136. The Curtain Keeper (2)
136. The Curtain Keeper (2)
- 1 -
"How have you been lately, Grace?"
"Thanks to the Lady's consideration... I-I've been living comfortably..."
It was Grace Eivano, the cleric currently visiting the city at the request of Amelia, the new lord of Solemio.
"Truly?"
"Yes... My body is comfortable, so..."
"How honest. And kind."
"Ah..."
Conversations with her had been a daily routine ever since I brought her to my dungeon, and I hadn't missed a single day.
Of course, it was partly to make her 'voluntarily' cooperate with me, but...
The present me could see that there were other benefits beyond what I had initially thought.
'Gray...'
Grace Eivano's soul, visible to my eyes, was stained gray.
It was a color I perceived, different from the original hue I saw when I pierced the spirit realm with mana to examine a soul.
'I assumed it would be pale gray at worst. This is unexpected.'
Through the 「Veilkeeper」, I had categorized which world—or which nature and entity—a 'soul' was deeply fated (緣) to, using five lights.
The black of the 'Demon Realm'.
The white of the 'Heavens'.
The red of the 'Outer Realm'.
The blue of 'Wraiths'.
The green of 'Spirits'.
Those were the five colors.
Just as I had set a cleric's power as white, and my own as black.
Meaning, I had assumed she had practically no chance of being stained by the Demon Realm's influence...
'Is it because she was in the dungeon?'
She already looked sufficiently stained, or on the verge of it.
Within her soul, gray, white, and black were swirling wildly.
Having only one sample made it hard to be certain...
Anyway.
"Hmm... It seems your Heavenly power is still intact, Grace."
"M-My faith does not waver, so...?"
Still, I had at least gained one highly plausible hypothesis from this: that whether it was the deity or his underlings, they were either dull or too macro-focused.
Whether it was a lack of perception, or simply not being 'absolutely good', I couldn't say.
But at least, it seemed certain that they were not an entity capable of absolutely protecting those values.
After all, if that weren't the case, the very fight between the Heavens and the Demon Realm wouldn't have been established, and there wouldn't be fallen priests on the surface, nor...
『Defensive Coward - A Heavenly innate trait. Durability and Resistance increase, but in exchange, Stamina and Mana decrease by twice the amount of the increase.』
『Avarice - A Heavenly or acquired trait of one who loves gold coins. The more gold coins one possesses, the more Stamina and Mana increase.』
...nor would entities like her have appeared.
'It's been a while since I've seen these.'
Her traits were ones I had seen often even back in MLD 1.
Defensive Coward was for tanks, Avarice for damage dealers. They were good traits for regular summoned creatures or mercenaries.
Since it was a game without Sacrifice Strengthening, if a regular free-to-play user pulled these from the gacha, the advice was to stash that individual away for later.
I myself had relied on them heavily before I truly got deep into the game.
'A deity who entrusts faith in their absoluteness to their followers, huh...'
Anyway, the reality was that even someone with such qualities could become a cleric.
In this aspect, it didn't seem so different from the powerless gods of Earth.
"You are lying. I can see the self-doubt in your eyes. If you weren't lying, there's no way you'd be so fixated on gold coins, is there?"
"Eek..."
"Take this."
I stroked her head and dropped a gold coin onto her lap.
This was also one of the actions I performed every time I met her...
"Oh, ah."
The gold coin fatefully (緣) landed on her chest, and Grace carefully and naturally placed it into her gold coin pouch.
'It seems she's grown quite accustomed to it now.'
Even with a bad deed, self-rationalization is easy when the reward suits your taste.
Especially for someone like her, who prioritizes material value.
"So today... wh-what did you wish to talk about? Sister..."
"Today's visit isn't for conversation. I plan to conduct an experiment."
"Experiment...?"
As if to prove that point, the wariness at the corners of Grace's eyes had softened considerably since the first day she awoke here.
"A-Are you going to do something strange again...!"
"Who knows."
However, more strain was evident than yesterday.
It was likely because of what I had done to her on the first day we met.
'It was an act that could realistically be perceived as attempted violation, after all.'
A bitter smile unconsciously tugged at my lips.
Her attire was still adorned with numerous accessories—originally holy relics—that hung all over her body.
Though it had been quite some time since I returned them to her, they were now just white cloth and gold-plated accessories that had completely lost their power as holy relics.
It was the result of stripping them all off and experimenting on her on the first day we met, saying I would stain them with demonic energy.
"Do not worry. It will not hurt."
"Wait just a moment. You said that on the first day too...!"
Tok.
After knocking her unconscious by tapping her forehead, I turned around.
There, Mure and Ran, who had been waiting to assist with my experiment, were both looking at me with strange expressions.
Mure was looking at me with eyes clearly full of bizarre apprehension, while Ran was glaring at Grace with burning eyes.
"On the first day with a cleric...?"
"Husband. You couldn't possibly..."
"It is not that. It's a misunderstanding."
Both of them nodded.
However, while Ran seemed to believe I wouldn't lie to her, Mure didn't seem to believe a word I said.
...It was giving me a headache.
- 2 -
Whatever thoughts the two of them harbored toward me, the experiment that followed showed results.
Ssssss...!
A prism distortion experiment was conducted, defining the colors of the soul as a 'spectrum'.
As a result, more blackness was added to Grace's soul, and in the end, Grace demonstrated a 'blessing' that had the power of the Demon Realm at its root, though it happened only once.
"I-I used the power of the Demon Realm...! This can't be...!"
Of course, this was absolutely not a successful outcome for Grace herself.
I had retrieved the power before she woke up and made her dismiss what happened as a nightmare, but...
"She's fainted."
'Similar experiments will be difficult from now on.'
It didn't seem like Grace's perception of me as a 'scary but not dangerous entity' would be maintained going forward.
If I suggested another experiment, she might have a seizure and the stunning magic might not even work on her.
That was a shame.
"The shock must be immense. Wouldn't we feel just as shocked if we somehow used holy power ourselves?"
"We wouldn't know unless we tried."
Her words suddenly brought something to mind. As I said that while gazing intently at Mure, she flinched for a moment and then spoke at a rapid pace.
"Uh... I-I'm stronger than Lady Libertas, so the experiment wouldn't work on me."
"Why would I experiment on you? You are a guest."
"Ah, is, is that so...?"
Though it was a joke intended to cause a misunderstanding, it seemed her impression of me had truly gone to the gutter.
No matter how curious I might be about the experiment's results, there's no way I'd conduct such an unpredictable experiment on a noble of the Demon Realm.
"Take Grace to her room."
- Tak!
I had a Skeleton carry the now-experiment-incapable Grace on its back and sent her away.
Then, I led Mure and Ran back to my personal room.
"Now, the task I entrusted to you has been completed."
"Oh... it ended too quickly. I thought it would take at least a week."
It was the 19th when Mure arrived at this dungeon.
Now it was the 22nd, meaning four days had passed since she arrived here. She actually started learning on the 20th, so the learning itself took three days.
For me, it was a satisfactory result, but if she had expected it to take that long, her confusion was understandable.
"You may now take the promised reward and return. Of course, if you have other intentions, you are free to stay longer."
"Is it really alright for an outsider like me to stay here...?"
At her cautious question, I smiled.
Though I wasn't harboring any particular ambition toward her yet, the side of her I had seen so far was quite likeable.
Even at the bare minimum, she was someone my trusted Shue considered reliable. It wouldn't hurt to have her around.
Of course, I didn't forget to imbue my words with a certain implication.
"If the Archduke you serve personally inquires, that would be a different matter. But in other cases, you wouldn't recklessly go around leaking my affairs, would you? You have that much discernment, I trust."
"Fufu. Thank you for your kind words."
She only responded with that.
Though she likely understood that my words were a blend of trust and a warning, she showed no sign of displeasure.
Considering that one normally only gains awareness of such nuances when personally affected, this showed just how significant her goodwill toward me was.
"Very well. If you intend to stay longer, it would be better to change your room."
"I like the current room, though...?"
"There must be a distinction between a regular guest and a resident guest, wouldn't you say?"
All the guest rooms in my dungeon were located on the 2nd floor, but among them, rooms for those I would call resident guests were prepared relatively close to my room.
It was to increase the efficiency of management by the more skilled maids.
After all, they were rooms for guests who were trustworthy even without a contract and who might work for my dungeon.
It was only natural to use better personnel for their management.
'Come to think of it, she's my first resident guest.'
Then I should pay even more attention to the hospitality.
If I wanted to acquire good resident guests in the future, wasn't it natural to treat the first one well?
"If that is what you wish... I shall not refuse."
"I'm glad. I hope we can share even better conversations from now on."
"I will need to prepare teaching materials. My student's level is so high that I feel like I'll be overtaken soon."
"That student is diligent on top of everything, so being on guard is the correct approach."
She and I exchanged smiling glances.
I had succeeded in recruiting the 'Baron of the Requiem', Mure Phelricks, as my first resident guest and my teacher.
- 3 -
'Damn it...'
Ricks, the hobgoblin dungeon lord serving a master known as the Baron of Insult, couldn't hide the trembling that came over him as he entered the room.
It was because the news he brought today was that devastating.
- You're saying those worthless bastards got themselves killed?!
As expected.
The moment his master heard the matter, he raged, emitting green steam from every hole in his head.
"Yes, Your Excellency...!"
Ricks hunched over and barely managed to answer.
It was because the blade of the longsword the 'Marquis' had stabbed backward into the floor looked as if it would fall onto his neck at any moment.
- How is that possible! I clearly said this task would be an easy one! You're telling me that while dealing with a single high-rank dungeon lord, you added two plus a dumb one and still failed!!
"Th-That is...!"
Ricks felt his breath growing labored.
Usually, he was a wicked and cunning strategist who struck fear into the humans around the Demon Realm, but before the Marquis's power, he was merely a vassal fearing the wrath that would fall upon him.
The Marquis's rage was something even a high-rank dungeon lord like himself found hard to endure.
And because that rage could potentially cost him his life, it was even harder to bear.
He had to quickly redirect that anger elsewhere.
"The enemy dungeon lord was unnaturally powerful...! It was as if she was receiving support from somewhere...!"
- What!
After one final jolt of rage, the Marquis gradually calmed down.
He was an ancient, seasoned veteran, both as a general and as a dungeon lord.
That meant his emotional state couldn't be judged solely by his visible anger.
This was evident from the interest that immediately welled up in his eye sockets.
- It was said she was certainly receiving support from the Baritra Marquis Household. But that would be the kind of support given to an ordinary promising individual. Yet you say that young thing was that strong?
"Yes. She was not at the level of an ordinary high-rank dungeon lord...!"
- Hohohohohoho. Interesting. How interesting.
The Marquis, who had pulled up his fleshless mouth into a wide grin, struck his sword down several times and fell into thought.
"..."
Ricks held his breath.
He knew well from experience that interrupting this moment would earn him a devastating scolding.
- Good. Insult! Go out and bring that human thief here.
"You mean the human female? But Your Excellency, that bitch is...!"
- Shut it! Since when was a thing like you allowed to question my orders! I said bring her, so bring her!
"Yes, yes!"
The moment Ricks went out the door, the Marquis, who remained in the room, widened his grin even further.
Even though his body was clearly just black bones, the expression was exceedingly natural.
- Receiving support, they say. Support.
However, that was a story he had never heard before.
If so, it was certainly a story that couldn't be heard within the Demon Realm.
All six of the Surface Archdukes possessed established intelligence networks and contacts within the Demon Realm, and a Marquis under an Archduke's command would be in the closest position to access such networks.
- Then, use something that isn't a demon.
He, as a Marquis of the Demon Realm, couldn't move directly anyway. Since he couldn't, it would be even more useless to report to the Archduke.
For that, he needed personnel who could move freely on the continent.
And a 'criminal' of the continent whom he had captured earlier was perfect for that.
If he planted a contract in that capable but insane criminal and controlled her, he would be able to ascertain whom that dungeon lord's true identity was tied to.
Even more so, since she was a bitch who used powers whose principles even he found hard to fathom.
- I look forward to it. Is it a promising junior I haven't seen in a while? Or is it some hidden scoundrel using tricks! If she is a junior, I shall praise her; if it's a trick, I won't let it slide!!
"Kahat!" laughed the Marquis loudly.
The Demi Lich 'Kimaris'.
In high spirits, he lifted his sword and swung it once, broadly and vertically.
Kwang - !!!
Shu-ak!!
A bombardment that paid no mind to his room being half-destroyed.
However, the restoration occurred just as quickly as the destruction.
It was because the dungeon at the center of the Demon Realm ruled by the Marquis was practically assimilated with him—a power that could move the entire Demon Realm like a living organism, almost like borrowing a portion of divine authority.
That was the power of a dungeon lord who had reached the rank of 'Monarch'.
- Anomalies are... a pleasure, as a rule.
The Marquis felt great anticipation.
The Archduke would absolutely not like it, but he himself, who had already given up on the path of a candidate and settled into the position of a Marquis, needed stimulation.
- Please, stay alive until I see you... Please.
And for him, an 'excellent junior' was exactly that kind of stimulus.