Dungeon Defense (WN)

I looked up at the smoke.

“A certain wise man once said……happy people mostly look the same while unfortunate people all have their own respective differences.”

“What does that mean?”

I shook my head.

“No, that line simply came to my head even though I have never thought about it since the first time I read it a few years ago. A person’s memory is a rather mysterious thing.”

When was it? Did I hear it during one of my 1st-year college classes? It was only a few years ago, but it felt like a distant memory now…….

It was definitely the first line in Tolstoy’s novel <Anna Karenina>. I didn’t think much about it at the time and simply skimmed over it, but I was now remembering a line that was nothing more than black letters on a white page.

It was probably because I was only surrounded by broken people.

The half-breed between a demon and a human, Lapis. Laura who was sold as a slave by her family. Jeremi who was forced to live a life as an assassin since a young age……. And now Parsi who was forced to become the village chief after his father’s death. These were the states in which all the people who could be called my vassals were in.

Parsi didn’t become the village chief because he wanted to and becoming an assassin wasn’t Jeremi’s decision either. Laura naturally didn’t become a sex slave because she wanted to as well. Lapis wouldn’t have wanted to be born as a half-breed either. These people were all forced into unfortunate situations despite having done nothing wrong.

Wasn’t this unfair?

“…….”

We spent the night at Parsi’s place. There was no problem if I didn’t sleep for several days, so I sat on a window sill and thought to myself while smoking.

‘It would be fine if one were to become unfortunate because they had done something wrong.’

They could repent and reflect on what they did wrong so it doesn’t happen again. By doing so, they might be able to become happy. But what were people who had done nothing wrong but were still in unfortunate situations supposed to do?

They have nothing to repent about and no one to ask for forgiveness. It was the world that was in the wrong, not them.

Therefore, they have the right to get revenge on the world.

Misfortune was unfairly forced upon them, so it was now their turn to force unfairness onto the world. We are individuals of condensed malice and our malice has been approved of by the world.

I’m a Demon Lord. Kings are people that carry out the wishes of their subjects. As a Demon Lord, I will carry out my vassals’ revenge.

Indiscriminate revenge.

‘Barbatos, this is my principle of royalty.’

It probably seems absolutely filthy compared to your principle of carrying out the dreams of demonkind as a whole. But this is the only method we have. Would you be able to understand this, girl with great pride?

The night flowed by quietly.

* * *

“Oh, did you sleep well?”

I met up with Fabian the next morning. It wasn’t only Fabian that was here at the village’s entrance. There was a rowdy group of 20 adventurers gathered here as well. They were a party that had come here from the city to invade Dantalian’s Demon Lord Castle.

“I was, fortunately, able to get a place to sleep. How about you, Mr. Fabian? Did you sleep well?”

“Damn it. I ended up sleeping in a stable even though I paid a lot for lodging. The villagers here seem to gnash their teeth just at the thought of adventurers.”

Fabian scratched his bald head.

“They seemed to at least have a conscience, though, since they gave me fresh hay to use as a blanket. It wasn’t that bad. It’s better than using air as a pillow, don’t you think?”

“Of course……. But there seems to be a lot of people here. Is this some sort of appointment time?”

I looked around. Fabian seemed surprised by my response as he spoke.

“Have you never participated in a large party before?”

“Yes. I have mostly been in parties of 5 or 10.”

“Aha, I see. So this is your first time.”

Fabian smiled slyly.

“You’ll understand soon enough. Have a look at what happens when over a hundred adventurers gather.”

Shortly after, dozens of adventurers started to move on their own. Once a party took the lead and went forward, the others slowly followed behind them. Jeremi and I walked while chatting in the Ancient Empire Language.

However, this wasn’t happening only in the village that we had stayed in. We started to see more and more adventurer groups like ours to our left and right the closer we got to the Demon Lord castle. Once the groups gathered, the number of adventurers skyrocketed from 20 to 100 in an instant.

“Hoo.”

We eventually arrived at the entrance where there was already a queue of adventurers. Just from a glance, there were probably about 150 people. Fabian spoke up beside me once I stared at the spectacle in awe.

“When this many adventurers gather like this, then they gather at a specific time and go in together. They don’t plan this beforehand, but it’s like an unwritten rule.”

“Why is that?”

“You have a higher survival rate compared to when you go in alone.”

Fabian shrugged his shoulders.

“We don’t know what monsters live in the Demon Lord castle and what kinds of traps there are, after all. Everyone is basically hoping that another party will trigger the traps for them. It’s like a type of meat shield.”

I see. It was simple but effective.

They weren’t expecting anything like unity from the other parties. Another person acting as bait was more than good enough. I didn’t know this since only small-sized parties appeared in the game.

“Would it not be disadvantageous the further ahead you are? I feel as if everyone would want to go later.”

“Keke. You’re right, but the competition also increases the further back you are.”

It was dangerous to go first, but the reward was high. That was what he was saying.

“Demon Lord castles overflow with mana. Demons that live by consuming that mana……their skin is sturdy and firm, so you can sell them to merchants and you can sell their bones to mage guilds. They’re all money.”

“Go to Demon Lord castles if you want to make a lot of money, but if you care about your safety, then don’t go first…….”

Fabian nodded.

“In the end, people who are confident in their skills will go first. It’s also a matter of pride, you know? News about a certain party going in earlier than another group or falling behind another group will immediately affect their reputation. Look over there.”

Fabian pointed to the entrance. There were adventurers standing there who were clearly distinguishable from the rest of the rabble. Some of them were wearing high-quality leather armor while others even had chainmail on. They were probably at least D rank adventurers.

They were all fidgeting while keeping an eye on each other.

“Daedalus the Gust, Myriel the Crazy, Poison Crow Diethard……. All of the somewhat reputable fellows have gathered here. If you exclude the ones who went off to war, they’re the next best in line. Hm, those guys definitely have a lot of issues with each other.”

It’s surprising that no one has taken their sword out yet, Fabian commented casually.

“Well, it’ll be settled soon.”

It was as he said. An adventurer who was built like a mountain took the first step. A group of adventurers followed behind him one by one as they walked through the entrance. Once they departed, the other adventurers who were glaring at each other quickly turned away and shouted.

“We’re going as well!”

“Pull yourselves together!”

Everyone swarmed forward once a single person made the first move. Scouts took the lead―they were mostly forest rangers and hunters―as they ran in first. They didn’t plan anything beforehand, but the scouts cooperated with each other as they moved together like a scouting party.

Fabian seemed displeased as he scrunched up his nose.

“Hmph. Daedalus is really heated up. He’s definitely going to die first.”

“There’s no guarantee that he will die.”

“Quite, but there is also no guarantee that he will survive, right?”

Fabian cackled. We were also swept up by the people around us as we entered the Demon Lord castle.

Different from the sunlight outside, the inside of the dungeon was filled with a blue light that was emanating from the mana stones. It became awkward for the adventurers who had brought torches in case the dungeon was dark. Fabian had also brought a torch, but he murmured in surprise.

“This place is a lot more abundant with mana than I expected. At the very least, we won’t have to go back because we’ve run out of torches.”

“Is that a good thing?”

“It’s both good and bad. The good thing is the fact that we won’t have to rely on damn torches……. Hey, you fucker! Keep your distance!”

Fabian suddenly stopped explaining and shouted at the people behind us. The adventurers who were right behind us had bumped into him. Fabian exchanged a few swear words with them for a while before they nonchalantly distanced themselves.

“Sheesh. There’s no room to swing your sword if people are clustered together too much. We’ll all just die in one big clump. Seriously, these kids are way too impatient……. Mm, how far did I explain?”

“The bad thing about a Demon Lord castle having a lot of mana.”

“Ah, right. The bad thing. It’s simple.”

Fabian shrugged.

“If there’s a lot of mana, then a lot of monsters will live here as well. It’s obvious. You could also interpret this as there being a lot more things to hunt for money.”

“―And it also means we could end up as the prey.”

“That’s right.”

Fabian grinned.

At that moment, we heard shouting come from ahead of us. The sound of metal and shouting resonated as it bounced off the cavern walls. Someone shouted “Goblins!”. It seems the first group that had gone in had encountered monsters.

The uproar soon came to a stop. The adventurers must have dealt with the goblins with ease.

“It mustn’t have been an impressive monster. No one shouted about running away. Well, it isn’t surprising since we’re still at the entrance. I have a good feeling about this.”

We continued to walk like this for about 10 minutes in this mood.

The number of adventurer parties diminished as time passed. It wasn’t because they were getting done in by monsters. There were forked roads inside the dungeon. The tunnel forked into three different paths. The parties split down the path of their choice.

“……Hmm.”

Fabian paused in front of the forked path. Did he realize there was no point in contemplating? Fabian chose the right path which a majority of the other groups had also taken.

We encountered another forked road a short bit later. This time it split into only two different paths. The other adventurers paused for a moment once they reached this second forked road. They were worried about their numbers diminishing, but the path had also become too narrow for 50 people to fit in.

“…….”

The adventurers split up once more. We went down the right path. Our party which had departed relatively later than the other groups ended up getting closer to the front as the people in front of us had disappeared.

We walked for about another 10 minutes like that.

This time the adventurers came to a complete stop. Before long, the large crowd that started with 150 adventurers had shrunk down to 20. They had stopped in one spot and were looking at each other anxiously.

Fabian muttered to himself.

“……This is a bit worrying.”

There was another forked road in front of them and the paths were a bit narrower than before.

If the adventurers split into smaller groups again, then the groups will go from 20 to 10. They would basically be becoming the same size as normal, small-scale parties. It wasn’t surprising that the adventurers who were confident because of their numbers would be reluctant to split up now.

Fabian spoke out to the hesitating adventurers.

“Hey, how about we work together here? It might be packed, but I think it would be better if we all went down one tunnel.”

The other adventurers must’ve also felt anxious about splitting up as they agreed with Fabian. Everyone maintained a fair bit of distance between each other as they went into the right tunnel one by one. They didn’t know where they were going.

These people had no idea that this was a ‘beta test’ for my new Demon Lord Castle.

***

TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Not too much to say about this chapter. I wonder what fate lies in wait for these adventurers. <del>How is Dantalian going to cook them alive?</del> Haha, I totally don’t know what’s going to happen :^).

On another note, I’ve been playing FFXIV again. I just sort of idle in the game while I translate/do other things. If you’re in Primal, feel free to come by and say hi. I go by Chocomint Cake in Hyperion. Please don’t question my naming choice.

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