3 bar menu

Chapter 306 – Welcome to the Impregnable Demon King Castle (Part 6)

306 – Welcome to the Impregnable Demon King Castle (Part 6)

I wake up in the morning to find a red-eyed beautiful woman with long golden hair hanging down the sheets looking at me.

This woman, whose fangs happily peek through her lips, is a Vampire.

It’s Milla.

「Good morning, Lem.」

「…Morning.」

As I answer, her cheeks turn slightly red.

The fact that that alone is enough to transform her from a beautiful person into a cute person makes her amazing.

「Y-yesterday was intense, huh…?」, she says with a fidgety look on her face.

「…Yeah.」

I nod, remembering last night.

「It was amazing.」

「Yeah, it was amazing. How you sucked my blood, Milla…」

I unconsciously rub my neck.

Strangely enough, the scars from her fangs have already healed, but at times I feel like her fangs are still piercing into my flesh.

Even so, yesterday’s bloodsucking was amazing.

For a moment, I thought I was going to be completely sucked dry of blood. And yet, getting your blood sucked by a Vampire gives you such pleasure…

No, I gotta stop reminiscing.

「Well, it’s just that it’s been such a long time…」

Milla seems to be still in a trance of sorts. She might still be ruminating on yesterday’s bloodsucking.

I can hear her slurping her drool back.

「I-I’m sorry. I just remembered the taste of your blood, Lem.」

『…Drooling over the blood of a human partner, like it’s the first meal she’s had in months… what a vulgar child.』

Dark has been in a bad mood since morning.

「Lem?」

「Oh, it’s nothing.」

「You’re going for a morning run, right? You’ll be able to eat when you get back home, so I’ll have breakfast ready for you by then.」

「Yes, thank you.」

『I mean, before you know it, you’re gonna take this almost-living-together thing for granted… When are you going to say something about that? Are you just gonna become a married couple without you saying anything? Are you really that soft?』

As she says that, the child-like Spirit Dark bites at my cheek.

Her teeth don’t sink into my cheek, so it doesn’t hurt that much, but they’re still stretching my face out, so I’d like you to stop that.

Ever since I started calling her “partner”, I feel like she’s become even more physical than before…

Besides, normally, Spirits shouldn’t appear unless their Contractor summons them…

『Aw, you’re so cold. Do you want me to shut up until you need my power? Ugh… You only wanted me for my blessing…』

She’s also been making use of that kind of forced acting as well.

As I keep working on calming the noisy Dark down, I finish getting ready and go outside.

It seems that some of the people who were involved in the All-Heaven Festival Contest have been having trouble with floods of reporters, but I haven’t had such a problem.

Until now and from now on, I’m using Black Magic so that I can go unnoticed.

And whenever I’m with someone else, I also make it so that people don’t recognize them either.

The “Black Explorer” Foras, the “One-Horned Poet” Amduscias, the “Evil Eye Assassin” Botis, and Amduscias’ Alraune join me for a morning run in the city.

Of course, all of them are here as normal people as opposed to wearing their monster costumes.

That’s why I should call them Lars, Meadow, and Shia, but recently I’ve gotten used to their dungeon names, so I refer to them by those in my head.

「Speaking of which, Chief of Staff~」

While running together, Amduscias in her half-unicorn form seems to want to ask me something.

「What?」

「It’s about the 10th Floor… I was wondering about what were you going to do about the subordinates other than us~」

Both Foras and Botis seem to be concerned about that as well, as they turn their focus towards me.

「That’s right… To be honest, I should hurry up and get some more, but I don’t want to decide without proper consideration…」

During the fight with Fenix, everyone but me was someone who had come to help from a different Floor.

And during the Raid, in addition to that, these three and the Alraune participated as subordinates, and Ellie and the others also came to help as allies.

But yes…

Right now, even though I am the Floor Boss, I am in a situation where I have only three subordinates and several Alraune under my direct command.

Surprisingly enough, I was able to successfully defend my Floor twice under such circumstances.

Of course, it was because everyone was there.

But as expected, as a Floor Boss, I also have to get more subordinates.

「For the time being, I guess I’ll just take applications and set up interviews like before.」

「…What about the concept of the 10th Floor?」

Foras’ question is particularly big.

Each Floor has its own concept: Watchdog Realm, Necromancer Realm, Vampire Realm, Werewolf Realm, and so on.

Following that logic, the 10th Floor would be the Black Sorcerer Realm, but… It doesn’t feel quite right.

In the first place, the usual role of a Black Sorcerer is to make it so that their companions can win.

「I’m thinking that it would be nice if I could just keep using the name I’ve given it before, the “All-Demon Realm”.」

That’s the name I gave it during the Raid.

「So you’d be gathering various types of monsters regardless of species, huh~」

「That’s what I want to do. But I also want to hire a lot of Black Sorcerers. I believe that’s what to capitalize on. I want to show adventurers the threat of the “Job” that weakens the enemy and creates a path for one’s allies to show what they can do in battle.」

In that way, the active participation of people from various races will be shown to everyone in the world.

「That’s so like you, Chief of Staff… I think it’s a great idea.」

Botis gives me his approval.

「We will do our best too.」

Foras also sounds filled with motivation.

「It looks like it’s going to be quite lively, so I’m looking forward to it~」

Amduscias looks like she’s really enjoying the idea.

「What are they talking about?」「They’re talking about increasing the 10th Floor’s number of members.」「Ohh.」「We’re gonna get newcomers?」「We’re gonna get to boss them around, right?」「I’m gonna ask them to get me some tasty water.」

The Alraune running behind Amduscias also seem to be happy.

…But even though we’re gonna get some newcomers, I’ll have to ask them not to overwork them.

◇

After returning to the dormitory and taking a light shower, Milla had just finished preparing breakfast.

「Today’s breakfast looks delicious as well. You look delicious today too.」

「Thank you very much. Please eat plenty so that you can quickly regenerate the blood you’ve lost, okay?」

『So you can drink him up again, huh? Isn’t this an infinite loop?』

I don’t think Dark has ever been this antagonistic toward Milla, but I wonder if she’s had a change of heart.

As I enjoy my warm meal together with Milla, I look at the TV, which is currently on.

『The other day, while the excitement of the All-Heaven Festival Contest is still up high, a shocking announcement was made through Lucy & Co.! 』

Lucy & Co. is Fellow’s firm.

It seems that he used the real name of our Demon King, Lady Lucifa, as his company name.

In “Lucy TV”, a program where you can watch the footage of the Festival Contest at any time, a mascot imitating his daughter appears to be the show’s presenter… I wonder if that’s how he expresses his affection for her.

Though our Demon King herself has a terribly disgusted look on her face…

『In response to the Adventurer Ranking sponsored by the Adventurer Guild, we’ll be introducing a “Monster Ranking” system! We can’t share the details yet, but if you’re affiliated to a dungeon and have a dungeon name, you’re basically eligible for it! 』

That’s right.

It seems that they’re planning to update this Monster Ranking once a year, just like the Adventurer Ranking operates.

Also, Fellow hasn’t changed his idea of trying to get rid of the discrimination against monsters — Demi-Humans — but he seems to have given up on his hard-line plan to abolish dungeon capturing.

What had rushed him to want to take such a drastic measure was his strong desire for his father, Lucifer, to return.

Now that that dream had come true, even if it was for only a brief moment, the frustration that was driving him must have disappeared.

Leaving that aside, everything he’s done has been innovative and has led to the revitalization of the industry, and because of that, I want to be a part of this new Ranking.

Besides, it would seem that I’m very indebted to him for the matter with Master.