Dungeon Defense (WN)

he went back to his usual self the instant he had achieved his goal.
No, was that truly his usual self? Was the attitude he had been showing her until now, which she thought was his norm⎯⎯⎯actually just an act he had been putting on for the sake of this very moment?

Lapis reproached herself.
She was hit by a pang of regret.

How could she lower her guard just because he was a rank 71st Demon Lord?! Demon Lords are Demon Lords even in death.

Rather, this Demon Lord was earnest.
He had been constantly sharpening his blade in order to deal with her.
A blade for a single moment.

Lapis felt embarrassed.
She suddenly had the worrying thought that the Demon Lord was possibly overestimating her excessively.
The authority she had in the Keuncuska Firm was pitiful.
She wasn’t confident that she could live up to the Demon Lord’s expectations.
She found herself inadvertently avoiding the Demon Lord’s gaze.

‘……There is something that I have not told you, Sir Dantalian.’

Lapis then explained how humble her birth was.

The Demon Lord will probably begin to scorn her as well, but it couldn’t be helped.
Whether she told him or not, he was going to find out one way or another anyway.
If the Demon Lord held any needless expectations towards her, then it would be better to break the news to him early.
Rather than be scorned later…… it’d be best to start enduring it now before our relationship could build any further.

However.

‘So what?’

⎯⎯Dantalian was different.

‘Why does it matter if you’re a mixed-blood?’

Even though he was a noble and pure Demon Lord who, out of everyone, should be appalled by crossbreeds the most.

‘Don’t worry about these kinds of things.’

He declared that that was an incredibly insignificant matter.

Lapis stared at the Demon Lord vacantly.

Has anyone ever said this to her before? This was the first.

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Even the people who approached her with good intentions would eventually scowl at her and walk away.
There was no exception.
For the past hundred years, this had always happened.
She had a life where she had to think about separations before even meeting people for the first time.

She had already given up on those words which she always wanted to hear and the desire was simply floating around her unconsciousness in a twisted form.
And yet, these words were said to her by one of the highest existences in the demon world.

Ah⎯⎯⎯.

Lapis’ emotions fluctuated more than ever before.
She didn’t want the other party to notice what sort of state she was in.
It would be the end if someone discovered a merchant’s weakness.
That’s why she had to get out of the dungeon as soon as possible.
She didn’t even remember what sort of excuse she gave before leaving.

After returning to her office, she continued to stare at the ceiling.
She couldn’t suppress her emotions like she used to.

This was a good thing.
If Demon Lord Dantalian was this gifted all along, then the chance she’ll rise up in her career will swiftly increase as well, was what she kept trying to fell herself, but…… nothing could douse her current emotions.

In the end, Lapis couldn’t help but mutter to herself.

“What a weird Demon Lord.”

Still, her emotions refused to calm down.

With an emotionless face, Lapis tilted her head as she declared that today was a weird day.
She then began to prepare the report which she intended to hand in to her superiors.
The document started with the statement that Demon Lord Dantalian may possibly have the ability of divination.

「You’ve extracted 2 iron ores.」

“All right, two in one again!”

While this was happening, a certain Demon Lord continued to swing his pickaxe energetically.
Unaware of whatever was happening outside his cave.

* * *

It has been two months since I intimidated Lapis.

Adventurer parties invaded the dungeon roughly once a week.

It might be because this was still the beginning portion of the game, as all of the parties consisted of only 15 members.
They were also all F-ranks.
If this were a proper dungeon, then a party of F-rank adventurers would normally get wiped out the instant they step foot into the dungeon.

Of course, my Demon Lord castle, my dungeon which I couldn’t even proudly say was my Demon Lord castle, wasn’t a proper place.
All of the F-rank adventurer parties approached me as a threat to my life.

Thus, I was currently laying down on the floor.

“Huh? Hey, someone’s collapsed over here.”

“Oh, you’re right.
Hey, wake up!”

An adventurer approached me and patted my cheek.

I let out a groan.

“Uuh, waaater…… water…….”

“Tsk! He’s suffering from dehydration.”

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Water was poured on my face.
It seems that one of them had poured their water bag on me.
Water flowed through the gaps of the cheap helmet I was wearing.
I lapped at the water like a dog during a summer heatwave.

“Uu, uuu.
T-Thank you.”

“People down on their luck should always help each other out.
So, how did you end up like this?”

“Well.”

I activated my skill in my head.

「Acting has been activated.」 「The die of luck has slipped from your hand! The chance that the other party doubts your statement has been ‘slightly’ lowered.」

“It’s been about 3 days since I came to this dungeon.”

I then began to tell them my pathetic story.

My name was Hansen and I was from Jalsen Village.
I traveled to this dungeon with some other people from the same village, but we were assaulted by monsters and our group wound up getting separated.
Our guide had died early on, so we soon got lost in the dungeon.
I wandered around for 3 days straight before my body could no longer hold itself up and I collapsed…… Even I felt like my acting ability was amazing.

However, these people were more naive than I thought was possible.

“Hkk, you must have had a hard time!”

“This is the first time I’ve ever heard such unfortunate events.”

“Uaah.
Young man, please don’t despair and continue to live on.
No matter how shitty the world is, the stars will shine upon you one day.
Let us believe in the future! We must believe.”

The cave was filled with tears.

The faces of the adventurers were rough since they had spent their entire lives under the sun.
Tears and snot came flowing out from those sunburnt faces.
The adventurers patted my shoulder with their hands which they had blown their noses and wiped their tears on.
Gross.

‘They’re really weak to acting, huh.’

The party from Jalsen Village wasn’t this weak to it.

Well, I’m wearing a helmet, after all.
My horn, which was the only evidence on me that made it clear that I was a Demon Lord, wasn’t visible to them.
The difference between how they react to Demon Lords and other humans is probably massive.
I came to this realization as I watched a bunch of notice windows pop up telling me that I had raised their affection.

“Young man.
No, young friend, may I ask a couple of questions about this dungeon?”

***

Author’s Afterword

Why did his imposing aura disappear all of a sudden?

Once Lapis made her ‘refusal’ clear, the effect of the skill had disappeared because the Acting skill was deemed unsuccessful…… haha.
There’s no way that our Ms.
Lapis would know this, though.
She’s free to jump to conclusions.

***

TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter.
Who knew that being in uni again would speed up my translating speed.
Weird.
I might slow down a little later when one of my professors reaches out to me later this month.
Not really sure when, so just keep this in mind if I suddenly slow down.