8. Goblin X Succubus O (1)
8. Goblin X Succubus O (1)
"When I heard that a newly spawned dungeon had appeared, I thought, 'What welcome news after so long!' and came... Oh my, oh my. The new dungeon's Lord—no, the Lady—is such a cute young miss."
In MLD 1, there was always a guest who visited after each wave ended.
It was the existence called a dungeon merchant, and through this merchant, it was common to sell the arms, corpses, souls, and the like of adventurers who came to the dungeon for currency, and to purchase other necessary goods or mana materials to upgrade the dungeon.
However, the dungeon merchant of this world was somewhat different from my memories.
"A succubus?"
"Yes, I am a succubus!"
In MLD 1, the dungeon merchant had always been a goblin, but now it appeared transformed into a female demon.
Just because a demon takes the form of a human woman doesn't necessarily mean she's a succubus, but I could tell she was a succubus right away. After all, she wore very little clothing, and she even had a tattoo on her stomach.
A tattoo I had seen somewhere many times.
I was truly glad I hadn't chosen the succubus, the Undead - Ghost path.
'In the game, it was always a goblin.'
The goblin dungeon merchant in MLD 1 had been quite notorious.
Perhaps because the developer had considerable skill in creating illustrations, they used the same talent they displayed when drawing pretty hero summons to render the dungeon merchant's face in high definition.
Not only was it notorious for backstabbing due to its bad personality, but there were so many of them that the goblin's face was subtly different each time the dungeon merchant visited.
Maybe because of that, a small number of passionate users had made a fuss, demanding why they didn't immediately change the merchant NPC to a female character with such good art skills.
If they had asked me, I would have said, 'Most of the time you only see dot SD illustrations anyway, so what does it matter if it's a goblin or a succubus?'
Still, seeing her in person like this, it was a feast for the eyes. Even though I had no body part to react with.
... Anyway, this one was rude.
"Stop the charm. What are you doing without even introducing yourself?"
Even if she was far stronger than me now, to blatantly scatter charm mana from the first meeting...
I had a rough guess why it didn't work on me, but if I had fallen for it, I would have looked quite unsightly. It would naturally sour our relationship.
Even when probing someone, there are limits.
- Ppadeuk.
From Eve, the skeleton standing beside me as if on guard, a displeased emotion welled up thickly.
She seemed to be quite displeased that the succubus had committed the rudeness of scattering charm at me, the Dungeon Lord.
However, the succubus, though extraordinary, didn't pay her any mind at all, given that she was just a skeleton.
"Oops, caught me. And it didn't even work. As expected of a lady."
"Are you a lesbian?"
"No way. The target from whom a dream demon draws affection is not necessarily limited to the opposite sex. Of course, personal tastes are another matter."
"... I see. So that's how it is."
The succubus, smoothly glossing over her rudeness, narrowed her alluring eyes and smiled with her eyes.
I felt like she was slightly lying, but for now I decided to let it slide. In the current situation, picking a fight with the dungeon merchant guild would be a huge loss for me.
There would be a chance to deal with her properly later.
"Alright, introduce yourself first."
"Oh dear, my apologies! I'm the manager of the Mammon Trading Company, Scarlet Spira Spina!"
"I am Libertas. I am the Dungeon Lord Libertas."
"I am honored to meet you, Milady Libertas."
'Milady' was short for 'my lady'.
So essentially, she had just addressed me as if calling the mistress of a noble house.
"Just Lady will suffice."
"Ah... my apologies."
When I pointed that out, Scarlet exaggeratedly raised one hand as if saluting, then sheepishly lowered it.
As her name suggested, she was a succubus with charming red eyes. A scarlet red, far redder than any human could possibly achieve, like blazing fire.
Moreover, her hair color was a truly vivid pink, so I thought she'd stand out wherever she went.
She wore clothing with very little fabric, though it wasn't the leather style that immediately comes to mind when you think of a succubus.
Although her stomach was exposed, it was closer to a suit. A suit that looked like something you'd wear for bedroom play, though.
But the puzzling part was.
"By the way, a manager?"
"Yes, I'm a manager!"
"Is it common for a manager to come out for business to such a small dungeon?"
"Of course not!"
Ah, is that so.
Then why the hell are you here?
"As I said earlier, because I heard a young dungeon that had successfully spawned appeared after so long! Cases of new customers appearing are extremely rare these days!"
"Right. So it was."
Indeed. That was the same thing she said at the start.
This was a world where it had been two hundred years since dungeons began appearing on the continent.
The frequency of dungeons appearing on the continent had increased greatly, but as a trade-off, humanity had also begun adapting to dungeons, and it seemed detecting a newly born dungeon had become quite routine.
They didn't know the exact location or strength for sure, and it seemed they had to send scouts like the rookie adventurers last time to find out its true nature, but...
At least, there was no doubt that dungeons were appearing so frequently it had become routine.
To the extent that even if a few rookie adventurers who sought out a dungeon disappeared, it could be quietly buried.
"So, like this!"
Chwararak!
"I've come to introduce good products for the dungeon."
"An advertisement, huh."
"It's an advertisement!"
When the succubus tossed a scroll, the scroll expanded infinitely like a carpet, and images of various items appeared on it.
However, those items were not real.
They were still just illusions. I could intuitively tell that only after purchasing an item would it properly appear on top.
"Though you don't have the means to purchase anything yet."
"You didn't have to add that last part."
"My apologies. It's our policy."
Even though she had no intention of selling anything, showing them like this was surely a 'showcase'.
『Magic Sword Stormbringer - A magic sword that summons the power of lightning and storm. (Information sealed)』
『Contract: Death Knight - A scroll that allows you to contract a Death Knight (information sealed) and handle it without burdening the core.』
『Forced Corruption Contract - A contract that can forcibly bind one hero. Intimacy is not guaranteed.』
『Free Demon Mercenary Corps Contract Guarantee - Sign a fixed-term contract with a mercenary corps guaranteed by the Mammon Trading Company! They will not stab you in the back. Figuratively, or sexually!』
As expected.
The items floating over the scroll carpet and appearing in my status window were each powerful and outstanding.
A shop page where all the text was colored in the orange of 'Legendary' or the red of 'Mythic', with only the occasional case of purple 'Hero' like that contract guarantee.
As I said, there was practically nothing I could buy here.
"So?"
"Huh?"
"You didn't come just to tease me, did you?"
"Ah. But you wouldn't have anything to sell either..."
The dream demon said that, avoiding eye contact with a somewhat troubled look.
Demons were usually creatures of strong pride.
She seemed to be worried about what would happen if she hurt the Dungeon Lord's pride right in front of her.
Of course, as she said, a rookie dungeon had almost no 'useful items' to sell for currency. Souls, bodies, arms, and such that suit the tastes of higher-ranking demons or devils.
Although I was different.
"Who said that?"
'Dungeon Information.'
『Demon Lord Candidate 'Libertas''s Dungeon Lv.2』
『Alias - None』
『Continent Fame - 1 (Unknown)』
『Demon Realm Fame - 12 ('Truly' Fresh Newbie)』
When I activated the dungeon information mentally, the still relatively clean information of my dungeon appeared before my eyes.
Since the level typically went up by one after completing one or two waves, there was no need to worry about it being low now.
The dungeon's mana also existed within the scope of level influence, but it wasn't everything.
I shifted my gaze slightly downward.
『Core Activation - 76/136』
『Room Count - 6/6』 『Required Mana - 52/60』
『Summons - 2/2』 『Required Mana - 2/2』
『Other Required Mana - 3/3』
My dungeon had also made some progress in the meantime.
The dungeon layout back when I had hooked Lemia, now my second skeleton 'Mire', and her party was quite simple.
At the entrance, I secured a space large enough to form a small settlement, then used the Dungeon Lord's mana to pressure goblins into coming and living there, and beyond that, there were no rooms in the continuing passage—just a long, long corridor.
At the end of it was the heart of the dungeon: the room where the core was located.
It was a dangerous move, but at the time, I had no choice because I had poured all the mana for constructing the dungeon into building that long corridor to catch adventurers.
Even if I wanted to create additional rooms, there was no mana.
Now I had managed to create several additional rooms. However, that wasn't possible through dungeon growth alone.
『Core Activation - Mana in Use 76 / Total Mana 136』
『Core Mana - 84 / Sacrifice Mana - 52』
When I focused my will on the core activation, additional descriptions appeared. Then, when I again infused my will into 'Total Mana', the elements generating the dungeon's current mana appeared.
Core Mana was the mana inherent to the dungeon core and the production from the dungeon's own growth.
Here, the inherent mana meant the Lord's mana.
『Attributes - Mana 21』
That is, a multiple of my mana.
However, there were limits to the trick of stupidly increasing mana to boost the dungeon's mana. Limits imposed by my own 'Durability' and 'Resistance'.
... When I was a newbie, I had thought this would work and stupidly blew my first round.
Anyway.
Then, where did the remaining sacrifice mana, which made up a significant portion of the current dungeon mana, come from?
『Mana from corpses absorbed by the dungeon 52』
『Adventurer Sacrifices = 5』
『Wild Goblins X 31 = 31』
『Wild Beasts X 16 = 16』
That was the share of the victims devoured by the dungeon.
In the meantime, I diligently hunted hostile life forms, converted their corpses into mana, and fed them to the dungeon.
Although that hunting and labor was done by Eve, not me...
Even when I tried to go out myself, Eve somehow radiated a strong will of 'Please leave this to me, Master!' so I couldn't step in.
I don't understand why she dislikes sending me outside so much.
- Dalgeurak!
"I didn't say anything."
- Dalgak.
Still, Eve was good at hunting.
One day, she caught a huge boar, so I used magic to start a fire and roasted it. The taste wasn't as good as regular pork and it was tough, but perhaps thanks to the Dungeon Lord's body, it was edible.
It brought back memories, I guess.
Anyway.
Here were the things I intended to sell.
『Jack Miller = 2』
『Remiah Olas = 3』
Adventurer sacrifices. That is, the remnants of dead humans.