67. Imiho (1)
67. Imiho (1)
Leaving the others behind, I took only Shue and Eve and approached the 'two-tailed fox.' She immediately bowed her head and entire body to the ground, performing a full prostration before me.
Even though I had never been to the Western Continent, I knew it at a single glance.
This was the highest form of respect shown to one's lord.
"You waited for me."
"That is so, my lord husband. Though it was not a long time, to this humble one it felt like a thousand years."
"Lord husband, you say."
"Please permit this one to use that title. Know that if I may not, this heart shall ache with painful tightness."
"...Very well."
Even with her voice muffled from being so deeply hunched over, she showed no intention of lifting her head by even an inch.
As if she absolutely would not raise her head until permission was granted.
The title might be 'lord husband,' but the attitude was as if she were addressing an emperor or a king.
"Will you raise your head?"
"Only command me. My lord husband's requests are far too generous for this humble one."
"Do not make me say it twice."
At my repeated words, she began to lift her head, but then—
She froze for a moment before my feet as I had approached her. She lifted her head, then froze again in front of the hand I extended toward her.
And when she finally raised her head fully and saw my face, she went completely rigid.
"...Hic."
And then she began to sob as if she might burst out crying at any moment.
It was similar to seeing someone else when I first met them, but this reaction was more intense.
"Your clothes have come undone."
Looking at her like that, I first reached out my hand to her clothing.
Because her Western-Continental-style garments—something between a hanbok and a kimono—had become completely disheveled to the point where the swell of her breasts was about to be exposed. It was proof that she had prostrated herself without paying the slightest attention to her own attire.
I couldn't help but pay attention. There were also men among the nobles behind me.
"You are still, truly so kind..."
After I had tidied all her clothes and fastened them with magic, I looked into her eyes. She still had the look of someone about to cry, but she spoke with a considerably calmer demeanor.
Praising me for something so trivial was not all that different from how the other two behaved, so I looked at those two anew.
"Hm...?"
- Dalkak.
"No."
Evangeline still had her hand resting on the sword at her waist, and Shue had not dissolved the hardened claws she had formed on her hands.
As escorts, it was a minimum level of vigilance, but at the same time, it was clearly not a hostile attitude.
They were judging that the woman before their eyes was not dangerous. Despite the fact that she should have possessed power comparable to my current level if she had two tails.
'Well. In this state, she certainly couldn't possibly do any harm.'
This two-tailed fox had her power completely released.
All the mana she could freely use, scattered into the surrounding void.
In this state, she could not use mana. Literally, because she had 'released' all her residual mana.
Voluntary disarmament, so to speak.
It was a state where, if someone drew a blade and struck her, she might not be able to resist and could die.
No matter who looked, it was not an attitude taken toward an enemy.
Not unless it was toward her master.
Even so...
"I had heard you were bound by humans, but you do not appear to be so."
"This humble one was indeed bound by humans."
"Were you?"
"Yes. That is so. The only difference is that it was this humble one's own will, not theirs."
"It was your own will...?"
"That is so."
When I reflexively asked back at that questionable statement, she demurely nodded her head a couple of times and continued her answer with a smile.
One hand carefully holding the hem of her clothes that I had straightened and fastened with magic.
"Ugh."
- Tak.
...Hm. I sensed an aura of some negative emotion from behind me. Probably just my imagination.
Moreover, my 'senses' were telling me something.
That she was hiding her true nature.
The degree of alarm wasn't severe, but the problem was that my senses were telling me even this current appearance was 'genuine.' Something that wasn't a lie yet possessed two different aspects.
Is she really a 'fox,' I found myself wondering.
"This humble one met humans in this place immediately after being born, and so did not have the strength to resist humans."
"So you voluntarily appealed to your harmlessness."
"As expected, you are insightfully wise."
"You are also quite clever."
"Your words are undeserved. Had I been truly clever, I should have found my lord husband sooner and departed from this place, so please, take me in."
When I returned the praise for the fox's overwhelming adoration, she made that request with her head deeply bowed.
However, no matter how I listened to it, it was not the sort of statement that gave one a positive impression.
"There is no need to make excuses. You would have coldly gauged your own strength and acted accordingly, believing you would have died if you had not. One cannot call doing such a thing clever, can one?"
"...This humble one apologizes for having spoken falsehood."
"It is good that you admit it quickly."
"I am ashamed."
I looked down at her bowing her head with complicated feelings.
Originally, I had intended to decide whether to take her in or kill her after seeing her, but one of the options had been erased the moment we met.
Because her attitude was such that one thing was obvious at a single glance.
'She knows me.'
She knew me, and was displaying a willingness to entrust herself entirely to me.
'How?'
The doubts I had felt before when looking at Eve and Shue resurfaced.
The questions from that time, when I had felt as if they seemed to know both me and each other well.
That was what I was feeling now, too.
Twice could be coincidence, but three times was not. If there was a third, there could be a fourth.
Those complicated inner thoughts grew even more intense upon seeing the next action she took.
"...What are you doing?"
Because she had, with her own hands, offered me a sphere that was clearly a powerful mass of mana, unmistakably the core of a dungeon.
"The Cintamani...it is the core of this dungeon."
"That is what I am asking. Why are you giving it to me?"
It was something that should be impossible by common sense.
If releasing her mana was an appeal of total surrender, then this was truly an act no different from offering her life as a dungeon lord.
"Do as you wish. Even if you were to use that to kill me, I would obey."
Just as she was saying now.
"..."
"But please, if it is possible. If there is not the slightest hesitation in your heart. Please, take this humble one in and use me as your retainer. I shall bite your enemies to death and tear out their livers and hearts to offer them to you."
Having uttered such gruesome words, the fox yokai returned to her posture of demurely prostrating herself.
Her ears were completely flattened backward, and her tails, which had been gently swaying a little side to side, had also gone rigid and still.
It was an emotional indicator that could be understood at a glance.
'Fear.' Likely fear of rejection.
'What am I to you people.'
My heart grew complicated.
Because Eve, Shue, and even this fox yokai were all acting as though I were the entire world to them. Wouldn't they simply abandon their lives and very existences if I were to disappear?
While the way they acted served as a driving force for me, it could not help but be burdensome as well.
Indeed, I could no longer postpone this conversation.
But before that.
"I have not yet heard your name."
When I said this while receiving the core from her, the fox yokai, who had looked up at me with a brightly radiant face, also put a big smile on her lips.
"The one who gave this humble one her name said that the meaning of my name was 'will.' Having deemed that this humble one's circumstances were similar to her own, she said she gave me a name that was among the meanings closest to her own name."
"Will, you say..."
Though she did not state it directly, by this point it could not be unknown.
I became certain that the person who had named her was someone who had a deep bond with me. I had guessed even beyond that, but that part was not a certainty, so I reserved judgment.
After all, 'will' was one of the elements I considered part of 'freedom.'
"One's will must be as firm as steel...and at the same time, beautiful. Thus, the one who named this humble one took the 'Yu' of diamond and the 'Ran' of light, and called me 'Yuran.'"
"Yuran. A name befitting your hair, your beauty, and the sparkle in your eyes."
"At my lord husband's praise, I truly know not what to do with myself."
Understanding came at once. There was something I could immediately guess.
Carbon is what becomes diamond, one of the hardest precious metals, when compressed to the extreme.
It was the material that came most readily to mind when combining the firmness tied to will and the beauty possessed by the woman before my eyes.
The one who named her likely associated that with her faintly shimmering black hair.
"Is it true that this place was the room where the core resided?"
"It is so."
"Your will to offer your life to me remains unchanged."
"It saddens me to have to say it twice."
"If so."
Beeeep -
Nodding my head, I manipulated my mana and emitted a predetermined call signal.
Then, light shone upon the archway standing near the entrance of this room and the empty space beneath it was filled. With a gate of black stone upon which the figure of Mammon, the Archduke of the Demon Realm, was embossed.
As could easily be guessed, it was a Hell Gate connected to the Demon Realm.
The core room had been linked to the Mammon Trading Company.
"Central 2nd Department Head of the Eastern Continent, Scarlet Spira Spina! I have arrived in answer to the Dungeon Lady's summons!"
"Welcome, Scarlet."
Of course, the one who crossed over from beyond it was the pink-haired succubus I knew well.
Now that I had the chance to see her face, there was something I needed to check as well.
"How is the construction of my dungeon going?"
"Of course, it's going well! I just came from hearing the gremlins' report that they've done practically everything possible within the current budget and structure! They said about three days remain!"
"Thank you for taking such care. I am always grateful."
"Eheh...you flatter me."
Scarlet let out a silly laugh with a hand on her head.
At first, she had been a young lady with a somewhat calculating and cool side, but when had she become so thoroughly smitten like this?
I did feel some curiosity about that, but it was true that I always had things to be thankful to her for, so there was no need to take back my words.
"There is something I wish to purchase, so I had no choice but to call you like this."
"If there's something like that, you could have just used a communication and yet you called me here directly! ...Aha, so this was another dungeon! Anyway, I'm so happy!"
"You still enjoy flattering talk, I see."
"It's sincere, though..."
She seemed to make a slightly sullen face for a moment, but then her face brightened again as she approached me and unfurled the customary scroll.
The forms of the trade items were projected as illusions, and I placed my hand over those illusions, swept them to one side, and when the desired item appeared, I reached out and plucked it out.
It was a single scroll.
"A dungeon contract! Surely you're not already taking on a subordinate lord...!"
"So it has come to be."
"Truly excellent, my Lady! The one who will become the next Demon King!"
"Scarlet."
"It's sincere... It's 500 Val, and you, Lady, only need to pay 350 Val of that!"
"Thank you for the guidance."
I gave a nod of acknowledgment to Scarlet, who kindly informed me of the amount excluding the portion to be paid by the Baritra Marquis Household, and I scanned with my eyes the Demon King's guarantee written on the scroll I had picked out to confirm there were no errors.
If things went according to her own wishes here, only one necessary clause needed to be added.
「The Dungeon Lord 'Yuran' shall be subordinated to the Dungeon Lord 'Libertas' as a 'Lady-in-Waiting,' and this shall be maintained until either side dies or until they become unable to affect each other semi-permanently.」
The titles of 'Attendant' or 'Lady-in-Waiting' were the default titles for a subordinate lord who came to belong to another dungeon lord. It signified that they no longer had the qualifications to become a 'king' themselves.
So that title itself didn't matter much, but...
I glanced at Yuran, who was looking at me with eyes full of expectation, and briefly considered whether I should modify the 'Lady-in-Waiting' part, but decided to leave it as it was for now.
There were ways to change something like this even later on.
"My lord husband. I have a request."
"Tell me."
However, the fox yokai still seemed to have some dissatisfaction with this contract.
Somehow, I could immediately guess what it was.
"This humble one, if it is to be done, wishes to attend at my lord husband's side. I wish to breathe the same air, to sleep and wake together. Might this be permitted..."
As I listened to those words that I had exactly expected to come flying out, I nodded my head once, and then shook it.
It was a gesture containing both affirmation and negation.
To interpret her wish, it meant that she wanted to throw away her position as a dungeon lord entirely and become a 'regular summoned creature' at my side.
It also meant discarding the qualifications to grow stronger herself, and it was also that sort of burdensome talk of throwing away such status just to remain by my side over the long term.
"I had intended to link this base to my dungeon and use it as a branch. So you must take responsibility for this place for at least some time."
"...Though it saddens me that I cannot directly attend my lord husband at his side, I will obey your command."
This was a request I could not accept.
Firstly, it was regrettable to degrade her status.
Secondly, in order to use this dungeon as one of my bases, it was far more efficient to maintain the dungeon itself rather than destroy it.
For that, a dungeon lord was necessary, and having two was more convenient for controlling both dungeons than having just one.
If she truly wished it, I could create or hire another 'management entity' to dispatch, but since I already had someone capable of it, there was no need to gratuitously accept the expenditure.
That said, I had no intention of completely ignoring her request, either.
"If you wish, I shall adjust the gate so that you may cross over whenever you like."
"...! Thank you!"
So we each bit our fingers and signed the contract with the flowing blood.
One of the two copies of the contract seeped into Yuran's core.
Swaaak - !
A pattern of nine fox fires with blue fox heads floating around them rose above the core, then it became dyed purple, and a skull insignia wreathed in a purple flower was engraved upon that fox's forehead.
A display that intuitively communicated the domination relationship.
In Yuran's eyes as she watched it, purple mana swirled for a moment before returning to their golden color.
"By this, you are now an existence belonging to me. I shall call you 'Ran' from now on."
"Please...!"
The procedure looked far simpler than making a contractor belong to the Demon Realm, but its meaning was not light.
It was a situation where one dungeon lord came to belong to another, becoming a cornerstone for triggering the 'demon domain conversion' of the surrounding continental region, so to speak.
Furthermore, cases where a mere upper-rank dungeon lord became the master were rare, even including the cases I had seen and heard of in 'Milden 1.'
"Before speaking of other things, I shall give my first command, so listen."
"Yes! I shall listen!"
First, I decided to correct one of the verbal acts she had committed. Though I didn't know if it would work, there was meaning in simply stating it.
It would also help in grasping her tendencies.
"From now on, never again speak such nonsense as saying I would kill you."
"...! Yes, my lord husband!"
On the fox's face as she nodded her head was a brightness as if there were no worries in the whole world whatsoever.
That changed in an instant.
"Um, my lord husband...may this humble one make a request?"
The next moment, she began to exude a bewitching atmosphere as she softly folded the corners of her eyes, and made some sort of request.
"Tell me."
"Could you not, please...promise that you will grant this humble Ran's request?"
"Though I do not know what the request is, I shall grant it so long as it is not a great threat to life or honor."
"That is..."
Even after my answer came back, Yuran hesitated for a long while. And in proportion to that time, somehow the feeling of 'displeasure' felt from behind me intensified as well.
- ...Tak!
That emotion, enough to make one wonder what grudge was held, was being conveyed from Evangeline.
I did not understand why she was so displeased, but soon, after hearing the request Yuran spoke of, I felt as though I could understand.
"Might this humble one...receive an oath kiss from my lord husband?"
- Ppadeuk!
...Because from my position as well, it was absurd.