**Chapter 3: The First Days in the Cave**
*Translated by Vine | Proofread by Lust*
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**Day 1 of Cave Life.**
I decided to start by solidifying the foundation of the cave in this mountain near the city.
The first priority was creating a space where I could live. Then, I needed to build a path to welcome any visitors who might eventually come.
Since I’d be living here, I wanted to make my room as impressive as possible—something that would inspire awe in anyone who entered.
—
**Day 2 of Cave Life.**
After a full day of using magic, I managed to complete the room deep inside the cave.
However, while I now had a place to sleep, it lacked the grandeur I envisioned. It was a bare, empty space. To any human, it would seem like an unimpressive room with just a bed. I needed to think of ways to decorate it.
The first idea that came to mind was to create statues.
A dragon surrounded by statues of humans kneeling in reverence—now *that* would be impressive. I decided to get started right away.
—
**Day 3 of Cave Life.**
There was no issue with creating the statues.
I simply carved the excess stone from the cave, so I had plenty of material to work with. However, a new problem arose.
How exactly should I sculpt these statues?
Making regular human statues seemed fine, but what if I accidentally made them look like I was oppressing people? I didn’t want to be mistaken for some villainous dragon.
Hmm… I needed to think deeply about the concept for these statues.
—
**Day 4 of Cave Life.**
After much thought, I completed my first statue.
It was a depiction of the ideal woman from my past life—a symbol of perfection. Given my massive size, working on the statue felt like assembling a tiny figurine. It reminded me of the plastic models I used to build… or more like a Nendoroid, considering how small it was in my hands.
In fact, if I compared it to the model kits or figures from my previous life, this wasn’t much different from my old hobby.
*Sigh.* Suddenly, I felt a bit nostalgic.
—
**Day 7 of Cave Life.**
I finished sculpting all the human statues, so I decided it was time to craft a dragon statue.
However, another problem came up—where and how should I arrange everything to create the most visually striking layout?
How should I position the statues to make them look as majestic as possible?
And the scenery around the statues—how could I enhance the atmosphere?
And then there was the issue of color.
I needed to think carefully about the placement and design of the surrounding landscape.
—
**Day 13 of Cave Life.**
After much deliberation, I decided to arrange the statues based on what would look impressive from a visitor’s perspective, not mine.
Given that the visitors would be much smaller than me, I had to ensure that the layout would seem grand and awe-inspiring to them.
Since my size made it difficult to work at human scale, I developed a new spell—a mirror of foresight—to help me see things from their viewpoint.
With this new spell, I could design paths and roads that would allow visitors to easily traverse the area.
It was surprisingly fun to shape stones, carve bricks for the pathways, and smooth out the terrain.
Honestly, considering how much I loved model kits in my past life, it seems I had a real knack for this sort of thing.
—
**Day 20 of Cave Life.**
At last, I completed the basic landscape and arrangement of the statues.
Each statue was carefully placed along the path leading to my chamber, creating an atmosphere that would surely make any visitor feel like they had entered a mystical place.
However, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was still missing.
Even with the well-paved roads and the impressive statues, why did it feel incomplete?
I got down on the ground and used my mirror spell to view the scene from a human’s perspective. That’s when it hit me—the scenery was bland.
Sure, the statues were impressive, but the surrounding landscape lacked depth and beauty. The atmosphere didn’t match the grand vision I had in mind for a temple.
It was far from the majestic sanctuary I had envisioned.
I needed to think this over more carefully.
—
**Day 32 of Cave Life.**
After much contemplation, I decided to engrave patterns into the surrounding landscape.
The problem was that my hands were far too big to carve anything detailed.
To solve this, I meticulously used a tool as fine as a toothpick to carve delicate designs into the walls. Once I had a pattern, I could magically replicate it across the cave.
The patterns themselves didn’t have much meaning—they were just for decoration. However, I thought it might be a good idea to create a symbolic pattern for myself.
A dragon walking alongside humans.
A dragon helping humans.
A dragon peacefully listening to human songs.
A dragon defeating humanity’s enemies.
In short, I filled the walls with images that screamed, *I am a benevolent dragon who loves humanity!*
I made sure to strategically place these carvings along the path to my room, so any visitors would understand that I was a dragon who favored humans.
Oh, and since the cave was quite dark, I installed magical lights that would automatically turn on if a visitor came, ensuring they wouldn’t miss the carvings.
—
**Day 42 of Cave Life.**
With the visitor path fully completed, it was time to work on my own chamber.
This room would be where I greeted anyone who managed to reach me, so it had to be grand and majestic.
First, I decided to create seven statues that resembled my dragon form.
Why seven? Well, I figured that just one wouldn’t be enough to convey the sense of awe I wanted.
After all, there’s a saying: *The more, the better.*
I believed that the more statues I had, the more impressive the room would be.
Having gotten quite good at sculpting by now, I carefully carved each of the seven dragon statues, making sure to pour my heart and soul into the details.
—
**Day 50 of Cave Life.**
At last, I completed the seven dragon statues that would give the room its grandeur.
I also engraved intricate patterns on the walls to complement the statues, and I had to admit, the sight was breathtaking. It gave off just the right amount of awe and pressure to impress any visitor.
However, there was one major problem.
In my enthusiasm to create the seven dragon statues, I had forgotten to leave space for *myself*.
Because of the size of the statues, there was no room left for me in the chamber!
I considered whether I should remove one of the statues to make space for myself, but the thought of destroying one of my creations after putting so much effort into them pained me.
It was a long, restless night.
—
**Day 51 of Cave Life.**
After much thought, I decided to leave the seven statues as they were.
I couldn’t bring myself to destroy them after all the effort I had put in. If I removed even one, the room would lose the grand impact I was going for.
But then, I came up with a solution.
I would create my chamber *beneath* the one with the seven dragon statues.
This way, I wouldn’t have to sacrifice the statues, and I wouldn’t need to expand the cave any further, reducing the risk of structural collapse.
—
**Day 55 of Cave Life.**
I finished my chamber beneath the room with the seven statues.
I even crafted the floor of the upper chamber to be reflective, so that any visitor, upon being awed by the seven statues, would eventually look down and realize that I was below them.
It was the perfect plan!
With that, everything was complete.
The cave temple was finished, and I was ready to greet my first visitor.
I opened the path leading to the temple and began waiting for someone to arrive.
—
**Day 56 of Temple Life.**
I eagerly waited for my first visitor.
Of course, I wasn’t planning on making a contract with just any random hiker who stumbled in.
I wanted someone special—someone with a strong sense of justice, a good heart, and a willingness to use my power for good.
In other words, I was waiting for a protagonist-type person.
But, naturally, no one came today.
Still, I smiled. This was only the beginning. Surely, someone would visit soon. After all, there were plenty of hikers and tourists. One of them had to be the person I was looking for!
—
**Day 62 of Temple Life.**
I waited for another visitor today.
I waited all the way until evening, but no one came.
What a shame.
—
**Day 68 of Temple Life.**
Still no visitors. That’s all I have to say.
—
**Day 72 of Temple Life.**
I was starting to feel anxious, but I tried to stay calm.
It’s fine! I didn’t expect the perfect person to show up right away!
…Okay, I admit it. I *was* secretly hoping someone would show up by now.
—
**Day 75 of Temple Life.**
Oh no!
I just realized… this place is in
the middle of nowhere!
No regular hiker is going to wander off the trail to explore a random cave!
Sure, maybe some researcher or adventurer might show up, but regular hikers? They stick to the paths!
And those who don’t are just here to illegally harvest plants or something… not exactly the kind of people I’m looking for.
Wait, is this a serious problem…?
—
**Day 82 of Temple Life.**
I need to advertise!
I need to make a YouTube video promoting this temple!
But I don’t have a smartphone or any modern technology!
And there’s no way I’m going to ruin everything by just showing up in front of people out of the blue!
I’ll just keep waiting… surely, a brave hero or kind soul will find their way here… eventually.
Right?
They’ll come, right…?
—
**Day 100 of Temple Life.**
I spent today staring at statues.
Statues. Statues. Statues.
—
**Day 110 of Temple Life.**
More statues.
Statues. Statues. Statues.
—
**Day 120 of Temple Life.**
I give up.
Please, someone—anyone—just come visit.
There’s a poor dragon here who overestimated himself and is now stuck waiting in an empty temple…
—
**Day 130 of Temple Life.**
Our temple is open for business!
Please, don’t hesitate to visit! I promise I won’t hurt you!
Just… please… someone come visit me!!!
—
**Day 150 of Temple Life.**
At last, a visitor!
My dream has finally come true… it wasn’t a knight in shining armor… but a princess.
—
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