Volume 8 Chapter 8 Exploring Kinpira Palace
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
We began exploring the temple town, keeping our guard up as we made our way toward the distant goal—the Torii gate that marked the stairs to the next floor.
”Still, this really does look just like the temple town outside the dungeon, doesn’t it?”
”Mm-hmm~ There’s even a souvenir shop that looks just like that place we went to during the New Year’s shrine visit~”
Chifumi pointed with her staff toward a building we’d ducked into for a break during our Hatsumōde trip last week.
The shops lining the street were all sealed behind invisible barriers—you couldn’t step inside. The rules here were similar to those in the Commercial District.
”Oh, Minoru, look! That’s the same doll-shaped cake I ate the other day!”
”There’s an opening date on the edge of the sign… Two years ago. So this dungeon is at least modeled after the town as it existed more recently than that.”
Semi-fixed dungeons shifted their world lines depending on the party’s first entry time.
For us, entering for the first time today, the modern temple town’s layout was reflected in the dungeon’s structure. If a veteran sorcerer who’d first stepped in fifty years ago entered this floor now, they’d find the souvenir shops exactly as they’d been half a century ago.
There was no doubt the dungeon was drawing information from the real world to construct its otherworldly spaces. How exactly it gathered that information had been studied for years, but no definitive conclusion had been reached.
About a hundred meters in, we spotted our first anomaly.
”Guruppo~!”
A flock of pigeons perched on the power lines. One of them cooed—and then, along with several others nearby, took flight in a flurry of wings, circling overhead as they raised their cries in alarm.
”Asari!”
”Yes!”
Asari raised a crystalline barrier in a dome above us, shielding our heads.
The pigeons, swarming across a wide area of the sky at high speed, launched wind-attribute attack sorcery at us, clearly intent on driving off intruders. Twisters to stop our movement, blades of wind as direct attacks—and something they kept dropping down on us. Disgusting.
Where pigeon droppings struck Asari’s crystal wall, they dissolved it slightly before vanishing. The direct damage was minimal, but the ranged attack had a poison effect and drained spirit energy. The only saving grace was that the effect disappeared along with the projectile.
”Risa.”
”On it.”
Risa raised her assault-rifle-type magic pistol and opened fire on the pigeons.
Even the circling birds had moments when their speed dropped—the instant they attacked, for example. Risa picked them off one by one, exploiting those openings. I joined in with my own pistol, though my accuracy couldn’t match hers.
”Gug-gugg!”
As the pigeons dwindled in number, a new anomaly appeared on the ground.
A pack of dogs.
We’d seen canine anomalies in the Commercial District too—mangy strays, mostly. But these were different. These dogs had the presence of wolves, wild creatures that lived on the edge of civilization.
…
Silent. They closed in fast.
The fact that not a single one barked was deeply unsettling. The only sound was the tap-tap-tap of claws striking cobblestones.
Yurina and Mitsuki stepped forward to meet them, while Chifumi and I rained sorcery on the charging dogs to break their momentum.
Magic bullets and shards of ice struck several of the beasts, sending them flying—they dissolved into smoke on impact. But the survivors charged on without hesitation, unfazed by their fallen packmates.
”Hah!”
”Got one!”
With every flash of Yurina’s blade, every swing of Mitsuki’s iron club, another dog vanished.
The two vanguard fighters weathered attacks from many sides at once, dodging bites and body slams as they cut down their enemies one by one. Compared to Mitsuki, Yurina’s footwork was still a little shaky—she took a few hits from fangs here and there.
Chifumi and I prioritized picking off the dogs trying to flank them, preventing the vanguard from being surrounded.
By the time we’d dealt with the ground enemies, Risa had shot down every last pigeon and began sniping the dogs below.
Before long, the pack was destroyed. Every last anomaly had vanished.
Risa and Asari collected the dogs’ fur and pigeons’ feathers—the drop items—into their satchels before rejoining the group. Once everyone had gathered around me, we held a quick meeting.
”That was fast-paced from start to finish.”
”Those dogs were probably the trickiest trash mobs we’ve faced so far, hm~? On par with the bats?”
”At the very least, they’re a clear upgrade from the strays in the Commercial District.”
It was the kind of fight that could’ve overwhelmed less experienced parties with sheer speed and numbers.
”The pigeons overhead were more troublesome than expected. Too far away.”
”Good thing Risa-chan was here~ Though I might try using my area sorcery next time too.”
”Let’s check later whether Gram’s illusions work on airborne targets.”
That covered our after-action reflections and adjustments. This was our first run of the day. We could afford to proceed at a pace slow enough to be called overly cautious. Everyone was putting their thoughts into words, sharing them with the group.
”The pigeons were a nuisance, but they’re not especially hard to dodge—sniping works fine. Hey Asari, aside from pigeons and dogs, what other trash mobs show up in the early floors? I remember the self-destructing sparrows.”
”Weasels, and ruffians disguised as shrine visitors. I hear the ruffians’ appearance varies by world line… but they probably look like some variant of Yankees. Either way, they appear on the ground, so we leave ’em to Mitsuki-san and the others. Risa-san and I handle defending against and intercepting threats from above.”
”You leave the ground enemies to Yurina and me!”
”Yeah. We’ve got it.”
”Yurina, you can sense the dogs’ attacks the same way you sense a cricket when it’s about to pounce, you know~ The telegraph is way shorter than a cricket’s charge, but if you watch closely, you’ll see it’s the same. Let’s work on reading those attack tells!”
”Yes!”
The vanguard pair healed their wounds with recovery magic, double-checked their strategies, and re-formed the formation to continue the search.
We’d been walking for a while when Risa’s voice came from behind.
”Minoru, I see some sparrows ahead. Can I take ’em out?”
”Hm? Where?”
”Left side. Fifty meters ahead, on the railing of that shop’s second floor.”
”…I see ’em. Good eye. All right, everyone, prepare for combat.”
After confirming everyone was ready to fight at a moment’s notice, Risa took aim with her sniper rifle and fired on the sparrows perched on the balcony railing.
Two of the birds vanished as the magic bullet pierced through them. The survivors—sparrows and pigeons alike—took flight in unison and turned toward us.
Asari raised her defensive barrier while Risa focused on dropping the sparrows first.
Unlike before, there was no sign of dogs or weasels appearing.
Seizing the opportunity, I summoned Gram to test the effectiveness of his illusions.
The effect on the sparrows was overwhelming—nearly all of them collided with the pigeons and self-destructed.
The pigeons, meanwhile, didn’t attack each other. The illusion seemed to be working, but they only ended up dropping their waste in random directions—no wind blades carving through their own ranks. Illusion magic apparently wasn’t effective against the pigeons.
On a whim, I tried attacking them with shock magic instead.
A wide-area blast wave sent the entire flock tumbling from the sky. It cost a lot of mana, but the efficiency was good. If they ever got close, a shockwave blast would be a solid option for clearing the air.
”The dogs aren’t showing up~”
Chifumi murmured behind me.
We ended up wiping out the sparrows and pigeons without any ground support.
As we pushed forward cautiously, right as we reached the shop where the sparrows had been perched, dogs and weasels suddenly appeared—swarming out from the alleyways between souvenir shops.
”Area sorcery incoming.”
Chifumi’s freezing spell activated, encasing the dogs in ice.
They shattered and vanished along with the frost. The weasels, however, shook off the frost clinging to their bodies and showed clear intent to attack. With their movements slowed, they were no match for Yurina and Mitsuki—the two finished them off in the blink of an eye.
During the weasel cleanup, there was no sign of pigeons or sparrows appearing from above.
”I wonder if the anomalies have designated spawn points~?”
”We don’t have any information about that, do we?”
Chifumi and Asari’s speculation… It was too early to draw conclusions.
”We’ll know soon enough if we keep exploring at this pace. Risa, if you spot any more anomalies, let me know. Let’s be aggressive with our first strikes.”
”Got it!”
We resumed the search toward the Torii gate.
After several more skirmishes, we were gradually getting a handle on fighting this dungeon’s trash mobs.
The advantage of the open-field-style dungeon was that sparrows and pigeons could be spotted from far away—and once spotted, they were easy to engage first.
Attacking alerted the anomalies and initiated combat. However, during these first-strike engagements, nothing but sparrows and pigeons ever joined the fight.
Dogs and weasels sometimes appeared at the sparrows’ former positions, but just as often they emerged from completely different locations. Our general impression: the anomalies seemed to have preset ambush points.
During our exploration, we hit a dead end.
From the entrance to this point, the path had been a straight line with no branches. That meant there had to be a shortcut somewhere.
”Let’s turn back. Somewhere among the shops we passed, there should be one we can enter.”
Following Asari’s suggestion, we carefully observed the shops on both sides as we retraced our steps.
Four shops back, on the left, Mitsuki reached out to a restaurant’s door—and it moved.
”Found it. This way.”
We regrouped and stepped through the doorway.
”Excuse us~…”
The narrow shop had a back exit visible through the far end. Passing through the shop, we opened that back door and found ourselves on another approach path.
”Sorry for the intrusion~”
We’d shifted to the parallel path one lane over.
This “outer temple area” was structured like a twisted lottery board when viewed from above.
Countless parallel approach paths ran side by side, most of them blocked partway by shops.
The trick was to find a passable shop, move to the adjacent path, and continue deeper into the dungeon. Rinse and repeat.
Because it was an open-type dungeon rather than a labyrinth, you could also leap across the rooftops or smash through the shops to progress in a straight line.
However, passing over the rooftops triggered an assault from the flying anomalies—and those anomalies were much stronger than the regular spawns. Ignoring the dungeon’s rules incurred penalties, so unless it was an emergency or your group was exceptionally confident, it was wiser to find the proper path through the shops.
There was no pattern to which shops allowed passage.
This time it happened to be a café; other times it might be a souvenir shop, a udon joint, or even a public restroom.
Thankfully, the destination was visible ahead.
The structure was straightforward: just keep moving in the direction that got you closer to the goal. Risa, bringing up the rear, stepped out of the back exit, and Yurina and Mitsuki resumed the lead. We were now taking the shortest route to the next floor.
Three hours after we’d started exploring, we arrived at the great gate—the second Torii.
Like the first one, it was wreathed in rippling black walls.
”We made it~”
”I feel like we walked ten kilometers…”
Everyone was showing signs of fatigue. It was our first time in this dungeon, so the mental toll was great too.
”Good work, everyone. Once we move, we’re done for today.”
”Okay~”
We made the floor transition together.
Passing through the second Torii gate, we found ourselves in another temple town.
It looked similar to the first floor’s starting point, but we hadn’t gone back—this was the start of the second floor.
Kinpira Palace’s outer area featured twenty-four floors of identical structure, with the twenty-fifth being a special boss fight. The “Endless Twenty-Four” layout.
The crossbars of the lottery-board maze and the monster spawns varied by floor. We’d be seeing this scenery more than enough times over the next few months. After confirming the next staircase—the second Torii gate—in the distance, we exited the dungeon.
Emerging from the dungeon, the area was as crowded as ever.
Even at dusk, several groups were waiting to enter.
One thing was impossible to ignore: the temperature difference between inside and outside the dungeon. It had been cold in there. We’d need to prepare for cold-weather gear for the foreseeable future.
We moved to avoid blocking the other parties and sold our drop items.
The buyout counters were plentiful, so the transaction process went smoothly despite the number of sorcerers present.
The three groups we’d entered alongside were nowhere to be seen by the time we’d finished the sale. They’d either headed home already or were still pushing through the dungeon. We were too tired—we were heading back.
We’d just stepped out of the administration building and started walking toward the station when Mitsuki made a suggestion.
”The Lost Tea House we went to last time is nearby, right? Want to stop by?”
”You’ve got a lot of energy, you know that?”
”Eh… No, that’s not what I meant! I just meant tea! The, uh… the lewd stuff can wait till we’re home!”
Oh. She wanted to go to the café, not the… other kind of tea house.
”Minoru-sama, I’m interested too.”
”Same.”
Yurina and Risa were in agreement.
I checked my watch. We had plenty of time before Onigahara-san’s aunt was scheduled to pick us up from the nearby parking lot.
”Fine. My treat today.”
”Yay~!”
Everyone who’d looked so tired moments ago suddenly perked up. The greedy little bunch. But a cup of tea now and then couldn’t hurt.
I treated everyone to drinks and desserts at the Lost Tea House. The wallet was a bit lighter, but the goodwill it bought was worth it.
I convinced myself of this as I sipped my coffee, and then Hinoki spoke to me.
’You did well today.’
”Yeah, you too. …Come to think of it, the dungeon entry thing ended up being no problem after all.”
’That’s right. Still, we’ll be keeping quiet in there. We won’t come out unless it’s absolutely necessary. That okay?’
”Fine by me. From what I saw today, it seems like we can manage without relying on you just yet. I’ll only call on you if things get really bad.”
’…Thank you.’
Hinoki fell silent after that.
Hinoki had their own circumstances. It was a loss in combat power, but I’d take this as an opportunity to improve our dungeon navigation without them.
—
Summary:
The party enters Kinpira Palace’s first floor, a temple town replica where they fight waves of pigeons, dogs, weasels, and sparrows while learning the dungeon’s open-field mechanics and lottery-board navigation system. After three hours of methodical exploration, they reach the second Torii gate and exit, then visit the Lost Tea House where Minoru treats everyone. Hinoki, the spirit companion, confirms they will stay dormant unless absolutely needed, leaving Minoru to reflect on improving the party’s dungeon navigation without relying on them.
—
Trivia:
The dungeon is semi-fixed, meaning world lines shift based on each party’s first entry time
The temple town layout mirrors real-world monzenmachi with shops, cafes, and public restrooms
Pigeons drop waste that has poison and spirit-draining effects but dissolves on contact
The “lottery board” structure has parallel paths with shops blocking passage except for specific entry points
Rooftop traversal triggers stronger flying anomalies as a penalty
The “Endless Twenty-Four” layout has 24 identical floors plus a boss floor at 25
Gram’s illusions work well on sparrows but not on pigeons
A veteran entering the same dungeon today would see shops from 50 years ago due to their world line
The Lost Tea House name plays on “lost/wandering” (迷い) double meaning
Yankees in this context refer to Japanese delinquent archetypes
Crossbars of the lottery-board maze and monster spawns vary by floor
The party demonstrates clear roles: Minoru (strategist), Risa (sniper), Asari (defense), Chifumi (mage support), Mitsuki and Yurina (vanguard melee)
Hinoki’s withdrawal is voluntary and respected by Minoru
Onigahara-san’s aunt is scheduled to pick them up from a nearby parking lot
The party spent approximately three hours on the first floor
Recovery magic is available to heal wounds between combat encounters
The dungeon’s temperature is notably cold compared to outside
Three other groups entered alongside them but were gone by the time they finished selling drops
The second floor looks similar but is not the same as the first floor’s starting point
Notes:
• Chifumi – The 160cm, J-cup eldest daughter of the Takino residence is a kimono-clad sorcerer, Minoru’s sharp-tongued childhood friend, and trusted partner. Wielding ice and water magic, this loyal mage manages rearguard combat and administration. A casual negotiator who acts as the group’s social bridge, she hides the truth while fiercely protecting Minoru, often using subtle cues to guide his party.
• Minoru – A black-haired Demon reincarnated from Japan, this 183cm, sharp-eyed protagonist is a pragmatic, cautious narrator and eldest Tatemiya son. Burdened by the belief his childhood friends abandoned him, he now leads a female group including Asari, Risa, Chifumi, Mitsuki, and Yurina. He commands monsters and wields a handgun alongside spatial manipulation sorcery, acting as a calculated strategist.
• Asari – A 175cm Kasakura honor student with braided black hair and an E-cup figure, this analytical, pragmatic science-track strategist serves as Minoru’s devoted partner and Risa’s future host. Close to Mari and Nagase, she uses a gauntlet and Silicic Armor to manifest crystal barriers, switching between Vanguard and Mid-guard. Polite yet lecturing, she is a reliable, focused, and currently recovering Majin.
• Risa – The youngest Naruse sister, a 167cm humanities student with semi-long light brown hair, black eyes, and an H-cup figure. A skilled, energetic long-range fighter and Majo-contractor for Minoru and Tatemiya, she wields magic pistols (AR, SR, SG types) and “Majo’s Tears.” Known for her protective nature and cookie-baking, she turns red-eyed to command fire and lightning when possessed by Asunaro.
• Mitsuki – Eldest daughter of the Onigahara estate, this 188 cm science-track student is a lean, athletic Majin with short brown hair and a mischievous grin. A former member of Manaka’s group now serving as Minoru’s vanguard and healer, she wields a golden mace or kanabō and Oni-Transformation Sorcery. Energetic and tactical, she bickers with Minoru, coordinates with allies, and uses recovery magic during training.
• Yurina – A 165cm stoic Plain-folk vanguard with a black ponytail, she is a humanities student, eldest of seven, and skilled with a katana and Severing Sorcery. Serving in Minoru’s party as a loyal, analytical observer, she protects Chifumi, fights alongside Mitsuki, and addresses Minoru with deference. While earnest and still honing her dangerous footwork, she remains unsettled by Minoru’s escalating violence.
• Gram – Job: Illusion spirit/summon; Relationship: Summoned by Minoru; Appearance: Not specified; Item/Magic: Illusion magic; Note: Used to test illusion effectiveness on sparrows and pigeons.
• Onigahara – Onigahara-san is a stern, disciplined mentor from an influential sorcerer family and Mitsuki’s aunt. Dedicated to her lineage’s legacy, she manages logistics and drives the family microbus for dungeon training. She maintains hierarchical bonds with her students and stays involved in the party’s situation, having coordinated to pick up the group from a nearby parking lot after their training session.
• Hinoki – A powerful, older classmate and anomaly who uses they/them pronouns and speaks with a warm, blunt, Kansai-influenced dialect. Shy yet contrary, they act as a casual mediator in the supernatural community, supporting others by bestowing power fragments upon allies like Pape, Kram, and Risa. Bound to Tatemiya as a Shikigami and spirit ally to Minoru, this ancient spirit senses deities and harbors secrets.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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