Dungeon Defense (WN)

Chapter 131: Morning in Rome (6)

Chapter 131: Morning in Rome (6)

Lapis’ expression became cold.

“Sir Dantalian.”

“Yes, I know what you want to say. I know. You want to tell me that I shouldn’t receive a loan thoughtlessly, right?”

I waved my hand.

There was a time that I asked Lapis for a loan one year ago. I was trying to prepare as much money as possible in order to buy black herbs. Lapis firmly refused back then as well. She advised me to slowly make money over hundreds of years.

Despite being a merchant, she strangely disliked loans. Even though you have no other choice but to be in debt in order to make a lot of money. No, maybe she’s cautious of loans because she’s a merchant. That may be the case.

“That is correct. Of course, Sir Dantalian’s credibility has increased greatly. The sole fact that you are Her Highness Barbatos’ close aide is enough to make any firm want to loan you money. Nevertheless, going in debt without any sort of plan is a straight path to ruin.”

“You are right; however, if there is a will, there is a way. Fufu. Well, just you wait. In any case, you don’t have to worry too much about the budget.”

“Haah.”

Lapis gave me a doubtful look, but she didn’t push the issue regarding money any more than this. I had assured her that there was a way. She most likely intended to put her trust in me for now. Lapis may nag at me a lot, but she was a nagging person who trusted me.

Laura spoke.

“Lord. I understand the layout which you wish to construct. From this young lady’s understanding, Your Lordship has not placed your focal point on simply defeating adventurers. You said that you are going to win through numbers, but you intend to also bring in entire tribes of monsters and create homes for them. At that point, instead of a Demon Lord Castle, it would be better to refer to this as a city instead.”

As expected of Laura. She may not be gifted in politics, but her intuition is good.

“Therefore……Your Lordship is not planning to simply turn your Demon Lord Castle into a fortress. You intend to create a city and rule over it. Is this young lady understanding this properly?”

“Excellent. You are right. I am not planning to simply take in a few monsters as my subordinates.”

A voluntary ecosystem.

This was what I wanted.

For example, let’s say a bunch of monsters invaded a human village and the village didn’t have a village chief or a prominent figure who could act as a leading figure. Would the humans not try to fight back because of this?

No. For the sake of protecting their families, their neighbors, and their livelihoods……they would voluntarily fight back without being ordered to do so. This isn’t because they have some lofty morals. It’s because their lives would also be ruined if they allow their village to be destroyed. Fighting to protect their village is an extension of fighting to protect their lives.

Someone ran away even though their village is on the verge of being destroyed? This means that they’re confident enough in themselves to live without their village. They can distinguish between the necessity of a village and their lives.

When I invaded the margrave’s territory as a member of the Crescent Alliance’s 6th legion, the people easily surrendered once their rights to live were guaranteed. This was because they believed it didn’t matter to them whether Rosenberg or Barbatos took the seat of margrave.

On the other hand, Margrave Rosenberg resisted until the very end. He wanted to defeat the Crescent Alliance and take back his land. Why? It was because Rosenberg believed that he couldn’t split his life away from the title of margrave…….

The efficiency of an ecosystem within a society is determined by whether the members of the society act voluntarily or not. Rosenberg may have been an excellent soldier, but he was not an excellent lord. A majority of the rulers in this era are probably like him.

I want the monsters to protect the dungeon voluntarily.

I deliberately won’t order them to defend the dungeon. I’ll leave them alone so they can run away whenever they want. I want the monsters to bare their fangs and claws at the adventurers despite all of this.

It’d make things convenient for me as well.

How many more years will I live for? Different from humans, Demon Lords don’t have a lifespan. Be it a hundred or a thousand years, we can live for as long as our luck allows. A countless number of adventurers will undoubtedly invade during this long period of time. Do you expect me to contemplate how to deal with adventurers every time they invade? I’d rather not deal with such hard labor.

I’ll let the monsters take care of it on their own. If a talented individual appears among them, then I’ll let them move further down. I’ll considerately allow them to live in areas with denser mana. If, in the rare chance, a type of crime is committed, then I will try them as an impartial judge. Dealing with a reward and punishment system is already a lot of work. Telling me to also rule over a bunch of monsters while doing all this would be insane.

Laura made a correct assumption. I’m not trying to only create a Demon Lord Castle. I want to create a city for monsters, a city for my comfort.

And, in truth, this was going to happen.

* * *

The next day, a guest arrived.

It was Rank 12 Demon Lord Sitri. She was invited by Lapis who had moved after receiving secret orders from me. Teleportation scrolls were used, so it didn’t take much time for them to come and go.

“Heh, so this is your castle?”

Sitri looked around my room. Her eyes sparkled at first, but that shine quickly faded. My Demon Lord room went beyond being frugal and simply looked shabby. This was incredibly lacking for Sitri’s aesthetic sense since she most likely has a glorious castle.

I smiled awkwardly.

“It is shabby, right?”

“Yeah. I thought you would be living like a young noble, but this is surprising.”

“It would most likely be difficult to find another Demon Lord like me whom the term young noble fits the least.”

I was instead confident in going well with the term bum.

Sitri uttered an ‘Is that so?’ as she tilted her head.

“In any case, why did you call me? Sorry, but we’re still in the middle of a war. I did come because you’re the one who called for me, but I can’t stay for more than an hour.”

She looked genuinely apologetic.

“If you called me because you wanted to have sex, then I recommend rescheduling. We need at least 4 hours if you want to experience the most…….”

“That absolutely is not the reason! Do you think I am some sort of stallion who invites people to have sex even though they are busy fighting a war!?”

“Eh? That isn’t why you called me?”

Sitri opened her eyes wide in surprise.

“I was sure that you were going to make that kind of request since you called me all of a sudden.”

“I am very curious to know what sort of image Miss Sitri has of me in your mind.”

The corners of my mouth twitched.

“Uh, but……I heard rumors that you’re quite good at it.”

“Rumors? Ruuuumors? There are rumors about me being good at sex?”

“Yeah. Barbatos would always go around bragging to the other female Demon Lords.”

This is news to me.

“He makes you climax a hundred times in a day, he knows all sorts of positions so it’s fun to let him have his way, and he learns really fast so it’s fun to teach him new things. The way she bragged about her lover did seem foolish, though.”

Barbatoooos!

For some reason, I could clearly imagine Barbatos sharing risque stories with the other female Demon Lords while smiling like a creepy old man. She probably used obscene hand gestures while she talked about how satisfying the sex she had the other day was. That lewd loli!

“Ah, I also heard that you recently opened your eyes to BDSM.”

All right. I made up my mind now. I’ll definitely kill that loli one day.

I’ll tie her up and tickle her to death. I’ll tickle her until beads of sweat form on those pale armpits of hers.

However, Sitri’s bombshells didn’t end there.

“I was really surprised. Who knew that Barbatos would take the masochist role. I was certain that she would always take the sadistic role all her life. Even Barbatos herself seemed surprised! What did she say again? Being dominated by a trashy bastard made it seem like she was lower than trash, so the pleasure was immense.”

“…….”

That girl has a motor for a mouth. How dare she recount the secret fetish plays they did to other people?

Think about it, what would happen if I went around telling other Demon Lords that Barbatos pleaded to me while crying? Naturally, Barbatos would show up the next day and whip me almost to death. And yet, she herself placed obscene stories up on a cutting board.

It felt amazing because you felt like trash? Okay, then, you crude bastard. I’ll receive your demand. Look forward to our next meeting. I won’t forgive you even if your perk butt goes red.

I developed a highly acclaimed <Special Trash Course> in my mind. While I was doing this, Sitri sat down on a chair.

I suddenly noticed the blood smeared on the edge of the armor she was wearing. This meant that the war the Crescent Alliance was facing was fierce enough to prevent even a Demon Lord from properly cleaning their armor. Although Sitri was acting casual in front of me……she might have exerted herself greatly to come here.

Well, it isn’t surprising. Sitri is the Mountain Faction’s spearhead commander. Paimon is currently injured, so, technically, Sitri has to act as the head of the Mountain Faction now. The Mountain Faction was assigned to the vanguard, so the tasks she has to handle are most likely heavier than everyone else’s. I have basically called for the busiest Demon Lord.

“If it’s not for sex, then why’d you call me?”

“I will get straight to the point. I need money.”

“Sure.”

Sitri responded without even the slightest bit of hesitation. She placed her hand against her chin and muttered to herself.

“600,000 gold is my entire fortune. That was how much I had when I last organized my money 200 years ago, so it should roughly be the same. If you include physical items, then it might reach 1,500,000 gold……and if I empty the jewel storage and that storage……. I might just barely have 1,600,000.”

She seemed to have finished her calculations as she turned this way with a grin.

“Yup. How much do you need? Just give me the word. I can offer up to 1,600,000 gold.”

“…….”

How should I put it?

It felt like the river in my mind had widened a little.

You can’t obtain the position of Rank 12 by only playing card games. Many things must overlap for several hundred years like your strength, resolve, and a little bit of luck. If you really want to fall, then you could fall straight to hell.

She promised me that she would grant anything I asked for. So, she would do anything I asked for without reserve. This was most likely Sitri’s thought process. However, how many people are there in the world who could say ‘so’ like this? Even among the authority figures of the Demon Lord army…….

I did whatever it took to survive for the past year. For a mere single year. Sitri was able to maintain her innocence in a sense despite having lived for hundreds of years.

Did she have no reason to become underhanded because she was innately powerful? Or did she continue down a path of righteousness even though she had an opportunity to descend a dark path? Or, perhaps, was she so dimwitted that she couldn’t distinguish between innocence and depravity?

There was no way to know what was the truth. However, there was one thing that was certain and it was the fact that the woman sitting in front of me had managed to go against all odds to maintain her position today. Similar to how there was no reason to know what method was used to create a painting when observing a masterpiece, being awed by Sitri’s behavior didn’t mean that I had to know what sort of life she had lived.

“Please loan me 1,000,000 gold.”

“Sure. Mm. But there’s a bit of a problem. My money is in my Demon Lord Castle, so I can’t give it to you right away.”

She looked sullen.

“Sorry, but can I give you the money after the war is over?”

I smiled bitterly. This is natural.

“It seems you have misunderstood. I am not asking you to give me money. I am asking you to loan me money.”

“……Huh?”

“I wish for you to loan me 1,000,000 gold. I will pay you back one day.”

Sitri furrowed her brows.

“But I can just give it to you?”

“I appreciate the thought; however, if you do that then I could not say that I am standing on an equal position with you, Miss Sitri. I do not wish to have such a relationship.”

I wanted to obtain Sitri’s trust. I didn’t want a relationship where we simply used each other. I wanted us to become genuine comrades. This is an utterly perilous world. I would feel reassured if a pure-hearted Demon Lord like Sitri were on my side.

I grabbed Sitri’s right hand with both of my hands.

“E-Eeh?”

“Miss Sitri. I wish to be with you forever.”

For some reason, her cheeks became red.

***

TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. This came out faster than I expected. Honestly, you wouldn’t expect Sitri to be like this after everything we saw in the LN. It’s a surprising change. It sort of makes me more curious about what the author intended to do with Sitri in the LN.

Well, in any case, I’ll see you guys in the next chapter.