Chapter 88
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 88
Chapter Title: Strange Combination
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Anyway, since I had something to tell them, I gathered everyone in the ruins.
"What is it, Master?"
Everyone had assembled, excluding the elves on patrol outside and Erzsebet's kin guarding the entrance. Even the kids like Draina and Rio, who were usually assigned other tasks, showed up without fail.
Current Pollution Level: 67.7%...
But right now, every member of the ruins was gathered in front of me, and there was no one cleaning separately—yet the pollution level listed in the [Main Quest] was still dropping rapidly.
'I even paused the [Robot Vacuums] just in case... What the hell is going on?'
I put on a slightly serious expression but first relayed what I'd heard from the dungeon merchant to the ruins' members. Human forces were mobilizing again.
"Ugh... I hope the Queen will be alright."
"Grrr!! Humans, no matter how many swarm like ants, are no problem!"
"Humans..."
The ruins' members showed a variety of reactions. The elves worried about the dungeon they'd once lived in, Erzsebet's newly acquired kin burned with fighting spirit, and the Red Demon Tribe, who had suffered badly at human hands before, trembled slightly with fear.
In any case, I reassigned the demon tribe members—who now had heightened vigilance—to key positions, doubled the patrol numbers, and with Lilith's help this time, disguised a few more demons even more perfectly as humans to infiltrate their cities for intelligence gathering.
"Investigate the current status of dispatched heroes in the south and the damage to demon tribes."
"Yes, sir!"
According to the dungeon merchant, even though humans had broken their long peace, they wouldn't suddenly attack every dungeon across the continent. That would be suicidal.
Instead, he said the southern region—the weakest area on the continent—was most likely to be targeted first. In fact, multiple heroes had been spotted there recently.
"Every time I see you, Master worries far more than his power warrants. Is that the fate of dungeon masters?"
"...No."
Even amid all this, Erzsebet—who still thought of me as some grand archmage—gave me a look like she couldn't understand my paranoid information-gathering and countermeasures.
I wouldn't say I'm completely weak. Lately, the [High-Pressure Cleaner] wasn't working as well in some cases, but its power was still formidable. And if I could just trap an opponent, the [Grinder] would shred any 4-star hero or whatever. I also had several items lethal to specific races like the Blood Demon Tribe or Insect Demon Tribe.
But the problem was that all those abilities came from cleaning tools, not my own power. One slip-up, and I'd be done for.
Well, anyway, it worked out. I had a separate task for Erzsebet.
"Erzsebet. You're fully recovered now, right?"
"Fit as a fiddle, Master. The quality's a bit low, but I took in quite a lot of blood from all the demon prisoners we captured this time."
"Good. I have a... no, an order for you."
"Anything."
She'd toned down her previous timid, passive attitude a bit. After hearing her advice that if you want something from subordinates, just 'order' it, I'd gained a little insight.
So what if my own abilities were a bit lacking and I relied on gear? Through a series of coincidences, I now had multiple subordinates at my command, beings who could cover my weaknesses.
"Remember that basement where we met Desmond last time?"
"Isn't it sealed off now?"
"Something seems off underground. Can you investigate?"
The [Pollution Level] entry was still steadily dropping. No one was cleaning, and there were no changes around the surface areas where we lived. The answer was clear.
Underground. Something was changing down there—in the area we'd completely sealed after pulling out Lilith to prevent anything else crawling up. And for some reason, it was a change that was sharply reducing the pollution level.
"Easy enough. Got it, Master."
"Daddy. Me too."
"...Huh?"
After assigning the underground investigation to Erzsebet, a voice came from below, and someone tugged at my clothes.
"Draina? Why are you..."
"I'm bored."
"Sigh..."
Lately, the garden cleaning was nearly done, so there were far fewer tasks requiring Draina's power. We'd also gained a lot more manpower anyway.
So now, all she did was accelerate the growth of the crops in the fields—a task that barely took time, just a quick infusion of energy.
That's why Draina, who'd already gone out once before, kept singing out of boredom. Of course, I never let her outside...
"You want to go underground too?"
"Yeah. Curious."
This time, instead of the outside world, her interest had shifted underground, and she threw a tantrum about going too.
I was about to say no, of course, but changed my mind.
'...What if. Another being like Erzsebet or Draina appears from the underground levels...'
The seven murals we'd found in the basement where we discovered Desmond. Seeing them, I'd speculated that maybe seven such beings like Erzsebet or Desmond were slumbering in these ruins.
So far, we'd found four. If my guess was right, three more could still be sleeping here—beings outside the norm, like Desmond or Lilith.
'...Erzsebet alone might not cut it.'
If something anomalous had happened underground, another such being might have awakened. And if so, she might be overwhelmed alone. She'd said she'd used up all her stored blood recently.
"Alright. Sure."
"Master?"
Erzsebet's eyes widened—she clearly hadn't expected me to indulge Draina's whims.
"If anything happens, come back right away. No fighting like last time."
"Okay!"
But in a way, this was the obvious choice. If this anomaly was caused by at least a Desmond-level being, I'd need to send equivalents from our side to handle it, right?
In that sense, Draina—who'd already proven her power by wiping out multiple demons a few days ago—was the perfect pick. And on top of that...
"Lilith. You come too."
"Huh? M-Me?"
"The underground has the space where you lived. You know its layout best, so..."
I sent Lilith along too. She'd been suspiciously smirking lately, just making prisoners dream instead of doing real work. Her combat power was a notch below, but her illusion and charm abilities would be useful if something unnatural appeared.
'Can't send the other members.'
I couldn't send down the others who believed I was the dungeon master. It wouldn't make sense for a dungeon master to be clueless about events in his own dungeon.
In that sense, Erzsebet, Draina, and Lilith were my top forces I could deploy.
'...Please, let it be nothing.'
With everything happening outside the ruins already giving me a headache, I hoped this worry would turn out to be baseless.
"What a peculiar master, huh? Don't you think?"
-Smack!
"...You little brat."
Erzsebet and Draina, with Lilith trailing meekly behind them, flapping her wings as they descended.
This bizarre trio had cleared the rock pile blocking the underground as Eugene ordered and gone down the stairs once more to investigate.
And Draina—who always beamed and clung to Eugene—snapped irritably at Erzsebet, swatting away the hand reaching for her.
"You're probably older than me, yet you act all cutesy with Master like that..."
"Eek!"
Erzsebet, who had a rough idea of dryad ecology and could guess Draina's age, stared at her in disbelief, but Draina kept smacking her with wooden roots as if to say she shouldn't bring it up.
'...Should I take a youthful form too?'
With blood magic, she could easily alter her appearance. Maybe if she took a childlike form and approached her master, he'd treat her gently too?
Erzsebet fell into serious contemplation for a moment, then to soothe her unsettled mood, she chomped on Lilith flying nearby for no reason.
"Eeeek...!"
Chomp. "Hm. Well, he even packed a hearty lunch this time, so be satisfied with that."
Unlike the usual orders without prep, he'd provided a full lunchbox, so Erzsebet swallowed her complaints and continued down the stairs.
-Splash.
"Hm?"
A water sound came from Erzsebet's feet as she headed down.
"It's wet. And... it feels cleaner than last time we came."
Erzsebet had descended these stairs with Eugene before, so she remembered how the slope had been. But now, the stairs looked even cleaner than in her memory, and the floor was oddly damp.
'Master's doing?'
She knew her master cleaned by spraying water from that strange magic tool, so she assumed it was his work. Of course, Eugene always wiped up any remaining moisture after...
Erzsebet didn't think that far and stopped Draina from extending roots to suck up the water, continuing downward.
-Splash. Splash.
For some reason, the deeper they went, the more it seemed like water sounds were echoing from somewhere.