Maou-sama no Machizukuri! ~Saikyou no Danjon wa Kindai Toshi~

It has been an eventful day, to say the least.

I had just made a new monster: Tindalos, the hound that persistently hunted its prey across space and time.

Through the use of acute angles, she could come to and from the other dimension. Moreover, when exiting the other dimension, so long as there were acute angles within a 20-kilometers radius, it could instantly teleport to any of those acute angles.

It was a highly versatile and powerful ability, especially considering acute angles were everywhere. Even pebbles in the ground had them.

In other words, unless the enemy was aware of Tindalos’ ability and was countering them by being in a perfectly circular room, a surprise attack could be launched.

To make that surprise attack even more effective, Tindalos had another ability which allowed it to track any target it had seen once with its sight, regardless of whether the target was using any concealment skills or was in the other dimension.

So, if I so wanted, I could have Tindalos assassinate a hostile Demon Lord it has seen just once during a negotiation many days before.

"Such power, I can’t believe she’s a dimension-controlling monster."

In addition to her unbelievable skills, she had absurdly high stats.

Generally, a monster that had dimension-controlling abilities also had inferior stats compared to other monsters of the same rank. However, due to the fact that Tindalos was made using three A rank medals, she was on par with even Rorono and Aura in terms of stats.

This perfect combination of skills and stats made Tindalos a very worthy addition to my war potential. I could offer no complaints in that regard. In others though...

"Oto-san! We’ve finished putting on clothes on Tiro-chan!"

"It was a real struggle. Apparently, Tiro hates putting on clothes."

Kuina and Rorono entered the room like so, with a somewhat pouting Tindalos in tow.

For better or worse, Tindalos was a dog at heart. For that reason, the concept of shame was foreign to her. And yet, she possessed the skill [Human Transformation] which allowed her to transform into a young girl with dog ears.

In fact, just earlier, she pinned me down and licked me in the face while in that form and naked. The sight of a young girl licking me was bad enough, but a naked girl doing such things was worse still. It was borderline criminal.

And so, due to that, Marcho misunderstood the situation and christened me Pedocell.

"Garururuuuuu"

Tindalos uttered so and then rushed up to me to snuggle. It seemed like whatever reason she had for pouting was gone the moment she saw me.

Tindalos was adorable, but it was her adorableness that was troubling me, unfortunately.

"Tiro, you don’t have to always be using [Human Transformation], you know."

Imitating Kuina, I referred to Tindalos as Tiro.

Calling a monster by a nickname wasn’t the same as naming it. There were no risks but also no benefits. It was just a more convenient way of referring to the said monster.

Thankfully, Tiro seemed to like her nickname.

"Garuuu ♪"

This child should have been smart enough to understand what I just said, yet she hasn’t reverted back to her dog form.

She must have some kind of aim or something to remain like this. Oh well, whatever for now. Before anything else, I have to talk with Marcho. If there’s anyone that knows how Tiro can use [Human Transformation], it’s gotta be her, the master of the [Beast] medal.

Speaking of, Marcho was busy drinking her black tea in front of me when she suddenly broke into a smile and said something.

"My, my. Aren’t you quite popular with the little kids, Pedocell?"

The misunderstanding from before should have already been cleared, and yet here she’s still teasing me with ridiculous nickname.

"For crying out loud, didn’t I already explain that what happened earlier was beyond my control!?"

"Yeah, yeah. I’m just kidding, alright? So, anyway, I’m guessing you want to know how that kid can use [Human Transformation] despite the fact that the medals you’ve used to make her doesn’t have anything to do with that skill, yeah? Well, the reason’s simple, really: that kid is Tindalos."

I know that she’s Tindalos; what I want to know is how she has [Human Transformation]. But it’s Marcho. I’m she has a good explanation.

"Would you please elaborate?"

"I’ve read about that kid in a certain book in the [Creator]’s library. According to it, a Hound of Tindalos is pretty much what you wanted, a hound that crosses over to subspaces and manipulates time."

I nodded to that. It was exactly the possibility that I wanted out of the countless possibilities offered to me, so I grabbed hold of it.

"However, that kid isn’t a Hound of Tindalos. It’s a being that transcends even that. What I’m saying is, that girl is Tindalos itself."

"I... I see."

I finally understood.

Thinking on it, because I used the [Beast] medal to make her, I arbitrarily decided that she was a Hound of Tindalos despite her status clearly stating otherwise.

"As you might know, a Hound of Tindalos is pretty much a lump of incomprehensible nightmare and Tindalos itself is even more so. That being said, only so much of it can manifest as a monster. In other words, its form—be it a dog or otherwise—is irrelevant. I mean, even stories about the Hounds of Tindalos didn’t explicitly describe it as hound, merely a congregation of foulness. As for why it takes the form of a humanoid, it’s most likely responding to your subconscious wish. And that’s why I was calling you Pedocell earlier. Get it now?"

"...it’s still not nice to hear."

I acknowledged and agreed with what Marcho said. However, my desire for Tiro to take on a humanoid form still didn’t make me lolicon. All I wanted was a companion whom I could develop a bond with.

"Well, actually, there’s been something that’s on my mind. That girl’s [Human Transformation] might satisfy your wishes, Pedocell, but it’s much too weak. A monster of her rank should have something stronger, don’t you agree? Maybe it’s a skill that evolves after some level ups. Who knows, it might become something amazing, like a skill that allows her to assume other forms. Or maybe even give her a special human-based weapon."

While Marcho said so, I looked at Tiro who was just tilting her head in wonder, oblivious in what was going on. Shortly after, she made a huge yawn, reverted back to her large hound form, and then began to sleep.

What an awfully carefree child.

It was pretty hard to imagine her to be something so frightening when she was acting like this.

In any case, I noticed something when she transformed. Despite returning to her hound form, her clothes didn’t get torn. On the contrary, the clothes even transformed to fit her hound body.

"Rorono, her clothes are amazing."

"Mhm, if I may say so myself. These magic-power-woven clothes are made using Kuina’s clothes as reference. They exhibit the ability to change form based on the wearer’s current state. Due to the lack of time, however, this is more of a rush job and thus has rather poor performance. I intend to make a proper one later this evening. This child can’t use weapons like us, so I want to give her good protective gear at the very least."

"How thoughtful of you. Thank you."

"She’s my little sister, so this much is only natural."

While saying so, Rorono petted dog-form Tiro’s head.

Thanks to Rorono’s caring and helping nature, I no longer had to worry about a nude young girl pushing me down.

"Rorono, Aura, thanks for everything. You may now go back to your duties. Kuina, Ruhe, and I will take care of the rest. We’ll be taking Tiro to the [Crimson Cavern]. She’ll often be fighting alongside Ruhe and sometimes be commanded by Kuina, so I think it’s best to familiarize them with each other now. Well, how does that sound? Kuina? Ruhe? You okay helping Tiro to raise her levels?"

"Yeah ♪!"

"Of course, patron. I kinda have to if I ever want an easier life, right?"

Great. It seems they’re eager to help.

Like that, Rorono and Aura left the room. Meanwhile, Kuina and Ruhe retrieved their weapons.

"Well then, I better head back too. I had fun teasing you, Procell."

"Sorry, you came all this way and yet I wasn’t able to properly welcome you."

"Oh, it’s fine. I just don’t want to be a bother. Take care of that kid, okay? Without a doubt, she’s gonna be helpful to you."

"Yeah, I know. Hopefully, she could fill in for whatever Avalon lacks right now."

Tindalos was a monster that could help Ruhe fight in the other dimension.

She also had the strongest tracking ability which could sense anyone wherever they might be.

Furthermore, she also could use [Transfer], thus eliminating our complete reliance to the crow monster that was sent as a spy by the [Time] Demon Lord.

Truly, Tindalos was everything I wished for.

There was also the monster that became available for purchase—using DP—when I made Tiro. It was only at B rank, but it was still a powerful and convenient monster. So much so that I was already considering buying a [Maelstrom] for it later that evening. Like this, Avalon was bound to get even stronger.

"Well, it looks that you know what to do. Give it your all, okay?"

"Yeah, I will. I’m running out of time, after all."

I was referring to the 1-year grace period that was protecting new Demon Lords like me. If I let it by doing nothing, that time would be gone in an instant.

At any rate, I saw Marcho off.

After that, I took a deep breath and spoke.

"Kuina, Ruhe, Tiro, let’s go. Tiro, show us what you can do, okay?"

"Guruu!"

Tiro enthusiastically replied so. Hearing that, I couldn’t help but smile a little.

And so, all of us ready, we walked toward the Transfer array that would bring us to the [Crimson Cavern].