42. Invasion (1)
42. Invasion (1)
- 1 -
"Did something happen?"
Seeing Melody seated with her subordinates, I had to voice my concern before getting to the main point of business.
"You look terribly exhausted. That's an awful face for such a short time."
"Ha... well."
Melody let out a hollow laugh at my question and glanced sideways at Eve and Geurim for a moment.
Her face looked considerably more haggard than it had just a little while ago—enough that my worry wasn't unfounded.
"Your people, Lady..."
"My people?"
This was turning into a worrying opening.
Surely Evangeline hadn't committed some discourtesy. Perhaps she had imposed excessive conditions...
I wasn't worried about the trading company people, since they were accustomed to deals, but this was my first time entrusting a negotiation to her. The reason I'd given her the task anyway was that she had people beside her who were favorably disposed toward me and skilled in their work, so I figured they would help coordinate things well.
"Ha, well..."
Still, reading the atmosphere, it felt more like exasperation than dislike or hatred.
Fortunately, my multiplying thoughts were quickly cut down by her next words.
"...They worked extremely hard. We ended up having to give quite a lot."
"They're like that. Something I take pride in."
"I imagine so. Hoo... Here. It's the statement of the trade conditions. Please look it over, and if there's anything you're curious about, I will answer immediately. My Lady."
Looking now, the emotion on her face was really just a level of irritation, not something like disgust.
Evangeline and the trading company people must have truly squeezed out the maximum possible benefit from the Baritra family. As an achievement for an administrator, that would actually be a negative, so irritation was natural.
I quickly looked over the documents our side needed to retain, then handed them right back to Evangeline, who was standing behind me.
"Uh... you're not even going to check...?"
"I trust my people. Melody."
People looked at me with eyes tinged with worry and deep impression.
The former came only from the administrator and the two demon merchants, while the latter was the sentiment visible in the gazes fixed on me, even from the household members of the Baritra Marquis Household.
Worry about what might happen if one didn't thoroughly examine the contract.
Admiration for someone who placed trust and confidence in their own people.
If they felt even a little goodwill toward me, and if they had the relevant knowledge, it was a sentiment they would naturally hold.
That is, if they didn't know that I had read the documents with a speed-reading ability I didn't even know why 'Nobility' included, and had already confirmed there were no issues.
'This much is excellent.'
What we had to do was natural: maintaining secrecy regarding the Baritra illegitimate child.
And in return, what Baritra would provide was support for the various material demands arising from the dungeon.
Meaning, a portion of the material costs purchased from Mammon Company would be borne by the Baritra family.
The method was a maximum cost per material, and if the material was too cheap, the percentage would be halved to set a limit.
This would have little effect later on, but right now it was a huge benefit. None of the materials currently in demand were particularly expensive, after all.
'It feels kind of like a beginner support package, I suppose.'
Except the supporter wasn't an operator, but an in-game NPC.
I was satisfied with this much.
'Other investments are for later, anyway.'
"I... am a noble lady of the demon realm...? So my mom and dad are actually separate people...?"
"Yes. That's correct. Young miss. We will now go to meet the head of the family."
I turned my eyes away from the administrator and glanced sideways. That 'investment item' was being given various answers by a Baritra family attendant, looking completely unaware of what was going to happen to her from now on.
She could probably imagine the near things, but had no idea what was approaching in the more distant future. What a troublesome thing a noble's status was.
It was a field she'd never encountered until now, so that was natural.
"Did you hear? I'm going to scold you later. I'll make you pay properly for this wrist!"
"Ah, young miss. The dungeon lady is still of a higher status than you, young miss..."
"So you're saying my status didn't go up, it actually went down? What is that..."
It was the same with this childlike reaction she was showing now.
Immediately, Administrator Melody's face turned pale, and she fidgeted anxiously, denying the girl's words.
She seemed worried I might get angry, and also seemed to feel unjust about having to attend to a new immature charge.
"St-still, you can eat and wear whatever you want. Our family's chefs and tailors are excellent."
"I don't know what's so good about that kind of thing."
Having only lived as a dungeon lord on the surface, even if she had met human nobles, it was understandable that she wouldn't know what that truly meant.
Knowledge and experience were different things.
It didn't seem necessary to watch any longer, so I decided to send them on their way first.
I had a lot of work to do as well.
"You may go. Your household must be busy preparing to welcome a new young lady."
"Indeed. It was an impressive meeting. My Lady."
Yulian stopped his grooming and answered, bowing his head in greeting.
He was a guy who, no matter what happened beside him, didn't pay any attention, and had been redoing his face with the help of his attendants after spilling tea and ruining it earlier.
"You've worked hard. Melody."
"Thank you..."
It was impressive, though. This foolishness.
"Serica. I'll leave contact information for Melody, so if anything happens, contact her."
"Huh? Why me?"
"Well. Why indeed."
"Hey, I told you not to touch me. Really..."
I stroked the head of the clueless vampire young lady, then nudged her by the back toward the marquis household's people.
Her resistance had lessened compared to before.
Though her words were like that, I was the one who saved her life from among the humans anyway, and if she had lived as a dungeon lord, there was no way she hadn't suffered injuries before, so her grudge about the wrist was practically nonexistent.
It was also something I had done after explaining the necessity and proceeding with it.
As proof, the irritation and anger she had shown before were closer to mere spite than the genuine grudge Sonia or Maria held.
"See you next time. Serica."
"Hmph. Let's go. So that person is my older brother, right?"
"You don't have the qualifications to call me that yet. We'll see when we get home."
"What's he saying? He's clearly my older brother just by looking."
"Hmph. Speak only after you have the proper conduct of a noble."
But would those two really engage in a power struggle or something? Seeing them side by side now, I wasn't so sure.
They already gave off the vibe of idiot siblings.
『Dungeon Level has increased. Lv. 3 ▶ 4』
『Demon Lord Candidate 'Libertas's' Dungeon Lv. 4』
'That's something to watch going forward.'
Now it was their business.
I just had to do my own work.
"Bring the two of them."
For example, the disposition of the elite adventurers we'd captured this time.
- 2 -
Jin-kyung, Alexis, Lincia.
Three elite adventurers...
"Lincia... sh-she's really dead..."
"Ah..."
To be precise, two adventurers and one corpse.
They must have witnessed the scene of Lincia's head falling right beside them, but it seemed the two had been slow to accept it as reality.
'They haven't seen the corpse even once since then, after all.'
There had been no particular trouble in the process of bringing the three here.
The dead Lincia was irrelevant since I could bring her out through my shadow magic from that point, and I brought in the remaining two by restraining their physical bodies through 'Provisional Contracts.'
The conditions of the contract were simple.
'During the movement to the dungeon while the provisional contract is maintained,' 'Party B obeys Party A's commands absolutely,' and 'So long as Party B does so, Party A absolutely guarantees the safety of Party B's life.' That was it.
[You'll really accept this? This? You'll even protect us from other monsters or the dungeon lord?]
[Don't worry. As long as you properly maintain the provisional contract with me, I will ensure no one attacks you.]
It was a condition Alexis took the lead in making, and it was rather amusing how greatly relieved he was the moment I finalized the terms.
Did he really think I was going to deceive them?
It was natural for seasoned adventurers who had lived as they pleased until now to become wary when they surrendered right after their first defeat.
[Don't do anything. Just wait.]
So I had already given those things as my first command, and...
Jin-kyung and Alexis did not disappoint my expectations.
"You two were working quite diligently at something, I see."
"Wh-what do you mean...?"
While moving by carriage, the two had been continuously firing some kind of 'signal' outward.
A secret magical signal that I would not have noticed at all if I hadn't sensed something suspicious and actively spread out my detection, sent through three means: magic, sorcery, and spirits.
In the end, this meant the provisional contract was already broken immediately after departure, not even reaching the dungeon.
If the surveillance hadn't been thorough, they might have even attempted a feigned escape.
'What a headache.'
The reason the return to the dungeon took so long was also because of this.
To throw off trackers, I actually went around the city a couple more places pretending to conduct real business, then returned to the dungeon after purchasing materials and having a barrier cast on the carriage through a deal with an underworld merchant in Talhan.
Of course, that underworld merchant was probably sleeping peacefully by now.
Eternally.
"In other words, you two have been wasting your efforts."
"Ah, fuck. Should've told us sooner..."
The moment my words ended, Alexis's expression, which had been maintaining obsequiousness the whole time, changed. It became violently ferocious, to an almost miraculous degree of instantaneous change.
Simultaneously, a look of resignation rose on Jin-kyung's face beside him.
On the surface, it looked as if they had fallen into despair from the situation, or had been broken into a state of surrender.
'He's quick again.'
But I felt like I now understood Alexis's behavioral patterns.
To confirm my guess and judge their true intentions, I decided to test an application of a recent magic I'd been thinking about.
The method was simple.
I just needed to cast one spell I had grown accustomed to using.
"「Sacrifice Appraisal」."
After moistening my eyes with the mana I drew up, I first looked at the western continent mage, Jin-kyung.
『Name - Munyu Jin-gyeong』
『Job & Grade - Elite Word Magic User』
...
『An adventurer mage with abilities appropriate for her grade. Her physical body is of high quality, but her soul is weak.』
So from her, a status window was visible, while on the other hand...
『Name - Alexis Julka』
In Alexis's case, nothing appeared other than his name.
This meant that, unlike Jin-kyung, the dungeon core did not recognize this person as a 'sacrifice.' In other words, he had not yet surrendered.
Contrary to the light surface he showed, it meant he was still aiming to turn the tables.
"Ah, damn it..."
He was a man with a persistent side.
I didn't know if it was the tenacity of someone born in the lower classes, just as his appearance suggested, or if it was a desire stemming from regret over everything he had scraped together so far...
But not giving up, whatever emotion drove him, even in a hopeless situation was an excellent quality.
In some ways, it only raised my expectations.
『Name - Lincia Rayner』
『Job & Grade - Elite Archer』
Leaving the two of them as they were for a moment, I turned my gaze toward the last sacrifice.
Lincia's corpse, which I had put into my shadow space after she met her death, hadn't changed much from when she was alive, even now that I had taken it back out.
Time didn't completely stop within a Necromancer's shadow space, but some sort of embalming function was attached to it.
『Traits - Special-grade Specialization: Longbow, Vital Spot Capture, Owl's Eye, Hummingbird's Wingbeat, Hawk's Claw』
The three traits named after birds were likely shooting skills from a specific school... What caught my eye among the two glowing blue ones was Vital Spot Capture.
It was a trait that made me ponder whether to use this elite archer for the Strengthening of my second summon, Mire, or to just convert her as-is into a summoned creature with the archer class.
'If this were a game, I wouldn't have agonized over it much.'
When I used to play Mil-don 1, I had a preference for specially valuing and raising the summons I got in the early days.
I would unconditionally keep the 1st Combat Team as summons up to the tenth one, and funnel all growth-enhancing elements to them.
No matter what good units came later, I would equip them with special gear at higher priority or forcibly boost their specs through other Strengthening magic systems.
Now that this 「Sacrifice Growth」 ability had appeared before my eyes, it was only natural that turmoil was swirling inside me.
Between the two choices now that it was reality: obtaining an archer with higher specs immediately, or raising my first archer according to my established policy.
"Mire. Come here."
- Tak!
"「Sacrifice Strengthening」."
The deliberation was long, but once I decided, the action was swift.
I decided to follow the course of action I had always held to.
I didn't know if that investment would prove beneficial later on, or if it was a foolish move...
『Moonlight Capture - Critical hit chance and critical hit damage of thrown weapons or projectiles that hit the target both increase.』
At least for now, it was certain that it had returned as a benefit.
A heroic-grade trait that could always be used pleasantly, regardless of timing.
"Congratulations. Mire. You've regained your strength."
- Tak!
As I was looking proudly at Mire, who answered cheerfully and straightened her back, I turned my gaze back to the two remaining elite adventurers.
At Jin-kyung, whose reactions had diminished from despair, and at Alexis, whose eyes were now shaking wildly.
"..."
"Damn it. What is that...! Did you just absorb a person into a monster? Did I really see that?"
It was time to decide their fate.