Dungeon Defense (WN)

* * *

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Laura’s slave mark.

Dealing with this was also one of my goals while visiting Niflheim.

After the Walpurgis Night, Barbatos seemed to have taken a liking to me as she took me to all sorts of places.
She bossed me around like an attendant before she went back to her dungeon.
For an entire day!

She took me to a brothel for lesbians and I was at first surprised to know that that sort of place exists, I was then shocked when I found out she intended to use me like a plaything, and I was finally stunned when I learned that Barbatos was bisexual.
I would have become a toy for a bunch of lesbians if I hadn’t struggled desperately.

Should I call it a reward for entertaining her for an entire day? Barbatos introduced me to a high-ranking mage.
I was able to easily acquire what I needed due to her acting as the mediator. 

“Now then.”

I ground a golden magic stone into a fine dust.
I then poured that golden powder into some water and it became sticky like some ceramic glaze.
This is a magic liquid that’s used to get rid of slave marks.

“Please wait right there for a moment.”

“Understood.
Is here fine?”

Laura sat on the cave floor obediently.
Her white dress rested on the ground.
The dress I had bought as a present while I was in Niflheim wasn’t just a simple dress as it was also self-cleaning, so it didn’t have to be washed.
It was only natural that I would reward Laura since she had protected the dungeon while I was gone.

I took out a scroll.
There was a geometrically complex symbol drawn on it.
I kept turning to look at the scroll as I copied the symbol on the floor.
I used chalk first.
If I mess up, then I would have to go all the way back to Niflheim and purchase another magic stone.
Referentially, this magic stone is extremely expensive because it was made through a unique spell.
I drafted the symbol with chalk first before painting over it with the golden liquid.
A magic circle was slowly drawn with Laura at the center.

“Mm.”

After a lengthy period of time, I stretched.
I was done.
If I had to give my honest opinion about my work, then I’d genuinely say that it was overwhelmingly aesthetic.
I possessed a talent that would have definitely pushed me up to stardom if I had been born in the artistic city of Paris.

I had all the necessary ingredients.

Laura who was subjected to slavery.

A magic circle that removes slave marks.

And a human forearm with a slave mark on it.

“…….”

I pulled out a box from under my bed.
Once I removed the iron lid, Jack’s forearm which had a preservation spell cast on it by Lapis was revealed.
The muscles were protruding and its complexion was healthy as if it had just recently been severed.

I felt a little sad.
It wasn’t a sadness that would make me shed a tear.
It was a depressing feeling as I thought about how this was the only way humans could leave behind proof of their existence.
I was certain that this was a somewhat luxurious emotion to have for the culprit who had pushed this human to die.

“From ancients to ancients, dust to dust, and innocence to innocence.
I command the spirit confined within to return to whence you came.”

After I placed the forearm with the slave mark on it right in front of the magic circle, I recited the chant taught to me by the mage.
The more words I spoke, the brighter the light emanating from the magic circle became.
I stabbed a dagger that I had prepared beforehand into Jack’s forearm.

“Uu, guuuuh……!”

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Laura groaned in pain.
There was a slave mark on her back as well, so her mark was vanishing along with the one on Jack’s arm.
According to the mage, this should feel as if you’re being burned in a fire.
This was a necessary procedure, so I continued reciting the chant.

“Guh, hkkk……uugh……!”

Beads of sweat began to form on Laura’s pale forehead and nape.
She twisted her hip and her shoulders trembled.
It seems there were times where she couldn’t endure the pain as her back would abruptly straighten occasionally.
She would let out a pained cry whenever it did.
She ran out of strength by the time I finished the incantation and had collapsed on the cold cavern floor.

“Are you all right?”

I approached Laura immediately after I confirmed that the mark on Jack’s arm had disappeared.
Laura continued to breathe heavily.
She managed to speak coherently after about 5 minutes.

“……No problem.
It was somewhat painful, but this much is nothing.”

“I apologize.
I tried to find the easiest method possible, but this was the best I could do.”

“I am aware.”

Laura looked up at me with teary eyes.

“I know that you did your best.
When I was first marked, it hurt five times more than this…… Dantalian, are you my master now?”

“I am not your master.”

I shook my head.

“Only you can be your own master.
I simply wish to form a fair contract with you as two parties that respectively own themselves.”

“A contract…….”

She blankly repeated my words.

“That is right.
Laura, let me make this offer once more.
Devote your resourceful mind to me.
I will treat you respectfully as a faithful vassal.
As I vow to never betray you as long as you do not betray me first, I, Dantalian, promise you that we will get revenge on the world that had abandoned and insulted you.”

“What a foolish offer.”

A fine smile appeared on her slender lips.

“I had already accepted being your subordinate long ago.
I may not have a mark, but I will still use my knowledge, body, and soul solely for the sake of your glory.
I, Laura De Farnese, will eternally be yours, Dantalian.”

At that moment, a sound effect that was more extravagant than any of the sound effects I had heard before rang in my ears.

「You have recruited Laura De Farnese!」

「A loyalty stat will now be displayed on Laura De Farnese’s status window.」

「A pure and noble devotion! The other party fully considers you as their monarch right off the bat.
Thanks to this surprising sense of loyalty, a new title will be given to the other party.」

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My chest filled with delight.

‘Finally! Finally!’

I finally managed to obtain one of the greatest characters in .
Now I didn’t have to go through great pains just to raise Laura’s affection a little.
The degree of her devotion is to the point of giving her a title, so what is there to worry about now?

‘Status!’

I immediately checked Laura’s status window.
Her affection had exceeded 50, so more details appeared than before.
Due to ’s strict affection system, not only did the affection points not go above a certain limit until various conditions were met, but it would also refrain from properly showing the other party’s information until it did.
Since Laura had become my subordinate, she had broken past the cap of 50 points.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Name: Laura De Farnese Race: Human　　 Faction: Dantalian’s Demon Lord Army Attribute: Neutral(-15)

Level: 10　　　　Fame: 492 Job: Intrigant(D), Scholar(D), Sex slave(E)

Leadership: 41　　Might: 10 　　Intelligence: 44 Politics: 9　　Charm: 54　　Technique: 1

Affection: 51 Loyalty: 95

*Titles: 1.
Duke’s Daughter(Fallen) 2.
Prodigy 3.
Loyal Subject *Abilities: Horsemanship B, Rhetoric C, Music C, Tactics C, Geometry D, Operational Art E *Skills: –

Current thought: ‘I will naturally look towards the same goal you are striving for, and I will naturally follow behind you on the path you wish to tread.
If a mountain range is blocking your view, then I will destroy that mountain range.
If an ocean is blocking your path, then I will fill that ocean.’ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Wonderful.
I see no flaws! The most surprising thing is the fact that three of her stats are over 40 even though she’s only level 10.
She is most likely being buffed by her titles.
To be more precise, the ‘Prodigy’ title is a typical cheat title in the game that’s really good when raising a character during the early and mid portions of the game.
Out of all the characters in , be it allies or enemies, there were only 15 characters that started off with this title.

‘Titles aren’t always good, though.’

Was it not impressive when you consider the fact that a Demon Lord like myself wasn’t able to obtain even a single title?

I focused my sight on the titles and another window popped up once I did.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[Titles]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Sure enough, she was filled with the best titles that could only be obtained early on.
The Duke’s Daughter(Fallen) is a flaw in the crystal, but it didn’t matter since it only affected politics, charm, and fame which were things that weren’t immediately useful right now.
What I wanted from Laura was already clear.

Leadership and intelligence!

As long as she excels in the two skills that are necessary for intrigants, then the other factors honestly don’t matter.
Did I expect Laura to be powerful like Xiang Yu, the Overlord of Western Chu, or charming like a femme fatale who could charm all of her enemies? I dedicated a lot of my time and money so that she would fill the fields I lack in, which are stratagem and scheming.
In that regard, Laura has met my expectations perfectly.

It was while I was in the middle of feeling awed.

「The scenario has destroyed a predestined fragment of fate!」

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A notice that I have never seen before in this world or while playing appeared before me.

‘……Huh?’

As I tilted my head in curiosity, 3 more notices appeared over each other with a gloomy sound effect.
I gazed at the notices that were flashing hectically.
There were lines that I couldn’t easily understand written on the notices.

「A Rank scenario has been ‘completely’ destroyed!」

「S Rank scenario has been ‘severely’ destroyed!」

「B Rank scenario has been ‘completely destroyed!」

A Rank scenario? S Rank scenario?

‘……What is this going on about?’

Female Iron Chancellor is obviously a nickname referring to Laura De Farnese, but for the scenario to have been destroyed?

Until now, the notices that appeared while in this world were fundamentally the same as the ones in .
The only difference was that instead of appearing on my monitor, they appeared as holograms in front of my face.
However, even as someone who was an avid fan of , I have never seen these notices before.

The most bewildering thing happened immediately after.
Loud and energetic sound effects that were a complete contrast to the gloomy sound effects earlier rang out.

「Level up!」

What?

My jaw dropped.

That wasn’t the end.
The same sound overlapped each other and rang out over and over again in my ears.

「Job(Demon Lord) level up!」

「Level up!」

「Level up!」

「Level up!」

「Level up!」

.

.

.

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「Level up!」

“…….”

I blanked out as I listened to the marching song of notices.
The sound effects stopped after a short while.
I rubbed my eyes in order to confirm whether I was dreaming or not, but the light blue notice windows before me didn’t disappear.
My head was blank, but my eyes unconsciously read the numbers on the notices.

One, two, three……seven, eight……fourteen, fifteen…….

Sixteen.

My basic level had gone up by sixteen.

The levels I worked my ass off to raise a couple of for the past few months━went up by sixteen in a single moment and it appeared along with lines I had never seen before in my life.

This wasn’t the end either.
More sound effects followed as if this system intended to hit me with an uppercut while I was still in a daze.
It’s probably an exaggeration, but the sound effects this time were so loud that I felt like my entire body was being shaken.

「Congratulations! You have destroyed a B rank scenario.
You have received a new title due to this surprising achievement!」

「Congratulations! You have destroyed an A rank scenario.
You have received a new title due to this miraculous achievement! The preexisting title will be replaced by this new title.」

…….

“Dantalian.
What is wrong? You have been zoning out since earlier.”

A voice came from afar.
However, my consciousness couldn’t decipher what that voice was talking about.

“On another note, a subordinate speaking down to her lord and a lord speaking up to his subordinate is not right.
This has been bothering me for a while now.
Therefore, I will use honorifics when referring to you.
I ask that you also refer to me however you wish.”

Creak.

I very slowly raised my head.

Over the wall of notices that had appeared chaotically, the blonde girl was smiling tenderly.
Something must have been embarrassing her as her cheeks were flushed slightly.
It was then that I was finally able to utter a word.

“Eh.”

If you can consider that as a word, that is.

What exactly……did you do just now, Laura?

***

TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter.
There was a slight delay, but I managed to get this out.
My proofreader/editor has been pretty busy lately and I don’t want to rush him since he’s been doing this for me for so long.
In any case, the next chapter might take a slight bit as well, but I’ll try to get it out within the next few days.

I’ll see you guys in the next release.