A Bone-Rattling Welcome
A bone-loving harem... Is this really happening?
I gathered Charlotte, Isabella, Balutak, Estizel, Selina, and every other resident of the dungeon before pointing proudly at Cecilia.
"Allow me to introduce her. This is Cecilia, the newest member of our dungeon."
*Clap, clap, clap!*
Cheers and applause erupted from the crowd. However, despite their polite clapping, Isabella and Balutak looked utterly miserable.
"W-Welcome, Miss Cecilia..."
"Kirik..."
They looked at her as if they were staring at a ghost. Well, considering Cecilia had nearly sent them both to the afterlife, their reaction was entirely justified. Honestly, I felt the exact same way. Only Charlotte dared to glare back at Cecilia. I guess she didn't know the meaning of fear.
Cecilia scanned my subordinates with half-lidded eyes. Whenever she looked at anyone else, her pale eyes remained completely devoid of emotion. Even her voice was flat and monotone, giving her the impression of a cold beauty far more detached than Charlotte. That was exactly how she had been portrayed in the game, too.
"Cecilia."
"Yes, Master?"
Strangely, the moment she looked at me, her eyes sparkled with life, and her voice carried a distinct warmth. Even if she was mistaken about me being her master, it was still incredibly bizarre. Did she have some kind of emotional switch hidden inside her? And was I the trigger?
Shaking off the idle thoughts, I gestured toward my subordinates with my chin.
"Consider them your family from now on. Try to get along without any fighting."
"Yes, Master."
Now that the introductions were out of the way, I needed to give Cecilia a formal title. Everyone else had roles like guardian or deputy, so it would be awkward to leave her out.
Hmm. Technically, she was powerful enough to be the boss of the entire Abyss Palace, but whatever.
Generally, people assumed a dungeon boss's right hand was the mid-boss, and the left hand was the deputy.
'Mid-boss sounds a bit cheap, though.'
In my subjective opinion, the term felt a bit tacky. At the very least, the Tomb of Faith didn't have such a cheap title. After some careful thought, I decided to test the waters with her.
"What kind of title would you prefer in this dungeon?"
"I like being your disciple, Master."
Being the disciple of an Abyss Palace Lord wasn't exactly a dungeon job title. As I stared at her in silence, Cecilia rubbed the back of her neck and hummed thoughtfully.
"Your knight... I think 'guard knight' would be nice."
"That works."
Having someone of Cecilia's caliber—essentially an Abyss Palace boss—as my guard knight? Just having her by my side felt more reassuring than an army of ten thousand. Of course, that was assuming she was entirely on my side.
'Well, as long as nothing crazy happens, she should remain an ally.'
Cecilia, who had been merely observing my subordinates, took a step toward them. As she drew closer, Balutak and Isabella flinched visibly.
"I am sorry about what happened back then," Cecilia said.
"Ahaha... I-It's fine. It was a... good learning experience..." Isabella stammered.
"Kirik! What good is an apology after you already killed us-dak! Balutak hates you-dak!"
"Nice to meet you, Sir Knight! I am Estizel, the Rank 50 Lord. I used to be Rank 72, but my skills have been improving by leaps and bounds lately, so my rank has been skyrocketing—"
In stark contrast to the other two, Estizel wasn't scared at all. Instead, she was busy subtly bragging about her rank. She only acted this way because she had only heard rumors of Cecilia's terror and had never witnessed it firsthand. If she had, she would be hiding silently behind the other two, quiet as a mouse.
Meanwhile, Cecilia stared blankly at the young witches. Her gaze lingered on them—perhaps because she found them cute—before she suddenly turned her head back to me.
"Why are those witches here?"
Ah, so she didn't think they were cute. Her question carried a very pragmatic doubt: Why keep these useless young witches around? This was a dungeon meant for recruiting capable monsters, so from her perspective, it was a perfectly natural question. But that was how other dungeons operated. As a human at heart, I had no intention of pursuing pure efficiency.
"I brought them here to protect them," I replied.
"...To protect them?"
"They were nearly killed by the Grand Sage. The outside world seemed too dangerous for them, so I decided to look after them here."
The moment I finished speaking, my shoulders flinched. Cecilia was looking at me with a soft, gentle smile.
"You haven't changed at all, Master."
What is she talking about all of a sudden? I tilted my head in confusion. At that, Cecilia's eyes trembled, and her lips parted slightly.
"...Have you forgotten everything?"
She kept bringing up things I had absolutely no clue about. It felt like she was asking if I had lost all the memories of my past life.
'Well, that's half-true and half-false.'
I had memories of my past life, but they weren't the memories of this body. Fortunately, there was a very convenient setting in this world that undead forgot their past lives. Even if I feigned ignorance, she wouldn't suspect a thing. However, claiming I had forgotten everything would contradict the strong sense of self I had shown so far. To avoid raising unnecessary suspicion, I added a bit of exaggeration.
"I have lost most of my memories."
With just those words, Cecilia froze. She simply stared up at me, her eyes trembling with shock.
"M-Master... what about your name?"
"I do not know."
"Ah..."
A soft lament escaped her lips as her eyes filled with deep regret. Before I could even wonder what was going on, Cecilia suddenly threw her arms around me. Oh, come on. Hellboki is going to get another squeaky toy at this rate.
"What is the meaning of this now?"
"It's just... you are so pitiful, Master."
"..."
"I'm sorry. This is all my fault. If only I hadn't been there, your memories would still be intact..."
From my angle, I could only see the crown of Cecilia's head. Even though I couldn't see her face, it was obvious she was sniffling.
"Your name is Lucas, Master. Lucas, the Hero of the Empire."
"A hero?"
"Yes, that's right."
Cecilia continued to ramble about a "me" that I had absolutely no recollection of. Her voice was muffled since her face was buried in my chest, but it was still coherent enough to understand. According to her, I—her master—was Lucas, the former Hero of the Empire. A tragic hero who had been executed on the guillotine for the crime of saving a witch.
'Who the hell is Lucas, you weeb?'
Even as a veteran player with over thirty thousand hours in this game, I had never heard of a hero named Lucas. If a hero had actually been executed, it should have left a massive mark on the lore. It made no sense for an expert like me to be completely oblivious to it. Was he a character who didn't exist in the game but existed in this reality? Or was he deleted from the game's lore entirely? Whatever the case, thinking about it further would only give me a headache.
From what she said, it seemed the high-ranking officials of the Empire had covered up the entire incident. I had never seen a single mention of Lucas in any of the newspapers I occasionally read. Well, if word got out that a former hero had returned as a Lord of the Abyss Palace, it would cause absolute chaos. Even I found the idea terrifying, so the citizens of the Empire would surely lose their minds. They must have covered it up to prevent such a massive fallout.
'But more importantly, I'm not Lucas.'
If I were the real Hero Lucas, I wouldn't be a fragile Death Knight. Still, listening to Cecilia, I could understand why she was making this mistake. An undead wielding a Holy Sword, combined with all the coincidences so far... it felt like the entire world was conspiring to force the identity of Lucas onto me. But seriously, I'm not Lucas!
"It's alright even if you've forgotten everything. Because I will remember it all for you."
"...Ahem."
"We can just make new memories together. From now on, we will be together forever—"
Her words were cut short as Cecilia's body suddenly floated backward into the air. Lifted slightly by an invisible force, it was immediately obvious that she was under the influence of Charlotte's telekinesis.
Sure enough, Charlotte was glaring at Cecilia with sharp, venomous eyes.
"Our Lord is sacred and inviolable. Do not press your filthy body against him. My patience has its limits."
"...Ha."
Their gazes clashed in midair, almost throwing off physical sparks. Looking at Charlotte's level color, I could tell why she was so incredibly hostile. I wasn't dense like some typical subculture protagonist; I was just a dickless undead. If this were a catfight over some alpha male, that would be one thing. But fighting over a biologically castrated undead? It was just plain awkward.
First a bone-loving witch, and now a hero... the world was truly going mad. In my past life, necrophilia was the fetish I despised most. Looking at the color of their levels again, I felt a massive headache coming on.
"My Lord. This bit—this woman has a high probability of betrayal. You know better than anyone that humans are a treacherous race."
"Aren't you a human too?"
"...She is a Hero of the Empire. Her very nature is different."
"No, I'm not. Before anything else, I am my Master's disciple. And he is my Master before he is any Dungeon Lord."
"That is merely your delusion. This gentleman is the Lord of the Tomb of Faith, a domain of the Abyss Palace."
Trying to mediate between them would only get me crushed like a shrimp caught between two fighting whales. I looked around for help, but—where the hell did everyone go?
In the distance, I caught sight of Balutak and Isabella's backs as they bolted away. The rest of them had already vanished without a trace. What a joke. And they called themselves my subordinates.
"Chatty witch. I should have killed you back then," Cecilia muttered.
"Just like you tried to kill our Lord?" Charlotte retorted.
"...You bitch."
A terrifying, murderous aura swirled between the two. Caught right in the middle, I was the only one suffocating. My so-called subordinates had dumped this mess onto their boss and run... Dungeon management was truly going to the dogs.
"That's enough," I warned.
"Step forward right now. I'll rip your head off," Cecilia growled.
"Rip my head off? My, how vulgar. I suppose a simpleton can only speak with a vulgar mouth."
Cecilia had already raised her Moonlight Sword. Around Charlotte, dark magic circles began to interlock like clockwork gears. At this rate, the entire dungeon could collapse in an instant.
"I will exile you. Get out."
I spoke with genuine irritation. If they were just going to fight like this, there was no reason to keep them around. Only then did the two of them look at me, lowering the sword and dispersing the magic.
"I'm sorry. I won't do it again," Cecilia apologized.
"...My apologies," Charlotte muttered.
They should have done this from the start. Why did I even let it go on for so long? Letting out a deep sigh, I raised my chin with a solemn expression.
"As executives of the Abyss Palace, show some self-control. There will not be a second chance. If you clash even once more, both of you will be exiled..."
My voice trailed off as my attention was drawn elsewhere. A pink portal had caught my eye. I only knew of one person who used a pink portal.
...My bad feelings were never wrong.
Emerging from the portal was a tall woman clad in a crimson dress. Driven by male instinct, my eyes drifted to her magnificent chest before her face.
Her level color seemed to blend perfectly with the pink portal. The owner of that level, Rosesha, locked eyes with me first. Wearing her trademark sly smile, she waved her hand playfully.
"Hello, darling. I came as soon as I heard the news."
Her gaze drifted away from me to scan the surroundings. The moment her eyes landed on Cecilia, they sharpened like daggers.
"So, it's you?"
As if reacting instinctively, Cecilia raised her Moonlight Sword.
*Clang!*
An invisible force slammed against the flat of her blade, sending Cecilia skidding backward from the impact. The ground beneath her feet gouged deeply from the sheer force. It was a clash that happened so fast I didn't even have time to intervene.
Click, clack.
Rosesha strolled forward with elegant, measured steps. Her bloodthirsty red eyes locked onto Cecilia.
"You're the human who tried to kill my husband, aren't you?"
"...Rosesha of the Castle of Pleasure."
"So you do know me. Then you must know exactly what's going to happen to you next."
An invisible energy surged, and a suffocating pressure laced with pure murderous intent weighed down on the entire area. The playful smile on Rosesha's face completely froze over.
"Why don't you try dying once, too?"
Ah. Why are all the women around me like this?