Chapter 421: Gullible
[Gremory’s Dungeon.]
Four days had passed without incident, just like that.
The reason I specifically mention four is that trouble had started after the third.
"Percival, status report."
"Yes, sir. House Sagittarius has deployed a massive force into the wasteland. Their numbers reach as high as a thousand, and the majority are heavily armored soldiers."
The Count’s house had finally drawn their swords.
They had massed troops outside Allocen’s Dungeon on the Sagittarius front, and through reconnaissance, Percival had managed to get a decent grasp of the enemy’s movements and force composition.
"Most of the soldiers are well-trained, clad head to toe in steel plate. Heavy infantry."
"Steel-plated troops, huh. We should assume they have at least the same level of defense as Harpy Aello’s steel feathers."
Their offensive power was two-star or below, but their defense was three-star level.
Compared to the baronial soldiers, who wore nothing but leather armor or breastplates with some steel plating at best, the difference was almost embarrassing. Their equipment was vastly superior.
"Were there any other notable forces?"
"Approximately fifty individuals suspected to be mages. And around ten dwarves have also joined the campaign."
"Rhodopelli."
Gremory chewed on the dwarf princess’s name with visible irritation.
"That big-titted cheat is definitely the one who called them in."
Apparently, she kept her oversized breasts strapped down with compression bandages and steel plate because they got in the way during combat. Their size rivaled Shaitan’s; a D-cup that dwarfed Gremory’s old bust by a wide margin.
The moment I heard that, I made up my mind to personally take command of the Sagittarius front. And today, the opportunity had arrived.
"We’ve been building up our strength with no chance to fight. This works out perfectly."
Just over a month. We had stockpiled formidable power, enough to take on the Marquisate if they came at us. If things went well, we might even have enough to fight the Marquisate and the County at the same time.
"Gremory. What’s the current troop count in this division?"
"Thirty-five horned orcs turned Dragonian, thirty-five Worwolves, and thirty Harpy Aellos. Including the hundred Andras combat troops we recently reinforced with, that’s two hundred total."
"The orcs and Worwolves come in pairs, so let’s count them as units. Roughly a hundred and seventy including the officers?"
Gremory, Allocen, me, and Halphas.
"The hundred Andras aren’t necessarily the end of it. If we mobilize forces from the ranch, we can push it up to three hundred."
"Let’s keep the ranch forces in the rear handling food supply. Right now, what we need is the strength to crush the enemy head-on."
[It’s good to be working with all of you again.]
I introduced the lich mage standing behind me.
"A being who inherited the power of a dragon and was newly reborn as a lich: Rastujad."
[For the Legion.]
Rastujad. His level had just barely crossed fifty-five, but having met both the level and evolution requirements, he had become a ★★★★ Ghoul Lich. I had called Rastujad in as reinforcement for the division.
"You came alone?"
[The twelve disciples who serve the divine came with me as well.]
Standing behind Rastujad were twelve ghoul mages whose skin was covered in dragon hide.
"Heh heh, maybe we should start calling them Dragonian Priests at this point."
The ★★★ Ghoul Mages I had temporarily summoned for the Imugilaim campaign had all gained the power of Dragonians, advancing to ★★★☆, and could now grow smoothly up to level seventy-five.
"So what’s their specialty?"
"Just dark mages and necromancers. They manipulate corpses, build walls out of corpses, and blow corpses up."
"...Ah, so the plan is to kill the enemy and then puppet their bodies? You evil bastard. From a human’s perspective, you’re truly the worst kind of enemy."
"I’m a demon. Of course I am."
The Leo Marquisate was not the place to unleash my pent-up destructive instincts. It wasn’t as if I had some kind of anger management disorder; if anything, I possessed the intellect to channel my fury appropriately.
"When you can crush an enemy with brute force, you crush them with brute force. We’ll fight with what we have for now and bring in more troops later. So let’s go ahead and have ourselves one hell of a fight."
We would receive the enemy inside the dungeon. I tapped the system window facing Percival.
"Your capacity’s overflowing right now, isn’t it? Then use it to summon some ghouls."
Behind me lay an enormous pile of low-grade magic stones.
***
[Afternoon. Regulus Castle Training Grounds, Leo Marquisate.]
"Hoo, hoo."
The Marquis ran across the training grounds, dripping with sweat.
His household knights ran alongside him, keeping pace behind him, but the Marquis showed no sign of falling behind the younger knights. If anything, he was leading the pack.
"Y-Your Excellency. Perhaps you should rest now..."
"A healthy mind resides in a healthy body!"
"But you’ve been running for three hours straight!"
"Oh, come on. Is it really that hard to run without using mana?"
The Marquis stopped. Every knight trailing behind him was drenched in sweat.
"Back in my day, we’d start training at dawn and run until the sun went down. Strong fundamentals are the foundation of everything. That’ll be all for today’s training."
The Marquis announced the end of the session. As he headed to where the towels were laid out, a golden-haired woman stood there as if she had been waiting, towel in hand.
"Ahem, d-dear?"
The Marquis found her presence deeply uncomfortable. As a marquis, and as a father-in-law, he felt he had shown too undignified a side of himself; as a fellow human being, it was rather embarrassing.
"Wipe your sweat with this, Father. Or would you like me to do it for you?"
"N-no. That’s fine. I’ll handle it."
The Marquis took the towel and wiped the sweat running down his forehead. Somehow, it felt like he was sweating even more than during the actual training.
"Where is Andaihal?"
"My husband is... holed up in his study right now."
"A man who would lead a domain must possess the intellect to match. I hope you can understand."
"Right. He needs to build that intellect.... By the way, Father, did you know?"
The woman stepped closer and held out a cold water canteen.
"The head butler has been making passes at the young maids lately."
"...Erectile lost his wife twenty years ago, so that’s understandable."
"Hmm, so you’re saying an age gap doesn’t matter to you, Father?"
"My late wife used to say that age doesn’t matter when it comes to love."
"Heee...."
The corners of the woman’s eyes curved like crescent moons.
"What a lovely thing to say. Heh heh heh."
"...But dear, please don’t tell anyone about what happened that time. Not even my son."
"Of course. Heh heh, Father. Then could you do me one little favor?"
"A favor?"
The woman smiled brightly, her face radiant as sunshine.
"I don’t mind you calling me ’dear,’ but could you call me by my name instead? Being called ’dear’ is... a little embarrassing."
"Very well."
The Marquis reached out with a weathered hand and patted the woman’s head.
"Thank you, Electra."
"...Heh."
***
[The same time. House Sagittarius Subjugation Force.]
"Princess, do you really promise you’ll go back after we take this one dungeon?"
"I know, I know. After going this far, it’s not like I can refuse to go back. Tsk."
Rhodopelli jutted out her lower lip and shot a sideways glance at the dwarves lined up behind her.
Every one of them had thick, bushy beards, and though they were far shorter than humans, each possessed enough fighting power to easily match thirty grown men on their own.
Meisters.
Among dwarves, they were the supreme artisans of metalwork, masters among masters who would weep at being called second-best. Their skill lay not only in crafting weapons but in wielding them with equal finesse.
"His Majesty the King sent us out of genuine concern for you, my lady. Please don’t misunderstand."
"I said I know. I’m not misunderstanding anything, so drop it already."
The Dwarf King had dispatched no fewer than ten Meisters just to bring Rhodopelli home.
"Tch, I shouldn’t have used the excuse of reclaiming my weapons."
"Ha ha, isn’t that just His Majesty’s fatherly love, wanting you to retrieve them quickly and come home?"
"Shut up. You seem awfully happy about me leaving this place."
"Not at all. Thanks to you, Princess, our Count’s forces are so much better armed now. I’m merely trying to convey His Majesty’s fatherly concern."
"...Fatherly concern, my ass."
Rhodopelli sneered, eyeing the dwarves warily.
"You don’t know what that man is really like. It’d be more believable to say elves are whores who spread their legs for orcs. That bastard’s nature is utterly vile."
"...I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that."
"That’s exactly why I’m fond of you. If I ever become the Dwarf Queen, I’ll make you king of this country. I think we’d get along wonderfully."
"I’m a count. If I became king, I’d lose my head. Whew, I think we’ve loosened up enough. We’ve arrived, after all."
Thud.
The barded warhorses came to a halt in unison.
"Halt. Eyes on the enemy orc riders."
The moment the orcs stationed in the wasteland spotted the massive army, they immediately took their Worwolves and retreated into the dungeon. As if declaring that the battlefield lay inside.
"Could it be a trap?"
"Even if it is, it’s just that hysterical fallen angel bitch throwing her magic around again. Don’t worry. Our vanguard has plenty of anti-magic barriers. And I can handle whatever elemental magic she throws."
Whoosh!
Rhodopelli swung her massive axe and charged forward. The Count’s knights galloped toward the dungeon alongside their warhorses.
Roooooar...
The instant they passed through the dungeon’s entrance, monsters were packed wall to wall. Creatures they’d never seen before stood among them, and Rhodopelli screamed at the fallen angel in the red dress.
"Hey, Gremory! Today we settle this once and for all!"
"Here to hand-deliver your weapons to us again?... is what I’d like to say, but I feel the same way. Today, let’s settle this for real."
Fwoosh. Gremory snapped her fingers and every torch lining the dungeon burst into flame.
"I’m sick and tired of this fight too. Let’s both put our lives on the line. What do you say?"
"You don’t need to tell me twice. This time, don’t you dare think about tossing an avatar and running!"
"I have no intention of that. The only thought in my mind right now is..."
Lick. Gremory ran her tongue over her lips, her seductive gaze crawling over Rhodopelli’s body.
"Throwing you on a bed, stripping you down, and having my way with you."
"...I swear, every last one of you."
Rhodopelli’s eyes went ice cold.
"Fine. But if I win, I’m stripping you naked and letting our dwarf boys run a train on you."
"Oh my, what would those little stumps even stick in me? Their dicks must be shorter than my pinky. Are they going to roll up their beards and poke me with those?"
The Meisters behind Rhodopelli immediately turned scarlet. Rhodopelli had long since built up a tolerance to Gremory’s provocations, but the Meisters, facing Gremory for the first time, took the bait hook, line, and sinker.
"Princess, we’ll be going all out. Whether we rip her tongue out, rub our cocks on it, or smash her filthy mouth to pieces."
"That bitch needs a taste of our fire hammers."
"Looks innocent enough, but that mouth could put a succubus to shame."
"Pfft."
Rhodopelli stifled a gag at the torrent of obscenities, but couldn’t help feeling reassured by the Meisters hoisting their weapons. Gremory, too, stood with a demon draped in that unidentifiable outfit, a penguin robe, and an armored orc at her side, just like before...
"Hm?"
Rhodopelli felt something stir uneasily as her eyes landed on the orc in the black robe standing beside Gremory. His face was hard to make out, but even the robe couldn’t hide the sheer mass radiating off him. More than anything, though, the halberd slung across his back looked familiar.
"My Elizabeth! How dare some orc have his hands on my Elizabeth!!"
"...Oh? So her name was Elizabeth."
The orc lifted the halberd and ran his tongue along the flat of the blade. Rhodopelli shuddered as though she could feel that tongue sliding across her own cheek.
"Sorry, but this isn’t Elizabeth anymore. Allow me to introduce her. Seax Mark 3. My beloved weapon."
"Sex?"
"Seax!"
"Sex?! You sick, twisted freaks! How dare you slap some obscene name on someone else’s Elizabeth!!"
Rhodopelli was genuinely furious. Naming a weapon like that showed no respect for the weapon itself, let alone the artisan who forged it.
"A weapon is just a weapon. An armament bearing the name ’Holy Sword’ could very well be a weapon brimming with the essence of obscenity. But you’ve got some nerve. Who do you think you are, running your mouth about passing around what’s mine?"
Thoom! The orc drove the halberd into the ground.
"You clearly need a real lesson. Rhodopelli, I’ll rape you right here in front of everyone."
"You have seriously lost your mind...!"
"But that’s strange. Are you people idiots? You just waltzed right into the dungeon without any precautions."
The lower half of the orc’s face, visible beneath the robe, twisted into a sinister grin.
"You walked into this dungeon without even checking what’s right above you! Bwahahaha!!"
The orc’s mad laughter echoed off the ceiling. At the same moment, an eerie violet mana began to roil behind the orc ranks.
"Dark magic?! Dammit! Everyone, watch the ceiling!"
Rhodopelli jerked her head upward.
And then,
Hisssssss...
A purple light erupted from the floor directly beneath them.
"Morons. I say ’above you’ and you actually look up. That’s the problem with gullible people."
KABOOOOM!!
From below, a massive explosion erupted.