“Rey. Rey.”
“Lady Fiona… What’s the matter?”
Since Primilla discovered the waste of magical energy in the throne room, Lady Fiona had been recovering the magic in the throne room.
Recently, she had been managing the simple dungeon with Primilla and Pilkaya without even showing her face.
But today, Lady Fiona had come to us.
… It felt like someone who had been holed up in their room for a while had finally come out, and I was a bit surprised.
Well, that’s actually what happened.
“Are you thinking about something strange?”
“No, not at all. By the way, why are you here?”
“Because I’m the Demon King. I came to check on how the simple dungeon Rey made is doing.”
I see. After all, she is my superior—or rather, the supreme commander of the Demon King’s army.
She came to directly observe her subordinates’ work.
As always, she’s such a considerate Demon King.
“…Demon King.”
“What is it, Primilla ?”
“Has all the reserve magic in the throne room been replenished?”
“…”
She went silent. When I looked at Pilkaya, he was desperately holding back a smile.
I pretty much figured it out. Lady Fiona must have gotten tired of replenishing the magic.
So, I’m not sure if it’s for a change of pace, but she came to visit us.
And, noticing this, Primilla had already switched to lecture mode, ready to scold Lady Fiona.
“The magic in the throne room plays a particularly important role in the Underworld.”
“Yes, I understand. I know that, so I’ve been working alone, pouring magic into it.”
“Has it been finished?”
“…I got a little tired, so I thought I’d take a break and do some inspections.”
“The dungeon Rey created is successfully attracting intruders. With Pilkaya’s watchful eye, everything is under control, so there’s no problem.”
In other words, go back to the throne room. Primilla ’s eyes seemed to say that.
It was such a reasonable argument that even the Demon King couldn’t go against it, so Lady Fiona seemed to sulk a bit but eventually decided to go back.
“Um… Would you like to check what kind of dungeon it is?”
“Yes!”
I understand. I understand, so please stop with that glare.
I silently endure Primilla ’s gaze, which says “don’t spoil her.”
Because, honestly, it felt a bit sad. Lady Fiona, despite being the Demon King, is actually a rather incompetent demon.
She must have been lonely, working alone.
“Here is the overall map.”
Saying this, I handed over a copy of the map that was visible only to me due to my skills.
This map can’t be seen by anyone else but me.
It’s convenient at times, but it’s inconvenient that I can’t show the map to other demons.
“Hmm… At the beginning, it’s just goblins. Then, gradually, they get stronger, and in the end, a Goblin King leads a group, right?”
“Yes. Since the goal is to have them invade, I was told not to place anything too strong at the start.”
“The treasure chests need to be regularly replenished, and magic needs to be poured into them.”
“I was told that if it’s just monsters, people won’t come in quickly, so…”
Well, the frequency of intrusions is sufficient for them to collect the items, so they’ll likely be low-ranking items, as expected.
Even so, whether or not a treasure chest is placed makes quite a difference.
For those with a certain level of skill, the chests placed early in the dungeon can be easily collected, and even the intruders aren’t expecting much from them.
But thinking this way, there must be treasure chests further inside that no one has touched yet.
So, the intruders continue deeper into the dungeon.
Our job is to either wipe them out or manage to drive them away.
So far, no one has broken through the boss room, so the chest placed there may have some decent contents by now.
“…Shall I take care of the treasure chest in the boss room? If too much magic is absorbed by the dungeon, powerful equipment or items may be given to the intruders.”
Now that I think about it, that’s true.
I’d been focused on adjusting the intruders and hadn’t thought about the contents of the treasure chests.
“You’re right. I forgot about that. Well then, let’s leave that treasure chest to Lady Fiona.”
“No.”
I was about to ask her to take care of it, but Primilla stopped me.
“W-Why not, Primilla ?”
“What do you think Lady Fiona will do with the treasure chest she takes?”
“… If the magic has already been poured into it up to a certain point, I think the amount of magic I would need to inject would be smaller.”
“Ah, I see.”
So, it’s not about just holding onto the chest, but rather wanting to use it for the usual treasure chest roulette.
I don’t mind that. After all, any chest that hasn’t been collected by intruders is supposed to be Lady Fiona’s anyway.
“Do you know how much magic has been stored in that chest?”
“No, I’m not sure about that…”
“Then you don’t know how much more magic needs to be poured into it, right?”
“Well… I’ll cover that with a bit of luck.”
That sounds like no plan at all…
Of course, such a suggestion wouldn’t be accepted by Primilla .
“Considering the contents of the treasure chests so far, I think Lady Fiona’s luck has been bad, so this won’t work.”
“W-Why is that?! You and Pilkaya were both revived properly, weren’t you?!”
“I’d rather you didn’t compare us to that…”
“And besides, it’s true that if the treasure chests aren’t collected, the intruders might get powerful items.”
“That’s under my management, so it’s not a problem. And with that chest, not only will it not pose a threat to Lady Fiona, but it won’t even produce items that could pose a threat to us.”
I didn’t realize she was even paying attention to that detail.
Primilla is quite skilled in a different way than Pilkaya.
As expected of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon King’s army. I can understand why Lady Fiona is so determined to revive the Four Heavenly Kings.
“Ugh… Well, it doesn’t look like the rooms and paths are too complicated.”
“Ah, so you’re back to talking about the dungeon.”
“W-What is it?! If even Rey starts being cold toward me, I’m really going to have no one on my side!”
“I’m on your side~”
“I know you’ve been laughing this whole time!”
“Oh, you noticed?”
It’s strange. She’s the Demon King, so she should have all the demons as her allies, but why is this demon so isolated?
“Don’t worry, I’m definitely on Lady Fiona’s side.”
“W-Well, that’s fine then!”
“You’re just spoiling her again…”
I’ll just ignore what Primilla said…
It’s easy to forget, but this Demon King once declared that she wouldn’t be motivated for a thousand years after her entire army was wiped out.
If I were to treat her coldly now, she might give up on everything, and that would be a problem for us too.
“There are no traps set, then.”
“Apparently, they’re more effective than I expected, so I decided to have Pilkaya assess the scale of the intruders first and then set them up as needed.”
“Those traps are brutal. If they were always set, the intruders would be wiped out immediately.”
So, there should only be one or two at most.
And we were advised to use them only against intruders who seem strong enough to defeat the boss.
I underestimated it, but it seems the traps were actually pretty effective.
“…”
“Lady Fiona?”
After offering her thoughts, Lady Fiona fell silent.
“I don’t think there’s anything I can point out…”
“Well, that’s good, right?”
In other words, the creation of the simple dungeon was successful enough that the Demon King herself recognized it.
“I’m the Demon King, but…”
Maybe she wanted to give some advice.
Or perhaps she felt a sense of alienation because we finished the dungeon on our own.
In any case, if this continues, the Demon King might fall into a slump again.
“But still, it’s reassuring to know that the Demon King has seen it and judged that there’s no problem.”
“I-I see.”
“Yes, please continue to take care of things.”
“I-I guess I have no choice, then! If Rey says so, I’ll keep checking from now on.”
Good, everything’s been settled smoothly.
“You’re really good at handling the Demon King.”
Stop it, Pilkaya.
It’s a good thing your voice is quiet enough that only I can hear it, but if Lady Fiona heard that, she’d fall into another slump.
