159. The Venomous Spider That Found a Home (1)
159. The Venomous Spider That Found a Home (1)
- 1 -
"They say the witch went to the Demon Realm?"
"No way. Why?"
"Who knows. Still, at least we can stretch our legs and sleep now."
Expectation and relief mingled in the murmurs of the crowd that filled the streets.
As the rumor spread that Arpina had made excuses to Abelus and headed toward the Demon Realm Archduke, the masses erupted in cheers.
One of the terrors that had tormented them for so long had vanished.
Of course, at the same moment, the worst possible situation was unfolding for the person in question, Arpina.
A situation even more hopeless than when she had been captured by the strongest adventurer on the surface.
'Damn it... To think there isn't a single suitable vessel for reincarnation in this vast Demon Realm...!'
That was the real reason she had been held captive in the land of monsters for five years after being defeated not by an Archduke, but by his subordinates.
She could attempt the reincarnation technique on monsters as well, but the problem was that even after scouring the entire Demon Realm, there was no vessel whose 'wavelength' matched hers.
Even the vessels she occasionally found failed to meet her fastidious 'tastes.'
"Your ability is most... intriguing."
That very hesitation had been the start of the problem.
While she had been stalling for time, searching for the 'perfect vessel' during her captivity, she had ultimately drawn the attention of the Demon Realm's Archduke, Dantalion.
"Perhaps you might become my new key."
The Secret Duke, Dantalion.
A demon noble who concealed his face behind a silver mask, yet even the lower half of his face visible beneath it was enough to suggest his overwhelming beauty—a monster.
"Your talent for manipulating humans comes from another plane. Moreover, the fact that your wavelength matches mine... means I can make those powers you've plundered my own."
Beneath the Archduke's mask, a cold smile slowly spread as he gazed upon her.
"I look forward to it. Your 'taste.'"
He intended to raise her up and then devour her.
The irony of a predator who had spent her entire life consuming others now finding herself in the position of prey.
A terror beyond imagination coiled around her entire body.
'I have to get out of here fast...!'
That was why she had hastily accepted the proposal from the 'Marquis.'
She wanted to somehow escape to the outside, perform the reincarnation technique, and flee into a new body.
But before the contract, she had not known that a pact with a demon could not be shaken off even by reincarnation.
- 2 -
All matters were gradually entering their final stages, one by one.
First, the matter concerning the 'Owl.'
- We have seized all of their tails.
From beyond the communication crystal, Talhan bowed his head respectfully and reported.
- They were so occupied with cutting off the turncoats and chasing the source of the disruption that they had no idea what we were doing behind their backs.
"Did you groom their feathers well?"
- Of course.
A sinister smile settled on Talhan's lips as he answered.
- Crow feathers suited them surprisingly well.
The source of the disruption was none other than the Dream Witch, Arpina.
Among the information merchants frantically chasing after her, several humans who had become mimic-type monsters—like my Cerebrum Skull and Haley—had now infiltrated their ranks.
Bolstered by sacrificial strengthening from the dungeon and indirect support through Haley, they would gradually climb to higher positions.
The moment even one of them became an executive, the information merchants of this region would fall into my hands.
- We have arranged to hold their Fate meeting. Master.
The second matter was the one Echidna had been handling—the matter of the lords along the Foile River.
Echidna, her Lamias, and the aquatic monsters, including the Lizardmen, were currently playing an immensely important role in maintaining the peace of this river.
The monsters who had wailed about being betrayed by the Lamia Queen had already all been driven away by her hand to the far reaches of the river or the sea.
"Is your relationship with those monsters truly all right?"
- The relationship they speak of is nothing more than a thin, slender thread.
Echidna's cold voice came through the crystal ball.
- If I were to fall into trouble, they would sooner come up to the lake themselves. You need not worry.
I nodded at her answer.
There was nothing but firm resolution in Echidna's words, so there would be no further need for concern.
But I wanted to at least leave her with these words.
"Understood. But if there are any you are truly close with, you may bring at least them along."
- I am grateful for your consideration. Master.
In any case, she was now being treated as nearly equal in standing to the mercenary captains along the river.
The status of the armed organization she led was rapidly rising.
It was a remarkable achievement for something accomplished in barely a week.
There were even human adventurers and soldiers who, impressed by her, had entered into service under her, so it was not difficult to guess the extent of her influence.
"How do you plan to maintain control over them?"
- For the time being, I intend to focus on our work as a righteous monster collective.
"It seems you've taken a liking to it."
- Though it does not compare to the glory of serving directly at your side, Master...
From her voice, a clear note of mockery seeped out.
- It has been entertaining to watch the humans' perception of monsters gradually change.
Beyond the crystal ball, Echidna's eyes glinted darkly.
A completely different appearance from the one the people near the Foile River knew.
I had heard that the waterfolk who loved superstition in that area were now crafting myths about the white serpent.
It was enough to make me curious what sort of reaction they would have if they saw her true form.
"Very well. Enjoy your diversion for a while. I shall see you at the Fate meeting."
- Yes, Master. I shall await that day with a longing heart.
The third matter was the Damamolon-Matepit territorial war that had broken out in the southwest.
Or rather, now that Elena's affairs had become involved, it should be seen as the three-way war of Heisen-Zenota-Norn.
According to Ran's report after she returned to the dungeon in the afternoon, she had apparently seized her third village and fortress just today.
'Zenota will likely begin to respond soon now.'
Regardless of victory or defeat, it was a favorable situation for both Elena and myself.
Of course, it would be better if she achieved victory, but at the very least, there was no chance of her suffering defeat.
"So this child is Viola."
"Where, where is this...? My sister...?"
Viola, the daughter of Count Dorian Eisaph—whom I had made the direct cause of that war—was currently in my hands.
I had released the hypnosis that had been placed on her when she arrived this morning.
Because she had neither sufficient value nor talent to be worth keeping.
And the matter of her disposal was what I was about to decide now.
"Even if this child were to return now, the war would not end."
"What... what do you mean? A war?"
The child's voice, directed at me, trembled intensely, but I ignored her.
"You mean a territorial war, right? Yes? How did it turn out... Mmmph!"
- You are not permitted to speak. Human.
A Skeleton rather roughly covered her mouth, and as I watched her with her mouth blocked, I organized my thoughts.
The war between territories that had broken out in the southwest was now gradually showing signs of escalating into a war between nations.
The villages near the border were being evacuated, national forces were being concentrated, and recently, there had even been news that the Empire's troops had crossed the border of the Ariliet Duchy.
"Then, send her back. Erase her memories."
The decision was swift, and there was no hesitation either.
"She is a child of little value now."
The war had broken out far more quickly than expected.
This essentially meant there was no longer any need to stage an incident using this child to provoke Count Eisaf.
And amid it all, the young noble lady, who had no proper memory of the cause of this situation, would never be able to stop the war.
Even if some intervention caused her to recover her memories, it would be simple enough to incite the other two factions and escalate the war further.
It was an unnecessary endeavor, and the child was not so wicked.
I had no intention of deliberately staining my hands with young blood in such a situation.
"Master."
The one who halted my decision was Sonia.
Her voice carried an emotion rarely heard from her.
"May I take charge of her?"
"Why do you wish to?"
"I want to understand the fundamental mindset of the nobility—our enemies."
Entrusting a noble girl to her was an inconsequential matter. But the emotion that filled Sonia's eyes stopped that choice.
It was an emotion that could not be left unattended.
For it was something deeply familiar to me as well.
"Come here."
I gestured to my disciple, and after a brief hesitation, she approached and knelt on both knees before the throne.
Her shoulders quivered faintly with a certain heat.
It was not the heat of excitement or zeal, but the heat of hostility.
"Sonia. Their policies are nothing more than background context."
"But Master."
Sonia's voice grew agitated.
What filled it was a sense of betrayal following the hostility.
"If they had not established that rule—'turn green adventurers into fodder for dungeons, or use them to manage dungeons'..."
I could feel the words hovering at the tip of her lips—that she herself would have had no reason to suffer misfortune.
What she spoke of was, like this recent 'War Etiquette,' the backdrop that determined her fate and that of her childhood friends.
The powerful figures and nobles of the continent had strictly limited the adventurers dispatched to early-stage dungeons to 'apprentice adventurers.'
Unless it was a case of raising their own children.
And apparently, they referred to that rule as 'a suitable method to raise dungeons for harvesting, or to manage the numbers of apprentice adventurers.'
"Your adventure was your own will, and your deaths and wounds were by my design."
But I did not want her to resent them.
For resentment toward an unspecified many, or toward a specific class, would only have a detrimental effect on her.
"Resent me instead. Not the world."
"How... how could I do that?"
Sonia's voice quavered with distress.
"The more I learn, the more disgusting the truth of this world becomes, and Master is..."
The disciple who both hated her master and pitied him at the same time could not bring herself to utter the final words and closed her mouth.
She seemed to think that letting those words slip would be irreverent.
I stroked her hair, which she still kept styled in the way I had tied it, and continued speaking.
At my touch seeping through her black hair, Sonia's shoulders trembled faintly.
Her emotions gradually subsided.
"I hope you will no longer burn yourself up."
"But Master..."
"The only one who possesses the right to burn up one's own life is oneself alone. It is a sorrowful right."
When a person burns themselves up, what is born from the ashes left behind is usually something other than a person.
And what resurrects from the ashes of rage and hatred is not a phoenix or a god, but a demon or a monster.
I did not want Sonia to follow the path I had walked.
"... Even while dealing with me, you have kept yourself together well, haven't you? You can do this."
"That is faith I do not deserve..."
In the end, Sonia lowered her head and opposed me no further.
Tears she could not hold back fell from the corners of her eyes to the floor.
I gestured toward Viola and plunged her consciousness back into hypnosis, then watched as the Skeletons soon escorted her out of the chamber.
By the time the sound of the girl's footsteps faded and Sonia had wiped away her tears, I brought up the final agenda.
"Her current location?"
It was the matter of the primary enemy closing in on me with intent.
"It seems she has crossed the mountain range to the north."
Eve answered my question.
She had just returned from bringing me some of the mercenaries of Damamolon and the retired soldiers of Mathepit—those who could not forget their days of glory.
As always, she was reliable: if I entrusted her with one task, she would accomplish two or more.
"Amelia reported discovering several soldiers and monsters drained of their souls to the north of the castle."
I unconsciously furrowed my brow.
It was news so displeasing that an ordinary person would have furrowed their brow.
Amelia, the lord of Solemio, was the first human lord to belong to me, and her domain's people were therefore no different from my own subjects.
"Truly displeasing to the very end."
Hearing my words, Evangeline's face grew somewhat uncomfortable, and I cast a puzzled look toward her.
It was common for them to wear dark expressions when I harbored ill feelings, but this time it felt a little different.
"... Could you not reconsider the strategy?"
As expected.
The reason for her expression was not my emotions, but my thoughts.
"Master..."
Eve, who had taken hold of my hand and was rubbing it against her own cheek, asked.
The wistful gaze brimming with burning loyalty and affection was difficult to meet, but I did not avert my eyes.
I could feel the tips of her fingers—which, when swinging a sword, traced lines without a single wasted inch—trembling faintly.
"This is the best course, Eve. It is the surest method to subdue her."
Persuading her did not require many words.
Just as I was weak to them, they were weak to me as well.
A small sigh escaped Eve's lips as she closed her eyes.
"... Understood. I will do my utmost."
"Good."
Eve was scheduled to play the greatest role in the first plan I had established.
The role of ensuring Arpina did not notice the trap.
The other forces currently assembled in my dungeon had been deliberately kept in reserve to be used for the second and third plans.
Therefore, if I failed to take action at the appropriate moment, Eve could truly die.
If the second plan failed after that, it would be a truly grave matter.
Because there would be numerous casualties including her and myself, and still no favorable outcome.
"It is your strategy, Master, so there is no possibility of failure. Do not worry."
But there was no fear in her eyes.
Only a steadfast belief that 'it would naturally come to pass.'
Her voice, filled with that certainty, seemed as though it were speaking a truth of the world.
"Yes."
I too nodded and steeled my resolve.
For this purpose, I had recently raised my own abilities sharply—at the very least, to avoid being helplessly defeated by Arpina in a single stroke.
Now, for the final inspection of this matter, my close aides would confirm one thing this evening—a confirmation of my soul and heart.
The crimson light seeped through the dungeon's magic windows and cast long shadows across the floor.
'Now, only one step remains.'
The time to face the final phase was approaching.