Dungeon Defense (WN)

Jeremi took out a bunch of equipment from her traveling gear. She was overflowing with confidence.

“These are potions I had kept in reserve.”

There were clear bottles stored inside of a wooden box. Each bottle sloshed with various liquids of different colors. Aside from the potions, the surgery knife, incense, and herbal powder that I saw last time were also stored in other compartments. How should I describe this? It was like I was looking at the belongings of a herbalist, doctor, and perfumer all in one.

“Mm. It seems that you are not a simple assassin, but also a hardworking alchemist, huh?”

“It is normal for an assassin to know about medicine if they want to at least become the vice-captain of an assassin group.”

So it’s essential for them to know about poisonous substances and gases? In that case, assassins have to be gifted in both fields. The image I had of assassins had been quite different until now.

We finished our preparations and returned to the carriage.

Daisy was still collapsed on the floor of the carriage. Jeremi immediately put Daisy on the bed and started to treat her. She poured some sort of yellow liquid into Daisy’s mouth. When I asked her what it was, it was apparently a honey liquid with several different herbs melted into it.

“Not only is she suffering from the aftereffects of excessive potion use……sheesh, Your Highness, you also injured her severely. Look at her torn lips. I feel like these injuries are probably more severe than the aftereffects.”

The inside of the carriage was lit by candlelight. Jeremi stripped Daisy out of her ragged clothes and dipped a towel inside some boiled herbal water before wiping Daisy’s entire body clean.

“She is still a girl. You shouldn’t ruin her face.”

“There is a lot more weight to those words since you are the one saying them.”

“Fufu.”

Half of Jeremi’s face had been burned horribly, after all.

“She taunted me.”

I plopped myself down on the seat on the other side.

“She is a disgustingly devious brat.”

“Oh, she taunted you? What sort of taunt could she have done to make Your Highness so upset? You are usually so calm and collected. Even I cannot help but be curious.”

“Put your needless interest somewhere else.”

She mentioned my mother.

I got so angry that it surprised even me. Even now it had yet to subside.

‘That girl knows how to accurately influence my emotions.’

I thought to myself as I watched her get treated from the side.

It was like that back at the slash-and-burn village as well. The 10-year-old girl spoke as if she could clearly see the words she had to say to affect my mind.

What she had to do to obtain my goodwill and to drag up my understanding and mercy. It was like she was reading the mind of an old friend.

My rage would have most likely subsided if Daisy apologized after trying to assassinate me. She was the hero, after all. No, she was like the shell of a hero. It was obvious that she would try to kill me. However, I would have not forgiven her for trying to kill me while I’m unaware.

That was something I would never forgive.

Someone doing something arbitrarily and causing death without me knowing is something I absolutely do not want to experience again.

“That brat deliberately got on my nerves. The surgery must have hurt quite a bit, that damned brat…….”

“She deliberately got on Your Highness’ nerves? What could she possibly gain by doing that?”

“It means that she does not intend to apologize even if she were to die.”

I gnashed my teeth. Even if she was able to read me like an open book, I could easily tell what was on her mind as well. It was obvious.

However, it seems that Jeremi didn’t understand what I meant as a third party. She was tilting her head.

“I apologize, Your Highness, but I do not understand what you mean by that.”

“To put it simply, it is a battle of pride. She does not want to apologize for trying to assassinate me. If she does, then she would no longer be able to attempt it ever again. Nonetheless, she does not want to rely on my generosity to receive my mercy either.”

She’s trying to put me on equal terms with her psychologically.

“……Are you saying that she provoked you knowing that she would get hit like this?”

“Did I not tell you already? She did not simply do it knowingly. She did it with that very intention in mind.”

My insides felt like they were boiling.

“She sent me a declaration of war. The girl has absolutely no intention of building up an equal relationship with me since we have become master and slave. Let us constantly carve away at each other’s minds and spend our hellish days together……this is what she is most likely trying to tell me. This shitty brat.”

Adding to this, she might have even planned further than this in order to prevent me from taking the initiative.

No, I was certain of this. If things had gone according to my original plan, then I was going to put myself in an advantageous position by being kind to Daisy after she had become incredibly weak due to the surgery. It didn’t matter if my kindness was real or fake. The mere fact that I was kind to her would have prevented Daisy from acting carelessly.

While I could do all sorts of kind acts to Daisy, she would barely be able to do anything for me. My kindness would pile and pile up as time passes before Daisy eventually gets mentally overwhelmed by me completely. That was the scenario I had planned out.

Therefore, tonight was the only chance that a reversal of positions could happen. She taunted me to the point of making me beat her. If you look at this objectively, then not only had I made her a slave and forced a terrible surgery upon her, but I acted violently upon a patient.

I was at a loss in terms of psychological warfare. If I do kind things for her now, then that wouldn’t simply be kindness but compensation for everything I had done to her until now. This impertinent lass!

“…….”

Jeremi was listening to me in silence before carefully opening her mouth to speak.

“Uhm……Your Highness? Do you perhaps think like ‘that’ every time you interact with other people? Like what the other person is thinking and what sort of psychological structure has to be established to gain an advantage……? Furthermore, you are saying that this girl does this as well?”

“Of course.”

I furrowed my brows.

“I am the weakest Demon Lord at rank 71. If I cannot grasp what the other party is thinking and their intentions, then I would simply become prey to be hunted. If you know your enemy and yourself, you can win every battle. Is this not a basic among basics?”

“Naturally……that is obviously the case if you make grasping the intentions of others such a simple task. However, who in the world would devote their way of speech and demeanor entirely on that……no. Never mind.”

Jeremi let out a sigh.

“That is the way of a schemer. I understand now. Jeez. A preposterous way of life does exist. But how does Your Highness know this girl is the same as you?”

I let out a snort.

“You can tell just by looking at her. She’s quite the fucker.”

“…….”

Jeremi’s hands stopped treating Daisy for a moment as she turned to give me a befuddled look. Her mouth was twitching as if she wanted to say something, but she soon let out a sigh and returned to her work. She muttered something to herself as she shook her head, but I couldn’t hear her.

After about two hours, Daisy opened her eyes fully. It must have been thanks to the effect of the herbal water as even her torn lips were healed. Her skin was back to normal.

“…….”

Daisy turned to look this way. She looked back and forth between me and Jeremi before lowering her head courteously to Jeremi.

“Thank you for treating me.”

“Oh dear. Don’t mention it.”

I felt like my rationality was going to snap again. This absolutely shitty brat! Her display of gratitude to Jeremi was more of a performance she was putting on for me. I would never thank you, this was what she was saying to me.

I barely managed to take out my wooden ball with my trembling left hand. I calmed myself down as I rolled the ball around in my palm.

My head cooled down once I felt the sensation of the ball pressing down on my hand. Yeah. That’s right. Calm down, Dantalian……. She’s more than ten years younger than you. Don’t fall for such an obvious ploy. We only lost our initiative temporarily, she does not have any more tricks up her sleeves.

“It seems the lass with a bright future in assassination has awoken.”

I smiled. I had regained enough composure to cover my anger with a smile. Nonetheless, I couldn’t do anything about my mocking tone.

“I wonder if you were able to sleep well. Are you not curious as to whether the left arms and legs of your parents are still fine?”

“……Hoo.”

The girl let out a snort. Damn it, a snort. She was genuinely trying to drive me insane. Her face was completely emotionless, so the fact that she was mocking me with simply the sound of a snort angered me further.

I subconsciously strengthened my grip on my wooden ball. I wanted to slap that annoying girl again. It would only be right to hang people and execute them on the gallows for snorting at people. It wasn’t illegal, but it was still a weapon! Reacting to a weapon with a slap was only fair to a certain degree.

I curled my lips as I spoke.

“All right. Let us put aside any needless comments.”

“I did not say anything.”

Daisy stared straight at me as she remarked.

My urge to kill surged up.

“……I was personally deeply moved by what you pulled in the middle of the night. It was an amazing declaration of war. Thus, I prepared a small gift for you. Do you know what this is?”

I raised my right hand. A transparent and slimy substance was squirming around in a round shape.

“A slime.”

“I will now be putting this into your body. I do hope that you accept it.”

“As you wish.”

All of her responses were short. She didn’t want to let herself get pushed back in terms of spirit even if she were to die. You’re so amazingly haughty, hero candidate Daisy. I look forward to seeing whether you can maintain that expression or not in a few days.

“Jeremi.”

“Understood.”

Jeremi received the slime from me. Once she tickled the center of the slime with her finger, the slime naturally split into two pieces.

“Now then, Miss Daisy. Please spread your legs.”

“…….”

Daisy seemed to now realize what the purpose of the slime was.

She looked at the slime impassively before looking up at me impassively again. This was probably her way of implicitly telling me to not look. Why was she acting like this when I had already seen everything there was to see when her heart was being engraved?

Nevertheless, her action felt strangely adorable so I turned my head away appropriately. I heard a voice once I did.

“I will be in charge of your education from now on, so it would be troubling if you didn’t listen to me.”

“……I understand.”

This was the first step. Jeremi was going to insert one half of the slime ‘into’ Daisy. The transparent slime will most likely hesitate, but it will continue to gradually crawl further inside.

“…….”

Did she think it was going to start now? I could hear Daisy hold her breath. The sensation of a foreign substance entering you will most likely feel incredibly vivid especially since it was a type of monster.

A minute passed. I was tapping the floor with my foot out of boredom.

Jeremi spoke.

“It is done. Now I will put in the next one.”

“……?”

The slime that had gone inside first should have slipped out by now.

I turned my head to look at Daisy. She was looking at me as well. From her perspective, something she hadn’t expected was happening.

By her gaze, she was earnestly trying to figure out my intentions by examining my face. I felt pleased so I gave her a smile.

Regardless of our exchange, Jeremi inserted the second slime. Nothing happened this time as well. The only difference was the fact that, different from the first slime, the second slime wasn’t removed. Therefore, the second slime had positioned itself inside Daisy’s body.

“Does it feel uncomfortable?”

“……No. It does not.”

Daisy seemed to think that it was finally over now.

“I can barely feel anything.”

“Oh dear, that’s good. It was a success, then.”

Jeremi spoke gently.

“Now then, you should get up and put a mantle on. Aren’t you hungry after sleeping for so long? There’s still some warm soup left in the pot, so you can go have a plate.”

Jeremi supported Daisy as she got up. She then wrapped Daisy’s body with a mantle she had prepared beforehand. It was worn out, but it was a top-grade item with a cold resistance spell cast on it.

“Ah, please refer to me as your teacher from now on.”

“……Yes, teacher. I will be in your care.”

Jeremi left the carriage with Daisy.

Daisy couldn’t hide her suspicion even as she left the carriage. But what does she know? I chuckled to myself as I was left alone in the carriage.

No matter how smart she is, she’s only 10 years old. She can’t counteract something like this. This was what I was aiming for…….

Attacking someone’s weak point was one of the biggest fundamental in military tactics. There was nothing wrong with this. I’m genuinely looking forward to seeing what sort of face she was going to make.

However, I, unfortunately, have to go and meet the other Demon Lords first……. I’ll get my revenge for what you did tonight when I return from those meetings.

***

TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I’m writing this as soon as I woke up, so my head is pretty empty right now. The weather is still being a pain here. A really strong thunderstorm went by yesterday, but the temperature hasn’t changed at all. Why can’t the wind blow or something. It’s just uncomfortably hot. I’ve also been having a really bad headache since last night, so I’m probably going to lay down after I post this.

On another note, Leraje is confirmed a male. Not sure about Ronove yet. 

I’ll see you guys in the next chapter.

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