71. Reunion (3)
71. Reunion (3)
To be honest, I never expected Serica to avoid causing an incident.
She could be cautious enough to analyze human forces and our own combat power, choosing quiet seclusion to build her strength, but fundamentally, she had been a controlling being who lived alone in a dungeon.
An absolute ruler no one could restrain... the Dungeon Lord she once was.
She wouldn't have tolerated an insolent enemy right in front of her. Likely, she also held a mindset of 'it doesn't matter as long as I don't get caught.'
I agreed with that perspective.
It truly didn't matter as long as you didn't get caught.
"Cry louder, you pig."
"Kku-ik—!"
... Still, this wasn't something I wanted to see.
After Sonyataff's sightseeing ended and we returned to our lodgings, this was the sight that greeted me.
When I came looking for Serica after her maid delivered the news, Serica was perched atop someone's back.
That 'someone' was the pirate who had approached Haley during the day and caused a commotion.
The one who had introduced himself as the first mate.
"Serica."
"Ah, Rita! Look at this. I'm punishing this guy!"
The image of Serica smiling brightly at me was undeniably that of a lovely blonde young lady.
But seeing the man pinned under that young lady's bottom, squealing like a pig—his appearance not hulking but definitely rough enough—gave me a headache.
Of course, they were both fully clothed, but the sight itself was quite unsightly.
Thank goodness we had rented the entire lodging building. Otherwise, those booming pig squeals would have been heard by others, and that thought made my head ache even more.
"More than punishing him... you seem to be enjoying yourself."
... Besides, no matter how I looked at it, that man wasn't suffering.
"Enjoying myself? No way...! How can a person enjoy pretending to be a pig?"
"My point exactly. I sometimes find it curious as well. How beings with intelligence reveal more and more the deeper you dig, like Fate."
The Blood Magic of a vampire who was no longer a Dungeon Lord lost the ability to create zombies, but the power to make humans into retainers remained.
It was the power to drain blood to kill a human and make them a spawn, or to inject one's own poison into a living human, turning them into a low-grade vampire called a Dampire.
These newly made vampire retainers happily followed the vampire's commands, but not to the extent that actions going against their nature became joyful.
So that man who became a Dampire was... no, I stopped that unpleasant train of thought.
I focused my eyes on her.
"Serica. Didn't you promise not to cause trouble?"
"This isn't trouble. I said no one knows I brought him here. And I said even if you found out, you wouldn't worry about it. This guy agreed."
"Well, I suppose so."
She wasn't wrong.
Would the pirates really raise an issue just because their first mate didn't return to the ship for a day? They'd assume he was rolling around in a brothel somewhere, or had bought a woman and slept over at her house.
And even if a problem did arise, she would have made it 'disappear.' Emotion-related magic was one of a vampire's specialties, after all.
The problem was, I had already warned her about this.
"You swore with your own mouth. That you would listen to me well."
"I did...?"
"And after I met that man, what did I tell you?"
"Uh... to tell you before you go anywhere...?"
"Right. I did."
Serica rolled her big round eyes, then seemed to realize something was wrong. She climbed down from atop the 'human pig' and slumped down, speaking feebly.
That dejected appearance was cute and pitiful, but...
He who steals a needle will steal an ox.
When someone inexperienced is weighing deviation against principle, in order to teach them when to choose deviation, you first have to rein them in—not too tightly—and then gradually loosen the reins once they've matured.
Otherwise, they easily rampage.
And rampages...
[I'm sorry, " " Oppa. I'm sorry. I, I didn't mean to...!]
[Get out.]
[Please, just let it slide this once. If you help me, this will just blow over...! It's just one useless grunt who died...!]
[I said get out.]
... were always guaranteed to create something you'd regret.
"You'll have to be punished."
"I'm sorry..."
"The maids can leave. Dispose of that unpleasant thing."
Of course, Serica's maids didn't fully obey my Fate-like command.
To be precise, they only half obeyed.
One dragged the pirate first mate out of the room, but the other approached me and stood motionless, bowing.
"What are you doing? I told you to leave."
"I apologize, Lady. We only follow the young lady's orders..."
"Hmm."
Honestly, I was quite satisfied with that.
If they had left Serica, their master, immediately just because I said leave, I would have disposed of them from my sight entirely.
They got rid of what needed to be gotten rid of, and stayed to protect their master.
If they had done both perfectly, it would have been a perfect score, but this action was still worth 80 points.
"..."
Even when I said nothing more and silently stared, applying pressure, the maid in front of me didn't move.
Her body was trembling, but she succeeded in firmly holding her ground.
She was Serica's ally.
"There must be a reason you'd go this far. Tell me."
"Th-that is..."
My outer appearance usually seemed frail, but when I gathered mana, it seemed I had a certain dignity of my own.
Seeing how terrified they were of me.
Though it might just be because my power as a Dungeon Lord was strong.
"The young lady was truly happy when she met you, Lady. Within the family... except for the young master and the instructors, she's always alone. So..."
Minus points for speaking carelessly about her master's circumstances.
But even in a confused and fearful state, she said what she thought needed to be said. Considering those circumstances, I deducted only half the original penalty points.
Still, that's 70 points. More than enough for a passing grade.
"Alone?"
"Ah..."
"Louise, what nonsense are you spouting! Stop saying pointless things and leave!"
"Young lady...! I'm sorry..."
"It's fine, just leave. Please... let's talk later."
Anyway, 'alone in the family'...
No matter how scarce children were in a family, there couldn't be zero collateral branches. At the very least, there would be in-laws. Among such bloodkin, there would definitely be those with a mental age similar to Serica's.
But the statement that Serica spent her time alone outside specific situations meant—
And the fact that she hid this from me—
"I have no intention of doing anything harsh. I already promised you that. So please, leave."
"... Excuse me. Young lady. Lady."
At Serica's request and my additional command, the maid finally bowed deeply and departed.
Even after leaving, I could feel her presence waiting just outside for a moment...
"You'd better go further..."
"But wouldn't it be better if someone is here to guard?"
"The Lady is a Dungeon Lord... a necromancer. She already has plenty of people to guard her..."
"Ah..."
That presence was shooed away by Shue.
Just as I thought it would be nice if she comforted the maids too, I felt the presence of her patting them comfortingly.
She really was a child who understood my heart well.
"Serica."
"Huh...?"
After all that talking, we were finally alone together.
The very first action I took was to bend down, grab her hand, and pull her up.
"Where are we going?"
"You were dissatisfied with our daytime date, so I ought to provide a little extra, shouldn't I?"
"Uh... huh?"
"Let's go. On a date."
It was late at night.
No matter how large this city was or how well-established its public order, it was hardly a good situation for two ladies to have a date.
Because this city had a black market, and accordingly, plenty of unsavory characters.
— Tak!
'Don't worry. We're not planning to go far. And we're together, and you're here too.'
— Dalkak.
However, we were a high-grade Dungeon Lord and a demon who had once been a high-grade Dungeon Lord.
If ordinary people approached us, they would be the ones getting eaten instead. Even if stronger beings approached, her dark spirit arts and my dark magic had good synergy, so a solution would emerge.
"Okay!"
Serica's face immediately brightened as she followed.
We slipped through the window and seeped into the darkness of the night streets.
Our destination was the black market.
I didn't have to worry about it being closed.
I'd heard from Haley that, true to its name and clientele, the black market here grew more active the closer it got to dawn, rather than during the daytime.
"Seeing that you were punishing him, you must have been very angry at that guy."
"Uh, yeah... I was happy being with Rita, and he interrupted that..."
"I see..."
Walking along the road, I continued talking with her, keeping one hand extended to her the whole time.
It wasn't exactly date conversation, but this was the original purpose of the outing.
"But you had a prior promise with me. Didn't you?"
"I promised to listen well. And you said to tell you before I go anywhere..."
"Now you remember it well."
I nodded a couple of times, but the air behind me grew heavier.
Her pace also slowed slightly, so I adjusted my stride to match hers.
But my words continued.
"So, what did you do?"
"I didn't even tell you..."
"Which means?"
"I didn't listen to Rita..."
"How smart of you."
"..."
Soon, Serica stopped in her tracks.
When I turned my body around from the point where our hands were joined, she was looking at me, her two large rabbit-like eyes brimming with tears.
"Don't hate me..."
"What do you mean?"
"People hate me. They say a stabilized successor gets in the way, this and that... and they say I'm selfish. I don't even care about any of that. But I didn't listen to Rita, so you hate me now..."
Serica was feeling anxious.
Worried that my feelings for her might have soured.
This girl who had been alone in her family all this time, who had only maintained a bright face during our calls.
Though it didn't seem like she was truly wounded by their words. It was just that those words came to mind in her anxious state.
But if left like this, she was right on the verge of having her heart deeply scarred.
I had no intention of leaving it that way.
"That's not true."
"But... I'm selfish. People in my family said so too. They said selfish people aren't liked by others..."
"Serica."
I tapped her forehead.
Because as she spoke, her body and head had gradually bowed. Before I knew it, her body was completely crouched down.
"Hweh...?"
With a face that looked like it would sprout a question mark above her head, Serica looked up at me, clutching her forehead.
I decided to enlighten her on one thing.
"If you were truly selfish, you wouldn't care about me like this."
"Huh...? Is that how it works...?"
"Of course. A person who is only selfish doesn't lash out first out of concern for the maids who are being scolded because of them."
"H-how did you know?"
Mouth wide open, Serica looked up as if truly surprised.
I stroked her head once, then squished her soft, chewy cheek like glutinous rice cake.
Even with her eyes still glistening, it was a cute face.
"Mwuht are you dwoing..."
"Serica. If you do wrong, you take responsibility. It's not about leaving everything up to the other person and giving up, like you are now. Apologize, say you did wrong, and promise not to do it next time. Observe the other person's disposition and either stick to them or give them some time."
"Then... then thwill hyou forgive me?"
"I don't know about that."
"What's that... Sthop it! That hurts!"
At her request, I let go of her reddened cheek with a pop. She held her own cheek with both hands and glared at me, the corners of her eyes sharpening somewhat angrily.
At that face, I smiled.
"Still, if Serica keeps asking for forgiveness and reflects on your wrongs, wouldn't anyone forgive you?"
"Really...?"
"If they don't, I'll punish them."
Serica's face lit up, then clouded over with gloom again.
Seeing that, I could be certain.
She had already been punished enough. A punishment she had inflicted upon herself, no one else.
She had reflected.
If she realized that after her first mistake, that much was enough.
"Then... if I do that...?"
"I've already forgiven you. Serica, you kept telling me about your wrongs, didn't you?"
"That... I did...?"
"Yes."
Her face slowly, slowly brightening.
I grabbed Serica's hand and pulled her up. This time, holding both her hands, we drew a circle, spinning each other's bodies around once.
Somehow, a clear smile had already returned to that face.
"So we can go on a date now, right?"
"Yes."
"Let's go, let's go! I was curious about that place! We're allowed to go, right?"
"Do as you wish. I'll tell you if we can't do something."
"Okay!"
The late-night date that followed was enjoyable.
It was noisy and bustling, but Serica kept laughing throughout.
We had fun while quickly clearing away anything that might interfere.
And so, the next day.
"Today, we're going to look for the core, right?"
"Yes. I hope it's your core."
"Okay!"
The morning of the black market auction day dawned.