Chapter 89
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 89
Why was Swallow in Knecht? Was it related to the incident in Riaze? Had he still not found the person he was looking for?
There were still too many unknowns, but amidst them all, one thing was certain.
Ar was sure he would meet Swallow again. The mere thought of experiencing that strength once more sent an ecstatic shudder through him.
Turning his gaze from the glass tube, Ar moved to leave the laboratory quietly. The man turned his head toward Ar and asked as politely as possible, “...Did something suddenly come to mind?”
“Since you’ve made something so wonderful, shouldn’t I put it to proper use?”
His reply was always accompanied by a smile. Before opening the door and stepping out, Ar murmured, “First, I should go see Miss Uin.”
* * *
“Master Swallow, it’s morning!”
A cheerful voice struck his ears like a thunderclap.
A maid's energetic morning greeting might be a romantic fantasy for some, but for Swallow, it was anything but.
The problem was that the cheerful voice was meant for him.
“Please, just let me sleep a little longer.”
“You’ve been saying that for three hours, Master Swallow. It’s already morning.”
“What’s so special about morning? Since when have we ever cared about the difference between day and night…”
Taking advantage of Rene’s hesitation as she struggled to find a retort, Swallow curled up again and pulled the blanket over his head. In retaliation, Rene threw back the curtains, sending a flood of light pouring onto the bed.
When Swallow just buried his face in the blanket, refusing to budge, Rene called for Melju.
“Miss Melju, now is the time to cast ‘Genocide’!”
“Ah, yes. That taboo spell of widespread destruction.”
Whatever that is, if you have something that terrifying, use it on the humans invading us instead, Swallow screamed internally.
Ruthlessly trampling over his silent plea, Melju raised her staff. A sphere the size of a human head materialized directly above Swallow and began to emit an intense light.
It was an impossibly bright light, one that couldn't be looked at with open eyes. It was so intense that his vision remained white even when he squeezed them shut.
Sleeping through this was utterly impossible. It was like a miniature sun.
“Aaaargh! Turn off the light, you two! What is wrong with you? When did you even coordinate this? Melju, you’re a Demon King! Aren’t you supposed to be unable to use holy magic? Huh?”
“Not all light-emitting magic is holy magic,” Melju stated flatly.
“Master Swallow just won’t wake up. Rene is only worried about how much fatigue you’ve accumulated. Well then, Miss Melju, for our next plan…”
“I’m up! I’m up, okay?!”
And your actions don’t match your supposed concern at all.
He had intended to hold out as long as possible, but the mention of a “next plan” changed everything. Scratching the back of his head in irritation, Swallow sat up with a scowl.
He’d had a few peaceful days in Knecht.
He thought he might finally get some comfortable rest, but that hadn't even lasted a week. Just when he thought things would get easier now that they had no reason to get involved with the outside world, Rene had suddenly become incredibly hyperactive.
Melju had always been easily swept up in the excitement back in Riaze, so that was one thing, but hadn't Rene disliked human towns?
Why was she being so energetic?
“...I’m awake, so turn that off.”
The light sphere flashed and strobed. It was so dazzling that his shoulders twitched involuntarily.
If this was the spell Swallow thought it was, it shone so brightly that anyone within a hundred meters of the window wouldn't be able to open their eyes.
Blinding even random passersby on the street—it truly deserved the name ‘Genocide’.
“Master Swallow, now that you’re awake, please eat the breakfast Rene made!”
Just as the light from the sphere began to fade, Rene brought over a dish with a bright, innocent smile.
This was clearly the reason she was so excited—the sole reason she had gone to such lengths to wake him this morning.
“Rene made it with all her heart.”
Looking at the bowl, he saw the food was piled high. It would have been perfect if her good intentions were the only rich thing about it, but unfortunately, the world was not so kind.
“Rene tried a little bit while cooking, and I’m really confident in this one.”
Unable to resist her bright smile, Swallow picked up his fork.
Since they were staying at a fairly expensive inn, the innkeeper delivered every meal directly to their room. But Rene had apparently declined the service, insisting on cooking herself.
From the inn's perspective, the ingredients used were the same, so they had no reason to refuse. And since the ingredients were diverse and abundant, the resulting dish should have been…
“…”
“This time, the main dish is roasted goat meat, served with steamed vegetables.”
“Roasted goat…?”
It was supposed to be roasted, yet it was swimming in broth. A thick, viscous broth at that.
Hesitating, Swallow stirred the bottom of the broth, which was darker and deeper than the abyssal sea. Something horrific, what was supposed to be meat, clung to his fork.
It possessed a shape that seemed designed to reap life.
“Once you eat it all, you can go back to sleep.”
If I eat all of this, I'll probably sleep forever.
“…Homunculus?”
When Swallow defined the food with a single word, Rene pointed a finger at herself and asked, “Do you mean Rene?”
“No… never mind.”
Rene was a being born from human hands. He’d heard that because she was a creature made solely for human convenience, she had been designed to minimize maintenance costs.
Wasn't her sense of taste designed so that she could find garbage delicious? Having to eat a dish judged as ‘delicious’ by those taste buds was indeed a monumental challenge.
When he glanced over at Melju, she had already slipped away.
…Every single Demon King was incredibly quick to react when it came to survival.
“Oh, that reminds me.”
As he stared at the food with agonized eyes, unable to bring himself to eat and merely poking at it with his fork, Rene suddenly spoke up as if remembering something.
“On the day we returned from Judeca, Rene sent a carrier pigeon to Mr. Patrick. His reply has arrived.”
With that, she headed into her room as if she had left something behind. Seizing the opportunity, Swallow grabbed the bowl and shoved it under the bed. He needed to get it out of Rene’s sight immediately.
Returning a split second later, Rene showed him the letter. Fortunately, she didn't seem to notice that the food had vanished.
“And this was inside the letter.”
“…A glass shard?”
In his attempt to act natural, his voice cracked slightly.
Rene handed the glass shard to Swallow.
“What is this? Is he telling me to rest easy because he’ll guard the dungeon well, and maybe slit my wrists with this?”
“Rene thinks this is a piece of a mirror.”
“So he’s telling us to take a good look at ourselves?”
“Thinking about it that way makes it quite offensive.”
“In my estimation, it appears to be a magic tool for communication.”
As he pondered while holding the mirror shard, Melju, who had fled earlier, crept back like a ghost and spoke.
Swallow shot her a glare—the kind one gives a comrade who deserted the battlefield—but Melju shamelessly ignored it and continued.
“I know that magic tools like mirror shards or crystal balls are generally used for communication. I believe it should work if you infuse it with mana.”
“Really? Move aside. I have something to try.”
“Rene thinks that if Master Swallow infuses it with mana, it might explode.”
After a brief discussion, Melju infused the mirror shard with her mana. At the small amount of power, the mirror glowed a faint white.
That was all.
There was a change, but the fist-sized shard merely glowed hazily. After staring at it expectantly for a long while, Swallow lay back down with a sigh.
Just as Melju voiced her doubts and Rene, deciding it was useless, was about to place the shard on the table—
[Ah.]
A very familiar voice.
[Ah, sorry I'm late. Can you hear me? You didn't throw it away in the meantime, did you?]
An afterimage formed on the mirror shard. Rene picked it up again, and as she and Swallow looked closely, the blurry surface revealed the faint but familiar figure of a skeleton.
“…What is this?”
[The mana currents flowing from the center of the Primordial Core were too strong, so I was delayed while stepping outside for a moment. I'm glad you didn't throw it away and checked it, Boss.]
Come to think of it, hadn’t the humans also mentioned that communication inside dungeons was difficult due to mana currents? As he briefly recalled this, Patrick continued.
[First of all, I heard the news that Miss Melju is working hard as a member of our group through Miss Rene's carrier pigeon. Actually, the reason I sent this communication tool was partly because I thought Miss Melju might recognize it.]
“What’s with that attitude of trusting the newcomer more than your boss…? No, more importantly, where did you get something like this? Did you hoard this away somewhere without my knowledge, just like Demeura?”
[No, of course not. If I could have used something like this before, I would have done so long ago. Besides, among communication magic tools, ones that allow communication over such a long distance are extremely rare.]
Melju nodded in agreement. Swallow asked, “Then where did you get it?”
[I borrowed it.]
“From whom?”
[Miss Bathory. You know that large mirror in Miss Bathory's room at Cheite Castle? This is a piece of that.]
Huh? Borrowed?
Stunned by the matter-of-fact reply, Swallow stared blankly for a moment before asking again.
“She just lent it to you?”
[Of course not. Naturally, I obtained it after a transaction. I provided Miss Rene's blood in exchange.]
“…Did you get Rene’s permission?”
[Well, isn't a dungeon run on trust? Actually, I wanted to offer my own blood, but as you know, I am a bloodless, tearless D-e-a-t-h K-n-i-g-h-t. Conveniently, Miss Bathory mentioned she wanted to taste homunculus blood… Ah, Miss Rene isn't there with you, right? Please keep this a secret for now.]
“I’m right here, Mr. Patrick.”
—The connection was cut.
*
Only after a few minutes did Patrick’s voice come through again. He spoke calmly, as if nothing had happened, his tone shamelessly brazen.
[Hello, this is Patrick.]
“You’re late, Patrick.”
“It seems late to me as well,” Melju added.
“Miss Melju, look at this. Rene has sharpened her blades so finely.”
[Pardon? What do you mean late? Did something happen? I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.]
“Rene doesn’t know what’s late either. If you’re talking about your lifespan, though, it might have just been moved up quite a bit.”
[…Now is not the time for idle chatter. Recruiting monsters is a critical matter on which the very survival of our dungeon depends.]
“Shouldn’t you worry about your own survival first?”
[A-anyway, let’s get down to business.]
Patrick’s voice, as he forced a change of subject, trembled so violently it was palpable even through the mirror. When Rene placed her freshly maintained blades onto the table, the clattering sound made him flinch.
[…First of all, I have thoroughly reviewed the contents of the dungeon subjugation requests that Miss Rene sent. To put it briefly…]
The list consisted of dungeons deemed dangerous by humans, along with a separate list of dangerous monsters selected by the Demon Kings.
[Even from my perspective, there are indeed no monsters that particularly stand out.]
Having received the list via carrier pigeon, Patrick’s opinion was similar to Rene’s.
The ideal monsters desired by the Primordial Core were not on it. At best, they were all second-rate choices.
It wasn't that the monsters listed were low quality. In terms of sheer strength, they were all from dungeons formidable enough to give humans a hard time. The list was full of monsters that wouldn’t pale in comparison to Glacia, who had occupied Room 1 until just a few months ago.
[But the compatibility is just too poor.]
The Primordial Core was a cave. It was a closed dungeon where the only entrance was also the exit, and it was damp with almost no light. Naturally, that came with many constraints.
[The Ancient Slime… as Miss Rene said, I looked up its exact location, and the distance is just too far to bring it here. A Kraken is highly tempting, but we can’t exactly raise a Kraken in our dungeon. The same goes for a Water Dragon.]
“Rene thought a Minotaur would be decent. What do you think, Mr. Patrick?”
[Minotaurs are great, but they’re too aggressive. They can’t even control themselves. They’re crazy monsters that would run out of the dungeon just to seek out strong opponents. Furthermore, a Unicorn is also quite good, but from what I know…]
“From what you know?”
[It will fight with the Anthropophago.]
“…Then what on earth do you want me to do?” Swallow, who had been listening quietly, grumbled in an irritated tone.
Up until now, Rene and Patrick had always been the ones to recruit monsters. Whenever they were wiped out, he had just scolded them to ‘find someone decent.’ Was the task really this much of a chore?
“Well, still. Honestly, I didn’t realize you guys went through so much trouble to recruit monsters.”
[Are you finally recognizing our efforts?]
“Never ask me to do it next time.”
[Excuse me? Boss, where is your conscience?]
“Anyway, if we can’t find any here, there’s nothing we can do. It’s not like we can go to another town and do the same thing just because Knecht didn’t work out.”
If they did that, time would become an issue. There was no telling if it would take weeks or months.
“We can’t leave the dungeon empty for too long.”
[That is certainly true, but…]