Moru belonged to the Demon Realm Merchant Guild.
After finishing all preparations, she set out toward the dungeon assigned to her.
Though she was traveling, she did not do so on foot.
The guild’s merchants moved easily and quickly using teleportation devices installed in advance.
Dungeons were scattered throughout the continent.
In contrast, the Demon Realm Merchant Guild naturally existed in the Demon Realm, located in the northern part of the continent.
What if there was a dungeon located far from the Demon Realm?
From the humans’ perspective, the merchants were monsters too.
They would probably be subjugated before a merchant even reached the dungeon.
So the means the guild came up with was teleportation.
Thanks to that, the guild could conduct trade with dungeons located in every part of the continent.
Moru too was able to reach her destination using teleportation.
*‘It looks like an extremely ordinary dungeon…….’*
That was her first impression upon seeing the dungeon.
If she hadn’t seen the documents with its location, she would have mistaken it for a simple cave.
No, it was so natural that, covered in vines from the start, she might have passed by without even realizing it was a cave.
Here, Moru took notice of one fact.
This trade was initiated by the dungeon side contacting the guild first.
No less than by tearing a guild Black Card.
There were largely two ways dungeons and the guild conducted trade.
Either the dungeon side tore a guild Black Card to signal their intent, or the guild discovered the location of a new dungeon and visited directly.
The guild’s intelligence was considerable, so most dungeons were reported to the guild in real time.
Even if it was a newborn dungeon that had just come into existence.
The documents stated the guild’s conjecture that the dungeon Moru was taking charge of this time was also judged to be one that hadn’t been born long ago.
Here was one question.
*‘Just where did it get the Black Card?’*
A newborn dungeon that the guild hadn’t detected first.
Yet it had a Black Card from the start; that was no ordinary matter.
Perhaps the dungeon’s master had operated another dungeon in the past.
Of course, even in such cases, the guild would have detected it first.
*‘Can something really be concealed this perfectly?’*
The dungeon was truly hidden with artifice.
It looked like an ordinary cave, and showed meticulousness in hiding even its location with vines.
Like a ferocious beast holding its breath before its prey.
When her thoughts reached that point, Moru got goosebumps. At the thought that the dungeon she was in charge of might not be an ordinary one.
Honestly, when the dungeon was first assigned to her, she had thought it would be an ordinary one at best.
It was only natural for her, who had considered even the worst-case scenarios.
Who would entrust a good dungeon to her?
Moru was a being born between a succubus and a human.
Because human blood ran in her veins, she had suffered much discrimination in the guild.
Yet she was in a position where she couldn’t leave the guild.
Having already been driven out of succubus groups, if she left the guild, she would have nowhere to rely on.
Therefore, Moru regarded the dungeon assigned to her this time as an opportunity to build her career.
However, the problem was that the one who had assigned the new dungeon to Moru was her superior.
Her superior was also a succubus like her.
If there was one difference, unlike Moru, who was a half-succubus with human blood mixed in, her superior Juwel was a pure succubus.
That was precisely the problem.
Her superior Juwel despised her.
Because Moru was the result of a succubus indulging in a worthless human.
She deemed it a disgrace that succubus blood had been sullied, so she couldn’t possibly view Moru favorably.
Moru knew this as well, so she hadn’t expected a normal dungeon.
Still, this was the first dungeon assigned to Moru since entering the Demon Realm Merchant Guild.
She had resolved to do her best no matter what kind of place she was assigned.
But thinking about it comprehensively, there was a high possibility it wasn’t an ordinary dungeon.
Moru took one deep breath and then stepped inside.
The moment she entered, her deduction from moments ago became certainty.
“The interior is quite large…?”
From the outside, it had looked like a small cave.
But once inside, it took the form of a long passage stretching underground.
An ordinary newborn dungeon couldn’t show such an appearance.
*‘Has the dungeon been expanded?’*
If so, how?
Dungeon expansion required considerable time.
Even if it wasn’t a newborn dungeon, the fact that it had evaded the guild’s notice alone made it anything but ordinary.
Not long after Moru walked, a monster appeared.
“Clack.”
“Clack, clack.”
It was a skeleton.
It wasn’t a strong force.
She looked around wondering if there were more monsters deployed, but that was all.
“You’re from the guild?”
A captivating voice was heard from somewhere.
Moru turned her head in the direction of the sound.
There stood a being as captivating and beautiful as her voice.
She exuded an extraordinary air at a glance.
*‘Could she be a succubus?’*
If she was a succubus, there was a high chance of messing up the business.
Even her superior, who was a succubus, disliked Moru; the succubus before her eyes seemed to possess a rank far higher than her superior.
The probability of her liking Moru might converge to zero.
Nevertheless, this was the dungeon she was in charge of for now.
Moru shook off distracting thoughts and greeted the being before her.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am Moru, a merchant of the Demon Realm Merchant Guild.”
While greeting, Moru glanced ahead.
*‘Why is she wearing a maid outfit?’*
Ah, could it be that she had such tastes?
And through that, the vital essence of human men…?
For an instant, Moru’s face flushed.
But it was only a fleeting moment.
Moru quickly composed herself and continued speaking.
“I have come to see the dungeon’s mast——.”
But Moru’s words were cut off mid-sentence.
Because the being before her placed a finger to her lips and said, “Shh.”
“I apologize for interrupting, but the master who rules this place is someone else. I am merely that person’s servant.”
“Excuse me?”
Moru blinked her eyes.
The dungeon had a separate master?
“Ah, I am late with my introduction. My name is Celia. Please do not worry. I have received all authority regarding the dungeon, so the trade will proceed without a hitch.”
The other party’s name was Celia.
She said she had received all authority from the dungeon’s master, who was elsewhere.
How much of that was true?
Was there really a separate dungeon master?
She had heard that there were those who occasionally put on airs to raise the value of their dungeon.
It was a strategy to gain the upper hand in trade with the guild.
But would such a strategy really be necessary for this dungeon?
Just looking at the one called Celia, her bearing was tremendous.
To the extent that she seemed virtually comparable to a Succubus Queen.
What would she lack to the point of putting on airs?
If those words were true and there was a separate master, it meant this place had tremendous potential.
As such a doubt arose, another doubt was resolved.
*‘Then, does the dungeon master here have a maid outfit fetish?’*
Well, that wasn’t very important.
What bothered her separately was her superior, Juwel, who had introduced this dungeon.
*‘Could it be that Lady Juwel actually likes me?’*
To have assigned such a dungeon to her?
Of course, there was no need to get excited yet.
No matter how high a dungeon’s potential, from the guild’s standpoint, a good dungeon was one that spent a lot of money.
“Allow me to greet you again. I am Moru, affiliated with the guild. Though lacking, I shall serve the dungeon’s mast… ah, no…….”
“Just call me Celia. Huhu.”
“Ah, yes! I will do my best to ensure Lady Celia can trade without any inconvenience!”
Fortunately, Celia did not reject her.
With that bearing, she probably knew that human blood was mixed in Moru.
Moru, having introduced herself once more, continued to speak.
“All items handled by our guild are of excellent quality, if I may say so. If there is anything Lady Celia needs, please tell me anything at all.”
Their self-introductions were over.
Now a full-fledged business relationship had begun.
Since Celia was the one who had called the guild first, she opened her mouth immediately.
“I wish to expand the dungeon, but as you can see, labor is sorely lacking.”
Indeed, there were only a few skeletons here.
If labor was lacking, introducing monsters was precisely Moru’s job.
“Ah! In that case, there are two methods. You can either hire specialist artisan monsters or acquire slave monsters. If you choose the former…….”
Moru’s explanation continued on.
It was talk of what benefits could be given and how much they could adjust the price.
Those who wished to expand their dungeons were overflowing.
The guild had naturally nurtured monsters with specialized skills for dungeon expansion to meet that demand.
Of course, since they were professional technicians, they couldn’t be bound to dungeons and had to be hired temporarily for money.
Needless to say, the price was high.
On the other hand, the monsters the guild held as slaves were the result of being taken as compensation when they couldn’t repay debts from existing dungeons.
Naturally, they had the drawback of varying abilities, but since they could be bound to the dungeon, they were cost-effective.
“Hmm. This is quite a dilemma.”
Celia had already decided on her choice but paused for a moment.
Hiring technicians would allow work to proceed quickly. Though the cost was high, she didn’t care because top-grade magic stones were overflowing.
The problem was that the technicians were guild-affiliated through and through.
At any moment, the dungeon’s interior could be exposed.
The guild wouldn’t openly spread it, but the dungeon’s interior being known was quite a large risk.
Of course, that was something other dungeons would worry about; to the current Celia, it didn’t matter at all.
After all, the dungeon’s current structure was extremely simple.
Even if she hired technicians only to build the framework, it would be easy to work on it herself later.
Above all, the merchant called Moru, who had come, was a succubus like herself, so Celia took a liking to her.
Though human blood was mixed in, that wasn’t important to Celia.
Because she had taken a liking to her, Celia intentionally revealed a fraction of the overwhelming aura that her counterpart normally wouldn’t even be able to comprehend.
The dungeon’s concealment effect.
With that, she could hide her aura at any time, so there would be no problem even if guild-affiliated technicians came.
On the other hand, acquiring slave monsters was cost-effective.
They could be put to work and immediately drafted as dungeon troops for defense.
But that was a plan considering only cost-effectiveness; would the master really need such riffraff?
Of course not.
In the end, there was only one answer.
“I shall hire the guild’s skilled technicians.”
Celia answered with a smile.
“Additionally, I need monsters for dungeon defense; might you have a relevant catalog?”
As she spoke, Celia subtly opened the pouch containing magic stones.
*‘Jackpot….’*
Moru’s eyes saw magic stones with a purple hue.
They were actually top-grade magic stones.
Now she could be certain.
This dungeon was a jackpot.
A fact no one could deny.
Moru immediately took out the catalogs on the spot.
Normally, she would only show monsters up to 2-star, or 3-star at most, but that only applied to ordinary dungeons.
Now was different.
Because this dungeon would become a turning point for Moru going forward.
It didn’t seem bad to earn the other party’s favor in advance.
“And I wish to sell a human I caught just yesterday; might we trade?”
Moru thought briefly at Celia’s question.
If it was humans, the guild had an overflowing supply too.
Because demand was high, they had secured them through various routes.
From the guild’s standpoint, they weren’t particularly needed, but this dungeon would become a regular customer going forward.
It would be good to purchase them even if Moru had to dig into her own pockets.
“Of course. How many are there?”
When Moru agreed, Celia smiled brightly and brought the human.
Moru, who thought Celia’s smile was truly captivating, turned her head toward the human.
“……”
What the hell.
For an instant, Moru’s thoughts nearly escaped her mouth.
Such a shocking sight appeared before her eyes.
She had thought it was an ordinary human, but it turned out to be a paladin.
A paladin with closed eyes and a happy expression.
“I’ve made him dream.”
Moreover, he was captured cleanly without a single wound.
To capture a paladin perfectly using succubus abilities.
This absolutely had to be purchased.
“He’s preserved in a perfect state! Our guild will purchase him at the best possible terms. What would you like to do with the equipment the paladin is wearing?”
Moru’s words gave Celia pause.
The sword the paladin possessed was a mass-produced holy sword.
Though it was a replica of the order’s holy relic, the *Holy Sword*, its power was tremendous.
If an ordinary monster tried to use it, the monster would probably be destroyed first.
In the end, it was an unnecessary item for her.
Even if she offered it to the master through the altar, would he be pleased?
Celia soon shook her head.
The master was a noble being.
Unless it was the actual Holy Sword, a paladin’s blade would be nothing more than a wooden stick to the master.
“I shall sell the sword as well.”
Celia and Moru’s trade had now begun in earnest.