Chapter 14
Episode 14: Pen Pal Friend (Not Only)
First, I headed toward the stall.
It was less of a stall and more of a pile of rubble, but either way, when I made my way toward the place to rest my body, two students were already sitting in chairs with worried expressions.
"Yuna. Silen."
"Master!"
"Mister…."
At my call, the two of them came rushing toward me. Their faces were full of concern, and I couldn't help but smile.
"Did you eat?"
"This isn't the time to be asking about food, Mister. What's going on? Why exactly did you tell us to run?"
I took a moment to choose my words.
I can't exactly tell them that the Demon King's Four Heavenly Kings came to meet me in person, and that if you two were exposed to even a trace of that one's Dark Energy, you'd drop dead in one second flat.
If I did, the kids might cry their eyes out and say they'd never set foot in the dungeon again…. And there was an even bigger problem than that.
Anyway, for now I'll just gloss over the situation.
"In the Boss Room, an unusually powerful boss has a rare chance to spawn. I sensed its presence."
"That's a lie, isn't it?"
"It's a lie."
"Why do you think it's a lie?"
When I asked back, Yuna—quite uncharacteristically—puffed out her cheeks and spoke.
"I do quite a bit of theoretical studying myself, Master. Rare bosses do spawn, that's true—but no matter how strong they are, they're never more than twice as powerful as the original boss. That's a rule that's never been broken to this day. Right?"
"And even if the boss in the Rocket Chicken map is twice as strong as we don't know how strong—running away without even getting close to the Boss Room doesn't make sense, does it?"
"……."
I had forgotten.
These two were far too talented to be kept at a backwater academy like Demeter Academy…!
"Huuu…."
"What exactly was in there, Master?"
"Something powerful. Something dangerous. Something that should absolutely never be on the 2nd floor. Don't ask me any more than that."
"Mister…."
"When the opportunity comes, I'll tell you everything."
At my fairly serious words, the two nodded, unsatisfied but accepting, and we began dinner.
It was surely the same burger I always ate, but somehow it tasted a little off.
Come to think of it, of course it would—I couldn't see these kids eating with smiles on their faces.
After that uneventful meal ended and the two students had gone back, I gathered my thoughts.
"Hmm…."
The conclusion I finally reached.
I might need to put an end to my adventures with those two.
That was it.
.
.
.
.
Catching the eye of a Demon.
This was one of the things adventurers absolutely never wanted to experience.
The feeling of being stared at like a chicken in a henhouse by something thinking 'My, that one looks tasty.'
It wasn't easy for a human who amounted to nothing more than demon feed to endure that.
And on top of it, the opponent was Demociela. The Demon King's Four Heavenly Kings, no less.
To put it in terms anyone could understand—it was like a level 1 character walking out of the village only to find a raid boss waiting.
The futures of those two were bright, and it would be such a waste for them to be noticed by Demociela and simply die.
If they stayed with me, there was no telling what Demociela might try every single floor.
So for the sake of the kids' futures, it was right to stop here.
Having settled on that, I made up my mind to break through Demeter Dungeon alone from here on out—and the moment I set that plan for what to do starting tomorrow.
Before me, the box of Eum-Seo-Dan that Demociela had handed over began to float up.
"……."
Eum-Seo-Dan.
A supplement said to be tremendously beneficial for men.
It commanded quite a hefty price, so I had been thinking of selling it to secure some funds—but did it have some unknown function where the box could float?
I tilted my head, and the inner slip on the underside of the box's lid began drifting freely through the air on its own, while the box itself fell to the floor.
And immediately after. Before my eyes, letters rose up on the surface of the slip.
—Heyyy. Nice to meet you. I'm a 21-year-old sexy lady living on the 82nd floor of the dungeon. I want to chat. We can have a good meeting. I've been thinking about you.
This crazy woman, she's actually serious.
"Demociela. What do you think you're doing?"
—If you're the Yujin I know, I'm sure you're cursing me out without even looking at this. But this memo slip has no function to read or see, so Yujin needs to write letters back with his mana. Otherwise, I'm the only one with the ability to talk on my own. Think of it as something like stationery that reflects between two people in real time.
"I suppose I could just burn it."
—If you burn it, the Dark Energy sealed inside will go berserk and blow up a room or so.
"I suppose I could burn it outside the room."
—Even if you burn it from a distance, the fact that Dark Energy leaked out will be detected and the Holy Sword Knights will come calling. So why not become my pen pal nicely. My Mastermage?
This dreadful woman, she's actually…!
I picked up a pen, channeled mana into it, and wrote.
—Are you out of your mind?
—Oh. My beloved Mastermage! You finally answered me! This is the day we first connected. I'll commemorate today forever.
—Where did you even learn tricks like this? Is there an academy that teaches this?
—Of course not. I am a maiden who studies, learns, and reviews all on her own. I have no boyfriend, no husband, no lover, so I studied everything on my own. If you want to experience my self-study, come to the 50th floor right now.
—If you're going to keep spouting nonsense, I'll bury this slip in the ground forever and forget it exists.
—That would be such a shame. I worked incredibly hard to make this, you know. Dark Energy is hard to bring up to the surface, so I barely managed to squeeze it into a single slip of paper, and I'd really like you to appreciate just how much technique and Dark Energy went into the synchronizing of ink bleeding in real time.
I stared fixedly at the slip and let out a sigh.
What she said was right—Dark Energy could be felt within the slip, but not a single trace of it was leaking out. The Dark Energy was simply functioning purely as ink on paper. It felt like a digital drawing tablet you could write on and erase anytime.
—So. Why did you hand this to me?
—Why, so I can chat with my Mastermage whenever I please, of course. A pen pal filled with a maiden's sincerity…. Will you accept it?
Mom, back in Korea….
What am I supposed to do?
This girl is actually crazy….
But thinking about it from the other angle, it was also a good opportunity to extract information about the Demons.
The dungeon was their playground. The appearance of a Demon was something you could only describe as completely unpredictable.
That was precisely why there was no means in this world to maintain consistent contact with a Demon.
Except for this.
—As long as you don't say anything that grates on my nerves.
—Oh my. Oh my goodness…. What do I do? It seems my love has come true…. Shall we meet today? I'll come up to the 50th floor. Hephaestus Dungeon can reach the 50th floor right now, can't it?
Come to think of it.
She'd been fixated on the 50th floor for a little while now.
—Why the 50th floor? Didn't you come all the way up to the 2nd floor?
—Yes. Normally I shouldn't have gone up to the 2nd floor, but I overexerted myself getting there, and the Demon King scolded me for it. For a while I need to lay low, so I can't go any higher than the 50th floor.
Demociela drew a skull emoticon as she said that.
—That's fortunate.
—Fortunate, you say? That I'm stuck on the 50th floor? Hmm. I see. Why would that be fortunate? Why would my beloved Mastermage think it's fortunate that I'm on the 50th floor?
I made a mistake.
In trying to extract information from this madwoman, I'd ended up giving away a piece of information on my own side.
—Your killing intent hasn't dulled, and you being in the depths is advantageous for me. You don't want to meet me? Why? Why would you think that? Is there a reason you shouldn't meet me? Ahahaha. I think I understand. Shall I try to guess the answer?
—Get lost.
—Because you're afraid I'll torment the hamsters you're raising to your heart's content. Being stuck on the 50th floor is advantageous. Right? Because you want the Swordsman Hamster and the Rogue Hamster to grow up big and strong. I'm an obstacle to that.
You insufferable creature.
Your intuition is disgustingly sharp.
—You're right. Those little ones have bright futures, and they can't afford to catch the eye of some worthless harlot. Please be kind and live stuck on the 50th floor for a thousand years.
—Take back harlot! (Written above: no boyfriend, no husband, no lover—kindly re-read.)
What the hell is the parenthetical about….
The conversation fell into a brief lull.
A short while later, Demociela, who would be somewhere beyond the 50th floor underground, poked at the stationery with her pen. A few dots appeared, and then letters followed.
—Fine. It's a little unpleasant for me that my Mastermage thinks about other women, but if it leads to your growth in strength, I'll let it pass. What I want is for you to grow stronger and come to take my head. I'll make a vow here.
After that, Demociela's pact continued.
—First. I will not reveal myself in person until you and the Hamster party reach the 30th floor.
—Second. If I feel it necessary, I will also provide the locations of treasure chests and hidden places within Demeter Dungeon.
—Third. Until you reach the 30th floor. I will not play any prank involving Dark Energy on the hamsters—only you excluded.
—Fourth. When it comes to me fighting in earnest, I will limit that to the floor that is originally where I should be.
—How about it. Is this satisfactory?
I finished reading the sentences and tilted my head.
This proposal is far too favorable to me.
—Why would you go that far?
—In return, my Mastermage. You make a promise to me too. Even if you fall in love because I'm so beautiful, do not withdraw your killing intent toward me. And raise those hamsters well. Arrive at the floor where I am. And by then, reach Transcendence and…. Grow strong enough to genuinely aim for my head. That much will satisfy me.
Demociela's lengthy words made me frown.
—Isn't a Demon's promise made in the morning there to be broken before breakfast?
—That's precisely why. This is a pact made on my honor as a vassal of the Demon King. If you can't trust a pact made on Dark Energy then there's nothing I can do.
Even if it was merely stationery, as long as its driving force was Dark Energy, the words written by hand became an absolute vow.
Especially a pact made by a Demon in the name of the Demon King—it was something that could never be broken.
—I'll trust it.
—Thank you. For trusting me.
Strangely, I didn't feel like I was being deceived.
What made it even more absurd was that I could almost see the smile of Demociela, who would be down on the 50th floor underground.
My hesitation vanished.
I had no intention of thanking Demociela, but I did leave her the message she wanted.
—I will come to kill you someday without fail. Don't worry. I'll kill you in the most brutal way you can imagine. Don't beg for your life when that time comes.
An enormous string of letters from Demociela followed, but I didn't look at them and just went to sleep.
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The next day.
From that morning, I sought out the principal and requested a meeting.
"Ahem…. I'm a busy person, you know. It's quite inconvenient for a mere merchant to request a meeting like this. Are you perhaps trying to treat me to a meal?"
"It's not a meal, but I've come to make a deal."
"A deal? A subletter in my academy daring to propose a deal to this person…. Looks like you're flat broke, so do you actually have something to sell me?"
"Of course I do."
And with that, I pulled out the Eum-Seo-Dan from Hera Dungeon (courtesy of Lepus) that I had received from Demociela.
"This box…. Wait, this is…. You, don't tell me this is—"
"That's right. This is Eum-Seo-Dan with the Alchemist Union's certificate of authenticity properly attached. The price per pill…. No, price isn't even the issue. You're well aware of just how difficult this is to obtain, aren't you?"
"K, khhm…!!"
Hera Dungeon was so well known as the Dungeon of Lust that only a variety of adult-oriented goods came out of it.
Naturally, the Holy Sword Knights despised that dungeon and went so far as to blacklist adventurers who specialized in it. The royal palace that possessed Hera Dungeon would secretly summon specialist adventurers to conquer it and retrieve the goods.
In other words, a dungeon that no one sought out except adventurers mad with greed who also had the Holy Sword Knights as enemies and couldn't even announce their achievements.
The Eum-Seo-Dan that came from inside it.
In other words, this item—tremendously beneficial for a man's body—was worth whatever price you named.
"You don't even need to consume an entire pill. Just mix a little powder into water and drink it to see its effects."
"What do you want?"
"What I want is two things in broad terms. The first is support for rebuilding the stall."
"That goes without saying—that much I can do. I'm sorry it turned out this way. It's also my duty as principal to hear the complaints of businesses operating within the academy, you know."
He calls it his duty now. His true motive is plain to see, but a person this transparent is that much easier to deal with.
"And the remaining one is equipment support for students who will be conquering the dungeon going forward."
"That…. Do you have any idea how much a single weapon costs? That's a bit of a burden."
"No. What I want isn't direct gold coin support—it's to receive the royal subsidies going forward for one year. On top of that, I also need autonomous usage rights over the student adventurer support authority."
At my words, the principal's eyes lit up.
Siphoning off national subsidies was the principal's primary source of income, and handing all of that over would be a concern—but tolerating it for just one year was something he could accept.
"Understood, we'll do it that way."
We had each pushed our proposals to the limit, and as a result, we were able to sign a contract.
And two days later. Having received the subsidy funds, I summoned the two students under me.
"Master?"
"Mister?"
I held out items to the two of them, their eyes wide and round.
Two well-equipped armor sets. One was metal, the other leather.
Along with that, a decent longsword. And a short bow and dagger to serve as backup.
"Here, take these."
"Wh, where did these come from…."
"Mister…. What's all this? Where did you get these?"
Where did I get them?
They were all mine to begin with.
The bank doubled as a storage facility. Inside it sat an enormous quantity of equipment I had yet to dispose of.
What I did was stop by the bank and list the decent beginner-tier gear inside it at a low price on the auction exchange.
Under the Adventurer Support Act, the right of first bid on equipment among auction goods always belonged to the 'Academy.'
So I used Demeter Academy's bidding rights. I purchased my own goods using the 'national subsidy funds' included, and collected them. This way, I laundered and only the name Academy remained.
Taking and pocketing everything there was to receive from the state, running it through the laundry, and padding my own wallet at the same time.
And then using the support goods that came out of it all—
"We're going to eat something better, so today we break through the 2nd floor of the dungeon. Get ready."
"Yes! Master!"
"Got it. Mister."
I intend to tear through the dungeon without hesitation.