Chapter 39 : The Gardener

"Sa… save me! Kuaak!!"

Thud!!

I killed all the adventurers who weren't elite-rank except for one.

Although we were able to overwhelm them by matching conditions, if they had been in normal conditions, they could have aimed for a reversal with that combat power.

I did well, but it was largely thanks to Serica's efforts.

If you ask whether she did well, that's not the case.

If this Dungeon Lord had done her job properly in the first place, I wouldn't have needed to come here.

"Surrender, I said surrender…!"

"I'm sorry about this. I don't have that luxury."

"You damn- Kuk!"

Prisoners are always accepted within recognized limits as long as it doesn't affect the fame or cause held by the force.

And I'm not someone who advocates humanity or benevolence.

Maybe if I were a villain instead.

An ordinary, low-grade villain who would plunge the world into misery for my own survival.

'I don't really want to use these methods.'

But there was no option to persuade and save the remaining three elite adventurers individually. I don't even have time to talk gently here and now.

The human army will soon be rushing in, where is the time to persuade or match conditions one by one?

It takes time for magic handcuffs to be put on, and for that magic suppression to be completed, and while a 'preliminary contract' can be performed immediately, it can't proceed without voluntary will.

"Whew."

So I had no choice but to use barbaric methods together.

"If you don't surrender to me now and make a contract, I'll have no choice but to take your lives."

"Why should I…!"

Thud!!

The archer, Linsia immediately rebelled and pulled on the chains of the magic restraints.

Her head flew off in an instant. The sight of her body falling and writhing below the neck was quite disgusting.

It might be fortunate that archers are good to have as many as possible but don't necessarily need to be alive.

Forcibly turning my thoughts away, I did what needed to be done.

"How unfortunate."

After personally closing Linsia's unclosed eyes that had rolled over, placing them back on her beheaded body.

If I were to apply pressure, it might be good to step on and crush the head, but there was no need to be unnecessarily cruel.

Swish…!

"S-Surrender! I'll surrender! I'll make a contract with you! Right?! So, so… Lady!"

After that, as Axe, who carried out the execution, made an eerie sound while wiping the axe blade with its bare hands, Alexis immediately expressed his intention to surrender.

I felt like frowning, but it was naturally suppressed.

…I didn't expect him to surrender so quickly. I shouldn't have either. This is something…

"And you?"

Nod.

Jin Kyung also nodded calmly, more than expected. With an expressionless face that made it impossible to know what she was thinking.

Well. Good.

It seems these people are thinking of surrendering first and then looking for an opportunity. Still, I had no intention of letting those bound by 'preliminary contracts' act freely anyway, so it didn't matter much.

I won't just leave them alone, either.

Unless I know the conditions to bind them from their hearts, like Leonis and others before.

It's just a simple screening before binding them with a real contract, and using the contract as a means to restrain new recruits.

"Wait a moment! We've already made a contract. Weren't you going to leave us some self-defense capability?"

"What should I trust about you?"

"B-But…"

Sure enough.

Immediately after the preliminary contract, as soon as I ordered them to wear magic restraints and restrain their bodies, resistance broke out.

I noticed Jin Kyung darkening her expression for a moment, but without saying anything, I focused my gaze on Alexis.

"Don't worry. You smelly human. If I were going to kill you, I wouldn't need to do such complicated things, would I?"

"Ugh… kuk. I understand."

"Don't do anything, just wait."

There was no problem in retrieving other 'spoils,' namely the corpses of adventurers.

Because there was one unfortunate but lucky miscalculation in this dungeon.

Serica's garden.

There was an overflow of 'human bodies' there, so if we just stripped off the equipment appropriately and put it on them, laid them out as they were dismembered, and lightly burned or melted them, the deaths of the adventurers would become a result of Serica's actions.

The faces of elite adventurers were too famous to fabricate easily, but we solved this by putting the equipment these adventurers frequently used in their hands and then smashing or tearing their faces or upper bodies.

"I'm counting on you."

"Don't worry. Master…"

Completing that alibi was the last remaining adventurer. I chose the person with the most handsome and impressive face among them.

They'll probably remain well in people's memories.

After injecting one of the Cerebrum Skulls I had already retrieved into him, it would be finished by having him testify as I told him. That 'the Dungeon Lord who was here self-destructed in a final struggle.'

As evidence, I even left the Cerebrum Skull with 'the largest body part of the self-destructed Lord,' so even if humans have doubts, there will be no way to resolve those doubts.

The evidence was real evidence, and the dead don't speak.

So now all that's left is…

"Let's see. The bleeding has stopped for now."

"Grrrr…"

The elder vampire with golden twin-tails, clutching her empty wrist that was torn off for evidence, glaring at me with angry eyes.

Just retrieving Serica.

There were still bloodstains spreading on the bandage wrapped around her wrist, but there was no additional bleeding at the unwrapped site.

It seems like there will be some scarring.

This state of slow regeneration was unusual for a Dungeon Lord.

My cheek that was cut by her frenzied attack, and the finger I bit during the contract had regenerated right after, so how much more for her who should have much better physical specs than me.

Of course, there was a reason for that slow regeneration.

"If you listen well, I'll remove the restraints soon."

"Why should I…!"

"Then do you want to die here?"

"…"

When I spoke with a smile, Serica stopped talking and silently lowered her gaze.

It seems the intelligence she had lost due to several overexertions had returned, but her strength still hadn't recovered.

With no dungeon core, all her magic power consumed, and in that state wearing magic restraints, she had no means to regenerate not only her hands but even her magic power.

So if she wants to live, she has no choice but to listen to me.

"Good girl."

Tap!

"Don't touch me."

"Alright. I won't."

The fact that she still swatted away my hand stroking her head shows that she still has some pride left.

I didn't particularly need her positive reaction either.

I was interested in her family's side, which had put pressure on the guild, but department head Grim du Rol couldn't say anything about it.

As long as I saved her and sent her back, her family's side would have no choice but to give some kind of compensation. And if I, who received compensation, suffer harm in the near future, it would tarnish that family's reputation.

Even if Serica becomes hostile to me, she can't borrow her family's power. As an ordinary noble illegitimate child 1 of the demon realm, she will inevitably be restricted in what she wants to do to a Dungeon Lord on the ground.

In the end, I have no reason to win her favor.

"Still, you need to get up? If you stay here, you'll die without me having done all this trouble. I have no intention of fighting additional battles just to save you."

"…Hmph."

Serica ignores my hand extended to her and gets up by pressing her intact hand on the floor.

Well. I don't know if she's an illegitimate child or what, but she seems to have noble pride engraved in her blood.

I wonder if her parents are like that too. At least one side must be a vampire.

"It would have been convenient if the core was preserved. I guess we'll have to take a carriage on the way back too. Let's go out for now."

As we entered the cave where the dungeon was, countless torches could be seen gradually approaching from the bottom of the now darkened mountain.

Though I already knew this fact from having scouts sent out in advance.

"Let's go quickly."

"Why don't you kill those things? This is a good opportunity!"

That's not wrong.

The mountain is enveloped in darkness. If we were to fight humans, this would be a perfect situation for a necromancer's dark magic to run wild.

No doubt they would have burned all the corpses they directly encountered as they came up, so to exert abilities properly, we should start with an ambush first.

However, I had no intention of doing so.

"It's the same reason you've been hiding all this time. I have no intention of provoking them any further. There's no need to let them know there's another Dungeon Lord. Don't pretend you don't know while knowing. Don't you look too stupid?"

"…Ugh!"

I glanced at Serica, who turned her head away, clicking her tongue as if frustrated, and draped 'shadows' over our bodies.

Although she speaks like that, she won't do trolling things like revealing our position to them.

That's just bait to test and mock me while telling me the correct answer if I make a wrong choice. If I tried to enter combat, she would rather stop me from her side.

Well, with her appearance and all, it felt like a child's tantrum, so I didn't dislike it too much. Cutting her wrist was purely because evidence was needed, not something I did to abuse her.

Come to think of it.

'The core.'

Where on earth did the noble who stole it go?

There are rumors about a noble, but who exactly stole it and from where hasn't been revealed.

As if someone deliberately hid it.

"…"

I have a strange feeling.

Not ominous, but a feeling that it will become quite troublesome if left alone.

Since coming to this world, my intuitions have been quite accurate, so it would be good to prepare in advance.

Fortunately, I had one good card.

"Leonis."

A promising young mage with the position of top disciple of a grand master of a magic guild.

-…What is it?

"In the near future… Yes. About a week from now would be good. Get me an invitation to a party. Preferably one with high-ranking nobles."

-Such places require a noble title. At least the child of a baron would be needed.

He was cooperative when initially restructuring the dungeon, perhaps because he liked that work, but now he doesn't show such an appearance.

Well, if he had remained cooperative, it would have been somewhat suspicious.

"Is that so? Then, we'll just have to get that too."

-That's not something that can be done at will…! Haa. If I invite you, entry should be possible.

"That's great. I'm pleased my retainer is capable and renowned."

-…I'll prepare it.

One way or another, he's been doing very well with the tasks I've given him so far.

That's enough.

Indeed, when he gives such good answers so readily, I can't help but be satisfied as a master.

…That should be enough reward, right?

"I'll bring Sonia too. Don't you want to see her healthy?"

-That's a grateful thing. Now I have work to do, so I'd appreciate if you didn't contact me further today.

"Alright. I'm counting on you."

-…Don't worry about the work.

I ended the communication. It's also a communication that can't be ended arbitrarily from that side.

What mediates between his soul and the demon realm is me and my core. Part of the contractors' souls are subordinated to me for his sake. Even if I die, the link between the demon realm and the contractors won't be severed.

The influence of the demon realm will simply invade the contractors' minds and bodies.

The reason I need to intervene in the middle of this contract is to adjust the degree of that invasion to a level the person can resist, and my contractors know this too.

An ordinary Dungeon Lord would probably just unleash it without adjusting anything and not care whether the contractor becomes twisted or not. Well.

Whether it's self-satisfaction or hypocrisy, I don't want to do that.

* * *

"You've arrived."

"Good work. Talhan."

As we came down the mountain, hidden in shadows, Talhan was waiting, having procured five carriages and standing by.

Most of these carriages were loaded with small military supplies from Heisen that I had identified and diverted as an administrator over the past few days. Still, one had a different 'cargo' loaded.

About a dozen adventurers and civilians.

These were people who knew about Maria and her group coming to my dungeon or had heard about it indirectly.

"You managed to catch them all."

"It's rather difficult to kill in the city. There are people even in the back alleys."

"Were there none who weren't adventurers?"

"I've noted their identities, so I told my juniors to take care of them quietly later."

The juniors he was talking about were the Cerebrum Skulls. Since Talhan was my first Cerebrum Skull, I decided to allow him to establish that much authority.

That's the best way to use him right now.

Thud!

"I see."

"…Umph!"

When I threw in the thoroughly bound and sealed elite adventurers next to them, some people who thought they were corpses recoiled in terror.

Confirming my skeletons sitting in the naturally secured seats like that, I voiced a thought that suddenly came to mind.

"All of this must be using the power of the information guild. It's really useful."

"They won't sell information to Dungeon Lords."

"That would be natural if one revealed themselves as a Dungeon Lord. However, there's no need to necessarily buy, is there?"

"Then…?"

It seems that in the past 200 years ago when surviving dungeons overflowed, messengers were a highly respected profession because cities were often isolated from each other.

The information guild is a group formed by those who performed such messenger duties and gathered their know-how. Although they aren't treated as well as the messengers of that time now, at least they aren't ignored.

I was already aware of the usefulness of such information guilds.

Those who scrape together information in various ways and sell it or provide it to the state. If I had one of those under my command, I could not only obtain information at will but also intervene in the manipulation process.

Yes. Under my command.

"I wonder if you know the term 'full ownership'. It's a word I like."

I should leave Talhan as he is for now.

There's no need to keep moving to other places and reduce his influence within the information guild. Although he seems to be saying he wants to get a more 'human' body from me…

Well. I'll give him a reward, but he's still far from getting what he wants.

In fact, he doesn't seem to dislike the current situation that much, either.

"…No."

"I see. Then, let's go."

To Talhan, who shook his head as if he didn't understand, I didn't explain the detailed meaning and got on the carriage.

I did hear some grumbling sounds from behind, but I had no intention of commenting on that much freedom.