Chapter 78
Chapter 78
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 78
Chapter Title: The Master's Loyal Guard
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"So that's what happened?"
Celia nodded as she replied to Maru's words.
"It seems like the Master was being considerate since it must be tough on you, Maru."
Maru nodded at her words as well.
"As expected, the Master is profoundly considerate. To think of lowly servants like us in such a way... I, Celia, am truly moved."
Celia closed her eyes, genuinely touched.
Hearing her words solidified Maru's conviction.
When he thought about it, there was no reason for the Master, who had enjoyed ramen so much until now, to suddenly quit it overnight.
Maru was convinced that the instruction not to use his special touch was the Master's consideration.
"Clack!"
Then Maru brought up what the Master had asked him to relay before coming here.
"What? The Master had a message for me?"
Since it was a message from the great one, Celia naturally took interest.
"Clack-clack-clack—"
Maru even gestured with his body as he conveyed the Master's words.
"I see."
Celia rested her chin on her hand.
"He wants us to offer the corpses of dead monsters as tribute?"
And not just monsters from other dungeons.
The Master wanted the corpses of those who had died among the monsters currently in this dungeon offered as tribute.
"Oh!"
Celia, who had been pondering the Master's words that Maru relayed, broke into a bright smile.
"I've grasped the profound meaning that even the dead are embraced by the Master! We'll send them right away!"
"Clack?"
(That exists?)
Maru expressed doubt at her words.
The Master had clearly said to offer dead monsters as tribute when they appeared, but sending them immediately...
What was going on here?
At that moment, a skeleton knight entered from outside.
In the knight's bony hand was a wooden tray, upon which sat two cups.
He approached naturally and placed the cups in front of Celia and Maru.
"Thank you, Knight."
They were fancy cups, filled with some liquid.
"Ah, this is tea we found among the adventurers' belongings. It tastes quite nice."
Celia offered some tea to Maru.
"?"
Maru stared blankly at the tea before taking a sip.
There was no taste.
No sensation of heat or anything.
The liquid simply flowed through his mouth, out his torso, and dripped onto the floor.
"……."
Looking around, Maru's gaze fell on various luxury foodstuffs in Celia's workspace.
Tea like this one, as well as snacks and jerky.
It was possible because a fair number of adventurers had visited this place by now.
Adventurers always carried belongings of some sort, mostly money or food.
Sometimes luxury items like these, allowing Celia to enjoy tea time.
"The deep flavor of this tea is truly exquisite."
Celia savored a sip as well.
Then she issued an order to the nearby skeleton knight.
"There are dead ones in Sector 2, right? Bring their corpses. Handle them with utmost care since they're for the Master."
The skeleton knight saluted at her command and turned to leave.
"Was there anything else?"
As the skeleton knight departed, Celia turned back to Maru and spoke.
Maru thought for a moment before saying something.
"Clack-!"
This was the main point.
"Clack-clack-clack-!"
"I see."
"Clack-clack."
"Truly, the Master's foresight leaves me in awe."
Maru spoke with bone-clacking sounds, and Celia nodded in admiration of the foresight.
What Maru relayed was simple.
- Prepare plans for necessary mechanisms and units in the dungeon and report them.
They each had rough roles now, but nothing systematic.
The dungeon would only grow larger going forward.
It would be good to start laying the groundwork bit by bit.
That was surely what the Master meant.
Maru relayed the Master's instructions to Celia just like that.
"You're absolutely right. We're only dealing with adventurers now, but we must look to the future. Once we swallow kingdoms, we'll need various organizations."
"?"
Swallow kingdoms?
Maru stayed silent since this was unfamiliar territory.
"By then, we'll have to consider not just human nations but wars with other dungeons as well. The scale will change completely. Preparing from now is definitely the way."
He knew the Master's goals well.
But Celia requested additional help from Maru.
"In that case, Maru, what organizations and units would be good?"
Maru wasn't an ordinary monster.
He was practically the Master's lieutenant, always by his side assisting him.
He must understand the Master's thoughts well.
So Celia asked Maru.
"……."
Maru paused at her question.
Organizations? Units?
What would be good?
Truth be told, Maru didn't fully grasp the Master's intentions either.
He mostly handled housework.
But regardless of the Master's intent, he could help with Celia's question.
Every night while the Master slept, he used the smartphone.
Maru was a monster with considerable knowledge, having devoured not just cooking videos but hunter footage as well.
Using that knowledge, Maru spoke.
"Clack! Clack-clack!"
"Scouting and vanguard units, I see."
Celia nodded and fell into thought.
Definitely necessary units.
There was already a scouting team made of goblins.
So no need to form another scouting unit.
But they needed a unit to charge at the forefront and break enemy lines.
"Ah!"
The name "vanguard" was too plain.
It didn't suit the Master's dignity.
At minimum, a unit befitting the great Master should know how to pierce the enemy's front lines.
Celia immediately began writing something on paper.
- [Shock Troops]: Unit at the forefront, composed mainly of numerous skeletons.
Main duty: Break through enemy lines.
If approved by the Master, appoint Inspector Arch-Lich as commander of the Shock Troops.
A unit was formed on the spot.
"What else do we need?"
Celia looked at Maru.
"Clack-clack!"
"Indeed. Replenishment is essential in war."
War was ultimately a war of attrition.
The side that ran out of resources first would lose, so support to other units had to be handled properly.
In short, they needed a support unit.
An idea immediately came to Celia.
"For troop replenishment, Death Knight is perfect!"
Arch-Lich could do it too, but he'd already been appointed Shock Troops commander.
Celia promptly wrote the next unit on paper.
- [Undead Replenishment Brigade]: Main duty is to infinitely generate ghouls and reinforce needed front lines. Also handles prisoner management.
If approved by the Master, appoint Death Knight as commander of the Undead Replenishment Brigade.
Of course, Death Knight already held the position of knight order captain.
But in Celia's view, it didn't suit him.
Two unit plans were complete already.
Celia and Maru continued discussing, laying more groundwork.
- [Special Operations Bureau]: Unit composed of Shadows and Banshees. Main duties: intelligence gathering, rear disruption, and other special missions.
Utilize Shadow abilities for intelligence and key assassinations.
Utilize Banshee abilities for intelligence and enemy rear disruption.
If approved by the Master, appoint Celia as commander of the Special Operations Bureau.
- [Search Party] (Planned): Reorganized from existing goblin scouting team.
Once activity restrictions are lifted, expand beyond patrolling dungeon surroundings to searching and scouting enemy territory.
Since only renaming the Search Party, retain Goblin Lord as commander.
Various other plans emerged.
A Defense Command to protect all the Master's domains going forward.
Goblin Magic Guard composed of hobgoblins.
The firefighting unit recently formed by the Master was reorganized into the Facility Safety Division with Maru's help.
And things wouldn't only happen on the surface.
Considering that, Celia even formed an underwater unit with nagas.
"Hm…."
She planned to keep expanding units and organizations.
But Celia felt something was missing.
"We must form a unit solely for the Master!"
A unit loyal and guarding only the Master.
The royal guard.
"We need to select elite talents befitting the Master!"
This unit would interact closely with the Master, practically always at his side.
Thus, members had to be chosen rigorously.
Not just talents fitting the great one, but those who acted solely for the Master and praised only him.
But no such talents came to mind right now.
"No helping it."
Celia wrote only her name as the royal guard member.
For now, it was a unit with just Celia.
Celia and Maru's discussion continued.
All this was for strengthening the Master's forces.
It was something she had to accomplish no matter how long it took, so Celia diligently worked her hands.
And then.
The skeleton knight returned, carrying a large sack filled with something.
"Ah, you're back early? Place all of those on the altar."
"Clack!"
At her command, the skeleton knight saluted again and dragged the sack out.
"It's nothing much."
Celia smiled at Maru, whose face showed curiosity.
"Just some that died during training."
"?"
Maru flinched for a moment.
Training?
His long-lost homeland had become a frightening place.
The corpses in the sack were goblins'.
Following the Master's previous order to grant enlightenment, Celia had commanded Goblin Lord and Arch-Lich to train them.
She'd given them summary execution authority as well, and these were all from goblins.
Of course, Goblin Lord hadn't executed them himself.
A few had simply died from the hardship.
As the skeleton knight left, a goblin entered this time.
It was surely the goblin shaman active in the scouting team.
"Three intruders comin'. Dey strong. *Hack*."
The goblin shaman reported to Celia that three intruders had appeared.
Their attire was ordinary, but their power was no joke.
One goblin scouting squad had been nearly wiped out.
And the enemies were heading this way.
"To think vermin would appear while carrying out the Master's orders."
Normally, she'd leave it to others.
But this was an important meeting planning the Master's future.
And intruders ruined the mood?
Celia was furious.
She immediately gestured with her hand.
At Celia's gesture, the three nearby personnel halted their movements.
It was her skill, Charm.
With her high rank, even from a distance, they quickly fell under the charm.
"I've handled them, so reform the scouting team."
The goblin shaman acknowledged and headed out.
"Shadow."
As Celia spoke to the air, a hazy shadow appeared behind her.
A shadow monster hijacked from the Demon Realm Merchant Guild, now under Celia's control.
"Interrogate why those intruders came here. Once done, offer them to the Master as tribute."
The shadow bowed and vanished.
"Haah. Sorry about this."
"Clack!"
(It's fine!)
"Let's take a short break and continue."
"Oh, what's this."
There had been a few things he'd relayed to Maru.
Among them was the order to immediately offer the corpses of dead subordinates.
And they'd carried it out this quickly.
His original intent in testing corpse tributes was this.
Until now, most tributes from Celia were invading adventurers or holy knights.
Absorbing them took 6 hours.
During those 6 hours, he was unconscious and defenseless.
So lately, he'd ordered Maru to guard him during those times just in case.
But offering items didn't cause fainting.
Last time Celia offered a holy knight and demon sword together; he only fainted absorbing the holy knight's abilities.
The demon sword had no effect on fainting.
Another tribute type was his own affiliated monsters.
They were summoned when alive, but what if offered dead?
Curiosity struck.
And the result was already in.
Affiliated monsters converted instantly to enhancement-available stats without absorption time.
Naturally, no fainting.
The problem was only goblins had been offered so far, yielding no particularly useful abilities.
"Where could I even use something like this?"
What good was boosting Greed?
While pondering briefly, another alert appeared.
"?"
Goblins first, then a holy knight.
"No, what the hell is going on?"
Why was a holy knight in the dungeon?
And who was this unidentified shadow?
He'd never seen anyone with that name when checking the dungeon.
'Did Celia hire them separately?'
Celia occasionally bolstered monster numbers through the merchant guild; it seemed similar.
And the tributes weren't just one.
A total of three holy knights were offered as tribute.