The interior of the dining hall was decorated with brilliant colors and lights.
Sunlight streaming through the crystal windows softly filled the quiet room.
A bright bouquet adorned the center of the table, and around it were dishes so exquisite they seemed almost enchanting.
The butler approached the table and indicated one particular dish.
“This was prepared with ‘Black Pil’ caught from Lake Diyat. I hope it suits Your Highness’s palate.”
It was a fish dish.
And an extravagant one at that, made only with the finest ingredients.
The beautiful atmosphere and splendid food were enough to bring a smile to anyone’s face.
But in Irena’s eyes as she looked upon them, there was only gloom.
“…Yes, thank you.”
Irena, princess of the Seil Kingdom, answered weakly.
She knew that these dishes were poison that would one day bind her hand and foot.
Even the butler who had recommended the food to her was someone planted by the noble faction.
They wanted the members of the royal family to behave ever more extravagantly.
They kept steering them in that direction.
The dish before her eyes right now was proof enough.
Where had they suddenly obtained such top-grade ingredients?
If she accepted this, rumors would probably spread before long.
That Princess Irena’s extravagance had reached its peak.
When Irena hesitated for a moment, the butler approached with a faint smile.
“Oh dear… If it does not suit your tastes, shall I have it taken away?”
Even if she did not eat it, she could not stop the rumors from spreading.
They would no doubt twist it into claims that she was being wasteful in some other way.
Even so, Irena rose from her seat.
“I’m not feeling well today. I’ll be going now.”
She simply could not bear to remain here.
Aside from her father and her personal knight, everyone was her enemy.
Wanting to return to her room, she left the dining hall at a brisk pace.
“Are you all right, Your Highness?”
“Ah, Sir Lennon. I’m fine.”
The one who supported the swaying Irena was her escort knight, Lennon.
Lennon walked with Irena supported in his arms, heading toward her room.
Before long, they arrived in front of Irena’s door.
“If there is anything you need, please tell me.”
Lennon said, bowing at the waist.
“I’m fine, so please don’t worry. I’d like to be alone today.”
At her words, Lennon obediently withdrew.
Only after confirming that Lennon had disappeared did Irena enter her room.
The inside of the room was silent.
She walked toward the window where sunlight streamed in. Then she drew the curtains, blocking out all the light.
A room where only she existed.
Dark and quiet.
She glanced around, then began taking something out from beneath the bed.
“Will this really work?”
The items that emerged from beneath the bed were all anything but ordinary.
Red candles, the corpse of a dead rat, parchment covered in incomprehensible letters, a few jewels, and even gold.
And finally, a book bound in black leather.
It was a grimoire of black magic.
The royal library contained all sorts of books.
Among them, what had caught her eye was a black magic grimoire said to be capable of summoning demons.
Of course, she had no certainty that it was real.
She had merely brought it out of a small spark of curiosity.
Even if it was fake, in her position, she had nothing to lose.
But what if it was real?
It was truly only a tiny possibility, but if it was real, the story changed entirely.
“If only I had power too…”
If she had at least awakened to mana.
Or if she had possessed talent with the sword.
Perhaps her current position might have been different.
Unfortunately, however, she belonged among the utterly ordinary.
As she was now, even if she became queen in the future, it was clear that nothing would change greatly.
One wrong move, and she would live her life being dragged around by the nobles.
She did not consider the possibility that she might not become queen.
After all, the noble faction wanted a puppet king, and as the next monarch, she was the perfect candidate.
Grit—
Irena clenched her teeth hard.
In any case, she only had one life.
So if there was anything that could change her current situation, she was willing to try it.
‘Your Highness has no talent for magic. You should first try sensing mana.’
‘Swordsmanship with a woman’s body? Your Highness is weak in stamina as well, so it would be best if you simply stayed still.’
The countless sneers she had heard.
If her father, the king—no, if she herself—had possessed power, would they have dared say such things openly?
The answer was no.
This was the reality of those without power.
As if resolved, Irena began placing the items she had taken out on the floor one by one.
First, she spread out the parchment covered in unknown letters.
While looking at the black magic grimoire, she arranged the rat’s corpse, candles, jewels, and gold on top of the parchment in the exact same positions shown in the book.
Finally, she lit the candle and bit the tip of her own finger.
“……”
A bead of blood formed at her fingertip.
Enduring the slight sting, Irena began dripping the blood onto the parchment.
And then.
The candle, which had been burning red, began to emit a blue flame.
The blue flame swallowed Irena’s blood and began to grow even larger, melting not only the rat’s corpse placed on the parchment, but the jewels and gold as well.
* * *
“Hm?”
An alarm rang from my smartphone.
I checked it immediately.
- Special Mission Generated!
- Someone is desperately requesting help.
- Will you extend a helping hand?
It was a special mission.
“There’ve been a lot of missions popping up lately, haven’t there?”
I clicked on it right away to check the mission details.
- One Who Desires a Contract with a Demon
- Princess Irena of the Seil Kingdom has requested a helping hand. Dispatch a dungeon monster and assist Princess Irena.
- Reward: Increased favorability with Princess Irena
One who desires a contract with a demon?
Wasn’t the title a bit too provocative?
Fine, let’s put that aside.
“…Isn’t the reward way too stingy?”
The reward was only an increase in favorability.
I pondered for a moment.
This mission was different in content from the tasks so far.
It was about helping a person like me, not a dungeon or a monster.
Although the reward was smaller than a mouse’s tail, I was intrigued.
“The Seil Kingdom, huh…”
I had heard that there was a princess in the Seil Kingdom, but I didn’t know exactly who she was.
There had been no real need to know.
“Still, it’d be better to help her, right?”
The reward was stingy, but she was still the princess of a kingdom.
Opportunities to get acquainted with royalty were rare.
On the contrary, if I formed a connection with the princess, many benefits were bound to come my way.
The location of my current dungeon was in the mountain range near the Seil Kingdom.
The Seil Kingdom was practically my neighbor.
That meant the princess’s favorability would surely be useful someday.
“Then who should I send?”
In truth, this was not something I needed to agonize over either.
There was always only one answer.
“As expected, Celia, it can only be you.”
I immediately dispatched Celia for that mission.
Clack, clack—
After finishing my business and putting my smartphone into my pocket, the skeletons around me began making sounds.
I was still in the F-rank dungeon.
And the skeletons inside the dungeon had declared their intention to submit to me.
Thanks to my trait, it was not difficult to understand what they were saying.
There were also things I happened to be curious about, so I accepted their request.
“Hmm… Strange.”
At present, the F-rank dungeon had fallen into my hands.
And I felt as though the energy of this dungeon was being transmitted to me exactly as it was.
Since I could feel the energy of this dungeon as well, one question arose.
“Why can’t I feel Azmo’s dungeon?”
Azmo’s dungeon was said to be on Earth as well.
But no matter how hard I tried, I could not feel even the slightest energy from Azmo’s dungeon.
It wasn’t that it had been subjugated either.
It still existed on my list of dungeons.
“Hmm.”
Was something blocking the dungeon’s energy?
Perhaps some kind of interference was preventing me from sensing it.
That thought lasted only briefly.
“Well, it’ll work out somehow.”
I knew Azmo’s dungeon was still intact, so it wasn’t a problem.
I decided to focus on my current concerns first.
Namely, the matter of operating this skeleton dungeon, and how I should deal with Kang Jinsu.
As for the mission, well, Celia would handle it on her own.
* * *
Blue flames whirled violently.
The flames that had surged up to the ceiling settled down, and someone appeared before Irena.
“…Hah!”
It was a woman of astonishing beauty.
The large horns rising from atop her silver hair were enough for Irena to realize that she was no ordinary person.
At the same time, an immense presence could be felt from her.
Even Irena, who could not sense mana, could tell that she was not merely some ordinary demon.
“A-A demon…!”
It was exactly as written in the book.
To think she had truly summoned a demon.
The woman looked at Irena, who had collapsed onto the floor, and smiled sweetly.
“Oh my, what an adorable young lady.”
“……”
Irena was so shocked that she could not say anything.
But the demon before her tickled Irena’s ears with a gentle voice.
“My name is Celia. Now, what might such a lovely young lady have called me for?”
It was the sweet whisper of a demon.
* * *
The appearance of a demon she had scarcely dared believe in.
Though Irena was shocked, she did not do something foolish like kick away the opportunity before her.
The other party did not appear to be an ordinary demon, but an extraordinary being.
In a way, this was a chance.
Irena introduced herself to the one who had called herself Celia.
And she conveyed many things.
The current political situation in the Seil Kingdom, the power struggle between the royalist faction and the noble faction.
And what her own goal was.
Among them were even stories considered taboo in the royal family.
Namely, the story that her father, who led the Seil Kingdom, was in fact not a legitimate heir.
“I see. So that is why you have had so much to worry about.”
Fortunately, the demon listened well to what she had to say.
At her kind demeanor, Irena even began to wonder whether the image of demons might be nothing more than an illusion created by humans.
“The late king had no heir. In the end, they searched all the way through the collateral lines, and my father became the successor. As you can see, my father ascended the throne as king, but even after becoming king, he merely took on the royal family name.”
Though it sounded nice to say he was of a collateral branch of the royal family, in truth, he was practically thick with commoner blood.
Carendia Derseil.
That was why, though he bore the royal surname Derseil, he had no middle name.
In a word, it meant he had no foundation.
“Humans truly do live in such complicated ways.”
Celia sympathized with her words.
Irena herself knew that the nobles looked down on him all the more because he was a king no different from a commoner.
And now, the limit was slowly approaching.
The noble faction was like a time bomb that could explode at any moment.
And ever since the White Order had begun trying to interfere in the Seil Kingdom, they had grown even more unruly.
At that moment, laughter reached Irena’s ears.
- Hahaha.
When she glanced out the window, she saw nobles in the garden outside, laughing as they swirled their wineglasses.
To think they dared use a garden within the royal palace as if it were their own living room.
They truly were detestable wretches.
After confirming the sight of them, Irena made up her mind.
“I don’t care what price you demand. Just give me power! That is my wish.”
Even if she had to sell her soul to a demon, she wanted power.
To use that power as the foundation to solidify the authority of the throne.
That was Irena’s goal.
“What a bold princess you are.”
Irena looked out the window with indifferent eyes.
There was one person who stood out to her.
Count Derek, who was at the center of the gathering.
Count Derek was one of the nobles leading the noble faction and could be called an enemy of the royalist faction.
“If only that man disappeared…”
Irena muttered unconsciously as she looked at Count Derek.
It was a very quiet soliloquy, but there was no way Celia would fail to hear it.
“Let us call this a gift before we enter into a formal contract.”
As Celia said that, she lightly gestured with her hand.
Then something strange happened to Count Derek, who had been enjoying the gathering in the garden.
“……!”
Irena, too, opened her mouth at that subtle change.
With a deranged expression, Count Derek lifted the knife stuck in the cake.
Short screams burst out around him, but Count Derek paid them no heed.
Instead, he began swinging the knife in his hand at those around him.
Red blood rose into the air.
Crimson blood settled upon the green grass.
The gathering of those who, only moments ago, had been predicting their own victory quickly turned into a scene of carnage.
And Irena, who was watching the scene from inside the room,
“Haha…”
was swept up in an indescribable thrill.
That emotion was almost like refreshment.