Chapter 13: This stone is a fine work.

The upper floor has now become Ann's living s.p.a.ce. I went back underground to the 13th floor again.

But there's a problem.

There's no s.p.a.ce.

Since it's been awhile I make stone statues, I was thinking of doing it again. But unfortunately, there's no place for it.

I've built 13 floors underground but each time I made various stone statues and interiors, there's no empty room.

In the innermost room, my recently made Senju Kannon statue is firmly standing in there.

And every time I went through the room to go somewhere, its poses change. I decided not to mind it anymore.

This is quite a problem for me.

Without working s.p.a.ce, I can't make the stone statue.

If I can't find one, then I just have to make one.

So, without a second thought, I decided to build the underground 14th floor.

And I'm also getting hungry too.

Now then, it's time to eat.

Bite, Munch Munch Munch

Yup, this stuff is delicious as ever.

*Rumbling* There's a lot of big gemstones coming out. I feel that the number of gemstones has significantly increased after the 10th floor.

Whatever.

By the way, Ann did say that this stone is not a gemstone but a magic stone instead. But what does that mean?

To begin with, what is a magic stone?

Let's ask Ann later after I'm done with this.

While I'm at it, let bring her some gemstones too.

If I remember about it, that is.

Also, whether it's a magic stone, a gemstone or a crystal ore, the important thing is it comes out in a large quant.i.ty.

To me, they're the perfect snack.

Unn, delicious~

Chomp Chomp Chomp

Crunch Crunch Crunch

Munch Munch Munch

Eat and eat. Eat like a glutton.

Dig and dig. Dig like digging a hole.

Probably due to the growth period, these days, my body keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Because of it, my capacity to dig in a day has increased and I moult frequently than before.

Currently, I'm moulting once a day.

Still, my size hasn't drastically changed though.

Fufufu, digging is no longer for the pros, behold.

If it's me now, it'll only take a day (from how I perceived the time) to dig a floor as big as the first floor.

—Is what I thought at that time.

……Hm?

While I was digging, something doesn't feel quite right.

What's happening?

The sound feels out of place.

The digging sound echoed violently.

It's lighter and resounds throughout the place.

I remember this feeling.

It was during when I was a corporate slave in my past life. It's similar to the wall in a shabby apartment with no proper soundproofing.

It can transmit the same sound applied to it.

It's just like at that time when I can hear lovey-dovey neighbour panting.

Dammit.

There's something on the other side.

What could it be….?

I stopped eating and silently dig forward.

And based on my biological clock, it came into view after I dug for about an hour.

A hole.

An empty cave appeared in front of me.

Then, the surrounding soil collapsed into it.

The soil can no longer support my weight.

Huh? Did I get fat?

As the gravitational law applied to me, I fell into it.

Ouch….

Too deep.

I look back at the hole I fell from.

That's quite high.

How high is it? About 50m I guess?

Despite falling from such height, it's not weird to say that I'm unharmed since this body is very st.u.r.dy.

If it's the human me, I will surely die from it.

There's not even scratch on my scale and it doesn't hurt at all.

Hmm, wait a minute.

Does that mean the flying dragon breath is actually more powerful than falling from 50m…?

The flying dragon is scary.

I feel fear of the flying dragon again.

As expected, I shouldn't go outside at all.

Putting that aside.

I look around the place.

It's wide.

Very wide.

It looks like a dome-shaped room.

It's as wide as the Tokyo Dome.

I had no idea such place exists here….

I mean, isn't it that kind of place?

An underground ruin. Something you see on the TV.

There's lithograph all over the place and the curved dome wall seems to be engraved with letters as well.

It's nothing but masterpiece.

Wow, amazing.

This is a ruin. I wonder what kind of creature live here.

Is it the underground people….? My heart is beating faster.

If they actually exist, I hope they are friendly.

After all, I'm a dragon. What if they throw a spear at me when we meet?

Unlike what I said earlier, there's no sound. It's completely silent.

h.e.l.lo. Are you there? Underground people or creature living here.

Are they nervous?

Should I say it out loud?

「Gyaaaa aaaaauuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!! 」

Gyaaaa aaaauuuu……

Gyaaaa aaauuu……

Gyaaaa auuu……

There's no reaction or other sound.

It's just my voice.

Hmm, I have to get close to the wall to go back anyway. Let's explore this place in the meantime.

While being vigilant, I start walking.

Wow, this ruins is amazing!

Something as big as tatami immediately caught my eyes.

The right half is engraved with some kind of ancient letters while the left half has drawings on it.

That picture…. Is that a bird?

A huge bird was drawn on it.

If you ignore the perspective, it's likely to be a huge creature since the drawing of the human surrounding it is smaller.

The human has spears and swords in their arm while the bird took a position in front of a nest as if protecting the eggs.

Some of the eggs fall and break with its contents spilling out.

The bird doesn't seem to be on the ground.

Perhaps, everything written here is about the bird?

On the next lithograph, there are mysterious characters with a drawing of a dragon flying.

The dragon spits a huge breath, attacking the human.

Hmm, it might be about the people on the ground. This is?

Looking at the other lithograph, they also have mysterious characters engraving along with the monster ill.u.s.tration.

Could it be that this is a 'picture book' written by the people in the olden days?

Maybe they don't have the technology to make paper at that time. It's a ruin after all.

So, they carved them into stone to spread the knowledge.

I can feel the romance behind it.

But this stone….

Rather than the ill.u.s.tration and words on it, I'm more interested in the stone board itself.

If my guts are correct, this stone board is made out of a good stone.

I traced it using my hand.

Un. This feeling, there's no doubt about it.

Next, the smell. Suuu~

Fuu. The smell is unlike anything.

It has the smells of the finest lime and iron.

The material is very good.

I can a.s.sure that this stone is a good one.

Trust me, I ate stone and soil.

With that over with, itadakimasu.

Eh? What was that before?

If there's a stone right in front you, for the sake of romance, will you immediately eat it?

What am I saying?

Bite

Crunch Crunch Crunch

Gulp

Un, I was correct about it. This is a finest dish.

At next moment.

An astounding amount of knowledge and information flowed into me.