“…And that is how it happened!”
A 3-star orc, Skoll.
At the same time, he led the dungeon “Red-Haired Tribe.”
Skoll had spoken with the Arch Lich about many things.
Among them were the events leading up to his arrival at the social gathering.
How, a few days ago, the person in charge from the trading company had come to Skoll’s dungeon and handed him an invitation.
And how not only he, but every dungeon under General Manager Celia, had received one as well.
In particular, they had apparently offered that if he attended the social gathering, the trading company would take responsibility for protecting his dungeon.
But Skoll had refused the company’s offer.
The reason was simple.
“I am a warrior! I can never forgive entrusting my tribe to another’s hands! That is an act that goes against a warrior’s honor!”
One’s own home must be defended by one’s own hands.
Skoll believed that leaving it to others was not a warrior’s honor.
“And we are all strong!”
Nod—
At Skoll’s words, the Arch Lich nodded.
He was right.
Now that he thought about it, the Arch Lich had not been worried about intruders at all.
If anything, perhaps he should be praying for the souls of any intruders who entered the dungeon.
In fact, after receiving the invitation to the social gathering, the first thing Celia had implemented was the dungeon’s defense.
She had expanded the dungeon’s defensive range even farther.
The goblin scouting party had extended its range beyond the general manager’s dungeon and into the forests around the four subordinate dungeons.
“……”
As expected, even after thinking it over again, there was no problem at all.
While the Arch Lich was briefly lost in thought, Skoll brought up another subject.
“By the way, Lord Arch Lich! Since meeting here must be fate, allow me to introduce a member of my tribe!”
Skoll introduced the other orc beside him.
“This is a member of our tribe, ‘Mallox’! He is the most reliable strategist in our tribe!”
Mallox, like Skoll, had red hair.
Skoll smiled so widely that his tusks showed, proudly boasting of his tribesman.
In truth, Mallox was both Skoll’s most loyal subordinate and practically his adviser.
“It is truly a pleasure! I am Mallox!”
With a simple greeting, Mallox extended his hand.
Without any change in expression, the Arch Lich took the hand Mallox offered.
“?”
They shook hands, and yet something felt strange.
“Clack?”
At some point, a gold coin had appeared in the Arch Lich’s hand.
“I heard you are always busy serving the Great Ruler! This is a small gift in recognition of that!”
Mallox answered only that much and stepped back.
The Arch Lich quietly watched Mallox’s retreating back.
And immediately afterward, Skoll also offered the Arch Lich a handshake.
The result was the same as before.
After shaking hands with Skoll, a gold coin rested in the Arch Lich’s palm.
“Then I shall see you later! Lord Arch Lich!”
“Clack!”
Once Skoll and Mallox withdrew, the Arch Lich immediately opened his notebook.
Then he began recording in the thick notebook with a fountain pen.
- Skoll and Mallox’s loyalty toward the Great Master is extraordinary.
In recognition of that loyalty, I will not conduct an inspection of the “Red-Haired Tribe” dungeon for the time being.
Mallox, the one called a strategist.
Just from seeing him, the Arch Lich could tell.
Skoll’s dungeon was a place being run properly enough that it did not need to be inspected.
This was not because of the gold coins.
Since things had turned out this way, the Arch Lich decided to meet the masters of the other dungeons as well.
There were four dungeons under Celia.
[Red-Haired Tribe]
[Sticky Pool]
[Dregs of the Demon Realm]
[Mist-Covered Village]
He had just met Skoll.
Excluding the “Red-Haired Tribe” dungeon, there were three dungeons left.
The Arch Lich nodded.
For attendance at the social gathering, each dungeon could send up to two representatives.
In other words, aside from Skoll and Mallox, there were six more monsters here.
As an inspector, he had the authority to meet those six.
“Clack!”
When the Arch Lich made a sound, one of the skeletons beside him immediately rose from its seat.
Then it picked up the Arch Lich’s notebook from the table.
That was right.
It was the very skeleton who had given the Arch Lich a diamond first when the banquet began.
They said life was all about timing, did they not?
By being the first to offer up a diamond, he had brought enlightenment to the Arch Lich.
For that reason alone, he had now become the Arch Lich’s right-hand man for the duration of the social gathering.
“Clack-clack!”
(Let’s go!)
“Clack-clack-clack!”
(Understood!)
The Arch Lich and the skeleton’s banquet had only just begun.
* * *
In one corner of the banquet hall, someone was sitting alone.
Her eyes had lost their light, and her dark expression shadowed her face.
Her golden hair had long since lost its vitality, and instead of an elegant dress, only a shabby cloak, frayed here and there, revealed her circumstances.
Fear and anxiety made her body tremble.
And her misery did not end there.
As the bright light from the ceiling lamps enveloped her, the marks carved into her skin stood out.
“Haa…”
The woman sighing was named Baalcherit.
She was a 5-star vampire.
The blood of a high-ranking demon flowed within her body, but her current appearance was wretched.
“Where did it all go wrong…”
Baalcherit muttered weakly.
Once, she had lived a life others would envy.
Even if she did nothing, fresh blood appeared on her table every day.
Even without effort, forces gathered around her of their own accord under the name of a high-ranking demon.
Before long, she had amassed enough power to be called the queen of vampires.
Her territory was not one that adventurers dared to touch, and even the Demon Realm Trading Company could not treat her carelessly.
It was, quite literally, a life no different from that of a king.
But that joy did not last long.
“The White Order…”
The only religious order on the continent, the White Order.
The Order had suddenly begun sending paladins to exterminate vampires.
She did not know the reason.
But as the days went by, the Order’s actions grew bolder, and her forces continued to be whittled away.
Countless vampires who followed Baalcherit died.
As the number of vampires dwindled, next, the dungeons began to collapse.
Her once-vast force disappeared bit by bit, until now it had fallen to the level of disintegration.
By this point, the vampires who had been loyal to her gradually began to leave.
Thus, the collapse of her forces soon threatened Baalcherit’s own safety.
This became yet another opportunity for the Order.
Even if she was 5-star, the expectation began to form that perhaps they could exterminate Baalcherit this time.
Of course, she knew it as well.
If things continued like this, it would not be long before she fell.
That was why she had attended this banquet half by force.
“Kgh.”
Normally, by now, she should have been in her dungeon, not at a banquet.
She should have been contemplating how to stop the Order and devising strategies.
But the current situation was too dire.
She had to extend, even slightly, the balance that seemed ready to collapse at any moment.
One of those methods was attending the present social gathering.
If she attended the social gathering, the Demon Realm Trading Company would take responsibility and protect her dungeon.
In the end, Baalcherit had fallen to the point where she had to receive the company’s help.
And this news spread quickly.
Because of that, not a single person at the banquet approached her.
No one wanted to associate with her, who had already been marked by the Order.
Except for one person.
“Lady Baalcherit?”
Before the despairing woman, a man in a suit approached.
A neat black suit and neatly groomed hair.
Black glasses and black shoes.
He was a man covered in black from head to toe.
Pushing up his black glasses, the man took out a document.
“Now, if you simply sign here, the entire contract will be concluded. This is the final consideration we are extending to you.”
His voice was dry.
As if he were a living being devoid of emotion.
And the document he handed to Baalcherit was a contract.
“Dungeon Management Rights Transfer Agreement”
The man’s name was Sernu.
He was a demon belonging to the Demon Realm Trading Company.
Once again, he tempted Baalcherit with a sweet voice.
“Do you not wish to rest now as well, Lady Baalcherit? Why not entrust everything to our company and live a comfortable life from now on?”
His words, spoken with a faint smile, were no different from a devil’s whisper.
Though he truly was a demon, Baalcherit knew.
The moment she signed that contract, she would become nothing more than the company’s puppet.
She would become a master in name only, running the dungeon according to the company’s words and changing the dungeon’s policies according to the company’s guidelines.
In exchange for becoming a scarecrow, the company would resolve the situation she was currently facing.
“……”
Baalcherit only bit her lip in silence.
‘…You filthy bastards.’
If they had that much power, would it kill them to help her now?
But the company would not budge.
Unless she signed the contract and handed over the dungeon’s management rights, they had no intention of making any deal.
Baalcherit could do nothing but glare at Sernu.
The company became endlessly weak before the strong, but conversely showed its strength before the weak.
And the current Baalcherit was not in the superior position, but the inferior one.
All she could do was answer helplessly.
“A little… Grant this body just a little more time…”
The demon Sernu merely pushed up his glasses and smiled.
In any case, Baalcherit did not have much time left.
If she did not sign the contract, there would be no way to overcome her current situation.
In the end, it was only a matter of time before she was exterminated by the Order.
Knowing that, the company was at ease.
After all, the one pressed for time was Baalcherit, so if they waited just a little longer, she would lower her head on her own.
“You know you do not have much time, yes? Then I will await good news soon. Baalcherit.”
Until just a moment ago, he had addressed her as “Lady,” but in his final words, he called her only by name.
It meant Baalcherit was no longer even a business partner of the company.
This must have been the sorrow of the powerless.
Once Sernu left, tears flowed from Baalcherit’s eyes.
“Sniff.”
Because her own situation seemed so utterly wretched.
Because she could see no solution at all aside from that contract.
At her own powerlessness, unable to do anything, she wept.
‘I should have accepted that offer back then…’
An unidentified being with an unknowable power.
Once, such a being had extended a hand to her.
But at that time, she had refused immediately.
When she could live abundantly without doing anything, why would she go through the hardship of serving someone else?
On top of that, she hated how that being looked down on her, a high-ranking demon.
So she refused.
But that refusal now pierced her to the bone.
What if.
What if she had accepted that offer back then?
If she had followed that being’s words, would things have turned out differently by now?
Perhaps her forces would not have collapsed.
Since she would have been under a powerful being, perhaps great power would have been granted to her as well.
She regretted why she had made such a choice then.
“Please… Please come back…”
After that, she developed the habit of muttering into empty air.
Perhaps there was a chance that great being would come to find her again.
If one more chance came, she could prostrate herself on the ground like a dog.
She could wail and beg.
Baalcherit could offer up everything she had.
But reality was cold.
The miracle of that day did not come again.
With an empty expression, she looked at the contract the demon had given her.
Now, she truly had no time left.
* * *
“What happened with what I told you to look into?”
Sernu, a demon belonging to the company.
Leaving Baalcherit behind, he spoke to his subordinate.
At Sernu’s words, a small winged imp opened its mouth.
“We have currently sent monsters to investigate that dungeon. You should be able to hear the results soon.”
What Sernu had ordered was one thing.
The dungeon that was currently the talk of the company.
It was a dungeon whose master was a mere succubus, yet its transaction volume with the company was overwhelming.
Thanks to that, rumors were even circulating that the person in charge of trading with that dungeon had been grinning from ear to ear.
But to Sernu, something felt strange.
It was clearly a newly created dungeon that had not existed for long.
And yet, oddly, it had far too much money.
An even greater problem was that information on that dungeon was shrouded in mystery.
A report on that dungeon had certainly been made by the audit team.
But something was strange.
He could not shake the suspicion that the audit team had reported only part of the information.
The grade of the succubus said to be the dungeon’s master was unknown, and above all, she had not shown herself at this social gathering either.
“It is definitely strange.”
Sernu found the current situation exceedingly odd.
And he was wary of one particular circumstance.
‘The being who came in the succubus’s place is 5-star.’
The monster who had come in place of the dungeon’s master was an Arch Lich.
And his grade was a staggering 5 stars.
‘Does that mean the master’s grade is 6-star?’
Sernu shook his head.
That could not be.
If it were a dungeon deep within the Demon Realm, perhaps, but he had never heard of a 6-star being in the human realm.
On top of that, even the succubus queen, who had currently vanished from sight, was 5-star.
In such a situation, there was no way another succubus’s grade could be higher than the queen’s.
‘Well, just because someone is the master of a dungeon doesn’t necessarily mean their grade is higher…’
At that moment, one hypothesis surfaced in Sernu’s mind.
‘No way.’
And it was a highly plausible hypothesis.
‘What if the succubus isn’t the dungeon’s master…?’
What if the succubus was merely propaganda?
What if the real master was not the succubus, but that Arch Lich?
When he thought about it, it was obvious.
There was no way an Arch Lich who was not the dungeon’s master could go around throwing his weight about like that.
A sinister smile spread across Sernu’s face.
‘They used a petty trick.’
To think they dared try to deceive him and the company.
It was insolent.
He wanted to land a blow on that Arch Lich somehow.
He intended to make them thoroughly pay the price for deceiving the company.
What would be the best way to do it?
After thinking for a moment, Sernu gave an order to his subordinate.
“Call Arcanea.”
Arcanea, a dungeon master who had attended this social gathering.
A monster whose lower half was that of a snake, she was currently jealous of the Arch Lich.
Because the presence she had thought would shine had dimmed because of the Arch Lich.
‘A snake’s jealousy.’
A snake that failed to rise into the sky was frightening.
A snake’s way was to pursue the target of its jealousy to the end and trample it down.
“Tell her I know a way for her to defeat the Arch Lich in the next event. Then she will come on her own.”
And Sernu decided to make use of Arcanea’s jealousy.