51. Neighbors (2)
51. Neighbors (2)
- 1 -
The purpose I had initially envisioned for this inspection was, at the end of the day, to confirm the nearby terrain and monster ecosystem and to record them.
It was because, although I had secured maps from Solemio and Copherin, there were far too many things I couldn't know from those maps alone.
'I don't know why they all insist on making things so roughly.'
Military maps often recorded the distance between cities and villages as 'how many days on foot, how many days by carriage,' and while the mages' records of distance were a bit better, they too had limits.
They recorded the locations where orcs or goblins appeared, but they didn't record anything about their range or where their villages were.
'Of course, I do know wild monster colonies or nests change locations frequently, but...'
Shouldn't there at least be some indication that a rough investigation of the potential threats had been conducted?
The maps contained none of that at all.
"Hoo-ah."
In that sense, the first thing I did was 'mountain climbing'.
Before scouting around directly, I decided to first survey the terrain from a high vantage point to spot areas likely to harbor monsters. High mountains themselves also harbored many special monsters.
"It's getting a bit hot now."
Mountain climbing in the body of an advanced-level Dungeon Lord was, literally, a guilt-free pleasure.
I hardly felt any drain on my stamina, and though it didn't seem like much time had passed, I was already standing at the summit before I knew it.
Considering that this mountain was by no means as low as a hill behind one's neighborhood and that there were no developed hiking trails, it was a fairly quick and smooth climb.
There were high valleys and cliffs in the middle, but climbing those wasn't difficult either.
I merely had to straighten my back and walk as if climbing stairs. It was thanks to the soldiers lending a hand from within my shadow.
"Feels good now that I'm all the way up."
Just because the hardship was minimal didn't mean the scenery seen from the summit was any less beautiful.
After all, the clouds looked so close.
My gaze swept across the entire ridgeline of the mountain range, stretching wide from east to west—a ridgeline where one side sloped gently and the other was a face of rough cliffs.
"This place... is my dungeon. And Solemio is over there."
The gentler slope faced the Haisen Kingdom, where my dungeon's entrance lay, while the roughly carved cliffs faced the Arilit Duchy to the south.
This terrain was also why my dungeon, though situated in the mountain range that formed the border between the two nations, could effectively be considered part of the Haisen Kingdom.
"Peaceful."
These two nations were officially hostile states on paper, but in reality, there was almost no conflict.
The Arilit Duchy to the south was only a hostile state because it was a grand duchy of the Norn Empire to the southeast; in actuality, they were a group that shared trade profits from the river flowing south that began in Haisen.
'Of course, it was also true that war could break out at any time.'
The relationship between the Haisen Kingdom and the Norn Empire, the suzerain state of the duchy, was currently very poor.
Rumors were rampant that the Norn Empire was devouring the Hillsa Kingdom, a small nation between the two, and aiming for Haisen beyond it; at the same time, Haisen was supporting Hillsa to prevent that from happening.
I didn't know which came first. There was only the fact that the two nations continued to growl at each other because of a rumor that had surfaced at some point.
'The most likely speculation is...'
I was guessing that one of the established Dungeon Lords who had completed their demonic domains had pulled the strings.
There were two most likely culprits.
Agares of the south, who would benefit from the Norn Empire threatening the west if he were to nibble away at the lands of the kingdoms north of his demonic domain.
Or Eligos of the east, who could profit by blocking the lands the Norn Empire was expanding into and forcing them to focus their attention elsewhere.
'Of course, that's limited to cases where the culprit is a Dungeon Lord.'
There were many others who could have been the culprit apart from those two.
It could be a pro-war faction within the empire, though the possibility was small, or it could be the plainly evil ones among the humans.
Lunatics, or perhaps humans who were evil from the start.
'What's important to me is...'
Well, there was no need to obsess over information I couldn't possibly know right now.
"Eut, heu-eung..."
As I folded the parasol and stretched, the sight of two armies caught my eye.
The Haisen Kingdom army to the north seemed to be in the middle of training, setting up camp in the middle of the plain in a tremendously bustling fashion. I could only offer my sympathies to the professional soldiers who had come out to train under this scorching sun.
The Arilit Duchy army to the south was transporting something. It was probably military supplies, unless some noble or royal was abusing their authority.
Looking at the movements of those armies, the reality of my dungeon's situation was vividly imprinted on me.
The biggest problem I was facing.
'My location is right in the center of the Eastern Continent.'
The fact that it was a backwater region, being in the center of the continent yet spanning a mountain range and a large river, was only an early stroke of luck.
In the end, this place was still in the middle of human-occupied territory.
'Move the dungeon?'
If I moved it to the northwestern beach, expansion might become a little easier. However, the current dungeon within the mountain range was a bit safer, so there were pros and cons.
Other directions were out of the question.
Digging further west into the mountain range was something I could already do with the dungeon's current expansion, and heading out into other plains would simply be suicide.
'And absorbing the other Dungeon Lords I found nearby to grow.'
Most of those Dungeon Lords were already under human 'management', and the occasional ones I found that weren't had already lost their will to grow, so the mana they could offer as nourishment was slight.
Maybe if I placed them under my dominion later, they might prove more versatile, but for the moment, they were useless.
Though I didn't know for sure, I might even feed their dungeon cores—or even the Lords themselves—to my summoned creatures.
'If I tried to actively devour adventurers...'
This method of revealing my existence indiscriminately would, if I misstepped, lead to me being subjugated by a coalition army gathered from all over the kingdom, as happened to Serica of Copherin.
'And to raise my influence by alternating between cooperation and hostility among the nations...'
The surrounding nations were all great powers, leaving almost no room for negotiation, and even before that, the power difference was already too great—the probability of becoming a one-sided slave was much higher.
'In a case where I become a subordinate from the very beginning...'
Naturally, out of the question.
Humans made slaves even of their own kind. Let alone with this beautiful body?
Out of the question.
'In the end, there's only one way.'
As I was doing now, I had to covertly control information and devour the human nations from within, growing my dungeon with their lives and resources.
Naturally, it wasn't an easy path, but it was the only path.
In that sense, this count's party might become a new branch point on this path.
"The first thing I want to find is... I wonder if it's Serica's core, after all."
If I obtained Serica's dungeon core, whether I returned it to her and received other compensation or fed the core itself to my dungeon to increase its power, it would pay off handsomely.
I had already returned the fragment to her, but if needed, could I not borrow it back for a while?
'That's a matter for after finding it, though...'
- Ppeiiik - !
As I was thinking about the future of my dungeon like that, my thoughts were abruptly cut off by a sudden cry.
I lifted my head at the sound and saw something circling in the sky, directly overhead.
'A big... bird?'
That was what I thought at first.
But the more I looked closely, the clearer it became that it was not a bird.
The bird gradually descended from that far height—a distance where even a Dungeon Lord's vision had difficulty making out its shape—and its appearance began to come into proper view.
"A harpy... It's my first time seeing one like this."
From its feather-covered body to its flamboyant display that made it hard to look away.
A very famous half-human, half-bird monster.
It was the appearance of an individual I had never heard of in the reports I'd received from Evangeline thus far.
"Have any of you seen one while scouting?"
- Dalkak
- Tak!
I had never neglected scouting this area.
It would be normal for my soldiers to know more than I about the creatures living nearby. However, all I heard from within the shadow were emotions of denial.
Well, if a harpy had been sighted even once, there was no way Eve would have omitted it from her reports to me.
"Was it hiding somewhere..."
If a creature my subordinates hadn't seen suddenly appeared, then it was probably one of two things: they never had reason to see it because their territories didn't overlap at all, or it had been hiding.
And the wild monsters of this world were basically natural recluses.
They devoured humans who crawled into the forest without any sense of caution, but they fundamentally tried not to encroach on human territory or the territory of other strong beings.
It was because they had learned through long history that failing to do so could bring disaster not only to themselves but to their kin.
Therefore, seeing a harpy they had never seen before and concluding that 'it had been hiding' was a natural assumption.
- Deolgeok.
- Ppeiiik?!
Even though there had been no command, as soon as the approaching harpy was perceived, Axe gripped its axe and leaped out from within the shadow.
It was the same for Hammer and Katar, who also came out gripping their weapons.
It was a good attitude that prioritized my safety above all else, but the problem was that the harpy approaching me was startled by the sight and quickly drew back.
"It's alright, go back inside. It doesn't seem like it will harm me."
- Deolkeok!
"Heh. Is that so?"
Axe shook its head, indicating it couldn't do that.
It was probably because what I said was merely a 'suggestion' and not an 'order', but the fact that I was rather amused in this situation where a summoned creature refused the words of a Dungeon Lord made me think I wasn't quite normal either.
Well, that aside.
"Then stay."
- Deolgeok!
"You there. Come here. Didn't you have business with me?"
In the end, with Axe behind me, I folded the parasol and held out my hand toward the harpy.
To signal it to approach.
If it was scared, it could just fly away, but this one was standing there, still gauging my reaction and clearly showing that it had a purpose.
- Ppeiiii...
"I see the, the Queen of the Dungeon..."
Cowed and timid, the female harpy approached carefully, trailing its wings on the ground, and bowed its head.
There were two surprising things about that sight.
One was that its linguistic ability was excellent enough for smooth communication. The other was that it was practicing 'etiquette', no less.
This instantly made it clear that this harpy, which appeared to be a wild monster, was serving a superior, and that superior's refinement was high.
In the first place, harpies in this world weren't monsters of such high intellect and reason.
"It is nice to meet you. Where did you come from?"
"It wasn't that I came... the Lady came up."
"I see. It could certainly look that way. Then, what is your business?"
"The Queen... wishes to see the Lady."
"Queen?"
The harpy nodded its head a couple of times at my question.
I quickly dismissed two thoughts that came to mind.
'A queen, she says.'
One was whether their group could be large enough to warrant calling the leader a 'queen'.
But that couldn't be the case.
The larger a group's size, the harder it was to hide. If the group was that large, it would have been hard for them to avoid detection, and yet we had seen no sign of them until now.
Unless they had special magic or a barrier, it was safe to assume the group wasn't that big.
Only then could they hide the group with 'skill'.
'There was no event like this in Mil-dun 1.'
The other was the question of whether contact with wild monsters of this nature was even possible.
Of course, I had experience suppressing and conscripting wild orcs, goblins, kobolds, and the like and deploying them at the dungeon entrance, but I had never imagined there would be monsters that sought a proper conversation in this way.
Naturally, since I could not possibly answer something I had never experienced, I simply set this question aside.
"Alright. Let us go."
Because it was something I would know once I met them anyway.
- 2 -
And thus, the Harpy Queen I met.
"It is nice to meet you. Queen of the newly arisen dungeon."
She was a tremendously 'big' harpy.
Both in a literal sense, and in a figurative sense.