Chapter 35
Chapter 35
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: [Unknown]
Chapter Title: Minimum Ransom: 100 Billion
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Titled Lime's 'Operation to Make Princess Lee Miran My Little Sister!'...
Of course, that wrapped up in an instant.
"Waaah!"
"If you say that one more time, I'll spank you so hard your butt catches fire."
"Master! She hit me!"
She's smaller than me.
So she'd make a good little sister.
Princess Lee Miran looked incredibly offended at those words.
Her eyes half-rolled back as she grabbed the arm of the slime girl who had been stroking her head and twisted it behind her back.
Smack smack smack smack!
Then she yanked down the pants and went right to town on her butt. It took less than a few seconds.
It was truly at the speed of light.
And now, here we were in the present, with Lime clinging to me, sobbing her heart out over her bright red butt.
However, she was the one in the wrong this time, so while I comforted her, I also made sure she understood her mistake.
"Lime. You were wrong this time."
"Wr... wrong? Did I do something bad, Master?"
"Yeah. See that person standing over there? She might not look it, but she's older than me."
"...Huh?"
The expression on Lime's face, as I knelt down on one knee to meet her eyes, shifted from sadness to bewilderment in an instant.
"A 'little kid' smaller than me is older than Master?!"
"...Ha!"
Is that why they say 'kids can't lie'?
Cold sweat broke out on me, her actual guardian, at how brutally honest my girl was being.
"What kind of adult is that tiny?!"
"L-Lime... watch your words..."
"She's a total shorty! Master, that's a scam! Scam!"
"......"
Scam...
Well, yeah, it kinda is.
That figure at her age is a total scam in a different way.
But saying it right in front of the person who's been scammed is just rude, isn't it?
Look at her now.
"Looks like you haven't had enough yet."
"Eek?!"
Crack. Crack crack.
Princess Lee Miran was cracking her knuckles, heading this way as if this spanking would be even harder.
"This time, I'll beat you until you pee yourself."
"W-Waaah! Master, I'm scared of her! She's just an old hag in a young body! Old hag!"
"Ol-Old hag?!"
Lime.
Where on earth did you pick up a nasty word like that...?
Status window, what kind of education did you give this kid while she was under your control? You turned her into a real neighborhood elementary schooler.
"Hurry up and show your butt again!"
"Waaah! Master, she's gonna hit me again! You hit her instead!"
"Princess. The kid said it, so calm down a bit..."
"Hyunjun. I'm not an old hag! I'm super open-minded with no generation gap!"
No, even in this moment, did 'old hag' get under your skin again?
"I hang out and have so much fun with young people... Maybe I should show you some cosplay pics from anime later..."
From her looks to everything else, this pint-sized Second Princess had a lot of sore spots.
Meanwhile.
"By the way, Lime. This is the lake you wanted to come to, right?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah! That's right, this is it."
To change the mood quickly, I decided to get down to business.
The safest zone in the dungeon's first floor, where there's the least to gain. That's why Lime had come here specifically.
As she silently walked to the lakeside and cautiously dipped her hand into the water, I couldn't even guess her purpose.
But soon enough.
Rumble rumble rumble.
"Huh?"
"Earthquake?"
The ground around the lakeside where Lime had 'touched' began to shake.
"What is that?"
The lake, which had just been drinkable water, now shimmered with an even more iridescent glow on its surface, transforming into an entirely different scene.
"Phew, got it!"
Lime wiped the sweat from her forehead like it had been tough.
My and Princess Lee Miran's jaws dropped at the sight of a completely new type of 'portal' appearing inside the dungeon right behind her.
"That world on the lake's surface... it's the dungeon's 12th floor."
"The 1st and 12th floors?!"
"Yes... Normally, even at the fastest, it takes at least a month from the first floor to reach it."
12th floor.
One of the mid-layers connecting floors 10 through 25.
A portal to such a floor had blatantly appeared on the first floor, right on the lake's surface.
I was shocked, and even Princess Lee Miran—a C-rank hunter who'd been raiding dungeons for nearly 20 years—was stunned.
"Have portals that skip straight up 10+ floors like this ever existed?"
"No way! If they had, humanity would've cleared the dungeon by now."
True. I'd learned that round trips to floors above 25 take years on average.
This was truly an achievement that would go down in hunter history.
And the one who pulled it off was none other than my familiar monster.
"Will this lake stay as a portal forever now?"
"Nope!"
"Lime?"
"It only changes when I touch it, and it'll go back to normal soon!"
Lime announced it proudly to us, who had been staring blankly at the scenery beyond the lakeside.
"Master, did I do good?"
Does she even realize what an incredible feat she's accomplished?
She hugged me tightly, looking hungrier for her master's praise than anything, and asked.
Pat pat.
"Yeah, well... you did amazing, I guess?"
"Hehe. Then pet me more!"
It was a bit early for me to tackle mid-layer content, but she had done well, so I ruffled her head as much as she wanted.
Meanwhile.
"Incredible...!"
Oh, right.
I forgot she was still here?
To me, it was just 'hey, now I can go straight to the 12th floor.'
But to the second heir of a hunter family with 1,000 years of history...
This would definitely look like a 'weapon' to crush her older or younger sisters in the succession battle.
"You've achieved the impossible, Hyunjun."
"Huh? If it's about creating a portal to the mid-layers, that wasn't me—it was Lime here who..."
"A familiar's achievements are the master's. What that monster did is as good as if you did it yourself."
"Yeah, yeah! It's all thanks to Master!"
Even if you say that, I really didn't do anything.
More than that, even after the sci-fi butt show, calling Lime a familiar monster made me flinch in surprise.
"Why? Did you think I was dumb enough to actually believe that slime was a robot?"
"Uh... wasn't it?"
"Sigh. I was just playing along. You seemed desperate to hide it, so I pretended."
As expected of a princess from the Supreme Lee Clan.
Despite her appearance, she was a step ahead of me in every way.
"So, Hyunjun. Want to make a deal with me?"
"A deal?"
That was when it happened.
"That slime... her name was Lime, right?"
"Yes, but...?"
"Sell her to me. I'll wire you a cool 100 billion."
"Wh-what?!"
100 billion?
Did I hear that right?
That's a lot of zeros.
"How much did you say?"
"100 billion. No taxes—I can deposit it straight into your account right now."
100 billion.
With that kind of money, I'd never have money troubles again, dead or alive.
"M-Master!"
But.
Hug!
"Y-You said you wouldn't throw me away!"
"Lime..."
"I don't want a shorty owner! I like my current Master!"
"...Looks like she'll need a lot of rod training if I take her."
Lime clung to me tightly with her dripping body, sobbing with her whole being.
100 billion.
It was more than any familiar monster was worth, no doubt.
If I pushed, I could probably get double that.
But I turned down the offer.
"Sorry, but I can't accept. Princess Lee Miran."
"?! Is the amount not enough? I can add another 100 billion for 200..."
"It's not about the money."
I became a hunter just for the cash.
I'm risking my life in dungeons purely to make money.
If that one-dimensional goal was all there was to it, I'd have taken the deal in a heartbeat.
But the reason I'm in the dungeon, risking my life to get stronger...
It's to see that IF story from my past life—where I couldn't die, so I lived until I died. What if I'd given it my all? I wanted to see that branch.
And 'family' isn't something you buy with money.
"I'm her guardian. I can't sell a kid like my daughter."
"M-Master!"
I smiled politely and tossed away the chance at 200 billion.
"Hmm, I see."
"Yes, that's... huh?"
But right then.
The moment I refused, Princess Lee Miran started cutting her own wrist, drawing blood.
'What's she doing all of a sudden?'
Words didn't work, so now she's going to take it by force?
But the Second Princess herself?
We'd just met, but she didn't seem like that kind of villain.
I gripped my pistols for a moment.
'...Let's trust her.'
She was an official heir to Korea's premier hunter family.
And at the same time.
"Yongchan!"
Seolgi's older sister.
Convinced there had to be a reason for the sudden blood, I hugged Lime tight and waited.
Whoosh!
"Kuh?!"
'Gah...!'
Behind the trees encircling the lakeside.
Blood shaped like blades flew toward the hunters who had been hiding there.
"?! Who the hell are they?"
"Obvious. Slave traders disguised as hunters... targeting us—or rather, you, Hyunjun."
Slave traders in the 21st century.
Fuck, this world is brutal.
I examined the bodies of the hunters she'd killed in one blow, squinting.
In their hands: actual male chastity belts and... grotesque prostate dildos for men.
"Master, are these guys enemies?"
"...Yeah, seems like it."
"Bad guys?"
"Yeah. Really bad."
"Then can I kill them?"
"Obviously."
They were going for a man's forbidden 'back door,' not even the front.
They must've come prepared to get pierced themselves.
"Stay behind me, Hyunjun. There are still a few more around."
"Hmm... a lot of them, huh?"
"Pardon? Oh, yes. Pretty much..."
Trying to turn a man's pleasure zone from dick to anal.
Click click.
I'm no Namgoong Hyung, but I'll shove my bullets up your cunts instead.
"Encounter."