When I Was Reincarnated into the World of an Ultra-Difficult Game, I Ended Up As the Sole Subordinate of the Ridiculously Strong yet Incompetent Demon Lord, Tasked with Creating a Dungeon
“Welcome to my laboratory.”
The room of Epiclesi, who had invited me, was filled with all sorts of suspicious items. There were body parts of living creatures, herbs, and other things. What kind of experiments is she conducting with these?
By the way, it’s clear that the herbs were passed on by Primilla , but how did she acquire things like horns or pieces of flesh?
“Does Lord Rey have any interest in this? It’s amazing, isn’t it? The Demon King has somehow managed to gather such materials.”
Ah, the mystery is solved. It’s nothing special. These materials were just the failed results of Fiona’s gacha pulls.
Since she had no use for them, she probably gave them to Epiclesi.
“How on earth did you manage to gather so many rare items… You wouldn’t tell me even when I asked.”
“Ahh…”
Perhaps it was embarrassing to admit that the gacha pulls had failed, or maybe she just didn’t want to remember it. It seems that Fiona hasn’t shared the truth with Epiclesi.
But too bad for her. Since I’m going to talk to Epiclesi about the resurrection potion, I might as well mention that too.
“Do you know!? As expected of Lord Rey, you’ve been recognized as a close aide while we were dead!”
“I’m not a close aide though.”
“Oh no, don’t say such things.”
She doesn’t believe me.
Fiona made my former aide, Ipiletis, assist me, so it’s automatically assumed that I’m one of Fiona’s aides.
Really, what kind of Demon King is she?
“Umm… right, the resurrection potion, you wanted to know about that?”
“Oh! That’s right! Please, tell me more!”
So, I decided to steer the conversation back and dodge the issue.
Though, the explanation she’s looking for is something I can’t provide.
“It came from a treasure chest.”
“A treasure chest…? You mean the one that randomly generates in dungeons, where we can’t interfere, and only intruders benefit from it?”
“I can open them, so I collect anything that’s not for intruders’ consumption.”
Though, I rarely collect them.
Unless I inject magical power into them, the items that come out are usually harmless, so I let the intruders have them.
If they’ve been left alone for decades… no, centuries… they’d definitely become dangerous, so I might collect them then. That’s about the extent of it.
“You can collect treasure chests!? That’s a very rare ability… no wonder the Demon King values you.”
“I’m always made to open them.”
Really, it’s becoming quite tiresome.
But no matter how many times I die in those chests, Fiona always looks so happily expectant, so I can never refuse her.
The cute Fiona will turn into a pitiful Fiona in the next moment, but I can’t bring myself to stop her.
“Does that mean treasure chests appear that frequently?”
“They’re made.”
“No, I’d think that collecting them right after they spawn wouldn’t yield anything particularly valuable…”
She’s sharp. Looks like she’s got high analytical skills, this demon.
“I see, so you prioritize collecting the treasure chests themselves rather than the items inside. The important thing is making sure they’re not stolen by the intruders, right?”
“Wrong.”
In the end, it looks like she drew a strange conclusion.
“I can make treasure chests, so I keep making them because Fiona asked me to.”
“You can make treasure chests!? Something like that…?”
“Then, Fiona pours her magical power into them to improve the quality of the items inside.”
“Pour magical power into them? I see. Indeed, treasure chests change over time because they absorb the dungeon’s magic. You’re showing that you can replicate this…”
“That’s how, through the sacrifice of Fiona’s enormous magical power, resurrection potions occasionally appear.”
So, the truth is, you were resurrected thanks to her noble sacrifice.
Though, it’s a sacrifice that can be recovered by just sleeping, but that’s only because Fiona’s stats are broken.
If anyone other than Fiona tried to gather that much magical power, I wonder how long it would take…
It’s amazing how she was able to gather that kind of power. Dungeon Master skills and Magirema are really something.
“I can’t believe you were making resurrection potions like that…”
“I guess it’s not the standard method.”
“Every race has tried to create and mix resurrection potions, but none have succeeded. Only the fickle goddess has made them, and those are the ones that circulate in the world.”
She did that too, huh.
I bet she was laughing at the sight of people fighting over such precious items.
“But to think you can create resurrection potions freely… It’s no wonder the Demon King favors you.”
Well, it’s not exactly freely.
If I could do it freely, Fiona would have already revived the Demon King’s army.
“The chances of that happening are quite low.”
“It’s understandable. The fact that it can be created at all is already something that should be impossible… Which means, a considerable amount of magical power must have been consumed to resurrect the three of us.”
“No, that part just happened to come out three times in a row by sheer luck.”
“…By ‘in a row,’ do you mean within a short period of time?”
“Yeah. I think it was over in a few minutes.”
“Lord Rey… you truly are an extraordinary individual.”
Please stop. The more expectations people have, the more I feel like the desire sensor is glaring at me.
At this rate, I’ll end up suffering a spectacular failure just like Lady Fiona.
So, I thoroughly explained the countless times Fiona had failed, and how my case was just beginner’s luck.
“Hmm… So, over a hundred times my magical power. That’s an unbelievable amount.”
“I used exactly 10,000 magical power since it was a nice round number, and it turned out something like that.”
“…The Demon King used about 9,000, right?”
“Yeah, well, Lady Fiona can’t exactly afford to use up all her magic, after all.”
Not to mention, she’s already done something even crazier.
Using up not just her own magical power, but even draining the throne’s reserve magic in case of emergency—thinking back on it, that woman is really something else.
Thanks to Primilla ’s scolding, she probably won’t do something like that again, though.
“…Lord Rey, would you be willing to try using 10,000 magical power a few more times?”
“Huh… but the dungeon’s magical power hasn’t accumulated that much yet.”
Even with Magirema ’s abilities, it’s not like we can just attract customers out of nowhere.
At this rate, I’ll be spending magic faster than I can regenerate it, turning into a demon who never carries over magic to the next day.
I must not live like Fiona.
“I want to verify something.”
“Well… if you’re going to ask me that seriously, I guess I don’t have a choice. Let’s give it a shot.”
Dungeon Magic: 23,677
Twice, huh? If I round down the remainder to about 3,000, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to go for two.
…I feel like I’m developing a spending habit. I need to be really careful.
“Alright, I’ll create two treasure chests.”
“Oh… you can do that so easily.”
“I’ll inject 10,000 magic into each.”
“The appearance changed. Now that I think about it, when troublesome items came out before, the decorations and exterior were always extravagant.”
“Opening it now… Well, this is about what I expected.”
What appeared was some kind of bone embedded in an unknown crystal.
Even though I don’t know much about games, I can tell this isn’t a resurrection-related item.
“…Tear Crystal Spirit Bone.”
Ah, so it’s a bone after all.
I wonder if Magirema ’s pet would like it.
“Um…”
“Alright, let’s do the next one the same way.”
I quickly poured magic into the second treasure chest.
If I didn’t do it quickly, I’d start second-guessing myself and not want to use up any more magic.
Normally, that would be the right choice, but since I already agreed to help Epiclesi with this test, I can’t hesitate now.
“Ah…”
“Eh…?”
This isn’t just another similar item, right…?
At this point, things were getting eerie.
Inside the treasure chest, a shimmering rainbow-colored liquid glowed—unless I was mistaken, it was a resurrection potion.
