Chapter 145
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 145
Chapter Title: Dispatch Point
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After taking on the mimic as a new employee, our ruins were finally enjoying some long-overdue peace and quiet.
'I hope it stays like this forever...'
No heroes charging in, no scheming from other demon tribes. With the help of the dwarves and witches, we were steadily repairing the interior of the ruins. High-grade monsters were still hard to come by, but I'd been buying and stocking up on mid-grade ones.
"Oh, g-g-great Sovereign of the South... Please, accept me into your service."
While I was taking a well-deserved break, a demon had pushed through the outer forest—which still hadn't fully recovered—and made it all the way to the ruins' entrance.
"Great Sovereign of the South. New master of the demonic realm... Grant me the honor of serving you..."
The demon rattled off every flowery phrase in the book. The elves handling him whispered among themselves.
"...How many is this now?"
"The fourth."
All the elves inside the ruins were pouring their efforts into reviving the outer forest. That made them the first line of defense for any demons who managed to get through, and this was already the fourth one they'd dealt with today.
At first, they'd panicked and called for the full guard detail, reacting with alarm. But now, with practiced ease, one elf casually asked about his affiliation.
"What dungeon are you from?"
"From the dungeon 'Bleeding Lake'! Our master, destined to become the new sovereign of the South and seize the world's hegemony, pledges eternal loyalty to you..."
The Dungeon Masters of the South. Most of them had attended the recent auction.
And their goal in attending hadn't really been to buy auction items. They'd been looking for a powerful being who could protect them.
The southern Dungeon Masters knew their place. They knew they were weaker than those from other regions and that any real hero party could wipe them out effortlessly.
So they'd concluded they couldn't survive on their own. Dreaming of joining a major faction or falling under a mighty dungeon, they'd come to the auction... and witnessed it.
"A power that erased the western Dungeon Master—who's said to be the strongest individual among all regions—with a mere gesture... That is the true mark of a great sovereign...!"
In an auction house where fighting was forbidden, silently erasing a Dungeon Master with one flick of the wrist. Stepping up personally in place of a subordinate. The charisma of already commanding multiple Dungeon Masters under their banner.
All those qualities combined in one being. Auction participant number 66.
The Dungeon Masters, searching for someone to lead them, had instinctively known: that was the one they needed to serve.
"...How'd they figure it out?"
[I'm sorry, Master...]
I could understand the demons' actions. The three Dungeon Masters already under me had sensed my power just enough and bowed their heads on their own. The other southern dungeons—with similar strength and inclinations—would naturally want to do the same.
The only puzzling part was how these guys had figured out who I was. I'd definitely used Lilith's help to hide my appearance.
[We didn't set the disguise in enough detail and just reused the avatar from the previous auction...]
"Sigh..."
When I asked Rene about it, she apologized, saying it was probably partly her fault.
Rene had participated in the auction before. Without thinking much of it, she'd used the same avatar as last time. Since she'd stuck with it throughout most of the event, a few people could recognize her just from that avatar alone.
[And... some newbie Dungeon Masters carelessly dropped a few hints.]
On top of that, clues from the dwarves' master and the witches' leader—who were also first-timers—had let sharp observers piece together their identities.
Through the equation "the being they serve = me," some had figured me out. And now they were showing up, begging to join my ranks.
"Sigh... So they all know now?"
[Not quite. The southern demons have some exchanges among themselves, so they could guess each other's identities from speech patterns and such. But Dungeon Masters from other regions, with no prior contact, wouldn't be able to.]
At least it was a relief that only southern demons had pieced it together so far. Others might suspect me as the one who erased a demon with a gesture, but they couldn't be sure.
'More subordinates are welcome, but...'
It was great that other Dungeon Masters were bowing their heads first. Especially the southern ones—most specialized in non-combat fields.
Still, someone figuring out my identity made me uneasy. I'd erased a demon right there in the auction hall and ignored the Dragon King's (presumed) offer to buy a unicorn anyway, figuring no one would know who I was.
'Can't do anything about spilled milk.'
I pushed down the budding headache and offered the same terms to today's visitor as I had to the previous ones who'd come begging to join.
They'd lend their strength if 4-star or higher heroes from the South or demons from other regions invaded. They'd provide me with a portion of their dungeons' specialty products (like the witches' potions). Basic info-sharing on top of that...
"The dungeon core... you mean?"
"Yes. That's one of our master's conditions."
They'd open access to their dungeon core. At minimum, grant the person I designated permission to access it.
[Sub Quest] had prompted that condition, but the demons seemed to interpret it differently.
"Indeed... A test of loyalty, then."
The dungeon core was everything to a dungeon—the Dungeon Master's heart itself. Exposing it required fundamental trust in the other party. So they saw it as a loyalty test.
I just thought it was a convenient excuse and let them misunderstand.
"...Understood. I'll relay the message."
The messenger stiffened at first but prepared to leave and deliver the proposal to his master. Before he could, though, I called out to Lilith for a moment.
"Hold on. Before you go, take a look at this."
"Pardon? What do you... Hngh!!"
The messenger, who'd just bowed to depart, froze at the sight of the dazzlingly beautiful woman emerging from the dungeon depths. A urge to offer his soul to her welled up uncontrollably, endless lust boiling within him.
Meeting the man's lecherous gaze, the woman stepped forward and muttered in disgust.
"Ew. Hate this."
"Bear with it."
That's right. The one who'd come out wasn't Lilith—it was the mimic. One that had perfectly copied not just her abilities but her appearance too.
'Lilith hates showing her true form.'
As we'd seen when she mesmerized everyone inside the ruins before, revealing her true self was her ultimate weapon. But she was shy by nature and hated showing it to others, so she couldn't use it effectively...
Now that we had a mimic that could replicate her form and powers perfectly, we could finally put that ability to use.
'Not trying to brainwash or anything shady...'
*[Nation-Toppling Beauty]: Can [Enchant] other beings. Temporarily treat enchanted targets as employees.*
The mimic, transformed into Lilith, activated her [Talent]. The enchanted demon was temporarily added as an employee, unlocking a few employee-only functions. But I didn't care about those. All I wanted was the [Employee Dispatch] feature.
'Oh? Looks like he's been around quite a bit.'
[Employee Dispatch] only worked for locations my [employees] had already visited.
But registering someone else as a temporary employee via Lilith's power added all the places they'd been to the dispatch list.
That's what I'd used before to "purify" the dungeon cores of my other subordinate Dungeon Masters. (Note: "Purify" is just what I called it. Not [Collect] or [Destroy]. I had no idea what to call the changes, so I went with that.)
The key takeaway: His dungeon's location had been registered as dispatch-eligible.
'Prepare for the worst.'
He was bowing low now, but who knew? He might be plotting something behind the scenes. If he betrayed us or pulled any tricks, I'd just drop Tactical Erzsebet on him.
'Location confirmed. Time to send him off...'
I was about to order the mimic to release the enchantment when I paused, noticing the map had revealed even more than expected.
'...Huh? What's this?'
On the map's eastern edge—an area that could be called the "eastern sector"—a good chunk had been uncovered.
'This guy's from the east?'
Or maybe he'd just been there on business. Either way, this changed things. I'd been looking for an [employee] who'd visited the east.
"Erzsebet?"
"......zzz..."
"Hey. Wake up."
Erzsebet had gotten even lazier lately. It started after she heard about the "Empress" of the east, but I had no idea what her deal was.
Part of me wondered if she was sick, but [Employee Management] showed her as normal, and the saintess's check-up found nothing wrong...
"Nngh...? Yawwwn... What is it, Master? Just let me sleep..."
"Get up. That thing you asked for? I think it's doable now."
"Hm...?"
When I mentioned her previous request might finally be possible, a spark of energy returned to Erzsebet's eyes for the first time in ages.
"The east. You said you wanted to go there, right?"