At that time.
In the lord's manor of the Gilbert Barony—one of the more sizable towns among the countless adventurer villages—a group of people had gathered to hold a grave meeting.
"A party of adventurers has gone missing in a dungeon."
Baron Blake Gilbert, his white beard thick, softly opened the assembly.
"Adventurers disappearing in dungeons is a common occurrence. But this case is different. We have gathered here to discuss this very matter of the missing adventurers."
Those assembled in the meeting room were men and women who boasted power enough to be counted on one hand within the entirety of the Gilbert Barony.
The Knight Commander of the barony.
The Guild Master of the Adventurer's Guild Alliance.
The head merchant of the barony's largest trading company.
And the Bishop of the Church of the Goddess within the barony.
"Fifteen people have gone missing. And not one has returned alive. The list of names lies before you, as you can all see."
Those gathered in the meeting room slowly scanned the lists placed before them.
Documents detailing names, ages, occupations, and statuses.
The rightmost column was left largely blank.
"Their fates remain unknown."
As if it were a space to record whether they were alive or dead.
"Guild Master. Has there been any response from their 'Adventurer's Passes'?"
"No Adventurer's Pass was found within the dungeon."
"Even after the knight order swept through the entire dungeon?"
"Yes."
It was not a particularly difficult dungeon that the adventurers had entered.
Rather, it was on the easier side, and the fifteen adventurers were more than skilled enough to conquer it.
"Head merchant. Is this a newly discovered dungeon?"
"No. It is a dungeon where weak monsters such as goblins and orcs appear in small numbers, and we have been trading materials acquired there with the Magic Tower for the past year."
It was not even a dungeon they were entering for the first time.
"Then it would mean the dungeon underwent some change over the past year, or met with a sudden disaster."
Baron Gilbert rapped his fingers against the table, lost in anguish.
"Among those taken, my half-brother is also present."
"If you are speaking of Young Master Jake..."
"As the Knight Commander knows, I cannot say I was on particularly good terms with that fellow."
Half-brothers born of the same father but different mothers.
It would be strange if they were on good terms.
"But that does not mean we were sworn enemies. He abandoned this seat of his own accord, saying he hated lordly duties and loved adventure. I am rather grateful for that."
"Young Master Jake was... quite a powerful adventurer. Is that not so, Knight Commander?"
"...Yes. Had he joined the knight order, he would have been counted among the very strongest."
He caused a bit of trouble when he drank, but he had a manly, hearty spirit."
"Thanks to that, he was popular among the women even among fellow adventurers, was he not? To the point that even..."
"There was talk of betrothal with a lady who was undergoing knight training."
Jake was not the problem.
Though in truth he was a problem, the real problem was—
"Lady Eris Albatea."
She who had entered the dungeon alongside them as an adventurer.
"The only child of Count Albatea. I heard, Bishop, that you once taught her at Sunday church."
"Yes. She was a child of devout faith. I never imagined such a thing would happen..."
Count Albatea's cherished daughter had disappeared as well.
The other thirteen—no, fourteen—were each important in their own right, but unfortunately, the value of human life was ranked from top to bottom, as clearly seen on the list.
While everyone's attention was drawn to Jake Gilbert and Eris Albatea at the very top, the names of the bronze-plate adventurers at the very bottom drew so little interest that no one even cared whether they were proper names or not.
"Guild Master. Regarding the current situation, what is the most likely scenario?"
"...The possibility that a dimensional gate leading to another place has opened within the dungeon."
The Guild Master cautiously opened his mouth.
"The Demon King's Army is composed of four great legions, but aside from the Central Army led directly by the Demon King, the remaining legions are on extremely bad terms. They are ones who invade and plunder each other's dungeons."
"Then..."
"There is a possibility that a gate connecting to another dungeon has opened. To be exact, it would be called an 'invasion route' on their side."
"You mean Jake and the adventurers crossed over to that side."
"Yes. Having crossed through space, they may be somewhere easily surpassing a thousand kilometers away."
"...Dungeons, tch."
Baron Gilbert clicked his tongue and rose.
"The investigation will continue. I shall form a separate investigation team. If the Guild Master's prediction is correct, the Goddess shall show us the way."
"...Yes."
When Baron Gilbert turned his gaze to the Bishop, the Bishop opened his mouth in a voice that seemed to simmer.
"I heard Sister Dalia, a devout priestess of the Church, was with them. If we follow the lingering traces of divine power she left behind, we will surely be able to track them."
"We must find them at all costs."
Baron Gilbert clawed at his head with his hand.
"Because we must know for certain whether they are alive or dead."
* * *
That morning, I had been able to learn a few things about dungeons through my succubus secretary.
The moment a dungeon is opened, it takes at least one day to close it again.
Because it is magic that manipulates space, deploying it takes quite a long time in itself, but dispelling it also takes a great deal of time.
You may wonder why such a bothersome procedure exists, but we do not leave our front doors open at all times, do we?
You never know when a Hero might enter.
There are many would-be Heroes in this world, and even now they explore dungeons across the world, growing stronger in order to defeat the Demon King.
But what if the dungeon door were left wide open?
Why would they bother with that long journey to the Demon King's castle?
It would be far better to come straight to the Gilbert Barony, throw oneself into the dimensional gate leading to the Vampire Princess's stronghold, and from there cross the portal connecting straight to the Demon King's castle.
I had heard that the Demon King's Castle had actually been raided in such a manner once.
Thanks to becoming a trainer, I had come to hear secret histories regarding the Demon King's army and dungeons, and accumulating such new knowledge was certainly a good thing.
Afterward, the trend became to keep gates between dungeons closed, even if it consumed quite a lot of mana.
Still.
During that one day it remained open, if we simply set our minds to it, we could secure as many prisoners as we wished.
"If the Vampire Princess opens a dungeon door, humans can enter for one day."
I had made a proposal to the succubus secretary based on that notion, and as a result, I now found myself standing before a white-haired, bespectacled old man who looked rather fastidious.
"Use that in reverse to capture new humans as prisoners?"
"Yes."
This fussy-looking vampire in a suit with his hair slicked back was 'Achamond Nosferatu.'
This was not an old man I could afford to treat carelessly.
"Interesting."
The Vampire Princess's right hand.
The number two of the Vampire Legion.
The one who oversaw all affairs in the Vampire Legion.
My direct superior.
"Your plan is woven entirely on the basis of understanding humans. It is a novel scheme, one a demon could never conceive—no, it is woven solely of 'human-like' cunning."
"Azazel, Trainer."
"Yes, Chief Adjutant."
His official title was Chief Adjutant, a being who could fulfill the role of Dungeon Master in the Vampire Princess's absence—a 'Sub-Master,' so to speak.
"Were you truly a porter before coming here?"
"Yes?"
"For a mere porter, the scheme you have devised is far from ordinary."
Of course it wouldn't be ordinary.
It partly contained the sensibilities of a modern person, but it was also the act of pushing fellow humans into the abyss of hell in order to save my own skin.
"Especially this trap using the 'uncertainty of life and death'... Truly, it is nothing short of diabolical, even by my standards."
The Chief Adjutant picked up the letter-that-was-no-suicide-note I had written and slowly unfurled it.
"To write a proxy letter in blood... You truly are atrocious to an inhuman degree."
The contents, written in the bodily fluids spewed by vampire slimes, could be summarized in one line: it started with something to the effect of 'My arm is broken, so someone is writing this on my behalf.'
"Ah. Is calling someone atrocious to humans an insult?"
"From a demon's standpoint, what is it? Is it praise?"
"For me... it is simultaneously an insult in the sense that I cannot understand why we used you as a porter, nor understand humans, and praise directed at you."
Achamond set down the blood letter.
"Not even the legion's strategists would have conceived of such a wicked scheme."
"Most humans think that if captured by demons, they will be killed within a day. There are cases where they pay an enormous ransom for release, but even then, they are found violated without a single part of their bodies left intact. And yet..."
Achamond rapped the table with a gleeful expression.
"You wrote this in the blood letter: 'The demons here intend to use humans for breeding experiments.'"
"..."
"They are keeping the women alive to bear the children of goblins and orcs, and the men are to be used as blood bags, their limbs severed, producing blood every day.'"
"..."
Alive, and yet not truly living.
But however it was, if they were rescued, 'Jake and Eris' could still be saved.
"And yet you wrote, 'We do not know when they will kill us. Five have already died,' making it seem as though they could die at any moment."
"..."
"Open a new dungeon near the Gilbert Barony, then send goblins there so the humans can secure this blood letter?"
"If a dungeon of 'our legion' is problematic, use another legion's. If another legion's dungeon poses diplomatic issues, simply open a dimensional gate in a forest cave where goblins dwell."
"...Even though it is a dimensional gate that should serve as an 'invasion route' to attack human villages."
Achamond grasped his throbbing head for a moment.
"I approve."
He rolled up the blood letter, held it out to me, and slowly rose to his feet.
"Open the dimensional gate leading to the Gilbert Barony. Drop the blood letter so they learn of the situation on this side, and lure them into dispatching a rescue party. Gauge their strength, and the moment they cross into the dungeon..."
"We close the dungeon door. So we can take exactly the right number of prisoners."
"...Heh heh."
It was the same principle by which I and the other adventurers had fallen into the trap.
"Indeed. There is no need to fight in a weakened state on human soil blessed by the Goddess."
If there was a difference, it was that before it had been 'catch whoever falls in,' whereas this time we were luring the enemy so they had no choice but to walk into the trap.
"If a trainer like you has devised such a plan, how can I, the Chief Adjutant, sit idle? Return to the training room."
"Um, Chief Adjutant. Is there something for me to do?"
"The thing you are to do."
Achamond rubbed his fingers together as he looked at me.
"Don't you like virgins?"
"...What's that supposed to mean?"
"Keep your dick clean. You have training to do. Combat is mine—ours—to handle."
Achamond donned his cape and headed outside.
"For your sake, I shall tell them not to lay a single hand on the virgin priestesses."
"..."
Loyalty.