Chapter 123
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 123
Chapter Title: Usefulness
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Imperial Capital.
The priests in charge of managing the Temple of Return were yawning as they sorted through the list of heroes currently out in the field. Their job was to identify any heroes who returned via the temple and recover their holy relics if the temple activated.
It had originally been a cushy gig with hardly any work, but now that humanity had resumed dungeon raids, the temple kept activating at unexpected times. They couldn't even catch a break and were pulling all-nighters.
"Ughhh... I'm gonna die..."
"Hang in there just a bit longer... Shift change is soon..."
They'd especially just finished processing the casualties from the northern front and the eastern front, to the point where nausea was creeping up on them.
"At least that's some good news... I hear the northern front has entered a lull."
"What? Word's already come down? The last I heard, Scarlet was rampaging and insisting we invade them instead..."
"Looks like Clark talked her down. He's the only one who can rein her in..."
As they waited for the shift change crew, the priests passed the time chatting about world events and juicy rumors. But even for them, working sleeplessly for over 24 hours was a huge strain.
The conversation gradually died down, and just as the priests were nodding off, unable to fight the sleep...
-Flash!!
"Wha?! Oh, I wasn't sleeping!"
A dazzling light burst forth. Sensing the Temple of Return activating, the priests jolted awake and rushed to the center of the temple. There lay the horribly mangled corpse of a hero.
"Urk... This one's in bad shape."
"Let's see... This holy relic... Hmm. Looks like one of the heroes sent to investigate the anomaly in the eastern region."
Frowning at the corpse's condition, they professionally identified it from the traces left on the body and the relic's appearance. Meanwhile, a priest checking the temple's status tilted his head.
"Huh...?"
"What is it?"
"Weird. The magic stone consumption is higher than calculated. And there's no extra baggage on the body."
"Lemme see... Eh, it's within margin of error. No big deal."
The Temple of Return's magic stone usage varied based on the target's distance, weight, volume, and so on. The one they were checking had depleted more stones than expected.
As if something very lightweight had slipped through undetected and teleported along at the same time.
-Crunch!!
"Ah...!"
"What now?"
"No, there's some weird powder around the corpse..."
"Powder?"
At the frowning priest's words, his colleague bent down to check the floor. There was a thin layer of white powder scattered across the temple floor—something like ash from something burned or maybe bone dust.
This is...
"Tch. Guess the body came back covered in weird crap. That's why the stone usage was off..."
"Should we clean it up?"
"Nah. Shift's almost here—let the next guys handle the corpse and the mess."
Dismissing it as just some filthy debris, the priest kicked the white powder around without a second thought. Spotting the shift change crew approaching outside the window, he stretched and finished the final report.
"Whew... Of all the times for this to happen right before shift."
"At least it was an eastern hero. Imagine if it was from the south."
The priest writing the report shuddered at the thought of the southern continent.
Lately, casualties had been spiking oddly in the south, with multiple bodies arriving from there. And among them, the state of 4-star Hero Fallenblade's corpse when it arrived was...
"Urk...!"
Just recalling it made his stomach churn again. They'd seen countless bodies, but that one was truly gruesome.
"Heh... Don't worry. The south's done for soon enough."
"What? Why so confident?"
"...Secret, but... You know Lumenblade?"
Glancing around cautiously, his colleague whispered the hushed rumor circulating in the temple.
The Radiant Hero, who had returned from the northern front without orders and was officially under house arrest. The rumor that he had secretly taken elite heroes south to pacify the chaos there.
"For real?"
"Shh! Quiet. Word is, Lumenblade's deployment was unofficial."
"If that's true... South's toast! Man, 50 years—no, a few years back? Anyway, Lumenblade's legend is coming back?"
The Radiant Hero no less. A 5-star hero heading south? Buoyed by hopes their workload would soon lighten, the priests laughed and chattered noisily as they finished the report.
-Pffft...
Clueless that the powder they'd just kicked aside belonged to someone.
.
.
.
.
.
"Ch, charm?"
"Yeah. Just charm one for a bit."
Having just received the potion delivery from the witches, I called over Lilith, who was taking a break.
Even though the system's functions had healed her, the aftereffects of draining so much blood in such a short time had her looking frail despite no visible issues.
'Can't overdo this function either.'
Wondering if the system's [Status] recovery wasn't omnipotent after all, I recalled one of Lilith's [Talents] and asked one of the witches to let her charm her briefly.
"Can you handle it?"
"One's easy even in this state!"
Thrilled at my request, Lilith had the witch under her thrall in the blink of an eye. With that, her registered [Employee] [Talent] activated.
[Nation-Toppling Beauty]: Can charm other beings. Can temporarily treat charmed targets as employees.
The ability to temporarily treat a charmed target as an employee. Just like Erzebet's kin or Rio's controlled elves, one witch was temporarily added to the [Employees].
'[Employee Dispatch]'
To confirm my prediction, I opened the [Employee Dispatch] function.
'Yes!'
As expected, registering the witch temporarily as an employee revealed part of the external map along her travel path via [Employee Dispatch]. Naturally, that included her home dungeon, 'Walpurgis'.
"Lilith. When those dwarves under construction over there and the arachne come later, can you charm one from each group?"
"I can, but... why?"
"Gonna squeeze some... er, inspect my subordinates' dungeons."
When I'd sent Dryad to the elves' dungeon before, whatever she did—dungeon core stayed intact, though some changes happened—it fulfilled the [Sub Quest] progress without issues.
So, couldn't I do the same for other dungeons and rack up points easily?
'Then... send Dryad?'
With the map revealed, I could dispatch via [Employee Dispatch]. A quick message through the dungeon merchant would ensure they treated my envoy royally.
'Getting to the dungeon core might be tough, but push if needed...'
Dryad had pulled it off once, so maybe send her—but seeing her exhausted and sleeping, I shook my head.
"Leave Dryad be. She's already half-dead from exhaustion..."
The heroes who'd come this time had brute-forced past the outer barriers and illusions by blasting the entire forest away.
The elves, who'd been tenderly nurturing the woods and communing with the trees, were now raging and working with Dryad to restore it. She was pouring her growth acceleration ability into it nonstop.
'Erzebet could smash it, nix. Rio's too young, Aqua won't communicate—nix. Lilith... on hold. She's better now but still super shy with strangers.'
Crossing off candidates one by one left just one option.
"Pandora. Can you run an errand for me?"
Pandora. Since she shared the mage background, she'd been getting along with the witches, exchanging knowledge. I called her over and, since the ruin members vaguely knew about [Employee Dispatch], asked if she could visit their dungeon briefly.
"N-no! If I'm gone, I can't protect you..."
"This is super important to me."
"...R-really...?"
After a brief tug-of-war with the clingy Pandora, she finally nodded glumly.
With her agreement, I wasted no time summoning the dungeon merchant and contacting the witches' dungeon.
Sudden contact from my side, dispatching a minion out of the blue—they panicked, scrambling visibly through the communication orb. It pricked my conscience a bit, but I was in a real pinch.
Rio's salary was due tomorrow, and I had no points for it.
"S-so... touch the dungeon core, got it? Then what?"
"...No clue."
I didn't know what to do with the core to progress the quest, but using the excuse of magical knowledge exchange, I dispatched Pandora to the witches' dungeon.
She's quick on the uptake and listens well, so she'll manage.
Thus, Pandora set off on her crucial mission to the witches' dungeon, Walpurgis at Night. Once the set 3-hour dispatch time elapsed...
-Poof!!
"...Hm?"
No changes. Pandora returned as is.
"Pandora? Did you fail to reach the dungeon core?"
I checked the system, but even after her dispatch, [Sub Quest] progress hadn't budged.
Maybe she reached the dungeon but the witches blocked core access...
"Oh, n-no. I snuck up to the dungeon core mid-inspection..."
But contrary to expectations, she'd safely accessed and touched the core.
"Any changes? Like that flesh lump you described... or it becoming clear and transparent?"
"Nothing like that."
"........."
What? Was my guess wrong? The [Sub Quest]'s tip: 'Use your employees.' And Dryad dispatching to the dungeon, taking some action, cleaning the core...
I'd speculated that an [Employee] touching the core would progress it, but I was off?
"Master?"
"...Tch..."
This sucks. Sell off and scrap what I can for Rio's pay, and leave the other dungeons be...
'...No, wait.'
As I pondered alternatives, another possibility struck me.
Erzebet and Dryad touching the core progressed it, but Pandora didn't. Maybe...
'The right person... Oh, right, she's an [Employee] too.'
"Pandora?"
"Yes?"
"Right now... Ah, cooldown. Can you go back to that dungeon in 24 hours? Just head to the core again."
"Uh... I think so, but same as before?"
"No. Attaching someone else this time."
She'd sucked up all her sweet nectar and was growing useless, but time to repurpose her differently.