NOVEL NEXT Chapter 23
– 1 –
The reason I kept Leonis alive was to fully obtain his knowledge, but accepting Daniel as my soldier was, to be honest, just a whim.
Even so, that wasn’t meaningless action.
Just like I didn’t entirely erase Kyunghan and sent it to the realm of human life, having more “eyes” was certainly better.
“So your first task is to return to your guild, Daniel.”
“But without Maria, there will be suspicion in the guild. They know well that I wouldn’t return without her.”
For that reason, I added a curse that required him to tell the truth along with a contract that would make him obey my orders.
That was enough.
As long as Maria was in my hands, the moment he thought of betrayal, it would be erased from his mind.
After all, the Mercenary Guild isn’t a group that operates on loyalty and duty.
If it’s money and power, that’s a different story.
Moreover, what I wanted from him wasn’t to bring over his old comrades and lead them to death.
“Primarily, use her sister as a reason, and secondly, mention a retirement and a guard job in your hometown.”
“That won’t convince them.”
“Will this do?”
“Where did you get this much money…? No, with this amount, it’s certainly possible.”
So what I presented to Daniel was a considerable sum of wealth obtained by wiping out the bandits.
Maria might have been a promising candidate in the guild, but conversely speaking, she wasn’t exactly an elite management target.
So if a lot of money was at stake, the Mercenary Guild wouldn’t particularly care about her withdrawal.
As I said, the Mercenary Guild operates on money.
“What will happen after that?”
“Somehow, you’ll have to continue your activities there. If you quit too, they will definitely send suspicious glances your way.”
“That’s true.”
“While you’re active there, focus on erasing any traces of Maria and her sister as much as possible, and primarily gather information related to dungeons. For now, that should be enough.”
“Understood.”
Information was always important.
If possible, I wanted to spread the ‘Necromancer’s Eyes’ across the entire continent to check all information in real-time.
“Well then…”
“Lady will suffice.”
“Yes. Lady Libertus.”
As I nodded, Daniel, who bowed somewhat formally, left the dungeon.
Now he would become my eyes watching the eastern part of the kingdom, which could bring me great opportunities.
If in ‘Mill Don 1’ the world was united due to chaos caused by dungeons, now was the time when many established Dungeon Lords existed and influence territories became rather stabilized, leading humans to begin revealing conflicts among themselves.
“I’m looking forward to this.”
Information about wars between humans would surely be beneficial to me.
For example, a sense of when commotion could obscure dungeon expansions.
When that time comes, I would be able to try something else again.
– 2 –
“Okay. Are the two of you doing well?”
– Tap.
– Tap!
In response to my question, Mire answered quietly, and Eve answered cheerfully.
The “two” I referred to were the observation mage Leonis and the trap expert Jacob.
[I will make a contract. Conditions are…]
Leonis ultimately chose to contract with me, becoming the third human of the dungeon.
Although it was still a Minor Contract, soon enough he would properly belong to the dungeon and the demon world once he bought the contract.
The contract conditions from Leonis were to restore Sonia’s health and her life as a mage, and to allow her to choose a human life.
[I understand. Hehamma.]
The former was something I hadn’t even considered taking away, so granting it was a given, and the latter was not a problem since she herself had declared she would stay here.
In exchange, what I ordered him was honest labor and safeguarding secrets, and a mental curse to enforce it, along with ‘pain’ that both would receive should the contract not be fulfilled.
He agreed to this and was consistently carrying out the contract conditions.
[Our guild’s methods are clearly different from other guilds, but still, there is one common point: they respond most keenly to “the crisis of themselves or close individuals.”]
[Considering this, while mages could easily overcome it, if traps were designed in such a way that common adventurers couldn’t avoid them…]
The task of designing the dungeon’s magical traps to pierce the unconsciousness of human mages.
[If you want to create the trap that you desire, Lady…]
In Jacob’s case, the situation was far worse than Leonis.
There wasn’t even a need to hypnotize him delicately like with Sonia; simply placing a somewhat rough curse on him for being overly confident in the results I had produced earlier had already damaged him.
[I’m sorry? I… don’t understand…]
That was a regrettable mistake.
While there were still no issues using “knowledge,” the fact that I couldn’t use “wisdom” became a problem.
Moreover, because of this, Jacob’s labor was carried out in places where those affiliated with my dungeon could not see. There was no reason to lower the morale of those under my command.
“When do you think it will be completed?”
– Tap.
– Clang!
“Leonis in three days, Jacob in a week… One side is taking too long, but it can’t be helped.”
Thus, Mire was observing the two who were working for my dungeon; Mire was watching Leonis, and Eve was watching Jacob.
In Jacob’s case, once he had exhausted all his knowledge, I would have to ponder other “needs.”
“Mire. How are the other two doing?”
Here, Mire was also in charge of watching over Sonia and Maria’s conditions.
It might seem unsettling to leave them in her care, given that traces of her being Remia remained, but there was no need to worry about such betrayal.
The contract with the undead was much stronger than with living humans because it directly utilized my essential power as a necromancer.
Sometimes, it could even create emotions that didn’t exist.
In Eve’s case, there wasn’t even a process of manipulation, showing a special bond with me from the start, and if necessary, it was something I could employ with my other subordinates.
– Clang.
“Alright, nothing unusual.”
Sonia was recovering gradually.
Soon, when she became healthy enough to withstand ‘character removal,’ I planned to bring ‘overadaptation of magical power’ from her.
My contract with her was for the exclusive right to execute this. If she had caught the eye of another Dungeon Lord, that Lord would not have employed such a “gentle method.”
They might have attempted to take her features immediately, regardless of whether she would lose her life or not.
Without any special training, a feature that increases magical power is like a cornucopia for a Dungeon Lord.
While there might be slight differences in the amounts of magical power between human and demon clan magic, even if it increased from 0 to 0.1, wouldn’t it still be very much better than having nothing at all?
[I’ll kill you… for sure…]
Maria remained the same for several days.
Though she had been receiving some food as Sonia and Daniel spoke to her, it seemed she wasn’t engaging in any other activities, concentrating solely on ensuring she didn’t rust out indoors all day.
Of course, I didn’t plan on leaving her alone either.
My dungeon and I were much younger than others, and growth at this young age was extremely important.
If there were truly no use for her, I’d make her a cleaner at least.
“Mire.”
– Clang.
I glanced at Mire for a moment.
Her pupils trembled uncontrollably, and Eve, beside her, was watching me with a touch of dissatisfaction.
Had it not been a pre-established command, I might have scolded her.
“…”
She was Maria’s younger sister.
Keeping Maria alive, even in a half-disabled state, was a decision I had already made for Mire independent of my acceptance of Daniel.
However, since I had still been conflicted until the end, had Daniel not quickly decided to contract, I might still be pondering it even now.
If she hadn’t already regained her “heart,” I wouldn’t know, but having already reclaimed it, there was no need to deepen the contradictions within that heart further.
She likely hadn’t yet acquired precise memories, but she was definitely feeling some familiarity with her name and those she knew in life.
Some would call this hypocrisy.
And perhaps I would shake my head, saying, “self-satisfaction and curiosity.”
‘It’s not just her.’
This kind of situation wasn’t limited to Mire.
Among my subordinates who had originally been bandits or wild green skins, a far stronger “aggressiveness” was noticeable compared to normal undead, and the other subordinates gained unique characteristics one by one as well.
Considering that in ‘Mill Don 1’ such characteristics would awaken at the earliest after going through a few class-ups, my skeletons acquiring “personalities” was quite fast.
Although it wasn’t to the extent they attained clear intelligence like Mire or Eve, they were evidently not at the level of ordinary undead.
And many entities grew fond of me. Strangely enough.
‘Whether it’s because they’re following the clearly intelligent First Eve or the “modest benefit” given to me, I don’t know.’
Even if I didn’t know the cause, this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Diverse personalities would lead to various traits, and those soldiers who acquired these traits would form the foundation of multi-faceted strategies.
While someone might look at this uneasily, it was extremely interesting to me.
The undead who obtained good traits in Mill Don 1 surely had correspondingly excellent specs.
『Trait – Specialization: Projectile, Member of Necropolis』
『Specialization: Projectile – Gains a boost to throwing and shooting.』
‘How they will grow from here, I’m looking forward to it.’
Thus, it was only natural for me to look forward to Mire’s future, who seemed to have awakened the most memories from her past life.
– 3 –
One day, while I was developing and maintaining the dungeon and the Talhan I sent out was successfully catching adventurers to feed, a guest I had been waiting for appeared.
“Ah, a, ah, hello…”
The dungeon merchant, the succubus, returned to my dungeon.
“I am… Mari. Mari Malis Mare…”
This was not the cheerful red succubus who had come before, but rather a profoundly gloomy blue succubus for some reason.
It had been a month since I handled the first wave of beginner adventurers and about a week since I repelled the second wave, including Maria and her party.