Clack—
I heard the sound of bones knocking together beside me.
“Uh, yeah… Thanks?”
From the game—no.
From the reality that existed inside my smartphone, disguised as a game.
A skeleton soldier had come out of there.
At the moment, the guy had taken a drink out of the refrigerator and handed it to me.
Then he went right back to mopping the floor.
At first, he had stood out so much that I’d tried to send him back, but—
- The altar’s level is too low. Please upgrade the altar.
With the altar’s current low level, that was impossible.
- The altar cannot be upgraded.
- Altar-related upgrades have not been unlocked.
And since I wasn’t in a position to upgrade the altar either, there was no way to send him back.
If there was one fortunate thing, it was that the skeleton soldier was extremely polite.
If anything, he obeyed every order I gave him without fail.
Even now, he not only cleaned the house as a matter of course, but even brought me drinks without me having to move. Seeing that, I wondered if there was really any need to send him back.
“Can I bring more of them over?”
For a moment, curiosity struck me.
- The altar’s level is too low. Please upgrade the altar.
“Tsk.”
So I can’t do anything I want, huh.
Drinking the beverage the skeleton soldier had given me, I began focusing on my smartphone.
My goal, of course, was to check whether my dungeon was running properly.
The game logo appeared on the screen.
I tapped it and brought Celia onto the screen first.
“Her clothes really are pretty. Makes me feel proud.”
Last time, I’d spent a somewhat heavy amount of real money.
The “Miscellaneous Draw” system had appeared after I spent money.
I immediately rolled the Miscellaneous Draw, and one of the things that came out was the outfit Celia was wearing now.
The red dress made Celia’s charm stand out even more than her previous maid uniform had.
This was just unfair.
Naturally, there was no one left to wear the maid uniform, so I’d been planning to retrieve it, but Celia had cautiously made a request.
- Adjutant Celia earnestly makes a request of her master.
The gist was that she wanted me to leave the matter of how to use the maid uniform to her.
“Sure, our Celia can do whatever she wants.”
She had already hit MAX trust with me, so what was a request like that?
I remembered that, at the time, I had entrusted all authority over the maid uniform to Celia.
I wasn’t sure where it was now, but Celia would handle it on her own.
I stopped worrying about it and began looking elsewhere.
“But who’s this?”
There was someone I’d never seen before in front of Celia, so I clicked on them.
“Aren?”
A name popped up, but there was no detailed explanation.
It felt similar to the merchant who had come to the dungeon last time.
“Looks like they came from outside, like the merchant.”
Since they were in the middle of talking with Celia, I decided not to interrupt.
I tapped the screen and moved on to the next area.
First, Area 1.
There, as expected, the Death Knight caught my eye first.
Seeing him with that huge shield strapped to his back made him look incredibly reliable.
And here, too, there was someone I had never seen before.
“What’s this guy now?”
I’d seen a Dullahan last time, but there was someone else aside from the Dullahan.
“Why is a paladin here?”
What’s more, he seemed to be guarding the dungeon.
I wondered for a moment why a paladin would be guarding the dungeon, then—
“Ah, it’s the Banshee.”
The Banshee’s ability was mind control.
It seemed one paladin had fallen victim to the Banshee.
I’d heard that someone on the level of a paladin normally wouldn’t be easily caught by a Banshee, but apparently the Banshee’s abilities were better than I expected.
“At this rate, should I make a separate Banshee unit?”
I’d have to think about it later after seeing the results of the draws.
After checking Area 1, I looked through the next areas one by one as well.
“Well, there’s nothing particularly wrong.”
The goblins were all inside their huts, so I couldn’t really see them.
When I had the time, I’d have to upgrade those huts too…
In Area 3, flowers were blooming across a wide field.
Vampiric butterflies fluttered over them.
Including the spider lurking gloomily in a corner, nothing was wrong here either.
Area 4 was peaceful as well.
The newly drawn monsters, the Nagas, seemed to be underwater and couldn’t be seen, while goblins were drawing water here and there.
“This much should be fine for the time being.”
I still couldn’t buy jewels anyway.
After checking every area of the dungeon like that, I pressed the exit button.
Then I handed the smartphone to the guy beside me.
“Charge it.”
At my single word, the skeleton soldier who had been waiting plugged the smartphone into the charger.
‘Convenient.’
I kept thinking this, but there really didn’t seem to be any need to send him back.
“Is there some way I can make use of him?”
For example, in places like dungeons.
“Hmm…”
Let’s think about it.
* * *
The inside of the Adventurers’ Guild was busily in motion.
To be precise, the Adventurers’ Guild within the Sale Kingdom was in such a state.
Even though the adventurers who usually crowded the place were absent, the guild staff were moving about frantically.
There was only one reason.
An inquisitor from the Order was scheduled to visit.
It was said that a priest had gone missing not long ago. And here in the Sale Kingdom, no less.
For that reason, the White Order had decided to dispatch an inquisitor.
“Hurry up and check. See whether there are any dungeons the Order entered recently, or any places that haven’t been subjugated for a long time.”
The branch manager went around urging the staff.
Then someone responded to the branch manager’s urging.
“Branch Manager!”
“Yes, what is it?”
“Please take a look at this.”
He snatched the documents the staff member had found and looked through the contents.
“Hmm…”
It was a dungeon that had once been copper rank, then downgraded to iron rank.
At least recently, a silver-rank adventurer had apparently accepted a request for that dungeon.
The problem was that there had been no word since then.
“At this rate…”
Normally, the Adventurers’ Guild would have to begin its own investigation, but the situation was what it was.
Either way, it was only a matter of time before the inquisitors came storming in.
When that happened, most guild operations would inevitably have to focus on the Order.
“Smooth it over for now. But raise the dungeon’s rank to silver.”
“Yes, sir.”
And so the rank of the dungeon “Evil God’s Nest” was decided once again.
* * *
At the Demon Realm Trading Company, Moru’s performance was improving day by day.
Most people described it like this.
A rebellion by the half-blood succubus who had been at the very bottom of the company.
And there were also those who envied her meteoric rise.
One of them was Moru’s superior, Juwel.
In fact, the reason Moru had been able to rise so quickly—the one who had assigned that dungeon to her—was Juwel herself.
At present, Juwel was sitting at her desk, clutching her head.
“Why did I give that to her!”
Originally, Juwel had regarded Moru as a thorn in her side.
Unlike pure succubi, Moru was a half-blood succubus with human blood flowing through her veins.
It was unpleasant that someone with such filthy blood was working in the same space as her.
Then one day, a dungeon had requested a transaction with the company.
Aside from a truly tiny minority, most dungeons could not be self-sufficient, so it was common for them to develop through the Demon Realm Trading Company.
Of course, from the company’s perspective, the most important factor was whether the dungeon had the financial power to make transactions.
At the time, Juwel thought the dungeon that had requested a transaction probably didn’t have much money.
It was a newly formed dungeon she had never seen before.
That was why she had tossed that dungeon to Moru.
The meaning of a merchant at the company taking charge of a dungeon was by no means small.
For starters, a dungeon that had been assigned once could not be changed carelessly.
The exceptions were if the dungeon’s owner first requested a change in the person in charge, or if the dungeon was subjugated.
Aside from those two cases, the assigned dungeon could not be changed, so it was effectively considered a commitment until the end.
That was why the ability of the person in charge was important as well.
After all, the person in charge held most of the discretion in the transaction.
If a dungeon had no money, the company would sometimes extend credit with the dungeon’s management rights as collateral, and this too was at the discretion of the person in charge.
Of course, even that was only possible when the dungeon was doing fairly well; for a newly formed dungeon, it was fair to say it was outright impossible.
Juwel had gone a step further and thought that Moru might easily allow credit.
It was the first dungeon she was taking charge of, and judging by her kind nature, Juwel assumed she was more than capable of doing so.
She had imagined the debt continuing to pile up until Moru eventually fell into ruin.
But one single variable had made everything come to nothing.
“To think it would be that wealthy…”
The problem was that the dungeon she had handed to Moru was unbelievably rich.
That was why Moru’s performance had soared like that.
Moru had even grown, on the wings of that performance, into someone the company executives were eyeing with interest.
“This can’t happen.”
A lowly bloodline like that dared to try standing above her?
Juwel did not want such a situation.
That was why she began forming her own plan.
Knock, knock—
Someone knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
Once Juwel gave her permission, the door opened and a small demon entered.
It was an imp.
“So, did you look into what I told you to?”
“I did, Lady Juwel!”
At Juwel’s words, the imp handed over documents containing the information it had found.
“According to what I confirmed with nearby dungeons, the owner of the dungeon Moru is in charge of appears to be a succubus.”
“A succubus?”
“Yes. However, that dungeon seems to be going around conquering nearby dungeons at present.”
Looking over the documents, it was true that the dungeon was subjugating nearby dungeons.
At the imp’s report, Juwel smiled.
The dungeon’s owner was a succubus.
And at present, she was mainly carrying out subjugations while focusing on expanding her dungeon.
Why would someone who was a succubus be aiming to expand a dungeon?
Juwel didn’t know the reason, but it was an opportunity for her.
First, the ranks of the dungeons being targeted for subjugation were all low.
That meant she was only choosing opponents on her own level.
Naturally, one could not touch an opponent in a higher weight class than oneself.
Second, all dungeons were originally customers of the Demon Realm Trading Company.
Therefore, if dungeons were subjugated recklessly like this, the company’s profits decreased.
Of course, since Moru’s performance had soared through that dungeon, the company would not interfere, but strictly speaking, it was a challenge against the company.
“She dares, without even knowing how frightening the company can be.”
It seemed Juwel thought she would have to make an example out of this so-called dungeon owner.
“A succubus…”
Juwel herself was a succubus, so she knew well.
By nature, succubi lived in groups.
All existing succubus dungeons were currently under the Demon Realm’s observation.
And yet the owner of a newly formed dungeon was a succubus?
She probably had no connection to the Succubus Queen, let alone any succubus acquaintances she knew.
She was surely some random upstart with nothing but money.
“I’ve seen enough, so you may leave.”
“Yes!”
Juwel grinned broadly and began infusing mana into a small orb.
It was an action meant to contact someone.
“Hey, oppa. Have you been doing well?”
Once she connected with the other party, Juwel’s expression and tone of voice changed.
As though she were talking to a lover.
“Mm-hmm. It’s nothing much, but could you take care of one dungeon for me?”
Juwel called the other party oppa.
The other party’s identity was an incubus.
Originally, an incubus was perfect for dealing with a succubus.
That was why Juwel had chosen him.
She would use an incubus to teach the dungeon’s owner a lesson.
Perhaps it would go beyond simply teaching her a lesson and leave her in a miserable state.
‘Moru, now you’re finished.’
If the dungeon’s owner disappeared, Moru’s performance would plummet as well.
‘I hope that future comes soon.’
Juwel was looking forward to it immensely.