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

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Beings that create and control monsters and demons, beings that build and reign over malicious labyrinths, the chosen individuals to possess an overwhelming Unique Skill… They are the Demon Lords.

Demon Lords entice people to come to the labyrinth they’ve built and eat the people’s despair as their nourishment.

However, Creation Demon Lord Procell has decided that he will obtain people’s hopes and not their despair as nourishment, and built a happy town instead of a malicious labyrinth to collect human beings.

This is the story of an eccentric Demon Lord, his inner thoughts, and his poker face.

Associated Names
One entry per line
Dungeon Builder: The Demon King's Labyrinth is a Modern City
The Demon Lord’s Building a City! ~The Strongest Dungeon is a Modern Day City~
魔王様の街づくり!~最強のダンジョンは近代都市~
Related Series
Upstart Pastry Chef ~Territory Management of a Genius Pâtisserie~ (Shared Universe)
The Great Demon Lord’s City Development ~The Ideal City Built with Magic, Science, and Monsters~ (Sequel)
The Rise of a Pastry Craftsman: Managing the Domain of a Genius Pastry Chef (Shared Universe)
Recommendations
Lazy Dungeon Master (12)
Sevens (4)
Hisshou Dungeon Unei Houhou (4)
Dungeon Defense (4)
Isekai Apocalypse Mynoghra (2)
The Elf Is a Freeloader (2)
Recommendation Lists
  1. Light Novels 2
  2. Things I've Read pt 2
  3. Shousetsuka ni Narou TOP 100 (mostly isekai)
  4. SANDBOX TYPES
  5. Novels I've read

Latest Release

Date Group Release
05/19/20 rpgnovels v10 epilogue
05/11/20 rpgnovels v10c22
05/04/20 rpgnovels v10c21
04/27/20 rpgnovels v10c20
04/20/20 rpgnovels v10c19
04/13/20 rpgnovels v10c18
04/06/20 rpgnovels v10c17
03/30/20 rpgnovels v10c16
03/24/20 rpgnovels v10c15
03/16/20 rpgnovels v10c14
03/09/20 rpgnovels v10c13
03/02/20 rpgnovels v10c12
02/24/20 rpgnovels v10c11
02/17/20 rpgnovels v10c10
02/10/20 rpgnovels v10c9
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sgrey
sgrey rated it
February 25, 2018
Status: v6c5
Before anything else, I gotta give the biggest spoiler for this novel:

... more>>
Spoiler

The plot armor of MC is over 9000! Nothing truly bad ever happens to him or his companions. The plot is set up in such a way that all major events happen at convenient times so MC can find a clever solution or a pull one out of his ass because the time was just right for him to create a new monster

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Now with that out of the way. Amnesia tag for this novel is false. There is no amnesia.

I don't know if it is a poor translation or the writing, but the sentences often logically incohesive. Especially first few chapter I had really hard time understanding the logic of the demon lord powers. I kinda figured out all the kinks as the novel went along. The translation, by the way, is not the best. Every chapter sometimes has the same words translated differently. For example, darkness becomes black, human becomes person, and graveyard sometimes becomes cemetery. Also, it is not a big problem to figure out what is going on, but when every chapter the translation is different, you begin to wonder if they talk about the same thing regardless.

Overall this novel does not have a good setup for the world or for the logic. Almost nothing important is said to the reader about the rules of the world. For example, very important thing are attributes for the medals demon lords use. But we are never told what attributes there are and how many are there. So far the attributes were planet, alchemy, phase, time, water, person and others. So basically one can assume it is arbitrary and unlimited. So the author can pull anything out of his ass for the convenience of it. Also for some reason in later chapters, it appears there is a limit to how many monsters a month he can name. That for me came out of the blue because I don't remember anything like that written before.

Overall the novel is very cartoonish with all cliche characters. You got a sore loser that is weak, but wish to show his power and thus create underhanded schemes, you got tsundere, you got cowards who attack MC and then become his subordinates. The villans are always thrown cartoonish speeches such as "AHAHAAHA, you foolish demon lord have fallen into my trap! Behold my true power!!". This kind of things just makes me cringe. MC also throws speeches like that when he speaks to his subordinates often. It became a bit better after volume 4 though.

There is quite a lot of BS in this novel with clearly broken logic. Many parts are not properly explained and it is very obvious where the author is slacking. This novel is childish and cartoonish and it is clear that MC will always win. I also wish that MC was a bit more honest and decisive about his relationships.

One thing I want to point out. He creates monsters using magic. Few of the most powerful monsters call him dad, and he thinks of them like daughters. But! They are not his daughters! They are monsters! Also, there is no age for them! All monsters and MC himself is technically less than 1 year old! The reason I am talking about is that the novel is clearly going in the direction where MC will marry his monsters. So yea, I don't think it's weird. It's just the author make it awkward because from the start the monsters start calling him "dad". I guess I can see it as character growth?

Nonetheless, I did enjoy this novel. I think one of the reasons why is that it is not predictable to me. I mean I can kind of guess that MC will win, it just seems to be this kind of novel where MC always wins. But I can't guess exactly how. Also, many other events that happen in the novel, they were not obvious to me. So despite all of the bad, cringing stuff that happens here, I did enjoy it quite a bit. Another reason is that MC is quite direct. He doesn't cower after he realizes his feelings. He just goes after what he wants. So, lack of drama? I am really tired of the novel with pointless drama. Overall I think this is an ok read. <<less
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Baabaablack
Baabaablack rated it
February 25, 2018
Status: v6c5
I enjoy reading lite novel because I enjoy reading the battles and a part of me likes some of the character themes and dynamics presented along with the world building.

It has some drawbacks and I think these are enough to kept people from reading on.

  • Our main character so far is a borderline Gary stu and the author has a hard time letting the MC suffer actual setbacks to avoid such a fate. I’m on book six and the main character has yet to make a decision that has resulted in personal loss. The evil alter ego that should showcase our MC flaws hasn’t been a set back so far but this arc has just started. I’m hoping for a comeback.
  • The romance subplots are really under developed and at some points awkward and creepy. For those who don’t care for lolis, the lolicon is strong with this one.
  • Spoiler

    MC confession to marco seemed to come from nowhere with out much build up.

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evvoiathssofias
evvoiathssofias rated it
February 3, 2018
Status: v1 prologue
It started out interesting but then the author was all "nope~! MC has no backstory! He's just got data downloads!" and then it gets creepy with the whole daughters thing. Also the drama feels so stiff and manufactured. Bad plot flow going on with those obstacles that pop up. It might just be me, but the pacing and the style by the author puts me off, there's too much arbitrary BS about the differences between characters.

This is terrible grammar, I know.
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raltzero
raltzero rated it
July 1, 2017
Status: v3c4
It's a pretty fun read.

... more>>
Spoiler

The concept of multiple Demon Lords and those said Demon Lords all be dungeon masters is a pretty "unique" idea. It probably isn't the most original, but the concept of each Demon Lord having their own (element) cards and being able to trade & combine them makes it interesting in terms of monsters being created. The concept of creating monsters/subordinates through the cards is pretty vague though.

Apparently, all you need to do is combine and have an idea of what you want created.

It's an ongoing meme in the story that the MC is called 'Creation Demon Lord Lolicell' instead of 'Creation Demon Lord Procell'.

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Chourou
Chourou rated it
March 14, 2017
Status: v2c21
I changed my review.

Basically this novel is ok to read. But personally I dont see it a 5 star novel like everyone else. I mean... it is a simple dumb down dungeon building novel.

"lets build a 1 kilometre hall with no turns and place golems with machine guns to oppose the enemies". - So lazy writing, so lazy plot, so lazy creativity.

... more>> "I have no memories who I am or who I was" - And yet here comes the powerful machine guns! - rifles! - pistols!

I love fantasy, and honestly I dont mind introducing modern weapons in fantasy novel. BUT THIS IS DUMB. It is too convenient!

There are golems, golems are often used if not always in these novel. And then introducing guns and rifles and shotguns. And then more machine guns equipped on golems. But it is a ok read still. But it lacks... that "wanting" to read this novel. And I am not someone who falls for the "oh I will treat them as my daughters" and then BAM! later "oh well I will treat them as my lovers instead" it gives me that in*est creeps, and I am really not someone that rolls that way.

Short said, this just another average "makes writer himself feels good and perhaps reader feels good" <<less
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Anduin
Anduin rated it
February 18, 2017
Status: v8 epilogue
This is one of my favorite dungeon master novels. The MC is competent. He has a clear plan and great detail is spent on the execution of his plan. The side characters are cute and well written. Most chapters are not boring and leave me wanting to read more.
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Master10K
Master10K rated it
April 8, 2023
Status: Completed
I can't help but be reminded of Lazy Dungeon Master as I read this novel. But where this novel differs; is that instead of being lazy and having a weird fetish, the MC is a gun otaku. Being as blank a slate as imaginable, the MC happens to be prime self-insert material. From the loli-tastic companions, with the sexy mentor, to the Dungeon Mechanics and the City Building aspect. I honestly wonder what novel popularized all these tropes I've been finding in recent Dungeon Management novels. But at least the... more>> city building & the method behind the acquisition of companions helps give this novel enough depth to keep me compelled. Nevertheless it also made the MC so obscenely overpowered that barely anything was a challenge. Allowing the author to easily rush to some form of conclusion. In the end, this is one of the more enjoyable Dungeon Management novels, just slightly better than Lazy Dungeon Master.

As for the sequel... It seems to be more of the same but with the author having to contrive a flawed way to get this overpowered MC out of the frying pan and back into the fire. All just to get readers feeling some tension, for a few chapters. <<less
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Cactiii
Cactiii rated it
January 5, 2023
Status: v3c4
For some reason there are a lot of people who seem to read this book despite hating it, and while some of the points are valid like the relationship between MC and his daughters feeling creepy and give off vibes like he is a pe*ophile I think this story also gets a lot of hate thats not deserved. There seems to be a really big number of wannabe edgelords reading this novel, getting so upset that the MC doesn't want to let his monsters die or people who want him... more>> to stop "being a herbivore" and that I believe is why there are so many negative reviews that have no merit... The ones about his "family relationships" being weird are completely right, the author used a lot of weird phrases to explain their relationship and rather than just making a wholesome father / child relationship they keep making it less wholesome, I completely agree that this just feels off and lowers my evaluation of the book. I don't agree with the people getting upset that he doesn't want his monsters to die or he isn't f*cking when a girl offers, in this first case when the demon lord who took care of him offered there were a lot of underlining factors like how she is dying soon and he still hasn't realized he loved her and in the 2nd case it was one of his monsters and he rejected since he is their father (this is the type of weird vibes people complained about, since the author decided to have his daughter try to f*ck him rather than just have it be wholesome)

Overall the book is fine but the world building feels really flimsy to me, although I have high standards for world building and making a world follow its own logic. In this novel monster levels feel so arbitrary and the author did a very bad job of establishing different levels, very quickly we had situations where the MC had to fight very powerful enemies and the growth rate of the MC is unrealistic since it allows him to somewhat rival the demon lords who have been in existence for a long time... Rather than adding some bullsh*t rule from the creator that "new dungeons are safe for one year" they instead should have just made it a very frowned upon practice to pick off newbies, something like the oldest demon lords will crush you if your going out of your way to squash the younger generation. The one year rule just focuses on the fact that the young will be targeted by the old, which since there still is a younger generation means that you are able to grow your dungeon in a single year to survive against these beings.

The second big issue is how flimsy the creator is, I'm guessing they are suppose to be somewhat unfair but the number of "loopholes" just make the book s*upid. For example with the triple dungeon battle the fact that there was an arbitrary time limit of 24 hours and whoever has the most crystals at the end wins is just s*upid. You can say its for the whims of the creator and while that could be true it still negatively impacts the quality of the book. If the rule was after 24 hours the battle is void is perfectly fine but having this rule means you can win any battle with numbers... Create a faction of 10, 20, 100 and you instantly win since there is a time limit where the other party is just f*cked. And if your saying its the creators whims so this doesn't work, then yeah... thats my point... this is just serving as an arbitrary plot device to force the MC to act in a manor that is risky to him. Then you have so many other bullsh*t rules to the point where there are basically no rules. The ungodly number of loopholes inserted because the rules are based on very certain circumstances makes this book just dumb, as a basic example the older generation cannot attack young demon lords for one year, but they can still do something like position an army right outside the youngs dungeon and prevent all humans from entering thus making it so the young have no dp. There are so many things like this that the author didn't think of, because its insanely hard to think of all possible loopholes to a rule you created. Thats why its best to make your rules the intent rather than the circumstances, if you intend to cause harm with this action then its a violation, which greatly restricts things... And with all the bullsh*t rules like how the old can loan monsters to the young for this war, then why isn't [beast] doing this for him. And why is it limited to just monsters to guard their core, just lend them an army to wipe out creation...

While I'm ending it here there are other points I can go on about, if your just reading for enjoyment then this book is fine but if you are very particular about having world building that makes some sort of sense then this book I think fails greatly in that regard. But again, for a casual read the flimsy world building wouldn't change the enjoyment, which is why I gave this a three star. While I don't personally like it for the world building and weird vibes with his daughter its still a good book if your able to overlook those factors, albeit a bit tropey. <<less
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Revvex
Revvex rated it
March 5, 2019
Status: v7 epilogue
Author keeps repeating descriptions of characters' abilities, like the reader has the memory of a goldfish. And we're not talking about 2 sentences, but multiple paragraphs.

Skipping past the unnecessary ability descriptions however, the story itself is quite interesting up to a certain point.

The moment he started brainwashing people for his religion, and how they keep glorifying it, is when it starts getting plain annoying to read. To top it off, the enemy is introduced as a generic c*ckroach enemy shortly after, at which point I decided to drop it
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Passerby
Passerby rated it
February 18, 2019
Status: v8c3
In my opinion, the story started very promising but the quality dropped over time.

There's too much plot armor being used.

Being a Demon Lord making a city, the city is mentioned every now and then but story wise there's no longer any significant development.

As for the dungeon, it became a convenient gimmick for MC to get monsters, mine minerals and store whatever he don't want to show.
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Pannath
Pannath
December 31, 2018
Status: v8 prologue
I like this story a lot, but with 1 exception. I hate Kuina, she positively ruins the story. All the MC's other monsters are great, but she is the worst. Kuina's personality is horrible, and the MC coddling her is making it worse. He needs to put his foot down.

She missed her turn sleeping in bed with him once, then had a meeting with the other summoned monsters to call into doubt whether the MC still needed any of them around. WTF?! These monsters are supposed to be absolutely loyal.... more>> The MC also made a pact with them. So not only was she doubting him, and causing the other monsters to, she was pretty much accusing him of lying and breaking the pact. She really needs to go.

I also hate her more and more each time because the translator chooses specific Japanese words not to translate to English, even though there are actual English words for them. Just use Father, Dad, Daddy, Papa, or something along those lines. Your job is to translate Japanese to English, not selectively choose some words not to translate when there are English words for them. <<less
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bananeeg
bananeeg rated it
November 13, 2018
Status: v6c9
I won't write a summary since there are tons already but here's my review.

Basically, everything is alright except for the characters. There are some who are interesting, but most are completely one dimensional. One of the main girls just repeats "yay!" all the time. That's more or less it. The book describes her as cute, but she really isn't.

The worst though is that the MC always says his 3 main monsters are his daughters and yet all their interactions are disturbing semi-s*xual scenes

Even the interesting/ likable characters get boring after... more>> a while because there's no character growth.

Overall, if you're bored, it passes the time, but that's it. <<less
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shinikage
shinikage rated it
June 9, 2018
Status: v4c17
Regardless of it's interesting start, the story get dull and lineal quite quickly the MC has no real personality the heroines are 2D with no growth at all whose only purpose is to be the MC OP waifus, no tension since in a world where everyone Demon Lord can barely make a rank A monster if they are lucky once a month, the MC only have to wait to make a new one every month, plus he can also make Guns that totally own magic in both range and destructive... more>> power, seriously not worth wasting your time reading it. <<less
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Astel
Astel rated it
September 19, 2021
Status: Completed
I was wondering why this is in my done list instead of reading so after I reread it again yeah I remember why

So we have normally op newborn demon lord MC this that normal stuff and as usual there is a bunch of people (demon lord) who doesnt like him cuz hes too op

... more>>
Spoiler

The "Father" who created the demon lord doesnt like how the old demon lord meddle with the newborn so he created a 1 year grace period, which the old cannot attack the newborn, theres bunch of filler, distraction, cute stuff, so if ur looking for a serious novel, find another

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The ending of this novel isn't the end, its more like a prologue to another series, which then we have the sequel, but instead of a sequel its more like a spinoff which left a lot of question from the series left unanswered.

As there is no clear ending and author seems to just brush off a lot of the unanswered stuff imma give a 3 <<less
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EZ_CRIMSON
EZ_CRIMSON rated it
August 19, 2021
Status: v10c1+
So to make it short.... This is a pretty decent series, and the translation by RPGnovels was pretty dang good as well. However, the story gets a little monotonous as time goes on. Battles are basically just a rehash of the same structure repeatedly. If you have ever played Raid Shadow Legends, its kinda like that, only if you had god mode on. Basically every fight is MC and his crew show up, stand back with their arms crossed and smug looks on their faces while one of them is... more>> chosen to curb stomp anything and everything set against them. After the first battle or two, they never struggle again.... and the first one or two arent even really a struggle. They spend all the time in combat simply explaining why they are untouchable thanks to whatever convenient preparations they had done beforehand and then further explaining how they will advance this or that in order to make it worse in the future. There is literally nothing that occurs that can stop them in combat.

To be fair, the story is interesting, and I did enjoy reading it. However, it felt also felt like a lot of things went unexplained in the sense of the mechanics of their world. It almost feels like it was written under the assumption you had already read other similar works like Lazy Dungeon Master, which goes more in-depth on things like Dungeon points and stuff....

Anyways, if your looking for something to feel the Niche of dungeon building, Nation building, Fantasy Harem, then this isnt a bad choice.... Be warned though that the translation ends at Vol 10 and im pretty sure there are more volumes after that... then it picks up at the "sequel" that by itself, feels like a OVA if it were an anime. What I mean to say is, after Vol 10, there are still TONS of plot points left as loose ends, basically all of them, and the sequel doesnt do anything to close them.... as it stands, the sequel is more of a spoiler for the unfinished first story arc then anything.... but I digress. <<less
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AlphaHunter
AlphaHunter rated it
August 10, 2021
Status: Completed
Really fun story. I normally am not a fan of modern day technology merging with fantasy, but this novel did it well. The conclusion could have been better.

Spoiler

I know there is a sequel, but it just does not have the same feel as this one.

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Besides that, this novel was really enjoyable and I would recommend it.
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bigstew
bigstew rated it
August 6, 2021
Status: v10 epilogue
well to many noobs with crap, that aside, for a wn/ln? Its very well done, touches harem w/o direct acknowledgement, very detailed and also ties in alot of other characters relationships, slightly slice of life, does indicate possible future harem, authors goal seems to be placing MC in intially with building against current age old reasons while going against possible hidden bosses, its worth a read from biginning to end as one of the few well written/trans group for a novel, the manga is good but skips alot of details... more>> and plot points but is entertaining, since author setup such a good novel and ending, will look forward to the said/possible sequel that the author might be working on in between manga/and other adapts, seems possibley building off of ending and continuing progress main characters living in said world

edit: the posted trans of sequel/ isnt good seems more of just a epi/spinoof of what ifs or different sencario, still hope one day the author writes something proper for this series.. <<less
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HentMas
HentMas rated it
October 11, 2020
Status: v10 epilogue
Heh... well let's point out a few things

This isn't a "dungeon master" story

This is a "kingdom building" story "disguised" as a "dungeon master" story.

... more>> The whole premise of the dungeons is... lost on this setting because the story doesn't focus on being a "dungeon" it focuses on building a city.

The medal system is interesting... so add a kind of "pokemon" feel to it for a while

Except instead of "pokemon" they are "dungeon monsters" except all those "monsters" are actually "demi humans"...

I swear it makes sense, it's just that the premise is broken in the first chapter and then it devolved into something else entirely...

The author simply put, haves lost track of his own world.

There are quite interesting set pieces of action and a bit of mystery.

But it's just a meandering story where there is no clear plot or goal in mind.

If anything I quite liked the inspiration of the monsters summoned and the logic behind the system is quite well explained, the worldbuilding is a mixed bag of exposition dump and actual world building.

I would have liked this more if it was steered better, because it's all over the place, sometimes it focuses on the relationships for a painful amount of time (relationships on a R15 story where nothing really happens, hell, his actual wife is never with him), other times it focuses on the building and development of the town and his defenses (defenses that are... OP... too OP to even care about them).

The only parts I had no complains with were the dungeon raids of the first few chapters, but then he became too OP for his own good.

So... It's meandering on nothing with no goal or purpose or anything in mind...

If only he hadn't become SUPER OP before even encountering/fighting other older Demon Lords... <<less
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