Chapter 19
Chapter 19
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: A Way to Acquire New Prisoners (2)
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That very moment.
In the lord's castle of Baron Gilbert's territory—a place of considerable size among the many adventurer villages—a group of people had gathered for a grave meeting.
"A group of adventurers has gone missing in the dungeon."
Baron Blake Gilbert, his white beard thick and prominent, cautiously opened the discussion.
"Adventurers going missing in dungeons is commonplace. But this case is different. We've gathered here precisely to discuss this incident."
The attendees in the meeting room were all among the most powerful figures in Baron Gilbert's territory, people who could be counted on one hand.
The captain of the territory's knight order.
The head of the Adventurer's Guild Alliance.
The leader of the territory's largest merchant guild.
And even the parish priest of the Goddess Church in the territory.
"Fifteen people have gone missing. And not a single one has returned alive. Their names are listed in the documents before you, as you're all aware."
The people in the meeting room scanned the lists placed in front of them.
Documents detailing names, ages, occupations, and statuses.
The column to the right of each was left conspicuously blank.
"Their status—alive or dead—remains unconfirmed."
As if it were a space reserved for recording whether they lived or died.
"Guild Master, their adventurer badges show no response?"
"No adventurer badges were found inside the dungeon."
"Even after the knight order swept through the entire place?"
"Yes."
The dungeon the adventurers had entered wasn't particularly difficult.
In fact, it was on the easier side, and those fifteen adventurers were more than skilled enough to conquer it.
"Merchant leader, was this a newly discovered dungeon?"
"No. It's a dungeon with low-level monsters like goblins and orcs appearing in small numbers. We've been trading materials from there with the magic tower for a year already."
It wasn't even their first time entering it.
"Then it must have undergone some change in the past year, or they've encountered a sudden crisis."
Baron Gilbert drummed his fingers on the table, lost in thought.
"Among those kidnapped from there is my half-brother."
"If you're referring to young master Jake..."
"As the knight captain knows, our relationship wasn't exactly cordial."
Brothers from the same family but different mothers.
It's odd if they get along well.
"But that doesn't make us mortal enemies. He hated lordly duties and preferred adventure, so he gave up this position himself from the start. If anything, I'm grateful."
"Young master Jake... was a highly skilled adventurer. Isn't that right, knight captain?"
"...Yes. If he'd joined the knight order, he'd have been among the elite."
Since he'd left the family to pursue adventure, there were no major issues with Jake in the baron's household.
"He did cause a bit of trouble when drunk, but that just showed his bold, manly spirit."
"That's why he was popular with women among fellow adventurers, right? Even..."
"There were talks of engagement with a woman training as a knight."
Jake wasn't the problem.
There were some issues, sure, but the real problem was—
"Lady Eris Albathea of the count's family."
The adventurer who'd entered the dungeon with them.
"The Albatheas' only daughter. I heard the parish priest once taught her at the Sunday church."
"Yes. She was a child of devout faith. To think something like this would happen..."
The woman cherished like a forbidden fruit by Count Albathea had also gone missing.
The other thirteen—no, fourteen—were each important in their own right, but sadly, human lives have a hierarchy, as evident from the list.
While all eyes were fixed on Jake Gilbert and Eris Albathea at the top, the names of the D-rank adventurers at the bottom barely registered as real names worth caring about.
"Guild Master. In the current situation, what's the most likely scenario?"
"...The possibility that a dimensional gate leading elsewhere opened within the dungeon."
The guild master spoke cautiously.
"The Demon King's army consists of four legions, but excluding the central army led by the Demon King himself, the others have terrible relations. he invade and plunder each other's dungeons."
"Then..."
"It's possible a gate connected to another dungeon opened in there. More precisely, what they'd call an 'invasion route' from the other side."
"So Jake and the adventurers crossed over?"
"Yes. They could be in a place a thousand kilometers away, skipping across space."
"......Dungeons, tsk."
Baron Gilbert clicked his tongue and stood up.
"We'll continue the investigation. I'll form a separate investigation team. If the guild master's prediction is correct, the Goddess will guide the way."
"...Yes."
As Baron Gilbert turned to the parish priest, the priest spoke in a voice boiling with fervor.
"I hear Sister Dalia, a devout priestess of the church, was with her. If we follow the lingering traces of her holy power, we can surely track her down."
"We must find them."
Baron Gilbert clutched his head in anguish.
"We need to know for certain if they're alive or dead."
That morning, I learned a few things about dungeons from the succubus secretary.
Once a dungeon gate is opened, it takes at least a full day to close it again.
Since it's spatial manipulation magic, deployment takes time, and dispelling it does too.
You might wonder why the hassle, but we don't leave our front doors open all the time, do we?
Heroes could show up anytime.
This world is full of aspiring heroes training by exploring dungeons everywhere to defeat the Demon King.
If the dungeon gates were wide open?
Why bother with that long journey to the Demon King's castle?
she'd just head straight to Baron Gilbert's territory, jump through the dimensional gate to the Vampire Princess's lair, then hop on the portal there to the Demon King's castle.
Apparently, the castle had been raided that way once before.
Becoming a trainer has its perks—learning insider stories about the Demon King's army and dungeons is new knowledge stacking up nicely.
After that, the trend became to keep gates between dungeons closed, even if it costs more mana.
Still.
During that one open day, we can snag as many prisoners as we want if we're motivated.
"The Vampire Princess can open the dungeon gate for a day, letting humans enter."
Building on that idea, I made a proposal to the succubus secretary, and now here I was, standing before a prickly-looking elderly man with white hair and glasses.
"Using that in reverse to capture new humans as prisoners?"
"Yes."
This stern-looking vampire in a tailored suit, hair slicked back, was Akkamond Nosferatu.
I had to tread carefully with this old man whose name screamed "vampire" from the start.
"Intriguing."
The Vampire Princess's right-hand man.
"Humans won't take the bait no matter how we taunt them. They value their lives too much."
The number two of the Vampire Legion.
"Even luring them into dungeons doesn't work easily. But... this forces them in, even knowing it's a trap. It's making them walk into their own graves."
The one overseeing all operations in the Vampire Legion.
"Your plan is thoroughly built on an understanding of humans. Something no demon could conceive—purely 'human' ingenuity."
My direct superior.
"Trainer Azazel."
"Yes, Chief Adjutant."
His official title was Chief Adjutant, able to act as dungeon master in the Vampire Princess's absence—a "sub-master."
"Were you really just a porter before coming here?"
"Pardon?"
"Your scheme is far too sophisticated for a mere porter."
It wouldn't be ordinary.
It carried some modern sensibilities, but it was also me, trying to survive by shoving other humans into hell's pit.
"Especially this trap exploiting the 'uncertainty of life and death'... it's diabolically ruthless, even by my standards."
The chief adjutant unrolled the fake last will I'd written.
"Using blood for a proxy will. You're inhumanely vicious."
The contents, written in fluids from the vampire slimes, boiled down to something like: "My arm's broken, so writing by proxy."
"Ah. Is calling a human vicious an insult?"
"From a demon's perspective? Is it praise?"
"To me... it's an insult that humans wasted you as a porter, and praise for you all the same."
Akkamond set down the blood-written note.
"Even the legion's strategists wouldn't dream up something this vicious."
"......."
"Most humans think capture by demons means death within a day. Ransom releases are rare and come at a steep price—bodies broken and violated. But you..."
Akkamond drummed the table excitedly.
"You wrote in the blood note: The demons here plan to use humans for breeding experiments."
"......."
"Keeping women alive to bear goblin and orc children, turning men into limbless blood bags milked daily."
"......."
Alive, yet not truly living.
But if rescued, "living" Jake or Eris could be saved.
"And then: 'We don't know when they'll kill us. Five are already dead.' Making it seem like death is imminent."
"......."
"Open a new dungeon near Baron Gilbert's territory, send goblins there so humans find the blood note?"
"If it's our legion's dungeon causing issues, use another legion's. If that's diplomatic trouble, just open a gate in a goblin-infested forest cave."
"...Normally, it'd be an invasion route straight into a human village."
Akkamond clutched his aching head for a moment.
"Approved."
He rolled up the blood note, handed it to me, and slowly rose.
"Open the dimensional gate to Baron Gilbert's territory. Leak the blood note so they learn our situation and dispatch a rescue team. Once we gauge their forces and they cross into the dungeon..."
"Close the gate. Perfect number for prisoners."
"...Heh."
Same principle as the trap that caught me and the adventurers.
"No need to fight weakened on human lands blessed by the Goddess."
The difference? Before, it was "catch whoever bites." Now, lure the enemy in inescapably.
"If you, a trainer, devise this, how can I, the chief adjutant, sit idle? Return to the training room."
"Ch-Chief Adjutant. Is there something I can do?"
"Your job?"
Akkamond rubbed his fingers at me.
"You love virgins that much, huh?"
"......Well."
"Clean your dick and wait. You're the trainer. Combat's mine—ours."
Akkamond donned his cloak and headed out.
"I'll make sure no one touches the virgin priestesses—for you."
"......."
Loyalty.