225 Spy Makes his Rounds

~ Third Person POV ~

"This place isn't so bad." Daniel nodded as he continued munching on the meatballs he bought earlier from the local residents.

They are the demi-humans, with their animal traits in full view.

In front of him was the stall where he bought the meatballs lathered in sauce. Its aroma tempts even the most vegan of all people.

Though, that might not apply to the extremist vegans.

"You bet your hairless ass it is, young man." The demi-human manning the stall, who seemed to be a boar beastman, laughed good-heartedly as he served up some more meatballs on a platter, before lathering them with the tantalizing sauce. "Here, take some. On the house."

"Thanks." Daniel smiled, his hand reaching for the platter with five meatballs, all gigantic in size. "By the way, could you tell me about this place?"

"Sure. You ain't the first person to ask that ever since you humans invaded this place a day ago." The boar beastman chuckled as he continued to cook some more meatballs. "Name's Vaut. You?"

"Daniel." Daniel blew on his meatballs, light steam coming from their figures. "Pleasure meeting you."

"Likewise. Anyway, I have no idea about the Monster Town just past that passage o'er yonder." Vaut pointed towards the dreary passageway leading to the said town while his eyes focused on the cooking meatballs. "But for us demi-humans who just arrived here a few weeks ago, each has some kind of story to tell."

"Now, I'm not one to generalize, even if us demi-humans are in the same boat." Vaut sighed as he left the meatballs to cook by themselves. "But to summarize, us demi-humans, and every single person, monster, human, or demi-human, are some sort of permanent tenants living inside an apartment. With the landlord being the Dungeon Master, and the apartment being the Dungeon."

"I see." Daniel listened intently as he digested the words that filled his head, despite his inattention to his personal life or school. As he did so, he took a bite of the meatball, a hum of delight escaping his lips as he chewed on them with closed eyes. "So, how's that going for all of you?"

"To be honest. Better than our old Dungeon." Daniel raised his eyebrows at the sudden fact.

'So, they were once part of another Dungeon… Did something happen?' Seeing Daniel's confused face, Vaut laughed softly before elaborating.

"For the record, most of us living inside the Dungeon, whatever species they may be, came here either by being captured, or seeking refuge." Vaut's face darkened as his mind brought him back to those terrible times. "Some Dungeons, to be frank, were hellholes, while others were heavens. This Dungeon, I rate it to be the latter."

"Of course, that means all of us residents who have survived up to this day know how to fight, so if one of you ever decides to harass us out of some kind of prejudice, like that lady a few hours earlier," Daniel nodded at the claim, "know that we won't sit back and take shit."

"Glad to know." Daniel finished eating the whole platter as he placed some of his money on the counter. What he placed before Vaut looked to be coins, but not anything resembling US currency. 'Still, for the Dungeon Master to supply each of us evacuees with your currency… Then again, he could make anything out of thin air, if what he proclaimed on the news was true.'

"Nice talking with ya. Now go on, git! I still have some more customers to serve!" Daniel chuckled and waved his hand before walking down the road, hands in his pocket with his eyes roaming about the area.

'Makes one regret ever taking modern transportation for granted.' Daniel eyed the people all going about their normal lives without any form of transportation other than their legs. Well, as normal as one could be under their current circumstances. 'I still need to gather more information. Although this would be easier if my damn employers actually gave me an objective instead of giving me vague hints…'

Daniel rubbed the bridge of his nose as he sighed once more. 'I have no idea why I am still working for them… Ah right, I remember…'

Daniel thought back to his early life within the white-confined walls of his orphanage. The joyous laughter of children echoed around the walls, and Daniel laughed along with them.

As he grew older, he outgrew the orphanage, and since he wasn't adopted by any family, he went on to be a productive member of society.

Not because he wanted to help. No, because it was required to survive.

So yes, Daniel admitted, his past was boring and just normal. Unlike his present, where he was currently tasked with gathering information about a supernatural Dungeon that appeared out of thin air for a group proclaiming themselves to be the protectors of humanity.

As for how that happened, it was just a pure coincidence.

'I just wanted to live my life to the fullest. And if the world is destroyed, how the fuck am I supposed to enjoy Rika-chan's content?' Daniel's resolve once more rekindled, he set off forward with an attentive eye.

That was, until he bumped into another person.

"Ack, sorry." Daniel backed away as the person in front of him did the same.

"No, it was my bad. I didn't see where I was going." A blonde-haired elf fixed her glasses with pursed lips. Her eyes widened slightly, however, when she saw Daniel in front of her. "Hm? You're a part of the evacuees, correct?"

"Yeah, I am. Why?"

"Just curious. I've been stuck at work in the Monster Town since yesterday, and it's the first time I've seen one of your kind." The elf fixed her glasses once more as it began to slip off. "And by that, I mean humans from your world."

"I see…" Daniel slowly dragged out his words. "Anyway, name's Daniel. You?"

"Merethyl, pleased to meet you, Daniel." Merethyl briefly said, before Daniel asked a question.

"By the way, what were you curious about?"

"Something on the magical side of things. "Back on Praeccathae, that's the name of the world we came from, by the way, every single living being was born with Mana." Merethyl pulled him from the center of the road to the sidewalk, and they continued from there. "You, as well as the rest of these humans from your world, don't have a single iota of Mana within your bodies. This gives me a lot of theories as to why your world doesn't have magic."

"Ah, I understand what you mean." Daniel nodded his head. As for how he was able to understand despite not being able to relate to it, it was because of the power of the media.

More specifically, anime.

Never underestimate anime.

"If you're not too busy, could you tell me about the Monster Town? I've only seen the area once when we were travelling here." Daniel took the moment to get more information about the Monster Town, seeing that they were barred entry by both the Dungeon Master, and their government.

"Hmmm… Sorry, but I'm not allowed to talk about the Monster Town to you evacuees. Sorry, Dungeon Master's orders, as well as your governments." Merethyl shrugged as she went on her way. "If you want to blame someone, blame your government. They're the ones who pushed for limited information about the Monster Town."

Daniel narrowed his eyes at the sentence.

'How does she know that the government was the party that pushed for that? I asked some demi-humans and local humans earlier, and none of them knew of that sort of tidbit…'

A light bulb lit up inside his head as he formed a theory.

'Then, she is probably one of the higher-ups within the Dungeon. Probably a direct subordinate to the Dungeon Master himself…' Daniel walked in the direction of his assigned house. 'Merethyl, I'll remember that name. Anyway, Rika-chan's stream is about to start again. I need to hurry if I want to hear my goddess' voice!'

[]

[]

[]

Vaut sighed as some 'annoying' humans began protesting in front of his stall. Some of them had signs up as they shouted at him to stop his crimes against life.

That is, using animal parts as food for their own consumption.

'Don't they know I'm like, half an animal due to my traits?' A tic mark grew on his head as the humans continued their 'protest' with more shouting, which drew more customers away from his stall.

Now, as for why he was working a job when the Dungeon Master gets his income just by him existing, was because of a system he put in place during the founding of the two towns.

The first thing was that all medical expenses were free, as were food, shelter, and some other basic things. Now, as for luxuries, that's where the Dungeon Master drew the line.

So, to remedy that, he created a working economy and did a bunch of stuff, which led to where they are now, with each resident working so that they could live the life.

And now, some moronic humans are hindering his business.

'I swear, if they don't get out of my face in the next few minutes, I'm gonna kill someone.'

As the protests continued to grow in intensity, Vaut had enough and raised his voice.

"IF YOU ALL DON'T GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY FACE RIGHT THIS INSTANT, I'M GONNA EAT YOU ALL ALIVE!"

In an instant, Vaut used his transformation to change into a more animalistic form of himself.

That was an oversized boar that was larger than a cow by twice its size. Vaut, in this form, had two massive tusks and a mane as wild as a lion's.

Seeing the demi-human turned monster, the protestors scattered, and the various bystanders took out their phones to record the whole thing. Of course, they were nervous, but just seeing a demi-human turn into this was mind-blowing.

Once the protestors were gone, Vaut huffed before changing back to his demi-human form.

"Damn idiots."

Needless to say, Vaut became a trending topic on the internet the next day, and his meatball business boomed.