Dungeon Defense (WN)

* * *

The girls that were dismissed from the Demon Lord room gathered at one place.

This was a room that Lapis was using as her main office temporarily. The room was filled with documents related to the construction of the dungeon. The girls were dispirited like soldiers who had deserted a battlefield. Laura spoke in a lamenting tone.

“There is no chance of winning with Her Excellency Barbatos as our opponent. We do not have any advantages whatsoever. Our positions are pitiful in comparison to Her Excellency Barbatos’ position as one of the highest-ranking Demon Lords. Furthermore, His Lordship is an irreparable lolicon, so we lose in terms of physique as well……!”

Laura looked down at her chest with a reproachful look.

“Why is my body becoming ampler as time passes? I am truly mortified! It would have been nice if I could have maintained my child-like form since the day I met His Lordship for the first time!”

“…….”

“Her Highness Barbatos would kill you if she had heard what you said just now.”

Jeremi chuckled awkwardly.

“It’s hard to say that His Highness Dantalian absolutely prefers smaller bodies. For example, look at me.”

“No. I am certain of this. Miss Jeremi, look at that child.”

Laura pointed to the side.

Laura pointed at Daisy who was seated and quietly reading a book on philosophy. 「Philosophical Exploration of the Nature of Human Freedom and the Objects Associated with it」 was written on the cover in fancy handwriting. Daisy had already reached a reading and comprehension level that allowed her to understand a philosophy book written in the ancient imperial language.

“Does she not look the same, or even younger than Her Excellency Barbatos!?”

“……Rather than looking young, she is literally a young child.”

“His Lordship definitely has a specific preference!”

Laura wasn’t listening.

“Seriously, my jaw almost dropped when he suddenly brought that child here and called her his adopted daughter. Aah. This young lady definitely needed someone to handle His Lordship at night, but I did not mean an 11-year-old girl! That is much too young!”

“Mmm. I don’t think His Highness Dantalian took in Miss Daisy to bed her……. She is still his adopted daughter out of formality, you know?”

“It does not matter. If anything, a parent and child relationship would just excite him more.”

Laura declared.

Jeremi was learning with each passing day how terrible Dantalian’s image was ever since she arrived here. There probably weren’t that many Demon Lords who were also treated like this much of a pervert by their own vassals.

“……No. This might actually be a good thing.”

Lapis muttered.

“If Her Highness Barbatos takes the center stage, then there would be less females who would try to approach Sir Dantalian thoughtlessly. There is no greater shield than Her Highness Barbatos to prevent the number of concubines from increasing needlessly.”

“Surely.”

Laura nodded her head.

“You could see it as a type of tactical decision. Hm. We may be lacking in other things, but we have an advantage in terms of time. Different from Her Excellency Barbatos, we can always stay at His Lordship’s side at all times.”

“Yes. There are merits and demerits to this.”

Lapis and Laura were discussing what they should do from now on with incredibly serious looks on their faces.

Jeremi thought to herself as she watched them.

‘These girls are also a little weird.’

What sort of low-tier demon would refer to a Demon Lord as a shield? The human girl named Laura de Farnese also has a hobby of collecting the skulls of her fellow humans. There was also no reason to discuss Daisy’s bizarreness now.

‘No. Do these two genuinely intend to have a love battle with Her Highness Barbatos? Really? Seriously?’

Their opponent was the Rank 8 Demon Lord. They were insane. On the other hand, Daisy was quietly flipping through the pages of her philosophy book while sitting next to this chaos.

Jeremi suddenly came to a realization.

‘Wait, don’t tell me. Am I actually the most rational person here?’

She couldn’t believe it.

‘Me……the person who has spent hundreds of years assassinating people and getting stained by blood in the underworld……I’m the most rational……?’

How could this be happening?

There were only insane people gathered within Dantalian’s Demon Lord army, also known as Dantalian Familia. Lapis and Laura only looked normal at first glance, but once you got to know them, you realized they were also as terrifying as their ruler.

“I heard that Her Highness Barbatos has a masochistic side to her. Let’s use that and…….”

“Yes. Laura, you should aim for an opportunity to have a threesome with them. If you take the position at the top at that time, then there will be no problem. Her Highness Barbatos may be the legal wife on the surface, but within the palace, she is…….”

An immensely dangerous conversation was currently being exchanged!

Jeremi’s jaw dropped further and further as she listened to their conversation.

“Mm, wait. Wait a second. Miss Lapis, Miss Laura. Are you saying that you will put Her Highness Barbatos in the position of the ‘slave’……while Miss Laura takes the role as the leader? Is this what you two are discussing?”

“In terms of strategy, it is among the basics to attack your opponent’s weak spot.”

Laura nodded a matter-of-factly.

“Her Excellency Barbatos may be going out with His Lordship right now, but she was originally a lesbian. I am embarrassed to admit this, but this young lady is confident that her beauty does not fall behind anyone else. I will use this body.”

“Whaat……?”

Laura shouted boldly.

“This young lady will become Her Excellency Barbatos’ lover and turn her into this young lady’s slave!”

“…….”

“His Lordship, who is Her Excellency Barbatos’ lover, will become this young lady’s lover’s lover. This will put this young lady at a higher position!”

This girl is insane.

Jeremi couldn’t repress her astonishment as sweat dripped down her forehead. In other words, this human girl was saying that she would turn Barbatos into her SM partner for the sake of becoming Dantalian’s legal wife. Even Jeremi, who had experienced all sorts of hardship, didn’t understand what could’ve possibly been going through this girl’s mind to have come to such a conclusion.

“A splendid idea.”

Another lunatic was supporting Laura.

“I thought that Miss Laura was unfamiliar with policies, but I can only applaud your strategical side.”

“Do not worry. Big Sis Lapis will always be this young lady’s big sister. This fact will not change even after this young lady conquers Her Excellency Barbatos.”

Jeremi gave up on thinking.

One thing was certain, though. The Dantalian Familia was the most wicked gate to Hell in the world. Be it both the lord or his vassals, every last person here had a loose screw in their head.

The issue was the fact that they looked absolutely normal on the outside.

Demon Lord Dantalian was the person who led the 8th Crescent Alliance to success. Laura de Farnese was the rising star who prevented the Demon Lord army from getting wiped out at the Battle of Austerlitz. Lapis Lazuli was the wealthy merchant who was leading a success story in Keuncuska.

Other people would probably think this was a place filled with splendid individuals, but the reality was different. These guys were simply ghouls that acted normal!

‘I-I want to leave. I want to run away with all my strength. I don’t want to be connected with these people forever.’

Her intuition as an assassin was giving out warning signals. Nothing good would come out from getting mixed up with these people. However, there was nothing she could do. As long as there was a slave seal on her heart, she had to obey her client’s order no matter what even if she were to die…….

「Throw away all hope, those who have come to nirvana.」

The words engraved at the entrance of the dungeon were right. There were no hopes or dreams here…….

On this day.

The ruler Dantalian openly declared that he would sleep with every female Demon Lord for the sake of protecting his right to love freely and his vassals schemed to conquer Demon Lord Barbatos solely because they didn’t want to give up on the position of the legal wife.

This was the quality of the Dantalian Familia.

* * *

The Demon Lords gathered at the governor’s mansion in Niflheim. This was my third time here now.

The first time was when I was interrogated by Paimon during the hearing. At that time, I was the lowest-ranking Demon Lord without any sort of status. The second time I came here was when the Crescent Alliance Expedition was decided. At that time, I participated as a member of the Plains Faction.

Now, on the third visit……I was a key member of the Plains Faction and the highest advisor of the entire Crescent Alliance.

This was what people meant by not knowing what the future had in store. Looking back at it now, didn’t I run frantically for 3 years now?

“Your Highness Dantalian, welcome. Hihi. It is an honor to meet Your Highness.”

An old woman came out to greet me while I was staring at the front gate of the mansion and reminiscing the past. She had a familiar face. It was the witch that had come out to greet me when I came here for the first time a few years ago.

“Humbaba, is it? Long time no see.”

“Hoho? Did this humble one tell Your Highness her name?”

The old woman squeaked like a mouse as she spoke. The voice that put me on edge in the past now felt relaxing. I remember going into despair after peaking at this witch’s stats and thinking ‘I’d probably get wiped out if a witch like her were to invade my dungeon’. It was different now. I have death knights.

I displayed a relaxed smile.

“A Demon Lord should naturally know the name of his people.”

“As expected of Your Highness Dantalian, kiki. You truly are a prestigious individual who is renowned throughout the demon world. Now then, please allow this humble one to guide you to the mansion.”

The old woman took the lead.

This was also different from before. It was the old woman’s familiar that guided me last time. I was made to realize once more that I had really gotten far in life. I went through a lot of effort to reach this position.

Seriously.

It was to the point that one or two sentences wouldn’t be enough to describe everything.

“Rank 71! Demon Lord of Many Faces, His Highness Dantalian has arrived!”

The gatekeeper announced loudly to those present in the ballroom. The guards bowed to me extremely courteously as I walked between them with my mantle fluttering behind me. I was wearing black from my mantle all the way down to my boots.

Demon Lord of the Black Death. Someone muttered those words while looking at me. There were still a lot of people who thought I was connected to the Black Death. The color black was making people think of the Black Death. I had boldly worn black clothes so that they would think that more.

No Demon Lord dared to accuse me of causing the Black Death now, after all.

The other Demon Lords watched me from afar. No one approached me immediately. As expected, none of the Plains Faction Demon Lords had arrived yet. It was mostly people from the Mountain Faction. To them, Demon Lord Dantalian was nothing more than a nightmare that had brought their leader down. I doubt they’d want to even exchange pleasantries with me.

The era where the Mountain Faction controlled the Demon Lord army was now over. It was the Plains Faction that clearly had a firm grasp over the political landscape throughout the continent now. In other words, I was the war criminal who created this change. It felt silly.

However, there was one person who paid that silence no mind and approached me anyway even though there was tension between me and the Mountain Faction Demon Lords.

“Long time no see, Dantalian!”

“……Yes, it has been a long time, Sitri.”

The sole person within the Demon Lord army whose mind was not dirtied, the Rank 12 Sitri.

Sitri linked her arm with mine as soon as she saw me. The sound of shock echoed around us. In their current fallen state, it was Sitri who was currently leading the Mountain Faction. That Demon Lord had approached the Mountain Faction’s archnemesis in a friendly manner.

“What have you been doing all this time? You didn’t get in contact with me for a while, so I thought you died!”

“Haha. I’m a rather tenacious person. You do not have to worry about me.”

“You have to be careful since there are a lot of people who dislike you.”

Sitri puffed up her cheeks as she glared at me. I could genuinely feel that she was concerned about me.

I let out a bitter laugh. Really, this lady. Does she know how much of a political impact her current action is going to have? She probably doesn’t. This was what made her Sitri.

On the other hand, there was also an individual who looked like they were raising two hundred snakes in their stomach.

“Hehe. Hi, Dantalian. Long time no see.”

Rank 4 Demon Lord Gamigin.

Not only was she going through a territorial dispute with Barbatos, but she was also the person I had to negotiate with as the representative of the Plains Faction.

Gamigin strutted her way to me while boasting her abundant blonde hair. She was smiling brightly. At a glance, she almost looked as innocent as Sitri, but I knew very well how cruel her insides were.

“It has been a long time, Miss Gamigin. Have you been well?”

“Yup. There hasn’t been a single boring day thanks to Barbatos!”

Gamigin grinned widely.

“I’ll be in your care today, Dantalian. If you corner me too much, I’ll sulk, okay?”

“I will also be in your care. Haha.”

We shook each other’s hand with a smile.

***

TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. It’s really surprising to see Laura act like this when you consider how she usually behaves around Dant. Also, another chapter goes by where I get saddened by old grandma Humbaba. I shed a tear. Maybe something will happen to her in the future that turns her into the way we remember her from the LN… One can only dream.

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

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