Dungeon Defense (WN)

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Adventurer.

It may appear like a job that is overflowing with romance, but it is actually the furthest away from romance.

For starters, they aren’t citizens of a city or farmers in a village. They have no home. They are barely able to make a living by taking care of the requests occasionally given by civilians.

Take care of a monster den that had abruptly appeared, bring me a rare ingredient necessary to create a regional product……. In other words, they were the city’s subcontractors. They don’t have to pay taxes since they aren’t citizens, but they are only seen as parasitic vagrants because they don’t pay taxes.

Adventurers mostly consisted of displaced people and orphans. Someone who was unable to endure the tyranny of the lord they lived under and were barely able to stay alive as an adventurer……. This wasn’t an uncommon tale. Their origins were extremely doubtful. They weren’t trustworthy.

“It’d probably be better to leave a herring to a cat than leave a request to adventurers.”

This was the general notion that people held about adventurers. They were basically unreliable.

Different from the modern era where laws and public order have developed, ‘trust’ was abnormally crucial in this era. It wasn’t surprising that anyone would doubt adventurers since they had unknown origins.

Let’s say you’re hiring someone to work part-time at your store. What will you do if the part-time worker steals money from you and runs away?

It wouldn’t be a problem in the modern era since public order is maintained thoroughly and the personal information of every individual is easily obtainable. You just had to report them to the police and get them caught. However, the public order here was shabby and an information base only existed in an incredibly crude form. If the part-time worker escapes out of the city, then it would be practically impossible to capture them.

Therefore, everyone tries to use people whom they can ‘trust’.

An example of this would be the sons and daughters of other citizens. They will receive their citizenship later, so they are less likely to run away from the city. Even if they do run away, you could make their parents pay for the losses you had incurred. It was secure.

Another example would be someone who was guaranteed by a priest or a city bureaucrat. People like that were trustworthy. Priests and bureaucrats would personally handpick who they recommend for the sake of their own fame. That’s why you had to receive a reference from a reputable priest, bureaucrat, or, at the very least, a merchant if you wanted to receive work.

Adventurers didn’t have something like that.

“They can join a mercenary brigade if they manage to garner enough achievements.”

“Life isn’t easy.”

Jeremi smiled bitterly.

She and I were currently in the hall of the adventurers guild. This was an old building. The floor squeaked with every step and they sold cheap beer despite charging an exorbitant amount for them. I looked at the scenery within the guild as I emptied the cheap beer in my mouth.

“Recruiting adventurers to go to Dantalian’s Demon Lord Castle!”

“I promise to give 15% of the total profits to yellow adventurers and 10% to green adventurers!”

It was loud and noisy like a flea market.

People kept moving around inside the building which made the floor squeak almost everywhere. The adventurers shouted as they looked for other adventurers to form parties with. They were doing their utmost to try and get at least decent companions.

This was the adventurers’ base. The guildhall.

People can’t trust adventurers, so the thing that the adventurers devised in order to combat this was a guild. Most cities would have an adventurer guild like this.

The guild’s job was to manage the ‘trust’ of adventurers.

Civilians would submit commissions to the guild. The adventures would then choose a commission they want to take from the commission board that the guild puts up publicly. If the adventurer completes the quest successfully, then the guild writes in their ledger that ‘this person has successfully completed a certain quest’.

Naturally, if they give up on a commission, then it gets written down that ‘this person has boldly neglected a commission’.

This accumulated data on how much each adventurer could be trusted.

Adventurers with extremely low trust rates are kicked out. No one would want to leave a commission to them.

It might seem cruel, but this was inevitable in order for the adventurer job to exist. Insincere people are destined to be eliminated no matter the world you’re in. Adventurers are no exception…….

That is why adventurers never try to take quests that are beyond their capabilities. People ruin themselves by trying to ape their betters. Is this quest within my capabilities? Is there a chance that I might fail? They have to contemplate these sorts of things carefully.

For example, let’s say there is a commission saying 「50,000 gold will be awarded to the adventurer who captures Demon Lord Barbatos!」. Even if the reward seemed tempting, this was absolutely absurd. Only crazy people would take a commission like that.

However, they couldn’t be too careful either. They still have to make a living, after all. It was necessary for them to have enough courage to face a certain degree of danger.

Caution and courage to preserve. Only those who had these two things could succeed as adventurers. They also required a bit of luck to let them survive until the very end…….

I took another swig of my beer.

“But my Demon Lord castle is renowned for being shabby.”

“You got that right. It feels like almost every single adventurer in the city has gathered here.”

My dungeon didn’t even have a name.

Like Barbatos’ 「Palace of All Dead」 or Paimon’s 「Forest where Lethe Slumbers」, my dungeon didn’t have any sort of amazing nickname attached to it like most well-off Demon Lord castles would often have.

It was simply Dantalian’s Demon Lord Castle.

It hurt knowing how painfully pitiful it made me appear as the owner of that shabby dungeon…….

Well, in any case.

A 4,000 gold reward was attached to that shabby dungeon. There was also the 1,000 gold bounty that the mayor of the city had personally attached to my neck. In total, that was a large sum of 5,000 gold.

This was like a stroke of luck for adventurers.

Even if they made a party of 10, each person would receive 500 gold. There was no way they would miss this opportunity. This was probably what the adventurers were thinking.

“Although that’s what I’m aiming for.”

“Fufu, how surprised would they be if they knew that that very Demon Lord was currently in a corner of the guildhall.”

Jeremi chuckled.

That’s right.

You might be able to tell by the fact by our presence here, but that commission was a trap. The adventurers were currently misinformed because they only knew about the previously recorded data on Dantalian’s Demon Lord Castle.

“A bunch of the lowest-ranking adventurers will most likely gather. Sheesh, how pitiful. They’re all going to die.”

It was just as Jeremi had said. My place wasn’t as brutal as Barbatos’ place, but it wasn’t as easy as one might think now.

It was only the first floor, but it was made by the greatest builders in the demon world. I’ve also poured in an almost infinite amount of money into the construction. Various traps and labyrinths were built in the dungeon. It was at the level where it was basically inescapable for any adventurer that happened to venture deep into the dungeon.

“Still, Your Highness, wouldn’t it be dangerous if someone with talent were to come?”

“Every skilled individual is currently out as a mercenary in the Lily War.”

I shook my head. The Lily War was referring to the civil war that was still happening in Frankia. The Black Lily represented Brittany while the White Lily represented Frankia. That was why it was being called the Lily War.

War was an excellent business opportunity for talented adventurers. Parties would simply turn themselves into mercenary groups and fight for whoever pays them.

The passive battle against the Crescent Alliance in Habsburg and the civil war in Frankia. It may be an unfortunate time for most people on the continent, but for adventurers who are starving for commissions, this was the best time for them to make a living.

I spoke up.

“All of the adventurers who are still in the city are just rabble. An absolute majority of them have the lowest rank. In other words, the type of people that can’t be used as mercenaries. Well, I would say that, at most, anyone above average has left the city.”

That was why I deliberately wrote the commission as so.

『4,000 gold will be awarded to whoever brings Demon Lord Dantalian.』

『This is an urgent request. The deadline is until the end of this month.』

『Dead or alive.』

“The important part is the ‘urgent request’. I’m only giving them about half a month. Even if the high-ranking adventurers out on the battlefield were to hear about this commission, it would be impossible for them to participate.”

“Haa, so it had that kind of purpose.”

Jeremi’s eyes widened slightly.

“As I thought, Your Highness is skilled at thinking up these sorts of tricks. You never cease to amaze this humble one.”

“……Is that a compliment?”

“Of course. You may be the wittiest in the world, but Your Highness was unable to defeat 20,000 soldiers with an army of 60,000.”

I kicked Jeremi’s shin under the table. Jeremi let out a yelp as she frowned.

“That was because Henrietta de Brittany is overpowered……! Like hell I’ll ever attempt a pitched battle against an army whose main unit is their knights again!”

“Oww. To think you’d kick a lady. Your Highness is a savage.”

“Does it hurt? Does it hurt a lot? I feel the same way.”

I snorted.

I’m not sure how this happened, but I didn’t have even a single vassal who sincerely respected me. Lapis is on top of my head, Laura used to follow me around cutely but now she’s been getting weird thoughts in her head, and Jeremi is just rude.

“Damn it, you vile things. None of you will even praise me for having come up this far from being penniless…….”

“It would be troubling if you misunderstood, Your Highness. I actually respect and revere Your Highness greatly.”

Jeremi smiled brightly.

“But, how should I say it? I feel comfortable when I am near Your Highness.”

“Comfortable?”

“Mm. This humble one also respects Her Highness Paimon, but she has no openings whatsoever. I cannot help but think of her as a hero who was born with clarity, so I end up being solemn and serious whenever I’m next to her.”

But, Jeremi said as she continued.

“Your Highness gives off the impression that you’re missing a screw in your head.”

“…….”

I silently kicked her in the shin again. However, Jeremi must’ve predicted my action as she skillfully dodged my foot. Dang it.

“I’m not saying this to ridicule Your Highness. If Her Highness Paimon is like a camel who is constantly walking upright straight to her ideal without a single wasted step……mm. Then Your Highness looks like someone who is simply leaving themselves to the flow of time.”

“Aren’t you just saying that I don’t seem reliable?”

“Ah, of course. Your Highness isn’t reliable at all.”

Jeremi laughed.

“But Your Highness, someone whose life revolves solely around pursuing their ideal exhausts the people around them. They are like a burning flame, so they heat up those who gather around them. However, at the same time, they also burn those people and turn them into piles of ash……. Your Highness is far from being like a fire.”

“Hmm.”

I drank my beer indifferently. I didn’t understand what she was trying to say, but I decided to overlook it since she was insisting that she wasn’t mocking me.

“The individuals that gather around Your Highness are most likely people who have found shelter within Your Highness’ unique type of slackness. In a world filled with nothing but thorns, a shelter like that is precious for certain people.”

The conversation stopped after that. Jeremi kept smiling at me and I felt uncomfortable under her gaze, so I drank my beer silently.

“Hey, can I join you guys?”

It was around this point that an adventurer approached us.

It was a man wearing rather luxurious-looking leather armor. He gave off a solid impression. The man had a pleasant smile on his face as he asked for our permission.

“Hm? Do you have business with us?”

I responded with a business smile. Honestly, I was capable of changing my expression within 0.5 seconds at any time and place.

“We are currently making a party.”

The adventurer said as he sat down next to us.

“You guys look rather skilled. How about it? Want to create a party with me?”

***

TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Well, the second dose definitely hit me. My experience wasn’t as bad as a couple of my friends’, but I definitely felt like I had a fever for an entire day. I wasn’t able to get any translating done that day, hence why this chapter came out a day later than usual. The feverish feeling is gone, but my shoulder is still aching. Hopefully it’ll all be gone by tomorrow. I’m going to be honest, I sort of wanted to experience the really bad fever that my 2 friends  went through. I guess it’s like a morbid curiosity? One of them said they were so out of it that they had to stay in bed all day.

Welp, insane rambling aside, I’ll see you guys in the next chapter.

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