churp*… It’s Bastet Daong.］
“Stay here and sleep today. I’ll even give you food tomorrow.”
［Meow! If you feed me, I’ll live here forever, meow!!］
【Pururu】─An easy one, huh.
【Yumi】─Looks like I’ll have to stop by the fish market more often.
【Rizenova】─Don’t overwork yourself. I’ll continue supplying the fish steadily.
【Mysticism】─I’ll send *churu* more frequently, too!
【Bubble Bubble】─Then I guess I’ll have to do some fishing.
Successfully keeping Bastet here was a relief, especially since she was simpler than expected.
I looked at her with satisfaction and then asked a personal question I’d been curious about.
“By the way, kitty.”
［Call me Bastet Daong properly, meow.］
“Alright, Daong.”
［Why are you calling me?］
“Can you tell me about your relationship with Solorb?”
［Solorb? Solorb is basically like my friend, meow.］
“Friend? How did you become friends?”
［We’ve always been friends, meow. I’m from Solorb, after all.］
“What do you mean, you’re from Solorb?”
［It means I come from the world called Solorb, meow. Solorb is the name of a world, meow.］
*Churp churp.*
While Bastet sucked on the *churu* with all her soul, she started explaining in more detail.
***
To sum it up, Bastet wasn’t a newly born creature, nor had she recently evolved.
According to her, she had existed for a very long time and was close to 5,000 years old.
‘She said she only recently came to this world…’
It turns out she wasn’t born or raised as a monster in the Ancient Labyrinth either.
Bastet’s homeland was Solorb.
More precisely, it was a unique world that existed *within* Solorb.
In other words, Solorb is a monster that houses an entire world, and Bastet had crossed over to this world from there.
The reason Solorb helped Bastet was simply because she hailed from the world within it.
In a way, she was like Solorb’s child.
【Rizenova】─So, Solorb isn’t a planet-type monster but a world-type monster.
【Bubble Bubble】─That’s insane…
【Pururu】─A world being a monster? You’re kidding, right?
【Mysticism】─🧐
【Mysticism】─But there was nothing on Solorb’s surface?
【Yumi】─It’s not on the surface; the world is inside. Maybe if you go through that black hole-like eye, a different world appears?
【Mysticism】─😮
【Mysticism】─So the inside of Solorb’s body is a different dimension.
【Pururu】─The scale of this is insane. I can’t even wrap my head around it. Damn.
【Yumi】─This must be tough for people who aren’t too bright. How unfortunate.
【Pururu】─?
Anyway, the point is that Bastet is a monster from another world.
Yet, seeing those red spots and being able to tame her means…
Perhaps since Solorb exists as a monster within the labyrinth, the monsters of the world within Solorb are also considered Ancient Labyrinth monsters.
The world inside Solorb is another world, but it’s also a subordinate world within the labyrinth.
“So, Daong. Why did you leave that world and come here?”
［I got bored of that place and came out. I wanted to explore new places, meow.］
It was a perfectly understandable reason.
After spending 5,000 years in one world, anyone would get fed up.
［And I’m here as Solorb’s representative, meow.］
“Representative?”
［Yes, meow. A lot of my friends wanted to come out like me, but Solorb thought the outside world was dangerous and didn’t want to let everyone out. So we chose a representative, meow. And that representative is me, meow.］
It seemed like Bastet was the only monster to have emerged from Solorb’s desert.
“What does the representative do? Go back to Solorb later and tell stories about what happened outside?”
［There’s no need for that, meow. Everything I see, Solorb and everyone living in it can see too, meow. Everything I hear gets transmitted to Solorb, meow.］
【Mysticism】─😮
【Yumi】─So they’re sharing their vision with Solorb’s residents.
【Pururu】─It’s similar to how Geon sees things through Iris.
When I probed further, Bastet explained that everything she was seeing was currently being broadcasted on a screen in the sky over Solorb’s world.
“How many people are watching?”
［Everyone in Solorb is probably watching, so I’d say around a hundred million, meow.］
“…A hundred million?”
［It could be more, meow. There are a lot of creatures living in Solorb, meow.］
“That’s a ridiculous number… Now that I know so many people are watching me, I suddenly feel a bit self-conscious…”
［Don’t worry about it, meow. They’re all looking at you favorably, meow.］
【Pururu】─Hahaha, you’ve suddenly become a popular broadcaster.
【Mysticism】─An audience of a hundred million!
【Yumi】─Technically, it’s Bastet’s show that has the viewers.
“Are there any humans… or, beings that look like me?”
［No, meow. There’s no creature that looks like fish either, meow. Most of them look similar to me, but their faces, fur color, and sizes vary, meow.］
【Yumi】─Wow, so it’s a world ruled by cat-like creatures.
【Bubble Bubble】─A dream world.
【Rizenova】─You like cats?
【Bubble Bubble】─Yeah, they’re cute.
【Pururu】─A planet full of cat monsters. Damn.
【Mysticism】─It’s not *all* cats! It’s just mostly!
【Pururu】─Shut up.
【Mysticism】─😐
A world of cats, huh… They’re probably not ordinary cats, but monsters.
There were likely other creatures on Bastet’s level, too.
It was less a dream world full of adorable cats and more likely a brutal, death-filled world of monstrous felines.
“By the way, Daong. Solorb is watching me right now too, right?”
［That’s right, meow.］
My eyes shifted to the severed arm I had attached to Bastet’s red spot.
Is it really okay to tame her?
It would be awkward if Solorb didn’t like this.
Just as I was contemplating that, Bastet spoke up first.
［Are you trying to tame me right now, meow?］
“Huh? How did you know?”
［Solorb said the arm attached to my body seemed suspicious, meow. It sensed you might be trying to tame me, meow.］
【Pururu】─Wait, they can communicate even from afar? Then why did she roar when being called earlier?
【Yumi】─Don’t try to understand cats.
Unlike the oblivious Bastet, Solorb seemed quite sharp.
“Sorry, I’ll take it off.”
Since I was caught, I apologized.
It would be dangerous to make an enemy of Solorb right now.
I moved quickly to remove the severed arm, worried that Solorb might be offended, when—
［It’s fine, meow. Solorb said it’s safer if I stay with you, meow.］
Bastet quickly pulled away and spoke.
Thankfully, neither Solorb nor Bastet seemed to be in a bad mood.
So, does this mean Solorb too…?
［I don’t mind being tamed, and Solorb said as long as you’re not trying to tame it, it doesn’t care, meow.］
…What a pity.
***
A day passed, and the next morning arrived.
Pharaoh Devil and Anubis Dragon were still in the process of being tamed.
Although these monsters had previously been dominated, taming them posed no problem.
Unlike monsters who had been tamed by The Assisted One, monsters who had been dominated before still showed red spots and could be tamed.
Like Melody Fox.
I left a few monsters behind to guard Pharaoh and Anubis at the hideout and took the rest with me to the desert.
［Abururururl!!!］
Then, I tamed the Giant Caterpillar that had been waiting at the entrance.
This one, like Medical Mushroom and Melody Fox, was tamed in an instant.
By the way, there would be no exploration today.
Today, I needed to build a shelter in this desert.
With my monsters mounted on the Caterpillar’s back, we scouted the desert for a suitable spot to establish the shelter.
While searching for a good location, I spotted something.
“Oh.”
I found an ideal spot—a place where a spring bubbled up, surrounded by grass and trees.
An oasis.
After parking the Caterpillar near the oasis, I pulled out a signpost.
It was one of the supplies Rize had sent.
『Kang Geon’s First Shelter』
I set up the large signpost and then took a small orb from my pocket.
This too was one of Rize’s support supplies.
“Didn’t he say to throw this on the ground hard?”
I hurled the orb with all my strength.
*Boom!*
Energy exploded, and a crystal house instantly materialized.
If only I had this last time… Well, no need to complain.
This orb was incredibly expensive.
The commission fee was maxed out at the platinum level.
In any case, the crystal house I just set up was a space where monsters could stay overnight and where the shelter manager could live.
Unfortunately, the co-manager Caterpillar was too big to use it.
‘I’ll choose either Pharaoh or Anubis as the shelter manager.’
I also stationed an Iris to maintain constant communication with the shelter.
This was the sixth Iris, which I had tamed with the help of the others yesterday.
I placed various supplies near the crystal house, including a wooden table, chairs, and a parasol.
These were all support items from Rize.
“Hmm.”
After setting up the house and other items at the oasis, the shelter started to look quite decent.
As I slowly looked around the shelter, I realized something was missing.
“Come to think of it, there’s no barricade.”
I had forgotten the most important thing.
I hadn’t set up a defense wall to block intruding monsters.
To be honest, a simple wall wouldn’t be enough to stop labyrinth monsters, but…
It was still better to have something than nothing.
At least it could buy some time if monsters invaded.
Also, having a barricade would clearly mark this shelter as someone’s territory.
“I should ask Rize to send a barricade or something later.”
I was stroking my chin, thinking out loud, when—
［Don’t worry.］
A massive voice descended from the sky.
［I will personally protect that shelter.］
…Oh, right.
Solorb had been watching me all along.
I had forgotten that Solorb and countless cats were watching me through Bastet.
Since I hadn’t turned on the broadcast, I thought no one had been watching until now because there were no assistants.
In any case, with an SSS-rank monster offering to protect the shelter, there was no reason to refuse.
“Well… thanks.”
［Heh heh.］
I unexpectedly gained the best protection possible.
“…By the way, you’ve come down a bit closer, haven’t you? It’s kind of hot, so could you go back up?”
［Heh heh…］
Solorb rose back into the sky.
It was a surprisingly obedient monster.