News
"Hmm."
I watched the subjugation party's captain collapse without strength. Though the spark of life had gone out of him, a sharp sword still remained clenched firmly in his hand.
Even dying to the lowest-grade monsters, his final expression was peaceful. Superstition, maybe — but warriors believed that only by dying with a blade in hand could they find rest. Having managed that much alone, he seemed able to accept death with quiet composure.
"Rest well."
I saw off the soul of a mercenary captain whose origins I would never know. Coming from the one who had taken his life, the words hardly suited me — but they were a small word of thanks for providing a decent diversion all the same.
— Ghk…!
— Urgh…
"…"
The fighting around us was nearly finished as well. The enemies, who had numbered close to two hundred, now lay strewn across the floor. Red blood flowing from the corpses had gathered into a lake.
There had been no need to call on Tina or Alfred. The lowest-grade skeleton soldiers alone had been more than enough to crush them.
"…So the power level really has been nerfed."
I muttered as I looked over the bodies.
The first party of adventurers I had run into had been the same. Overall, they felt far weaker than the humans of a thousand years ago.
I had deliberately taken what looked like their ultimate holy magic twice, and it hadn't left so much as a scratch. The most I felt was a mild itch, like a rash.
What's more, humans a thousand years ago had at least been a match for mid-grade skeleton soldiers. The humans of today were being overwhelmed even by low-grade ones.
If this was the state of people who had come all the way into the most dangerous place of all — the Dungeon of Immortality — specifically to subjugate me, then the skill of the low-rank adventurers outside went without saying.
Had there been some long age of peace over the past thousand years, an era when fighting was no longer necessary? Compared to my last memories of them, their abilities had degenerated far too much.
"…I wonder how the Hero measures up."
I found myself curious about this generation's Hero — Varius's descendant. Had the Hero's strength been nerfed right along with everything else?
"We'll cross paths one way or another."
Judging by the fact that a subjugation force had already been sent after me, word that my seal had broken must already be spreading. In that case, it wouldn't be long before I met the Hero as well.
…A vampire sealed for a thousand years had awakened. There was no way a Hero would just sit still.
"Tina, Alfred — grab anything that looks important. We're heading outside today."
"Yes, Master!"
"Understood, my lady."
I ordered my servants to prepare to leave. The headache had mostly faded by now, and there was no reason to remain cooped up in this stifling cave any longer.
Besides, there was no guarantee this would be the only subjugation party. Once contact with this force was lost, the people outside would keep sending troops to take me down.
I wasn't some dungeon boss monster. There was neither need nor reason for me to sit around in the labyrinth putting on airs and waiting for enemies to come to me.
What mattered most right now was getting outside, facing the world a thousand years later — and looking once more upon the shameless face of the kingdom's Prime Minister, Lilianel Greenfield.
"…Just you wait."
A thousand years since the Hero's schemes had bound my entire body in chains.
…At last, the moment of true freedom from the seal had come.
"…Nauseating."
At the thick scent of night-blooming flowers drifting down the corridor, the capital's aged messenger, Robert Whitepin, furrowed his brow.
No matter how many times he smelled it, the odor was oppressive. It was a scent utterly unsuited to a royal palace that was supposed to remain clean and dignified at all times.
Had this corridor ever carried a pleasant fragrance? From the day Robert had first begun working in the palace, this hallway alone had always reeked of night flowers.
Even in his youth the smell had been unwelcome; now that he was older and his sense of smell more acute, it grated on him all the more.
I would rather not have come if I could help it…
That was why the old man hated walking this corridor. But today he had no choice.
He had brought important news from the great western city of Elmaile, he was obliged to see the Prime Minister, and her chambers lay at the end of this very hallway.
— …!! …♡!!
The closer he drew to the Prime Minister's chambers at the corridor's end, the more mortifying the sounds became.
…The fierce noises of a man and a woman becoming a single beast, devouring each other's bodies. Robert wondered whether such sounds truly belonged in a royal palace — but with a sigh, he simply knocked on the Prime Minister's door.
"…Prime Minister. It is Robert."
— …?!
The moment Robert's voice carried past the door, the panting breaths of the man and woman cut off at once. After a brief pause, a flustered woman's voice came from within.
"W-what is it? Is it urgent?!"
"Yes. It is urgent. Extremely so."
A hundred times more important than a man and woman coupling, at any rate. At the old errand-runner's firm reply, the woman inside — the Prime Minister of the Abilia Kingdom — answered reluctantly.
"…F-fine, just wait a moment."
"Yes. I shall wait."
…A short while later, a muscular man wearing only his lower garments burst out of the Prime Minister's chambers as if fleeing. Then the Prime Minister's voice came again.
"Come in."
"…Pardon the intrusion."
Robert opened the door and stepped inside. The stench of night flowers and sex, incomparably thicker than in the corridor, stabbed at his nose. Forcing down the grimace that tried to twist his face, he closed the door behind him.
"What is it?"
Before him stood a beautiful elf, her vital areas covered only by a bathrobe. It was Lilianel Greenfield, who had held the office of Prime Minister of the Abilia Kingdom for five hundred years.
Now wielding power greater even than the royal family itself, she approached a small round table, poured herself a glass of water, and drank.
"I told you not to come to me over trivial matters, didn't I? Just handle things at the lower levels somehow! Ah! Did you come because of money problems?"
"…"
For the Prime Minister of a nation, the words she tossed out so freely were irresponsible in the extreme. Robert regarded Lilianel in silence. Any number of thoughts turned over in his mind.
How on earth a woman so irresponsible and incompetent had become Prime Minister was something Robert still could not understand, even after fifty years of working in the palace.
She ran the state for her own sake rather than for the people, burying herself day after day in drink and men.
She paid not the slightest attention to how the common folk lived, and under her indifferent rule, the corruption of the nobility flourished without end.
The Abilia Kingdom was a vast expanse of land, yes — but it was no better than a rotten apple being eaten hollow by worms. It would not have been strange if the nation collapsed at any moment.
…But Lilianel was an immortal elf. The wealth and connections she had amassed over the long years, and the unwavering support of the Heroes who appeared each generation, only made her corrupted power stronger with every passing day.
The people, too, could raise no great outcry against her — not when the Heroes they trusted and followed stood behind Lilianel.
Whenever a problem erupted, it was always some unfortunate low-ranking official who got ground up in the machinery.
…It can't be helped.
There was no shortage of things that displeased him, but the fact that this was Lilianel's era remained an immutable truth. To survive in this kingdom, one had no choice but to line up behind her.
"…It is urgent news. If you would hear me for a moment."
And so, once again, Robert swallowed his anger and played the part of her loyal retainer. On the vast stage of the theatrical production called Abilia, he always consoled himself that he was far from the only one in his position.
"Hmph! Fine. What is it?"
Lilianel took her water glass and sank onto the rumpled bed. Head bowed, Robert immediately delivered the news he had brought from Elmaile.
"…The Progenitor Vampire sealed within the Dungeon of Immortality has been released."
"What…?"
Crash!
The water glass slipped from Lilianel's hand.
The fragile vessel shattered into pieces with a bright, ringing sound. Lilianel, who always maintained an arrogant and insolent air, now wore a face twisted with pure terror.
"The vampire's seal has been broken…?"
"Yes. I heard it directly from an adventurer who went to explore the Dungeon of Immortality, so the report is almost certainly accurate."
"Th-that's impossible…"
Her hands began to tremble like aspen leaves. Even Robert, who had served as Lilianel's errand-runner for so many long years, had never seen her so rattled.
"Who?! Who the hell broke the seal?!"
She shouted as she shot to her feet.
Robert answered her question with quiet composure.
"It appears to have been broken by the dungeon subjugation party that set out for the Dungeon of Immortality this time — the Red Moon."
"Red Moon? Who the hell are they? No — who even authorized a subjugation of a dungeon that has a seal in it?!"
"…You did, Prime Minister."
"Me? Don't talk nonsense! When did I ever authorize something like that?!"
"…According to the documents, one hundred years ago, you approved a guild request stating that 'subjugation parties meeting certain conditions would be granted the opportunity to challenge the Dungeon of Immortality.'"
"…"
At Robert's words, Lilianel's expression hardened.
What an idiot.
Robert clicked his tongue inwardly.
Buried day after day in drink and men, handling her work so carelessly — of course she wouldn't remember something like this. She had almost certainly signed the papers without even reading what they said.
In a way, the release of the legendary monster this time could be called the karmic fruit of her own negligence.
…Are you scared, Lilianel?
It was only a story passed down through the ages, and Lilianel herself had never once spoken of it, so the full truth remained uncertain — but according to the ancient texts, she had been one of those who sealed the vampire alongside the first Hero.
The arrow of that vampire's wrath would inevitably point at her. No doubt the elf's insides were burning up right now.
"…Accordingly, the lord of Elmaile — the city nearest the Dungeon of Immortality — has urgently requested reinforcements. Sending them requires your authorization, Prime Minister."
"I don't care! Handle it yourself! Shit!"
At Robert's continuing report, Lilianel snapped and shouted. She stamped her feet restlessly, unable to keep still for the anxiety.
Her mind filled with chaos.
Shit, released? Elzerva? That damned vampire? For real?!
It had been a thousand years ago — an age so distant it felt like another world — but Lilianel remembered that day with perfect clarity.
At the request of the first Hero, Belia Varius, she had killed the princess, betrayed Elzerva, and personally sealed her away.
So much time had passed that the story had been twisted strangely in the public telling, but Lilianel still remembered the truth of that day.
Along with Marina Bergard of the Holy Empire Serion — a fallen angel living out her immortality as Grand Saintess — she was likely the only person of this age who still remembered what had truly happened.
And she also remembered, with perfect clarity, the words Elzerva had spoken to her just before the seal took hold. She could recite them without missing a single syllable.
"…"
She had laughed it off at the time. How could she have known that a seal imbued with the Goddess's power would break so easily?
But now it had become reality.
Once that mad vampire learned she was still alive, Elzerva would without question find her way here somehow for the sake of revenge.
…Lilianel remembered Elzerva's power.
A thousand years ago, even the Ancient Soldiers — stronger than those of any other era — had been no match for her. There was no way the feeble soldiers of the present age could stop her.
Moreover, Elzerva was not so stupid as to fall for the same trick twice. The method of stabbing her in the back would not work this time.
"…P-prepare a carriage at once."
And so, after long years of a mind pickled in liquor and lust, the conclusion she reached was none other than flight. If Elzerva caught her, it was over. Plans and countermeasures could come later — first, she had to escape somewhere safe.
"I'm going to Nebirtol, at the northern edge. Pack my things, quickly."
"Understood."
"…Ah, and prepare a body double who can buy some time."
Along with the carriage, Lilianel ordered Robert to prepare a double to stand in for her.
If she left a double identical to herself here in the capital, Elzerva would be deceived by the resemblance and inevitably waste time in the royal capital.
With luck, she might even kill the double, mistake it for Lilianel herself, and abandon her vengeful pursuit.
…Of course, the double would die a horrific death at the vampire's hands — but that was none of Lilianel's concern.
To Lilianel, who stood at the apex of the kingdom as its Prime Minister, the fates of lowly commoners meant nothing whatsoever.
R-right. Buy time that way, and think of a plan slowly in Nebirtol. Yes. There has to be a way.
A thousand years had passed, and any number of magical tools had been invented. If she looked hard enough, there was bound to be at least one instrument capable of killing a vampire.
Don't panic. This time, she would finish off that fox-like vampire for good. Just as she had succeeded a thousand years ago, if she twisted her body out of the way this time too, she could manage somehow.
…Besides, she was not alone, was she?
"Inform the angel of Serion, Marina Bergard, of this at once as well."
Tightening the sash of her bathrobe, Lilianel summoned her reliable allies. Then as now, she had people at her side she could trust more than anyone.
"…And the Hero, Belia Grandius — have him drop whatever he's doing and report to Nebirtol immediately. Right now."
Yes. She had the Hero.
"Tell the rest to buy time however they can. Meanwhile, Grandius and I will draw up a plan."
…She had the Hero, who had always found the right answer.