"...If that's true, then..."
While the executives were preoccupied with the implications of the plague-creating ability, Eunrang murmured.
"Dantalion could very well be the Great Demon Lord Angolmois."
The Great Demon Lord Angolmois! It was a kind of faith handed down like legend throughout the Demon Realm. It bore striking resemblance to the Savior faith that had spread across the Human Realm. According to the legend, a Demon Lord would one day arrive to unite the Demon Realm—a land drenched in blood and screams. The demonfolk, confined to the Demon Realm by the likes of dragons who self-proclaimed themselves guardians of the world, would finally walk freely beneath the sun. A perfectly ordinary legend. But for demonfolk who yearned to venture beyond their world, Angolmois was not merely a legend—it was hope itself, carrying the longing of both past and present.
"Now that's some top-notch nonsense. Seeing a few of you nodding along to every piece of drivel makes me feel like my already-ruptured gut is going to burst open again. As I've always said, anything with 'Great' stuck before its name—Great Demon Lord, Great Demon God, you name it—there's not a single one worth a damn."
The Goblin sneered.
"Over the past thousand years, there were four Demon Lords who claimed to be Angolmois. Forgotten already? You lot—too embarrassing to even call comrades, and frankly I don't want to. Lost your minds already? All four of them were frauds! Or dreamers, at best."
The Goblin rose from his seat. He was gripping a staff twice his own height.
"How many demonfolk souls were sacrificed on the altar of that fantasy? How many demonfolk died in vain, like moths flung into a flame? If souls truly exist, the underworld must be overflowing with demonfolk souls. Listen! Even if you're nothing but tin cans, at least be the kind of tin cans that understand when spoken to. Angolmois is nothing more than a political tool for those Demon Lord pretenders."
A thoroughly old and tiresome trick, the Goblin said as he turned away. The True Ancestor called after the Goblin's retreating figure as he left the meeting hall.
"Thorkel. Where are you going?"
"To go meet that Demon Lord—Dantalion or whatever—in person."
The Goblin struck the floor with his staff—thud. The meeting room door, which had been sealed shut, swung open on its own as if spreading its arms wide.
"I don't care whether he's Angolmois or whatever, but the business proposal he put forward was timely. That's a fact. We overlooked and dismissed that kind of business. Shouldn't we apologize? Stop obsessing over pointless things, you morons. We are merchants, first and foremost."
The old Goblin vanished in a flash. The executives chatted idly about the past Demon Lords who had claimed to be Angolmois before filing out of the meeting hall in small groups.
Only the True Ancestor and Eunrang remained. Eunrang personally brought wine and poured a glass for the True Ancestor, speaking as she did so. Her demeanor was markedly more respectful than before.
"Lord Ivar. What should we do? If you consider Dantalion to be a dangerously threatening figure, give the order at any time. My teeth weren't grown just for tearing into steak."
"Have I ever once doubted my own teeth? There's no need to be more sensitive than necessary. The Demon Lord is an ally of the demonfolk. That is an unchanging truth. As long as we don't provoke the Demon Lord first, there's no reason for the Demon Lord to threaten us."
All Demon Lords built dungeons and lived in the Human Realm. While the demonfolk repeated their blood-soaked struggles for eternity in the Demon Realm, it was these ones—the Demon Lords—who declared they would lead the way to another world, who promised to find new dreams. That was what made them Demon Lords. In other words, the demonfolk had no reason to quarrel with Demon Lords over interests in the Demon Realm. They simply lived in different places.
True Ancestor moistened his lips with a sip of red wine.
"However, if the Demon Lord were to encroach upon our interests, that would change things."
A cold sneer hung at the corner of his mouth.
Uahahahaha!
Lately, I'd developed a habit of bursting into laughter when alone in places where no one was around. The corners of my mouth reached all the way to my earlobes.
Every time I laughed, the nearby goblins would tilt their heads going, "What's wrong with Master?" and the golem would shrug going, "I don't know, it's scary." But whatever. They just couldn't see it—though it was clearly reflected in my own two eyes.
The resplendent riches of the dungeon!
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[Dungeon: Dantalion's Demon Lord's Castle]
Rank: Backyard Hill (F)
Tech Research: 0
Magic Research: 0
*Special Skills: None
*Monster Corps: 2
*Treasury: 20,311 Gold
*Your dungeon is a complete mess. The neighborhood kids treat your dungeon as a playground. You could be cleared at any time. Quickly hire monster units from the 'Monster Employment' tab and get your defenses in order!
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Jackpot! It's a jackpot!
Among the humans afflicted by the Black Death, there were naturally many nobles and clergy as well. According to Lapis, they had initially been skeptical of the Black Herb's efficacy, but once its effects were proven, they went crazy driving up the price to buy it. In the end, by investing a thousand gold, he had earned a whopping twenty-five thousand gold. Of that, five thousand gold was returned to Lapis as principal and interest on the emergency loan. Even so, he had made a twentyfold profit.
I'd once gone to visit Kangwon Land. I was stunned watching middle-aged men and women pulling slot machine levers endlessly. They were pulling as if every second counted. I never understood why they'd stake their lives on it like that, but now I do. Once you get a taste, you can never go back to how things were.
'How can I sit around mining ore when money comes this easy!'
I'd been mining Mana Stones and earning two gold a day. If I wanted to make twenty thousand gold at that rate, the simple math was ten thousand days — roughly twenty-seven years. What a goddamn way to live. Meanwhile, by scraping together a thousand gold and investing boldly, I'd raked in over twenty thousand gold in just ten days. I spent the entire day today grinning from ear to ear.
'But I can't let it go to my head.'
My fortune was nothing more than a war chest to defend the dungeon. No matter how much gold I had, it was useless sitting and rotting in a warehouse — it couldn't protect me. I let out another round of ha-ha-ha laughs, then summoned the monster hiring window.
My wealth had grown, but perhaps because my dungeon level was still F, I couldn't hire anything above a Lesser Golem. It seemed like the system was designed so that the monsters available for hire diversified as your level climbed.
'If I reach A-rank, maybe I could even hire a dragon.'
My heart raced. There was more hope than a few days ago. It felt like I could actually see a way forward. If I had even a single dragon — a creature with magic resistance as a baseline ability and an armament-grade breath attack for crowd control… Of course, that was still pure wishful thinking. But it had only been a few days since even that kind of wishful thinking was something I couldn't dare imagine. I doubted I'd ever forget the sensation I felt when I drove my blade into Captain Hawk's neck.
Now then, let's hire some monsters.
Having more numbers didn't necessarily mean something was better. High stats alone didn't make something good either. In games, the most important and fundamental thing was something else entirely. It was —.
'Element matchup.'
I studied the monster hiring window carefully.
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[Monster Name] [HP] [ATK] [DEF] [Hiring Cost]
-Slime 2 2 2 70 gold
-Lesser Fairy 4 3 2 160 gold
-Goblin 4 4 4 250 gold
-Lesser Golem 7 5 5 400 gold
[Gold on Hand: 20,311 gold]
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"Hm."
Slimes are out of the question. Speed, attack, defense—there's not a single thing they have going for them. The one upside is that slashing attacks don't work well on them, but with HP that low, what's the point? I started deliberating between Sprites, Goblins, and basic Golems.
"Only F-rank adventurers are showing up anyway. At best, we're dealing with spearmen and archers."
Ever since I'd fallen into this world, talking to myself had become a habit. It felt like thoughts only truly clarified once I said them out loud, rather than just churning them around inside my head. I kept muttering.
"A Golem's the way to go. Weak to magic attacks, but resistant to physical ones."
According to game settings, Golems—regardless of whether they're basic or top-tier—took 200% damage from magic attacks and only 50% from physical ones. Against F-rank adventurers who didn't even have a cleric, let alone a mage, Golems were the perfect pick. That was exactly why I'd bought them first.
"I probably won't see any mages until E-rank, so that should be fine. But..."
Hawk pointed out something I hadn't considered. Their slow movement speed meant adventurers could just kite them—retreating fast while attacking from range. I had no idea when some other adventurer besides Hawk would come up with the same idea. I needed a monster that could compensate for the Golems' weakness.
I bought five Golems and ten Sprites. The strategy was this: the Golems formed the frontline of the squad, while the small, swift Sprites cast magic from the rear like archers. Sure, the best spell a basic Sprite could manage was Wind Cutter—a technique that compressed air into a sharp projectile—but I had something else in mind.
"Low-rank adventurers know absolutely nothing about magic."
To commoners who'd never so much as seen real magic in their lives, even a Wind Cutter would undoubtedly seem like an unfathomable mystery. The sudden appearance of magic would throw them into confusion. And in that moment of panic, the Golem squad, boasting formidable defense, would charge in as both dealer and tank.
Type advantage, formation, psychology—I'd considered it all when putting together this dream squad.
"This is practically a squad designed exclusively for crushing low-rank adventurers."
A smirk escaped me.
Nobody knew better than me which monsters gave adventurers the hardest time. I'd suffered through it grinding in Dungeon Attack. I'd had my own beginner days, and the composition that had been the biggest headache back then was exactly this—Golems plus Sprites. Embarrassingly enough, there had been more than a few times my entire party got wiped.
I designated the Golem I'd hired during the tutorial—Level 2—as the squad leader. Then I stationed them in the large cavern in front of the Demon Lord's room so they could intercept at a moment's notice. The Golems stood at attention in flawless formation, perfectly still. Six Golems lined up in a row—the sight alone was brimming with majesty.
—Kururk! Kururururk!
The Sprites, on the other hand, were buzzing around me without a moment's rest. Palm-sized fairies zipping in every direction left me dizzy. Still, I was happy. The Sprites were genuinely adorable! The Golems and Goblins were cute too, but how to put it—it felt like watching a daughter grow up into a real beauty. Watching the Sprites frolic about, flapping their wings as they splashed through the air, I felt my mind go hazy with delight.
"Oh my, my gorgeous little babies!"
I grabbed one of the Sprites and gave it a big, slobbery kiss. The Sprite seemed to enjoy it too, letting out peals of laughter loud enough to echo off the cave ceiling. Aww, our little one's already picking up on the mood. Daddy's got nothing left to teach you!
—Kururk? Kurk?
I didn't know the fairy language, but I could instinctively understand what they were saying.
"Of course. Daddy thinks our little one is the prettiest!"
—Gigigigig!
The fairies swarmed me like a pack of hounds. One burrowed into my hair, another plastered itself to my cheek. So this is happiness. When my friends would whine about wanting to get married and have kids, I never understood why anyone would go through that trouble — but if you could have kids as adorable as our little fairies, I didn't think I'd regret it.
I was basking in a paradise of bliss, every hardship forgotten.
"Ahem, ahem."
A throat-clearing sound came from behind me. I turned around to find a goblin standing there, his forehead crammed with wrinkles, leaning on a staff far taller than he was.
I furrowed my brow. Who are you?
"It is an honor to meet you, Lord Dantalion."
The goblin bowed. Of course, being a goblin with a two-to-one head-to-body ratio, it looked more like he'd just tilted his head down from my vantage point. In any case, no hostile intent came through.
"Who are you."
I answered informally. Lapis had pointed this out a few days ago — apparently, a Demon Lord never used polite speech toward his own kind. Quite the opposite; you had to come on strong to put demons at ease. Whether Lapis was right or not, the old goblin didn't seem the least bit bothered, still holding his bow.
"My name is Torkel, an executive of the Kunkuska Trading Company. I've come to discuss the recent plague."
Ah, so that's what this is about.
I kept only a minimum of my guard up. This was someone I'd expected to show up sooner or later. From the company's perspective, they'd be desperate to squeeze whatever information they could out of me — the one who had predicted the plague. And if the chance arose, they'd want to shake hands and do business together too.
"Welcome."
"First, allow me to apologize for the unfortunate matter. Despite Lord Dantalion having foreseen the plague, our company treated the matter lightly. No matter how you look at it, this was our fault."
"Don't mention it. Anyone can make a mistake."
At that, the goblin raised his head.
"Thank you for your magnanimous judgment. Then, shall we proceed to discuss matters going forward..."
"Wait a second. Where did Lapis go?"
I cut in. The goblin looked at me with a puzzled expression, as if to say, "Huh?"
"I mean Lapis. I should have a dedicated clerk assigned to me."
"Ah… of course, that's so. However, given the circumstances, I, as an executive, personally—"
"That will be all."
"Pardon?"
I was impressed by Lapis's work. Growing my thousand gold into twenty thousand wasn't because I was some genius — it was because she was exceptional. Without Lapis, would I have made a fortune even knowing the future? No. It was only possible because she listened to me and moved at full capacity.
When I tried to hand her around five hundred gold as a bonus, Lapis flatly refused, saying—
"I only did what needed to be done."
—just like that. She was so resolute I almost fell for her right then and there. What a cool ice queen! From now on, Lapis was the person I trusted most in this world.
*They said she gets ostracized at the office, right? I'll make sure to properly nurture you from here on out.*
Thinking that to myself, I spoke.
"The person assigned to me exclusively will continue to be Lapis, same as before."
"B-But she's a fifth-grade clerk."
"And she's the one who brought me enormous profits. There's nothing more to discuss. Send her as my dedicated clerk, or come along together."
I turned around and went back to playing with the fairies. I could clearly feel the goblin's flustered state behind my back, but I didn't care. Now they'd be the ones who needed me, wouldn't they? Sure enough, after about three minutes, the goblin cast a teleportation spell and vanished.
"Hmph. Figures he thought he'd get ahead by sucking up to me once he realized I was a valuable customer. As if. He wouldn't even lend me money back then. People who shamelessly steal credit from their subordinates — that's exactly the kind of guy I despise the most."
—Kyar?
"Oh, hello there, sweetheart! Did Daddy say something too complicated? Sorry about that. Come here, sweetie — let's have a little smooch! Smooch!"
—Kyarrrrrrrk!
For a while, the cave was filled with the sound of the fairies' laughter.
From far away, I could feel the goblin's crushing disappointment — "Our master is a pedophile…" No, that's a misunderstanding. A total misunderstanding! I have perfectly normal tastes! And Bling, where on earth did you learn such an awful word!?
============================ Author's Notes ============================
I'll only be doing ten first-come-first-served replies. I don't think it's great to make the text seem longer than it actually is with reply comments. I shouldn't be deceiving my readers by padding the afterword!
Thank you to everyone who pre-subscribed and to everyone who sent coupons. Have a great day!