Celia returned from her mission on Earth and immediately resumed her duties.
“I was gone for just a moment, and already this much work has piled up…”
Celia’s desk was indeed covered in related documents. Most of them were correspondence from Princess Irena of the Sail Kingdom, or information sent by the shadows assigned to Irena. Occasionally, there were also documents from the Underworld Merchant Guild.
Celia first reviewed the letters from Irena. The content was simple. First, it stated that the White Church’s visit to the Sail Kingdom was imminent.
“Princess Irena will handle this matter well on her own.”
Celia was not in a position to comment on this. Since it was a matter requiring expertise, she intended to delegate all authority to Irena.
Celia moved on to the next letter. It was also from Princess Irena.
“Indeed.”
The next letter stated that upon completion of the Church’s affairs, the mountain range development rights would be handed over to the nobles. This was a measure taken at Celia’s command.
However, another problem arose. Before Celia left for Earth to fulfill her master’s orders, she had instructed Irena to completely prohibit access to the mountain range.
This was fine up to this point, but the letter also mentioned that some nobles, harboring suspicions, had secretly sent adventurers into the mountain range.
“Hmm.”
Princess Irena had stated that she would find and severely punish those involved, but Celia didn’t feel the need to do so.
“Mr. Shadow. Tell them to leave this matter as it is.”
Having returned from Earth, Celia had done a lot of thinking. Battles were not fought alone, but with many. Being strong alone was meaningless. Was this not the case this time as well? Before Celia herself left her post, she should have completed all preparations, as the defenses for the dungeon were not yet perfect. If this aspect had been perfect, there would have been no need to issue the order to prohibit access to the mountain range.
Therefore, she decided to seize the opportunity presented by the nobles sending adventurers.
“It would be good to assess our strength while we’re at it.”
There were four dungeons under Celia’s command. These dungeons were located to the east, west, north, and south of the dungeon Celia was currently managing, forming a surrounding structure. With the dungeons not being close to each other, each one needed to have at least minimal defenses. Therefore, assessing the strength of those dungeons was even more important. Since the Arch Lich was already on an inspection, this part would be quickly assessed.
If the situation was not as good as Celia’s standards, she intended to formally propose the matter of merging to her master. She might even need to expand the range of the Goblin Scout Team currently in operation.
“I’ll wait and see for now.”
Celia opened the next document. It was from the Death Knight.
Celia immediately moved on to the next document.
“This time, it’s from Goblin Lord?”
The document was written by Goblin Lord. It was difficult to decipher, as the writing crawled like worms, making it barely resemble a document. There were a few words that could be recognized.
“Mana gun… Imperial Guard…?”
Mana gun. Celia was well aware of this, having heard about it from Goblin Lord. Goblin Lord had also learned about it during his trip to Earth. As per her orders, Goblin Lord had engaged in combat with hunters to secure a retreat route. He mentioned that in the process, he had acquired several more Mana guns.
“Hmm.”
Celia racked her brain to guess the meaning of the words. She suspected that Goblin Lord was proposing to create a Goblin Imperial Guard with the newly acquired Mana guns.
“Well, it’s a good thought to strengthen our forces, so I’ll approve it.”
Thus, the strength of the dungeons continued to grow. With the protection of the great master, there was nothing to fear.
Celia smiled and continued her work.
***
The Arch Lich and skeletons were walking through the forest. Their race was Undead. They did not tire nor did they need to eat anything. Therefore, shortly after they departed, they arrived at the first dungeon.
[Red-Haired Tribe]
The lord of this dungeon was an Orc named Skoll. He was the first to surrender to the master and was serving as a margrave as a reward. In fact, his abilities were quite good. The Arch Lich nodded and entered the dungeon.
“Chwiik! I’ve been waiting! Lord Lich!”
Skoll, an Orc with red hair fluttering in the wind.
“Ah, your aura has grown even stronger. It seems I should call you Lord Arch Lich!”
Skoll welcomed the Arch Lich warmly. The Arch Lich also nodded, looking at Skoll.
– “Information is slow. This is a demerit.”
As expected, the Arch Lich was a stern inspector.
“Namely, as the chief, I have prepared a feast for Lord Arch Lich!”
The Arch Lich nodded. Then, he added a remark to the record he had just written.
– “Information is slow. This is a demerit, but the steadfastness in pursuing the beauty of slowness in a rapidly changing dungeon is a point of praise.”
The Arch Lich followed Skoll, recording the dungeon. Skoll showed the Arch Lich every corner of the dungeon and explained. As an Orc who worshipped strength, weapons lined the walls. Some Orcs were maintaining their weapons.
“This is where our warriors train!”
Skoll pointed to a place with pride. It was the training ground. Most of the Orcs were spending their time training with powerful shouts. Even bare-handed, their massive physiques were intimidating. He even saw them sparring with weapons. To others, it might have looked like they were trying to kill each other rather than sparring. Contrary to those concerns, Skoll explained calmly.
“Chwiik, we always revere strength! That’s why we train a lot. We train hard for our ruler!”
Skoll raised his hand with confidence. These were Orcs who trained as if in real combat to gain strength.
– “Strength is good. The effort to serve the master is commendable.”
No one could deny this part. Skoll was working hard to strengthen the dungeon. The Arch Lich also praised this. Then, the Arch Lich’s gaze shifted to another area. There, goblins, not Orcs, were gathered.
“Ah, those are goblins!”
Skoll continued to speak with a “chwiik” sound.
“It is illogical for Orcs and goblins to live in the same place! So, we have separated the locations!”
As Skoll said, the areas where Orcs and goblins lived were clearly divided in half. Of course, Skoll was not pleased, but as it was the ruler’s will, he found solace in this arrangement. The Arch Lich nodded.
“Indeed! Lord Arch Lich recognizes it!”
Skoll exclaimed with emotion.
– “The master who manages the dungeon is attempting division of labor rather than harmony-”
“This is a gift for Lord Arch Lich!”
At that moment, Skoll handed something to the Arch Lich, who was taking notes.
“This is an artifact called a fountain pen. I obtained it from adventurers!”
It was a writing instrument that looked luxurious at first glance. It was said to write smoothly without dipping it in ink. The Arch Lich carefully received the item from Skoll. He immediately tried it in his notebook. The way the ink flowed smoothly made it quite pleasing.
– “The master who manages the dungeon is attempting division of labor rather than harmony. This is a good attitude.”
As Skoll was saying right now.
“That’s why I’m using the goblins as scout teams according to their abilities!”
Distributing roles according to the traits of each race was also the role of a dungeon master. Skoll’s dungeon was currently without problems in terms of strength and in many other aspects. In fact, it was doing well. The Arch Lich nodded and made the final assessment of the dungeon.
– “Red-Haired Tribe Dungeon, no problems.”
This was absolutely not an evaluation influenced by his personal feelings.
The Arch Lich immediately left the dungeon. The inspection of the first dungeon was complete. The skeleton on the left held a thick notebook, while the skeleton on the right held the fountain pen gifted by Skoll, not a feather quill. The skeleton behind no longer carried an ink bottle. With the fountain pen Skoll provided, ink was no longer needed. Instead, they held the “small tokens of sincerity” that Skoll had prepared.
“Clink!”
The Arch Lich, accompanied by the skeletons, immediately departed for the next dungeon.
***
A group of adventurers was climbing the mountain range.
“Are we really okay doing this?”
One member of the group raised a question. Her name was Nariel. Her body was lightly armored, and she wore a large hat pulled down low over her head. She had a bow slung over her back, and anyone could see she was a typical adventurer. And thanks to her agile abilities, she also served as the group’s pathfinder. In response to Nariel’s question, another member replied.
“It’ll be fine, won’t it? After all, it’s a request from a noble?”
They were all members of the Adventurer’s Guild in the Sail Kingdom. Therefore, even as adventurers, they were often swayed by the policies of the Sail Kingdom. This was the case now.
The White Church’s visit to the Sail Kingdom was imminent. As the atmosphere for the visit was not good, the Adventurer’s Guild in the kingdom was quietly keeping a low profile. For example, they had stopped accepting dungeon quests in the mountain range. Furthermore, the royal family had recently prohibited access to the mountain range. In fact, climbing the mountain range at this time was something to be avoided.
However, they were climbing the mountain range despite the situation. Not only that, but they had also accepted quests to scout and subjugate dungeons in the mountain range. Of course, these were not official quests. They were not even through the Adventurer’s Guild. Yet, they were able to do so because a noble had issued a secret request separately. Moreover, it was a noble of the Sail Kingdom, not of another country, who was leading this matter.
Accepting this request was an act of treason against the royal family and simultaneously an act of disobedience to the Adventurer’s Guild. However, the amount offered by the other party was too large to refuse. Of course, the fact that the other party was a noble also played a role, but the substantial sum of money moved their hearts. The quest content was also simple: just to scout the mountain range and check for any unusual occurrences. The dungeon scouting and subjugation quests were along similar lines.
“I can’t believe a noble of the Sail Kingdom would take on such a request…”
The adventurers who accepted the request also expressed their bewilderment. It was strange for a noble to act in defiance of the royal family’s orders.
“Will a civil war break out because of this?”
“Hey, no way. Would that happen? If so, they wouldn’t have assigned dungeon quests.”
Everyone expressed their thoughts on the current situation. However, they had already accepted the request. There was no fool who would refuse such a large sum of money. Besides, all they had to do was complete it secretly. At this time, both the kingdom and the Adventurer’s Guild were controlling access to the mountain range. If they entered and left secretly, they would not be discovered. Therefore, they were climbing the mountain range without much thought.
Nariel also walked silently at the forefront. However, her expression was not good.
“Nariel, is something wrong? Your expression looks really bad.”
One of the members approached Nariel. It was Iselin, who used ice magic.
“Ms. Iselin…”
Iselin touched Nariel’s forehead with her hand.
“Hic.”
Nariel flinched as another person’s hand touched her forehead.
“You don’t seem to have a fever? What’s wrong?”
“It’s just… I have a bad feeling about it…”
Nariel trailed off, expressing her feelings. Since her predictions were sometimes correct, no one took it lightly. However, they had no intention of abandoning the quest. They had already received the full advance payment for the quest. The advance payment alone was an enormous sum, so how much money would they receive upon completion? It was a situation where they could earn the most money in their lives. They didn’t want to abandon this quest for the sole reason of having a bad feeling. Rather, if they abandoned it, they would have to pay a penalty. They would have to pay several times the amount received, an amount they couldn’t even imagine. Therefore, they reassured Nariel.
“It’s okay. Maybe you’re just not feeling well today.”
“Yeah, if you’re too tired, shall we rest a bit?”
They called Nariel’s name in a gentle voice. Outwardly, they were gentle. However, a dark desire resided within them. Nariel also had some perception of this. All she had to do now was nod.
“No, I’m fine.”
Nariel forced a smile. And she could only continue to walk forward. After all, she knew. It was too late to turn back now.
